Volume 2: The Source of Life Chapter 17: Secrets, this is a secret.

  I rarely dream, but I had a dream today.

  I dreamed that my family helped me celebrate my birthday, my parents hugged each other with big smiles on their faces looking at me, a not very beautiful but sweetly smiling woman gently pecked my face: "Husband, happy birthday."

  A three-year-old girl leaned on the table, her eyes fixed greedily on the birthday cake as she crawled back and forth.

  "Daddy, daddy, how old is thirty years old? Hehe, I want to grow up quickly, then I can have cake too!"

  Thirty?

  Staring at the three red hearts on the cake that represented my age, a sudden wave of terror swept over my heart, and the scene in front of me suddenly distorted and shattered, transforming into countless giant mouths rushing towards me.

  I ran with all my might, but my legs were strongly resisting me, and no matter how I ran, I had no strength.

  Ah!!!!!!!

  I sat up with a start, and the pain in my shoulder made me cry out.

  It was just a dream...

  The warm sunshine shines on this beach, and each grain of sand is like gold, bright yellow.

  Lin Mu Xian rolled up his sleeves and was fishing among the reefs at a distant seaside.

  I stood up, stretched my muscles and bones, the wound on my shoulder had scabbed over, it should be fine after some time, but the internal organs that Lin Muxian injured a few days ago still hurt slightly.

  I quietly watched for a long time, Lin Muxian grasped his self-made long spear and stabbed it into the water with all his might, but repeatedly failed.

  "Your posture is wrong, no matter how many times you practice." I walked over and reminded him.

  "Then you come." Lin Muxian handed over the long spear and said coldly.

  "I'm coming?" I paused for a moment and said, "Then let's give it a try."

  I took the homemade long spear from Lin Miao Xian's hand, "The direction of the small knife's binding is wrong." I adjusted the angle between the small knife and the tree pole until it was horizontal and the resistance was minimal.

  Because seawater brings some small fish at high tide, after the tide recedes, the fish fill the gaps between the rocks. To be honest, it's not easy to catch them.

  I stared at the target with unblinking eyes, my body in a half-arched shape, holding the long spear high with one hand, quietly waiting for the opportunity.

  "Whoosh!"

  I suddenly thrust downwards, but unfortunately... it didn't work. The strong pulling force also pulled on the muscles at my left shoulder wound, hurting so much that I gritted my teeth.

  "Whoosh!" Another stab... still no success. The fish's tail flicked and it dodged away.

  However, based on the three-point positioning method, I have roughly grasped the refractive angle of seawater and air.

  "Whoosh!" A sharp sound, at the same time as the long spear was pulled out, a palm-sized fish was stuck on the small knife.

  There's nothing to be proud of. I threw the fish onto the other bank, handed back the long spear and asked: "You don't need to eat anything, why catch fish?"

  Lin Mu Xian glared at me and said: "Who says I don't need to eat? I'm not a god."

  "Huh?" This caught me off guard, I thought she just needed to meditate every day to maintain her physical strength. After all, there are many strange things in this world, it's just that few people know about them.

  "You eat the fish, I haven't eaten for two days. I have yesterday's peanuts to fill my stomach, I'm not hungry." With that said, I walked towards the shore, if I continued fishing like before, my arms would be exhausted before filling my belly.

  Lin Mou Xian raised his long spear and said coldly, "The fish was caught by you, I don't need your charity."

  Watching her fishing posture with poise and elegance, I smiled softly and said, "Very good, you have spirit, then please continue."

  Dignity sometimes requires strength to support it. I believe that people who would rather die than eat humble pie are not unheard of, but I have never seen one.

  Today will be very busy, involving livelihood issues for a long time to come. After leaving Lin Mu Xian, I started observing this small island along the coastline.

  After spending more than an hour walking around, I have a general impression of this small island.

  The island is not large, about the size of five or six football fields. Judging from the mud layers on the island, it should have been formed by volcanic eruptions. The forest on the island is not lush, and I haven't seen many small animals, but fortunately, I saw a few coconut trees, which to some extent guaranteed the replenishment of fresh water.

  In just one morning, I had a general understanding of the situation on the small island. Basically, survival in the short term was not a problem.

  When I went back, Lin Mu Xian was still fishing among the rocks, but the harvest was not ideal, to be precise, it was very unideal. Adding the one I caught, there were only three small fish on the sandy beach.

  Looking at Lin Moxian, the intense exercise had left her looking quite disheveled. Her hair was a mess, and seawater and sweat were mixed together on her smooth forehead.

  What a temperament! What an image!

  I walked up with a smile and said, "Don't be busy, it's time for lunch. Hmm, one steamed fish, one boiled fish, not bad, not bad, both are nutritious and high-protein foods."

  "Fang Cheng," Lin Mu Xian's eyes widened in anger, "Is it fun to mock people? You only have one too."

  "Sarcasm? Ha ha, no, this is irony, naked irony."

  I had realized earlier that when I was with Lin Muxian, I would always have the urge to say a few more words. In Lin Muxian's angry gaze, I deliberately took out a beer bottle from behind me and poured out some things I had found on the island earlier.

  "What's that?" Lin Muxian asked, seeing me pour those green, rotting leaf-like things into the water.

  "Hmm, magic." I said with an inscrutable expression.

  "Hmm." Lin Moxian responded with a cold hum, neither confirming nor denying.

  I smiled slightly and remained silent. The two of us just stood there quietly, and after about twenty minutes or so, small bubbles began to emerge from the rocky crevice, followed by fish swimming belly up to the surface.

