Comic strip: Survival on a deserted island, surrounded by heroines

The ribbon in the bow hung down beside her cheeks, damp with sweat and stuck to her skin.

"Hoo~!"

After walking and stopping for a while, Yukino spotted a slightly protruding rock wall.

The vines hung down from above, like a curtain.

Yukino carefully approached and used her shoulder to push aside the vines.

Inside was a small, narrow cave, but it was sheltered on at least three sides, and the ground was dry sand.

She gently put Snow Mother down and helped her sit against the rock wall.

"Mother, let's spend the night here."

"Okay, I'll listen to Yukino."

Yukino nodded, then turned around and gathered some dried vines and fallen leaves near the cave entrance.

She compacted it as much as possible at the entrance, serving as a simple barrier.

The mother's eyes were half-closed, and her breathing was more even than before.

Yukino sat down beside her and fed Yukino's mother a few more mouthfuls of the remaining water.

Then he leaned against the other side of the rock wall, his knees curled up against his chest.

"Can we go back?"

Looking at the unfamiliar world outside, Yukino felt a sense of confusion.

Darkness gradually seeped into the forest.

The birdsong stopped, replaced by the chirping of insects and the howling of an unknown creature in the distance, like sobs or growls.

Yukino covered her mother with her school uniform jacket, while she herself was only wearing a thin shirt.

The night air seeped out from the rock face, and she involuntarily shivered.

Unable to fall asleep peacefully, Snow Mother asked, "Are you cold?"

"It's not cold..."

Snow Mother reached out and took her hand.

Hot fingers dug between her fingers, with a burning intensity unique to those ill.

"....Yukino."

"Is something wrong, Mother?"

"I'll go with you tomorrow..."

"Absolutely not!" Yukino interrupted her, her voice soft but firm.

After a moment of silence, her mother said, "You're becoming more and more stubborn."

"I learned it from you."

The temperature between my fingers rose a little more.

Yukino turned her head and, in the last glimmer of daylight, saw her mother with her eyes closed, but a smile still lingered on her lips.

Her heart ached and swelled, and she gripped that hand tightly in return.

"Sleep well, Mother."

"I will find food and herbs tomorrow, there must be a way!"

The mother didn't say anything more, but just held Yukino close for warmth, their breathing gradually becoming longer.

Yukino opened her eyes and peered through the gaps in the vines into the dark forest outside.

She didn't know what she would find tomorrow, nor how many dangers lurked in the woods.

But she knew that she would have to get up when dawn broke.

She must.

Chapter 39: Aoyama-kun is really obsessed with food.

In the forest on the other side.

As we continued our exploration of Qingshan, the humus beneath our feet felt soft and yielding, and occasionally we could hear the calls of unknown birds in the distance.

He slowed his pace, his eyes scanning the surrounding bushes and tree trunks warily.

After gaining the ability of "omniscience", his field of vision is astonishingly wide. He can capture the movements in all directions at the same time without almost turning his head.

At the base of an old oak tree, he found a snake coiled in a pile of fallen leaves.

The snake's body was about the thickness of an adult's wrist, its triangular head slightly raised, and its tongue flicking in and out as it probed the air for scents.

Aoyama drew his machete from behind his waist, the blade flashing a cold light.

"Snap—!"

With a swift stroke, the snake's head was cleanly and decisively severed, while its body continued to writhe reflexively.

He skillfully skinned and gutted the snake, cut the snake meat into several pieces, skewered them on tree branches, and roasted them over a small fire.

[Feeding Log: Snake x1]

Current progress: 1/20

[Effect Preview: Venomous Fangs, Softening (Snake) - Requires continued consumption of similar food items to complete activation.]

"Twenty of the same kind... forget about it."

After eating the snake meat, Qingshan shook his head, stood up, and continued walking forward.

The snake density in this area isn't very high, and it would take many days to gather twenty snakes. It's really not worth spending so much effort for a single venomous fang ability.

We walked for a while longer.

He found dozens of caterpillars gnawing on the rotting bark of a fallen tree trunk.

The caterpillars were emerald green with black spots, each about the length of a finger, plump and slowly wriggling.

Aoyama looked at them for a few seconds, then decisively turned and left.

"...I just can't swallow this!"

Unless there are enough caterpillars to give him the power to use at once, he really doesn't have much interest in stuffing them into his mouth one by one.

He continued his journey through the forest, encountering several more creatures along the way, such as a nest of ants in a tree hollow, several lizards sunbathing by the stream, and a centipede hiding in a crevice in the rocks.

