Jiang Yao said, "Forget it, I won't go and cause trouble for everyone. I'll stay in the camp and tend the fire!"
Tang Xiaoguo had originally wanted to go, but when she heard what Jiang Yao said, she also said, "Then I won't go either. I'll continue distilling fresh water!"
Lu Zhe nodded, "There doesn't need to be too many people to go salvaging. Someone should stay back to take care of the two patients. I can go by myself today!"
"No!" Ning Shu shook her head, "Although you're a boy, going alone could still be dangerous! Or...why don't I go with you!"
"Okay, let me get ready first."
"What else is there to prepare?"
Lu Zhe placed the dried, distilled salt on the rocks and crushed it into a fine powder, then put the salt powder into a bottle.
"You'll see in a bit!"
Lu Zhe and Ning Shu walked side by side on the beach in the evening dusk, watching the sunset dye the sea surface red, and stretch their shadows long.
This put Ning Shu in a bit of a good mood, and she suddenly had the urge to hold the hand of the boy in front of her!
But soon, she shook her head.
She silently told herself:
What am I thinking about!
How can I be thinking about such silly things when we're trying to survive?
I'm the class leader, I can't be as boy crazy as Yao Yao and Guo Er!
But as she glanced at Lu Zhe from the side, she felt that the boy in front of her was handsome and refined. The more she looked, the better looking he became!
It seems Guo Er does have good taste after all.
If not for his slight perverted tendencies, he really could make for a good boyfriend!
Clearly, both Yao Yao and Guo Er are interested in him, so who does he prefer?
Or if he doesn't like either of them, could it be he likes someone else?
Shallowly, or perhaps...me?
Why not just ask him, if he had to choose one of us four girls to be his girlfriend, who would he pick?
"Hey...Lu Zhe!" Ning Shu hesitantly asked.
"What's up?"
"I want to ask you a question..."
Lu Zhe nodded, and earnestly said, "I know what you want to ask!"
Ning Shu's face turned a little red, "Then...would you mind telling me the answer?"
"Of course!"
"Okay, go ahead then."
Lu Zhe seriously said, "Watch closely!"
As he spoke, he pointed at a small hole in the sandy ground, "It's right here!"
Then he poured the crushed salt into the hole. Soon, a razor clam poked its head out!
Lu Zhe quickly grabbed it and slowly pulled it out, then waved it in front of Ning Shu, explaining, "See? This salt powder is used to catch these!"
Ning Shu gaped, the corner of her eye twitching, "This guy...thought I wanted to ask what the salt powder was used for?"
"Not every small hole will have razor clams. Some have sea snails, some hermit crabs, but they won't come out on their own. We have to dig them out!"
As Lu Zhe spoke, he dug and dug in another hole where no creature had emerged. Soon he dug out a sea snail.
He waved it and said, "Look!"
Ning Shu took it and looked it over. This sea snail was as big as a baby's fist, the biggest one they had caught since being stranded on this deserted island!
The milky white meat kept shrinking back into its shell, squirting out mouthfuls of seawater.
"Quite impressive!"
Lu Zhe nodded, "The class leader really gets it. They only think about silly things!"
Ning Shu smiled awkwardly. Just one minute ago, she had wanted to ask Lu Zhe a very silly question!
Given the circumstances, she'd better not ask anymore!
The two walked about two kilometers, picking up quite a few empty bottles, broken swimsuits, old slippers, plastic bags and other useful items along the way!
Lu Zhe also found a pile of seaweed with over twenty large and small scallops clinging to it!
In total, they had caught five razor clams, over twenty scallops, two sea snails, and a few sea stars!
Ning Shu wondered, "Sea stars can be eaten too?"
Lu Zhe nodded, "Of course!"
"Why didn't you say so earlier!"
Ning Shu immediately grabbed a plastic bag, ready to go pick sea stars all over the beach!
"Hey..."
Lu Zhe hurriedly stopped her, "You can't just casually pick sea stars!"
"Why not?"
"Only the females can be eaten!"
"How do you tell the males from the females?"
Lu Zhe picked up a sea star and pointed at the center of its underside, "Look at its mouth, the female is orange, the male white! And not all females can be eaten either, only those in breeding season, so you have to find heavy females!"
Ning Shu looked at the squirming, flower-like mouth, and her whole body felt uncomfortable.
They flipped over fifty to sixty sea stars before finding three suitable ones!
"It's really not that easy!"
Ning Shu grabbed her waist as she stood up. Just then, she spotted something unusual!
"A boat...a boat!"
When Lu Zhe heard her say there was a boat, he immediately rushed to the shore!
Far in the distance, a faint shadow seemed to linger out on the sea!
But they couldn't make out what it was!
Ning Shu desperately shouted at the top of her lungs!
Lu Zhe also shouted a few times, but soon realized something was off.
"Stop shouting, they can't hear us from that far away!"
"What do we do? We don't have any fire either?"
"Wait here, I'll climb a tree to take a look!"
Lu Zhe looked left and right, but there were no suitable trees to climb.
Left with no choice, he directly lifted Ning Shu, "Stand on my shoulders!"
"Oh...okay!"
Ning Shu acrobatically stood unsteadily on Lu Zhe's shoulders, while he held her ankles to help her keep balance!
Ning Shu shaded her eyes, squinting towards that area.
But at that very moment, the sun had already set behind the other side of the island!
The distance instantly became dark and murky, and they could no longer make out any clear features!
Ning Shu anxiously cried out, "How could the sun set at this time!"
Lu Zhe set her down, "The sun hasn't actually set below the horizon yet. We've turned to the other side of the small island, and are blocked by the high ground of the island!"
"Lu Zhe, was that a boat or not?"
Lu Zhe shook his head and honestly said, "To tell the truth, I don't know either!"
"What do we do now?"
"Two options, either wait here, or head back to camp."
"If we wait here, won't we freeze to death at night?"
Lu Zhe nodded.
Ning Shu went on,
"If we go back to camp...and miss getting rescued this time, we might lose our chance forever."
Lu Zhe nodded again, "However, we can make a distress signal here, then use small rocks to spell out our names, to show there are people here! We'll come back and check tomorrow!"
"Good idea! Hurry up then!"
The two put down everything in their hands and hurriedly gathered rocks to build markers!
After over half an hour of busy work, they finally finished a smaller "SOS" landmark!
They also used small rocks to spell out: "5 people on island, please rescue!"
Ning Shu looked at these words:
"It's getting darker and darker. Even if a ship passes by here, they may not be able to find us!"
"Rescue boats usually don't search at night! This should do. Let's head back!"
Only then did the two pick up their things and start walking back!
But just then!
Lu Zhe noticed that the shadow seemed to flicker!