Chapter 16 - Snake Pill (Part 1)

There was only a small amount of food and water in the lifeboat. Even with the careful distribution, it had been eaten up long ago.

In the darkness, one could not distinguish the sun or the moon, and there was no concept of time. Qingyu was so drowsy that he did not know how much time had passed. Just when he felt that he could not hold on any longer, he discovered that the ship had stopped shaking.

A hand beside her grabbed Qingyu, stopping her from getting up. Gu Sui laughed and said, "At times like this, it is our job as elders. You, the boss, should stay behind and lead the troops."

The cabin door was pushed open, and thin strands of light came in. Yang Zhao let go of Qingyu's hand, and jumped out of the cabin door. Gu Sui followed closely behind him, then Lu Yao, Yan San, and Zheng Xi came out. One by one, they climbed out of the cabin door.

Qingyu spoke to the four small merchants who were huddled in the corner without hearing the warning from outside, "Let's go."

She then picked up Shiyi and climbed out of the cabin.

After leaving the lifeboat, light filtered in from the holes in the cabin wall, and the vision was a little hazy, but they could still see that the corridor outside was in chaos. Many cabin doors were smashed to pieces by cargo boxes and then fell to the ground.

The ship seemed to be tilted, and the corridor road was also rising diagonally. The cabin door outside had been opened, and it seemed that there was a bright beam of light at the end of the corridor shining into the cabin, like a stairway to heaven.

Shaking her head to get rid of the thoughts that popped up in her mind, Qingyu carefully avoided the broken porcelain pieces on the ground and walked towards the column of light with Ye Shiyi. Before she reached the door, she heard shouts of ecstasy coming from outside.

Qingyu quickened her pace and poked her head in from the other side of the light. Zheng Xi said with a happy face, "Young miss, we reached a dry land!" Climbing up the ramp, Qingyu only felt a flash before her eyes and then rich colors flooded into her sight. What a beautiful scene it was!

The ship lay half-tilted in a shallow bay, with the sea below it being so clear and blue that it seemed unreal. Orange-red or orange-yellow corals swayed underwater, and colorful fish swam among them. The waves lapped against a silvery-white beach with coconut palm trees on it.

In the distance was a dense forest as dark green as ink. The forest gradually rose, and behind it loomed the majestic mountains.

The men who had gone up first had already jumped into the water and were happily running towards the beach, not looking tired at all from being hungry for days. Qingyu sighed unconsciously, rubbing her belly which had already shrunk by two sizes, "It's good to be young!". She then noticed the strange looks from the people around him and coughed a few times to cover it up.

"Old Madam, can I help you down?" Gu Sui said with a joking smile. He stretched out his hand and picked up Qingyu, holding her up by her waist. While weighing her, he said with a smile: "The master has been hungry for so many days, and she doesn't look much better."

Qingyu's face was thicker than a city wall, and she blushed without realizing it as she said angrily, "I'm called strong, you know! Put me down!"

Gu Sui laughed and jumped into the water holding Qingyu. The underwater coral bones were sharp and immediately, strands of blood emerged from under his feet. The water was not deep, but it reached Gu Sui's chest. Qingyu was held in his arms, and most of her body was immersed in the water.

Qingyu honestly did not move. She had been hungry for so many days and she really did not have much strength left. It would be very difficult for her to swim to the beach, so she said sincerely, "Thank you."

"Haha, if you weren't in charge, we would have been fed to the fish by now." Gu Sui said with a smile.

"That's right. If it weren't for my wise decision and prompt action, you can never have second thoughts in the future!" Qingyu immediately followed up, praising herself without hesitation or blushing. Seeing Gu Sui's face smiling more and more happily, Qingyu added: "At least before we return to the Great Zhou."

"Oh, my loyalty to the boss is like the sun and the moon. How could I have any second thoughts?" Gu Sui laughed, then quickened his pace and walked towards the shore.

Some sailors who had come ashore earlier had already climbed up the coconut trees. Soon, the coconuts fell down one by one.

Under Zheng Xi's command, Yan San used the famous Lu sword of the Great Zhou to break the coconuts one by one.

After Gu Sui got ashore, he put Qingyu under a tree and sat on the ground because he was too tired. Zheng Xi had already handed him a broken coconut.

After eating coconut meat and drinking coconut juice, everyone was extremely tired and fell asleep on the beach in groups of three or four. Qingyu was the first to fall asleep.

