Jiang Yao stepped on Lu Zhe's foot and said softly, "You haven't called me so intimately before..."
Tang Xiaoguo yelled loudly, "Humph, me too..."
"Come on, don't mess around. Let's see what's going on with Sister Bing!"
Lu Zhe cleared his throat and called out "Dear" five times in a row.
Every time he called out, Shen Bing seemed to react a little, but after he was done she still sat there motionless, looking somewhat silly.
The girls also started calling out to her.
Strangely though, when Lu Zhe called "Dear", Shen Bing would react a little, but when the others called her, it was as if she didn't hear anything!
"What should we do now?" Even Lu Zhe was a bit stumped.
"When did Sister Bing become like this?"
"She was fine before you all came. She even saved me, shooting the crocodile several times. It seems that after seeing that python...she became like this."
Lu Zhe came up with an idea: "Perhaps nearly being eaten gave her a psychological shadow about it..."
Thinking of a different approach:
Lu Zhe suddenly had a flash of inspiration: "Bingbing, I'm your dad..."
Ning Shu immediately understood: "Mom is here too..."
Still no reaction!
Ning Shu sighed, "This child..."
Lin Qianqian held Sister Bing's hand worriedly, "Lu Zhe, what should we do now!"
Lu Zhe rubbed his stomach, "My stomach is growling. Let's find some food first. Oh right, what do we have here?"
"Some canned luncheon meat, hot sauce, and a few packs of instant noodles..."
Instant noodles wouldn't be bad, but without hot water, eating them dry would be too wasteful.
"What else is there to eat on the island?"
Ning Shu said, "There are some coconuts and bananas tied to the banyan tree..."
"Oh right, there's also the crocodile and python, but..." Listening to the pouring rain outside, Lu Zhe imagined himself slaughtering animals in the torrential downpour and felt it was a bit abnormal. "But they wouldn't be easy to deal with in this rain. Let's do this - I'll go get some bananas to fill our stomachs for now, then get back to digging the cave."
Lin Qianqian said worriedly, "The rain is too heavy, wait until it lightens up!"
"Don't worry, I'm already soaked anyway!"
The entrance to the stone cave had not only a vertical ladder for climbing up and down, but also a horizontal ladder connecting to the banyan tree.
The purpose of this ladder was to guide the banyan's air roots to grow down in a specified spot, eventually forming the "root bridge" that Lu Zhe had planned, to facilitate crossing back and forth.
With a backpack on, Lu Zhe wanted to cross through the horizontal ladder, but the moment he stepped on it he was drenched by the raging storm!
The rain poured down nearly horizontally, completely soaking his head and face. Licking his lips, he tasted a hint of salt - the rainwater had mixed with seawater.
He quickly crouched down to minimize his surface area exposed to the wind, lest he be blown off.
He had to admit, the treehouse location was truly excellent.
Built amidst the dense banyan canopy, even a storm this big still hadn't collapsed it.
Lu Zhe climbed up and found the coconuts had rolled who knows where. There were still a few bunches of bananas left, so he quickly picked them.
Oh right, there was also the grape wine that Guo'er had stomped - it should just about be finished fermenting. He brought down a barrel.
Back to the cave!
It was soaked with water again. The girls hurriedly used rags to wipe the floor and wring water into the ceramic basin to avoid flooding their supplies.
It took great effort to seal up the entrance again.
Everyone panted to catch their breaths.
"Are you okay, Lu Zhe!"
"I'm great! Quick, everyone eat something, then let's get back to work!"
"What about Sister Bing?"
"It's too dark now. She probably recalled some painful memories. We need to dig out more space, then get a fire going. Maybe with some light she'll snap out of it."
"You're right, hurry..."
Lu Zhe wolfed down five bananas, two slices of luncheon meat, and half a barrel of grape wine.
Fully replenished.
He then tied up his hair, took off his shirt, and continued digging.
Compared to the bear cave, the advantage of digging here was not having to worry about collapse, but the downside was it was very slow.
After another five or six hours, Lu Zhe opened up another 1 square meter.
This speed seemed slow, but was actually faster than the world's best stonemasons.
By now, Qianqian, Jiang Yao, Guo'er and Shen Bing were all leaning against the bundles fast asleep.
It was crowded but they each had their own spot.
The only one left awake was Ning Shu, helping Lu Zhe clear away rubble.
The continuous digging had exhausted them. Lu Zhe was also drenched in sweat, panting heavily. Ning Shu was even more tired, her face flushed red and hair disheveled.
"Take a break?"
"Okay!"
The two sat down together, leaning against each other.
Lu Zhe very unceremoniously put his arm around Ning Shu's shoulder, "Do you mind!"
"It's okay..." Ning Shu pursed her lips, then leaned further into him, but frowned, "Hey, your beard is prickly..."
Lu Zhe stroked his beard and sighed, "Do I look less handsome now?"
"You're alright, it makes you look a bit like an artist! But...I still prefer your clean-shaven look."
"Yeah, I don't want to be like this either, but we have no choice given the circumstances. Just bear with it!"
The two chatted for a bit, then Lu Zhe recounted to Ning Shu their journey so far.
Ning Shu sighed, "No wonder Sister Bing is like that! I've been having nightmares these past few days too, dreaming that you all would never come back, and Sister Bing and I would be widowed on this island for life."
Lu Zhe looked seriously and solemnly at Ning Shu, "As long as I have one breath left, I will come back. I will come back for you all."
"Mm, that's the only belief keeping Sister Bing and I alive. You don't know, I still feel like this is all a dream!"
As Ning Shu spoke, her eyes grew slightly red.
Lu Zhe lightly kissed her cheek, "Nothing will happen to me! Because whenever I encounter a situation, I think of you all, of my responsibilities, and that gives me endless courage to easily overcome difficulties!"
"You make it sound so simple!"
"If I told you everything, it'd be a long tale of woe."
"Did you think of me this time?"
"If I didn't think of you I wouldn't have survived at all! Just like I said, it's because I thought of you that I had endless courage!"
Ning Shu pouted, "Pure nonsense!"
But she was quite pleased inside, and unconsciously leaned closer into Lu Zhe.
Exhausted, the two unknowingly fell asleep leaning against each other.
When they awoke, it was nighttime!
The others had also woken up. It was pitch black in the cave, unable to see five fingers in front of their faces, but that didn't stop the girls from whispering to each other.
The thunderstorm outside showed no signs of weakening. Lu Zhe drank some grape wine to invigorate himself.
"How is Sister Bing?"
Qianqian checked, "Still sleeping!"
Tang Xiaoguo said, "It's so dark, feels too oppressive!"
"Want me to take you out for some fresh air?"
"No!"
"Then be patient. You can help me dig out the cave later."
"We want to help too, but we can't see anything!"
Lu Zhe understood the girls didn't have night vision.
To work more effectively and lift everyone's oppressed moods, it was time to shed some light.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
