Chapter 3: Met First Survivor With Useful Tools.
1269 Words
Ethan sprinted toward the direction of the scream like the wind. After running along the forest edge for about two hundred meters, he saw a girl stumbling out from the bushes, collapsing onto the ground. At her feet was a snake at least two meters long, truly enormous.
When the girl saw someone approaching, she immediately shouted toward him:
“Help me!”
Before she could even finish her sentence, Ethan shot forward like an arrow, movements swift and nimble. Within five seconds, he had flipped open the small folding knife attached to his keychain and stabbed it precisely into the snake’s head.
The screams abruptly ceased; the girl stared blankly, momentarily forgetting her fear.
But Ethan felt differently. He was somewhat frightened; earlier, due to acting purely on instinct in his rush, he hadn’t had time to consider. What if that stab had missed? If that snake had been venomous, wouldn't he have been recklessly gambling with his life?
He picked up the knife, dragging the snake along with it until it was in front of his face. After a moment, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. This was a Striped Garter snake, it wasn't venomous, and it was quite plump and large, perfectly suitable to become food.
He had grown up in the forest, and killing snakes was perfectly normal for him. It was just that, in the earlier situation, he hadn't had the chance to identify if this type of snake was poisonous or not.
After wrapping the snake around his arm, Ethan exhaled gently and turned around. As he glanced at the girl, she suddenly shrieked, "Don’t look!"
Only then did he notice that her short skirt had flipped upward, partially exposing her full, rounded backside, and at the front, it seemed… she wasn't wearing any underwear?
"Pffft!"
He nearly choked. Looking down at her feet, he noticed her underwear still tangled around her ankles. Clearly, she had intended to relieve herself but had unluckily encountered the snake. He quickly turned his face away, saying:
“Pull your panties back up. Aren’t you afraid of getting sand… in that area?”
“Shameless!”
Ethan was speechless. How was he shameless? He had kindly reminded her out of goodwill. Right now, she was sitting directly on the ground, her private area exposed to beach sand. Was there anything incorrect about his statement?
After about half a minute, the girl finally said:
“I’m done.”
After a few seconds of hesitation, she spoke again:
“Earlier… thank you.”
“It’s nothing. Saving someone is only natural.”
“You… are you also from GeoLife company? Did you get shipwrecked and drift here, too?”
Ethan again looked the girl up and down. By now, she had already stood up; she was fairly tall, reaching roughly to his shoulder. She was rather pretty, and she seemed very young, probably not yet twenty-five.
He had never been in the habit of evaluating people, and only wanted to confirm if he had met her before or not.
“That’s right, but I've never met you before.”
“I've only been interning at the company for about a month. My name is Lucy. I… haven’t been assigned any specific tasks yet, just running errands. And you?”
“Ethan.”
Ethan responded briefly, then walked ahead. Earlier, he had expended quite a bit of strength saving Lucy, and the apples he’d eaten had already been digested completely, so he took two more apples from his pocket. He ate one himself and handed the other to her.
Lucy timidly accepted it, her emotions complicated. Initially, she thought he looked like a hero, rushing in swiftly and decisively to save her. Moments later, he seemed like a shameless p*****t, directly staring at her underwear. Now, he offered her fruit, both bad and good at the same time, utterly confusing.
But when she put the apple into her mouth a second later, the intense sourness instantly twisted her mouth.
“So sour!”
However, Ethan, walking in front, appeared completely unaffected, leaving her no choice but to keep eating. Several hours had passed since she'd awakened. Earlier, she'd forced herself to swallow mouthfuls of salty seawater, and now she had to eat such sour apples. She wasn't sure whether she'd get diarrhea later or not.
Lucy walked slowly behind Ethan, unconsciously trembling as she stared at the snake wrapped around his arm. She had no idea what he intended to do, would he eat it raw? Would he die from poisoning, even before rescue teams arrived?
“I wonder how long it'll take before rescuers find us. Have you seen anyone else besides me?”
“I just woke up; haven’t had time to explore around yet. Do you still have your phone, or anything else useful?”
“My phone… My phone’s already gone. As for other things, I don’t know if they’re useful or not.”
While speaking, Lucy opened a pocket on her side. Her skirt was a short cowboy-style dress, featuring two practical cargo pockets on both sides that appeared both fashionable and convenient.
She pulled out a few daily-use items, all of which were miniature-sized. Ethan might not recognize some items, but he immediately recognized a compact mirror, even though it was folded closed. He quickly grabbed it, saying:
“You women might normally be vain, but in situations like this, it's very useful.”
“Is that so… How is a mirror helpful now?”
Lucy pouted slightly, then proceeded to open the pocket on the other side. This time, she pulled out a small plastic bottle about half an adult’s palm in height, along with a cylindrical bag containing several dozen sheets of thin white paper, still thoroughly soaked.
“These tissues are good. And, what's in that bottle?”
Ethan asked, conveniently taking the bag of paper from her hands.
“This is cleansing oil; luckily, it was sealed tightly, so seawater didn’t get inside.”
“Cleansing oil?”
As he asked, Ethan took the bottle of cleansing oil directly from Lucy’s hand without any warning, turning it around to read the ingredients.
“It contains alcohol, excellent.”
“You've been saying all sorts of random things, I don’t understand at all.”
“No need to understand, just enjoy the results. These things belong to you, so I definitely won’t mistreat you.”
“Thank you.”
Lucy suddenly nodded. It seemed this young man wasn't so bad after all.
But after walking only a short distance, Ethan suddenly yelped in pain from ahead:
“Ow… It hurts!”
He sat down abruptly on the ground. At this moment, beneath his foot was a small thorny branch concealed in the sand, causing blood to begin flowing out.
Damn it! Was he really this unlucky? He reached down and quickly pulled out the thorn; afterward, blood flowed even more freely. Although the thorn was only as short as a fingernail, it was quite thick, creating a sizable wound that continuously bled.
“Are you okay? Why did you pull the thorn out?!”
“I’m fine. Help me inside, I’ll find some leaves to stop the bleeding.”
“No need, I can handle this.”
Ethan thought he'd misheard. How could this small girl possibly help? Just as he leaned forward to stand, Lucy grabbed his foot and held it in place, then extended her palm. Suddenly, tiny dots of green light emerged from her palm, slowly entering the sole of his foot.
What was this? An illusion?!
- Writer
