Chapter 7
1448 Words
William watched the scene intently. If Tina could really manage to start a fire by rubbing sticks together, it would prove she had the ability to survive on this deserted island.
However, he wasn't very hopeful. He noticed that Tina was actually planning to use her bare hands to rub the sticks together.
While this method was technically feasible, starting a fire by hand was incredibly challenging. Even a man would ache from the effort. As for Tina, a woman who likely had never done any manual labor, he didn't think her chances were very high.
Tina had already selected two sticks, one as thick as a forearm and the other as thick as a finger. She found a rock and used it to flatten one end of the thicker stick, making it easier to apply force while rubbing.
But she didn't stop there. She also collected some dry grass and leaves, rolling them into a bird's nest shape, and built a small pile of kindling nearby using twigs.
From start to finish, Eric and Ruby stood off to the side, watching her without lifting a finger to help.
Ruby even had a faintly mocking expression on her face.
'So what if she's pretty and capable? She still has to start the fire for me,' Ruby thought to herself.
Ruby said aloud, "Tina is so capable! Keep it up! Whether we can eat fish tonight depends on you!"
Eric, meanwhile, was running his hands over Ruby as he chimed in, "Of course! Tina is super capable. It's such a shame she hasn't become a big star yet. Once we get back, I'll make sure she becomes a top-tier actress!"
Ruby pouted playfully. "Mr. Stone, I'm very capable too, you know!"
Eric smirked suggestively, "Oh, I know exactly how capable you are in bed. Hahaha! Don't worry. You'll get your share of the rewards when we're back."
As he spoke, he gave Ruby's breast a firm squeeze.
Tina ignored their conversation, focusing entirely on the two sticks in front of her.
She began rubbing the sticks together, causing them to rotate and generate friction.
The results came quickly. Just half a minute later, the friction point began to heat up, giving Tina a glimmer of hope and spurring her to work even harder.
But as she continued, her arms started to ache, making it harder to keep up the pace. She couldn't help but slow down.
Unfortunately, slowing down caused the heat she had painstakingly built up to dissipate, forcing her to grit her teeth and push through the pain.
After about five minutes of rubbing, the friction point finally began to darken and emit smoke.
Ruby's face lit up with excitement as she rushed over. "It's smoking! It's smoking! Come on, throw the leaves on it!"
"Wait! There's no spark yet!" Tina tried to stop her, but it was too late. Ruby had already thrown a handful of dry leaves onto the smoking spot.
The smoke that had just begun to rise was instantly smothered.
Ruby spread her hands awkwardly. "Sorry, Tina... I got too excited."
Tina shot her an irritated glance. 'She can't do anything and only makes things worse!'
Starting a fire by rubbing sticks together was a process. Smoke was just the beginning. She needed to create a spark before she could ignite the tinder.
Left with no other choice, Tina gritted her teeth and continued, determined to produce a spark this time. But after rubbing for so long, her arms were already sore and trembling. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't speed up.
Finally, she threw down the sticks and sat on the ground, gasping for air. "Mr. Stone, I really can't do it anymore. Can one of you take over for a bit?"
Eric and Ruby, who had been all smiles just moments ago, immediately sobered up at the mention of work.
Eric, who had been fantasizing about Tina's heavy breathing, cleared his throat awkwardly. "Ahem, Tina, I have to say, you're not setting a good example here. When you start something, you need to see it through to the end. How can you push your responsibilities onto others? Besides, Ruby and I don't know how to do this. You've already made some progress. If we mess it up, what are we going to eat tonight?"
'Work? Absolutely not!' Eric thought.
They had seen how much Tina was sweating and struggling. There was no way they were going to put themselves through that kind of hardship.
Ruby said, "Yeah, Tina, with greater ability comes greater responsibility. Hang in there a bit longer. We can't start the fire, but we can take care of other things. For example, once you get the fire going, Mr. Stone and I can handle grilling the fish, and then you can take a break."
William watched this scene unfold from the tree and couldn't help but sneer.
Kind-hearted people are more likely to get bullied.
They were clearly taking advantage of Tina's easygoing nature, pushing all the work onto her.
'Poor girl, who knows when she'll find herself being used by them?' he murmured inwardly.
Tina realized that relying on these two was hopeless and could only grit her teeth and persevere.
She struggled for another three minutes, and finally, a few sparks appeared on the stick. "There's fire!"
Her hands were so sore that she could barely move them. They ached terribly.
But she forced herself to keep going, determined to get the fire started before resting.
Unexpectedly, Ruby stepped forward. She picked up the stick and carefully transferred the sparks onto the dry grass. "Tina, you're tired. Take a break. Starting a fire is no big deal. Leave it to me."
The sparks Tina had worked so hard to create were suddenly taken over by Ruby, and Tina couldn't help but feel some resentment. But her hands hurt so much. She stood up and swung her arms to relax them.
Ruby gently blew on the sparks, trying to ignite the dry grass. The sparks grew brighter for a moment, but they didn't catch the grass on fire. Growing anxious, she blew harder, creating a stronger gust of air.
The sparks, which were just a few fragile specks of carbon, scattered under Ruby's forceful breath and disappeared.
The sparks were gone!
Ruby panicked and turned to Eric for help.
Eric slapped her hand and snatched the bundle of dry grass from her.
But there wasn't even a trace of a spark left.
Meanwhile, Tina, still relaxing her arms, hadn't noticed what had happened. Seeing that they hadn't managed to light the fire yet, she asked, "What's going on? Where's the fire?"
Ruby didn't know how to respond. Ignoring the sting from Eric's earlier slap, she rubbed against him a few times, trying to shift the blame.
Eric cleared his throat and said, "Tina, it seems the sparks weren't enough. They couldn't light the fire."
"What?" Tina rushed over, grabbed the bundle of dry grass, and saw that it hadn't caught fire at all.
Tina couldn't hold back her anger anymore.
The thought of her painstakingly created sparks being wasted by these two filled her with fury. She instinctively wanted to lash out.
"You godd*mn..." Tina stopped herself mid-sentence, swallowing the rest of her words.
Eric, seeing her glaring at him like she wanted to tear him apart, immediately became annoyed.
He couldn't stand up to William and had to endure his scolding.
But now, even Tina dared to glare at him. How was he supposed to manage his big company in the future if he couldn't even control a woman?
Eric said, "What's your problem? It's just starting a fire, Tina. Are you trying to act like that security guard?"
Ruby, completely unaware of her own fault, chimed in when she saw Tina daring to talk back. "Exactly. Once we're back, Mr. Stone definitely won't let that st*pid security guard off the hook. Do you want to get blacklisted by Mr. Stone too? Sure, maybe I didn't get the fire started, but that's because the sparks you made weren't good enough. You can't blame anyone else!"
With that, she clung tightly to Eric. "Mr. Stone, it seems Tina's been picking up bad habits from that security guard. Shouldn't she be taught a lesson?"
Eric walked over to Tina, put his arm around her shoulders, and leered down her cleavage.
'D*mn, what big and nice b*obs!' he thought.
"Forget the lesson. I think Tina was just too anxious earlier. It's fine. As long as you behave and apologize to me, I'll forgive you." As he spoke, Eric's hand slid to Tina's waist and started moving downward.
- Writer
