The Island that Came before Death（1）

I lowered my head and used my tongue to clean her wound, clearing away the blood and dirt that could lead to infection. I was very familiar with the taste of human blood. On the battlefield, hunger and the will to survive had forced me to eat the flesh of fallen comrades. But now, in order for this Japanese woman to survive, I had no choice but to be meticulous in my care. 

After cleaning the wound and the surrounding skin, sweat poured down the Japanese woman's face. I instructed her to keep her legs apart, to allow air circulation and promote healing. I wrapped her legs in the sheepskin blanket and then took off my own sheepskin vest to cover her. The pain seemed to lessen for her, and she quietly lay back on the dinghy, soon drifting off to sleep. 

Yiliang and Luya took turns paddling and holding the child. The events of earlier had clearly shaken them. Neither of the two young girls said anything, but I could see their uneasy expressions—they were frightened, clearly disturbed by what they had witnessed. 

I rinsed my mouth with seawater, then spat onto my pants. Sharks have an incredibly sensitive sense of smell, and I had to be careful. As the darkness and mist began to fade, I knew the sun was about to rise, but I couldn't be sure how far we had drifted from the *Sno* ship, or whether we were still heading west. 

Luya and Yiliang were exhausted, their paddling slowing down significantly. I told them to rest for a while and took the other paddle myself, continuing to row. When we escaped the large ship, the *Sea Demon* was like a ticking time bomb, and I had to make every moment count. The pirate ship searched over a vast area of sea, moving quickly. If our dinghy was discovered, our lives would be lost. 

When we left the *Sno* ship, I didn't have time to gather enough food or fresh water, and now, five of us were crammed into this overloaded dinghy. 

Finally, the sun appeared, and the white mist began to rise over the choppy sea, easing our moods. I also started feeling tired and wanted to stop and rest for a bit. Around 8 or 9 AM, a breeze began to stir over the vast sea, and I felt relieved. With the wind, paddling became easier. 

At that moment, the Japanese woman woke up, disturbed by her child's hunger-driven crying. Her face was still pale, but there was a bit more life in her. I nodded to her and told her that her condition had improved. She smiled weakly and whispered something in Japanese, ending with "Arigato," which I understood as "thank you." 

She took her child from Yiliang, opened the sheepskin vest I had lent her, and pulled out a soft, pale breast. She gently pushed the brown nipple into her crying child's mouth. 

I gave Yiliang and Luya some dried fish, and gave the Japanese woman a piece of salted meat. She was probably in her mid-thirties, with a graceful, full figure, a typical woman from Japan's middle class. 

At that moment, I suddenly realized I had many questions to ask. 

"Luya, Yiliang, why didn't you wait for me at the town? How did you end up in the *Sno* ship's cabin?" 

Yiliang and Luya exchanged a glance, and tears welled up in their eyes. 

"Horse," Yiliang said, her voice trembling. "Right after you left, bad men came to the town. They killed anyone they saw and took anything they could. I ran to the attic to look for you, and Luya was there. We hid in a secret room under the bed. The fire burned all night, and when morning came, we crawled out, but everything was gone. Everything was burned, and our parents were killed." 

Unable to hold it any longer, both girls broke into tears. 

I asked, "What did the bad men wear? What kind of weapons did they use?" 

But they were still too young and couldn't explain clearly. 

I told them, "Stop crying. We're drifting at sea now, and it's already a matter of life and death. If we're unlucky and don't find an island, we'll all die here." 

I noticed their little hands were covered with blisters from paddling, so I used my knife to cut strips of cloth from my pants and wrapped their hands carefully. 

The Japanese woman handed me the half-eaten salted meat, and, using broken English, told me to eat it. I understood that she was trying to conserve food, hoping that we all had a chance to survive. I took the small piece of food, put it back in the pouch, and told her I wasn't hungry. 

The Japanese woman continued to speak to me in halting English. From our awkward conversation, I learned that her name was Shoyu Ikebayashi. She had been visiting her husband in South Africa when the Red Demon pirates attacked, and the ship she was on was blown apart. She knew about the pirate group, notorious for their cruelty, and had jumped overboard with her child to escape death. She and her child had been adrift at sea for an entire day before being rescued by the *Sno* ship. 

We continued searching for an island, and over the next two days, I was the one doing most of the paddling. Yiliang and Luya's hands could no longer grip anything. The Japanese woman remained the weakest on the raft, but her condition improved a little every day.