Chapter 52: Setting Sail

Chapter 52: Setting Sail

Feeling somewhat restless, Chen Shouyi walked to a concealed cave and gently parted the dry grass covering its entrance, revealing two well-wrapped oilpaper packages.

The larger package contained the components of a bow and arrows.

The long, narrow one held an alloy sword.

He reassembled the strong bow and tested the tension of the string, finding no slack whatsoever.

This didn’t surprise him. A Martial Artist’s war bow was, after all, a combat weapon designed to endure various environments. Durability and ease of maintenance were fundamental requirements—unlike traditional bows, which were far more delicate. Even prolonged exposure to sun and rain would hardly affect it.

Of course, this came at a price.

A single war bow cost as much as a car.

……

Armed, he headed to the passage entrance before finally releasing Shell Woman.

The moment she returned to the island, she let out a gleeful cry, darting through the air like a mad thing.

Chen Shouyi ignored her and moved aside to practice archery.

After loosing a few arrows, he realized he wasn’t in the right state of mind—his thoughts refused to settle.

……

He stopped, standing still, lost in thought.

Ever since discovering this passage, Chen Shouyi had been under immense pressure. On one hand, he knew its existence posed a significant threat to Dongning City. On the other, he was unwilling to relinquish exclusive control over it and the benefits it brought.

That was why, upon spotting barbarians on the island, his first instinct wasn’t to avoid them temporarily but to return and risk eliminating them. Even when a larger group appeared later, he still attempted to handle the situation alone.

He had nearly died for it.

Beyond rectifying his mistake and preventing more barbarians from entering Dongning City, part of him had clung to the hope of keeping the passage hidden.

In the end, he had succeeded by sheer luck, salvaging a situation on the verge of collapse—and thus, he continued as before.

……

But today, the corpse of that reckless intruder and the photograph had finally unsettled him.

Though he could conjure a hundred reasons to convince himself the man had died of his own greed and that it had nothing to do with him, deep down, he knew this person was, in a way, the first casualty of his secrecy regarding the passage.

At his core, he was still a seventeen-year-old boy—his heart hadn’t yet hardened completely.

Though his hands were already stained with blood, the death of a barbarian and the death of a human being evoked different feelings.

One was a primitive race from another world; the other, his own kind.

It was like how, after the First Industrial Revolution, those who deemed themselves civilized could slaughter Indigenous peoples without remorse, yet lay down their guns and treat a stranger with courtesy and refinement.

Because they didn’t see the former as the same race.

……

Not that he felt overwhelming guilt—just a sobering realization.

If someone barged into the passage and died, it wasn’t his problem.

But what if barbarians slipped through while he was away?

Then an idea struck him:

"Why not visit the barbarians’ island and scout the situation?"

"If there isn’t much danger…"

It had to be said—his nature carried a strong streak of recklessness.

His gaze turned cold as he pondered the risks:

"Compared to the rainy night slaughter last time, my strength has grown significantly. My physical condition is now on par with an average barbarian. Even without a bow, even without the element of surprise, in a one-on-one fight, I’m confident I could kill them easily."

When it came to hunting, Chen Shouyi naturally couldn’t compare to the barbarians, who relied on it for survival. But when it came to killing, the barbarians—still stuck at the stage of relying on instinct—were far inferior to the Martial Arts killing techniques developed over the past decade or two by countless scientists on Earth.

It was like comparing a farmer who tilled the land for a living to an agriculture graduate—the latter’s output would far surpass the former.

Or an old woman who had cooked for decades, yet still couldn’t match a freshly graduated culinary student.

A technological society’s efficiency in mastering knowledge was countless times greater than that of the barbarians.

...

He glanced at the sky. It wasn’t even noon here yet.

He had no intention of continuing his training. Calling Shell Woman over, he began descending the mountain.

Upon reaching the rocky shore, he untied one of the canoes, then stripped off his pants and waded through the seawater.

Fortunately, the tide was high today, so the canoe wasn’t stranded.

