Chapter 181: Chapter 181: The Last 30 Seconds
Zephyr Sterling asked, "How are you feeling? Did it work?"
"It did, thanks, Mr. Sterling. I feel a lot lighter," Kyle Lewis answered, panting heavily.
Leah Chandler nodded beside them.
Seeing they seemed able to walk on their own now, Faye Yardley finished off a small, unidentifiable gray animal and said, "There isn’t much time left on the island. We need to speed up on our way back to the dock."
The main issue was that Leah Chandler had to get back to her raft. While the others were her teammates, when the Invitation Card’s time was up, the System would most likely send them back to their own rafts directly.
Faye Yardley saw the grass rustle ahead. She swapped the Light Wound in her hand for her Longbow and fired a Crystal Arrow in that direction. After all, Crystal Arrows were good for area-of-effect attacks.
A couple of yelps came from within. Faye Yardley then headed over, slashing a path with Light Wound. The undergrowth and bushes fell away neatly, quickly revealing two dark brown animals, the size of wild boars, of some unknown species.
She went over and delivered the finishing blows, ending their suffering.
The System actually prompted that they could be disassembled, so naturally, she disassembled them.
But the two big "pigs" yielded less than ten pounds of edible meat. The return on investment was just terrible.
Their current path had deviated slightly from the one recorded by the System, but they were still heading in the right direction.
Faye Yardley even glanced down at the compass watch on her wrist to confirm the directions here weren’t affected by the curse, then continued forward.
Zephyr Sterling was now bringing up the rear.
Faye Yardley, with her Arm Crossbow in her left hand and Light Wound in her right, was not moving slowly. However, to accommodate Leah Chandler and her son, she did her best to clear a slightly wider path.
’If she could, she’d love to just set the whole place on fire.’
There were simply too many little bugs of all kinds. If she weren’t wearing a Self-cleaning Robe over her tracksuit, with many of the critters being automatically cleaned off as "dirt," she wouldn’t be in much better shape than Kyle Lewis.
After finishing off two more rat-like animals and some visible insects, Faye Yardley held a torch in her left hand, but the torch couldn’t directly ignite the grass and trees on either side.
However, the moment a spark touched the slain corpses, they burst into flames, quickly turning to ash and vanishing completely.
But the foul smell in the air only grew stronger.
She put away the torch, turned back, and said apologetically to the other three, "Sorry, it looks like fire won’t work. Can you guys still hold on?"
As she spoke, she raised a hand and shot a bird that was diving down from the sky.
"It’s fine. How would we know if it works without trying?" Zephyr Sterling genuinely believed that; he wasn’t just saying it to comfort her.
Leah Chandler nodded. She really didn’t have the strength to speak.
After they had traveled for a while, Faye Yardley glanced at her watch again, her brow furrowed. "Time is moving a bit fast. At this rate, Ms. Chandler might not make it back to her raft. I’ll carry her and go on ahead."
"I... I can still..."
Faye Yardley walked right back, crouched in front of Leah Chandler, and without another word, lifted her onto her back. "Ms. Chandler, hold on tight. Just don’t choke me."
"Th-thank you."
"Keep your head down and protect your face." Faye Yardley said no more, simply breaking into a run with the woman on her back.
Seeing this, Zephyr Sterling immediately lifted Kyle Lewis onto his back and gave chase.
They were truly in a mad dash. She just injured some of the smaller animals with her Arm Crossbow, not even bothering with the finishing blow, and sped toward the dock.
’It didn’t feel this long on the way here, so why does the way back seem longer?’
But there was no time to ponder that now. She kept glancing at her watch, feeling a genuine sense of urgency. The flow of time on this island was definitely different from the outside world.
She had clearly left more than two hours for the return trip. Normally, that would have been enough time even if they had to fight their way back.
But now, there was less than fifteen minutes left of their eight-hour island stay.
If she hadn’t been wearing a watch and checking it periodically, the System would have given no warning at all.
Previously, when her invited time on the island was about to run out, the System would give an advance warning.
’An abnormal place really makes the System act abnormally, too.’
Leah Chandler kept her head down, feeling branches and blades of grass whipping past her. The speed was so great that she didn’t dare lift her head; if she did, the grass might poke her in the eyes.
’I’ve really taken huge advantage of them this trip.’
’If I can make it back to the raft safely, I’ll have to think about how to repay them.’
Even if she didn’t make it and the System kicked her out into the vast ocean, she would have no regrets.
Because she could truly feel how desperately Faye Yardley was trying.
"Ms. Chandler, I see the dock!" Faye Yardley was truly excited. The moment her foot hit the uneven ground of the dock area, she couldn’t help but gasp for a big breath.
But she didn’t stop; she kept running.
Because when she glanced down, there was only one minute left.
DAMMIT!
’Are you kidding me?’
Run, run, run!
Faye Yardley felt like she was running so fast her soles were about to strike sparks.
With less than 20 seconds to go, she sprinted into the clean and tidy dock area. Faye Yardley put away Light Wound and said one last thing: "Pardon me for this."
Then she pulled Leah Chandler off her back, swung her around, and flung her toward the raft.
In the end, she didn’t know if Leah Chandler had made it onto the raft successfully. She collapsed onto the dock and was teleported away by the System.
The moment she returned to her raft, Faye Yardley collapsed onto the floorboards. ’Oh god, I’m completely wiped out this time.’
"Yardley, thank you. I made it safely onto my raft. I’ve just returned to my original spot in the ocean." Leah Chandler’s voice was still filled with lingering fear as she spoke. It had been so close. She could have been randomly teleported somewhere unknown, and the final result would have certainly been a watery grave.
Hearing that Leah Chandler was safe, Faye Yardley felt relieved and sent her a message back: "I’m back safely on my raft too."
"Sister, are you okay? Should I carry you to the sofa to lie down for a bit?"
"Just give me a hand."
Faye Yardley went straight to her room, took a shower, and then collapsed onto her bed to rest.
My god, those eight hours, especially the last half hour, had completely exhausted her.
She didn’t want to do anything right now. She just lay there and immediately fell asleep.
When she woke up again, it was already past eight in the evening.
Faye Yardley sat up in bed and, leaning against the headboard, tried calling her brother, but no one answered. ’Looks like he’s not back yet.’
She opened the channel. People on the national channel were still being battered by storms, but District 101 was unusually calm, with people sharing their hauls from fishing up treasure chests.
The usually lively Bonnie Callahan wasn’t in the group chat, making the whole group feel much quieter.
Faye Yardley asked directly: "What’s Miss Bonnie up to?"
Wade Warren: "She said she was going to try a Dungeon. She just left this morning and stopped by to let us know before she went."
Faye Yardley: "Oh, I see. Miss Bonnie is pretty brave."
Leo Sloan: "The group is really quiet today. Were you all busy with something?"
Faye Yardley: "Yeah, Kyle and I went to the island. My brother, Mr. Pierce, and Donovan all went to do quests. With Miss Bonnie also in a Dungeon, the group is bound to be quiet."
Wade Warren: "@Leo Sloan, looks like the two of us just aren’t trying hard enough."
