In the blink of an eye, the bamboo raft had vanished!
The surrounding waters were dyed black, with fragments of wood floating on the waves.
This time, it was not the ink of the Giant Octopus King that had blackened the sea, but the large amount of charcoal ash stored on Lu Zhe's boat.
But amidst this misfortune, they were quite fortunate!
Other than the charcoal ash and firewood, most of the supplies they had brought were moved onto the bamboo hut.
There was no need to wonder who had taken the bamboo raft - it must have been that grudge-bearing Giant Octopus King.
Now, Lu Zhe felt that the situation had become thorny.
He knew that if he were on land, no matter if he encountered a crocodile or a komodo dragon, he was confident he could handle it. Even if his opponent was a lion or tiger, relying on his dozens of times greater physique, strength, agility and nimbleness, he could maneuver around for a while!
But the vast and endless ocean was not his home turf after all. No matter how agile he was, due to the limitations of his physical structure, he could not be as adept as a fish.
Facing the giant tentacles that could tear apart planes and the slippery skin, dozens of times more strength may not be of much use!
It had now pulled the bamboo raft into the water - whether it would dismantle the bamboo hut in a few minutes and then kill them off one by one was still unknown.
"Lu Zhe, what do we do..." Tang Xiaoguo said with a crying tone.
Lu Zhe checked the survival manual, but there was no relevant information on dealing with the Giant Octopus King.
Perhaps when encountering such a thing, other than giving up, there was no other way.
He could only reply frankly, "I don't know either!"
"Ah, then..." Tang Xiaoguo cried.
"Don't talk, I'm thinking of a way!"
Although Lu Zhe did not find a strategy for dealing with the Giant Octopus King, he did find some fishing techniques for octopus.
For example, octopuses have excellent vision and are very sensitive to the reflected light from the scales of fish.
He immediately poured the fire from the brazier into the water, then leaned over and quietly listened for any movement around them.
After a while, he did not hear any peculiar sounds.
Had it left?
"You guys stay here, I'm going down to see if it's gone!"
The girls all tried to stop him: "No, too dangerous!"
"Listen, not knowing what it's up to is the scary part. If we know..."
"Then there won't be any danger?"
"If we know it's gone, then there won't be any danger!"
"What if it hasn't gone?"
"At least we'll be able to die knowing a bit more!"
"Huh?"
"Don't worry!" Lu Zhe reassured the girls, "I'll be fine, you guys stay quietly here!"
He put on the diving goggles, clutched the paratrooper knife, and dove into the water.
It was already pitch black before dawn, and with the charcoal ash still not completely dispersed, he could barely see five fingers under the water.
He concentrated his mind and spirits, carefully searching the seabed.
He was worried this thing might be lurking somewhere having changed its color.
But there was nothing!
Lu Zhe guessed that after the octopus had taken the bamboo raft, the charcoal ash on it had fallen into the sea water, and this sudden situation had probably stunned it for a moment, making it unsure whether it was its own ink that had leaked out or if it had run into another Giant Octopus King.
But in all likelihood, it had already left this area of the sea!
Lu Zhe emerged from the water and was grabbed up onto the hut by the three girls with hands and feet flying everywhere.
"Huh, is this Lu Zhe?"
"Why does he look like an African?"
"Lu Zhe, how did you become like this?!"
Lu Zhe said, "All the charcoal we brought spilled into the sea, so I look a little dark now! But it's also because of this charcoal that we've temporarily driven that fellow away."
But had it really gone away?
Lu Zhe actually did not dare to confirm either.
The four companions leaned against each other, each facing a different direction, waiting for daylight to rise.
After settling their nervous moods, Jiang Yao said, "Should we send a signal to Sis Bing and the monitor?"
"They're probably still sleeping now!" Lin Qianqian sighed, and then asked,
"Why did it take away our bamboo raft?"
Tang Xiaoguo said, "Just for a severed little claw?"
Jiang Yao snorted lightly, "Likely some personal grudge!"
Lu Zhe pondered, "Although the Giant Octopus King's intelligence is not as high as an octopus's, it is still one of the top creatures in the ocean. It really could be taking revenge on us for cutting off its claw."
He thought for a bit longer and added, "But it's also possible that it was attracted by the light of the fire from the brazier."
Jiang Yao said, "The important question now is how do we get back without the bamboo raft?"
Lu Zhe thought about it: "The bamboo raft won't be hard to deal with actually - we can dismantle the hut and turn it into a raft."
Tang Xiaoguo said, "It took so long to build that bamboo raft. If we have to build another one, won't we be stuck here for several more days?"
"That big bamboo raft was for better transport of supplies. If it's just carrying the four of us there's no need to build something so large! Oh right, we can make a hydrofoil raft!"
Tang Xiaoguo was surprised: "Hydrofoil raft? What's that?"
Jiang Yao excitedly said: "I know what that is - a type of bamboo raft you can ride on!"
Lin Qianqian pictured it in her mind: "Sounds like it could be quite fun."
"Can it fly?"
Lu Zhe briefly explained the principles of a hydrofoil raft: "In short, hydrofoil rafts aren't too difficult to build. The hard part is that on the way back, we'll have to pass through waters where there are still sharks and the Giant Octopus King."
"We've also used up all our charcoal ash," he sighed.
"Right!" Lu Zhe exhaled:
"But if we can maintain a steady rowing pace and not anger them, we should still have a chance to get back!"
"A chance?!"
"Of course, there's likely an 80% chance we'll encounter danger along the way, but until there's a better solution, this is the only way."
"Let's start dismantling the hut now. Once the water level goes down later, we'll build the hydrofoil raft and paddles, then set off from around the hotel and try to reach Volcano Island before noon."
"Got it, then let's start!"
With a clear goal and action plan, the tense moods of the girls also obtained some relief!
Lu Zhe bundled the dismantled bamboo together into a large 3 meter bamboo bundle.
The production was very simple!
He also made a "wing" tied to bottles to increase buoyancy and stability to prevent capsizing!
Then he used bamboo and jeans to make paddles.
They took off their shirts, vests and other clothes, got them wet and draped them over themselves to prevent dehydration and sunburn.
At 5:50 am, the horizon revealed a faint white belly. Everything was ready, and the four of them set off towards Volcano Island!
Qianqian was at the front, Xiaoguo in second place, Yao in third place, and Zhe at the last spot. They were very close to each other - if anyone ran into trouble, their companions would be able to come help quickly.
The first half hour went smoothly!
After half an hour, the sun had completely risen, and the temperature rose along with it!
"Can we have a bathroom break here..." Qianqian said, blushing.
Zhe handed over a bottle: "Use the bottle to collect it, it might come in handy in an emergency!"
"Oh..." Qianqian prepared herself: "Could you not look at me please!"
"Sure!"
In half a minute, more than half a bottle of liquid had accumulated.