Join the management group, I've stockpiled millions of supplies for survival at sea.

Pacific saury: "How did you die?"

Mackerel: "One fell into the crevice on the west side of the island. There's geothermal activity under that crevice, and it burned to death. The other was killed; his head was smashed."

Pacific saury: "Who killed it?"

Mackerel: "I don't know, but it wasn't me."

Yin Leyao turned off the group chat.

There are six players left.

Besides herself, there were at least two other people on the beach: one was the timid female player, and the other was with her.

The murderer is unknown.

She stood up and continued cutting down the tree.

When she cut the ninth tree in the afternoon, she heard a noise coming from deep in the woods.

It is not an animal.

It was the sound of footsteps, and there was more than one person.

Yin Leyao took down her bow, nocked an arrow, and retreated behind a large tree.

The footsteps grew closer, and two people emerged from the woods, a man and a woman.

The man was wearing a military green jacket and carrying an axe.

The woman followed behind, her head down and her hands tucked into her sleeves.

The man stopped at the edge of the open space and saw the tree trunks on the ground.

Then he saw Yin Leyao behind the tree trunk.

"Don't be nervous." The man raised one hand, while the other hand still held the axe, but the axe was hanging down and not raised.

"We were just passing by."

Yin Leyao did not put down the bow.

"Step back."

The man took a step back, and the woman followed suit, raising her face to glance at Yin Leyao.

She had bruises on her face and a cut on the corner of her mouth.

Yin Leyao recognized her; she was the timid female player from the beach yesterday.

What do you want?

"Let's find timber." The man pointed to the tree trunk on the ground with his axe. "But you can take this spot for now, and we can move to another forest."

His attitude wasn't exactly polite, but it wasn't provocative either.

Those eyes were fixed on the bow in Yin Leyao's hand, estimating the distance.

"There are also trees on the east side of the beach," Yin Leyao said.

"The trees over there on the beach are all crooked and can't be used as timber," the man said. "All the good timber on the island is in this area."

He glanced at the nine tree trunks on the ground and chuckled, "You chopped down so many by yourself? What are you building?"

Yin Leyao did not answer.

The man waited a few seconds, and seeing that she didn't speak, he shrugged: "Fine, I won't ask. Let's head north, there should be another area over there, let's go."

He turned and walked away.

The woman followed, and after a few steps, she turned back to look at Yin Leyao.

There was neither gratitude nor fear in her eyes, but something Yin Leyao couldn't quite understand.

The two disappeared into the woods.

Yin Leyao put down the bow, but did not relax.

She quickly chopped down the remaining three logs, making a total of twelve.

Then they dragged the tree trunks one by one toward the cave, two at a time, making six trips in total. By the time they finished the last trip, it was already getting dark.

She piled the logs outside the cave against the rock wall and tied them up with vines to prevent them from rolling away.

When we were looking for vines, we only found a small bundle, which was far from enough to tie up the raft.

We'll have to go to the rocky area on the east side of the foot of the mountain again tomorrow.

Back in the cave, the mollusk had already started a fire. The silly bird had gathered some dry branches, piled them on the embers, breathed fire to ignite them, and then lay down beside the fire waiting for her to return.

Upon seeing her enter, it stood up and called out as usual, then walked to the fire and spread its wings to indicate that it was its doing.

Yin Leyao tossed it a piece of dried meat.

The flamingo caught it in its mouth and swallowed it whole.

She washed the berries she had picked that day by a puddle, ate half of them, and saved the other half for tomorrow.

I ate two more pieces of dried meat.

The scabs on her leg were itchy, but she resisted the urge to scratch them.

After finishing her meal, she leaned against the cave wall and took out the raft blueprints to look at.

There were enough logs, but not enough vines, and no canvas.

The canvas is a problem.

You might be able to find it on the beach, but the man is camped on the east side of the beach, so if you go there to look for the canvas, you might run into him head-on.

As she was thinking, a sound came from outside the cave.

Very close.

