Ling Shuying didn’t overthink it.
Instead, she snapped a bone spike off the spine, which had been corroded to a yellowish-brown.
The corrosion made the fish bone less tough, but it still took her some effort.
It was a bone spike, not too long—about ten centimeters—but with a sharp tip.
It could be used as a simple dagger.
Storing the Fishbone Dagger away, Ling Shuying picked up the spearhead that had grown hot under the sun and looked firmly toward the forest.
“Whatever it is, if it ruins my beautiful island life, I won’t let it off easily!”
Returning home, she connected the spearhead to the shaft, assembling a complete Stone Spear.
She wrapped a handful of crushed stones in leaves to use as ammunition and tied her throwing belt around her waist like a rope.
She took down the dried fish she had laid out in the sun two days ago and tucked it into her clothes along with the Fishbone Dagger.
Before setting off, she chugged a large coconut—GLUG GLUG GLUG.
At this moment, Ling Shuying truly looked like a hunter surviving on a deserted island.
She carried a Stone Spear over a meter long on her back, had seaweed wrapped around her waist, wore a backpack made of banana leaves, and emitted a faint fishy smell.
“Weapons, food—everything is ready.
You wild man, just wait to get beaten to a pulp by Qing Ling and me!” she declared, waving her fist indignantly.
A data path emerged, flowing deep into the forest.
Ling Shuying’s expression grew serious as she followed the current, gradually venturing deeper.
Guided by her memory and the data path, she returned to the spot where she had discovered the footprints yesterday.
The tracks had dried somewhat, but she could still determine the direction the owner had taken based on their orientation.
As the route became clearer, Ling Shuying took a deep breath.
She unslung the Stone Spear from her back and slowly looked ahead along the path.
“Qing Ling, are you ready?
Here we go.”
The woods served as a natural shelter, but as long as a living creature passed through, it would leave behind traces that even it would find hard to notice.
The enhanced vision and Perception provided by Qing Ling allowed Ling Shuying to keenly observe these subtle clues.
Meanwhile, her boosted computing power, combined with her own logical reasoning, enabled her to quickly analyze the trajectory of events.
Analyzing and searching along the way, Ling Shuying gradually passed through the forest.
The path pointed toward the other side of the coastline, beyond the trees.
Past the woods lay an unobstructed beach and the ocean, with nothing to offer cover or concealment.
This meant that the owner of the massive footprints was about to reveal itself.
Was it a human?
A beast?
Or some other unknown creature?
Lowering her spear, she hid herself behind the tall grass and gazed into the distance.
Her pupils constricted.
In the distance, a figure stood under a coconut tree, continuously ramming into its trunk.
THUD— THUD—
The physique was impressively brawny.
The figure was covered in disheveled hair, with dark skin riddled with old scars.
He wore poorly-made leather clothing of unknown material, and his feet were enormous and strangely shaped.
Tucked into his waist was a dagger made of fish bone—a blade that looked much sharper and sturdier than Ling Shuying’s.
Ling Shuying gulped, startled.
“Is there really a wild man here?!”
THUD— THUD—
The wild man continued ramming the tree until two coconuts fell, finally coming to a stop.
He picked up one of them, tossed it lightly in his hand to gauge its weight, and then viciously smashed it against a rock.
The coconut cracked open, forming a decent-sized fissure.
Then, with a pull of his hands—
CRACK!
With a crisp sound, the coconut was split in half as easily as breaking open a watermelon.
Watching the wild man chugging the coconut water, Ling Shuying was dumbfounded.
“Coconuts can be opened like this?!
How much strength does that take!”
When she thought this, she forgot that she herself was a monster capable of piercing a coconut shell barehanded.
After observing the wild man’s actions, Ling Shuying’s momentary shock subsided, and she began to analyze the situation rationally.
She reasoned that, first, the wild man knew how to drink coconuts and could perfectly control the force needed to crack the shell, showing a certain level of intelligence.
Second, he had a sharply polished fish bone dagger at his waist, proving he knew how to use tools.
And using tools meant he was a highly intelligent creature.
Ling Shuying breathed a sigh of relief.
Since he could use tools, he might be a wild man from the mountains, refugees from another island, a fugitive just like her, or perhaps…
the original owner of her house?
Just kidding—the house’s owner was long gone.
Having reached a conclusion, Ling Shuying still remained silent.
She crouched in the grass and watched carefully, hoping to wait for the right moment to reveal herself; otherwise, she could easily be perceived as an enemy.
By now, the wild man had finished drinking from the two coconuts and headed toward the sea.
Under Ling Shuying’s shocked gaze, he gradually took off those giant feet, revealing rough, human soles.
“He really is human!” Ling Shuying confirmed once again, staring at the pair of human feet that were so white they looked like they belonged on a different layer from the rest of his body. The source of this chapter is novelping(.)com.
“But why would he wear such strange shoes?”
While she was wondering, the man waded skillfully into the seawater and dove under.
He swam toward the depths with the agility of a fish.
Watching him swim further and further away, Ling Shuying poked her head out of the grass.
She put down her Stone Spear and, imitating the man, rammed the coconut tree a few times herself.
However, only one coconut fell.
Holding the coconut and drinking from it, Ling Shuying slowly walked toward the beach.
As the ocean drew closer, Ling Shuying keenly caught a hint of an unusual ocean current fluctuation.
The data stream then gradually magnified in her eyes as the safety level plummeted.
Soon after, a model leaped into her mind.
Abyssal Vortex!
The Wave Ruins were already prone to Abyssal Vortexes.
Even with Qing Ling’s anchoring ability, venturing out without strict experimentation remained risky.
It was for this exact reason that Ling Shuying never dared to swim too far out into the sea.
An Abyssal Vortex might be safe for Ling Shuying, but to the man before her, it would be fatal.
He was still swimming further out, completely oblivious to the impending danger.
Seeing the formation of the Abyssal Vortex accelerating, Ling Shuying grew anxious.
She ran to the shoreline and shouted at the man.
“Come back, quick—!
There’s an Abyssal Vortex!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, waving her hands wildly.
Not knowing if the man in the sea could understand her, Ling Shuying vigorously gestured at him, waving hard to signal that he needed to get back on shore immediately.
Unexpectedly, the man in the sea noticed her as well.
However, acting as if he hadn’t heard a thing, he merely shot her a glance before diving back under.
Ling Shuying was getting desperate.
She unfastened the Sword Algae Throwing Belt from her waist, loaded it with a handful of pebbles, and slung them out as if scaring away a flock of birds—since shouting didn’t work, she had no choice but to resort to stronger measures.
Throwing the pebbles indeed worked.
The spray of pebbles landed precisely in the water where the man was, kicking up a dense flurry of splashes.
He suddenly surfaced, cursing up a storm as he glared at Ling Shuying, his eyes brimming with anger.
Seeing him pop his head out, Ling Shuying was terrified he wouldn’t make it to shore in time.
Steeling herself, she loaded only a single pebble this time.
After calculating the angle and force, she hurled it with all her might.
The pebble whistled through the air, whizzing precisely past the man’s ear, snipping off a few strands of hair before plunging into the sea behind him.