Stranded on a Deserted Island—They All Started Plotting Against Me - Chapter 46 - Chapter 46

“Why’d you stop eating?” Zhang Liu turned his head to spit a bit of shell toward the beach. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the two girls had stopped eating and asked in confusion, “Are you full?”

“No…”

Qin Ruoshang looked at the contents of their bowls: two-thirds shellfish meat mixed with seaweed, while Zhang Liu’s bowl mostly contained seaweed with shell fragments even in the meat portions. She said in a very low voice, “Zhang Liu, you shouldn’t do that when it comes to food.”

“Huh?” Zhang Liu was stunned, then his eyes dropped guiltily to the eggfruit on the ground.

He had only picked five back earlier. After eating one himself, he couldn’t help but eat two more before giving the remaining two, one each, to Qin Ruoshang and Anya.

So Qin Ruoshang had already noticed him secretly eating?

Damn, he’d thought Anya was tending the fire, and Qin Ruoshuang had been brushing leaves off her clothes—he hadn’t expected either of them to notice!

Many thoughts flashed through Zhang Liu’s mind. He cleared his throat awkwardly and said, “Well… how should I say this…”

He stammered, embarrassed to be caught red-handed stealing food, not knowing what to say.

“You’re a guy; you should eat more!” Qin Ruoshang’s words stunned Zhang Liu.

“Exactly! If something happens to you, what am I supposed to do?” Anya’s words made Qin Ruoshang also freeze.

Zhang Liu stared in surprise at Qin Ruoshang; Qin Ruoshang looked surprised at Anya; Anya looked worriedly at Zhang Liu.

The three of them were caught in a strange emotional loop.

In the end, with a burst of embarrassment, Anya poured half of the shellfish meat from her bowl into Zhang Liu’s bowl, then took a few quick steps into the cave, saying, “I’m on night watch for the second half of the night. Gonna sleep now!”

Zhang Liu stared speechlessly at his now refilled bowl. Qin Ruoshang beside him snapped out of her shock as well.

Many thoughts flashed through her mind, but in the end, she only showed a gentle smile on her face and said, “Zhang Liu, Anya is right—you need to eat more.”

With that, Qin Ruoshang reached out with her chopsticks to pick out the seaweeds from Zhang Liu’s bowl and then poured half of the shellfish meat from her own bowl into his.

“But… I already said I need to take care of you both!” Zhang Liu protested.

The clam shell was slippery to hold, so he didn’t dare to resist their generous additions.

Still, he seriously explained, “I can get full from eating seaweed, but you girls are physically weaker to begin with. If you don’t eat enough high-protein food, what if something happens?”

Qin Ruoshang looked at Zhang Liu with a guilty expression but said nothing, her eyes full of warmth.

From inside the cave came Anya’s complaint: “I’m not weak! Want to have a fight and see?”

“Alright then.” Facing the kindness of the two girls, Zhang Liu said nothing more and kept eating.

“Thank you.” Just then, he heard Qin Ruoshang’s quiet words of thanks beside him.

“Huh?” Zhang Liu glanced at her strangely but didn’t reply—his mouth was full of crab meat.

“I’m feeling much better now, so I’ll take the first half of the night watch. Anya can take the second half,” Qin Ruoshuang said, looking at the pool of water half a meter from the fire. “As long as we don’t let the goat come drink, it should be fine, right?”

“No way!” Zhang Liu shook his head decisively and said, “I have to keep watch for the first half.”

Seeing her confused expression, he raised a stick with a stone tied to the end and swung it a few times. “That goat came to drink water during the first half of the night yesterday. If it dares show up again…”

A smile appeared on his face as he added, “Then we’ll be having goat meat for breakfast tomorrow!”

Although fighting a large mammal like a goat was risky, Zhang Liu thought since goats only eat grass, the risk should be lower—safer than fighting wolves, at least.

This was a gamble worth taking to upgrade his bicycle to a motorcycle.

Qin Ruoshang said nothing, silently watching the “war hammer stick” Zhang Liu held in his hand.

“Zhang Liu, do you know how to use that?” Anya’s voice came from inside the cave again. Although she said she was going to sleep, hearing the two talking below, she poked her head out to look. Seeing the weapon in Zhang Liu’s hand, she asked, “Want me to teach you a couple of moves?”

“You?” Zhang Liu looked up at Anya, feeling somewhat speechless.

