Chapter 17: Island

When Jiang Yang woke up again, she was lying on a dark and damp ground. The earthy smell constantly reached her nostrils, and her palms felt cold.

Hm? I didn’t die?!

Jiang Yang excitedly sat up with a jolt, feeling her body. There was no discomfort anywhere, her hearing was good, and she could hear even the slightest sound of water clearly. This wasn’t right, she clearly remembered being dragged into the deep sea by the merman, her eardrums nearly bursting. How did she not die? The old lady’s life is really big!

Looking around, she seemed to be in a quite spacious circular cave. The cave was pitch black, with plant vines crawling all over the rock walls. The exit was diagonally above, but obscured by some unknown plant roots. Only part of the sunlight penetrated through the cracks, reflecting rippling light on the nearby pool.

“This isn’t right, how did I end up here?” Jiang Yang mumbled to herself.

Suddenly she saw the beautiful man-fish quietly lying in the corner without making a sound.

That corner had no light coming in, pitch black. The beautiful man-fish only had his upper body exposed above the water, lying on a rock with his eyes closed as if resting. His breathing was so light it was almost nonexistent. His black hair swayed and crossed in the water. His already overly fair skin seemed even paler, almost sickly.

Jiang Yang looked at him, understanding in her heart that she must have been saved by this fish.

Although she didn’t know where this place was, feeling the soft, damp soil, Jiang Yang thought she probably wasn’t at the bottom of the sea.

Jiang Yang shifted her feet, and in a daze, she seemed to touch something. Looking carefully, Jiang Yang saw it was an extinguished fire pit. No wonder she felt warm around her while unconscious.

Did this fish make the fire? This was Jiang Yang’s first reaction. Could he make fire? Sea creatures living in water year-round had no chance to touch flames, and were even afraid of them.

How did he manage to start a fire by himself? Jiang Yang suppressed the doubts in her heart, looking at the sleeping beautiful man-fish, not wanting to disturb him.

Looking at the exit where light was coming in, she prepared to crawl out on all fours to see her surroundings.

“A’Yang.” The beautiful man-fish had woken up at some point, and as soon as he woke up, he saw Jiang Yang’s back as she eagerly crawled out.

Jiang Yang’s hands and feet paused, and she turned around with a smile, “You woke up so quickly, go back to sleep.”

“Are you leaving?” The beautiful man-fish looked at her, his pitch-black eyes like ink spreading.

“I’m going out for a bit, to see where this place is.”

“This is an uninhabited island. Right now, my people are hunting you across the entire ocean. If you go out, you’re as good as dead,” said the beautiful man-fish.

“……” Jiang Yang was speechless. Her hands and feet, halfway through crawling, silently retreated. She sat silently on the rock.

Sigh, if only she hadn’t captured this fish back then, the merman tribe wouldn’t have come seeking revenge. Now, the entire ship and the lives of the crew were lost. What benefit was there in capturing mermen anyway? Nothing at all, just that dog emperor’s ugly meddling, lighting lamps even in his coffin, causing small fries like them to lose their lives.

The ship capsized, the royal mission failed, and she was now trapped on a sea island, unable to return, waiting for death on a lonely island for the rest of her life. If she did return, the emperor would know of her mission’s failure and directly bestow death.

Ah, so annoying.

Jiang Yang irritably tugged at her hair.

Without realizing it, the beautiful man-fish had already swum to her side, picking up some dry grass and two branches nearby, and began to start a fire by friction.

His movements were very awkward, probably hadn’t done it many times. His hand kept rotating and rubbing on the branch, using so much force that even his fish tail lifted slightly. There was still a clear shallow wound on his tail fin. His speed was very fast, and soon a small hole was drilled in the wood below. A wisp of black smoke began to rise.

Chi Mei quickly grabbed the dry grass nearby and placed it on top. A tiny spark appeared. Chi Mei’s eyes showed joy as he lowered his head to blow on the dry grass to help it ignite, but the fire suddenly flared up, almost burning his eyebrows.

Chi Mei was so startled that he instantly dropped the branches in his hand and covered his eyebrows.

“Did you get burned? Let me see.” Jiang Yang grabbed his hand.

“Don’t… ugly,” Chi Mei covered his eyebrows, his eyes shimmering with moisture.

“What’s ugly or not, did your eyebrows get burned off?” Jiang Yang pressed his hand, teasing. Suddenly she noticed many burn marks on his hands. Thinking of the extinguished fire pit from earlier, Jiang Yang’s tone changed, and she said softly, “It’s not ugly at all, let me see.”

Chi Mei hesitated for a moment, then took his hand down.

Jiang Yang stared at his brow bone, examining carefully.

Chi Mei’s watery eyes flickered and trembled nervously: “How is it? Did I get burned? Is it very ugly?”

“No, it’s not ugly at all. It’s still as beautiful as before,” Jiang Yang smiled.

Actually, when that flame had flared up just now, Jiang Yang had seen that it was still some distance from his eyebrows. If it were an ordinary person, it wouldn’t have caused any harm at all. But merpeople’s skin was constantly moist, with extremely low tolerance for fire. In just that split second, the skin around his eyebrows had already been burned deep red.

Chi Mei pursed his lips and smiled faintly. This was the first expression Jiang Yang had seen on his face since she woke up. The long-absent smile carried innocence, like flames boiling in the sea.

