novelraw Chapter 479 - 440: Landing on Murder Island
Chapter 479 - 440: Landing on Murder Island
Zhao Rong opened the escape pod and jumped onto the land. As he walked up the soft, sandy beach, he pulled his phone from his pocket to pinpoint their location using both GPRS and Beidou.
To his astonishment, the coordinates confirmed his fears: the small island they had landed on was the same one they had seen earlier, the one with smoke rising from it—the so-called Murder Island.
Zhao Rong wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and turned to the three women and his assistant. "We’ve really drifted onto Murder Island..."
Hearing this, the assistant said fearfully, "Zhao Rong, how could we be so unlucky? When we first spotted Murder Island, you steered the private yacht to get around the Tropic of Cancer and leave it behind... but then our ship suddenly sank! After that, we struggled inside the escape pod, trying to find somewhere safe. To think we’d end up drifting to the very island we wanted to avoid... Is this fate?"
Yu Lan picked a hard conch shell from the beach, holding it like a weapon. "It looks like we need to be ready for a fight," she said. "After all, this is the legendary Murder Island. They say no one who sets foot here ever makes it out alive..."
Lili followed closely behind Zhao Rong, her eyes scanning their surroundings. "Everyone says this island is terrifying," she remarked, "but I’ve been looking around, and I haven’t spotted anything dangerous at all..."
Her gaze fell upon the coconut and baobab trees along the beach, and a thought surfaced. I’m so thirsty after drifting at sea for so long... I’ll just go over to those coconut trees and grab a few to drink. After that, I can pick some breadfruit from the baobab trees, build a campfire, and roast them. Then tonight, I can sleep by the fire. It would be warm and safe... that sounds pretty nice, actually.
Just then, Xuelian’s stomach rumbled as she spotted several enormous coconut crabs under a nearby tree. "Everyone says this island is dangerous," she said to the group, "but all I see is a calm, peaceful place filled with delicious food. Look at those coconut crabs over there! Why don’t we have a big feast of roasted coconut crabs tonight?"
At her words, everyone turned to look. As Zhao Rong’s gaze swept past the coconut trees, baobabs, and crabs, he spotted a large orchard not far away. The orchard was filled with bright red apples, golden pears, bright yellow bananas, lychees, longans, pineapples, dragon fruit, and even durians and mangosteens.
Zhao Rong’s mouth watered. "Everyone says this island is dangerous," he said to his companions, "but let’s fill our stomachs first. We can worry about the danger later."
With that, Zhao Rong led the charge toward the coconut trees and the orchard. Everyone eagerly gathered their favorite foods. Soon, Zhao Rong was holding several large, round Fuji apples, the assistant clutched a massive durian, and Lili hugged a coconut, ready to crack it open. Yu Lan, meanwhile, had already started a campfire to roast the breadfruit she had gathered, while Xuelian had skewered a huge coconut crab on a stick, holding it over the flames.
Just as they were about to dig in, Zhao Rong raised a hand. "Hold on," he cautioned. "What if this food is poisonous?"
The assistant and the three women, who had been poised to eat, all sighed in disappointment. "If only we had some kind of detector to test if the food is safe..."
Before they could even finish the thought, Zhao Rong had his phone out. He opened the Paradise Shopping Cart app, typed "food safety detector" into the search bar, and selected "Express Cannon" for the delivery method. The moment he tapped "purchase" and completed the payment, a small package plummeted from the sky.
As he opened the package, Zhao Rong said, "It’s a good thing we have this amazing Paradise Shopping Cart. Otherwise, we’d have no way of knowing if this food was poisonous."
With that, he finished unwrapping the package and took out the food safety detector. He quickly scanned the food each person was holding. To everyone’s delight, the tests confirmed that all of their food was perfectly safe and remarkably fresh. So, they all dug in and enjoyed a hearty meal.
After Zhao Rong and his companions had eaten their fill, a wave of exhaustion washed over them.
Lili let out a weary yawn. "If only this island had a hotel," she said. "We could get a comfortable night’s sleep and be refreshed and full of energy tomorrow."
Xuelian pointed toward the plume of smoke in the distance. "Since there’s smoke, it must mean people are living and cooking over there. If we go, we should be able to find an inn or somewhere to stay. We could lie down in warm beds and get a safe, comfortable night’s sleep..."
Hearing Xuelian, the assistant stretched languidly. He also pointed toward the smoke and said to Zhao Rong, "She’s right. If we don’t find a place to stay, we’ll have to sleep in the trees. The ground isn’t safe."
Zhao Rong agreed with Xuelian’s suggestion and began leading the group toward the rising smoke. However, their path was blocked by a dense tropical rainforest. Reaching the edge of the jungle, Zhao Rong stopped and asked for everyone’s input. "Have you all made up your minds? If we’re going toward that smoke, we have to cross this rainforest."
By now, all anyone could think about was a clean, warm bed. They all nodded firmly. "Zhao Rong, to get a comfortable night’s sleep, we’re willing to cross the rainforest."
With everyone in agreement, Zhao Rong led them into the dense tropical rainforest. As he stepped into the jungle, he felt it looked remarkably similar to the Amazon rainforest he had seen on television. He pulled out his phone again to check their position. He had no idea what he was about to discover, but the result of the scan gave him a tremendous shock.