"Eh?"
Hearing the man's reply, Kaoru Kawano was momentarily surprised.
A friend of Teacher Tang's?
Wait, no.
It's him!
Kaoru Kawano realized it belatedly, and her eyes suddenly lit up.
She had tried to find him yesterday to no avail, and now he had actually come to her!
He was indeed a tall and strong man, just as she had suspected!
But when Kaoru Kawano's gaze finally settled on Chuck's face.
The excited light in her eyes suddenly dimmed significantly.
A sense of inexplicable disappointment arose in her heart.
—Although he wasn't the "savage" that Teacher Tang spoke of, his appearance was a bit too ordinary.
As a gal, Kaoru Kawano naturally cared about looks. Even when "fishing," she wouldn't put just any fish in her pond; she filtered them. Ugly men were, in her opinion, not even qualified to be her ATM.
The man in front of her, while not ugly, had absolutely no outstanding features. Based purely on his looks, he would be at the bottom of her pond.
The only thing worth complimenting was that his physique was indeed quite good.
Well…
Since she was on a deserted island, she couldn't afford to be picky.
She had to utilize what she could first.
"Teacher Tang? She's not here right now."
Kaoru Kawano's voice suddenly became warm and lively. She bent down, picked up the fruit basket on the ground, and walked back into the cave with a smile. After setting the wild fruits down, she stood about five feet in front of Chuck.
She clasped her hands behind her back, leaned her upper body slightly forward, and looked up at Chuck with a beaming smile.
This smile was the result of countless hours of practice in front of a mirror at home.
Three parts politeness, three parts reservedness, three parts playfulness, and one part seduction, all perfectly blended.
Men lacking experience would often immediately have the classic misconception: Is she interested in me?
Paired with her carefully designed posture, it was her most powerful opening move.
Every time she used this move, most men would immediately start flaring their nostrils, avoiding eye contact, swallowing hard, sweating profusely, or having strained smiles.
And the moment she saw this reaction, it proved that the fish had taken the bait.
The rest was formulaic.
A hint of ambiguity in a few words would spark the other party's hope. Then, completely ignoring them and pouring a bucket of cold water on them would leave them overthinking and uneasy. Eventually, unable to bear it, they would proactively show goodwill, spend money, or give gifts. Upon accepting, she would thank them while offering another vague hope.
Repeating the cycle.
Until the moment the other party became impatient and made their intentions completely clear, she would utterly crush them with a line like, "I'm sorry, you're really great, but I thought we were just good friends, and I'm not looking for anything like that right now," all while avoiding a confrontation that could damage her reputation.
It was foolproof.
So, come on.
Kaoru Kawano had extreme confidence in her charm.
To her, men of this caliber were as easy as taking something out of her pocket.
Meanwhile, Chuck felt strange.
He only wanted to say hello to Jasmine Tang to show that he wasn't sneaking around but was openly looking for the supplies he needed.
But he hadn't seen her; instead, he encountered a strange Japanese girl.
He hadn't seen her the last time he was at Southwest Bay.
Could it be…
A guess formed in Chuck's mind, but he quickly dismissed it.
The anomalies on the deserted island weren't new. Dwelling on them wouldn't yield any results; it was better to focus on the task at hand.
But her personality seems quite outgoing.
Maybe she's an easy-to-talk-to girl?
Looking at the smile on her face, Chuck scratched his chin. He thought the girl might not have heard him clearly, so he repeated himself.
"Could you please tell me where Jasmine Tang is?"
"Since you're here, you must know her, right?"
Fearing the girl wouldn't understand, Chuck deliberately slowed his speech this time, trying to make every syllable clear. However, paired with his terrible accent.
It instantly made the smile on Kaoru Kawano's face freeze.
Her forward-leaning posture slowly straightened, and her delicate eyebrows gradually furrowed. She looked at Chuck with a strange expression.
…It didn't work?
Is this guy… gay?
It wasn't Kaoru Kawano's vanity. It was simply that her past undefeated track record made it impossible for her to underestimate her own charm. So, encountering this abnormal situation, she could only attribute it to the other party's problem…
But suddenly, Kaoru Kawano's brow furrowed slightly.
A suspicion slowly surfaced in her mind.
Why did Teacher Tang call this man a "dangerous savage" just because he was tall and strong?
