The night deepened.
The sea breeze, carrying a chill, swept over the island.
A large bonfire crackled on the beach, dispelling the surrounding darkness and cold.
The repair work on the Seagull was still underway.
The sound of hammering was drowned out by the waves crashing against the nearby rocks.
Gauss’s team and the other sailors sat around the bonfire, while the chubby cook uncle prepared dinner.
Many chunks of meat and dry food were moved down from the ship.
For some reason, watching this scene,
Gauss suddenly felt that the scene before him was very familiar.
Late night, island, bonfire.
After thinking for a moment, a smile curved at the corner of his mouth.
He realized where that sense of familiarity came from.
Involuntarily, some memories from his past life surfaced in his mind.
In that era when short video entertainment was very developed.
He often refreshed feeds with commentary clips from movies or TV shows.
An island, an accident, a group of people — isn’t this the typical opening of a thriller suspense story?
Although the Seagull’s shipwreck wasn’t severe enough, they indeed had to stay on the island for one night.
"Gauss, what are you thinking?"
Aaliyah looked at him, suddenly smiling mysteriously at the bonfire.
"Nothing, I was just thinking about this scene. Doesn’t it look like the opening of those Bard stories, where an adventure team encounters disaster and ends up stranded on a deserted island?"
Aaliyah blinked.
She looked around at the sailors sitting around the bonfire waiting for food, and at the Seagull’s silhouette in the distance, lying like a dormant behemoth in the night, and she couldn’t help but laugh.
"It really does. So isn’t it time for mysterious island relics, a lost civilization, or an ancient curse sealed for thousands of years to appear next?"
"But we’re much luckier than real shipwreck survivors; at least we have a hot meal to eat."
As soon as she finished speaking,
the cook came over with a large pot of food.
"Chicken soup’s here!!"
Gauss’s team still had their dinner first.
Tonight’s chicken soup was very fresh because the chicken was just slaughtered; it had been raised on the ship as a fresh food supplement.
Perhaps worried that Gauss and the others would get tired of eating fish and cured meat for consecutive meals, the cook changed the menu today.
"Thank you."
After expressing his gratitude, Gauss looked towards the depths of the jungle.
"Ying hasn’t come back yet?"
Shortly after they reached the beach by boat, Ying said she was going to scout the surroundings and then melted into the darkness.
"Let’s wait for her a bit longer."
Although they could leave a portion of the food for her in advance, Gauss decided to wait until she returned to eat together.
Aaliyah and Serdur also weren’t very hungry.
After waiting a moment longer, as Gauss began to worry slightly, wondering whether to search in the direction Ying had gone,
a shadow swiftly glided out of the bushes, hugging the ground, and in the blink of an eye, arrived in front of Gauss and the others.
Soon after, the shadow rose from the ground, forming into the elongated figure of a woman.
Ying had returned.
"How did the scouting go?"
In response to Gauss’s inquiry,
Ying glanced at the sailors cheerfully dining.
She hesitated for a moment, nodded, then shook her head.
She opened her palm.
A pale yellow crystal and a cluster of pale green mushrooms lay quietly within.
Gauss leaned in to examine what Ying had brought back and quickly recognized them.
He first picked up the pale yellow sulfur crystal, pinched it with his fingers, and then leaned in to sniff the pale green mushrooms that emitted a faint glow.
"Sulfur and ghoul mushrooms."
He turned to look at the mountain behind him.
"So, could that mountain be an active volcano?"
The sulfur smell is often closely associated with volcanic or geothermal activity.
"It should be," Ying nodded, her voice still as cold as ever.
"As for ghoul mushrooms, they typically grow in areas rich in Magic Power and where many corpses accumulate." Gauss scratched his chin, whispering as he recalled. "Though it has the term ghoul, the mushroom itself is not an evil thing."
The presence of ghoul mushrooms was also quite intriguing.
On this island far from the mainland, what kind of situation would result in a heap of corpses?
Normally, even if an Elite Demon or a Demon Tribe hunted around, they wouldn’t specifically bury a large number of corpses in one spot.
More likely, out of laziness, the remains would be randomly abandoned where the bodies were disposed of.
Gauss turned towards the sailors who were still happily enjoying their dinner, pondered for a moment, but eventually decided not to say anything.
"Let’s stay more alert tonight?"
He had a vague feeling that this island was not simple.
However, with a boatload of ordinary people around him, it was clearly not the right time for exploration.
Thus, Gauss quickly suppressed his curiosity.
Perhaps another time, when the opportunity was right, he could come back for further exploration.
After dinner.
Although Captain Fern kindly advised otherwise, Gauss’s team insisted on sending their own night watch members to guard with the Seagull’s crew.
Tonight, the "folding house" that Serdur exchanged for was put to use for the first time.
Under the curious eyes of the surrounding sailors, Serdur placed what seemed like an ordinary leather satchel on a relatively flat empty area of the beach.
Murmuring softly as he used the incantation.
In the next moment, an amazing transformation occurred.
Within a few breaths, the satchel, as if imbued with Life Force, quickly unfolded and extended itself, assembling and expanding.
In no time, a multi-room house capable of comfortably housing several people stood firmly on the beach.
The house’s exterior was a matte dark brown with faint engravings on the surface, serving as enchantments for reinforcement, soundproofing, and signaling.