Chapter 183: Pit

By the time the students returned to the beach, it was already dusk.

Seeing the thick white smoke rising continuously from the largest bonfire, Lei Yin knew it wouldn’t take long for someone to locate them. Now that the issues of food and water had been resolved, the students who had experienced the hardships and dangers of the jungle no longer considered searching for other inhabitants on the island a priority.

That night, Lei Yin sat by the fire, speaking quietly with the elderly foreign couple.

After eating and drinking their fill, the couple appeared much more energetic. The elderly man seemed far more optimistic about their survival ordeal than his wife. He even shared with Lei Yin that, during his youth, he had dreamed of venturing on grand adventures, though he had dismissed it as impractical fantasy. To his surprise, now in his retirement, such an adventure had become a reality.

The old man was also deeply interested in the survival skills Lei Yin had demonstrated over the past few days and continuously bombarded him with questions. Lei Yin, halfheartedly answering, realized for the first time that men could also be quite chatty.

Sensing someone approaching, Lei Yin turned his head and saw a group of female students hesitantly walking toward him.

When they finally stood in front of him, one of the girls timidly said, “G-Gennai, do you have a moment?”

“What is it?”

“Well, um, we wanted to thank you for helping us today,” she said nervously.

“It’s nothing, just a small effort,” Lei Yin replied flatly.

After exchanging glances with her companions, who urged her to continue, she added, “There’s something else we’d like to ask you. If it’s convenient, of course.”

Lei Yin glanced down at the little girl sleeping peacefully on his lap and then said, “Sit down and tell me, but please speak quietly.”

The girls immediately sat down.

“What do you want to ask?”

“Do you know where we can bathe, Gennai? We’ve already…” The girl trailed off, too embarrassed to finish.

Earlier that day, the female students had noticed that Lei Yin and Amy looked much cleaner after returning, indicating they had found a place to bathe. They had refrained from asking then but could no longer resist the urge now.

Hearing their request, Lei Yin couldn’t help but smile. “If you don’t mind venturing back into the jungle, I can take you to the hot spring tomorrow when I go to fetch more water.”

“Really?” The girls’ faces lit up with joy.

Seeing how their longing for a bath outweighed their fear of the jungle, Lei Yin didn’t argue further.

After a brief conversation, the girls began to realize that the so-called “human weapon” wasn’t as intimidating as they had initially imagined—at least not at the moment.

After receiving a definite answer, the girl who had taken the lead in speaking asked another question. “Gennai, how long do you think it will be before someone finds us?”

“If everyone works together, it shouldn’t take more than two days.”

“You’ll see for yourself tomorrow,” Lei Yin said, adding more dry branches to the fire as he spoke.

Seeing that Lei Yin didn’t elaborate, the girl didn’t dare to ask further.

After a while, she said to him, “Gennai, we’re really lucky to have you with us this time. Otherwise, I can’t even imagine what would’ve happened to us.”

Looking up at them with a playful smile, Lei Yin said, “Have you ever thought that if you had stayed on the ship for just another day or two, a plane might have found you and rescued you? You wouldn’t be stuck on this deserted island living like primitives. Are you sure you should be thanking me?”

The girl hadn’t expected such a response and was momentarily speechless. The others also looked stunned.

After thinking for a moment, the girl replied, “I don’t know if what you said would’ve really happened, but at least all of us are alive right now. For that, I sincerely thank you.”

Lei Yin smiled faintly. “If that’s how you feel, then I’ll accept your thanks. What’s today’s date?”

The girl quickly pulled out her phone, which had no signal and was now only being used as a clock. She checked and answered, “Today is the 15th.”

“So, for everyone else, we’ve been missing for seven days,” Lei Yin muttered to himself. He thought of Kazumi, wondering how she was doing now. And Naoko—he hoped she didn’t know about this yet. If she did, that fool would probably be worrying herself sick.

The next day, Lei Yin instructed the students to build as many bonfires as possible. He then told them to throw wet branches and grass onto the flames once they were blazing. This would produce thick smoke, the same method he had taught the elderly couple to use as a distress signal.

With so many people, they could pair up and each light a fire, coordinating their distress signals to quickly catch the attention of passing planes or ships.

