If the two sisters continued to stay with me, they would sooner or later face the people from the company head-on.
These people were no pushovers.
They weren't like Li Ye's ragtag bunch. Even I had to be extremely cautious, let alone two defenseless, weak women like them.
The thought barely crossed my mind before it vanished without a trace.
If I abandoned them now, in this perilous forest, even without the threat of other survivors, they would be in constant danger of being attacked by wild beasts.
So, in this situation, no matter what, I couldn't leave them behind.
Besides, I still harbored a sliver of hope.
According to Qi Qiaoqiao, their ship had been wrecked for three days. By now, the outside world must have received the news and dispatched rescue teams.
Perhaps before I could settle things with the company's people, I could personally escort them onto a ship back to civilization.
Once my mind was made up, I stopped dwelling on it.
I decided to find something for the two sisters to eat first.
It wasn't dark yet, and if I carelessly started a fire, it might attract nearby wild animals, or worse, alert the company's people, exposing our location.
So, I could only ask the sisters to bear with it for now.
We'd have a proper meal after it got dark. For now, some fruit would have to suffice.
In this place, cut off from the outside world and precarious, Qi Xinxin and Qi Qiaoqiao weren't overly fussy. After eating a few fruits, they were quite content.
The clearing where we were wasn't a good campsite, so I led them to the foot of the mountain and found a dry cave, where we settled for the time being.
I had expected to relax a bit in the days to come, but events unfolded far beyond my expectations.
In the blink of an eye, we had been living in this cave for two days. During this time, I went to the beach every day to monitor the company's people and look for any signs of rescue ships.
But to my disappointment, the vast expanse of the sea remained undisturbed, with no indication of any rescue teams.
And that group from the company, they were like ghosts, carrying strange instruments, constantly measuring things along the coastline and in the forest.
Several times, I nearly got discovered by them.
It was thanks to my quick thinking and imitation of animal calls that I managed to avoid being exposed.
But the company's people had been acting increasingly strange lately. Not only did they test seawater daily, but they also collected soil samples from the forest.
I increasingly couldn't comprehend what they were up to.
All I could do was meticulously record everything they did day by day in my mind.
And the assurances I had given the sisters that rescue teams would soon arrive on the island were also being shattered.
Another two days passed with no activity.
Qi Qiaoqiao was relatively mature and could control her emotions.
But Qi Xinxin couldn't.
She was just a child, and now she cried every day, wanting to go home and see her parents.
I already had a mountain of things to do daily, and now I was being driven to distraction, having to patiently comfort her.
Gradually, Qi Qiaoqiao's emotions were also on the verge of breaking.
After all, Qi Xinxin was young, and I could appease her by bringing her some fresh fruit when I returned. But Qi Xinxin was different; she was an adult.
If I counted correctly, including today, their ship had been wrecked for five days.
The golden rescue window for shipwrecks internationally is typically 48 hours. Now, with no sign of any rescue ships, they might never come.
This confirmed the unease I had felt earlier.
This island and the deserted island I was on before seemed to belong to the same ecological zone. They shared a peculiar magnetic field, something that isolated them from the outside world, making it impossible for ordinary rescue teams to reach here.
Human survival hinges on hope.
With the sisters' hope of returning to civilization extinguished in the short term, I had to find them another reason to persevere, or they might collapse.
After much thought, I gritted my teeth and made a decision.
I would take them back to the deserted island where I had been before!
This was my last resort. I couldn't just stand by and watch them perish on this island.
My ability to return to the deserted island now wasn't just about me; it was about the safety of the two sisters, so the urgency in my heart grew.
I was constantly looking for an opportunity to capture a lone company member and interrogate them for information.
But to my dismay, they seemed to have a clear division of labor, and when they went out, they usually went in groups of two or three, making it impossible for me to find an opening.
Time ticked by day after day. Just as I was becoming impatient and considering a forceful approach, the group from the company suddenly made a new move!