——A crescent-shaped cliff face, from its highest point all the way down to the base, was covered with tens of thousands of white seabirds roosting in dense clusters. In the bright moonlight, the rock face seemed to be blooming with snow-white flowers — or like a sliced cake, with its layers revealed, packed full of dense white cream candies!

Du Lai’s target was the birds resting at the very top of the cliff.

He stood in place, tossed one of his stones lightly into the air, caught it, and gave Fu Miaoxue a glance with a smile — then mouthed silently: *Watch carefully.*

Fu Miaoxue pressed her lips tight together and watched him move with bated breath.

Step by step, he crept closer to the sleeping birds. The sea wind off the cliff perfectly masked the sound of his footfalls crushing dry grass.

The seabirds remained completely unaware.

These birds had poor night vision, and since the island had no large predators, the colony had lived in comfort and ease for so long that their alertness was virtually nonexistent — which gave Du Lai precisely the opening he needed.

Fu Miaoxue watched him slowly raise his arm, fingers pinching a stone, as though taking careful aim.

She couldn’t help but hold her breath. One wrong move, and the birds would take flight — startled and gone!

There would only be one chance!

Du Lai suddenly snapped his arm forward! The stone shot out with a whizz, striking one of the seabirds squarely!

Fu Miaoxue’s heart leaped into her throat. She stared without blinking at the bird as it rolled and thrashed in pain — while the surrounding birds were jolted awake by the commotion, fanning their wings in a panic to take flight! Several females spread over their nests, stretching their necks and crying out!

Everything happened in a single blink of an eye!

Before Fu Miaoxue could even process it, Du Lai had already hurled two more stones in rapid succession! One bird dropped senseless, and another tumbled straight off the cliff!

Within three to five seconds, every bird at the top of the cliff had scattered completely.

Only two half-dead seabirds remained.

Along with a ground covered in droppings and whirling feathers.

Du Lai picked up the two birds, gathered several eggs, then walked to the cliff’s edge and peered down. He said with a note of genuine regret: “Fell into the sea — what a waste…”

Fu Miaoxue ran over excitedly and reached out to touch the birds in Du Lai’s hands, nearly unable to bring herself to let go.

“How did you do that?” she asked, looking up at him in delighted astonishment. “Just throwing stones? Teach me! I want to learn!”

Du Lai tilted the corners of his mouth up and said: “Sure, I’ll teach you tomorrow. The trick is in the force and the angle.”

“Then I’m going to collect some stones too!” Fu Miaoxue said cheerfully, already heading back to search. “The same size as the ones you were picking, right?”

Du Lai smiled, watching her go. “Grab a few of different sizes — tomorrow you’ll practice first and figure out which size suits you.”

“Got it — I’ll do whatever you say!” Fu Miaoxue called back happily.

Returning home with a full haul, the spirits of both of them lifted considerably. Back at camp, they roasted the two seabirds, boiled the eggs in a bamboo tube filled with stream water until they were cooked through, and rounded things out with wild fruit. This meal — aside from being somewhat lacking in salt — was genuinely a feast by any measure.

The long-missed sensation of a full stomach brought both Du Lai and Fu Miaoxue something that felt unmistakably like happiness.

Satisfied and content, they lay down to rest beneath the boulder. The roof and walls still hadn’t been finished, so when they rolled onto their sides, they had a clear view of the night sky outside.

The moon, too bright, swallowed the stars. The sky stretched dark and deep — nothing visible at all.

Du Lai gazed up at that expanse of black and kept turning over practical concerns in his mind: “…Tomorrow we’ll go to the beach and collect some seawater, see if we can evaporate some salt. The body can’t go without salt for extended periods.”

Fu Miaoxue murmured in agreement: “And once we finish the shelter, we’ll be completely set. We’ll have food, water, fire… Even if we lived here forever, we’d have nothing to worry about!”

Du Lai let out a quiet laugh and glanced over at her. “You’d actually want to stay here forever?”

“I think it’s quite nice here.” Fu Miaoxue said cheerfully. “There’s only the two of us — we do whatever we want, with no one telling us what to do. That’s real freedom~”

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