The students thought this was a great idea and cooperated enthusiastically to build and maintain the fires.

When Lei Yin and Mitsuaki went to fetch water from the hot spring, they brought along the girls who had asked to bathe the night before, leading them into the jungle as promised.

Just like the previous day, the jungle was unbearably hot. However, since they weren’t wandering aimlessly this time, Mitsuaki and the girls felt the journey was noticeably easier.

After walking for about half an hour, Lei Yin suddenly heard a strange sound. He immediately stopped, scooped Amy into his arms, and raised the branch he had been using to clear the path, readying himself cautiously.

Seeing his reaction, the others grew nervous as well.

Following the sound, Lei Yin quickly found its source. In the dense forest, there was a pit about two meters deep, wide at the top and narrowing toward the bottom. Inside, a gray wild rabbit was repeatedly trying to jump out, but the pit was too high for it to succeed.

“Wow, it’s a little rabbit!” Amy exclaimed in delight.

Seeing the wild rabbit, Lei Yin was also pleased—but for an entirely different reason. Unlike the little girl’s innocent joy, his happiness stemmed from the fact that he was sick of eating shellfish. This was a rare chance for fresh game.

“Kiddo, stay here and don’t move,” he said. Seeing that the rabbit might actually manage to escape, he quickly put the little girl down and began looking around for something to climb with. While he could have easily leaped into the pit with his martial arts skills, he didn’t want to reveal his abilities in front of others.

After a while, he found a sturdy vine hanging from a tree, tested its strength, and determined it would hold. He then returned to the pit, tied one end of the vine to a nearby tree trunk, and slowly climbed down into the pit.

The girls hadn’t expected Lei Yin to take such a risk for a wild rabbit, and they were all deeply moved in their own way. However, Mitsuaki, who had some understanding of Lei Yin, knew he wasn’t the type to act out of kindness. Realizing his true intentions, Mitsuaki couldn’t help but smile wryly.

When Lei Yin reached the bottom of the pit, he grabbed the rabbit by its ears. Judging by its weight in his hand, he estimated it to be over two pounds, and a satisfied smile spread across his face.

With one hand occupied holding the rabbit, he only had the other hand to climb with. Though this would have been challenging for most people, it was no issue for Lei Yin.

As he was climbing up, holding onto the vine and stepping on the wall of the pit, he suddenly heard a metallic sound when his foot landed on a certain spot.

Pausing, he stepped on the spot again and heard the metallic sound once more.

Curiosity piqued, Lei Yin immediately picked up a stick from the ground and started digging at the area.

It didn’t take long before the stick struck something hard. Digging further around the spot, he found that the same hard material extended across the area, and he couldn’t dig any deeper.

He quickly cleared more of the surrounding soil, and after creating a hole roughly the size of a basketball, he finally uncovered the object—it was a metal plate.

The plate was large. Prodding the area around it with his stick, he realized that the entire area he stood on was covered by this metal plate.

Just as he was about to investigate further to determine its size, Mitsuaki’s voice called out from above. “Gennai, are you alright down there?”

Looking up at the male student peering down at him, Lei Yin thought for a moment before responding, “I’m fine. I’ll be up right away.”

Nonchalantly, he used his foot to cover the exposed metal plate with the soil he had dug out, then grabbed the vine and climbed out of the pit with ease.

When the girls saw him emerge, they let out a sigh of relief. They had started to worry something had happened since he had been down there for so long.

“Rabbit! Rabbit!” The little girl exclaimed excitedly as she ran over to Lei Yin, her eyes fixed on the wild rabbit in his hand.

The other girls couldn’t resist coming closer for a look as well.

“Hold it by the ears. Be careful not to let it escape,” Lei Yin said, handing the rabbit—or rather, tonight’s dinner—to the little girl as she eagerly reached out to hold it.

The girl carefully grabbed the rabbit by its ears and cradled it in her arms. The other girls bent down to stroke the rabbit, fascinated by it.

After glancing at them, Lei Yin turned his gaze back to the pit, his expression contemplative.

“What’s wrong, Gennai?” Mitsuaki asked, noticing his thoughtful look.

“It’s nothing. Let’s go,” Lei Yin replied.

“Alright.”

Without further discussion, the group continued on their way.