Oh no! I've been kept as a pet by a stray killer whale!

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Che heard the drowsy yet incredibly reassuring mutterings of Da Pang echoing in his mind:

"What's all the noise about... staying up so late..."

"Third brother, move over there a bit, don't press down on my tail."

"That little guy, is he still keeping the light on? Isn't he sleepy?"

"Forget it, let's just take a nap here. This place is close to him, and if any wolves or leopards dare to come out of the woods, I can yell them back with one shout."

"Sleep...sleep..."

There was no exciting background music.

Only these few fragmented, weary words remained.

But to Jiang Che's ears, it was more melodious than any lullaby in the world.

He looked at the row of neat, black dorsal fins, gently rising and falling with the waves. They were like a black wall, stretching between the sea and the land, protecting that vulnerable human being in the most clumsy and dangerous way.

Jiang Che's eyes instantly welled up with tears.

He turned around, looked at the camera, and pointed to the group of large, steaming machines behind him.

He didn't speak.

No explanation needed.

No proof is needed.

At this moment, these five sleeping figures are the most powerful rebuttal to all doubts.

After a full minute of silence, the chat room erupted in tears.

I was wrong... I shouldn't have doubted the streamer...

They didn't leave... they really didn't leave!

[Waaaaah, what an amazing friendship! They even dared to sleep in the shallows just to keep the streamer company!]

[Where's the guy who said he was going to send ten rockets? Come out here! Stop playing dead!]

[Sent! I sent fish balls to Big Fatty! He's a true guardian angel!]

Looking at those dorsal fins, I suddenly felt that the pitch-black night wasn't so scary after all.

Jiang Che gently wiped the corner of his eye and gave the camera a relieved smile.

"Alright, guys."

"Looks like my bodyguards are in position."

"Tonight, I can finally get a good night's sleep."

Goodnight, world.

As the drone's lights gradually dimmed until only a faint nightlight remained, Jiang Che lay back down on the palm leaf.

The gentle lapping of the waves and the heavy breathing of the big, fat animals were all I could hear.

On this desolate island, on this night fraught with danger.

He felt a sense of peace he had never known before.

The first rays of morning sunlight pierced through the thin clouds, like a golden brush gently sweeping across this sleeping, desolate island.

Amidst the rising and falling sounds of the waves, a new voice suddenly joined in.

"quack--!"

The voice was sharp, hoarse, and extremely penetrating, like scratching a blackboard with a fingernail, instantly causing one's blood pressure to spike.

Jiang Che frowned, still half asleep.

He felt something pecking at the zipper of his rain jacket, making a "tap tap tap" sound.

"Stop fooling around... just five more minutes of sleep..."

Jiang Che subconsciously waved his hand, thinking it was the cat at home that hadn't been fed yet.

However, the sensation on the back of my hand wasn't soft cat fur, but a tuft of stiff, slippery feathers. Immediately afterwards, the sound of flapping wings filled the air, and a gust of wind carrying the scent of the sea swept over me.

Jiang Che suddenly opened his eyes.

The first thing that catches the eye is an enlarged image of a bird's face with a yellow, hooked beak.

It was a large silver gull.

It was standing on Jiang Che's chest, and its big black eyes showed no fear of humans at all. Instead, they were filled with an extremely unpleasant scrutiny and contempt.

Seeing that Jiang Che had woken up, the seagull did not panic and fly away.

It calmly flapped its wings twice and hopped from Jiang Che onto the sand beside him. Then, it tilted its head, sizing up the disheveled human, and let out a low, mocking growl.

"Gah~ Uh~"

His expression was exactly like that of an elderly man in the neighborhood who had just gotten up and gone downstairs for a stroll, while also watching the commotion.

"..."

Jiang Che rubbed his aching temples and sat up from the pile of palm leaves.

"So, you're here to collect a debt so early in the morning too?"

Jiang Che glared at the seagull with annoyance. He recognized the bird; it had been circling around the area all day yesterday, its eyes always darting around suspiciously.

The seagull ignored him and, in an extremely arrogant manner, defecated a pile of white bird droppings right in front of him, "next to his bed." Then, it gracefully spread its wings, glided to the top of a coconut tree not far away, and continued to stare down at him from above.

"Fine, you're ruthless."

Jiang Che shook his head helplessly.

I didn't sleep well.

Although the presence of orcas in the sea provided him with a great sense of psychological security, the physical torment was real. The beach, though seemingly soft, felt as hard as concrete after a while. Coupled with the dampness of the night and the bites from unknown insects, Jiang Che felt as if he had been stuffed in a sack and beaten, his bones cracking all over.

"I can't sleep like this anymore."

Jiang Che stood up, stretched his stiff neck, and looked at the beautiful but damp and mosquito-infested beach. His eyes hardened.

"Today is the second day since we landed. Our top priority is to build a proper shelter."

"Otherwise, I would have developed rheumatism before the rescue arrived."

At this moment, the Sky Eye drone has automatically woken up from hibernation mode, silently took off, and started a new day of live streaming.

There weren't many early risers, only a few hundred, but they were all die-hard fans.

[Good morning, anchor! Are you still alive?]

[Look at the dark circles under the streamer's eyes, he definitely didn't sleep well last night.]

[It's a deserted island after all; being able to sleep at all is a miracle. Are those orcas still there?]

That seagull was so arrogant! I was afraid it would peck the anchor's eyes.

Jiang Che yawned at the camera, washed his face briefly with seawater, and began today's "infrastructure project".

"Guys, we're not doing a mukbang today."

"As you can see, my current living conditions are very poor. Sleeping on the beach for a long time will cause me to lose body heat, and once the tide comes in, I may be swept into the sea and fed to the fish while I'm sleeping."

"So, I decided to use the morning to build myself a house."

As Jiang Che spoke, he walked towards the area where driftwood was piled up at the edge of the island.

After yesterday's storm, the beach was piled high with dead wood, branches, and bamboo washed ashore by the waves. What would be trash to ordinary tourists is a veritable building materials market, a gift from heaven, for those surviving on a deserted island.

"Many people have a misunderstanding about scientific researchers, thinking that we are all bookworms who are lazy and can't distinguish between grains."

Jiang Che bent down and picked out a piece of hardwood that was as thick as a thigh and more than three meters long.

This should be the trunk of a fallen mangrove tree. It is hard and, although it was soaked in water, it did not rot.

"Actually, that's not the case."

"Especially for marine biologists like us who conduct field research."

"We not only need to be able to write papers, but also repair ships, dive, move heavy equipment, and even climb trees when we encounter danger in the wild."

After saying that, Jiang Che took a deep breath and focused his energy in his dantian.

"rise!"