Chapter 414: Have You Heard the Story of the Three Little Pigs?

"No one?"

The rain kept falling, and the atmosphere was very uneasy.

Lao Mao bent over and glanced at the Group One shelter, which was empty inside.

They rushed here, and the shelters of Groups Three and Two had been battered by the typhoon into wreckage, while only Group One's remained somewhat intact.

I originally thought people would be here, but didn't expect it to be a dead end?

He turned his head and looked at Bai Yuan, who was standing at the windward spot with his back against a wooden stake, and asked, "If not here, where could they be?"

Bai Yuan didn't respond, but waved at him, prompting Lao Mao to mimic him and move to the side to brace a wooden stake.

"What does that mean?"

"You come over and stand."

Lao Mao rolled his eyes, but still obeyed the order.

When he stood to the side, Bai Yuan suddenly wrapped his arm around him.

The sudden move frightened Lao Mao, who quickly withdrew his hand and stared at him with a terrified face.

"What are you doing?!"

"I'll let you experience it."

"Experience what?"

"Human wall."

Bai Yuan patted the neatly arranged wooden stakes behind him, as well as the shallow and deep footprints on the ground, and said, "One person, one or two stakes, plus all these footprints—what does that suggest?"

Lao Mao lowered his head skeptically and asked, "Are they using their bodies to block the wind?"

"Yes!"

Bai Yuan pointed at the nearby shelter and said, "To be precise, they're shielding the wounded inside from wind and rain!"

Lao Mao seemed to have a picture in his mind, yet still couldn't understand: "Then where are the people now? Are there any other places on the island that can shelter from wind and rain?"

"There are!"

Following behind Bai Yuan through a narrow, hazardous terrain, a faint light appeared ahead.

But he didn't go further; instead, he stopped behind a protruding rock.

"Here, there's actually a stone cave?"

Lao Mao wasn't aware the island had such a place, and looked very surprised.

Bai Yuan gave no explanation; the two of them stuck their heads out together and looked into the stone cave.

Inside, a fire pit burned, and a group of people lay haphazardly beside it, with Jiang Dahai among them.

As for the two who were previously on the brink of death...

The one with a fever was listlessly holding a cigarette, propping his head with one hand, half asleep, half awake; he resembled the old chain‑smoker who used to lie in bed puffing away.

The one with food poisoning clutched a cracked bowl, shoveling food into his mouth with a clatter, and a faint instant‑noodle seasoning scent drifted from afar.

"That kick, shouldn't you give it back?"

"......"

Bai Yuan's words left him unable to open his mouth.

They say caring causes chaos, caring causes chaos.

Earlier he was also anxious, fearing the teammates might get into trouble.

So in a fit of rage he lost his reason and kicked Bai Yuan.

Who knew that just two hours later, not only had they found a place to shelter from wind and rain, but also lit a fire, with hot food to eat and smoke to inhale.

Wait, where did the smoke come from......??

Bai Yuan: "Have you heard the story of the Three Little Pigs?"

Lao Mao: "What does that mean?"

The eldest pig built a thatched house, the second pig built a wooden house, and only the third pig diligently built a brick house, successfully keeping the big bad wolf outside.

"So, who discovered this stone cave first? I didn't even know such a place existed."

"Who discovered it first doesn't matter; what's important is that the discoverer voluntarily shared the find, helping others fend off the raging storm and giving them a place to take shelter."

Bai Yuan lifted his chin toward that side and said, "Just by looking like this, can you tell which group is which?"

Lao Mao looked toward the fire pit and suddenly noticed that the boundary line between the groups seemed to have vanished.

One group rested their heads on the thighs of the second group, the second group's members hugged Jiang Dahai from the third group by the arms, and Jiang Dahai pressed his head against a member of the first group.

Although an outsider might read nothing into it, the Lao Mao who had witnessed their selection and elimination all along understood exactly what this harmonious scene signified.

It meant they were no longer in a purely competitive relationship; subconsciously, they had begun to merge.

"How did this happen, when during the day we thought it was a resource issue, keeping each other at bay, competing in training?"

"A catalyst."

Bai Yuan looked beyond the phenomenon to the essence: "I used to think that making them suffer together would accelerate cultivation, but now I realize this still needs a catalyst."

He gazed at the still raging wind and rain outside: "This typhoon arrived just in time; someone in Team Three fell ill, forcing Jiang Dahai to seek help from the other groups, breaking the previous balance."

A comrade's illness made them gradually realize that everyone is a whole; they were never in competition, but in cooperation.

On this resource‑limited island, cooperating and sharing resources is far better than each clinging to a small spot, waiting for someone to falter and be eliminated.

Yes, each small group waits for another group to be eliminated, and even within some groups, there are cases of finding supplies and secretly hoarding them.

This island magnifies human selfishness and calculation; although on the surface it appears harmonious, privately everyone hopes to get a bigger bite and be the last one standing.

But that doesn't mean you're right; what we see now only represents this current point.

Perhaps, when tomorrow the rain clears and it returns to its original state, it might happen again?

"No way." Bai Yuan shook his head: "Enlightenment is a momentary thing; once they grasp this truth, it's hard to revert to that narrow mindset; moreover..."

"And what else?" Lao Mao looked at him.

Moreover, a leader appeared in the team, bringing them together.

A leader?

Lao Mao widened his eyes and looked over there.

But after searching for half a day, they still couldn't find the person with leadership qualities.

"How did I not notice?"

"The person isn't here."

"Not here?"

Lao Mao quickly counted and found that, including the two sick people, there were exactly eleven people in the cave.

"The number is fine, right?"

"Are you sure?"

Looking at Bai Yuan's half-smile, Lao Mao's head went boom and exploded.

"You mean, Lu Yang is that leader?"

"Otherwise, where do you think the instant noodles and cigarettes came from?"

"This is impossible!"

Lao Mao stepped back half a step, almost slipping, but Bai Yuan timely grabbed him: "This is unreasonable!"

Bai Yuan: "There's nothing reasonable or unreasonable about it; if you don't believe me, we can go confront him; but if you lose, you'll have to stick your butt out for me to kick."

"Damn, with everyone subverting superiors, do I still have any authority as a squad leader?"

Lao Mao: "......"

They wandered around the vicinity but still couldn't find where Lu Yang was.

This left the two of them puzzled, wondering why the person involved had disappeared.

Just as they were about to give up, prepare to return to the cave, wake the person and ask about the situation, they happened to see a figure appear at the cliff's edge, then quickly disappear.

Bai Yuan and Lao Mao hurried forward, bent down to look below; first they saw black waves crashing against the reef, throwing up spray several meters high.

The spray fell from the air, and a figure clinging to the rock wall gradually became visible.

That was a bare-chested guy with a safety rope tied around his waist, struggling to climb.

The moment Lao Mao recognized the person as Lu Yang, it felt like a thunderbolt struck his mind: "He's crazy, in this situation he still dares to climb rocks, does he have a death wish?"

Bai Yuan crouched on the ground, lowering his head to watch the tenacious figure forging ahead in the rapids below, his eyes showing admiration: "This is what they call 'the higher the skill, the bolder the person'! Earlier when he introduced himself, how did he put it? 'Lu' as in land, 'Yang' as in lead sheep."