Outside, the wind and rain raged together, but the firelight from the fireplace inside the house remained as warm as ever.
The women simply couldn't fall asleep amidst this feeling of anxiety, so they sat around the dining table again. Each held a cup of hot tea in their hands, occasionally exchanging a few words, but mostly staying silent.
Valentina was still at the door, but like the other women, she had pulled up a chair. With her arms crossed over her chest, she sat motionless, as if on standby at all times.
"Darling..."
Julia, however, didn't sit down.
She stood alone by the window, feeling the chill seeping into the house from the storm outside, her mood growing increasingly heavy.
While they were in the house Chuck built with his own hands, leaning against the fireplace Chuck constructed, spending another storm comfortably and safely on this deserted island... Chuck himself was alone in the bone-piercing wind and rain, facing unknown risks all by himself...
"Sister, it's cold, drink some of this to warm your body."
Just then, Momo's figure suddenly appeared beside her, handing a still-steaming cup of tea into her hands.
Seeing this, Julia smiled helplessly, then took the glass. With one arm gently wrapped around Momo's petite, slender shoulders, she affectionately rubbed against her soft hair. Then she glanced at the tea in the cup and asked with a smile, looking down.
"Your mom didn't squeeze any milk in here, did she? I don't really want to drink Sister Yitong's body fluids right now."
"No, but it's very delicious if you add a little. Do you want me to ask Mommy?"
"No need, thank you so much."
Julia rolled her eyes at the little one in annoyance, then sighed softly as if with emotion.
A conversation like this, if placed in their former world, how shocking would it be?
But now, all the women in the house, including herself, had been able to accept it calmly.
Surviving on the deserted island until now, they had long since completely broken free from secular common sense and morals, and adapted to their current life. And all this was because of Chuck's existence. Without him, these beautiful women might have lost their lives on this cruel deserted island long ago.
As the person who had followed by Chuck's side the earliest, Julia could be said to have watched Chuck walk step by step to today from the very beginning. For Chuck to have everything he has now was absolutely not an easy process.
The hardships paid, the risks borne, and even the suffering endured during this period—although she was kept in the dark about many of them—from the injuries that appeared on Chuck time and time again, Julia could also see that all this was by no means as easy as he showed at home.
Surviving on a deserted island, turning fierce beasts one by one into prey, into food, this requires risking one's life...
The former Julia could watch Chuck's back as he went out time and time again, her heart only filled with admiration and adoration for him. But that was because their relationship was developing passionately and fiercely at the time. Plus, having ended up on the deserted island with nothing initially, if they didn't go all out, life and death were already unpredictable.
But in just about half a year, the mindset of this once passionate and hot mare had undergone a massive change without realizing it.
Now they had a warm home, several sisters, and lived an ordinary yet stable and happy life. Although some aspects still couldn't compare to the former modern society, there was no longer any reason to risk their lives.
So the concerns in Julia's heart grew uncontrollably more and more.
Rather than watching Chuck continue to go out hunting risking his life like this, she instead hoped her beloved man could stay safely at home, living an ordinary life like on normal days.
Perhaps, they could also consider having a baby...
Thinking of this, Julia's slightly trembling azure eyes suddenly froze, and her exquisite cheeks instantly flushed red to the roots of her ears.
Why did I suddenly think of this...
I'm only in my early twenties, not even twenty-one yet.
Having a baby or whatever, it's still a bit too early.
But once this thought appeared, it continuously circled and echoed in her mind, tangling together with her worry for Chuck, making her expression increasingly complicated and her brows furrowing tighter.
Seeming to notice the drastic change in her emotions, Momo, who was gently holding Julia's arm next to her, raised her small face and quietly looked at her profile. After a moment of silence, she suddenly spoke up.
"Sister Julia, do you know Schrödinger?"
"...Schrödinger's cat? Little baby, why are we suddenly talking about quantum mechanics?"
Julia raised her hand and gently tidied the soft, fine hair by Momo's small ear. The latter blinked, withdrew her gaze, gently rested her cheek on Julia's shoulder, and slowly narrowed her eyes.
"A cat and a bottle of poison stay in a box. It might take the poison and die, or it might not. But before the box is opened again, this cat is in a superposition state of life and death."
When Momo spoke, although her voice was calm, it obviously carried a hint of trembling. It seemed she was suppressing the same worry and panic in her heart as Julia.
Julia let out a long breath.
