Chapter 10

Li Yuanxi and Wei Shu walked one behind the other. Li Yuanxi took the lead, clearing the path, while Wei Shu held onto the back of her shirt to keep from slipping again.

“Don’t pull so hard. If you fall, you’ll just take me down with you,” Li Yuanxi said, feeling the fabric of her shirt tighten at the back. She just couldn’t help being a smart aleck.

Wei Shu rolled her eyes in exasperation and held on even tighter. Feeling the warmth at her back, Li Yuanxi smirked. She hummed a cheerful tune, adding a bit of life to the otherwise monotonous trek.

The path they were taking was one Li Yuanxi had already scouted a few times. Just to be safe, she always brought a walking stick, which could double as a weapon and a staff.

When they reached the coastline, Wei Shu was slightly out of breath. She put her hands on her hips, her cheeks flushed, and gazed at the azure sea in the distance, her ears filled with the sound of crashing waves.

“Let’s walk along the coast. Humans haven’t set foot here, but we’ve left our trash everywhere,” Li Yuanxi said, pointing at the various pieces of ocean litter scattered about.

The two walked between the trees and rocks just inland from the shore. Mixed in among the black rocks were all sorts of garbage: plastic bottles, bags, bowls, straws, you name it.

There was a lot of trash, mostly plastic bottles. Li Yuanxi bent down and pulled out a length of rusty iron wire. She looked at it and said casually, “Full-on tetanus waiting to happen. Watch yourself.”

The salty, damp wind had a chill to it. Thick, grey clouds blanketed the sky, blocking the sun. The sound of the waves grew louder.

Wei Shu was luckier. She pulled a piece of plastic pipe out of the sand and mud beneath a man-high reef. “Hey, Li Yuanxi! Is this useful?” she called, waving the white pipe.

“Huh?” Li Yuanxi looked up and saw the pipe in Wei Shu’s hand. “Yes! Useful! Definitely useful!” she shouted excitedly.

She ran over to Wei Shu and took the two-meter-long pipe from her hands. The ends were a bit battered, but it could still be used after being cut.

“You earned your keep today. This pipe is just what I need to run our drinking water.” Li Yuanxi gave Wei Shu a playful wink. “Mhm,” Wei Shu said, nodding primly, and continued scanning for anything useful.

Li Yuanxi watched Wei Shu, who seemed completely at ease, and let out a quiet laugh. In high spirits, she started to sing, “The sky laughs, the world’s tides flow, mortal affairs, only this morning we know~”

The song was so familiar to Wei Shu that she didn’t even bat an eye. It was a tune Li Yuanxi had been singing since they were kids. But Wei Shu had never been able to find out who sang it. Whenever she asked, Li Yuanxi would just say it was sung by a certain someone.

Wei Shu would just roll her eyes at her awful jokes. Li Yuanxi had this amazing ability to be having a perfectly good conversation one moment, then kill the mood entirely with a single sentence. Wei Shu had no idea how she’d developed that skill.

No Omega would ever fall for someone like her, Wei Shu thought, shaking her head. She wondered why she was even thinking about whether Li Yuanxi would be alone or not.

Actually, apart from her terrible jokes and her childish need to be contrary, Li Yuanxi was pretty good at everything else.

It’s just that…

Wei Shu gently tapped her forehead, stopping herself from overthinking. She continued picking up usable plastic bottles for storing water.

As the afternoon wore on, the wind grew stronger, and the waves crashed more urgently. The tide was coming in. Li Yuanxi pulled a reluctant Wei Shu back towards the cave.

On the way back, Wei Shu spotted the plant she had seen earlier, the one she thought was a Thunder Bamboo Shoot.

Having grown overnight, nourished by the rain, it had shot up by at least fifteen centimeters.

Wei Shu moved to take a closer look, but Li Yuanxi pulled her back. “What’s the rush? What if there’s a snake?” She pushed Wei Shu behind her and used her stick to beat the grass and bushes.

Watching Li Yuanxi approach the Thunder Bamboo Shoot cautiously, checking it twice, Wei Shu saw her put her stick away and hand it over.

“I’ll cut it. You wait here.” Li Yuanxi, shell axe in hand, held it tightly. The shell’s thin, flat outer edge was sharp enough to cut things quickly.

“We don’t want the really long ones. They’re too old. See how it looks like bamboo, with those joints? It’s good for clearing heat and toxins, and most importantly, it can help with constipation…” Wei Shu explained the Thunder Bamboo Shoot’s benefits to Li Yuanxi.

“Amazing. As expected of a botany major.” Li Yuanxi gave her a thumbs-up, her eyes sparkling. All she could think about was that it could help with digestion and bloating. This stuff was perfect for them. It was a treasure. They had to dig up more.

Li Yuanxi dug up about a dozen tender shoots from the cluster. She casually pulled a vine from the ground, laid the shoots on it, then twisted around to find more.

While Li Yuanxi was digging, Wei Shu walked around, looking for other edible plants.

It wasn’t until the sky began to darken that Li Yuanxi reluctantly stopped. She tied up the bundle of shoots with the vine, and they went back to the cave.

“You know how to cook these, right?” Li Yuanxi said, lifting the bundle of Thunder Bamboo Shoots.

Wei Shu blinked, pretending to be confused. “Besides boiling, what other way is there to cook them?”

Li Yuanxi very naturally put her hand down, as if she’d never asked the question.

Having won that round, Wei Shu’s mood brightened considerably. Just as they reached the cave, a light drizzle began to fall. It soon turned into a steady, pattering rain. The sea breeze blew into the cave, carrying the smoke back inside.

