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I shouldn't have been so careless!

Chen Shouyi hurriedly searched everywhere, scouring almost the entire Small Island, until finally, on the beach, he spotted her through a thread dangling from the distant sky.

She was flying a hundred meters up, desperately heading toward the Great Sea. When she saw Chen Shouyi chasing after her, she immediately panicked and flew higher.

"Come back!" Chen Shouyi called out urgently, shouting in his halting Common Tongue.

The Shell Girl glanced back at him, then turned and flew onward without a second look.

His heart racing, Chen Shouyi fell back on his old trick, fumbling in his pocket for a glass bead.

"Gem!" he shouted loudly.

He'd made a point of memorizing that word, since it worked well for communicating with her.

The Shell Girl halted midair, hesitating. But after a few seconds, she finally overcame the temptation and resolutely flew on.

"More!" he called out.

He quickly patted down his pockets, digging out a few beads no bigger than mung beans from the crevices, and held them up in his palm to show her.

The Shell Girl hesitated again, hovering motionless in the air.

"Big!" Chen Shouyi pressed on, though he didn't have any large glass beads on him—he'd need to buy those outside. For now, it was just an empty promise.

That word "big" finally shattered the last of the Shell Girl's resistance. After a long pause, she slowly fluttered down.

When one end of the Nylon Rope dangled down, Chen Shouyi grabbed it and let out a relieved breath.

The Shell Girl drifted gently to the ground, turning her head away, refusing to look at him.

Catching on, Chen Shouyi crouched down and placed the glass beads on the ground.

The Shell Girl didn't spare them a glance, shouting loudly, "Big! Big! Big!"

"'Big' my ass!" Chen Shouyi snapped. The first "big" was in Common Tongue; the rest was Chinese.

He grabbed the Shell Girl and strode quickly toward his camp.

She struggled incessantly in his grip, angrily chattering away in a language he couldn't understand a word of.

Chen Shouyi carried her back near the passage entrance, took out rope and Tape, expertly bound her hands and feet, sealed her mouth, and stuffed her into the Briefcase.

"Think you can rebel, huh?"

Before leaving, he checked his clothes for bloodstains. Finding none, he stepped out of the passage.

Walking onto the street, surrounded by the bustling crowd, Chen Shouyi suddenly felt a surreal sense of dislocation. Moments ago, he'd been killing, teetering on the edge of life and death. Now, everything was so peaceful and serene.

He let out a breath, and the faint weight on his chest quickly dissipated.

His first stop was to buy a box of large glass beads, then he returned to his hotel room.

Back in the room, he released the Shell Girl and let her untie herself. She sat there, expression wooden, motionless, stewing in silence.

She was clearly furious. And honestly, it made sense—she'd been so close to escaping his clutches and regaining her freedom, only to be lured back by temptation, foolishly walking into her own trap. To make matters worse, his promise went unfulfilled, and she was treated even more roughly.

Her sorrow and regret went without saying.

Chen Shouyi looked at her, then rudely poked her over with his finger.

She fell back onto the bed, face blank, tears silently streaming down.

Seeing her utterly hopeless expression, Chen Shouyi found it amusing. He stopped teasing her, waved his hand in front of her, and stuffed a Fancy Glass Bead—as big as her head—into her arms.

Her tear-streaked, sulking face instantly brightened. She looked at him with delighted surprise, hugged the bead tightly, and refused to let go.

Chen Shouyi smiled, grabbed the remote, turned on the TV, switched to the cartoon channel, and left her be.

He needed some quiet time.

Up until now, since the island had posed no real danger, he'd barely prepared at all.

To him, the Small Island was just a place to train.

Aside from a Wooden Stick and a kitchen knife that barely counted as weapons, he had nothing else. After all, who would've thought Barbarians would show up on this barren island?

But today, those two Barbarians shattered his illusions.

The island wasn't safe. Their presence meant there had to be a Barbarian settlement nearby—maybe on a neighboring island, maybe on a continent.

If two came today, more might pass by tomorrow. No one could guarantee this was the last time.

Chen Shouyi couldn't count on luck every time. He had to prepare.

At the very least, until he could match them in strength, he didn't want to give up this Otherworld island.

Fortunately, while the country strictly regulated weapons for non-Martial Apprentices, as long as he didn't carry them in public, no one would bother him.

He pulled out his phone and logged onto Weapon Treasure.

It was a professional B2C e-commerce site for cold weapons.

Chen Shouyi's old phone loaded the page at a snail's pace, making him wait impatiently.

It took over a minute for the page to finish loading, with only one freeze along the way.

He felt that he really did need to buy a new phone.

He immediately searched for War Bows over 300 pounds. Among cold weapons, when it came to killing efficiency, the Bow and Arrow was naturally the top choice; no other weapon could compare.

Soon he realized his money was far less than he'd imagined. War Bows were more expensive than swords and knives—even the cheapest one cost over thirty thousand.

Moreover, a 300-pound War Bow was far too light for him. Especially under triple gravity, it couldn't shoot very far and had limited power. Aside from daily practice and dealing with Martial Apprentice assessments, it wasn't really useful.

Weighing it in his mind, he felt it was better to buy a strong bow truly suited to his strength rather than an apprentice-grade three-hundred-pounder. He immediately filtered for bows over 500 pounds—this poundage already fell within the martial artist's range.

But the moment the webpage loaded, even though he'd already estimated the prices of such bows, the string of zeros behind each War Bow still made Chen Shouyi's head spin.

One hundred fifty thousand!

That was the price of the cheapest War Bow, and that was thanks to a National Day promotion with a 15% discount.

As for mid-range ones, they routinely cost five or six hundred thousand, with the most expensive reaching over four million.

After selling his gold, he'd gotten one hundred ten thousand, plus the eighteen thousand Mother Chen had sent him. Minus what he'd spent these past few days, he had just over one hundred twenty thousand total. He'd thought he was already quite wealthy.

But he never imagined he couldn't even afford a single War Bow.

Unable to resist his curiosity, he clicked on the most expensive one. It was a stunning War Bow with graceful lines and a sci-fi feel—a smooth body of nano-carbon fiber, and a bowstring made from the sinew of a mysterious creature from the Otherworld.

According to the shop's description, this mysterious sinew still retained life activity, so its power hadn't completely collapsed on Earth—it was merely dormant. If used in the Otherworld, arrows would condense light flow, greatly increasing speed and power.

Chen Shouyi could only secretly drool. This War Bow was not only flashy but also powerful. Unfortunately, he simply couldn't afford it.

Suppressing the urge to take another look, he resolutely closed the webpage.

He then opened the secondhand cold weapon trading market.

The prices here were much cheaper, though the quality wasn't guaranteed. But with his empty pockets, Chen Shouyi couldn't afford to be picky.

He quickly found a reputable shop and picked out an 80% new War Bow and an Alloy Sword. After chatting with customer service for a bit and repeatedly confirming he could return them if there were quality issues, he placed the order.

Looking at the total price of one hundred five thousand, Chen Shouyi couldn't help but sigh—money really didn't last.

Still, since his money came easily, he didn't feel much pain.

And Shell Girl's hard work over this period had gathered quite a bit of Gold Sand for him. Though he hadn't weighed it precisely, Chen Shouyi estimated it was already half a jin again.

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