After that incident, Wei Zhen and the security guard became the ones most afraid of having no food to eat.
Of course, those who would do such things weren't afraid of death.
But they were terrified of having their flesh slowly carved off with sharpened stones, dying slowly from pain and infection while watching passengers eat their meat.
After some thought, Qiu Lan still advised Zhang Ruoshui: "Don't let them eat human flesh. Even if they're rescued later, they could develop mental illness from it."
Zhang Ruoshui whispered: "I was just trying to scare those two bad guys."
Qiu Lan laughed: "You scared me too."
Initially, they didn't dare venture too far from the plane. The aircraft was still largely intact, so they could search for food during the day and rest inside at night.
It was uncomfortable, but safe.
As time slowly passed.
Everyone began to worry if they would become Amazon jungle people forever.
"Will anyone really come to rescue us?"
"Do they think we've vanished from the face of the earth?"
"I want to go home."
"Someone will come rescue us," Zhang Ruoshui said with certainty in her voice.
Qiu Lan nodded: "Yes, Old Xu's brother will definitely come save us."
Some passengers couldn't help but complain loudly: "How will they rescue us?"
"Is Mr. Xu's brother someone special?"
"Hey, don't say that. My parents will definitely look for me too. With their persistence, the police will keep searching, right?" someone said optimistically.
But they were quickly contradicted:
"What good is persistence? After enough time passes, the case will be shelved. If we were lucky enough to have a relative of someone important on our flight, maybe they'd keep caring about this. But even important people eventually accept that their relatives are dead..."
"Important people's relatives wouldn't take a flight like this anyway."
Xu Huishan heard this and became anxious, not knowing how to explain that his brother really was capable and persistent, and would definitely keep searching for them!
His brother-in-law was also very wealthy!
At this point, Zhang Ruoshui spoke up coolly: "I'm the heir to the Rockefeller Financial Group."
Everyone fell silent.
It took a while before they found their voices again.
"Huh?"
"Really?"
"Are you lying to us?"
"Then why were you on a flight like this?"
"My godfather does some arms transport business, but I don't like riding transport planes," Zhang Ruoshui answered calmly.
"?"
Wei Zhen couldn't take it anymore and cursed: "You're a complete traitor to the Ghost family! Taking that madman Ke Muning as your godfather. After the old man passed, you've all gone crazy..."
Zhang Ruoshui glanced at him: "My uncle has already made peace with Ke Muning, what right do you have to interfere?"
Hearing this, Wei Zhen was devastated, like someone who just discovered their boss had gotten together with their rival.
He kept muttering: "You shouldn't have killed the master, you shouldn't have! He was the one who best carried out the old man's principles! He should have been the rightful heir... You're all messing everything up!"
Zhang Ruoshui walked up to him and asked: "By the way, there's one thing... How did you escape the board of directors' assassination attempt?"
This was what she really wanted to understand.
She found it very strange.
If Wei Lin's remaining faction was so capable, why didn't they come to protect Wei Lin back then? Why did they only save Wei Zhen?
Wei Zhen's expression became odd as he looked at Zhang Ruoshui and said: "Your enemy saved me."
"My enemy?" Zhang Ruoshui thought for a moment but could only think of Wei Lin's group and Li Qingqing.
But Li Qingqing hadn't been heard from in a long time. Sheng Yuxiao said she was sick and needed treatment.
Li Qingqing didn't have such capabilities either.
"Even if I die, that person will keep watching you from the shadows, until you die too."
"Watching me?" Zhang Ruoshui tilted her head.
Wei Zhen couldn't detect any fear in her expression.
After questioning Wei Zhen, Zhang Ruoshui had one more thing to do - she began observing the other passengers.
There were friends traveling together.
There was a family of four.
There were young couples and elderly married couples.
Some who had been traveling alone had made friends here.
In such an environment, everyone seemed to crave "companionship" to suppress their inner fears and anxieties.
She also missed her grandfather, uncle, aunt, Ke Muning... and Sheng Yuxiao.
Were they worried sick?
She hoped her uncle and aunt wouldn't be too shocked, her grandfather wouldn't cry, Ke Muning wouldn't go crazy... and Sheng Yuxiao, how would Sheng Yuxiao be?
Zhang Ruoshui was confident she could survive here for a long time.
But suddenly she started wondering... if she really died here, what would Sheng Yuxiao do?
She wished she had stayed a few more days before leaving.
Then Sheng Yuxiao's uncle and the others wouldn't have been involved...
Another day passed.
Everyone's pessimistic mood returned, and they began writing wills.
Zhang Ruoshui thought about it and wrote several letters too.
One for her grandfather, one for her grandfather's secretary Uncle Xun Yuan, ones for her uncle and aunt, one for Ke Muning, one for Qin Sui, ones for Zhou Xiaoshu and An Ying...
She didn't miss anyone she was close to.
When she ran out of paper, she borrowed several sheets from other passengers.
The others couldn't help but joke: "Miss Ghost, you sure have a lot of friends and relatives!"