The smoke made Wei Shu’s eyes water. “Wait here at the entrance for a second. The fire might be dying down, that’s why there’s so much smoke.”

Li Yuanxi ran inside. As she suspected, the fire was barely alive. She grabbed a handful of dry grass, placed it next the fire, and carefully blew on the embers. The grass caught fire almost immediately.

Li Yuanxi added some kindling to keep the fire stable. A few minutes later, the fire was roaring again. She picked up a banana leaf and fanned the smoke out of the cave, coughing and crying the whole time.

“Cough… cough… cough…” Li Yuanxi was choking. She wiped her streaming eyes with the back of her hand, coughing her lungs out.

Wei Shu was worried sick. Gritting her teeth, she rushed in, grabbed Li Yuanxi’s hand, and pulled her out of the cave.

“What are you doing?” Li Yuanxi asked, her voice muffled.

“Getting you out of there!” Wei Shu yelled.

“I’m fine,” Li Yuanxi said, waving dismissively. Wei Shu ignored her, dragging her out. They ended up standing under a tree outside the cave.

“You know, you should be more afraid of lightning,” Li Yuanxi said, sniffing back a runny nose. She never could resist a snarky comment.

“Shut up,” Wei Shu said coldly, shooting her a glare.

“Okay,” Li Yuanxi said. She wiped her eyes, standing in the rain, occasionally glancing at Wei Shu’s stony expression. She kept her hands in her pockets, not caring that they were getting dirty.

“When the rain stops, I’ll make us a door. Keep the wind out,” Li Yuanxi said, seeing that Wei Shu wasn’t talking.

Wei Shu narrowed her eyes, turning to stare fixedly at Li Yuanxi. “Just for me? Aren’t you going to live in the cave too?”

“I’m living in the cave too,” Li Yuanxi said, confused by why Wei Shu seemed so scary all of a sudden.

“Oh. I thought you weren’t going to live here anymore. Then why say you were making it for me?” Wei Shu looked away and said lightly, shutting her down.

Li Yuanxi realized her mistake. It was a door for both of them, but she’d made it sound like it was a gift for Wei Shu. She’d just set her up to take the blame.

“I misspoke. I meant it’s to keep the wind out for both of us.”

“Mhm. You make the door; I’ll make dinner.”

And so, amidst their bickering and cooperation, they survived on the deserted island for ten days. They adjusted to a rhythm of rising with the sun and sleeping when it set.

At night, when there was nothing to do, they would chat, or Li Yuanxi would tell stories. They were stories Wei Shu had never heard before, a story about a monkey. The story started with him being incredibly arrogant and ended with him being incredibly pathetic.

To Wei Shu, the Monkey King’s story was just too tragic. She would often beg Li Yuanxi to change the plot, especially the part about him being tricked three times by the White Bone Demon. She voiced her strong disapproval.

And the door Li Yuanxi had promised was finally finished. Now, they didn’t have to worry about the wind at night, and the fire was safe from the breeze.

The door was made from finger-width logs, tied together with bark. They’d been cut to the exact dimensions of the cave entrance. To keep snakes and insects from crawling in through the gaps, Li Yuanxi had meticulously adjusted the length and angle of each log, ensuring it would fit snugly but could also be easily moved. It was a door for rainy days.

It had taken her five days to finish. During that time, Wei Shu had been staring at the coconut trees, and a flash of inspiration struck.

She looked at the coconut fronds, at least a meter and a half long, and remembered the handicrafts she’d seen at a resort on Saipan: mats woven from coconut leaves.

And that’s what Wei Shu was now sitting on: a large, green bed made of woven coconut leaves. It was about 1.5 meters wide, enough for two people to sleep and turn over, and it sat about half a meter off the ground, keeping them away from the damp earth.

“Are you getting it?” Li Yuanxi asked, holding up the coconut leaf she was weaving. She had just cut it, and was teaching Wei Shu how to do handicrafts.

“Li Yuanxi, how do you know so much?” The awkwardness between them had all but disappeared after this time of eating, sleeping, and living together.

Especially at night, when Wei Shu would curl up in Li Yuanxi’s arms in her sleep, using her as a human mattress. After all these days, Li Yuanxi still hadn’t managed to kick Wei Shu off.

“It’s because I’m naturally gifted. Did you learn or not!” Li Yuanxi was getting impatient teaching Wei Shu to weave a basket for collecting wild vegetables.

“Don’t yell at me!” Wei Shu pouted, lowering her head to fiddle with her small, green bed.

The layout of the cave had changed. Thanks to Wei Shu’s measurements and planning, the space was being used effectively.

The cave was 5 meters deep and 4.5 meters wide. They’d placed the bed further inside, slightly out of the way of the smoke from the fire.

The wooden door had a gap at the top to let the smoke out. Over the door, they’d tied a coconut leaf mat the same size to block the wind from blowing through the cracks.

A small fire, ringed with stones, burned brightly. A black, soot-covered metal bucket was bubbling away merrily.

The cave was starting to feel like a cozy one-room apartment. The only thing missing was a proper bathroom, but it was beginning to feel like home.

They still relied on Li Yuanxi’s fishing and the occasional catch for food. Wei Shu would sometimes find edible wild vegetables, though they usually had a strange taste. Still, they were edible.

They had settled on the cave as their permanent shelter. A shelter this well protected from the wind, rain, and tsunamis was hard to find. Why would they want to move?

And most importantly, the inside of the cave didn’t leak. What a godsend this cave was! It was as if the heavens had specially prepared it for them.