While the sky was still bathed in the glow of dawn, a bonfire was lit at the entrance of Petru's cave, and the aroma of roasted fish wafted through the thick smoke.
Crow hopped around nearby, Guagua occasionally. A fat yellow cat followed behind him.
"Yes, that's right. Move around more, and you'll be able to eat more," the Boss Coal said to Hanran.
"This is the first time I've ever seen a cat that waits for the fish to be fully cooked before eating it," Petru said, spraying salt and pepper onto the grill.
"This is the first time you've ever seen a talking bird, isn't it?" the Crow cawed smugly.
"No, I've seen parrots," Petru said.
"Oh, parrot..." The Crow suddenly fell silent, as if recalling distant memories, looking up at the sky that was darkening, rising higher, and becoming increasingly ethereal.
"What's wrong? Remembering your first love? Haha!" Petru really enjoyed talking to this bird.
"What? First love..." the Boss Coal muttered to himself, then suddenly caught sight of Hanran looking at him. "Oh, no, no, no first love, no! Those were just rumors. All celebrities have rumors, don't they? It's normal for a smart bird like me to have a few rumors, but that was definitely not my first love, absolutely not!"
Inside the cave, Su Huilan sat at the table, carefully cleaning the chip that was still attached to the flesh and bone.
On the table were two bottles of liquor, labeled "Spirytus" and a large "96%". This was Polish rectified vodka, known as "the water of life" by Western connoisseurs, with an alcohol content of 96%. It was indeed made from grains, but had undergone more than seventy distillations. Just one sip would numb the lips from dehydration, paralyze the nerves in the esophagus, and leave the stomach feeling like it had been punched hard. It is said that someone once lit a cigarette while drinking, igniting the alcohol and burning to death, yet he felt no pain because he was drunk.
There was a computer in Petru's cave. At first, Qingmu thought he had brought a network cable from the island, but now he realized that he had a satellite signal receiver and converter that could access the Internet through a dedicated commercial communication satellite.
Qingmu turned on his phone, connected to Petru's Wi-Fi, hesitated for a long time, then opened the Ghost file on his phone's home screen, dragged and dropped the woman's profile picture into it, and entered a message:
who is she?
He wasn't sure if this mysterious Ghost file could contact the Ghost, given the distance. If it could, it would probably be forwarded through other consciousness entities on the Internet.
He didn't tell Su Huilan what he was doing. He still had some vague ideas about the Ghost, and he didn't want too many people to know before he had fully figured it out himself. Even Professor Mei Yiqiu wasn't entirely clear about his relationship with the Ghost; he only knew that the server cluster in the basement had developed consciousness, and that Qingmu could enter the dream world of this machine consciousness and make contact with the Internet.
Professor Mei had considered forming an Internet Consciousness research team and having Qingmu participate, but due to the urgent need for the Parasitic Consciousness invasion and the Space Box development project, he couldn't spare the time and energy and had to put it aside for the time being.
When the vodka bottle was opened, a strong smell of alcohol wafted out.
Because the chip was connected to the nerve bundle and the vertebrae, it couldn't be inserted through the narrow opening of the bottle. Su Huilan could only find a sealed jar that Petru used to preserve food, clean it with alcohol, put the chip and bone inside, pour in alcohol, and finally seal it.
"The seal is pretty good," she said, shaking the jar in her hand and smelling it. "It should keep for two months without any problems."
"Why not send it back as soon as possible?" Qingmu asked.
"How will you deliver it? By courier?" Su Huilan almost burst out laughing.
"Aren't there any delivery services on the island?" Qingmu asked blankly.
"Even if we have them, it won't work. Liquid alcohol and human tissue samples won't pass the tests," Su Huilan said. "We'll store them at the airport tomorrow and have my friend come pick them up in his private plane. It'll be quick to get them to New Zealand, but getting them back to China will be more troublesome."
At this moment, Petru came in and said, "Do you want to send it to China? We can use sea freight; I know the sea routes well. I'll make the contact tomorrow and guarantee the goods will reach a China port. But you need to notify someone to pick it up at the dock in advance; they don't handle things after it lands."
Su Huilan asked, "When can we send it out?"
"About a week, their ship will take a week to get here."
"That won't do, we have to leave tomorrow." Su Huilan shook her head after saying that, stood up, and handed the bottle to Qingmu. "No, we have to leave tonight."
"What should we do with this?" Qingmu asked, holding up the bottle.
"Put it in your bag. We should have been back by now, two months from now," Su Huilan said.
"It would be best if I could go back home for the Spring Festival."
Qingmu muttered as he stuffed the bottle into his backpack. As he unzipped it, he saw that willow branch again, still green, seemingly never to wither.
Petru's cooking was indeed excellent; the Crow and the cat were enjoying their meal immensely.
While eating, Su Huilan asked, " Petru, where is your ship?"
"It's in the bay behind the canyon," Petru said, pointing to the dense forest on the left. "Go out from there, turn the corner, and you'll see it. The boat can leave anytime, and it has enough food for us for half a month."
"Why didn't you dock where we can see you from here?" Su Huilan asked suspiciously. "I hope your boat hasn't been tampered with. I think you should check it. Who knows if those two people went to your boat before coming to the island, or if they have any other accomplices?"
Petru shook his head, saying confidently, "It's very secluded there, surrounded by reefs. Even the locals don't go out to sea from there. So no boats will dock there; they'll have to come from other parts of the island. Tapu and this canyon are the only way through, and they can't escape my notice."
"I think you should still get checked out," Su Huilan insisted.
"Alright, you guys eat first, I'll go check it out." Petru stood up reluctantly, shouldered a gun, and went down into the canyon.
After he had walked a distance, Qingmu said, "If they really have accomplices, Petru won't be a match for them."
"That's not necessarily true!" Su Huilan said. "On the surface, we saved him today. But think about it carefully, we didn't kill those two people."
"You mean...?" Qingmu thought about it. Indeed, both of them were shot and killed by Petru, but it seemed unlikely that he was faking it.
"Ever since Petru obtained the nautical chart, he has been hunted down for a long time. The importance of the nautical chart is self-evident. Even if the people who hunted him before were not as good as these two today, they wouldn't be much worse. Could it be that he has only survived by luck each time?" Su Huilan analyzed.
"But we've all entered his subconscious, and you even hypnotized him," Qingmu said.
"I'm just wondering. He knew that people were chasing him for the nautical chart he had, so why didn't he hand it over to save his life?"
Even if we hand it over, they won't let him off the hook, will they?
"But once he hands it over, as long as he goes into hiding again, no one will be so eager to find him anymore. It's not like it's a blood feud! Besides, apart from the nautical chart, did they really throw the Mummy into the sea? Is Petru really completely ignorant about the Awakening Organization and the underwater pyramids? Why did he choose to hide on Tubuai Island instead of hiding elsewhere, and even personally surveyed the area on the nautical chart? Is he really hiding here just to use Tapu's natural Mental Power to protect himself, or is he researching something?"
After listening to Su Huilan's series of questions, Qingmu smiled and said, "It seems you planned to come to see him all along."