Chapter 10: Accumulation Possible, Successful Check-in, Obtained Plane Transit Pass

“Eldest Sister…” Bai Xi’s voice trembled as she looked out at the endless expanse of water. “Where… where are we?”

“Those people left this joss paper behind, does that mean…” As she spoke, Bai Yu quickly bit her lip, swallowing the words that were about to come out. “It’s fine. We’ll be fine.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she immediately grabbed handfuls of joss paper from the boat and tossed them onto the water.

Even if the people who abandoned them here left this joss paper because they didn’t expect them to survive, they would still live on. No matter what, they could not die here.

The joss paper was scattered everywhere, on the deck, on the roof of the cabin, and even the surrounding water was encircled by the paper, creating a somewhat eerie atmosphere.

Bai Yu gripped Bai Xi’s hand tightly, feeling the chill in her palm.

Compared to Bai Miao, who sat calmly after pulling back the boat curtain, someone of Bai Xi’s age was more prone to feeling terrified by their current environment.

Bai Yu was afraid too, but she was the eldest sister. As the eldest sister, she had to look after her younger sisters.

After being warmed by Bai Yu’s hand for a while, Bai Xi’s emotions finally began to settle. “What should we do next?”

“We should be out on the open sea right now,” Bai Yu said, looking around. “We have to find a way to reach land. No matter what kind of land it is, we need a place to stay. Otherwise, if we keep staying on the ocean, this little boat of ours will capsize sooner or later.”

“Right, right, we need to find a place to stay. Eldest Uncle and Second Uncle said before that the sea is dangerous and unpredictable, and huge waves can rise at any time.” Bai Xi took a deep breath and looked around again. “But looking in every direction, there’s nothing but ocean. How are we supposed to find land?”

“Let’s just pick a direction and go. If we keep going, we’re bound to find land eventually.” Bai Yu had no other solution for this.

When they were brought here, they had been locked inside the cabin. They could only see faint glimmers of light through the gaps in the curtains, enough to distinguish day from night. None of them knew which way the boat had traveled over these past few days, so they naturally couldn’t determine their orientation.

But the ocean couldn’t be completely infinite. As long as they kept moving in one direction, they would surely find land.

“How hateful,” Bai Xi stamped her foot lightly. “They didn’t even leave us a punting pole.”

“Since they scattered joss paper, they certainly didn’t have good intentions.” Bai Yu calmly entered the cabin and pulled out two punting poles she had prepared early on. She handed one to Bai Xi. The two of them took positions at the front and back, and after determining a direction, they began to work the poles to move forward.

Those people had taken the original poles specifically so they wouldn’t be able to move on the water, leaving them to wait for death in place.

However, as fisherfolk who lived on the water, they knew the importance of punting poles. They naturally had to prepare for any risks, so every boat’s cabin would have spare poles kept inside.

The length was determined by the size of the cabin, so they weren’t necessarily very long, but they were just enough to make do.

As for the situation of the other fishing boats, they weren’t particularly worried. In terms of experience, the others were more seasoned. If they could find land quickly, surviving wouldn’t be difficult.

“I don’t know who those people were. Not only did they use our boats, but they also left us in the middle of nowhere where you can’t see a single piece of land. They really deserve to die.”

“Good and evil are rewarded in the end. They will get what’s coming to them.”

“If I ever get the chance to meet them, I’ll make them pay.”

“We’ll give them a sound beating.”

The two of them talked back and forth, venting the anger in their hearts. After all, there was nothing else they could do besides this. The most important thing now was to survive.

The sea was vast and wide. The boat traveled for a long time, but there was still no sign of land.

They didn’t know if it was because they had been taken too far out, or if they were heading in the wrong direction.

But there was no going back. They could only move forward with determination.

Fortunately, the sea remained relatively calm.

“Let’s rest.” Bai Yu massaged her aching arms.

“Just let the boat drift on the water like this?”

“There’s no other way. We have to,” Bai Yu put away her punting pole. “At night, we can’t see the direction clearly, nor can we see the conditions under the water. Moving blindly makes it easier for something to go wrong.”

“I hope we find a place to stay soon.”

Bai Xi also put away her pole. Turning around, she saw Miao Miao sitting obediently in the cabin. After putting the pole in place, she knelt down and gave her a hug.

Bai Yu came in and hugged both of them together.

Miao Miao poked her head out from their embrace. “It doesn’t smell bad anymore.”

“That’s right, it doesn’t smell anymore. We’ve already cleaned everything up,” Bai Yu said. “Is Miao Miao scared?”

“Not scared. Eldest Sister and Second Sister are here,” Miao Miao snuggled against them. “There are no pancakes today.”

“Are you hungry?” Bai Yu understood what she meant and rubbed her own stomach. “I was so focused on traveling that I completely forgot to eat. Should I try casting the fishing net?”

“Eldest Sister, you forgot, we still have a Shell,” Bai Xi said.

“Right,” Bai Yu realized. “After so many days, I forgot we still have the Shell. Miao Miao, take the Shell out and try it.”

“I can use the Shell now?” Miao Miao looked up at them excitedly.

“Of course. When it’s just the three of us, you can use the Shell,” Bai Xi helped her pull out the cloth pouch hanging around her neck. “Luckily we have the Shell.”

Miao Miao immediately reached in and skillfully found the button on the Shell.

[Check-in successful. Obtained Meat Buns x10]

“We actually got meat buns this time.”

“They’re still warm.” Bai Xi looked at the meat buns that had appeared and grabbed one, placing it in Miao Miao’s hands for her to hold with both hands. Then, she took a meat bun for herself and took a bite.

Perhaps they were truly hungry, as the three of them finished five meat buns in a short time. Even Miao Miao, who didn’t have a large appetite, managed to eat a whole meat bun.

