Stranded on a Deserted Island—They All Started Plotting Against Me - Chapter 35 - Chapter 35

Despite being captivated by her sleeping face, Zhang Liu didn’t do anything inappropriate. He carefully lifted Qin Ruoshuang and placed her on the foam pad beside Anya.

Then, moving quietly to avoid waking them, he resumed his night watch.

Later, as the fire crackled softly, he finally lay down near the cave’s edge, where the warmth had spread, and closed his eyes to rest.

The next morning, Qin Ruoshuang, feeling a chill, instinctively hugged the warmth next to her.

In her half-asleep state, she suddenly remembered falling asleep leaning against Zhang Liu the night before.

So… who was she holding now?

Panicked, she opened her eyes to find Anya’s peaceful sleeping face inches from her own.

Realizing she was holding Anya, not Zhang Liu, Qin Ruoshuang let out a sigh of relief.

Yet, oddly, there was also a tinge of inexplicable disappointment.

“You’re awake?” Anya had been roused by the combination of being tightly hugged and having someone’s breath blown directly onto her face.

Stretching lazily, she let her joints and muscles pop and crack as they eased into motion.

As she yawned, her snow-white, finely aligned teeth and the delicate pink tip of her tongue were clearly visible in the morning sunlight pouring into the cave.

“Mhm.” Watching Anya yawn and stretch in front of her, Qin Ruoshuang’s gaze briefly flickered with a wistful glint.

Then she finally let go of the now-fully-awake Anya.

But before doing so, she furrowed her brows and sniffed the air carefully—then took another glance at Anya.

Qin Ruoshuang’s gaze lingered meaningfully for a moment.

Then she turned her head toward the cave entrance.

There, the source of her early morning melancholy—her classmate from the next class over, Zhang Liu—was sprawled out on the ground, limbs flung every which way, sound asleep.

The campfire beside him was clearly on its last breath, reduced to glowing red embers and wisps of smoke drifting lazily out of the cave.

What exactly had happened last night?

Wasn’t she chatting with Zhang Liu before falling asleep?

So how had she ended up sleeping next to Anya?

“Ah… I think I forgot to switch shifts last night.” Anya scratched her head sheepishly as she looked over at Zhang Liu still lying by the cave entrance.

She’d slept like a baby.

Her mind was filled with an unprecedented sense of contentment—it felt as pleasant as eating an ice pop on a hot summer day.

“Then let’s keep our movements quiet and let him sleep a little longer,” Qin Ruoshuang said with a smile, remembering the conversation she had with Zhang Liu the night before—and all the awkward, hilarious stories he’d shared about raising his younger sisters.

A subtle sense of superiority rose within her—the kind that comes from knowing secrets that Anya didn’t.

She walked over to Zhang Liu, ready to cover him with something. But as her eyes wandered unintentionally toward his waist…

“…”

She froze for a few seconds, then silently squatted down beside the fire and started adding twigs and wood, gently blowing at the glowing embers to stoke the flames.

Though her movements were light, they were enough to wake Zhang Liu from his sleep.

He turned his head drowsily, only to see a perky butt swaying close to his cheek. Recognizing the red sports pants, he realized—that must be Qin Ruoshuang.

He looked toward the cave’s entrance; daylight had fully arrived.

It must be around seven or eight in the morning, by his guess.

“Uh… I think I overslept last night.” Getting up, Zhang Liu looked toward Anya, who was stretching, and said, “Anya, we’re supposed to take turns on night watch, remember?”

“Emmm…” Anya gave an awkward but polite smile, then turned her gaze away while whistling—playing the classic “pretend nothing happened” card.

“Ahem, ahem…” Just then, Qin Ruoshuang, who had been tending the fire, started coughing—she’d inhaled a bit of smoke and ash.

She was coughing hard, trying to recover.

“I’ll take over,” Zhang Liu said, taking over fire-tending duties from Qin Ruoshuang.

By now, his stomach was already growling.

So it was indeed time to start the slate-grilled fish breakfast they’d planned the night before.

But grilling a fish tail properly on a slab of stone was actually quite tricky.

After all, a slab isn’t like a frying pan with a handle that you can lift to control the heat when it gets too intense.

And the heat capacity of stone is different too—it cools slowly, making it easy for the fish to burn.

Holding the fish tail, Zhang Liu took a deep breath and placed it on the stone slab, which was already sizzling hot under the fire, all while being closely watched by Qin Ruoshuang and Anya.

Sizzle sizzle sizzle… The cold fish skin hit the stone and immediately began to sear and vaporize.

Without hesitation, he grabbed the fin and flipped the fish.

A layer of skin and a bit of flesh came off instantly, while the other side sizzled as it stuck to the hot slab and began to char.

But that was enough.

By now, the fish had heated through, and the meat had softened and become tender from cooking.

Naturally, Zhang Liu wasn’t about to risk having the fish fall to the ground—or worse, burn his fingers—by turning it bare-handed.

Instead, he picked up a thick piece of wood he’d prepared as a spatula substitute and used it to flip the fish again.

Normally, you’d use oil when grilling fish on a slab. But given the circumstances, there wasn’t a drop of oil to be had.

So Zhang Liu had the idea of using the fish skin as a protective layer between the meat and the stone to prevent burning.

“Now we just wait for the fish to finish cooking,” he said, picking up a jaboticaba fruit and starting to peel and pit it. Turning to Qin Ruoshuang, he added, “Anya and I will eat and then head out. I’ll leave the fire in your hands.”

“Mm!” Qin Ruoshuang nodded lightly. “Leave it to me.”

Breakfast hadn’t changed—still jaboticaba fruit, coconut meat, and grilled fish.

Since the next task was to go out and forage for food, and they’d have chances to snack along the way, Zhang Liu didn’t eat much.

He gave all the protein- and fat-rich back meat of the fish to Qin Ruoshuang and Anya.

As for himself, he just filled up on fruit and coconut water, then walked off near the cave to take care of nature’s call.

Back inside the cave, Qin Ruoshuang, sharing fruit with Anya, suddenly said, “Anya, once Zhang Liu heads off to gather food… how about we go to the beach and wash up a little?”

“Huh?” Anya was momentarily stunned by her suggestion.

Then she realized: this was Qin Ruoshuang subtly telling her that her body wasn’t exactly fresh anymore.

Anya immediately raised her arm and sniffed hard at her underarm.

A faint sweaty smell reached her nose.

Her expression quickly turned awkward and unnatural.

“I noticed I had a bit of a smell too, so I took out a sponge pad earlier to wipe myself off,” Qin Ruoshuang said with a smile. “When you stretched just now, I caught a whiff. It’s nothing serious—just sweat. A quick wipe will take care of it.”

“But…” Anya looked at Qin Ruoshuang, her expression hesitant.

“What is it?” Qin Ruoshuang asked softly, a little puzzled.

“Actually, when you were talking just now, your mouth seemed to have a bit of a smell too…” Anya replied cautiously, watching Qin Ruoshuang’s reaction.

“Bad breath?” Qin Ruoshuang paused, raised her hand, breathed into it, and sniffed.

Sure enough, there was a faint fishy smell. She immediately became concerned.