And now she heard this man ask about Jasmine Tang's whereabouts twice, looking very concerned.
Clearly, the two of them knew each other, or were even close.
Plus, they both seemed to be Chinese and could both speak terrible Japanese… Were they perhaps studying together?
And there was this man's strangely flat reaction to her.
Thus, an obvious answer emerged.
Kaoru Kawano's eyelids twitched wildly.
It turns out these two are actually boyfriend and girlfriend?!
Thinking this, Kaoru Kawano felt that everything suddenly made sense. She couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
She had thought Teacher Tang was being so serious, but she hadn't expected it to be such a boring drama of fighting, sulking, and silent treatment…
She seemed so kind to me and Aya, but she was actually wary from the start, huh?
But it doesn't matter.
Thinking this, Kaoru Kawano's lips curled into a cunning smile.
That makes it even more interesting.
"Then, when you see her later, please tell her that I only came here to look for something."
Seeing the Japanese girl fail to respond, Chuck didn't want to waste any more time. He politely nodded, then turned and walked away from the cave without hesitation.
But after only two steps, Chuck's arm was suddenly grabbed by a small, cool hand.
He turned his head and saw the Japanese girl looking at him with an indescribable expression.
"Mister… are you a good person?"
Huh?
Chuck was stunned. He saw that the girl's cheerful expression had somehow turned into a pitiful and helpless look. She held his wrist with one hand and looked up at him.
Her expression was exactly like Gu Mòmo's when she was throwing a tantrum at him.
Paired with her delicate features, even Chuck was slightly moved.
Honestly, this Japanese girl was indeed pretty.
While she lacked Julia's striking, almost CGI-like beauty, she had a strong internet-celebrity appeal and looked very natural, with no signs of having gone under the knife.
Based on this face alone, back in the original world, she could easily start a live stream and rake in cash.
But what was the meaning of this?
Although Chuck remained outwardly calm, he secretly grew vigilant.
"Why ask that suddenly?"
"I knew it… Mister, you really are a good person."
The Japanese girl's previously lively expression instantly became heartbreakingly pitiful. Her eyes grew moist, and she looked at him, speaking in a trembling voice.
"I've been so scared these past few days… I can't eat or sleep properly, and Teacher Tang keeps making us work…"
As she spoke, she suddenly paused and started to sob, raising her small hand to wipe her tears.
This stark contrast in her demeanor utterly baffled Chuck.
Wait, why is she crying?
And why does everything she's saying sound so "tea-like" (manipulative)?
But just as Chuck was about to respond, the Japanese girl finally wiped her tears.
She suddenly grabbed one of Chuck's hands, her small face full of pleading.
"Mister, please take me with you, okay?"
Uh…
Chuck's forehead broke out in a slight cold sweat.
They hadn't even exchanged many words… how did the conversation get here?
However, seeing the Japanese girl looking so pitiful, combined with her posture, even Chuck was slightly tempted.
Fortunately, it was only slightly.
Chuck raised a hand and scratched his chin.
The vigilance that had only just begun to sprout in his heart deepened.
While she certainly looked pitiful… what kind of girl on a deserted island, upon meeting a strange man for the first time, would ask to leave with him?
Isn't she afraid I'm a pervert who will screw her first, then screw her again, and then screw her some more?
Furthermore…
Chuck's gaze moved away from the girl's watery eyes and focused on other things.
She had earrings on both earlobes, and there seemed to be another piercing higher up on her ear. Her eyebrows and eyeliner were visibly tattooed, and her manicures were long and flashy.
While Chuck wasn't traditional, he knew the difference between taking care of one's appearance and being ostentatious.
Women like Julia and the Gu mother and daughter were naturally beautiful, needed no makeup, and carefully styled their hair and clothing, but they never appeared so deliberately showy.
This girl was likely what they called a "Gal JK," right?
Chuck had only learned about them from movies and anime. But creation comes from reality. Regardless of the differences between the three-dimensional and two-dimensional worlds, the basic logic and character essence wouldn't change.
It was obvious that a woman like this wasn't the docile type.
This pitiful look was likely just an act.
With this realization, Chuck felt much calmer. He pondered for a moment, then exerted a little force and pulled his hand back, much to the Japanese girl's shock.