Jiang Yang scooped up some water from the pool and gently poured it on his forehead. The cool pond water eased the burning sensation a bit.

“Does that feel better?” Jiang Yang asked.

“…Mm.” Chi Mei closed his eyes and nodded. The water flowed from his brow bone to his eye socket and then from his eye socket to his chin.

“You should soak in the water more. Leave the fire-making to me.” Jiang Yang picked up the branches herself and began to make fire.

“…A’Yang, do you really know how to make fire?” Chi Mei asked very doubtfully, looking at her movements that were even more awkward than his own.

“Of course I do.” Jiang Yang boasted, although it was her first time making fire, her posture of pretending was quite convincing.

Chi Mei was half-believing, half-doubting as he slowly sank into the water.

“Finally, he’s gone.” Jiang Yang muttered softly. Actually, as a modern person, she had never had the chance to encounter such primitive skills as friction fire-making. After transmigrating, she had people to serve her for dressing and eating, even less chance to touch these things. Fortunately, she had watched survival shows before and roughly knew the process… She would have to copy as best she could, Jiang Yang gritted her teeth and pressed on.

After wearing out three branches and wasting a pile of dry grass, Jiang Yang finally got the fire started.

Jiang Yang’s hands were rubbed bloody, and she collapsed to the ground exhausted. How she missed lighters, how she missed gas stoves.

Wait, where’s that fish?

She suddenly remembered that since Chi Mei had sunk to the bottom of the pool, he hadn’t surfaced again. A fish couldn’t drown, could it? Jiang Yang’s brain short-circuited as she plunged her head into the water, looking at the bottom of the pool. Apart from seaweed, moss, and a few fish as small as little fingers, there was nothing else.

“Did he go home?” Jiang Yang wondered.

The ocean-going ship had already sunk to the bottom of the sea, the imprisoned merman had regained his freedom, and his people had come looking for him. Of course he would return to his own people. It was certainly better than staying with a human who wanted to cut his flesh to refine oil. Anyone with a normal brain wouldn’t stay here.

Jiang Yang waited for him in the cave for a while longer, confirming that this fish would not return, she then crawled out of the cave.

Her vision suddenly cleared, dense lush green opened up before her eyes, various exotic tropical plants competing in full bloom, vying for beauty.

The cave she was in was actually inside a huge banyan tree. Its roots were like coiled dragons, the trunk alone needing four or five people to encircle it. The branches were lush and spreading, the canopy like a giant umbrella, blocking out the scorching light, leaving a clear, green shade. The aerial roots of the banyan tree hung down one by one, swaying gently in the sea breeze. Many unknown wildflowers grew near the tree roots, in various colors. The weak flower stems dragged the petals, swaying gracefully in the sea breeze along with the banyan’s aerial roots, like a magical scene from a fantasy novel.

Jiang Yang was extremely grateful that the beautiful man-fish had chosen this island for her, not the kind of barren island where birds don’t even shit. It looked quite rich in resources, at least she probably wouldn’t easily starve to death.

She walked forward, passing many plants she couldn’t name, as well as some fruits and mushrooms with particularly bright colors. Jiang Yang’s wilderness survival skills were basically zero, but she did know the basic common sense that the more brightly colored things were, the more they should not be touched. Bypassing those fruits and mushrooms, Jiang Yang walked for half an hour before finally reaching the beach.

The beach sand was fine, white, and soft, very comfortable to walk on. The tides came in waves, constantly lapping at her feet. The seawater was clear and blue, the sea breeze blowing, making the tree shadows sway with rustling sounds. A small crab scurried quickly across the top of her foot. Several baby sea turtles that had just hatched from their eggs were desperately crawling towards the sea with their short limbs. A few burning flame tree flowers that had just fallen from the trees growing on the shore were blown by the wind, drifting with the waves like the sea was on fire. As the tide rose, the flame tree flowers were swept into the sea along with the baby sea turtles.

Jiang Yang sighed contentedly. Although she would have to be self-reliant from now on, living the life of a wilderness hunter, this island looked quite nice.

Many coconut trees grew by the sea. Jiang Yang, having practiced martial arts after all, picked up a sharp-edged stone from the ground, climbed up a coconut tree, and picked three or four coconuts. She also caught two big, fat coconut crabs near the coconut trees, and luckily found some wild ginger in the rainforest. Today’s dinner was no longer a worry.

Jiang Yang happily walked towards the direction of the big banyan tree. Before she could even see the banyan tree, she heard that fish crying very loudly.

The sound came from inside the tree hollow. Jiang Yang tossed aside the tied-up coconut crabs and coconuts, pushed aside the aerial roots of the big banyan tree, and looked into the tree hollow where Chi Mei was lying in the place she had lain, crying his eyes out and dropping small pearls profusely.

“What’s wrong? Were you bullied?” Jiang Yang jumped into the tree hollow and asked with concern.

Chi Mei’s crying suddenly stopped. A pearl emitting a lustrous glow rolled from the corner of his eye. He sniffled once, then pitifully threw himself into Jiang Yang’s arms, his arms tightly wrapped around her waist, as if wanting to knead her into his body: “A’Yang… I went to the sea to catch fish for you to eat, but when I came back you were gone… I thought… I thought you had abandoned me and left.”