However, these were either too few in number to meet the activation threshold, or their abilities were not helpful to his current situation. Aoyama simply made a list of the types.

"We still haven't found the giant bear."

"A crocodile would be fine too."

As Qingshan climbed up a small earthen slope, preparing to find a place to rest and replenish his water, he suddenly caught sight of an unusual outline deep within a dense thicket of bushes ahead.

He pushed aside the bushes and went closer to take a look; his pupils contracted slightly.

"What is this?"

Beneath a huge tree, there was a nest made of mud and dead branches.

The entrance to the nest was about half a person's height, and there were still some claw marks and pressure marks at the entrance.

"What kind of animal's nest is this?"

Qingshan crouched down and examined the marks around the nest. The claw marks did not appear to belong to any of the common animals he knew.

The shape is somewhat rounded and blunt, with large spacing, clearly left by a big guy.

To his surprise, the nest seemed to have been abandoned. There were fallen leaves and soil piled up at the entrance, indicating that it had not been disturbed for at least several days.

He cautiously peeked into the nest.

The nest was deeper than expected, and the light was dim, but the light coming through the entrance allowed us to vaguely see a huge egg at the very back.

The egg was a pale off-white color with fine speckled patterns on its surface. It was much larger than any bird egg he had ever seen before, about the size of an ostrich egg!

Aoyama reached in and felt the eggshell. It was warm to the touch but not scalding hot, indicating that it had been left out for some time. However, there was no sign of damage to the egg itself.

He tried shaking it gently, and a very slight swaying sensation came from inside.

"Is it still alive?"

Aoyama frowned, hesitated for a moment, and then took the egg out of the nest.

The egg felt heavy in my hand, and there was some mud on the surface.

He looked up at the sky; the sun was already beginning to set, and it would get dark soon if he didn't turn back.

"It's time to go back."

Aoyama wrapped the large egg in his coat and then started heading back along the route he had come from.

He quickened his pace along the way, moving much faster through the woods than he had come.

Finally, as the setting sun turned the horizon orange-red, I saw the familiar shelter.

Smoke rising from the cave entrance drifted obliquely in the evening breeze, filling the air with the aroma of smoked meat and firewood.

"I'm back."

Kasumigaoka Utaha was sitting by the fire, turning over a piece of smoked meat, when she heard the sound and looked up.

"Welcome back today..."

She stopped abruptly halfway through her sentence, her gaze falling on the round object that Qingshan had wrapped in his coat.

"Aoyama-kun, what is this?"

Izumi Sagiri, who was originally squatting inside the cave arranging the smoked meat rack, curiously poked half of her body out when she heard the sound, her long silver-white hair swaying gently with her movements.

Aoyama carefully placed his coat next to the straw mat, revealing the large, off-white egg inside.

"Found it on the road, in an abandoned nest."

Kasumigaoka Utaha immediately put down the meat she was holding, walked over, squatted down, and carefully examined the egg. She reached out and gently touched the shell: "At this size... no one would believe it's not an ostrich egg, right?"

Izumi Sagiri also came over, bending over with her hands on her knees to observe: "Is...is it still alive?"

"I don't know, there was some noise inside when I shook it." Aoyama sat by the fire and stretched his arms.

"It looks a lot like an ostrich egg." Kasumigaoka Utaha tapped the eggshell again, making a soft, resonant sound.

"However, it's unlikely that it will appear in this place."

"Moreover, ostrich eggs are usually pale yellow, while this one is whitish."

As Qingshan added firewood to the fire, he said, "It doesn't matter, we can cook or roast it tonight."

"An egg this big should taste really good boiled," he added casually.

Kasumigaoka Utaha glanced at him, a slight smile playing on her lips: "Aoyama-kun is really obsessed with food."

“After all, food is the most important resource,” Aoyama replied matter-of-factly.

Izumi Sagiri squatted next to the egg, gently poking the surface of the shell with her finger, her curiosity impossible to hide.

However, at that moment...

"Snap—!"

An extremely faint sound came from the direction of the eggshell.

The three of them were stunned at the same time.

"Snap—!"

There was another sound, clearer than before, and a small crack appeared on the top of the eggshell.

Izumi Sagiri abruptly pulled her hand back and took half a step back: "It...it cracked!"

Qingshan immediately stood up, quickly walked to the egg, and squatted down.

The cracks were expanding at a visible rate, radiating outwards from the top. Intermittent knocking sounds came from inside the eggshell, clearly indicating that the little creature inside was trying to break free.

"Tap, tap, tap—!"