It wasn't footsteps, it was the sound of voices.

"Right here." A male voice said, not the one from the woods during the day.

His voice was deeper and hoarse.

Yin Leyao stood up instantly, gripping the dagger in her hand and grabbing the bow.

Startled by her movements, the flamingo made a low growl in its throat and its feathers fluttered slightly.

"The entrance is blocked by leaves, there's someone inside," another voice said, this one sounding younger.

"It's good to have talented people; what's the point of me if there's no one?"

The coconut leaves at the entrance of the hole were torn off from the outside.

A cold wind blew in.

A man with a full beard stood at the entrance of the cave, holding a sharpened iron pipe in his hand, the tip of which was still stained with dried blood.

Behind him followed a tall, thin young man holding a wooden stick.

The bearded man glanced into the cave, saw Yin Leyao, and grinned.

"I knew there was someone there. And it was a woman."

He bent down, trying to crawl into the hole.

When I stepped down with my left foot, the animal trap sprang up.

The iron teeth bit into his calf, and he screamed in agony as he collapsed to the ground.

The iron pipe slipped from his hand and rolled to the side.

Yin Leyao has already nocked her arrow.

"Don't move."

The bearded man rolled on the ground clutching his leg, blood seeping from between the teeth of the trap, staining the soil red.

A tall, thin man stood behind, holding a wooden stick, his eyes darting back and forth between the bearded man and Yin Leyao, but he didn't step forward.

"I told you not to move." Yin Leyao drew the bowstring taut, the arrow tip pointing at the tall, thin man. "Throw what you're holding."

The tall, thin man hesitated for two seconds before throwing the wooden stick on the ground.

The bearded man gritted his teeth and tried to stand up, but Yin Leyao's arrow turned towards him.

"Don't move either."

"Do you know who I am?" the bearded man hissed, veins bulging on his forehead. "Do you know how many I've killed?"

"Three," Yin Leyao said. "Yesterday, someone on a nearby channel was cursing you, saying you stole their supplies. Today, you came here trying to steal mine."

The bearded man glared at her.

"How could you...?"

"I don't care," Yin Leyao interrupted him. "You have two choices now: take the trap off yourself and leave, or I'll shoot you with an arrow, and you'll have to take the trap off yourself and crawl away."

The bearded man's face contorted with pain and rage. He looked down at the animal trap on his leg, then at the fully drawn bow in Yin Leyao's hand.

The firebird emerged from behind Yin Leyao and stood at the cave entrance, its feathers spread wide, making it appear twice as large as usual.

It opened its mouth, and flames flickered in its throat.

The bearded man reached out to remove the clips.

The spring was very tight; he had to use both hands to pry it open and pull his leg out.

Two rows of bloody holes appeared on his calf, the wounds were open, and the white tendons were faintly visible.

He tore off the hem of his clothes and tied it to the wound to stop the bleeding.

He swayed slightly when he stood up.

The tall, thin man tried to help him up, but was slapped away.

Yin Leyao did not loosen the bowstring at all during the entire process.

"Walk."

The bearded man glared at Yin Leyao, then glanced at the firebird, picked up the iron pipe from the ground, and limped away.

The tall, thin man followed behind him, took a few steps, looked back once more, and then disappeared into the bushes.

Yin Leyao and the others only put down their bows after they had walked far away.

She didn't pursue him now.

Chasing after an injured person on the island is pointless; with the bearded man's leg so badly injured, even if he doesn't die, he'll be crippled.

She reset the animal trap and put it back in its original position.

She leveled the ground that had been trampled on with soil. Half of the coconut leaves at the entrance of the hole had been torn off, so she cut a few new ones and replaced them.

Back in the cave, she sat back down by the fire.

All the blisters on my hands had burst, and blood seeped through the cloth strips.

She unwrapped the strip of cloth and wrapped it around again.

The flamingo lay down next to her, its feathers slowly folding together, and the flame in its throat went out.

Yin Leyao placed her hand on its back; it was warm under the feathers.