As soon as the coconut was cracked open, the raw, fishy smell of the bird meat came rushing out. Du Lai reached in and felt around—the outside was warm, but the inside was cold and clammy. When he lifted the bird by the neck, coconut water mixed with blood drained out, cold and reeking.

Du Lai held the bird like that, quietly watching Fu Miaoxue.

Fu Miaoxue: “……”

After two seconds, she stubbornly lifted her chin. “It would definitely taste good cooked!”

Du Lai couldn’t be bothered to respond. He took the bird and left—cleaned it properly, rubbed it with salt, skewered it on a branch, and roasted it.

At dinner, Fu Miaoxue was sulky the whole time, her lips pouched out, but she still finished all the bird meat, even gnawing the neck bones clean.

Du Lai only ate a few pieces of fruit. Mostly because the smell earlier had hit him hard and his stomach was still turning.

After dinner, Du Lai sat lazily by the fire, unhurriedly working the leather collar in his hands.

The leather was soft, with iron wire inside for structure. To remove the wire, he had to first soften it over the flame, then work it loose with his fingers.

Normally at this hour, Fu Miaoxue would be playing with clay. Ever since Du Lai had taught her how to fire pottery in the wild, she had produced all kinds of strange little pots—most of which had failed. Uneven heating, or poor clay quality, and they’d shatter during firing.

On the rare occasion one succeeded, she would be smug and show it off for a week straight.

Tonight she did nothing. She leaned against Du Lai, quietly watching the stars appear one by one overhead.

She actually wasn’t chattering.

Du Lai found that oddly novel, and wondered if she was reflecting on wasting food today.

Fu Miaoxue watched the stars for a while, then turned and nudged him. “What are you always burning that thing for?”

The leather softened in the heat. A gentle twist, and the thin wire worked free. Du Lai pulled it out and answered briefly, “It has its uses.”

Fu Miaoxue didn’t press further. The atmosphere was relaxed, and she was apparently too lazy to think, so she just kept leaning on his shoulder and murmured, “The weather’s so nice today. Who knows what tomorrow will be like…”

Du Lai responded absently, “Rainy season. Every day’s about the same.”

Fu Miaoxue closed her eyes and said wistfully, “Then it’s a little boring… no winter, no snow to see.”

Du Lai’s hands paused. He glanced down at her. “If there really were winter, the bamboo hut we’re living in right now would freeze us to death.”

Fu Miaoxue didn’t open her eyes. She seemed to picture it, because the corners of her mouth curved upward. “Hail would be nice too.”

Du Lai: “……”

She was getting more and more unhinged by the minute.

Fu Miaoxue said, “Du Lai, I really like you. Do you like me?”

Du Lai: “Heh heh……”

She opened her eyes and looked at him seriously. “What do you mean, ‘heh heh’? I’m asking you—do you like me or not?”

Du Lai gave a perfunctory nod. “Yes, yes, I do.”

Fu Miaoxue, satisfied, closed her eyes again and leaned back against him, her voice slow and drowsy. “We should be together every day from now on. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

Du Lai thought that her version of “liking” him wasn’t much different from liking a dog. And her version of “wonderful” was probably about the same as finding a dog entertaining.

He wasn’t naive enough to mistake the fondness of two people clinging to each other on a deserted island for true love—especially when that person was Fu Miaoxue. That made it all the more absurd.

Fu Miaoxue chattered on for a while, then lay down on the leaf-lined bed and fell asleep.

Du Lai pulled out the now-intact wire, sharpened one end against a rock to make the tip finer, then pressed one hand against the gold collar around his neck and used the other to hold the wire, feeling carefully for the tiny lock mechanism.

Without a mirror, he couldn’t see the collar’s state, which made this far from easy. Fortunately, his skills hadn’t rusted. A few minutes later, he heard a soft, faint click—the lock gave way.

Du Lai removed the gold collar, and instantly felt the relief in his neck.

It was then that he noticed something on the inner surface of the collar—a small, chip-like device.

—