Chapter 30 “Roar on the deserted island”
By the time Du Wei awoke this morning, the bonfire had already been quenched with bits of smoke still fuming from its ashes. Feeling cold, he moves his body to find something leaning against his chest.
Looking down, he found it was Vivian. Unsure when this little sorceress had snuck up to his side during their sleep, she had wrapped her body against his with her hands inside his shirt, attempting to draw the last bit of heat from his body.
Thinking about, Du Wei can only conjecture the girl was too cold at night so her body inexplicably drew next to his, the closest source of heat.
Sighing, he decided not to wake her immediately; instead, he cautiously removed his outer wear to cover up the poor girl before standing up.
As soon as he looks up, his face abruptly changed colors!!!
……
“No!!!! Shit!!!! No!!!!!!” Early in the morning of this deserted island, Du Wei uttered a shrill cry of rage and frustration.
- ?
Thick fog covered the surface of the sea while the world itself seems to be covered in a thick veil of white. With so much moisture littered in the air, he could barely make anything out. At best, the visibility range would be no more than ten meters!!
Under these bad conditions, how can Du Wei not be anxious?
He’s trapped on this isolated island, there’s no food, little drinkable water, and his eagerness to leave this island depended solely on someone passing by and noticing their signal.
For this end, Du Wei had planned things out: as soon as morning hit, he would light fires across the coast and let the smoke fill the sky to attract any passing boats, if there’s any in the vicinity that is.
However, now, facing such a thick fog, Du Wei‘s heart turned so cold it was like ice!
Facing weather so bad that one can barely see anything, even if he did go along with his plan of lighting up a series of bonfires, no could possibly see them!!
What’s worse, according to what Du Wei knew, once the weather becomes foggy on the sea, it will generally last a really long time .
Different from the fog on land, which would disappear within a day or two, the fog on the sea could last for days on end without anyone finding it strange.
Three to five days…
“Do I still have three to five days left?” Du Wei asks himself for he has not eaten anything up till now.
Woken up by Du Wei’s voice, Vivian saw how gloomy he was and became more or less worried.
Du Wei said nothing. Hastily picking up some twigs, he piles them together and sets it ablaze, all the while trying to make the flames bigger.
He then ran around and gathered some more twigs and threw them in front of Vivian.
“Hey, you stay here and watch the fire. If there’s any sign that the fire is going to fade, immediately throw in the woods to keep it going strong! No matter what, do not let the fire burn out at any cost, you understand? And, I need you to watch the sea carefully. If there’s any boat in sight, don’t hold back and shoot a fireball into the sky to attract their attention. You understand me?”
“Ye…yes” Vivian nodded her head, but her face immediately turns interrogatory, “But can…can we even see the boat under such a heavy fog? Can the boat… see us?”
Du Wei exhales heavily and doesn’t answer the question, “Just do what i say, this is the only thing we can do.”
After saying that, Du Wei picks a long stick and holds it in his hand for a while, then, he walks away along the seaside.
“Wh….where are you going?”
“I am going to find some food!” Du Wei speaks without any emotion in his voice “I think, maybe I could find some mushroom, or some wild berries. These woods are so big; perhaps I can find something edible. May fate shine on me, cause scavenging is easier then fishing! But if I can’t find anything, I might have to risk it and go underwater for the fishes.”
Du Wei halted his words when he reached this part: “You better pray I find some food, otherwise we be left with no choice but to eat your pet. No matter what, people must live before their pets!”
Facing the cold gaze from Du Wei before he left, Vivian couldn’t help but shiver.
On this run Du Wei was gone for the whole morning, leaving Vivian alone on the beach, scared and helpless.
It’s not the first time Vivian was left alone before. Back at her teacher’s place, it’s not unusual for her teacher to disappear for months on end without returning; however, she always had magic to aid her.
But here, she had nothing. No magic, no reliance, nobody…..
Working on the fire the whole morning, Vivian’s hand eventually got some small cuts due to the sharp twigs and her face was smoky black from the fume.
Then noon finally came and Du Wei returned.
Watching Du Wei limping over from afar, Vivian can tell he was injured, but the relieving part was the happy expression coming off from that face.
There, on his neck hung a vine that looked like it was dug from the ground, likely the roots of some plant for specs of soil clung onto the surface.
He used one of his hands to support himself with the walking stick and the other to carry a twig full of berries. With one look, the appealing color of those grape sized berries were enough to make her mouth water.
Without a doubt, those must be so tasty!
She can’t wait to eat them!
Before this experience, this female magician had never experienced the feeling of hunger, let alone starvation!
“Foooooooood! Yooooooou finally found it!” Barefooted, Vivian cheerfully ran towards Du Wei.
Watching the excited face on Vivian, Du Wei seems to have his spirit rise a bit before the smile on his fade away: “Don’t get happy so early. These are all that I found through this morning’s search.” He says this with a stern face.
