Stranded on a Deserted Island—They All Started Plotting Against Me - Chapter 26 - Chapter 26

“Cough cough… Uh… Anya, could you not poke at my sore spots like that?” Zhang Liu spoke as he walked up behind them.

He was carrying a large bundle of firewood on his shoulder, which slowed him down. His footsteps were light, so the two chatting girls hadn’t noticed him approaching.

Hearing their conversation—especially Anya’s blunt “there’s no way between me and him”—might’ve crushed another guy’s self-esteem.

Most teenage boys would’ve gotten angry, maybe even resentful, feeling like they were being looked down on.

But Zhang Liu honestly didn’t care. He was even secretly relieved that Anya didn’t have some ridiculous idea that he should take responsibility just because of the snake incident.

At his core, he’d never been the kind of man who dreamed of climbing the social ladder by marrying rich.

The class gap born from different upbringings was something he could never overcome.

So Zhang Liu had simply stood quietly in the background, waiting for their conversation to end so he could walk over and pretend nothing had happened.

The only reason he came over early was because he’d overheard Qin Ruoshuang’s follow-up.

Though he didn’t catch everything, he could more or less guess what she was going to say.

Probably something like “Zhang Liu isn’t a bad guy at heart,” and then blah blah blah about how Anya should support him or whatever…

That kind of talk, he had zero interest in.

For someone like Zhang Liu, whose imagination was firmly limited by poverty, if they ever did get rescued and Qin Ruoshuang and Anya each gave him a lump sum of around a hundred thousand yuan—

That would already be enough to move him to tears.

Rather than having Anya being duped by Qin Ruoshuang and starting to think about supporting him in business or something.

In a civilized society, Zhang Liu only ever wanted money.

On this deserted island, he especially wanted to see a rescue plane descend from the sky.

As for women…

Zhang Liu had no such thoughts at all.

In his own words—what, your own hands don’t feel good enough?

If his hands weren’t enough, he could always save up money in the future to buy a rotating vibrating cup from NetEase Cloud. It’s said to have a spinning and vibrating function.

Can a carbon-based life form, a woman, do something like spinning five times per second and vibrating dozens of times?

Slowly walking up to the two silent girls, Zhang Liu placed the firewood down. He spoke with great seriousness: “Qin Ruoshuang, Anya, please don’t worry. I know the difference in our status, so I won’t have any improper thoughts toward you!”

After saying that, Zhang Liu smiled, shrugged his shoulders, and turned to leave with a carefree manner.

To him, rather than wasting time in this godforsaken place chatting about family backgrounds and whether it’s suitable to date someone, it was way more practical to head to the beach and see if there was anything edible he could scavenge.

Only a lunatic would talk about love on an empty stomach.

But after Zhang Liu left, Qin Ruoshuang and Anya exchanged looks, then fell into another little dilemma.

“Is he… angry?” Anya whispered, glancing towards the direction Zhang Liu had gone, her voice full of concern. “Could it be that he’s going to abandon us?”

“…”

Qin Ruoshuang didn’t answer. She just hugged her knees and stared blankly at the sand in front of her, as though counting the grains of sand.

This was her self-protection mechanism after her emotions sank into fear. Qin Ruoshuang was scared.

After thinking it over, she realized something very clearly.

If she truly had to rely only on herself on this island…

Never mind finding a place to set up camp or building the fire. Just staying afloat when they were drifting in the sea earlier… she would’ve already died.

If Zhang Liu really did take those words to heart, and a rift formed between the three of them, eventually leading to them going their separate ways…

Then, the consequences were something she absolutely didn’t want to see or bear.

Her fingers tightly gripped her knees as she felt a slight pain in her abdomen again.

As the instigator of the conversation, she was overwhelmed with guilt.

Zhang Liu had even given up his foam board to let her use it when she was on her period…

The first sip of coconut water was for her too…

He even risked testing the fruit for poison…

Yet here she was, talking behind his back!

Biting her lip with force, Qin Ruoshuang didn’t just feel pain in her abdomen, even her gut was filled with regret.

She felt like a shameless little parasite clinging to Zhang Liu—no, worse than a parasite. At least a parasite doesn’t complain after it’s fed.

“You’re bleeding.” Anya’s panicked voice snapped Qin Ruoshuang back to reality.

Following Anya’s gaze, she reached up to touch her lips and immediately felt a warm, wet sensation on her fingers.

Qin Ruoshuang realized she had bitten her lip and it was bleeding.

A delicate red streak marred her porcelain-like chin, looking quite alarming.

“It’s fine… I just accidentally bit it too hard.” Her tongue slid down over the cut, as she tasted the blood in her mouth.

The faint salty and metallic taste helped calm her down a little.

She stood up and walked toward the woods near the cave.

“What are you doing?” Anya ran a few steps to catch up and asked.

“Picking up firewood. No matter what, we won’t wake up cold tomorrow morning.” Qin Ruoshuang answered with a smile, seeming to have regained her calm composure.

Following behind Qin Ruoshuang to pick up firewood, Anya couldn’t hide the worry in her eyes.

A thought flashed through her mind…

Could it be that she’s feeling so guilty that it’s affecting her mental state?

…………………………

Zhang Liu was in luck, or maybe it’s true that a man’s success requires leaving women behind.

After the tide receded on the reef beach, he spotted something he had always dreamed of— a fish.

He didn’t know exactly what kind of fish it was.

But it was definitely a fish.

A classic streamlined body, at least half a meter long, probably weighing over ten pounds.

At the moment, it was lying in a shallow puddle and struggling to jump, its body and fins flailing wildly, seemingly trying to return to the sea.

Such a gift from nature, Zhang Liu wasn’t going to let it slip. He quickly dashed over.

The fish stopped struggling, perhaps exhausted.

One of its clear, glassy eyes stared dead-on at the approaching Zhang Liu.

Zhang Liu eagerly returned the gaze, his face full of anticipation.

In his eyes, this fish wasn’t just a fish. It was dinner.

For him, for Qin Ruoshuang, and for Anya!

Even if the fish’s internal organs, scales, and bones were removed, there would still be plenty of meat left.

Meat… protein… delicious…

To avoid any complications, Zhang Liu didn’t hesitate. He grabbed the fish and ran straight toward the cave where the three of them were staying.

If it weren’t for the fear of parasites and the need to cook it before eating, Zhang Liu would have already taken a bite of the fish’s head to taste the meat.