Although these words seemed a bit untimely, she knew Momo was comforting her emotions, and could also understand the meaning she wanted to express—
Until Chuck comes back, worrying with a wild imagination is useless.
They can only hold onto their trust in him, their longing for him, imagining his heroic appearance returning in triumph in their minds.
Although it's metaphysical, although it's unreasonable, unfortunately, this is the only thing they can do right now.
...
Thud!
A muffled sound, perhaps accompanied by a crisp bone fracture. Chuck's vision instantly went dark, a buzzing sound instantly rang in his ears, and his whole person fell straight to the ground.
[Detected host skull fracture, cervical vertebra fracture, severe damage to the right eyeball. The injuries are nearly fatal!]
[Exclusive Bonus Passive Effect: Hard on the Outside, Soft on the Inside temporarily invalid]
[Exclusive Bonus Passive Skill: Soft on the Outside, Hard on the Inside triggered!]
[Passive Skill - Soft on the Outside, Hard on the Inside triggered successfully. Due to the injuries being too severe this time, only partial damage to the host's eyeball and bones has been recovered. Injury recovery extent: 37%, Stamina consumption: 99.99%]
As the injuries were instantly reduced, stamina was instantly drained. Chuck lay on the ground. Before losing consciousness, his blurred vision from his left eye only saw the opponent's cold scales, bloody vertical pupils, and that bloody maw pierced by his short knife slowly approaching...
Only one thought had time to surface in his mind.
—If this is the end, it's still a bit too hasty.
...
...
Wait.
Hold on?
You've made it this far, how could you fall in a place like this?
It's clearly a stormy day, and you just climbed up like this?
Why do you always have to take these crooked, unorthodox paths?
Isn't it better to be down-to-earth and take it step by step?
Sigh...
Anyway, let me take a look first.
Oh...
It really is big.
Although it's been enhanced, the foundation is indeed outstanding.
No wonder it made those women turn into that state.
Mmh...
These two underneath are quite big too.
My God...
The smell is so strong too...
It really is quite perfect.
What a pity.
You've clearly made it this far.
You clearly possess so much already, why couldn't you be a bit more cautious?
Tsk.
Whatever!
I've had about enough too.
But doing this, both you and I, will have to pay a price.
But thinking about it, this is probably...
Exactly what you want, isn't it?
If you never understand what it means to stop.
Then sprint to the finish line in one breath!
...
[Prompt: Detected that you have become companions with someone of the opposite sex. Detecting...]
[Name: ???]
[Age: ??]
[Various Conditions: ?]
[Comprehensive Evaluation: ?]
[Current Trust Level: (???)]
[Congratulations! Your companion: ??? 's trust level towards you has successfully reached max value! Workbench Exclusive Bonus Unlocked!]
[Workbench Exclusive Bonus — A Chance to Start Over]
[Bonus Effect: Temporarily freezes the death ending that has already occurred for the host, granting an extra chance to start over. However, this state can only last for 100 days. Please explore and complete the host's final mission within this final time to converge and eliminate the frozen death ending, and the island's severe weather will completely return to normal. But if the mission is not achieved when the duration ends, the host will collapse back to the original death ending, and the entire island will completely sink within 24 hours]
Splash, splash, splash, splash—
"Mmh?"
The sound of the howling storm assaulted his ears again. Chuck stood in a daze for a long time, finally raising his head abruptly.
He saw that in front of him, there was no terrifying giant crocodile slowly approaching him, but a cold, damp black stone wall, towering upwards, standing cold and cruel amidst the rain curtain.
It was exactly that stone wall he had just climbed up a few minutes ago.
A large light screen emerged before his eyes, rows of text making Chuck completely stunned in place.
...A chance to start over?
Looking at the final description of this bonus, Chuck gradually extracted a lot of information from it, each one making him tremble all over, horrified in his heart.
He raised his hand and touched his right eye, which still retained a slight phantom pain.
If his thoughts were correct, just now, he had probably really died once.
Actually, he vaguely remembered that after "dying", in a hazy state, he seemed to hear an unfamiliar and light voice complaining constantly in his ear.
And that voice even seemed to be a woman...
Combined with this suddenly unlocked exclusive bonus in front of him, and that series of question marks...
This deserted island really was related to the cheat on him.
This existence represented by the question marks saved his life, letting him return to before death...
No.
Thinking of this, Chuck's expression suddenly stagnated.
