Something Suspicious Appeared on the Sea

Jiang Yao said, "Forget it. I won't go and cause everyone trouble. I'll stay at camp and tend the fire!"

Tang Xiaoguo had wanted to go, but after hearing Jiang Yao, she said, "Then I won't go either. I'll keep distilling fresh water!"

Lu Zhe nodded. "We don't need that many people gathering seafood at low tide, and someone has to look after our two patients. I can go by myself today!"

"No!" Ning Shu shook her head. "Even though you're a guy, you could still run into danger going alone! How about... I go with you?"

"Okay, let me get ready!"

"What else do you need to prepare?"

Lu Zhe put the block of sea salt left from boiling the seawater dry during distillation onto a rock, smashed it into powder, then poured the powdered salt into a bottle!

"You'll find out in a bit!"

Lu Zhe and Ning Shu walked side by side along the evening beach, watching the setting sun paint the sea a brilliant red and stretch their shadows long!

This lifted Ning Shu's mood a little, and she suddenly felt an urge to hold hands with the boy beside her!

But she immediately shook her head!

She silently told herself:

What am I thinking?

How can I think about something so silly when we're trying to survive?

I'm the class monitor! I can't be as boy-crazy as Yaoyao and Guo'er!

But when she looked sideways at Lu Zhe, she found him handsome and clean-cut, and the more she looked, the more attractive he seemed!

Looks like Guo'er really does have good taste.

If it weren't for his slightly hentai tendencies, he'd really be boyfriend material!

Obviously, Yaoyao and Guo'er are both interested in him, but which one does he like more?

If he doesn't like either of them, does that mean he likes someone else?

Qianqian, or... me?

Why not ask him which of the four girls he'd choose as his girlfriend?

"Hey... Lu Zhe!" Ning Shu asked somewhat hesitantly.

"What is it?"

"I want to ask you something..."

Lu Zhe nodded and actually said with a perfectly straight face, "I know what you're going to ask!"

Ning Shu flushed a little. "Then... would you mind telling me the answer?"

"Of course not!"

"Okay, go ahead!"

Lu Zhe said solemnly, "Watch closely!"

As he spoke, he pointed to a little hole in the sand. "Right here!"

Then he poured powdered salt over the opening. Before long, a razor clam poked its head out!

Lu Zhe quickly grabbed it, slowly pulled it out, then waved it in front of Ning Shu as he explained, "See? This powdered salt is for catching these!"

Ning Shu's mouth fell open, and the corner of her eye twitched. "This guy... thought I wanted to ask what the powdered salt was for?"

"Not every little hole has a razor clam in it. Some have sea snails, and others have hermit crabs. But those won't come out on their own. We have to dig them out!"

As he spoke, Lu Zhe dug and dug at another little hole where nothing had emerged, and soon dug up a sea snail.

Then he waved it. "Look!"

Ning Shu took it and examined it. The sea snail was as big as a baby's fist, the largest they had caught since becoming stranded on the island!

Its pale flesh kept shrinking back into its shell, squirting out spurts of seawater.

"That's really impressive!"

Lu Zhe nodded. "Our class monitor really is sensible. The others only think about silly things!"

Ning Shu smiled awkwardly. Just a minute ago, she had wanted to ask Lu Zhe something very silly!

Given the circumstances, she might as well not ask!

They walked about two kilometers, picking up plenty of supplies along the way, including empty bottles, torn swimsuits, old slippers, and plastic bags!

Lu Zhe also found a clump of seaweed. When he pulled it up and looked, there were actually more than twenty mussels of various sizes attached to it!

By their count, they had caught five razor clams, over twenty mussels, two sea snails, and a few starfish!

Ning Shu was puzzled. "You can eat starfish too?"

Lu Zhe nodded. "Of course!"

"You should've said so earlier!"

Ning Shu immediately grabbed a plastic bag, ready to scour the beach for starfish!

"Hey..."

Lu Zhe hurriedly stopped her. "You can't just pick up any starfish!"

"Why not?"

"Only the females are edible!"

"How do you tell the males from the females?"

Lu Zhe picked up a starfish and pointed to the center of its underside. "Look at its mouth. Females have orange ones, and males have white ones! And not all females are edible either. They have to be in their breeding season, so look for females that feel heavy!"

Looking at that wriggling, chrysanthemum-like mouth, Ning Shu felt uncomfortable all over.

They turned over fifty or sixty starfish along the way before picking out three suitable ones!

"It really isn't that easy!"

Ning Shu stood up with a hand supporting her lower back. Then she spotted something unusual!

"A boat... a boat!"

Hearing her say there was a boat, Lu Zhe hurried to the water's edge!

Far away on the distant horizon, something barely visible sat there!

They couldn't make out what it was!

Ning Shu shouted with all her might!

Lu Zhe shouted a few times too, but quickly realized something was wrong!

"Stop shouting. It's so far away that they can't hear us!"

"Then what do we do? We don't have a fire either!"

"Wait here. I'll climb a tree and look!"

Lu Zhe looked around, but there wasn't a single tree suitable for climbing!

With no other option, he lifted Ning Shu straight up. "Stand on my shoulders!"

"Oh... okay!"

Like an acrobat, Ning Shu stood shakily on Lu Zhe's shoulders while he held her ankles to help her balance!

Ning Shu shaded her eyes with both hands and looked in that direction!

But right then, the sun had already sunk behind the other side of the island!

Everything in the distance turned gray and hazy, and she could no longer make out its precise shape!

Ning Shu cried out anxiously, "Why did the sun have to set now?"

Lu Zhe lowered her. "The sun hasn't sunk below the horizon. We've come around to the other side of the island, and the high ground is blocking it!"

"Lu Zhe, is that a boat or not?"

Lu Zhe shook his head and said honestly, "To tell you the truth, I don't know either!"

"What do we do now?"

"We have two choices. Either wait here or go back to camp!"

"If we wait here, we'll freeze to death tonight, won't we?"

Lu Zhe nodded.

Ning Shu continued:

"If we go back to camp... and miss this chance to be rescued, we might never get another one."

Lu Zhe nodded again. "But we can make a distress signal here, then spell out our names with small stones to tell them someone's here! We'll come back tomorrow to check!"

"Good idea! Let's hurry!"

They put down what they were carrying and hurried to gather rocks to make a ground marker!

After more than half an hour of work, they finally finished a smaller-sized "SOS" ground marker!

They also used small stones to spell out, "5 people on the island. Help!"

Ning Shu looked at the words:

"But it's getting darker and darker. Even if a boat passes here, they might not spot it!"

"Rescue boats generally don't search at night! This should do. Let's head back!"

Only then did they pick up their things and start back!

And just then!

Lu Zhe noticed that the thing seemed to flash once!