Chu Zhiqin heard the faint sounds coming from her surroundings, and her nerves instantly tensed up. She subconsciously gripped the spiked club on her back tightly.
Sure enough, a dark figure suddenly emerged from the dense bushes. Startled, Xi's mother reached out to pull her daughter aside, but Xi Xi darted forward and met her.
"Hurry up and lead the way!" Xi Xi said to the dark figure. Her voice was deep and decisive, carrying an unquestionable authority.
Chu Zhiqin looked closely and, good heavens, it was Li Jinshao.
It turned out that Xi Xi had already spotted the approaching light spot on the map and noticed that the color marked by that light spot belonged to the friendly side.
Li Jinshao looked at Xi Xi, whose expression was flat, with great surprise, then smiled faintly, her tone full of understanding: "Looks like you have a map too..."
Xi Xi didn't reply. Wasn't it obvious? She had guessed it the moment Li Jinshao's point of light approached her in a straight line.
This guy's luck is really good; he actually got the game map chip too!
“However, don’t be angry, I still have to remind you,” Li Jinshao said, glancing at Xi Xi behind him as he walked forward. “I suggest you don’t let your guard down. Although our map has biometric markers, we still can’t distinguish between friend and foe, so we should try to avoid making subjective assumptions.”
Unable to distinguish friend from foe? Xi Xi was taken aback, glancing at the map hidden on the inside of her wrist with some puzzlement. Wasn't it clear that you could distinguish friend from foe by color? It could even tell the difference between stones and wood!
Chu Zhiqin was the first to realize something; she subtly nudged Xi Xi with her elbow. Xi Xi then realized that her map chip could only identify various creatures after being integrated with the automation plugin!
Oh dear, I almost forgot! The automated system was obtained through a stroke of genius; she almost exposed her true colors!
Xi Xi felt slightly embarrassed, but her expression remained calm. She casually thanked Li Jinshao and then fell silent again. Seeing this, Chu Zhiqin cleared her throat and then casually changed the subject, talking about the strange phenomenon of the tide receding in the west and rising in the east.
As expected, Li Jinshao's professional instincts kicked in, and she began to speak at length: "You're right, I've been observing all day long..."
"In short, the abnormal tidal differences between the east and west sides are related to the island's topography... and the impending earthquake."
"The west side is a steep cliff with a large seabed slope. The crustal movement before the earthquake caused the seawater to be pushed into the deep sea; the east side is flat, and the seawater is more likely to accumulate in the low-lying beaches."
Xi Xi listened thoughtfully, glancing at the time discreetly—18:40, less than two hours until 20:20.
In theory, they had enough time to find a suitable place of refuge.
However, it was much easier than she had imagined in practice, because Li Jinshao had already found the best location and led Xi Xi and Chu Zhiqin there on foot.
As a geological research institute, Li Jinshao chose a refuge site that was not only high in elevation but also very spacious and flat, with almost no safety hazards in sight.
"There were two dead trees around during the day. Considering that the roots of the dead trees were dead and they were very likely to fall, I cut them all down to avoid injuring anyone." He seemed to notice Xi Xi looking him over and took the initiative to tell her about his experience that day.
The dead trees were cut down and bundled up, ready to be used to start a fire.
But Xi Xi was surprised by more than just that—because besides Li Jinshao, there were actually other players here!
A man and a woman emerged from the darkness at some unknown time; the man carried a bamboo basket on his back, and the woman held a fishing net in her hand.
They wore simple, coarse cloth clothes, their skin tanned dark by the sea breeze.
Strangely, both of them were wearing masks, but these masks didn't look like ordinary medical masks; they looked more like masks they had sewn themselves from old, worn-out fabric.
"Don't be afraid, we're here to help." Seeing Xi Xi's wary look, the dark-skinned man subconsciously raised his hands to indicate that she was harmless. He took out the firewood he had gathered from his basket and handed it to Li Jinshao.
"My name is Wang Dashan, and this is my wife, Cuihua. We met Brother Li this morning. He knows a lot. We were going to continue on our way, but we listened to his advice and didn't go. Sure enough, the tide came in! Oh my goodness, we escaped with our lives!"
The woman named Cuihua took a coconut out of the fishing net and said softly, "Have some water first. This island is very desolate. There are only a few short coconut trees in the northeast direction!"
Her voice was gentle, with a heavy regional accent.
Xi Xi was always very vigilant and didn't respond for a while. There was a moment of silence around them. Seeing this, Chu Zhiqin quickly took the coconut with a smile and started talking to Cuihua.
Xi Xi lowered her head and occasionally glanced at them. Wang Dashan's hands were covered in calluses, a clear sign of years of hard work. But Cuihua's hands were not so rough; in fact, they looked quite young.
"You arrived here yesterday! Oh my goodness, the wind and waves were incredibly strong yesterday!" Chu Zhiqin was very good at chatting with the neighbors, and she couldn't help but use her strengths again, chatting with the couple.
“Yes, yes, we stayed on the other side of the island yesterday.” Wang Dashan pointed to the west side, “There’s a freshwater bay there. It’s a pity, Brother Li said that place isn’t safe.”
Tamsui Bay…
Xi Xi and Chu Zhiqin exchanged a glance without making a sound.
"Then why are you wearing masks?" Chu Zhiqin quickly asked.
You see, there's a well-preserved female corpse hidden in the cave. According to the two men who were just at the cave, they stole the freshwater and the territory from a dark-skinned old farmer. Could it be...?
The schoolgirl was clearly not killed by the two men who fantasized about eating human flesh, so why she ended up in the cave and why she was stuffed in the refrigerator is a rather chilling question.
"What else could it be... cough cough, we got caught in the rain and caught a cold!" Wang Dashan said, but suddenly he couldn't stop coughing a few times, and his dark face immediately turned red. He waved his hand and continued to say to Xi Ma, "Little sister, you don't know... cough cough cough, the weather and the rain yesterday were really something!"
"You have a cold and you still say a few words!" Cuihua grumbled as she patted Wang Dashan on the back, then handed him the boiled water from the coconut shell.
Chu Zhiqin looked at the masked couple in front of her, and doubts gradually arose in her heart.
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