According to the description on this light screen, the reason he was still alive now was not going back in time or some parallel world...
In that previous "ending", he was indeed dead, and this existence seemed to have used some method to add an "extra chance" for him.
In this chance, he didn't climb the rock wall in front of him a few minutes ago, but stood blankly in place like an idiot until now. Naturally, he didn't kill that giant bird, nor was he killed by the giant crocodile that came after.
Two outcomes existing simultaneously, only one is "frozen", and the other can only last for a limited time.
100 days.
If he could complete the so-called "final mission" in the description within these final 100 days, then everyone is happy. But if not, he would probably be dead for good.
He roughly understood.
As he finally clarified the current situation, the astonishment on Chuck's face also gradually disappeared along with the light screen in front of him. Immediately after, in the corner of the workbench cheat, a glaring bright red countdown slowly emerged.
99:23:59:12
"Final mission..."
Although Chuck couldn't determine for the time being what this so-called "final mission" was, since he was revived, it meant that over this past period of time, all his actions were in the correct direction.
Therefore, Chuck's next plan was also very simple—continue what he was doing before.
Build a home on the island, let the women around him live stable lives, while occupying all areas on the island and defeating all BOSSes.
The tiger, the giant bird, the brown bear, the giant crocodile, and that thing beneath the deep sea area beyond the southern beach.
Five lord-class BOSSes, corresponding to the five grooves on the stone platform in the cave, and that tightly closed stone door. That is probably the path leading to the so-called "final mission", or rather, opening it itself is this "final mission".
One hundred days, no more, no less, he must race against time.
And right now is exactly the time to race against time.
Chuck looked up at this towering stone wall in front of him. After only hesitating for a moment, he bent down again and took off his shoes and socks.
Braving the howling storm once again, he began to climb.
And at the exact same time, that red countdown that had just emerged in the workbench trembled blurrily for an instant with an extremely small amplitude. After briefly turning into a string of question marks and exclamation marks...
It returned to normal again.
...
Actually, it wasn't that Chuck didn't cherish his life, being foolish enough to go throw his life away again knowing that there was a fierce giant crocodile besides the giant bird on the summit, having already fallen for it once.
It was entirely because of objective reasons.
—Although dangerous, if he knew of the giant crocodile's existence in advance, it wouldn't be difficult to deal with.
After all, Chuck's target for this trip was originally only that giant bird anyway.
So in the following time, Chuck repeated his old trick, taking basically the same actions as his "previous life", only speeding up his pace as much as possible.
Whipping out the ballista, firing two consecutive close-range shots, repeating his old trick to successfully hunt the giant bird. After that, this time Chuck didn't go to pick the Flowers of the Other Shore, nor did he rush to process the corpse. Instead, he turned around and rushed out of the stone cave immediately.
He dashed wildly along the outer edge of the volcanic lake towards the position he had just climbed up from.
Sure enough, just as Chuck was about to reach the position where he topped out just now, a clear sound of splashing water rang out not far behind him. Chuck turned his head to look and saw that terrifying giant crocodile that made one's scalp tingle, braving the howling storm, moving its short, thick, powerful limbs, quickly approaching him.
The corners of Chuck's eyes twitched. Not daring to linger, he climbed down the stone wall along the original route as fast as he could.
A crocodile is not a gecko after all, and restricted by the rule of not being able to leave its territory without being attacked, as Chuck expected, it didn't chase after him.
Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
One death, the information gap bought with such a heavy price, if not utilized, would be too much of a waste.
Until Chuck climbed down the peak without any false alarms and stood on the hot spring platform again, looking at that glaring red countdown added to the edge of the workbench, the expression on his face wasn't frustrated at all.
Instead, it gradually became full of fighting spirit.
He wasn't tired of a life as plain as water, instead, he enjoyed it very much. But all along, this fucking deserted island and the gradually worsening weather had always made him feel like he had thorns in his back, constantly spurring him to move forward step by step.
Chuck also hoped that one day, he could live a true idyllic life, focusing on farming and building houses, and exploring various gameplays with the women in his family...
Now that it was clear, after completing the so-called "final mission", he would be able to completely eliminate the severe weather on this island in one breath.
Then there was absolutely no reason to shrink back.
This is the final 100-day sprint!
Incidentally, Chuck was also curious, if this question mark that gave him a second chance was that existence that had always been secretly observing him.
And that true face hidden beneath the prompt text...