Walking strangely for a bit, Vivian finally noticed Du Wei’s injury, several cuts were dug into his feet. The sharp ground must have torn through the skin during his search.
“Okay, let’s eat first.”
Du Wei places his booty down and points to the string of plants with their vines hanging out: “These plants are the ones I can recognize. When it comes to pharmaceutics, I’m not too shabby. They are all wild herbs with many functioning uses and their roots are edible; what’s more, they are pretty big.”
Washing all the plants with the sea water, Du Wei then hands them to Vivian, “These are all yours. You could just eat them raw, or if you prefer, you could grill them on the fire.”
Vivian dazes out for a moment. Looking down at the rooted herbs in her hand, a inexplicable surge of displeasure hit her as she pouts: “I-i-I want to eat the berries…..”
“No, you eat this, I‘ll eat the berries.” Du Wei speaks with a calm but irresistible voice.
That voice scared Vivian, making her want to weep at her treatment.
Feeling deadly sad, Vivian thought: this guy must be doing it on purpose! He’s punishing poor little Vivian! Yes, it must be that, his revenge against Vivian because she doesn’t let him eat Cheche!
Even though her heart was full of grievance, she can do nothing else besides squatting down at the fireplace to roast her own plant roots. Once brown and toasty, she stuffs them into her mouth carelessly.
The roots picked by Du Wei weren’t bad by any means in terms of taste, or to be more accurate, they had no flavor whatsoever. Worst of all, the texture were tough, making it very difficult to chew. After two stems, Vivian already grew tired of the thing.
Meanwhile, Du Wei just sat right there in front of Vivian, silently gobbling up the berries one by one after a little chew.
Gradually, Vivian’s gaze can’t stop staring at those juicy berries…
Swallowing hard, she thought, “Those berries… must be pretty tasty… what a mean guy he is!”
“Why are you looking at me?” Du Wei smiles coldly “Are you blaming me for not giving you the berries and letting you eat the roots instead?”
Vivian pouts without saying a word.
Taking advantage of Du Wei’s divided attention, Vivian secretly plucks a berry off the twig without him noticing. Her outfit was that of a mages robe, loose and big, easily capable of hiding a berry underneath her sleeve.
Then, as Du Wei looks to the other direction, Vivian throws the berry into her mouth and quickly bites down heavily…
Just as she expected the sweet sensational flavor to hit her tongue……
EEEWWWWWW!!!!!!
Vivian’s expression took a major change. Strange and awkward, she threw up the berry without a second thought!
“What the hell is this? It’s too sour to eat! The puckery taste could twist and numb the tongue!! Vivian had the urge to vomit!”
Are these berries really edible?
Du Wei only gave a small smile after seeing Vivian’s unpleasant reaction. He had already guessed what had happened. Then with one last bite, he slowly chewed the remaining berry and stood: “Okay, now that we’re done eating, it’s time to work.”
Just then Vivian hesitated. Looking at the empty branch on the ground, and then turning her sight back to the roots in her hand….. Compared to the sickly sour berries, these bland roots are far more delicious!
Now she understood.
“You eat this, I’ll eat the berries” Those words kept haunting her in the head.
Recalling the scene of Du Wei forcefully chugging down those awful berries one by one without any complaint…..
Vivian suddenly found herself unable to utter a word….
Tightening her grip on the roots in her hands, she stares at Du Wei with a very complex emotion.
“What are you looking at? Focus on your food; we have lots of things to do later!” Du Wei frowns.
“Yes, yes!” Vivian turns around to stuff the roots into her pocket. Then bouncing to his side, she asks in a very soft and apologetic voice: “Wh…wh…what should we do? I ‘ll follow your words!”
“We will go fishing, otherwise, simply eating tree roots won’t last us very long!” Du Wei smiles “Tie this vine to my body. You hold the other end while I go into the water to catch some fish with this wooden spear I made…. But…..”
Before he could finish his words, a sudden loud earth shaking roar cuts them off.
Then, the ground began to violently tremble, causing both Vivian and Du Wei to lose their footing and slip to the ground.
The roar sounded like it came from hell itself, dreary and depressing, like a stone smashing against the heart!
Du Wei had heard of a dragon’s roar before and he thought that was the most terrifying experience by far, but now, he doesn’t know what to make of this. That loud howling roar, it’s sickly horrifying!
The ground constantly shook, leaving Du Wei feeling like he’s going through a terrible earthquake!!
At the same time, the waves at sea were also roaring from the shockwave.
“What…what is that fucking sound!!” Pulling the fallen Vivian into his arms, Du Wei’s face changes color.
Like him, Vivian was already scared pale white.
And just at this moment, Vivian’s pet dragon seems to have woken up by this disturbance! The sleeping dragon may have woken up, but….
There’s no doubt, the cry Vivian and Du Wei heard coming off from the dragon was that of…. FEAR!
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