Chapter 3 An Accident? A Conspiracy?

• Staring at Suzy’s beautiful back, Lewis felt slightly foolish.
• “One, two, three! Turn around and run…” he muttered faintly.
• Just as he predicted, he counted to three, then she turned around instantly and ran back toward him. She plunged headfirst into his arms and hugged him with a death grip, disregarding all else.
• “S-S-Sharks! Lewis! There are sharks!” she said in a panic, pointing at the sea.
• “Those aren’t sharks,” he replied, shaking his head.
• “Phew! That scared me to death! I thought they were sharks!” Suzy patted her chest anxiously. However, she failed to notice that he was staring at her.
• “Those aren’t sharks. To be precise, they’re probably tiger sharks. And, a school of tiger sharks at that!”
• The words he said instantaneously made her face turn pale, and the hand patting her chest froze. Tiger sharks?! That’s one of the most vicious monsters of the sea! Moreover, it wasn’t just one tiger shark swimming around. As far as her eyes could see, the entire coast was teeming with tiger sharks. It’s a whole school of them!
• This was also one of the reasons why Lewis was sure that this place was an uninhabited island. In the marine chart he saw, there was no island marked with a school of tiger sharks surrounding it.
• “Then… does that mean that we no longer have any possibility of returning anymore?” Suzy asked fearfully, looking at him blankly.
• “It’s not that there is no possibility of returning, it’s just that it just got slimmer; that’s all. These tiger sharks must have gathered here for some reason. Seeing as we were washed ashore, that would mean that these tiger sharks weren’t here then! So, if we want to leave, we need to wait for the next time a special circumstance like that occurs. Only then can we leave this place! Besides, when these tiger sharks leave this place, it would mean that those circumstances have recurred!” Lewis solemnly replied while looking at the tiger sharks in front of them. He was not lying to her—right now, this was the only way of leaving this island that he could think of.
• “Although this method works, we need to survive until the next time that special circumstance occurs! Right now, we have no clue what kind of dangers are lurking on this island!” He glanced at the dense forest with a grave expression. There is no way to know what dangers are hiding in a forest like that. There could be vicious animals, wild cannibals, and so on… Everything could turn out to be a deadly killer.
• “It doesn’t look like you are a bad person, seeing as you analyze everything logically. So, why were you involved in tax fraud and tax evasion? If it wasn’t because Scott Gardner decisively cut his losses and investigated that problematic project, then handed the results over to the relevant authorities, I’m afraid your company would be in endless hot water by now!” Suzy was no longer embarrassed as she said this to him.
• I want to be shy too! But, there’s no point in being shy. If he really wanted to do something to me, I can’t fight back anyway.
• “Do you really believe that I was involved in tax fraud and tax evasion?” Lewis asked with a chilly smile.
• “Scott deliberately falsified the accounts himself because he wanted to take over my company! After doing that, he reported me to the authorities. Then, he made me sign over the control of my company to him, saying that he would investigate the incident! When the investigation results came out, he took the initiative to hand the documents over to the relevant authorities and even paid back the taxes in arrears, proving my innocence! However, during the time I was being investigated, Scott Gardner and Lucy Smith—one held control over my company and the other was my fiancée—had quickly changed everything in the company! By the time I was released, all relations between the company and me had been cleanly cut off! In the first place, I boarded the Dreamliner to commit suicide by jumping overboard! However, I never expected to see Scott and Lucy on the cruise ship as well! They were deliberately putting their hands all over each other right in front of me every single day and I didn’t even get the chance to die! Then, I thought that when the cruise ship went down, I’d die with it. In the end… the Gods played a prank on me again! I survived! On the contrary, looking at this place now, I don’t feel like dying anymore! Three-Life Company claimed that its cruise ship could withstand hurricanes up to category ten. It was approved through the rigorous testing of the relevant authorities! It’s an indisputable fact! But, even with all that… the Dreamliner sank after being caught in a storm! Was someone deliberately waiting for this unnatural storm? Or, were we really caught in an unlucky circumstance when we encountered that storm?” Lewis glanced at the forest not too far away and finished his rant gravely.
• “Ugh…” Suzy fell silent after listening to him. If this a deliberately manipulated shipwreck, that meant that somebody knew how to get off the island. Then, she excitedly exclaimed, “Lewis, let’s go! Let’s see if we can find any other survivors!”
• “Are you dumb? My arm was broken by you! What if we meet a vicious beast along the way?! What’s more, searching for others while looking like that…” he said while looking her up and down.
• “Don’t look!” she roared in anger.
• “If you don’t want me to look, then cover yourself up! If you don’t cover yourself up, yet stand before me, how am I supposed to not look?!” he joked.
• “You… Hmph. If I could, I’d have thrown you to the tiger—” she said as she turned around and pointed at the tiger sharks in the distance. However, she froze in place before she could finish her sentence.
• “Lewis! Look! What is that in the sea?” she excitedly yelled. Thus, he glanced toward the sea and frowned slightly. Several luggage bags and storage boxes were floating in the sea.
• “Wait for a while; it will wash ashore by itself,” he said lightly. Half an hour later, the items washed ashore just as he had predicted. The items consisted of three luggage bags and a storage box.
• After struggling to drag the items onto the beach, Lewis was exhausted. The luggage bags were locked by combination locks, so they could not open them without the passcode. Meanwhile, the storage box was used to store supplies on the cruise ship. Inside the storage box were a crowbar, an ax, and a dagger. Then, he found a wooden stick and got the crowbar out of a small gap in the storage box. Subsequently, he used the crowbar to pry open the storage box.
• In addition to two boxes of self-heating instant noodles, there was fishing equipment as well as a medical kit. When he saw the instant noodles, he ignored the other stuff and hurriedly opened one of them. Then, he walked over to the sea, scooped some water into it, and waited for it to heat up by itself. At the same time, he prepared another portion for Suzy.
• Ten minutes later, they each finished off a box of instant noodles. After resting for a few more minutes and getting some strength back, he used the ax and the crowbar together to wrestle open the three luggage bags. Two of them were filled with female clothing. When Suzy saw that, she was filled with joy. Then, she hurriedly took out some undergarments and put them on right in front of Lewis. She even looked over at him in delight.
• Rustle, rustle… At that moment, he heard a different type of sound coming from deep within the forest. He wasn’t the only one—Suzy heard it too.
• “Stop looking around. Hurry up and put on some clothes and shoes. We need to run!” Lewis stared at the swaying shadows within the forest with a terrible expression.