Chapter 848: There Is an Island

Perspective shift.

The sea surface changed color in an instant.

One second it was that thick, milky, eerie sea, the next it was replaced by an endless expanse of clear blue.

Sunlight poured straight down from overhead, smashing onto the waves and shattering into countless golden‑white glints.

Heimu stood at the head of the Big Yellow Duck, her ash‑white long hair suddenly lifted by the warming sea breeze, trailing behind her like a fluttering flag.

The brim of the Witch Hat flipped up at one corner, the black satin of the off‑shoulder Lolita dress clinging to the outer thigh, pressed by the wind into a few fine folds.

She held the hat with one hand, extended the other forward, fingers splayed, palm facing the sea breeze, the wind control just right, carving a straight white streak through the waves as the inflated Big Yellow Duck sliced forward.

"Space shift."

She whispered a line, her dark‑purple eyes scanning the surroundings.

The sky's hue, the sea's texture, the salty scent in the wind, even the distant white‑winged gulls gliding over the water—each detail was dissected by her perception.

All of it was data simulation, yet rendered with extreme precision: the gulls' wing feathers appeared semi‑transparent against the backlight, the spray of foam lingered in the air for a physically accurate duration, even the warmth of sunlight on the nape felt genuine.

"The simulation's pretty meticulous."

Heimu's mouth twitched into a faint smile, and she mentally rated the new scene: the scenery was nice, the lighting parameters comfortable, but she wasn't sure whether it was some corner of Past World Paradise or Aha had whimsically slipped a vacation DLC into the Letu data.

Given Aha's taste—who uses the "dim green corridor lighting" as the default skin—this blue‑sky, turquoise‑sea view was probably the first thing today that didn't make her want to roll her eyes.

A gull swooped over the Big Yellow Duck, calling twice, its hoarse cry sounding as if it had pulled an all‑night binge of three jin of wine.

"Even the birds are simulated this realistically."

Heimu glanced toward that gull, her expression subtly contorting.

Behind her, at the middle of the Big Yellow Duck, Ge Lei Xiu rose onto her tiptoes, gazing into the distance.

Her ice‑blue hair, cut to the shoulders, floated gently in the sea breeze; the golden hairpin between strands quivered, refracting sunlight into several fine Golden Threads.

The white off‑shoulder uniform clung to the girl's slender upper body, revealing the pale skin beneath.

A Light Sword hung at her waist.

Both legs were tightly bound in white silk, knees together and slightly turned outward, standing steadily on the inflated curve of the duck; the rubber's bounce and the wave's undulation made her body sway gently, yet she never reached out to hold anything.

"Um—"

Ge Lei Xiu lifted her right hand, pointing into the distance; her voice steady, matching her unhurried rhythm, drifting on the wind to Heimu's ear.

"Seems there's an island."

Heimu followed the direction of Ge Lei Xiu's finger.

At the horizon where sky met sea, a swath of emerald green indeed floated.

As the Big Yellow Duck cut through the waves forward, the green patch expanded, gradually revealing the golden‑white curve of the beach, the deep‑green canopy of coconut palms, and the outline of a small wooden pavilion.

"It's an island."

Ying rose from the middle of the duck.

Her pink, medium‑short hair was blown back by the wind; her gray‑purple eyes lingered on that direction briefly, then swiftly scanned the surrounding sea, and even though the sea was calm and sunny, her right hand remained on the handle of the Foot‑long dagger.

"There seems to be something up there."

"Something's moving under the pavilion."

At the duck's tail, Kesi Mo sat upright with a straight back, the shoulder plates of his Kamen Rider‑style armor jutting high, reflecting a cold‑blue metallic sheen in the sunlight.

Warm orange geometric patterns on his helmet's visor shifted light and dark with his breathing, while an ice‑blue semi‑transparent energy cape drifted lightly behind him.

His voice emerged through the visor, carrying a faint electronic echo.

"Shall we go around?"

Ying gave no answer, merely tilting her chin slightly, silently handing the decision to Heimu, who stood at the duck's head.

Heimu withdrew her wind‑controlling hand, pressed her fingertips together before her brows to outline the pavilion, squinting as she examined the island closely.

In the pavilion's shadow, something white indeed moved, its motions large, as if rummaging for something or tidying up.

The distance was still too great; the details were indistinct.

"No need to go around. Go straight up."

Heimu lowered her hand, extended forward again, palm aimed at the sea.

The current beneath the Big Yellow Duck surged abruptly, propelling the whole duck at a sprint speed mismatched to its size, its beak churning water spray that spurted high, drawing a tiny rainbow in the sunlight.

Ge Lei Xiu was thrown backward by the sudden acceleration, her left hand instinctively reaching for Ying's sleeve, while her right hand held the Light Sword at her waist steady.

Ying stood rooted, merely bending her knees slightly to cancel the acceleration's inertia, then extended a hand two inches above Ge Lei Xiu's shoulder, waiting until she steadied before withdrawing it.

Kesi Mo's rear was jolted, his butt lifting two centimeters off the ground before settling, the armor striking the inflated rubber with a muffled thud. An electronic tone drifted softly from beneath his visor.

"... Could you give a heads‑up before the next acceleration?"

"Hmm~ No."

Heimu didn't turn her head, her tone utterly unapologetic.

"If I warn you beforehand, there's no thrill. The essence of high‑speed sailing lies in the unexpected thrust!"

Kesi Mo fell silent for a moment, then managed only two words.

"... Fine then."

In acceleration, the Big Yellow Duck covered the final stretch of sea in under twenty seconds, its underside grinding over shallow coral sand, producing a rustling sound.

When the duck halted at the beach's edge, it was roughly thirty steps from the island's pavilion.

The beach sand was dazzlingly white, warmed by a dry layer of sunlight.

A few brown palm trees leaned crookedly beside the pavilion, trunks rough, leaf edges faintly yellowed.

Under the pavilion lay a canvas lounge chair, its armrest bearing a woven basket with a split‑open coconut slanted inside.

On the sand beside the lounge chair stood a small pink‑white striped parasol, its canopy flapping loudly in the sea breeze.

And in front of the pavilion stood a person.

To be precise, it's a woman.

A woman bending over, trying to stuff something into a woven basket.

Her movement freezes in the bent‑over pose, left hand gripping a corner of a bath towel, right hand holding a rolled‑up, frayed magazine; she stands as if someone hit the pause button, fixed at the edge of the shade of the cool shed.

Heimu was the first to jump down from the Big Yellow Duck, the soles of their boots sinking two inches into the sand.

After steadying herself, she looked up to size up the frozen figure before her, and then—

Her expression management suffered a momentary Honkai.