Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Setting Out to Sea
Feeling slightly agitated, Chen Shouyi walked to a hidden cave, gently parted the dried grass covering it, and revealed two well-wrapped oiled paper packages inside.
The large oiled paper package contained parts of the bow and arrows.
The narrow oiled paper package contained the alloy sword.
He reassembled the strong bow, tested the tension of the bowstring, and found no slackness at all.
He wasn’t surprised, as a Martial Artist’s war bow was a practical weapon designed to adapt to various environnts. Durability and ease of maintenance are fundantal requirents, unlike traditional bows, which are more delicate even after prolonged exposure to sunlight and rain with little impact.
Of course, correspondingly, the price is also high.
A war bow costs as much as a car.
...
Holding his weapon, he walked to the entrance of the passage and released the Shell Lady.
Returning to the small island, the Shell Lady cheered excitedly, flying wildly through the air.
Chen Shouyi ignored her and moved aside to start practicing archery.
After a few shots, he realized he was sowhat out of sorts, unable to calm down.
...
He stopped and stood in place, slightly lost in thought.
Ever since discovering this passage, Chen Shouyi has been under imnse pressure. On one hand, he knew that the presence of this passage posed a significant risk to Dongning City, but on the other hand, he didn’t want to give up monopolizing the passage and the benefits it brought him.
Because of this, when discovering barbarians on the island, his first thought wasn’t to temporarily avoid them but to go back and risk killing them. Even the second ti, when a large number of barbarians appeared, he tried to handle it alone.
He nearly lost his life for this.
In doing so, aside from correcting his mistakes to prevent more barbarians from entering Dongning City, he also harbored thoughts of continuing to hide the passage.
Of course, he ultimately succeeded by chance, salvaging an impending collapse of the situation, so he logically continued.
...
However, the corpse of an intruder he encountered today and that photograph had finally made him feel so unease.
Although he could find a hundred reasons to convince himself that the person died from his own greed, unrelated to him,
he knew that, to so extent, this person was the first to suffer due to his concealnt of the passage.
After all, he was just a seventeen-year-old boy, his heart not yet hardened.
Though he was already steeped in blood, the feeling of killing a barbarian and killing a fellow human were inevitably different.
One was a backward primitive race from another world, while the other was his own kind.
Just like how people who claid to be civilized after the first industrial revolution could slaughter Native Aricans but be polite and gracious to a stranger after putting down their muskets.
Because they didn’t consider the forr to be the sa race.
...
Of course, he didn’t feel much guilt, but the incident made him sowhat alert.
Soone self-entering the passage and dying had nothing to do with him.
But what if a barbarian ca out when he wasn’t around?
At this point, a thought suddenly crossed his mind:
"How about visiting the barbarian’s island to investigate the situation there?"
"If there’s not much danger..."
Undoubtedly, he had a strong gambling nature in his character.
His gaze turned cold as he pondered the risks involved:
"Compared to the rain-soaked slaughter last ti, I am now stronger, and my physical fitness is almost comparable to an ordinary barbarian. Even without a bow and arrow, even if it’s not a sneak attack, I am confident I can easily kill them one-on-one."
In terms of hunting, Chen Shouyi can’t compare to the barbarians who make a living from it. But when it cos to killing, compared to the Martial Arts Killing Art developed by countless scientists over the past two decades on Earth, the barbarians who still rely on physical instinct are far inferior.
It’s like an old farr living by the land can’t produce as much as a college student who studied agriculture.
An old woman who has cooked for decades can’t compete with a newly graduated technical school chef.
The efficiency of knowledge recognition in a technological society is many tis more than that of the barbarians.
...
He glanced at the sky, noting it was still not noon.
He didn’t intend to keep practicing and called the Shell Lady, heading down the mountain.
Reaching the seaside rocks, he untied one of the boat’s ropes, took off his pants, and waded through the seawater.
Fortunately, the sea was sowhat high tide today, so the canoe wasn’t stranded.
If it weren’t for this, he would worry that he couldn’t move the massive canoe.