What could such a small girl teach him?

“I’m in the kendo club!” Anya said defiantly, stepping out of the cave and quickly picking up a wooden stick from the firewood pile nearly half her height.

After weighing it in her hands, she said to Zhang Liu, “Want to spar a bit and try?”

Zhang Liu was a little dumbfounded; he hadn’t expected Anya to be so serious about it.

“I mean it.” Anya saw the look on his face and explained earnestly, “The sword techniques I learned are all defense-and-counter types. They’re designed for use against people, sure, but some of the principles work against wild beasts too. If you learn a bit, you’ll be safer when you go check out the plane wreck on your own.”

“Uh… okay.” Zhang Liu nodded, thinking a bit of light exercise after eating wouldn’t be bad, then asked, “How do I start?”

“Just basic slashes. Swing at me,” Anya said lightly, twirling her long stick, then gripping it with both hands and standing upright in a classic defensive stance. Seeing that Zhang Liu was already eager to try, she quickly added, “Use a different stick! Don’t hit me with that one!”

She was speechless.

Why would this idiot think about hitting her with a stick tied to a rock?!

“Okay!” Zhang Liu scratched his head awkwardly, then set the war hammer stick aside. He picked up a regular stick from the firewood pile and stepped in front of Anya, holding it vertically in one hand and striking what he thought was a cool pose.

Meanwhile, Qin Ruoshuang sat by the fire, snacking on some jaboticaba berries and casually watching their “post-dinner workout.”

“You swing first.” To the kendo-trained Anya, Zhang Liu holding a stick in his right hand like that was really ridiculous.

The left side was wide open, and his grip was all wrong.

But she didn’t point it out, only watching seriously, waiting for his attack.

“Oh! Then watch out!” Zhang Liu raised the stick, trying to restrain his strength, and swung at the air in front of Anya.

To him, this was just a silly game—he’d play along for a bit and then get her to sleep.

Anya didn’t reply. She simply bent forward slightly, stepped in, and thrust her stick out in a flat parry.

Clack…

The crisp sound of wood striking wood echoed on the beach.

Zhang Liu instantly felt a sharp pain in his thumb and was forced to pull his stick back.

He looked at the stick on the ground in confusion, then glanced at Anya, who was calmly turning to adjust her stance, leaving him momentarily bewildered.

What just happened? Why did my thumb suddenly hurt?

“Your grip was wrong. Without a guard, you can’t leave your thumb alone at the top—it’s unstable and leaves your weapon vulnerable to being knocked away…” Anya tossed her stick aside and grabbed Zhang Liu’s hand, explaining the proper grip in detail.

Then she moved around behind him and wrapped her arms around him, beginning a hands-on demonstration.

Zhang Liu responded with a series of eager “Oh, oh! Aha! Uh-huh!” noises.

Qin Ruoshang, who had been smiling softly at first watching their interaction, slowly lost her smile.

Something seemed off; a sudden thought crossed her mind.

Anya’s tone had been perfectly proper at the beginning, but now she was letting Zhang Liu hold her from behind while they “found the right angle” to practice?

As she observed Anya nestled in Zhang Liu’s arms, breathing a little heavily, Qin Ruoshuang instantly understood.

This girl…

Although she felt rather annoyed, Qin Ruoshuang had to admit: Anya was teaching him useful things.

“I’m heading up to sleep. I’ve got the second half of the night watch—Zhang Liu, don’t forget to wake me.” She walked past them, dropped the line casually, and turned to leave.

Zhang Liu finally realized—wait, he was hugging Anya right now.

“Ah, ah… Classmate Anya, I’m really sorry…” He quickly let go and started apologizing profusely.

Anya was furious that Qin Ruoshang had spoiled the moment, gritting her teeth in anger, but what mattered more was how Zhang Liu addressed her: “What did you just call me?!”

“Classmate Anya… no! Anya! It’s Anya!” Zhang Liu apologized repeatedly as Anya climbed back into the cave and lay down beside Qin Ruoshang.

Thanks to the firelight outside, they could both see each other’s expressions clearly.

Anya looked annoyed; Qin Ruoshang smiled gently.

As for Zhang Liu, he remained by the fire, practicing the technique Anya had just taught him—how to effectively strike the waist area of a large animal.

A bright full moon rose from the east, casting a pale glow over the wilderness. The sounds of the wild gradually fell silent.

The fourth night had finally come.