Chapter 123: The Volcanic Isolated Island [Please Subscribe]

The temperature here was well over thirty degrees Celsius, and Cheng Zhi was unbearably hot. After all, he was wearing a full-body suit, and no matter how much ventilation there was, it was still stifling. After only a few steps, he felt as if he could breed fish in his crotch and reached out to unzip his suit.

Zhou Yi immediately grabbed Cheng Zhi’s wrist and zipped it back up. Sweat dripped down his face, and his hair clung to his forehead.

“I still don’t know where this place is, but judging by the temperature, humidity, and surrounding vegetation, I think we’re in a tropical rainforest. Places like this have the most poisonous insects. It’s better to be hot than to get bitten by something venomous. We don’t have any medicine on us.”

“Sophia, is there any information or clues from your side about this mission world? My control panel is completely unresponsive.”

Sophia stared into Zhou Yi’s eyes and shook her head slightly.

“Let’s move on first. We can’t stay at the bottom of the valley; it’s too dangerous here. We need to find a safe place, then check the control panel again.”

The fat man and Cheng Zhi didn’t suspect anything and hurried ahead. Since Cheng Zhi was attuned to wood elements, he felt a certain affinity for the trees and was best suited to lead the way.

Vines, trees, and dead branches were everywhere, creating a canopy that almost blocked out the sky. Moving swiftly here was extremely risky because they couldn’t see where to step safely.

Zhou Yi slowed his pace and locked eyes with Sophia. His gaze then dropped to her wrist. Sophia shook her head slightly and leaned close to Zhou Yi’s ear to whisper:

“The control panel seems to be malfunctioning. There’s no map display, and I don’t know why—it’s all just a black screen. I’ll check yours in a moment. As for information about this mission world, I don’t remember much.”

Zhou Yi hesitated for a moment but kept moving forward and opened the control panel on his wrist.

The entire panel flickered once, then shut down automatically, displaying a farewell screen before everything disappeared. Zhou Yi was surprised by this.

He glanced at Sophia, who furrowed her brows deeply. Zhou Yi patted her arm reassuringly.

“It’s all right. As long as we’re together, there’s nothing we can’t overcome. Besides, we don’t even know what the base looks like now. By the way, after such heavy damage, what happens to us next?”

At this, the other two also glanced back at Sophia.

But they didn’t stop moving and had already found a small path, climbing toward the mountainside.

Sophia thought for a moment and said:

“It can be understood like this: the base is similar to a warship, a temporary transit station stationed at convergence points of different spaces. If it’s attacked, only the warship sustains damage; the various spatial worlds and passageways remain intact.

“We can only wait patiently for the time-space city to assign new stations to each base, after which we will be gradually recalled.”

Zhou Yi frowned slightly. According to Sophia, this waiting wouldn’t be short. With so many stations and so many people at each, it was possible that one or two might be missed.

“Recalled? What if someone is missed during the recall process?”

Sophia frowned and glanced at Zhou Yi. This was indeed the biggest problem. She herself had to wait for the recall order; otherwise, she couldn’t contact the new base because without coordinates, landing was impossible.

“Such incidents do happen, but the intelligent brain knows all information. If not actively recalled by the base, within forty-eight hours, the person will be reassigned to a base. We won’t lose contact.”

Zhou Yi didn’t ask further; there was no point. The most terrifying thing now wasn’t how to get back to the base but what exactly had happened to the base and the time-space city. However, they couldn’t discuss this in front of Cheng Zhi and the fat man, as it would only increase panic.

“All right, no use asking further. Let’s find a place to take shelter first, at least to understand where we are.”

Sophia nodded and quickly followed Zhou Yi’s steps. The fat man grunted twice, dissatisfied but too afraid to say anything, so he took up the rear.

The four climbed for two hours before finally surmounting the mountain ahead.

Seeing the foot of the mountain, they immediately stopped. Cheng Zhi even spread his arms wide to block their path.

The lush greenery made it difficult to discern much, but beneath their feet was a cliff. Below the cliff were sharp rocks, and to the left, a black sand beach. However, they couldn’t reach the beach directly from where they stood; they would have to return to the valley and approach from the other side.

To the left was an even higher cliff. Dark reefs could be faintly seen beneath the seawater. The sea stretched endlessly in all directions, shrouded in mist, limiting visibility to less than two hundred meters.

Their current elevation was decent. Looking around, the fat man flopped down onto the ground.

“Damn, this is a deserted island! Surrounded by endless sea, the only land is this island under our feet. What kind of world have we been teleported to? Is this some kind of survival game on a deserted island?”

Sophia’s face darkened, not out of anger at the fat man’s words but because when they chose this world, it seemed the safest option. She hadn’t expected it to be like this.

The temperature alone was unbearable, and mosquitoes swarmed their faces and bodies. After just two hours of climbing from the valley below, the exposed skin on the four of them was covered in red welts. Sweating only made the biting sensation more agonizing.

Sophia turned to Zhou Yi.

“Should I explain the situation with this world now? When we selected it, there was no mention of such a place. Probably there was an error during transmission, so the coordinates are off.”

Zhou Yi glanced at Sophia, then at the fat man, his eyes full of warning.

“A modern world with no mission target, right?”

Sophia nodded, somewhat surprised Zhou Yi knew.

“Yes. It’s marked as April 2010, and the descriptions afterward are all resorts: Fiji Islands, Mauritius, Phuket, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu. Nothing else is marked, though there’s a small weather icon below.”

Zhou Yi narrowed his eyes. These were all tropical islands. Perhaps the island beneath their feet was one of these or nearby. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been teleported here so recklessly. The deviation wouldn’t be this large.

“No mission target means we just have to survive here. Talking about anything else is pointless. We have two weeks’ worth of water and food reserves, but whether we’ll get contact from the base within two weeks is unknown.

“Therefore, our priorities now are: first, find a safe and flat place to settle; second, scout this island and roughly locate it; third, find a water source; fourth, prepare a place to spend the night.”

Everyone nodded in agreement; Zhou Yi’s plan was concise and practical.

Cheng Zhi arranged some vines below the cliff and tossed down a makeshift rope ladder. It caught on a protruding rock, leaving about the height of three stories from there to the beach. Zhou Yi and Sophia could climb down from this point.

“Sir, the rope ladder is ready. Shall we go down?”

Zhou Yi nodded without a word. Cheng Zhi, who was always the rear guard, held the ladder and descended quickly to the protruding rock.

Zhou Yi inspected the area carefully. This was part of the cliff, but the upper section had weathered away, exposing a cross-section. The rock surface was marked with patterns and holes, which made Zhou Yi increasingly uneasy.

Volcanic rock. This was volcanic rock. He had found it strange in the valley below—the surrounding mountains were all uniformly sized. Now it made sense: this must be a volcanic island.

Repeated underwater eruptions formed the mountain body, followed by volcanic ash settling and vegetation growth. There was sand and soil, so it couldn’t be far from the continental shelf. Perhaps this entire area was dotted with such islands.

Zhou Yi remained composed. As Sophia climbed down, he reached out to grab her hand, then helped the fat man and Cheng Zhi. Holding the fat man by his belt—now nearly soaked—they drew a deep breath and leapt repeatedly toward the shoreline.

The fat man had his eyes closed, his face turned toward the sea. The up-and-down motion was like a roller coaster, and his heart couldn’t take it. Just as he felt nauseous, with a slap, he was dropped onto the sand.

There was no time to protest; the drop had been a bit rough.

The fat man lay on the beach, retching repeatedly. After a moment, he lay still. Zhou Yi knelt beside him. Though there was a breeze, it was humid and hot.