  "What?!" Lin Muxian let out a strange cry, staring at me with an incredulous expression.

  "Heh heh, I said it's magic." With a light chuckle, I rolled up my pant legs and started wading into the water to scoop up fish.

  It's actually not complicated, I just found some plants that can poison fish, crushed their roots and stems, and put them in the water to drift.

  Those plant fish toxins are harmless to humans.

  I picked up about twenty or more small fish, and walked back to the bonfire. As I passed by Lin Muxian's side, I couldn't help but chuckle slightly. Although these fish were only two or three finger-lengths in size, they would be enough to fill our stomachs.

  I found many fragrant tea tree leaves and stones, I opened the fish belly and cleaned it, wrapped it in tea tree leaves, then put the stones on the fire to roast, after the stones were hot, I put the small fish wrapped in tea tree leaves on top.

  The aroma of tea wafted out along with the fresh flavor of fish and meat, and I didn't stand on ceremony, starting to devour it voraciously.

  Lin Miao Xian watched with a poker face until I finished eating, patted my belly and let out a satisfied sigh. Only then did she pick up the leaves I had discarded, put her two poor little fish in them, and repeated the process.

  Time flies, and our days of being stranded on a deserted island began like this...

  After spending several days together, I have to say that Lin Muxian's pride is indeed admirable.

  Every day, she exhausts herself fishing, but her harvest is not as much as mine. Yet, she never asks me where those green leaves come from, nor has she ever followed me, living a life of scarcity with relish.

  Of course, she wants to keep her dignity, and I absolutely satisfy her.

  Everything is under my control now, and the anxiety I felt when I was with her before has gradually subsided.

  Every day, while fishing and picking coconuts, I occasionally go around the island to see if I can find some wild game. But most of the time, I am diligently practicing Wu Xing Quan and the eighteen routes of beastly footsteps.

  Whoosh!

  A dark shadow suddenly flashed in front of me from the grass, a smile rose on my face, and I suddenly crouched down, picked up my hands, and followed the footsteps of the black mouse in the grass.

  This is the third mouse I found on this small island after three days, in order to better train the eighteen beastly steps, I didn't eat it but instead made it a good training partner.

  Rushing past the grass thicket, I changed my pace several times, closely following behind the black mouse. The black mouse sensed a huge shadow looming over it and frantically scurried about in all directions, but what infuriated it was that no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't shake me off.

  After more than half a time, the black mouse's speed became slower and slower, and gradually showed signs of giving up.

  I knew it had exhausted its strength today, I smiled lightly and picked up a few small twigs with my hand, flinging them out with force.

  Wow!

  Several muffled sounds, branches inserted into the ground surrounded in a circle, trapping the fleeing black mouse firmly.

  I burst out laughing and walked away with big strides, waiting for it to build up its strength, continuing practice tomorrow.

  ……

  As time passed, my body gradually recovered, and the days seemed to be getting more and more leisurely.

  Sometimes I wonder if I have returned to the past and am living a reclusive life in the mountains again.

  However, the seventh day of their comfortable life on the deserted island was disrupted.

  The weather was fine today, with a gentle breeze and warm sunshine.

  Lin Miao Xian, who had just returned from fishing, suddenly walked up to me and said with a hint of anger: "You seem to be having a great time, huh?"

  "I exclaimed: 'Having food and drink, not having to work, what's not to be happy about?' But in my heart, I thought, she finally couldn't bear it anymore. Compared to her, I have always been very patient."

  "I found that you are really a special person." Lin Muxian calmed down, looked at me, and his face was as cold as ever.

  "Haha, everyone has a shining spot, and you only see the shining point in my humanity now?"

  "No, I was wrong before, you're even more special than I thought."

  I smiled and said: "Right, hehe, human nature is complex."

  Now I'm not in a hurry to figure out why Lin Muxian appeared and what her purpose is. On this uninhabited island, it's she who's anxious.

  When one has everything he wants, he will lose his usual heart.

  "Alas," Lin Mouxian suddenly let out a faint sigh, "Alright, you win. There are some things I'd like to ask, please tell me."

  "Oh?" I gazed at her lightly and suddenly smiled, "Let's take a look first."

  "Those people seem familiar to you?"

  "Which gang?" I asked knowingly.

  "The one who bewilders us and takes away our handcuffs."

  I suddenly realized and said: "Oh, they know each other. What's going on?"

  "What's the conflict between you two?"

  I pretended to be stupid and said: "There's no contradiction, actually it doesn't even count as knowing each other, we've just met once."

  "This time it was Lin Miao Xian's turn to be stunned, 'They treated you like that, and you didn't have a single bit of resentment?'"

  "Hmm...I don't hate! If people don't bother me, I won't bother them. If they bother me, well, I'll just avoid them."

  "You..."

  Lin Miao Xian was about to be driven mad, and I said seriously: "I'm really not, it's better for enemies to disperse than to gather, otherwise, I would have gone back to take revenge on them long ago."

  "Revenge? Are you going back?" Lin Muxian sneered.

  I smiled slightly in my heart, finally getting to the point, but with a silly expression on my face: "Of course I can go back, it's just that I think there's nothing wrong with this place either, and spending a lifetime leisurely and comfortably is not unacceptable."

  Lin Miao Xian fell silent, her eyes scanning me with profound meaning. I didn't disturb her either, patiently gazing back at her with a smile full of expectation on my face.

  "Alas," Lin Mouxian sighed again and said: "What conditions do you have? Speak."

  A sense of calm in my heart, and for the first time, things have gone in the direction I had hoped during this period of contact with Lin Muxian.