"Momo, are you sure you didn't see wrong?"
"Mmh."
"Could it be a female cosplayer?"
"That possibility can't be ruled out, but there's one thing I find very strange..."
"What is it?"
"Besides the clothes on her, a wooden box washed ashore with her."
"A wooden box? What kind?"
"A shoebox-sized wooden box. But Baba, the key point is the wood and lock used on that box; they look like refurbished antiques..."
Hearing this, Chuck paused in his tracks.
If it were just Hanfu, it would highly likely be a cosplay enthusiast.
But if she carried an antique wooden box with her, that wouldn't be ordinary.
Thinking of this, Chuck simply picked Momo up and quickened his pace. Before long, guided by the little one, they arrived at a sandy beach on the north side of the eastern beach.
Putting Momo down, Chuck stepped through the waves occasionally lapping the shore, finally stopping beside a rather "curvaceous" figure.
Sure enough, a woman lay on her side at the edge of the beach.
The waves lapped gently. A very retro, deep cyan long dress was completely soaked by seawater. The semi-transparent fabric clung tightly to her fair, tender skin. The neckline and sleeves featured exquisite embroidery. The skirt cascaded in layers, looking meticulously crafted. On her feet, she wore a pair of patterned cloth shoes, already somewhat dirtied by sand and seawater.
The woman's features were regular, though not stunningly beautiful—about an 8/10 level, similar to the island north women. Her jet-black long hair was completely spread out on the sand; judging by the length, it almost reached her waist. It lay soaking wet on the beach, a few stray strands sticking to her cheeks, carrying a hint of mature melancholy.
And beside her, a small pitch-black wooden box was half-buried in the sand.
A woman dressed in "ancient costume," and a wooden box.
Exactly as Momo had described.
But when Chuck's gaze involuntarily swept downwards, his pupils contracted in shock, so much so that he couldn't quite control his expression.
This woman's figure... was also exaggerated enough.
Even though he already had top-tier women like Janet and Yitong by his side, it didn't mean he was immune to massive breasts.
Especially of a caliber completely comparable to the two mature women at home.
The soaked clothes couldn't hide that pair of large, round breasts at all. Heavy and squeezed together, they swayed and heaved with the occasionally rushing waves, almost bursting completely through the soaked front lapel. Her waist was plump, her sweet ass large and round, tightly wrapped by the wet skirt, looking like a peach dropped on the beach.
It made Chuck's crotch tighten just looking at it.
However, before admiring the massive breasts, there was a more important matter worthy of Chuck's attention.
Normally, for people who drifted onto the island after a storm, besides the clothes on their backs and life jackets, mostly only close-fitting items like mobile phones could be preserved.
But this woman actually hugged a wooden box ashore?
It could be imagined that, whether it was a plane crash or a shipwreck, when she fell into the water, she probably hugged this wooden box tightly in her arms.
It took Chuck some time to finally shift his gaze from that pair of massive breasts comparable to the two mature women at home to that wooden box, and subsequently discovered more unusual details.
The wooden box was locked with a metal padlock. The material of this padlock didn't look like copper or iron, and its dull color didn't seem like silver either. It had somewhat of a patina, yet a glint of gold could still be seen. Similarly, the dark-colored wooden box body bore complex yet delicate patterns. Obviously, the wood itself was also quite precious.
Chuck took two steps forward, bent down, and picked up the wooden box from the sand. He immediately felt its solid weight, as well as fragmentary clinking sounds from inside.
A pure gold lock, a rare wooden box, cherished so deeply by a mature woman with an explosive figure and regular features. It seemed there was an answer to what was packed to the brim inside.
"...Do women from rich families these days all like hiding jewelry in small boxes like the ancients?"
Hearing Chuck's sigh, Momo raised a hand to stroke her chin. Her action was actually quite similar to his usual appearance when thinking. Her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly, and after a moment, she hesitantly spoke.
"Baba, is it possible..."
"She's actually the real deal?"
Chuck turned his head abruptly, making eye contact with Momo.
His scalp gradually went numb, the silence becoming increasingly deafening.
The waves still sounded by their ears, but this time, they carried a bit of eeriness.
...
...
The woman's body was very soft, but when inadvertently touching her, Chuck found her palms were somehow a bit rough.
That rough feeling didn't seem like it was left by doing housework, but rather farm work.
And after changing her out of that seemingly rather exquisite Hanfu robe, Yitong also brought Chuck another item that made his heart tremble once again.
"If she encountered a disaster while on a ship or a plane, it means she was traveling. And for a woman with a size... like ours, if given a choice, she definitely wouldn't wear this kind of underwear while traveling, unless..."
"Unless she really is a fanatic Hanfu enthusiast."
Looking at the red dudou (traditional Chinese undergarment) Yitong handed over, Chuck expressionlessly completed the second half of her unspoken sentence.
Even though both of them knew this was a possibility with an infinitesimally small probability.
Yitong's words basically settled a conclusion on the guess in Chuck's heart.
Even before this, Chuck had vaguely understood that the people who arrived on this island seemed to come from different times.
