Three days passed in a flash. The two people, staying deep in the jungle, were in a makeshift shelter built with leaves. At this moment, the two children were covered in dirt. Since they hadn't found a river, there was no place to wash.
The humidity in the jungle was high. In the morning, there would be a lot of dew on the leaves of the plants. By collecting this dew, they didn't need to look for water sources for the time being. Usually, they ate some wild fruits from the forest to get by.
She didn't know what the situation was with the others now. Joyce thought, looking at the quiet boy beside her. For three days, she had been talking to herself, but he hadn't said a word. It seemed he really was mute.
However, following him might be the right choice. She felt very safe. She was very afraid of some of the children in that group. Those few would probably really do something like mutual killing.
"So hungry," Joyce complained, holding her cheeks with both hands. At least on the ship, she could barely manage to eat her fill. Now in this forest, she didn't dare to eat many of the fruits because she didn't know if they were poisonous. She only dared to pick some that she had seen before, but the quantity was limited. Today, she had already eaten all the fruits from that tree.
"So, what should we do now?" Joyce asked, but she didn't expect him to respond anyway.
But he made a move, taking out a pancake from his pocket that was from three days ago. Now that the temperature was high, the pancake had already gone bad and smelled a bit unpleasant.
After throwing the pancake to Joyce, he sat there quietly again, his blue eyes fixedly looking to their right.
Joyce thought, never expecting that the pancake she had given away a few days ago would return to her hands. He probably wasn't very good at expressing himself. He looked cold and indifferent, but his heart wasn't.
"We'll split it in half." Joyce didn't mind. It was good to have something to eat now. How could they allow themselves to be picky? She split the pancake in half again, and like on the ship, she stuffed it into the blond boy's hand.
Only this time, the boy opened his mouth and ate it. The taste wasn't good, but it was more filling than wild fruits.
"Let's go find something to eat this afternoon, okay?"
The boy looked up at the sky and nodded, picked up a stick and handed it to Joyce. She reached out and took it, feeling a little confused. Seeing that the other party didn't understand what he meant, the boy squatted down again and picked up a lot of dead branches and leaves, putting them into the small hut they had built.
Joyce understood now, he wanted her to pick up branches.
"Are you going to look for them alone?"
The boy didn't reply, and went into the woods alone.
"At least give me some reaction." Joyce said, still obediently picking up the scattered sticks on the ground. The temperature difference between night and day in the forest was large. The temperature dropped greatly at night, and it was very cold when sleeping. She could only curl up and hug her body to get a little warmth. Thinking about this, Joyce looked at the dilapidated side that only relied on a giant tree to block the wind.
"Let's pick up some more big leaves."
"It would be great if we had fire."
... After a long time, there was a rustling sound from the nearby grass. Joyce clenched the wooden stick in her hand, held her breath and quietly hid behind a tree to observe the situation. What came into view was that familiar blond hair. The boy was dirtier than before, with mud on his face, and his clothes and pants were too. His bare feet were cut by sharp stones, leaving streaks of blood.
Traces of blood were left on the road he walked. Joyce dropped the stick and ran to his side, reaching out to brush the leaves from the top of his head, and wiping the dirt from his face with her still relatively clean sleeves.
"How did you get like this?"
The boy opened the thing he was holding in his clothes, and Joyce took a closer look and said in surprise,
"It's potatoes! But why didn't you ask me to go with you? I can dig a little more too."
"But we can only eat them raw, there's no fire."
He put the potatoes on the ground, raised his eyes to look at the sky. The sun was hanging high, dazzling and dazzling. He reached into his pocket, and it was a piece of broken bottle bottom, which he found when digging potatoes. He had seen someone use a piece of glass to light a fire before.
Imitating the man's movements, he focused the light on the dry weeds. Time passed by, and Joyce was attracted by him, but seeing that the other party looked serious, she didn't disturb him. Soon a wisp of white smoke emerged from the grass pile, followed by a burning flame. He snapped off a branch and threw it in.
They had fire now.
"So amazing!" Joyce was so happy that she was about to jump up, looking at the boy whose eyes were illuminated by the fire. Obviously, the other party looked smaller than her, but he was more capable than her.
She couldn't wait to throw a few potatoes into the fire. Joyce squatted beside the fire. The hot temperature and the temperature of the fire made her not mind at all. Her heart and eyes were full of the potatoes inside.
Taking care of the fire, he slowly stood up. It was still the scorching sun, but he knew it was going to rain soon. His senses were sensitive, and he had already noticed the humid smell in the air. He used the leaves and wooden sticks that Joyce had picked up to reinforce the house.
A pit was dug in the middle of the house, and stones were used to surround it to introduce the fire, so that the fire would not be extinguished by the rain. More wood was needed. He had a hunch that this rain would be heavy.
On the other side, Joyce was not idle either. She stared at the boy's exposed feet, which had been worn with blisters. She had learned to weave straw sandals with her mother before, so she used some similar leaves and quietly weaved them by the fire... "Okay!" Holding a pair of not-so-good-looking shoes, she came to the boy who was still picking up wood.
"Try it on and see if it fits."
Without refusing, he put on the straw sandals. They didn't fit well. Since he had been barefoot since he had memory, it was very awkward. Looking at the several cuts on the girl's hands that had been cut by the sharp grass edges, he finally nodded and accepted the kindness of this somewhat noisy person.
Joyce thought she would be rejected. Seeing the boy nod obediently, she thought of her younger siblings at home. She didn't know how they were doing now, but now she couldn't even protect herself.
Suddenly, the boy looked vigilantly behind her. She turned her head to look, and it was a few boys approaching them.
The boy walking in the front immediately showed a smile when he saw the two of them, releasing an aura of goodwill.
"Don't be nervous, my name is An, I think you know me."
An had a head of brown curly hair and chestnut eyes. He looked like a well-behaved child. Joyce said to the boy in a low voice:
"I know him. He often protects the bullied children on the ship. He's probably a good person."
He still didn't relax his vigilance. Although the person in front of him was smiling and his voice was gentle, he still noticed the coldness in An's bright smile.
Seeing that Joyce knew him, An took a few steps forward, quietly looking around. Were there only these two people here? Their group hadn't been able to start a fire, but these two people had succeeded.
He originally thought it was an illusion, but he confirmed it when he clearly saw the smoke rising from the depths of the forest. He thought there would be some powerful figures, but it turned out to be two children. An thought he had concealed his contempt very well, but it had already been seen by the boy.
"Can I ask you for some kindling? We've been trying for a long time and haven't succeeded," An said helplessly, spreading his hands.
"Sure, I'll help you get it." Joyce agreed without thinking, and took a burning stick for him.
"Thank you, you've helped a lot!"
"We're at the beach, come find us if you need any help." An smiled happily and waved goodbye.
"Phew ~" Joyce let out a light breath and met the boy's questioning eyes. She blinked playfully.
"It's a good thing we didn't let them get too close, otherwise the potatoes would have been discovered ~"
"Don't think I'm stupid! You can't get too close to this kind of person who is nice to everyone."
Seeing that the boy ignored her, Joyce pouted.
Really, even if he can't speak, he should at least give some reaction.
Soon she didn't feel awkward anymore, because the baked potatoes were ready. The heat was a bit high, and the potatoes were burnt. She kept shouting that it was hot while taking big bites.
The boy quietly took the steaming potato, took small bites, and silently pushed the potato in her direction.