Survival at Sea (Playwright) Chapter 108: Beneath the Stars on the Ocean

After a night of wind and rain, several trees on the island had been snapped. When Wang Xiaodie woke, Wu Hui sat beside him, remarkably dry and exuding an air of elegance.

“Remember to get the boat out,” Wu Hui said calmly. “I’m going to sleep for a while. I used your bottle last night, so consider it as offsetting fifteen days of your slave contract.”

Wang Xiaodie replied, “Alright, alright. Master, you rest.”

She rose and surveyed her surroundings. Chunks of ice were melting, and the small island was nearly unrecognizable. In the distance, waves crashed, breaking into white foam.

A few fish hopped on the shore, prompting Wang Xiaodie to click her tongue in admiration. It seemed they had just passed the most perilous trial.

Not bad, very good.

She felt quite satisfied. Earlier, Wu Hui had painted the situation as dire, and Wang Xiaodie had feared they wouldn’t make it. Yet, they had come through unscathed.

Not too shabby.

Wang Xiaodie began directing the animals to work—to dig a channel to toss the raft back into the sea. The small pit they had dug yesterday was already mostly buried by sand again.

Wu Hui was clearly exhausted, his eyes shut in a deep sleep. Wang Xiaodie leaned closer, gazing at his profile, tempted to poke him with a finger but ultimately refrained.

There was something about this man’s presence, a strange pressure that made one hesitate to act recklessly. Wang Xiaodie considered herself brave, yet she still felt a bit intimidated in his presence.

He looked even more handsome sleeping without his glasses. But why did he show no expression even in his dreams?

Always so flawless and unyielding—frankly, it was a bit dull.

Wu Hui wasn’t completely without emotion; rather, he experienced very few fluctuations in feeling. With so little emotional variation, there was even less change in his expressions. Most of the time, when faced with emergencies, he focused on solutions instead of venting emotions.

Since the animals were mostly doing the work, Wang Xiaodie could quietly admire Wu Hui’s face, lost in a private daydream. Whether male or female, people tend to favor those who are good-looking and those they spend a lot of time with.

Technically, they had been traveling together for less than ten days, but considering they had been side by side the entire time, they already felt like old friends.

Speaking of which—less than ten days, and she had willingly given herself to him... sigh, this first time was far from romantic.

Born from the lower rungs of society but striving upward, Wang Xiaodie didn’t place too much importance on such things. Yet, as a woman who had kept herself decent and only observed such experiences from afar, she could not remain entirely indifferent.

Wu Hui, as a partner, left her fairly satisfied.

But as a slave, she had no equal standing before him.

At that time, he was probably just observing her, but she had lost patience and revealed her bottom line. Sigh.

Wang Xiaodie felt sorrowful about her current situation. She deeply regretted hastily accepting Wu Hui as her master without thinking it through. Now, even after the game ended, two and a half months of servitude still awaited her.

By evening, Wu Hui awoke, and they relaunched the raft, continuing their journey.

Most of the firewood was soaked, and even the less wet pieces were damp. When burned, they emitted thick smoke that irritated the eyes.

Wang Xiaodie grilled fish in the smoke, saying, “Should we save the pepper?”

“Mm,” Wu Hui replied tersely from the prow, watching the dashboard. At first, Wang Xiaodie thought his coldness was directed at her, but she soon realized he behaved this way toward everyone.

Her eyes reddened from the smoke as she handed the cooked fish to Wu Hui. “Master, your fish is ready.”

Another change of address? Wu Hui didn’t understand the significance but simply nodded, took the fish, and began eating. Honestly, Wang Xiaodie’s cooking was average. There were no scallions, ginger, garlic, or cooking wine to mask the fishy taste—only a small bottle of pepper and sea salt traded from Zhang Dingyang.

But given the circumstances, what more could one ask for?

What troubled Wang Xiaodie more was that she hadn’t bathed for several days, only wiping herself with fresh water produced by the purifier. Barely tolerable, she wasn’t the cleanest among women anyway.

“The dashboard turned. The next island shouldn’t be far,” Wu Hui’s eyebrows relaxed. “Hopefully, there will be enough supplies to restock.”

Wang Xiaodie: “Hopefully, there’s a place to bathe on the island.”

The difference in their thoughts was stark.

As night fell, the firewood dried out, and the smoke lessened after adding more. Wang Xiaodie leaned toward Wu Hui. “What are you looking at?”

“The stars,” he said.

“I didn’t expect you to be so poetic...” she found it odd.

“There are many stars, few clouds. The chance of rain tomorrow is low,” Wu Hui continued.

Ah, right, you’re not poetic at all.

“The stars here resemble those on Earth; any slight differences could be due to season or time. If this is a real world, then...” Wu Hui hesitated.

Wang Xiaodie asked, “Is this a fictional world created by the playwright based on Earth’s sky?”

“Possibly,” Wu Hui nodded. “But there are other possibilities. For example, this could be a civilization developed by humans many years ago, or perhaps a parallel world. There’s also the chance that...”

He trailed off, sensing it was pointless to continue. Wang Xiaodie busied herself with wiping her body using a damp cloth beside him—a substitute for bathing.

On the sea, beneath the starry sky, a man and a woman sat opposite each other in a lone boat.

“Am I pretty?” Wang Xiaodie, her hair still damp, asked Wu Hui. “Are you moved? Do you feel an urge to free me from my slave contract and marry me?”

“No,” Wu Hui replied. “If marriage were to happen... you’d be fifth in line.”

The suitable marriage candidates included Ren Yin and Wu Tong. Even Li Xiaojing and Li Xiaoyue were more reliable than her. Looks don’t put food on the table; personality compatibility is key.

Besides, marriage wasn’t absolutely necessary...

“Master, can’t you say something nicer?” Wang Xiaodie sighed, sitting down beside Wu Hui again.

In such a romantic scene, how could he say something so disheartening? Even a ‘let’s see how you perform’ would have sufficed.

She wrung out the cloth and rubbed her wet hair by the fire. “I’m going to sleep first tonight.”

“Mm,” Wu Hui answered flatly, eyes fixed on the dashboard, calculating how long until the next island.

They had weathered the storm, but that wasn’t the biggest problem. The greatest fear was... what if they were heading the wrong way?

The ocean was vast. If they missed the land, they could become utterly lost. Without satellite views or knowledge of ocean currents, finding land was purely guesswork. His instinct pointed this way, but...

No one could be sure. No one dared to be certain if what lay ahead was land or deep sea.