While the women hesitated, Zhang Xiaotao helped Chen Xiao sit down and even took out a cotton swab to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
"Senior Fireworks, you should go first." Chen Xiao glanced at Fireworks beside him.
This firework... a legendary X-level figure, but since this encounter, she seems to have no skills whatsoever. During these past few days on the island, she has been watching coldly without making any effort. Chen Xiao's respect for her has faded somewhat.
But Yan Hua seemed to just smile, quietly walked up to Chen Xiao, and sat down.
They wouldn't leave, but the three women finally made up their minds and ran off towards the back of the island.
The elderly couple exchanged a glance, but the old man shook his head and pulled his wife down to sit.
"Aren't you leaving?" Zhang Xiaotao asked the elderly couple.
“We’re old. Even if we go out to sea by boat, we might not make it. If we die, we’ll die on land.” The old man smiled faintly. “What bad luck. We were just going on a trip once in a while, and this happened. We’ve lost our lives here. But we’re already in our fifties or sixties. We’ve lived enough.”
A strange glint flashed in Chen Xiao's eyes. He then exhaled, glanced at Zhang Xiaotao and Yan Hua, and finally fixed his gaze on Zhang Xiaotao's face. In that instant, Chen Xiao's eyes softened, and he said gently, "Go, sit behind me."
"Um?"
"Listen to me." Chen Xiao's voice was gentle, but his tone left no room for argument.
A moment later, a series of hurried footsteps were heard from the woods. The women who had run away were running back frantically. They looked panicked. Three women ran quickly, but then they saw several men chasing after them from the bushes!
The men all had excited and ferocious expressions on their faces, running and shouting like ghosts.
The three women screamed repeatedly, ignoring the blood streaming down their legs from being scratched by the bushes, and desperately ran back to the cave entrance. They didn't care about anything else, even though they knew hiding inside was futile; in their desperation, they couldn't help but run towards where their companions were. "Here! They're here! Haha! All women! A whole bunch of women!!"
Several men blocked the entrance to the cave and shouted loudly outside.
The footsteps in the woods grew louder, followed by an excited scream from not far away.
"Water found! Fresh water!!"
Upon hearing the direction from which the sound came, Zhang Xiaotao and the others' expressions changed!
water!
"They've found our puddle!"
Chen Xiao nodded: "If they found it, they found it. At a time like this, we can't worry about anything else."
Several men were already blocking the entrance to the cave. Although they looked anxious, they didn't rush in immediately, but instead shouted from outside.
A moment later, a group of people walked out of the woods, and the one surrounded in the middle was the leader of the group, a burly white man.
"Boss! Look what we found! A bunch of women! All women! Haha! We have women now!"
The white man chuckled coldly, holding one of his own leather boots in his hand. He raised the boot above his head and tilted it. Clear water flowed out, pouring over his head and running down his face. He greedily stuck out his tongue, savoring the cool taste of the fresh water.
This method of "drinking water" is undoubtedly wasteful. But for someone who has been adrift at sea for days and is almost dying of thirst, this enjoyment is irresistible.
The other men seemed to have drunk quite a bit of water from the puddle as well, and followed along contentedly.
"Ha! Just as I thought, a group of women." The white man stood at the cave entrance, his eyes gleaming with greed. "Huh? There's also a man?"
It turned out that Chen Xiao had been lying there the whole time, and the people before hadn't noticed that there was a young man like Chen Xiao among the women—as for the old man, he was completely ignored.
An old man who had almost lost all his teeth was not taken seriously by these people.
"What do you want?!"
Zhang Xiaotao poked her head out from behind Chen Xiao and shouted angrily, "You're all survivors from the ship, aren't you!"
"It's simple, we need food and water."
"That's all!" Zhang Xiaotao exclaimed angrily. "All our fresh water is in that puddle! That's all our fresh water! As for food, we haven't stored any! This is a deserted island; we only have sand crabs to dig in the beach!"
"Thank you!" The white man licked his lips; the fresh water had moistened them, making them less chapped. He then fixed his eyes on Zhang Xiaotao with greedy intent: "Haha! A little beauty! Brothers, look! There are several women inside! We can have a good share!"
At this point, he stared at Zhang Xiaotao, his voice carrying a chilling undertone: "Little beauty! Of course I know this is a deserted island! That puddle is now ours! As for food... the food I'm talking about is you! Of course, don't worry, a girl as pretty as you, I'll definitely kill you last! Before killing you, we'll have plenty of fun to do!"
Zhang Xiaotao felt a chill run down her spine.
"Senior Fireworks," Chen Xiao sighed, and said in a low voice, "Are you sure you didn't say anything wrong before? Zhang Xiaotao, she won't die here?"
Fireworks didn't speak, it just nodded.
Chen Xiao then looked at the sky outside, as if talking to himself: "Hmm... then that's it. It seems that this is the only way."
He coughed and managed to raise his voice, "Hey! You!"
The white man and the other men looked at Chen Xiao.
It has to be said that Chen Xiao, as the only young man in this group, was the only one who posed even a slight threat to them. However, since he was alone, the others didn't take him seriously.
"You people, aren't you afraid of retribution and punishment for doing such heinous things?"
"Pah!" The white man sneered, his eyes flashing with madness. "Who cares! We don't even know how many days we have left! We don't even know if we'll have a chance to be saved! In these last few days, every extra day we have is a glimmer of hope! As for what happens after that, if we can't survive now, there's no future! You talk about retribution? Punishment? Haha! We're in a place like this now, far from the outside world, who can punish us? Kid! You want to call the police? Hahahaha!!" "How many of you are there?" Chen Xiao snorted.
"What?" The white man suddenly had a thought and looked at Chen Xiao with some wariness.
Chen Xiao lay in the cave, the shadows obscuring his features, but the more the white man looked at Chen Xiao's silhouette, the more familiar it seemed...
"I just want to ask how many of you there are, so I can see how long you can survive eating our flesh after you've killed us all." Chen Xiao's seemingly indifferent tone made Zhang Xiaotao, who was standing next to him, shrink back involuntarily.
Chen Xiao's eyes flickered as he carefully observed the people around the cave entrance, silently counting them in his mind.
One, two, three, four...