Qingmu and Su Huilan followed the footprints left in the forest. Since the islanders here didn't wear shoes, they could find the two people's trail by following the footprints.
They hadn't gone far when they heard a series of wailing sounds behind them, probably the man who had gone back to report the news bringing a large group of reinforcements.
"I wonder if Petru has caught up?" Qingmu had already witnessed the formidable fighting power of these savages. With Petru's abilities, taking on a few shouldn't be a problem, but if he were surrounded by a group of savages in close combat, even a gun wouldn't be effective, and he'd probably have to resort to throwing grenades. As for whether he'd blow himself up, that was another story.
Su Huilan, however, wasn't worried at all. "He's survived all these years, this guy won't die so easily!"
Qingmu recalled the old man with the scepter in the savage woman's dream, and a vague unease crept into his heart.
The stream ahead forked, the footprints on the ground disappeared, and two pairs of shoes were left at the fork in the stream.
Qingmu said, "They must have waded through the stream."
Su Huilan examined the area carefully and pointed to the wet grass by the stream, saying, "There are traces of water here."
Qingmu shook his head and said, "They probably left it on purpose. They didn't try to cover their tracks along the way, and seemed to be running in a panic. But when they got here, they suddenly dropped their shoes and walked into the water. This shows that they were very rational when they escaped, knowing that only by using the stream could they avoid leaving traces. So they only entered the water when the stream forked."
Su Huilan said, "Now that we're in two directions, should we split up and search?"
Qingmu said, "There are three directions."
Su Huilan was taken aback, then realized. "You mean, they'll go upstream?"
Qingmu said, "That's possible, and very likely. Think about why they would throw away their shoes? Walking in the water with shoes on is uncomfortable, but running on land is much better than going barefoot."
Su Huilan nodded. "I understand. If they walk back a bit and then go ashore again, even if they leave footprints, they will be barefoot. Because there are also shoe prints, when the savages chase them, they will only follow the shoe prints and will mistake their barefoot footprints for their own and won't notice them."
Qingmu said, "There's another point. The shoes could have been carried in their hands. Two pairs of shoes aren't heavy, and carrying them would have made it less likely that people would think they were going back. Now that the shoes have been thrown away, it means that one of them is injured, and seriously injured at that. The two of them probably need to support each other to move forward, so they can't carry the shoes."
Su Huilan laughed and said, "When you're not lazy, you really have the makings of a detective. Why don't you come to United States with me after this is all done? We could open a detective agency or a consulting firm, that would be great!"
"Go to United States?" Qingmu thought of Liuying Lane and that old willow tree. "Forget it, I'm homesick; I can't go anywhere else."
"Homesickness?" Su Huilan sighed softly. "It's more like a lover!"
Qingmu didn't answer, but looked at Su Huilan's feet and said, "Take off your shoes."
"Huh?" Su Huilan didn't react for a moment.
Qingmu said, "We'll take off our shoes and wade through the water, otherwise the savages on the island will keep chasing us."
At this moment, the wailing sounds behind them grew louder, but no gunshots rang out, indicating that Petru had not engaged in a direct confrontation with them.
Su Huilan obediently took off her jungle boots and stepped barefoot into the stream. Although it was summer, the temperature on the island was not high, and the dense forest blocked the sunlight, making the stream water icy cold.
She saw Qingmu pick up the two pairs of shoes he had discarded on the shore, and then wade into the water in his flip-flops. She laughed and said, "I never knew wearing flip-flops had such advantages!"
Su Huilan was not used to walking barefoot, especially in the water. Stepping on the pebbles made her feet tingle and feel numb, while the water gently soaked her skin. But Qingmu walked very fast, and she had to keep up closely.
"Have you seen the movie 'It Happened One Night'?" she asked from behind.
Qingmu grunted an "Mmm" and continued walking forward with his head down. The "Mmm" sounded like it was in the fourth tone, and also in the third tone; it was impossible to tell whether he had seen it or not.
"It won five Academy Awards!" Su Huilan seemed to want to get Qingmu to pay attention to the film. "It's the most romantic film ever made. I think it's even more romantic than ' Rome Holiday'."
Qingmu grunted again, but it was impossible to tell how many times he'd done it. He just kept wading through the water, his bell-bottoms already half-soaked.
"Do you know what the most romantic scene is?" Su Huilan looked at Qingmu's broad back and answered herself, "It's the scene where the male lead carries the female lead across the river."
Qingmu hummed in agreement, but slowed down as he walked, examining the details along the shore for any signs of anyone coming ashore.
Su Huilan sighed, thinking to herself, "What a blockhead! He has no sense of chivalry whatsoever!"
She suddenly felt a sharp pain under her foot, realizing she had stepped on something, and cried out in pain.
Qingmu then turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"
Su Huilan, however, refused to back down. Seeing him turn around, she stubbornly said, "It's nothing, I just accidentally stepped on a pebble, it's alright."
Her stubbornness alerted Qingmu, who noticed the problem and walked over, saying, "Lift your foot and let me see."
Although Su Huilan was strong-willed, her foot was indeed a little sore, so she held onto Qingmu's shoulder and lifted her right foot. She saw a small gash on the sole of her foot, and although it wasn't big, blood was slowly seeping out.
Qingmu said, "Come sit down on the shore quickly, I'll bandage you up."
Su Huilan said, "It's just a little scratched, I'm not that delicate."
Ignoring her, Qingmu swept her up in his arms. Su Huilan cried out and instinctively wrapped her arms around Qingmu's neck. Her face flushed instantly, but seeing Qingmu's serious expression, she realized she had overthought things and felt quite guilty. But this guilt only made her face turn even redder.
Qingmu put her down on the shore, helped her sit down, and then returned to where Su Huilan had been standing, bending down to feel around in the water.
"There shouldn't be anything sharp in this kind of stream, but it's hard to guarantee that there might be arrowheads or poisoned needles left behind by the islanders."
He fished in the water for a while and then pulled up a small triangular object. He examined it in his hand. "This is an arrowhead made of seashells, very sharp. Luckily, this thing is clean, so it won't cause tetanus. Even if they applied poison to it, the toxicity has been neutralized after being soaked in water for so long."
Su Huilan had already found first-aid medicine and tools in her backpack. She was relieved to hear that they were not poisonous and that she didn't need a tetanus shot.
Qingmu placed the seashell in Su Huilan's hand. "Keep it as a souvenir."
Su Huilan examined the seashell closely and found that it had been polished into a very sharp, pointed shape. It was probably buried in a crevice in the rocks underwater. Her foot had been cut by it. If she stepped on it, she would probably make a hole and then she wouldn't be able to walk anymore.
Qingmu sat down next to her, lifted her foot and placed it on his lap, then picked up an alcohol swab and began to clean her wound. The alcohol stung as it seeped into the wound, but Su Huilan didn't resist at all, behaving as obediently as a sheep being sheared.
Su Huilan watched him haphazardly wash the soles of her feet with alcohol, apply iodine to the wound, and clumsily apply a sutureless bandage. Although these actions were rough and unorthodox, she could tell that he was very serious, as serious as a child.
"You know, the male protagonist Peter in the movie was also a blockhead, but he eventually figured things out," she said.
Qingmu hummed in agreement again, then looked up. "A movie? What movie?"