Finding a needle in a Haystack

Lu Zhe controlled the sail of the raft as it slowly moved forward on the open sea.

"It feels so good to be fully charged! Come on guys, let's take another group photo!"

Ning Shu looked at the happy selfies, only to find that she had become much tanner in the photos on her phone.

Getting flashbacks from military training!

Ning Shu touched her face in shock, "Oh my god, why do I look like this? Will I go back to normal?"

"Of course you will!"

Jiang Yao took Ning Shu's phone, fiddled with it for a bit, and gave it back to her, "There you go, all fixed!"

"Wow, it really is better now... Hey wait a minute!" Ning Shu looked closer, "You just turned the beauty filter all the way up!"

"What else could I do to fix it?"

Tang Xiaoguo said, "Back in the days, those of us with good looks wouldn't even bother with beauty filters!"

Lin Qianqian sighed, "I'm just worried that I might gain weight."

Ning Shu said, "Don't worry, you're still quite slender."

Shen Bing sighed, "Girls, with all the time we spend outdoors, let's just be glad if we could maintain our current state."

"Do you think we could find some face masks this time?"

"And some sun protection skincare products!"

Jiang Yao happily said, "It would be great if I could find my suitcase, I've got three boxes of backup face masks in my bag!"

Shen Bing pondered, "That reminds me, everyone brought a suitcase right? What sort of things did you all pack? See if there's anything waterproof that might have survived? Maybe we could salvage some things this time."

Lin Qianqian thought about it, "Just the usual daily items, clothes, shoes, sanitary pads, tablet, and some snacks."

"Hmm, except for the tablet, other things may have survived."

"But wouldn't the clothes rot after being soaked in seawater for more than two months?"

"It depends on the material and quality of the clothes, I don't know the specifics, would need to salvage them first to check."

Ning Shu said, "Same for me, daily essentials, oh right I also packed chili sauce, spicy strips, pickled chicken feet, instant noodles."

Jiang Yao nodded, "Similar stuff, all based on our supervisor's recommendations! Also face masks, sunglasses, skincare, blankets, it's a habit for me to not use the hotel bedding!"

Tang Xiaoguo said, "Besides toiletries, clothes and shoes, I packed a ton of snacks, and a strawberry bear!"

"A what bear?"

"A plushie, smells like sweet strawberries, I hug it when I sleep at night."

Shen Bing smiled, "Just like a bunch of romantic fairies."

Tang Xiaoguo grinned, "Oh is that so?"

"Then Sis Shen, what did you bring?"

"Just basic toiletries and clothes, plus four handguns."

Ning Shu pondered, "But...how useful are handguns to us now?"

Shen Bing was taken aback!

To be honest, guns don't seem all that useful on a deserted island like this.

But having guns would provide a sense of security.

"To shoot monkeys. Or other intruders. Gunshots would make wild animals keep their distance."

Then Shen Bing turned to ask Lu Zhe, "Hey, Lu Zhe, what did you bring?"

"Clothes, shoes, toiletries, oh and my PSP, what else is there?"

"Hmph, so careless as expected of guys."

Tang Xiaoguo chuckled, "We girls brought more useful stuff after all!"

"But don't get your hopes up too much everyone, be it finding the plane or successfully opening the cabin door and getting anything useful out of it, nothing is guaranteed. We might end up with barely anything after all that effort."

Ning Shu remained optimistic, "It's fine, it'll be like we're lost at sea! Staying at the campsite all the time is suffocating!"

As they spoke, the raft had slowly sailed from the northeast side of the volcanic island to the south side of the small island.

Lu Zhe pointed, "That was where we first got stranded."

Tang Xiaoguo squinted against the sunlight, "That was where you found TT!"

"Can you be normal in your thinking for once!"

Lu Zhe gazed out at the sea, seemingly searching for something.

Then he noticed a small sandy cay in the waters.

"Look over there!"

The girls peered over.

"That's..."

"Right, the little sandy island we landed on to escape from the sharks!"

"Yeah, by using Yao Yao's sanitary pads to lure the sharks away."

"I said stop bringing up past embarrassments!"

Lu Zhe maneuvered the raft closer to the beach!

Faint remnants of a campfire and wonky SOS signs could still be seen on the sand.

Lu Zhe marked several points on his notebook, connecting them with lines.

He observed the information elements before him, pondering hard over the sun's orientation from back then and their observation point of the volcanic island from the reef.

After much deliberation, he pointed southeast at a 25 degree angle, "Should be around that direction."

"Close enough!"

Ning Shu nodded, "Probably two to three nautical miles out, that's likely where the plane is."

"Should be!"

The raft moved slowly onward, and after two hours they arrived at the target location.

However, all they saw was the vast open ocean and crystal clear waters, with the occasional school of fish passing by.

There was no sight of the plane, or even the reef, it was as if the sharks had vanished without a trace.

Ning Shu worriedly said, "Could it have already been salvaged by rescue crews?"

Shen Bing shook her head, "Impossible to salvage a plane that size without massive rescue vessels."

Lu Zhe pondered, "If huge rescue ships did come by, there's no reason they wouldn't spot the volcanic island. And once discovered, they would definitely send lifeboats or helicopters to survey the island. Coming close to it, they would undoubtedly notice the detailed information we left."

Lin Qianqian nodded, "The information we left was very thorough. Even if the crews didn't manage to find us, they would have used signal flares to give us some hints, right?"

"Circumnavigating the island with a rescue boat wouldn't even take half a day."

Jiang Yao shrugged, "Yet we didn't see any trace of them."

Tang Xiaoguo wondered, "Could marine organisms have broken it down somehow?"

Lu Zhe shook his head, "If a corpse could completely decompose after floating for two months that would make sense, but this is a plane we're talking about! With all that anti-corrosive and enduring metal, how could anything take it apart so fast?!"

Shen Bing agreed, "So logically, the biggest possibility is still that we haven't found it yet."

Lu Zhe nodded, "The plane is huge, but compared to the vast open seas it's like finding a pin in a haystack. It really isn't easy to locate on our first try without any visual references."

"What should we do then?"

"We've brought adequate supplies this time round..."

Lu Zhe gazed up at the blazing sun. The temperature had gradually climbed near 40 degrees Celsius.

The bamboo strips on the canopy were scorching to the touch. The girls kept splashing water on the raft to stay cool.

"There should be many more reefs around here. Let's anchor on a reef first to take shelter from the midday heat before continuing the search."