Chapter 23
1027 Words
'Could something have happened in the cave?!'
I dropped the bamboo basket at the cave entrance and ran toward the source of the scream with my gun in hand. When I reached the edge of the forest, I was completely stunned, standing there speechless with wide eyes.
Mandy was wrestling with a woman. They were fighting intensely. Mandy had the woman's face pressed down into the ground, holding her shoulders firmly. The woman's belt had been torn off during the struggle, and her pants were half down due to her thrashing. Fortunately, her well-shaped hips kept the pants from falling off completely, preventing excessive exposure.
Despite her embarrassing position, the woman didn't give up and fought back, grabbing Mandy's shirt collar in an attempt to break free. Mandy's shirt had been torn into a V-shape, exposing her white skin that seemed to glimmer in the sunlight. Her perfect chest was fully on display, but Mandy showed no intention of letting go.
I stood there with my eyes wide open, completely transfixed.
A slap landed on the back of my head, jolting me back to reality. I turned to see Stella glaring at me. "Jerk! Enjoying the view, huh?"
Caught in the act, I grinned sheepishly.
"Mandy's chicken was stolen by that woman," Stella said anxiously. "They both have hot tempers and started fighting after a few words. Go stop them before Mandy gets hurt!"
Was Stella just used to bossing me around, or did she simply not like me? Under her murderous gaze, I hurried to intervene.
Mandy and the woman were so engrossed in their fight that they didn't even notice me approaching.
My eyes scanned their half-naked bodies before I spoke cautiously, "Hey, maybe you should stop fighting. It's just a chicken."
Mandy turned her head and, seeing it was me, blushed instantly. She let go immediately and grabbed her collar, scolding, "Zack, what are you looking at?!"
I blinked innocently. 'I'm a man, right? How could I resist looking?'
The woman realized what was happening and screamed, "Why is there a man here?" She grabbed a handful of sand from the ground and threw it at my face.
"Ouch!" I screamed as the sand got into my eyes, blurring my vision.
Zoe and Stella rushed to my side, checking on me worriedly. After confirming that I wasn't seriously hurt and just temporarily blinded, Stella snorted. "Serves you right! Who told you to stare?"
Zoe helped me clear the sand from my eyes until I could see again. My eyes were still stinging, and I lamented inwardly. 'I came to stop the fight! Why am I the one getting attacked? What the hell is going on?'
"None of the men are good," Mandy snorted, tapping my forehead with her finger lightly.
"I..." I began to explain, but Zoe interrupted me.
"Zack, you can't do that again!" Zoe pouted at me.
I was speechless. I came with good intentions to break up the fight, and now it was my fault?
I couldn't help but grumble inwardly. With so many women on this island, men had no status. It seemed I had to accept my bad luck today, but thinking back, it wasn't all bad since I got an eyeful.
After the fight, the woman and Mandy calmed down.
We all returned to the camp. Despite the earlier conflict with Mandy, the woman was cheerful and friendly, getting along well with Stella and Zoe.
"My name is Eva Maltz. I'm twenty-four years old, and I'm from England," Eva introduced herself formally. "I'm a volunteer with the rescue team."
The cave fell silent, and everyone's expressions changed. Mandy and I exchanged a look, sensing something was off.
Even Leo, who had been pretending to be deaf and mute all day, looked tense and listened carefully. After all, this bastard was hoping for a rescue to get back at me. He was undoubtedly one of the most eager for rescue.
"After your shipwreck, the company and relevant authorities, even international organizations, sent out search and rescue teams. I saw the news while traveling in Thailand and volunteered for the international rescue team because I used to be a pilot and paramedic," Eva recalled, her face growing serious.
"We thought it was just an ordinary rescue mission, but strange things happened as we approached the shipwreck areas. The rescue team found the wreckage of the ship easily, but all the people on the ship seemed to have vanished into thin air," Eva continued.
"Although the search and rescue efforts have been ongoing for several days, no one was willing to give up. During a routine search in the nearby waters, the reconnaissance plane I was on experienced a malfunction. The electronic instruments on the plane suddenly failed, and the plane lost control and crashed. When I woke up, I was on this nameless deserted island," Eva said, her voice trembling slightly.
"Electronic instruments failed? Could it be a problem with the plane?" Zoe asked, biting her lip.
Eva shook her head. "It wasn't the plane. The electronic instruments malfunctioned because they were interfered with by a special magnetic field. I suspect this special magnetic field might be emitted by the island, which could also explain why the rescue team's search was disrupted, preventing them from finding this place," Eva tried to explain from a professional perspective.
I sighed silently. She might be right, but deep down, I knew that the strange nature of this island was probably far more complex than just a magnetic field. At that moment, I had no time to dwell on it. I had been hiding the fact that the rescue team had encountered problems, but now, I couldn't keep it a secret any longer.
The belief in "waiting for rescue" kept everyone going.
Now, with that hope gone suddenly, the girls were devastated.
Stella stood there, tears welling up in her eyes, unable to speak.
Quinn sat down on the ground, sobbing softly.
Zoe, completely overwhelmed, threw herself into my arms and started crying. Her thin, fragile body trembled nonstop.
"What do we do? Are we never going to leave this deserted island?" she cried.
- Writer
