Chapter 184: Excavation

After returning to the beach, Mitsuaki and the female students noticed the constant plumes of smoke rising from various spots. The scene struck them as quite spectacular, almost resembling a massive wildfire. Even they could tell that such obvious distress signals would soon attract attention, and their admiration for Lei Yin’s clever idea grew.

Looking at the position of the sun, Lei Yin estimated it was around 2 or 3 PM. Feeling a bit hungry, he walked back to the campfire where the elderly couple sat.

When the elderly couple saw the rabbit in the little girl’s arms, they looked slightly surprised.

“This is…?”

“Tonight’s dinner. I caught it earlier when fetching water,” Lei Yin replied.

As soon as he said this, the little girl looked up and asked, “Lei, are you going to eat the bunny?”

Lei Yin immediately realized his mistake, having forgotten that the little girl was listening nearby.

Seeing her staring at him with a worried expression, he quickly forced a smile. “I was just joking.”

In his mind, he thought about waiting until Amy was asleep before roasting the rabbit. By the next day, he’d just say the rabbit had run away.

“Are you really not going to eat the bunny?”

Noticing the skepticism in the little girl’s eyes, Lei Yin suddenly remembered her ability to sense emotions. If he really did eat the rabbit, there was a chance she’d sense he was lying.

After some inner deliberation, he ultimately decided it wasn’t worth upsetting her just for one meal.

Sighing, he patted her cheek gently. “Alright, I promise I won’t eat it.”

The little girl immediately beamed with joy, hugging the rabbit tightly and throwing herself into Lei Yin’s arms.

The elderly couple smiled warmly at the interaction.

After eating, Lei Yin, as usual, went to check on the captain lying in the shade of a tree.

Looking at the captain’s increasingly sunken cheeks, Lei Yin knew that if he didn’t receive proper treatment within two more days, he would undoubtedly die. For now, he had the elderly couple grind pieces of scallop meat into paste and mix it with water to force-feed him, which kept him alive but wasn’t a long-term solution.

There was nothing more Lei Yin could do. Whether the man lived or died was ultimately up to fate.

Glancing at the students sitting in the shade and taking turns adding branches to their fires, Lei Yin suddenly felt the urge to revisit the area he had discovered earlier.

With that thought, he gently shook Amy, who was dozing off against his shoulder.

“Lei, what is it?” The little girl rubbed her eyes and looked at him sleepily.

“Little one, I need to go into the jungle to check something. Can you stay here and wait for me to come back?” Lei Yin originally hadn’t wanted to wake her, but he worried she might be scared if she woke up and didn’t see him.

“I want to go with you,” she said, her eyes pleading.

Lei Yin thought for a moment before nodding. It was daytime, and the jungle wasn’t as dangerous as it was at night. Besides, he still vividly remembered the time she was nearly stepped on after he left her on the beach.

Handing the rabbit over to the girls for safekeeping, he gave Mitsuaki a casual excuse and then carried Amy into the jungle.

Since he was traveling alone, he quickly arrived at the location of the pit.

After surveying the surroundings, Lei Yin reassured Amy and then jumped into the pit while holding her.

Placing her on the ground near the edge of the pit, he said, “Stay here and don’t wander around, alright?”

The little girl nodded obediently.

Lei Yin walked to the center of the pit and found the spot he had partially uncovered earlier. Using a stick, he began expanding the area, carefully digging away the surrounding soil.

After about ten minutes of digging, nearly two square meters of the metal plate were exposed. Lei Yin carefully examined the revealed section and noticed that it didn’t look like ordinary iron. Its surface showed no signs of oxidation, despite being buried under damp soil. Instead, it emitted a faint, grayish-black metallic sheen, resembling a composite metal.

Lei Yin wasn’t sure how large the object was. Using a branch, he probed as far as he could reach, trying to map out the plate’s boundaries. Eventually, he realized that the entire bottom of the pit was covered by this object. To fully understand its size, he’d have to dig out not only the pit but also the surrounding area. Based on his estimation, the object’s size was enormous.

It would be impossible for him to excavate the entire area by himself in a short time unless he enlisted the help of all the students. However, his instincts told him that whatever lay beneath this metal plate was significant, and he preferred to keep it a secret. Ultimately, Lei Yin decided to leave it for now and revisit the matter once they were off the island.

After reburying the exposed section, he walked over to the little girl, who was crouched on the ground, amusing herself by playing with ants. Picking her up, he said, “Little one, don’t tell anyone about this place, okay?”

“Okay,” the girl nodded, seemingly understanding but not fully grasping the gravity of the request.

Satisfied, Lei Yin smiled and leapt out of the pit with her in his arms. As they made their way back, he discreetly marked the bases of nearby trees with subtle signs, ensuring he could find the spot again later.

