Chapter 11: Stepping Onto the Island; It Really Is Much Bigger Inside

“Eldest Sister… Eldest Sister!”

“What’s wrong?” Hearing the voice, Bai Yu hurried out of the cabin.

“There!” Bai Xi pointed at a small, protruding dot in the distance. “Is that an island over there? My eyes aren’t playing tricks on me, are they?!”

The protruding dot was too small, and Bai Yu truly couldn’t see it clearly. The sea was full of dangers, and that dot wasn’t necessarily an island. She didn’t dare to jump to a conclusion, so she could only grab Bai Xi’s hand and stare intently.

As they got closer, she suddenly spoke: “Xiao Xi, is that a big tree?”

If there were trees, it definitely wasn’t a sea creature.

Having said that, Bai Yu immediately ducked through the cabin and went to the other side to pick up a punting pole: “Let’s go!”

“Mhm!”

The two sisters exerted their strength together, punting the boat rapidly toward the dot. As the dot grew closer, it transformed from an indistinguishable speck into a small islet with a few trees, and then into a reasonably sized island.

There were no ships anchored around the island, which meant it was highly likely to be uninhabited. But even so, for those who had been drifting at sea for many days, the appearance of an island meant a chance at life.

Otherwise, if they stayed on the sea forever, it would be difficult to survive long-term, even with the Check-in Shell and the Dimensional Forest.

The island drew nearer, and the expressions of the two sisters punting the boat grew more joyful.

“Going ashore!”

The two of them imitated the tone of their elders, saying the words that were always said whenever they hit land. The small boat slowly drifted closer, riding the tide onto the beach, and then settled firmly on the sand as the tide receded.

Such a scene was unfamiliar to both Bai Yu and Bai Xi, but they moved quickly. Once the boat stopped, they immediately jumped down, pulled the ropes tight, and dragged the boat further inland when the next wave came.

They repeated this back and forth several times until they were certain the boat wouldn’t be pulled back into the water by a shallow tide, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

But this wasn’t the end.

Although they wouldn’t be heading back into the water anytime soon, this boat had to be kept safe. It couldn’t be allowed to drift away with the rising and falling tides. Just leaving it like this wasn’t enough; they had to find a way to tie it down.

“The trees over there are a bit far; the rope isn’t long enough.”

“The rocks aren’t close enough either… but this beach is so high, does the tide ever actually reach this far up?”

“That’s exactly why we have to tie it well. Otherwise, if the tide comes up, the boat will drift away.”

“Let’s untie the other ropes. Can we use the fishing nets too?”

Whether it was rocks or trees, they were all quite a distance away. The ropes they usually used weren’t long enough, but if they added the ropes used for diving plus the fishing nets, the length would be sufficient.

In short, the current goal was to secure the boat.

The two were women of action. They quickly began untying ropes and moving the fishing nets off the boat one by one.

During this process, they experienced a particularly high wave. The rising tide pushed the boat upward, and as it receded, it nearly dragged the boat and Bai Miao, who was still on board, out to sea.

Fortunately, Bai Miao had been sitting on the deck the whole time. Feeling something was wrong, she immediately cried out, and Bai Yu and Bai Xi ran over to grab the ropes.

With this wave, the boat had been pushed further down. Now, even a shallow tide could take it away.

After this scare, the two didn’t dare to leave the boat at the same time. One went to tie the rope to a large tree while the other stayed by the boat. This time, they managed to get both sides secured without any further accidents.

However, this still wasn’t enough. The two specifically waited by the boat until the next rising tide, using the water’s lift to drag the boat even further up. They used the extra length of rope to tie it to two more trees before they finally felt at ease.

After all that back and forth, both were drenched in sweat.

Bai Miao knelt at the edge of the deck, holding a handkerchief, and earnestly wiped the sweat from their faces.

“Eldest Sister isn’t tired. Doing it this way is better; we can all feel more relaxed.”

“Second Sister isn’t tired either,” Bai Xi said, offering her sweat-soaked head for her youngest sister to wipe. “We finally don’t have to drift on the sea. We can finally get a good night’s sleep tonight.”

“Mhm. We won’t have to go to the Dimensional Forest to cook, either. We can gather firewood from there and cook right here,” Bai Yu said, pointing to a high spot nearby. “The Dimensional Forest is another place after all. The rocks and trees up there have grown like that, so no matter how the tide rises, it won’t reach that high. If we can’t go back for a while, we can stay here for the time being.”

“Doesn’t the Check-in Shell provide Upgrade Cards? Maybe one day our boat will get better and better, and we’ll be able to find the way home.”

In reality, even if the boat became larger and better, unless another ship passed by and could tell them the location of inhabited islands, they would rather stay on this island than risk the open sea to find another destination.

After all, they didn’t even know where they were, let alone which direction to take to get back. It had taken them many days just to find this island. If they left blindly, there was no telling how long they would drift.

Moreover, if they were to leave and their luck wasn’t as good as it had been these past few days, they might encounter a tsunami or large sea creatures and end up buried at the bottom of the ocean.

“Upgrade Card?” Bai Miao pulled a card out of her bag.

“I almost forgot about that,” Bai Yu said, lifting her off the boat and carrying her toward the cabin area. “Come, Miao Miao, use the Upgrade Card.”

Bai Miao leaned forward and pressed the card in her hand against the cabin.

In a soft voice, she said: “Use, Upgrade Card.”

