Launch trial

August 21, the 73rd day stranded on the deserted island!

On this day, Lu Zhe was going to take a bamboo raft with three companions and head east, reaching Satellite Island No.1 which was 1 nautical mile away.

During this time, he wanted to test the sturdiness and reliability of the bamboo raft, test shark defense methods, and calculate ocean currents and wind directions in order to accurately locate the sunken plane!

Before departure, Lu Zhe and the three girls moved some food, fresh water and tools onto the bamboo raft and tied them down with ropes!

In addition to paddles, the tools included aluminum lunch boxes, water bottles, fish spears, bows and arrows, ropes, and Swiss army knives.

Lu Zhe also made life jackets out of foam, so that if anyone accidentally fell into the water, they could easily float up.

The rest, like machetes, axes, slingshots, and steel helmets, were left to Shen Bing and Qian Qian in case anything happened at the camp.

Although the bamboo raft didn't look very good, its functionality and sturdiness were much better than the previous one.

Tang Xiaoguo also made a skull and crossbones flag out of torn cloth and tied it to the mast with two bone sticks.

Lu Zhe frowned, "Sis, are you trying to be a pirate?"

Tang Xiaoguo stood with her hands on her hips and looked smug, "People need dreams. Who knows, we might discover Roger's treasure one day!"

Jiang Yao said leisurely, "Aren't you afraid of picking up cursed treasure? It's the 21st century. As a pirate, looking for treasure is not as realistic as hijacking a destroyer!"

Shen Bing and Qian Qian burst out laughing.

Lu Zhe looked at the bamboo raft, "At least it's a proper ship now. Let's give it a name to wish ourselves a successful journey!"

Tang Xiaoguo said, "The Black Pearl? The Titanic?"

Jiang Yao said, "The Golden Melisande? The Sunny?"

Lu Zhe shook his head, "Not only are the names clichéd, the implications aren't great either!"

Ning Shu suddenly got excited and punched the air, "How about calling it Shark Repeller, so that wherever the bamboo raft goes, sharks will avoid it?"

"Class monitor, just be silly on your own, don't drag us into your silliness!"

"No way?"

Everyone shook their heads together.

Lin Qianqian thought for a while, "How about Friendship?"

"That sounds too weird!" Shen Bing thought for a while, "How about Albatross?"

Lu Zhe helplessly said, "Only Shen Bing's makes a little sense. Let's go with Albatross!"

Lu Zhe wrote the words "Albatross" on the mast with charcoal!

Then he said to Shen Bing and Qian Qian, "This time, we'll be back in one day if it's quick, or two days if it's slow. After making sure the bamboo raft is reliable, we can look for the plane."

Shen Bing nodded, "OK, you guys be very careful!"

Qian Qian shyly held out a small square cloth. Lu Zhe recognized this "cloth"!

"Qian Qian, what are you doing?"

"I don't know why I'm doing this either, but my intuition tells me it's the right thing to do."

Lu Zhe was a little speechless.

But after hesitating for a while, he decided not to hurt Qian Qian's kind heart.

He tucked the cloth into his pocket.

"Alright, if we get to the island across, remember to contact us with Morse code at night."

After that, Lu Zhe kissed Shen Bing and Qian Qian on the cheek, then turned around to the bamboo raft.

"Take care everyone!"

"Definitely!"

"See you when we get back..."

The companions bid their reluctant goodbyes as Lu Zhe pushed the bamboo raft away!

At this time, the southwest monsoon was still blocked by the ridge of the small island, so they had to manually paddle and row to maintain momentum!

After traveling over 100 meters, the girls' arms started aching!

No wonder, the bamboo raft was much bigger and heavier than before, so rowing required a lot more effort.

Fortunately at this time, the ribbons on the back of Jiang Yao's sailor uniform started fluttering slightly.

"There's wind!"

As soon as there was wind, even if it was weak, Lu Zhe immediately hoisted the bamboo sail, adjusted the angle, and sailed on.

The journey went surprisingly smooth!

No waves, no sharks, no whirlpools!

After sailing at sea for two hours, they successfully arrived at their destination.

It was a barren small island. Lu Zhe named it Satellite Island No.1!

A rough estimate showed that this island had an altitude of less than 200 meters and an area of 0.6-0.7 square kilometers, about the size of 90 football fields.

The top was covered with vegetation, mostly mosses and shrubs, with relatively few deciduous trees.

Compared to the volcanic island...

The size said it all, the resources definitely weren't as abundant as the volcanic island.

But there might be some products of special value.

"Let's go take a look around?"

"Of course, who goes sightseeing without going into the shops?"

"Yeah, it's rare for us to come here, we can't just leave without looking around!"

...

Lu Zhe jumped ashore and tied the bamboo raft up.

The girls started curiously observing like tourists who had arrived at a new attraction.

Jiang Yao took notes on Qian Qian's behalf.

Ning Shu quickly took a few photos with her phone.

Meanwhile, Tang Xiaoguo used a small rock to carve "Tang Xiaoguo was here!" on the rock Lu Zhe had tied the bamboo raft to.

After looking around, Lu Zhe saw a lot of scattered garbage on the ground that was worth collecting.

They combed the coast of the island in the morning to collect anything of value. In the afternoon they would go into the woods.

Around 3 pm they would return to Volcano Island, spending a fulfilling day.

That was the plan, and at first everything went according to it. In the morning, they picked up a lot of supplies along the way. Most were bottles, torn clothes and other household garbage. The only fresh find was a beach volleyball that Jiang Yao picked up.

Another new entertainment for the deserted island!

After having lamb jerky and seafood soup for lunch, they entered the woods in the afternoon.

With vegetation, edible stuff was relatively scarce. They searched for a long time but didn't find many useful items. The island's produce was far less abundant than Volcano Island!

Not completely nothing though!

If they had to name one thing, it would be snakes!

Not long after entering the woods, Lu Zhe saw a cobra crawling on a tree branch ahead of them. He immediately grabbed the snake and threw it far away.

After walking a few steps, they encountered a viper lying on the ground.

Jiang Yao almost stepped on it.

Lu Zhe chopped its head off.

Three minutes later, they met a king cobra!

Although the girls felt creeped out, with Lu Zhe there they weren't actually scared!

But the deeper they went, the more snakes there were. All kinds of colorful ones, ones they could name, ones they couldn't, and even new species that Lu Zhe's system couldn't identify. They all appeared on this island.

Ning Shu was frightened, "I say, have we arrived at Snake Island?"

Jiang Yao shivered, "I want to go back!"

Tang Xiaoguo also agreed, "This place is so creepy!"

Lu Zhe also felt there were too many snakes on this island.

Not to mention the girls, even he felt quite uncomfortable seeing so many snakes.

"The snake density here is indeed a bit high, and the proportion of venomous ones is quite large. Anyway, we've collected everything we need to, let's head back now."

Heading back was all well and good, but on the way back there were even more snakes than on the way in.

"Everyone be very careful, don't provoke them."

"Got it..."

The girls stuck close to Lu Zhe as they came to the bamboo raft.

In an instant, they were all dumbfounded.

The bamboo raft, the mast, the deck, all had piles upon piles of snakes on them!

That's right, this tiny bamboo raft, in the space of an afternoon, had attracted so many uninvited guests.