Bright Sword Chapter - Lonely Island

On a road bustling with pedestrians, a young man stood inside a telephone booth...

"I'm going to Japan. You haven't come back these past few months, and I assume you won't be coming anytime soon, so I want to go to Japan to see you. I've always wanted to visit that place..."

The voice coming from the phone was incredibly gentle and sweet. Anyone else hearing it would surely be driven wild, but the young man in the booth remained unmoved.

"Fine, if you want to go, then go. It's true we haven't seen much of each other these past few years, but things will get better in the future. Just treat it as a vacation and have a good time over there."

The young man had known the other party would respond this way. In truth, it made no difference whether he called or not; he did it out of obligation or perhaps his own intent to give notice. International long-distance calls were very expensive, and for the young man, this was his first time making one.

"Understood. I don't have much money in my account, so if anything happens, we'll talk when I get back. Ten days—I'm only staying there for ten days. I'll contact you again after that."

"Alright, then let's talk next time."

The young man hung up the phone, stepped out of the booth, and merged into the crowd, his figure vanishing almost instantly.

Three days later, at Hong Kong International Airport, the young man sat alone in the departure lounge. All he had to do now was follow the procedures to board the plane. Everything had gone smoothly so far. He was the only Chinese person on his flight, which was perhaps the most unexpected thing to him; despite departing from Hong Kong, there wasn't a single other person from his country on board.

The lounge was relatively quiet. The flight was headed directly from Hong Kong to Tokyo, Japan, carrying a total of three hundred and sixty-seven passengers, excluding the flight crew. Although the young man felt a bit nervous, he reminded himself that Japan was only a few hours away; he could just take a nap on the plane.

Forty-five minutes later...

The plane had taken off from Hong Kong, but the young man couldn't sleep at all. He kept his eyes glued to the window. Even though he had looked out many times, he couldn't shake the urge to keep watching.

Sitting next to him was an American girl. Shortly after boarding, she had briefly spoken to him in Chinese, though it was limited to the usual questions: where are you from, why are you going to Japan, are you traveling alone?

Half an hour later...

The plane began to shake violently...

An hour later...

The plane made an emergency landing on a small island...

The impossible had happened, and it had occurred so suddenly. Another strange fact was immediately discovered by all the passengers: the flight crew—every single member of the crew—had vanished into thin air. There wasn't even a shred of evidence that they had ever existed.

If one had to use a word to describe this event, it could only be: hallucination.

Indeed, everyone initially thought it was a hallucination. It was simply impossible. If there were no pilots, how could the plane have landed on the island completely intact?

First, let us recall the few dozen seconds before the plane landed...

No, that wasn't possible. Everyone had just realized a problem: no one could remember what happened before the landing. It was as if everyone had suffered from temporary amnesia, forgetting everything that had occurred in the preceding tens of minutes.

People began to retrieve their luggage, finding their checked bags on the plane. Although the young man couldn't understand the specifics of what others were saying, he understood one thing: he had to survive on his own. Aside from himself, there was basically no one to trust. When something like this happened, the only way to survive was to accept reality and be someone capable of changing it.

The young man quickly began to analyze his current situation.

"I am currently on an island. Whether there are other humans here is unknown, but one thing is certain: if the crew didn't parachute out before the landing, they must be on this island, just in an unknown location. Furthermore, there were 367 passengers on the plane, but due to the emergency landing, twenty-seven died, including six children, one infant, seven elderly people, and thirteen women. Their remains have already been buried not far from the landing site. That leaves 340 people on the island, including myself."

"The size of the island is currently unclear, but it is certain that if one only eats fruit, living on this island indefinitely is not impossible. Additionally, someone discovered creatures resembling deer. If the number of deer can be confirmed, the approximate area of the island and the presence of predators can be quickly determined."

"Next is the confirmation of the current situation. Based on the fact that the crew disappeared and the plane landed intact, it is highly likely that all of this was planned—perhaps even a conspiracy. It's impossible to be certain for now; it could be an assassination attempt on an important figure, an alien attack, or perhaps a laboratory running low on research materials. None of these are impossible."

"Damn it, if only I had more information, it wouldn't be like this!" the young man shouted at the seaside. There was no one else nearby, so it didn't matter how loud he yelled.

The young man looked at his luggage bag, and he suddenly remembered the items he had checked. A smile appeared on his face.

Standing where he was, the young man shouted, "No matter who is planning this, you are destined to fail this time, because I—I will tear through your shadows!!!!!"

Five minutes later, the young man hid his luggage and returned to the beach where the plane had landed. At this moment, the others were busy confirming the passenger list and distributing food and water. All checked luggage had been moved outside the plane, and one only needed to present their identification to claim their bags. This was one of the reasons the young man had returned to the plane.

After finding his large bag, the young man looked around.

"Excuse me, could I bother you for a moment?" While the young man was lost in thought, a foreign woman approached. He knew she was there to verify the passenger list. Though he couldn't communicate verbally, he quickly produced his boarding pass and handed it to her. She glanced at it briefly and returned it. As she left, she said very politely, "Thank you, sorry to bother you."

The young man watched her leave. Now, he had to ensure he could slip away unnoticed to the location he had marked. Until the situation was clear, he couldn't trust anyone, nor could he let others suspect him. He had to appear as weak as possible in their eyes to facilitate his other actions.

Everyone on the beach was talking loudly about various things, but the young man knew that most of the conversation revolved around when they would be rescued. People were like that—even when facing death, they clung to hope. If they didn't rely on themselves, how many of these 340 people would actually survive in the end?

The young man found his perfect opportunity. He slipped away from the beach with his luggage, moving neither too fast nor too slow. He had to hide some of his more important items. Of course, he didn't need to hide the daily necessities or clothes in his bag; only the essential items needed to be concealed.

Thirty minutes later, the young man returned to the beach. The horizon on the other side was burning red, signaling that night was approaching. People on the beach had cut down a few coconut trees to arrange them into an SOS pattern. Perhaps if a plane passed by, they might see it?

Others were praying by the sea, asking God to help them through this crisis. Generally speaking, however, God was likely the least reliable entity in such a situation. Those people were merely satisfying their own psychological needs, even though they knew God couldn't possibly hear them.

The young man held his luggage. Now, he had to return to the persona a young man should have—the persona of the weak. Only then could he survive this game, and only then could he tear through the shadows shrouding the island!