Otherwise, he might have struggled to push the massive canoe into the water.

He placed his weapons and briefcase inside before climbing in.

After days of exposure to the sun, the foul stench inside the canoe had lessened considerably.

Grabbing a paddle-like wooden plank, he began rowing vigorously through the water.

"It’s moving! It’s moving!" Shell Woman seemed exhilarated, shouting loudly.

The canoe slowly spun in place.

Watching her excited cheers, Chen Shouyi flushed with embarrassment and snapped, "Quiet! Stop making noise."

This was awkward.

How exactly was one supposed to row this thing?

He scratched his head, trying to recall scenes of people rowing boats he’d seen before.

It seemed like you had to paddle left, then right.

But that method only worked for small boats.

A canoe this wide—easily four or five meters—couldn’t be rowed like that. Just running back and forth would exhaust him.

Still, he could figure it out through trial and error.

After half an hour of repeated attempts, he finally managed to control the direction.

Chen Shouyi pulled out the common language dictionary, flipping through it until he found the pronunciation for "island"—a word he rarely used. Then he said to Shell Woman, "Go check where the nearest island is in the distance. There’s a reward."

"A gem?"

Her eyes lit up as she eagerly asked. Seeing Chen Shouyi nod, she flew up excitedly, climbing higher and higher until she reached over a hundred meters before descending again.

Thankfully, the rope tied to her was long enough.

"There is one! Very, very far!"

"That way!"

Shell Woman immediately pointed in a direction.

Chen Shouyi continued rowing.

The canoe was sluggish, moving at a painfully slow pace. He estimated it could only cover a little over ten kilometers per hour—barely faster than walking.

With no landmarks on the open sea, he quickly lost his sense of direction.

Luckily, Shell Woman kept correcting their course. Without her—and without a compass—he would’ve been hopelessly lost.

After more than two hours of rowing, he finally spotted a hint of green on the horizon.

The green gradually grew larger.

He soon spotted another canoe in the distance.

"A giant!" Shell Woman, with her sharper vision, shouted.

That makes two. He immediately changed course and rowed toward the canoe.

The canoe was the barbarians' only means of transportation on the sea, and he decided to eliminate it first.

The two vessels slowly drew closer.

Perhaps mistaking the similarly styled canoe for a companion, the barbarians aboard stood up as if to greet them.

At this point, the distance between them was still 600 to 700 meters, and visibility was quite poor—the figures appeared as mere dots, making it impossible to discern any details.

Seeing this, Chen Shouyi had an idea. He quickly removed his shirt, baring his upper body like the barbarians, intending to blend in.

But realizing his skin was too pale and clean—something that would stand out at close range—he gritted his teeth and looked around. Soon, he scraped off a chunk of brown, hardened filth from the boat's interior, its foul stench be damned, and swiftly smeared it over his face and body.

He pulled out his dead phone, using the screen as a mirror to check his appearance, then carefully applied the grime to any missed spots.

Shell Woman pinched her nose and moved away, her face twisted in disgust.

Chen Shouyi thought to himself, Hopefully, this will work.

Meanwhile, the other canoe changed direction, seemingly intending to approach for communication, and began sailing toward them.

The distance between the two vessels shrank rapidly.

500 meters. 300 meters.

He could faintly hear the barbarians' rough shouts.

Chen Shouyi kept his head slightly lowered, continuing to row without a hint of tension.

At 150 meters, the barbarians on the canoe grew hesitant, their rowing slowing.

By 100 meters, one of them finally let out a terrified cry.

"It's that demon!"

(The term "demon" is a contextual translation.)

The two immediately tried to turn around, but in their panic, they fumbled, causing the canoe to spin in place.

By now, Chen Shouyi had raised his head, set aside the oar, and picked up his war bow. He nocked an arrow, drew the string taut in an instant, his gaze sharp and mind utterly calm.

As the canoe drifted another dozen meters, he released the bowstring.

…………