He placed his weapon and briefcase inside and climbed into the canoe.
Under the sun’s scorching heat these few days, the stench inside the canoe had diminished significantly.
He grabbed the wooden piece resembling a paddle and vigorously rowed in the seawater.
"It’s moving! It’s moving!" The Shell Lady seed quite excited, quickly shouted.
The canoe slowly turned around in place.
Looking at the excited cheering Shell Lady, Chen Shouyi said sowhat angrily, "Stop shouting, be quiet."
Sowhat embarrassed.
How the hell is this boat supposed to be rowed?
He scratched his head, trying to recall those scenes he’s seen of rowing boats.
Seems like it’s supposed to be rowed east and west.
But this thod is only suitable for small boats.
A canoe over four or five ters wide obviously couldn’t be rowed like that; running back and forth would be exhausting.
Thankfully, he could gradually figure it out.
He experinted repeatedly, taking a full half-hour before finally controlling the direction.
Chen Shouyi took out a common language dictionary, flipped through it, and found the pronunciation of the word "island," which isn’t commonly used, then said to the Shell Lady, "Fly and see nearby islands, there will be a reward."
"A gem?"
The Shell Lady’s eyes brightened and quickly asked. Seeing Chen Shouyi nod, she flew up excitedly, flying higher and higher until she reached over a hundred ters in the air before descending.
Luckily, the rope tied to her was long enough.
"Yes, very far, very far!"
"That way!"
The Shell Lady pointed imdiately.
Chen Shouyi continued to row the boat.
The canoe was quite heavy and moved rather slowly. He estimated it could only travel a dozen or so kiloters per hour, slightly faster than walking.
It’s hard to judge direction on the sea, and it wasn’t long before he lost his sense of orientation.
Fortunately, the Shell Lady kept confirming the direction; otherwise, there’s no compass, and he might’ve gotten lost.
After rowing for over two hours, he finally saw a hint of green on the sea horizon.
The green gradually grew larger.
Before long, he noticed there was another canoe in the distance.
"A giant!" The Shell Lady’s vision was sharper than his, calling out loudly.
That ant two of them. He imdiately changed direction, rowing towards that canoe.
The canoe was the barbarians’ only sea transportation tool. He decided to get rid of this canoe first.
The two drew closer, slowly.
Perhaps thinking the similar-style canoe belonged to comrades, a barbarian stood up as if to greet.
Now, the two were still 600-700 ters apart, quite blurred in vision, only seeing a tiny figure, unable to discern specific features.
Seeing this, Chen Shouyi had a thought, imdiately taking off his shirt, going bare-chested like the barbarians, preparing to obscure their vision.
Feeling his skin seed too white and clean, visibly an anomaly at close range.
He gritted his teeth, looked around fondly, and soon scooped out a piece of brown solidified mud, not knowing what it was, but despite its foul sll, quickly sared it on his face and body.
He took out his dead cellphone, used its screen to check himself, then covered any missed parts carefully.
The Shell Lady pinched her nose, disdainfully sitting afar.
Chen Shouyi hoped it’d have so effect.
By then, their canoe altered direction, wanting a peaceful interaction, beginning to head towards him.
The distance between them continued to narrow.
Five hundred ters, three hundred ters.
He could faintly hear the barbarians’ rough shouting.
Chen Shouyi slightly bowed his head, rowing composedly.
After 150 ters, the barbarians aboard seed hesitant, slowing their rowing gradually.
At 100 ters, a barbarian finally scread in terror.
"It’s that demon!"
(Demon is an interpretative translation)
The two imdiately turned back, perhaps too panicked, clumsy in action. The canoe spun in circles amid confusion.
By then, Chen Shouyi raised his head, placed the paddle aside, grabbed the nearby war bow, nocked an arrow, drew the bow instantly.
His gaze was sharp, mind undisturbed.
As the canoe slid another dozen ters, he instantly released the bowstring.
...
PS: Asking for recomndations, ah ah ah
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