When Lei Yin returned to the beach, he noticed a group of students gathered together, seemingly alarmed about something. As he approached, a girl spotted him and quickly ran over.

“Gennai-san, something’s wrong! Akiyama-san and Seimura-san don’t look well. Please come and check on them!”

As expected, someone had fallen ill. With over forty students moving through the jungle and being exposed to the cold sea breeze at night, it wasn’t surprising that someone would get sick. Lei Yin wasn’t overly shocked by the news.

Reaching the crowd, Lei Yin saw Seimura Haruko sitting under the shade of a tree, trembling and hugging her knees tightly.

Frowning, he asked, “When did she start acting like this?”

The girl who had fetched him quickly replied, “She said she wasn’t feeling well this morning. We thought she’d just caught a chill, so we told her to sit closer to the fire. But after sleeping all afternoon, she woke up like this. And Akiyama-san is the same—he says he feels extremely cold and has been having diarrhea nonstop. He just went into the woods and hasn’t returned yet. Gennai-san, could they just have colds?”

Lei Yin didn’t respond immediately. He stared intently at Seimura Haruko, her pale face and strained expression revealing her discomfort.

After a moment, he pushed through the crowd and squatted in front of her. Looking her in the eye, he said calmly, “Do you want me to help you?”

Haruko’s eyes widened in surprise at his sudden appearance. Hearing his offer, she hesitated.

On one hand, she didn’t want to owe this man anything. On the other, the unrelenting pain in her body instinctively made her want to accept his help.

Like the other students, Haruko had been deeply impressed by Lei Yin’s survival skills over the past few days. Subconsciously, she believed that as long as she stayed near him, she’d have a better chance of making it off the island safely. Now, she knew that he was likely the only one who could help her.

Gazing into his calm, unwavering eyes, Haruko realized one thing: if she refused him now, this man—who always did as he said—wouldn’t offer again.

Young people are often said to be unafraid of death. In reality, that’s a misunderstanding—they simply feel that death is far away. However, at this moment, Seimura Haruko truly felt the threat of death. She understood that falling ill on this desolate island without any medicine was indeed dangerous.

After a fierce internal struggle, she finally lowered her gaze and nodded.

Without a word, Lei Yin placed his hand on her forehead to check her temperature.

For some reason, the moment his hand touched her forehead, Seimura Haruko’s heartbeat quickened.

After testing her temperature, Lei Yin asked, “Describe your symptoms.”

“I… I feel very cold, my whole body aches, especially my head. Am I running a fever?” She managed to speak with difficulty.

“How’s your throat?”

“It hurts a lot too.”

Lei Yin tilted her face to examine her and carefully observed her exposed hands and feet.

After finishing his examination, he frowned again.

“That mosquito repellent plant I gave you—did you use it properly?”

Avoiding his gaze, Seimura Haruko replied softly, “N-No, I didn’t. I thought it smelled unpleasant, so I didn’t want to apply it.” While this was partially true, the main reason was that she didn’t want to owe him a favor, so she hadn’t used it.

“And Akiyama? Did he use it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe not.” In fact, she was certain Akiyama hadn’t used it. He resented this man and would never use anything given by him.

“Is that so? Well, congratulations to the two of you. If I’m not mistaken, you’ve contracted dengue fever—a disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes.”

“What? Dengue fever?” a female student exclaimed.

Standing up, Lei Yin addressed the other students. “Dengue fever is highly contagious. If you don’t want to end up like them, go and crush those mosquito-repellent plants into a paste and apply it to your skin immediately.” With that, he picked up Amy and walked back to his own campfire.

The other students, panicked by his words, immediately scattered to search for the repellent plants they had carelessly discarded. Some even fought over a few stalks of the plants. Fortunately, the supply wasn’t too limited, preventing the chaos from escalating like the previous scramble for food.

Watching as everyone—even the boys who often fawned over her—fled as though escaping a plague, Seimura Haruko was overcome with fear and regret.

At last, unable to hold back, she buried her face in her knees and began to cry softly. She wasn’t sure why she was crying—perhaps it was because she saw the true nature of those people, or perhaps it was because she realized she might actually die on this desolate island.

She didn’t know how long she cried when a male voice suddenly spoke from in front of her, “Place these herbs on your forehead. They’ll help bring your fever down temporarily.”

Looking up, she saw that it was him, holding some strange plants in his hand.

“Aren’t you gone? Why did you come back?” Seimura Haruko wiped her tears and looked at him.

Lei Yin replied coldly, “Consider it meddling if you want.”

Hearing his words, Seimura Haruko suddenly felt an urge to cry again.