They finally arrived in Y City. The travel agency, deeply committed to the philosophy of “no meals included, cheap is king”, led An Qi’s group to several free, ticket-free places… After playing for several days, they finally went to a place that charged admission… and the ticket was only around twenty yuan… Today’s destination was Y City’s famous sea. Although the sunlight was strong with intense UV rays, the endless sea still had everyone taking out their phones and cameras, shooting non-stop. As per previous custom, from now on, they had free activity time until gathering at 5:30 PM. Everyone dispersed in small groups, and An Qi and Shen Yi also carried their bags, lazily strolling under the trees. “An Qi, you haven’t sent a photo to your boyfriend today! I’ll help you take one!” Shen Yi took out sunglasses from her bag and put them on, immediately feeling her eyes more comfortable. Looking at the sea, with the gentle sea breeze blowing, she felt refreshed. “Oh? Let’s walk around first before taking photos!” After these few days, An Qi had completely understood Shen Yi’s photography skills… No matter what pose she took, Shen Yi could always manage to make her look “short, fat, and ugly”, making her too embarrassed to send to Yan Qing! And even if Yan Qing received such a photo, he would just send a message like “Looks like you’re eating well, keep it up”… The prices here were expensive, and An Qi and the others had been eating vermicelli and such at first… They were clearly getting thinner! “Okay!” Shen Yi agreed readily. “Let’s go… buy a hat!” A single pair of sunglasses could no longer satisfy An Qi. She just hoped Yan Qing wouldn’t dislike her for being “tanned” when she returned… Time flew, and it was already 4:30 PM. An Qi and Shen Yi saw a tour boat going out to sea and excitedly signed up. It seemed that due to the large number of tourists today, service staff were helping elsewhere, so the boat captain was the main person in charge. He planned to take the boat to a naturally formed island in the middle of the sea, let everyone disembark and sightsee, and then return precisely at 5 PM. For this, he reminded the tourists several times to “definitely return to the boat by 4:55”, but some tourists still left the boat before the captain even came out of the wheelhouse, which left the captain feeling helpless. An Qi and Shen Yi disembarked and found the small island was full of greenery, with many beautiful stones near the seaside. An Qi decided to take a selfie with her phone’s camera to send to Yan Qing… No matter what, she didn’t want Shen Yi to take the photo. “Click.” After taking the photo, An Qi checked her expression and found nothing wrong, then sent it casually. After sending it, she looked at the scenery behind her and suddenly froze… No way! The small figure in the distance, whose face was vaguely recognizable… was Chen Yi! Sure enough, Yan Qing’s text came back quickly: “Coincidence?” An Qi hurried to clarify: “No, no! I didn’t see him on the boat!” As a result, Yan Qing stopped replying! An Qi pouted… Great, Yan Qing was unhappy again, all because of Chen Yi! Sigh… However, An Qi didn’t realize that the reason she wasn’t receiving texts was that her phone’s signal had suddenly dropped to an extremely weak level, causing Yan Qing’s texts to fail to send multiple times. “An Qi, come over here! I think I just saw a squirrel!” Shen Yi shouted and waved from not far away, and An Qi temporarily put her phone back in her pants pocket and ran over… The two walked deeper and deeper, even discovering a lush green mountain cave, giving a real sense of adventure. This island might look small, but walking around, it seemed quite large. With sparse population and surrounded by trees, the natural oxygen bar made An Qi and Shen Yi feel very relaxed… —To the point where they forgot to return to the boat at 4:55. 4:55 PM. The boat captain looked somewhat troubled… He wasn’t sure if all the tourists had returned. The boat tickets had been collected by the staff on the shore when they first came in. He walked to the edge of the forest and continuously shouted into the trees, “We’re leaving!” to remind the tourists to come back. “An Qi, I feel like…” Shen Yi, who was taking photos of small flowers on the ground, suddenly looked up. “Oh! It’s time to go back!” An Qi took out her phone and exclaimed, then pulled Shen Yi and ran towards the boat. “We’re! Leaving! Now!
The captain’s deep voice seemed to be right in front of them, but the trees that had just looked so green to Anxi and the others now became intricate, and they couldn’t find the path they had taken earlier!
“Wait! Wait for us!”
Anxi and Shen Yi shouted, not knowing if the captain could hear them.
After wandering around for who knows how long, they finally emerged from the forest, but the boat they had arrived on was nowhere to be seen… A chill rose from their hearts. Were they going to have to wait until tomorrow to leave?
What a joke… Survival on a deserted island?!!!
The captain looked at the boat full of people and set off.
Although he felt a bit uneasy, he waited until 5:20 to start the boat.
Back at the shore, he stood by the door and counted everyone as they disembarked.
In the end, about 42 people got off the boat. Checking the tickets in hand… it seemed the ticket count was off by exactly four people…
The captain wiped the sweat from his forehead… It was already past their work hours, and the boat was locked in the boathouse… The person with the key was a quick-moving, solitary individual. Now… he was afraid he couldn’t get the key!
With a glimmer of hope, the captain still dialed his phone, only to hear, “Everyone in the work group, please don’t disturb my personal life! See you tomorrow!” before the call was hung up.
The captain then called the police station. The police asked seriously, “Can you confirm that four people were left on the island?”
Faced with the police, the captain became hesitant… Maybe he just miscounted in the crowd. So he decided to let it go for now, thinking he’d check again at the 7 o’clock boat tomorrow morning.
The sunset cast a shimmering light on the water, with a faint reddish hue.
Despite the beautiful scenery, Anxi and Shen Yi, stranded on the island, had no mood to appreciate it… They just stared, hoping another boat would come to take them back.
Just as they were despairing, a sudden exclamation came from behind – “The boat left?” Chen Yi and another male student looked bewildered at the boat’s original mooring spot…
Anxi and Shen Yi were speechless… These two definitely disembarked to play around as soon as the boat docked, before the captain even left the cabin…
But when Anxi suddenly realized she and Shen Yi would have to survive on this deserted island with two male students, especially one named Chen Yi…
She felt this was the “biggest crisis” since coming to Y City…
Four people had just found the cave when it started to drizzle outside, not heavy, just a light rain drifting with the wind. However, these raindrops were still unbearable in the cold night.
“Still no phone signal…”
An Xi held up her phone, trying to call for help, but the signal remained crossed, no matter how she moved her phone.
“It’s already 6:10… Are we really going to spend the night here?” Shen Yi moaned.
“…” An Xi just sat on the ground, sighing silently.
She always felt that Chen Yi, sitting across from her, was looking at her with strange eyes, glancing at her from time to time… She felt something was off, somewhat eerie.
At this moment, An Xi could only stare blankly at a photo of Yan Qing in her phone. Yan Qing was working seriously and hadn’t stopped her from “secretly taking” the photo.