(Upgrade Successful)

The prompt sounded, and Bai Xi quickly ran to the other side, standing on her tiptoes to look inside the cabin: “Why does it look like nothing changed?”

“I don’t see anything either…” Bai Yu said, puzzled. She lifted Bai Miao up high and set her inside. “Miao Miao, go in and take a look. If there’s a change, let us know.”

“Okay!” Bai Miao answered obediently and walked quickly into the cabin. As soon as she stepped inside, she let out a surprised “Eh?”

“What is it?” Bai Yu asked, leaning over.

“It’s bigger, and taller.” Bai Miao moved her short legs, spreading her arms and shifting her posture up, down, left, and right.

“Looking at it like this, it does seem different,” Bai Xi said, taking off her shoes and struggling to climb onto the boat. During the climb, she couldn’t help but remark, “I didn’t think our boat was this high before.”

“A lot of it was underwater before, silly,” Bai Yu said with a smile, standing by to watch her sister’s movements.

Bai Xi finally scrambled onto the boat, making sure to rub the sand off her feet on the deck before stepping into the cabin.

As she entered the cabin, she let out a soft gasp of surprise, turning back to speak to Bai Yu. “Eldest Sister, you can’t really tell from the outside, but it’s definitely bigger standing in here. I feel like it could fit another person now.”

Bai Yu, thinking more practically, asked, “Does that mean our bedding isn’t long enough anymore?”

Bai Xi led Bai Miao out of the cabin and unrolled the folded bedding.

Now, it was clear to see that the mattress was both shorter and narrower than the space it was meant to fill.

“This is great. Even as you and Bai Miao grow up, we won’t have to worry about the cabin being cramped. The three of us can still sleep together,” Bai Yu said happily.

The expansion of the cabin didn’t have a massive impact on their daily lives, but in an environment like this, even such a small change was enough to bring them joy.

After their moment of excitement, the three sat on the deck to talk.

“There are still over forty double-hours left for the Dimensional Forest. We can still go there to gather firewood and fresh water. This island looks deserted, but we don’t know the actual situation. Wandering around might be dangerous. When we go back to the Dimensional Forest, we should look for some thick wooden sticks and sharp stones to sharpen the tips…”

“The Dimensional Forest might be dangerous too.”

“True, so we can’t go far, and we must keep Miao Miao with us at all times. If we encounter danger, we have to return immediately. But this place is different. We finally found this island, and we’ll likely stay here for a long time. If we run into danger here, there’s nowhere to run, so we have to think of a way to defend ourselves. The woods over there are a bit far; it’s more convenient to find wood in the Dimensional Forest.”

The trees in the Dimensional Forest were indeed numerous. Perhaps because no humans had appeared there for a long time, many branches had fallen to the ground, gradually piling up.

They had been picking them up bit by bit lately, but there was still a vast amount left.

However, they didn’t dare venture deep, sticking only to the edge of the woods and the nearby stream, fearing they might encounter large animals or predators hidden in the shadows.

Fortunately, aside from the extra time needed to gather sticks, they didn’t linger there for long.

As they talked, they confirmed that no high tides were coming and that no one was around. The three of them stepped directly from the deck into the Dimensional Forest and began gathering dry firewood from the ground.

This time, they didn’t have to guard against outsiders. They gathered the wood and transported it out in batches until the firewood was piled high on both sides of the deck.

Since they were right next to land, there was plenty of open space for cooking. Bai Yu jumped off the boat first, taking the bundles of firewood from Bai Xi one by one. She carried them to a patch of completely dry sand, set them down, and returned for more.

Once they had moved enough, she took the Casserole Pot¹, the stone base for burning wood and charcoal, a bag of rice, and a water skin.

Finally, it was Bai Xi and Bai Miao’s turn.

Now that the boat was on land, the deck, which hadn’t seemed very high before, looked dauntingly tall to Bai Xi. She paced back and forth a few times, not daring to jump. When Bai Yu reached out to help her, she felt a bit embarrassed.

Bai Yu firmly pulled her down into a hug.

“You’re still young too. It’s okay to let your sister help,” Bai Yu said as she set her down, then reached up to get Bai Miao. “You’re both my younger sisters. It’s only right that I take care of you.”

“But Eldest Sister, you aren’t that old either,” Bai Xi said. “I should be sharing your burden.”

“You already share so much,” Bai Yu said, setting Bai Miao down. She took Bai Miao’s hand in one of hers and Bai Xi’s in the other. “After Mom and Dad left, I really didn’t know what to do on my own. I’m so glad I have you and Miao Miao.”

“I was so scared back then. Luckily, Eldest Sister was always there to comfort me.”

“That’s because I needed you two as well. It’s because you’ve stayed by my side that I have the courage to live a good life.”

A milky, childish voice piped up from below.

“Miao Miao too.”

Bai Yu laughed, looking down and playfully shaking the little girl’s hand. “Miao Miao is what?”

Bai Miao looked up, her bright eyes blinking. “Miao Miao is also… always staying with you.”

Hearing this, both Bai Yu and Bai Xi laughed.

Bai Xi let go of Bai Yu’s hand, turned around, and scooped Bai Miao up into her arms, gently pressing her forehead against the little girl’s. “Miao Miao is so good, always staying with us.”

“Staying with us?” Bai Miao asked, confused. “Staying with you… staying with us?”

“Hahaha, either way works! You stay with us, we stay with you, we all stay together!” Bai Xi said with a loud laugh.

Accompanied by their laughter, this silent, deserted island gradually began to feel like a home.

Translator’s Notes