Zhang Ruoshui had told them her surname was "Ghost," so that's what they called her.
"Yes, many," Zhang Ruoshui's eyes narrowed slightly as she said these words.
Actually, even if she died here, she should have no regrets.
When she was young, she never imagined that one day she would have so many people who loved and protected her.
She had already experienced happiness.
No...
There was still one tiny regret.
She hadn't figured it out yet.
She unfolded the last piece of paper, which was meant for Sheng Yuxiao.
"Sheng Yuxiao, why do I want to have you all to myself?"
If by chance she died.
When Sheng Yuxiao saw this, could he burn the answer for her?
No, just burning such an answer would still leave her with regrets in the afterlife.
She crossed out that line and wrote again:
"Sheng Yuxiao, can I have you all to myself?"
If he burned that answer for her, she wouldn't have any regrets.
Once someone's dead, why think about the "why" - no need to think, just having an answer would be enough.
Zhang Ruoshui dusted off her hands, returned the pen to the other passengers, and folded the paper into her pocket.
Her pockets were bulging now - they could sort through and distribute the letters themselves later!
"Has anyone not written their will yet?" the flight attendant called out loudly.
"Only Edward is left," a helpful passenger said.
Zhang Ruoshui instinctively looked over when she heard the voice.
Edward was the flight attendant whose neck had been squeezed by Wei Zhen. He said, "I don't need to."
Zhang Ruoshui walked over and asked: "Is your neck better?"
The flight attendant unconsciously touched his neck and avoided Zhang Ruoshui's gaze: "Yes."
Zhang Ruoshui suddenly noticed that his neck and face seemed to be different colors, and he smelled like he hadn't washed in a long time.
Zhang Ruoshui asked him: "Why don't you wash your face?"
"Afraid the water isn't clean."
"But you can drink it."
The flight attendant's lips twitched.
"Is it you?" Zhang Ruoshui suddenly asked.
"What?" the flight attendant was startled.
Zhang Ruoshui directly tried to trick him: "Are you the one who wanted to kill me? Did you save Wei Zhen and use him as a pawn?"
Though she still couldn't figure out one thing - if that was the case, wasn't this person afraid of death?
Fortunately, she didn't need to figure it out anymore.
Because the flight attendant's expression changed uncontrollably.
Zhang Ruoshui suddenly pinned him to the ground, and before anyone around understood what was happening, she poured a can of river water on the flight attendant's face.
The flight attendant was too weak to resist and could only shout: "What are you doing? You're slandering me! Help!"
Others exchanged glances but didn't step forward.
Over these days, Zhang Ruoshui had become their leader. Those botanists and zoologists were close to her, and although she was young, she was strong, calm, combat-capable, and heir to some financial group...
Only a fool would try to intervene now.
Zhang Ruoshui quickly wiped the flight attendant's face clean.
Underneath was a somewhat familiar face.
"...It's you? You tried to kill Qin Yue, and now you've come after me?"
The flight attendant's face changed dramatically, fully realizing that denial was useless, and desperately tried to break free from Zhang Ruoshui's grip.
Zhang Ruoshui punched him in the nose.
"Tie him up." Zhang Ruoshui tilted her head, threatening him the same way she had threatened Wei Zhen. "Another food reserve for us."
The flight attendant was so frightened his soul nearly left his body. "I just came to do a mission! How did it turn out like this?"
"Mission? What mission?"
But the flight attendant pressed his lips tight and wouldn't say another word.
*
"It's been half a month," Xu Ruying murmured.
Now, every breath she took felt like a knife being dragged from her throat down to her heart.
It was too painful, far too painful.
"Mr. Sheng is back!" someone shouted.
Xu Ruying ran out frantically, looking behind Sheng Yuxiao. No one...
The Amazon Basin was just too vast... When would they ever find them?
She took a breath and looked at Sheng Yuxiao's appearance again.
His clothes were torn and filthy beyond recognition; he had never looked this disheveled even when filming that rural show years ago.
The words on the tip of Xu Ruying's tongue were swallowed back.
She felt her cousin's expression looked as if he was already teetering on the edge of madness, and she shouldn't add any more fuel to the fire.
"Rest up, we'll search westward tomorrow," Sheng Yuxiao said tersely, without even the strength to spare Xu Ruying another glance.
He returned to his resting place.
Old Mr. Zhang opened the tent and walked in, his voice hoarse: "Don't kill yourself first. Tomorrow, Xun Yuan will lead a team to search westward."
The old man handed him a cup of hot water.
Sheng Yuxiao gripped the cup.
The disposable paper cup was thin, and the scalding water turned his palm red through the cup wall, but he seemed completely unaware of it.
He just lowered his head and dry-swallowed an ibuprofen with one hand, as if that could suppress the piercing pain inside.
Not knowing was such torment.
He wondered if back then, when he was injured during the show filming at Li Family Village and sent to the hospital, while his little duck was forcibly kept in the village, if she had experienced such headaches during those days when she couldn't see him.
