As I looked at the pile of stones, my joy gradually turned into ecstasy.

Xu Wei walked around with the basket, but her brows were tightly furrowed.

"Brother Sihai, I once saw in a movie that islands like these usually have cannibals or indigenous tribes. Do you think these piles of stones might have been built by cannibals?"

Xu Wei's words were like a bolt from the blue.

"No way? We just happened to run into some cannibal tribe? I think they're people who perished like us..."

But as I said this, I started to lose confidence myself.

We've been stranded on this deserted island for some time now, but apart from various wild animals, we haven't seen any trace of human activity.

If this pile of stones was made by people, then they might have died long ago...

Thinking about it this way, the hope that had just welled up in my heart was instantly shattered.

Seeing the change in my expression, Xu Wei leaned closer and whispered words of comfort.

"No matter what, we have food and drink now, and a place to shelter from the wind. Even if we don't get rescued, our boat is almost finished. I believe we will get out eventually."

I gave Xu Wei a smile, then pulled her around and we decided to continue searching in the woods to see if there were any other wild vegetables.

Xu Wei chuckled and walked happily ahead, carrying her basket.

"When we get back, my sisters will be so happy to see how much fruit we picked."

But before she could finish speaking, Xu Wei suddenly swayed and fell forward.

The basket suddenly swung forward, and he fell to the ground, scattering apples all over the floor.

I rushed to help her up: "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Xu Wei was clutching her ankle, her face pale. I quickly took off her shoes and discovered that she had a large gash on her ankle, which was already bleeding.

"Don't be afraid, let me bandage you up first. We still have herbs in the cave, you'll be fine."

Xu Wei nodded, and I carried her on my back, intending to return to the stream to wash the wounds on my feet.

But when he looked down, he discovered that Xu Wei was standing on something.

That thing contrasted sharply with the black soil next to it, appearing grayish-white.

I reached out and picked it up, only to find that it was a round piece of bone with some cracks.

What is this?

Because they were looking at the bone in my hand with curiosity, I didn't recognize it at first.

He then picked up a branch from the side and rummaged around under Xu Wei's feet, only to find several bones scattered underneath.

The bones were of varying sizes, and they appeared to be leg bones.

But after looking at it a couple more times, I was suddenly startled. I picked up the round bone and looked at it again, only to find that something was wrong.

That was a skull!

Judging from the size of the skull, it should belong to an adult, but it's impossible to tell whether it's male or female. The few scattered thin bones below are actually leg bones and small bones in the arm.

Seeing my serious expression, Xu Wei also looked puzzled: "What's wrong? Is something the problem?"

I didn't dare tell Xu Wei for fear of scaring her, so I quickly put the bone aside, picked Xu Wei up, and continued digging with the tree root.

A dozen minutes later, I had dug up a large area where Xu Wei had been sitting. There were many bones scattered on the ground, including some broken ribs.

Xu Wei, who had been completely bewildered the whole time, also noticed something was wrong.

He looked at me, his face deathly pale: "These are human bones, aren't they?"

Xu Wei and I were speechless; the only atmosphere besides silence was one of trepidation.

"Brother Zhao, I'm scared..."

Don't even mention Xu Wei being scared; I'm fucking scared too right now.

Signs of past human activity were discovered, and then this pile of human remains was found in the woods.

I was extremely worried. Could it be that the people who were also stranded on this deserted island back then have died?

Does that mean they never received any rescue?

However, although this deserted island is uninhabited and often frequented by wild beasts, there is no shortage of food, and fresh water flows everywhere.

So how exactly did these people die?

When I went to collect these skeletons just now, I noticed that they were clearly not eaten by animals. So, did they die of natural causes?

My mind was in turmoil, but my only belief was that I couldn't stay in this forest any longer.

"Let's leave here first and go back to the cave to talk."

Xu Wei was already pale with fright. She hurriedly put the apples back into the basket and struggled to get up.

But her foot was still bleeding, and it was already red and swollen.

I quickly carried Xu Wei on my back, and Xu Wei carried the basket. We walked back to the cave without looking back.

Several women were sitting in the cave when they heard the noise. Wang Xiaoxiao, very alert, took out a dagger and got up to come out. She only breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was me and Xu Wei.

"Why are you back so soon? Didn't you say you wanted to go further ahead?"

Liu Jiaojiao also came over at this moment, her face beaming as she looked at the fruit basket that Xu Wei was staring at.

"Where did you two find so many apples? Next time we can go together and bring back even more. If we can't eat them all, we can dry them into fruit."

I gently placed Xu Wei on the straw bed.

"Xu Wei is injured, you should treat her wounds first."

Only then did Wang Xiaoxiao and the others notice Xu Wei's swollen ankle.

Xiao Qiang is all bark and no bite; she had already brought over the ground herbal powder long ago.

"Where did you two go? How did you get injured?"

Xu Wei gritted her teeth and waited until Xiao Qiang finished applying the herbal medicine before looking at me. She then hesitantly recounted the pile of stones and human remains that the two of us had found on the other side of the mountain.

Xiao Qiang frowned, Wang Xiaoxiao's face darkened, and Liu Jiaojiao's mouth dropped open in disbelief.

“I don’t know if there are cannibals or other people on this deserted island, but traces of people have definitely been found here. I think this area is no longer safe. From now on, we should leave one person to keep watch at night. First, to prevent Bai Wei and his group from making a comeback, and second, to be aware that there may be other people on this island.”

We thought our lives were gradually returning to normal, and that we could leave once we were fully prepared and had rescued them, or once we had built our own boat. But now it seems that danger is everywhere.

Xiao Qiang applied the medicine to Xu Wei, and Liu Jiaojiao silently made some soup for me and Xu Wei.

Wang Xiaoxiao frowned and huddled on her straw bed, only raising her head to look at us after a long while.

“I don’t think there’s anyone else on this island. Think about it, we’ve been on this island for more than half a month now. Besides going out to find food every day, we’ve also killed such a big brown bear and had several conflicts with Bai Wei and his group. If there were other people on this island making such a commotion, how could they not have heard it? And how could they not have shown up?”

After Wang Xiaoxiao finished her analysis, I became even more nervous.

If they didn't show up despite such a loud noise, then there are only two possibilities.

Firstly, there were indeed people on this island, but they died long ago for various reasons.

Secondly, perhaps they discovered this a long time ago, and we were just waiting for an opportunity to launch an attack.

If it's the first scenario, that's better, but if it's the second, then we're afraid there won't be any peace and quiet for us from now on.