"Sorry, we're not familiar."
He finished the simple sentence while the Japanese girl's face grew increasingly stunned. Chuck decided not to waste any more words, turned, and walked straight out of the cave.
Watching his back, Kaoru Kawano's hand, frozen in mid-air, slowly dropped.
The wronged expression on her face vanished in a second, replaced by a sullen and humiliated look.
As Chuck left without hesitation, Kaoru Kawano also realized something that made her tremble:
From the beginning until now… he hadn't even asked for her name.
Kaoru Kawano ground her teeth in anger.
"What an act, you old man…"
At this moment, she felt an unprecedented sense of shame.
Although he didn't know Jasmine Tang's whereabouts, the message was delivered. Chuck didn't want to waste too much time and was eager to collect the necessary supplies.
When the exclusive perk provided by Julia changed from "Master Botanist" to "Master Botanist," the perception range had reached a full fifteen meters, or a diameter of 30 meters.
But while the perception range had expanded, what gave Chuck a headache was that the resources in this Southwest Bay were simply too abundant.
Wild fruits, herbs, coconut trees—a new perception appeared almost every two steps. Chuck could only roughly distinguish them based on the sensation granted by the perk. The ones he couldn't distinguish, he had to check visually, which slowed down his searching efficiency.
But even so, when Chuck searched westward along the bay for about ten minutes, a strong sensation of oiliness appeared, accompanied by an herbal fragrance.
Chuck's heart instantly rejoiced.
Oiliness meant flammability. Even if it wasn't the resin he wanted, it might still help him make Molotov cocktails.
He quickened his pace in the direction of the perception. Soon, a small patch of palm trees appeared in Chuck's sight.
His expression paused, and his brow furrowed.
These palm trees were similar to the Sago palms, which had trunks containing starch, but they also seemed somewhat different from ordinary palm trees…
The trunks were tall and straight, covered with thick scars from old leaves, like layers of scales, extending up to several meters. The canopy spread out like giant umbrellas.
But the most eye-catching feature was the clusters of oval fruits hanging from the branches and leaves. The fruits were reddish-orange and shone oily in the sun.
Chuck didn't hesitate. He agilely climbed the trunk and picked a cluster of reddish-brown oval fruits. The fragrance wafted toward him, exactly matching the perception granted by the perk moments ago.
It seemed the fruit was the key.
Chuck jumped back to the ground, plucked one fruit from the cluster in his hand, and examined it closely.
He gently rubbed the skin with his finger; it felt slightly hard, somewhat like a chestnut. When he pressed down hard with his fingertip, a sticky, orange-red liquid oozed out as the pulp was squeezed, with a faint herbal fragrance mixed with a sense of rich oiliness.
I knew it!
The moment he saw the orange-red liquid, a look of delight appeared on Chuck's face.
The pulp contained a large amount of oil!
He couldn't wait to put it into the Workbench. The Synthesis Hint also validated his guess.
[Oil Palm Fruit: Fruit of the Oil Palm tree. The pulp is rich in palm oil and has an herbal fragrance. The taste is bitter, not recommended for direct consumption, but the oil is extremely easy to extract. After boiling and removing the kernels, when combined with crushing tools and filtering tools, it can be synthesized into Oil Palm Mixed Liquid. After stilling and floating, crude palm oil can be obtained. It has a natural fruity fragrance and can be used as vegetable oil for cooking. The oil in the kernels can be used for moisturizing or sun protection.]
"…"
Chuck, who was initially excited about finding fresh supplies, was stunned after reading the Workbench's description.
The last sentence, in particular, grabbed his attention…
Moisturizing or sun protection?
Suntan oil?
The moment these words appeared in his mind, the image of the bombshell and the Gu mother and daughter's varied physiques, covered in glistening oil, involuntarily surfaced in Chuck's mind.
Hiss…
A bit stimulating.
Honestly, he couldn't be blamed. After all, seeing words like "moisturizing or sun protection" made it hard not to let his mind wander. Applying oil to women on the beach was, after all, a classic male fantasy.
Furthermore, taking it one step further.
Since it can be used as suntan oil.
Could it also…
Be used as lubricant?
Chuck rubbed his nose, then looked down again at the Oil Palm fruit he had just picked.
The smile on his face gradually became somewhat perverted.