After finishing the five buns, Bai Yu immediately used the cloth pouch to store the remaining ones.

Once they finished eating, the two of them began to tidy up the items in the cabin. Just as they were putting away the soiled clothes, they heard the sound from the Shell in Miao Miao’s hand again.

[Would you like to check-in?]

“Check-in.”

[Check-in successful. Obtained Roasted Pancakes x10]

The two of them turned around immediately.

“You can still check-in?”

“Check-in successful.” Bai Miao grabbed a sesame flatbread that had fallen in front of her and, after signaling to the other two, stuffed it directly into her mouth.

Bai Xi and Bai Yu gathered the remaining flatbreads and sat down in front of Bai Miao.

“Maybe it’s once a day. All those days we didn’t check-in before can be made up for now.”

“Miao Miao, try again?”

Bai Miao’s hands were full, so she handed the flatbread she had taken two bites of to Bai Yu.

“Still eating?”

“Not hungry.” Bai Miao patted her little belly.

“You’re just being greedy then.” Bai Yu laughed, tearing off a piece from where Bai Miao had bitten. She shared it with Bai Xi, half for each of them, and put the remaining unbitten portions into a bag for storage.

Bai Xi took a handkerchief and wiped Bai Miao’s hands clean, then looked at her expectantly.

Bai Miao looked at her small hands, lifted the bag containing the Shell, and pressed the button.

[Would you like to check-in?]

“Check-in.”

[Check-in successful, obtained [Earthenware Pot] * 1]

A medium-sized earthenware pot dropped down, caught steadily by Bai Xi, who had been watching intently.

[Check-in successful, obtained [Cabin Upgrade Card] * 1]

[Check-in successful, obtained [Fine Salt] * 1 jar]

[Check-in successful, obtained [Soy Sauce] * 1 bottle]

[Check-in successful, obtained [Plane Access Extension Card] * 36 double-hours¹]

Bai Miao continued to press the button, but no more sounds were made.

“That’s all,” Bai Yu said, taking her hand. “You can’t check-in again until tomorrow morning.”

“Seven items in total. It seems our guess was right. This check-in is once a day, but if you don’t use it, the number of check-ins can accumulate.”

“This is better than I imagined. I thought if we didn’t check-in, the chances would just disappear.” Bai Yu looked at the items that had dropped before them. She handed the pot, salt, and soy sauce to Bai Xi and picked up the remaining two cards.

Bai Xi hung the items one by one on the cabin wall, then knelt back down to examine the two cards.

“This Cabin Upgrade Card should be similar to the Hull Upgrade Card from before. However, we don’t know if people can stay inside during the upgrade, so let’s wait until we find land to use this one, okay?”

“Mm, put it in Miao Miao’s bag for now.” Bai Xi opened the bag hanging around Bai Miao’s neck, placed the upgrade card inside, then took out the Transit Pass and placed it in Bai Miao’s hand.

Bai Yu handed the Extension Card to Bai Miao as well.

Only Bai Miao could trigger the Shell, and only she could activate the cards drawn from it.

Sure enough, when both cards were in her hands and she pressed the Extension Card, a prompt appeared asking: [Do you wish to extend the Transit Pass for Plane 0126?]

This kind of prompt was familiar to Bai Miao. Holding the card, she called out, “Extend.”

[Extension Card used. Extension successful. Access time for Plane 0126 is now greater than forty-six double-hours.]

As the voice sounded, the Extension Card disappeared, while the Transit Pass remained in Bai Miao’s hand.

Bai Xi said excitedly, “That’s wonderful! This way, we can spend more time in that Plane. Even if the next island we find has no trees, we’ll still have fire to cook with!”

“Yes, and since that side is a forest, we should be able to find a clean water source,” Bai Yu said with a sigh of relief. “Seawater isn’t drinkable, and the water in our skins is almost gone. Xiao Xi, tomorrow morning you and Miao Miao go into the forest to look around and scoop up some fresh water. With these meat buns and flatbreads, we have enough to last a few days. Hopefully, we can find an island to rest on within that time.”

The calmness of the sea during the day brought them joy, but the calmness of the sea at night was terrifying.

Without a stable anchor point, the boat drifted with the waves at night. No one knew where it would drift over the course of an evening, but they could only continue forward in their fixed direction.

Now that they were certain the check-ins could accumulate, they were in no rush to check-in every day. Otherwise, drawing too much food they couldn’t finish would be a waste.

First thing the next morning, Bai Xi took Bai Miao’s hand and went into the dimensional forest. Sure enough, they found a water source not far away. After filling their water skins with fresh water, Bai Yu and Bai Xi picked up their punting poles again and headed in the direction they had determined yesterday.

The following day, they still didn’t check-in, relying on the remaining flatbreads for the day’s food.

On the fourth day, they still hadn’t seen land. Bai Miao checked in once and received ten catties² of rice.

After managing to steam a pot of rice on the boat, Bai Xi held her bowl and suddenly remembered: “Why don’t we cook in the dimensional forest? There’s so much space there.”

Bai Yu looked at her, then at the rice in the bowl. “I didn’t think of it.”

They had been on the boat for so long that they were already accustomed to living on it. Usually, when the boat docked, they would start a fire on shore, but the dimensional forest was, after all, a different place.

Bai Miao followed their lead, half-squatting as she tilted her head to look up at Bai Xi, then looked down at the bowl in her hands. Just as she was about to speak, her movement was too large, and she tumbled back onto the deck.

“Ah?”

Bai Yu and Bai Xi turned their heads and laughed.

From silent, hand-covered giggles to audible chuckles, and finally to loud laughter.

Bai Miao didn’t know what they were laughing at, but seeing them so happy, she started laughing along with them.

“Things will get better, right?”

“They will!”

Translator’s Notes