After some time, she was awakened by the gentle waves of sea water caressing her face, carrying a salty taste. Qingyu unconsciously spat out saliva, and then woke up.

Seeing that half of her body was already in the sea, Qingyu jumped up unconsciously. She turned around and saw that there was no one on the beach. She was stunned for a while, patted her head, and thought to himself, "Could it be that I have traveled through time again?"

"Ah!" A scream came from far away. Qingyu shuddered, and then heard a few more screams. The sounds seemed to come from deep in the jungle. After thinking for a while, Qingyu tied up her trouser legs and fixed her braid.

A hundred meters up the beach is a cluster of bushes. When Qingyu got closer, he found that there were many sandalwood, frankincense, hawk's claw and other spice woods, as well as various precious herbs mixed in.

Behind the bushes was a dense tropical rain forest with various towering trees that could not be seen to the top. Qingyu took a quick glance and saw agarwood, red sandalwood and many other unknown exotic flowers and plants.

There was no path in the forest, and there was no place to put her feet in the dense foliage. Qingyu broke off a branch and used force to push away the branches in front of him in order to move forward.

The shouting in front became more intense. Qingyu quickened her pace and hurried forward, but he was not careful and her foot slipped. She quickly grabbed a branch next to her to prevent herself from falling.

Qingyu steadied herself, and looked over. She saw that she was on a low cliff. On one side of the cliff was the beach they had come from, and on the other side was a wider beach. Colorful lights flashed under the shallow, clear sea water. Beside the beach were wider bushes with occasional tall palm trees.

The people who were screaming were those climbing on the tree, and under the tree, there were several giant lizards over three meters long gathered around it. Some other people were being chased into the forest by a group of giant lizards.

A loud roar came from the forest. The giant lizards that were chasing stopped after heqring the sound and then all went to the other side of the beach where there was a steep rock wall about 600 meters high. The people climbing the trees took the opportunity to come down and meet up with the people in the forest.

Qingyu breathed a sigh of relief when he saw them reunited. But just as he felt relieved, she heard screams from the crowd over there, and then they ran deeper into the forest in a panic.

It was too far away, and Qingyu couldn't see clearly what was happening, but her intuition told her that she'd better join the main force, otherwise, this beautiful and charming paradise-like place might cost her her life if she wasn't careful.

After observing the distance and route, Qingyu began to climb up the mountain along the cliff. The dense forests on both sides of the beach here lead to the mountain. As long as the route is good, she should be able to find it.

Various calls rang out in the forest, sometimes from the left and sometimes from the right. Qingyu could only adjust her route according to the direction of the calls.

Although the forest was so dense that there was no place to stand on the road she walked, the scenery was pleasing to the eye. Various flowers were in full bloom. Small red and purple fruits hung on the branches. There were also huge breadfruit trees, which were actually loaded with dense fruits. Some of the plants and trees that Qingyu recognized were not only produced near the equator, but also in Africa and Madagascar.

Qingyu picked a breadfruit, took out the core, and ate it while sitting on the ground. The route of the group's shouting was very crisscrossed and tortuous, as if they were being chased everywhere and running for their lives. She seemed to be safe along the way, except for scratches caused by the difficult road and dense forest. Qingyu felt secretly happy. Who told them to leave her alone? They all deserved it.

After eating the breadfruit, Qingyu felt thirsty, so she stood up and listened carefully. It seemed that there was the sound of water ahead. She ignored the tired voices and walked towards the sound of water.

After walking about a hundred meters and pushing aside the bushes, the view in front of her suddenly opened up. She walked to the foot of a creek, where a small waterfall with a light mist-like gauze was pouring down from above. It was falling into a pool at the creek, and then flowing downwards. There were lush vegetation beside the stream and some huge rocks in the middle, which could not be seen unless you reached the edge.

Qingyu cried out with joy and ran to the water's edge. She wanted to lower her head to drink the water immediately, but then she stopped and looked around. She saw a few blue-tailed parrots drinking water by the stream. They were not afraid of her and just stared at her with their eyes squinting and muttering to each other. She felt relieved and scooped up the water to start drinking.

The stream water was cool and slightly sweet. As the water flowed down her throat, Qingyu felt that wherever the water flowed, it brought an indescribable sense of freshness, as if it had cleansed every place it passed through.

After immersing her face in the water, her mind suddenly became much clearer.