He just never thought that the span of this time could actually reach such an extent...
Ming Dynasty? Or Tang Dynasty?
Could it be the Han Dynasty?
Chuck handed the red dudou, soaked in seawater and still carrying a trace of body fragrance and warmth, back into Yitong's hands. His gaze turned towards the direction of the bedroom, where that plump, snowy-white body was being wiped clean of water stains with warm towels by the Lee sisters.
Although she had calluses on her hands, she wore silk and satin, and held a clearly valuable wooden box in her arms. This woman's identity was certainly arousing curiosity.
Thinking of this, Chuck turned his head and looked at the five people before him: the Gu family mother and daughter, Jiang Qi, He Xiaoyu, and Wang Xinrui.
"Her clothes, this wooden box, is there any more information we can glean?"
The five women before him, plus Chuck himself, were all the Chinese currently in the house. To figure out the background of this mysterious woman, besides waiting for her to wake up and attempting to communicate, they could only brainstorm.
Unfortunately, to his question, the women could only look at each other in dismay, eventually shaking their heads in shame.
As modern people, the women had all received nine years of compulsory education and watched period costume TV dramas. But regarding the folk culture, and the clothing of commoners and nobles across various dynasties—history textbooks didn't explain them, and those idols wearing ancient costumes on screen wouldn't explain them either. Naturally, everyone had no way of knowing.
"Perhaps we should open this wooden box?"
Jiang Qi came to the dining table, trying to pick up the box. But the unexpected weight made her attempt fail. She couldn't help but pat the box somewhat frustratedly.
Chuck shook his head, indicating a pass.
Even though the wooden box was locked, with Chuck's ability, he could naturally violently dismantle the lock at will. But to open a wooden box cherished as a treasure by its owner without permission while they were unconscious was undoubtedly an act that would make the already unfamiliar parties completely lose trust.
So in the end, they could only wait until the person involved woke up to talk about it.
Chuck glanced inside the room again, turned to look at Valentina who was leaning against the corner with her arms crossed, and nodded to her.
If it really was as Chuck expected, that this woman came from ancient times, then Chuck also had to consider the possibility of a parallel world. Chinese culture is extensive and profound; there's no guarantee she doesn't actually know some martial arts.
But no matter how good the kung fu, it fears the broadsword. As the only sword-bearing guard by Chuck's side, while he was busy with his planned projects, the task of guarding this only stranger in the house naturally fell to none other than Valentina.
But facts proved that setting aside Chuck's guess for now, his worries were indeed a bit far-fetched.
When Chuck cleaned the mud accumulated in the groove from the last storm and, picking up from previous progress, began to continue laying the second phase of the pipeline, his phone in his pocket vibrated with a call.
"Hello?"
"She's awake, Chuck. This woman doesn't know kung fu, just an ordinary woman, but she seems a bit uncalm. You better come back quickly."
Valentina's voice was very calm, but the faint clamor from the other end of the receiver also confirmed her words.
Seems like a difficult one to deal with.
"Got it, I'll be right there."
Chuck put away his phone, tossed the shovel in his hand directly to the side, directly opened the workbench light screen, found the recall skill page, and began triggering the skill.
All along, although the people who landed on this deserted island came from different nationalities and seemed to come from different points in time, at least everyone was a modern person, and some basic concepts were roughly the same, nothing more than differences in nationality and culture. Even a portion of the models of the several mobile phones currently in the house overlapped.
Why, arriving at today, did such a massive span and change suddenly appear?
This time it's a woman in ancient Hanfu costume. Then next time, is it possible a cyber girl with cybernetic enhancements will appear? Or a nun from the Western Middle Ages, or even a cave girl from the Stone Age?
Considering the time points of the survivors appearing before and after the change occurred, the only thing Chuck could associate it with, was solely his previous "death" and the "second chance" he was granted.
Not only had the island's weather deterioration accelerated, but in some aspects he couldn't know, some changes had probably also occurred.
After all, if the one picking survivors from the same era one by one onto this deserted island is an existence with mysterious power, and this existence has become weak for some reason, resulting in the inability to locate accurately as before, and even forcing the time interval between new survivors appearing to be prolonged...
Everything seems to have an answer.
Of course, this was merely Chuck's guess, but a truth Chuck always believed in was: when everything matches up, rather than questioning, it's better to try believing first.
"Where is she?"
"Still in the room."
Not even half a minute after hanging up the phone, Chuck appeared outside the door. Valentina, however, didn't show a surprised expression—she had long been accustomed to these incomprehensible aspects of Chuck. So she casually pointed towards the bedroom and walked out of the residence on her own.
She didn't like noisy environments.
The bedroom door was wide open, but that fair, plump figure couldn't be seen on the bed. But Chuck's powerful perception could capture that behind the bedroom's wooden door, there was an unfamiliar, rapid, and nervous breathing sound.
Chuck didn't enter rashly, but walked slowly outside the house, raised his hand and knocked gently on the doorframe, speaking slowly in a calm and polite tone.
"My name is Chuck, I am the head of this household. We mean you no harm, we just saw you fainted by the sea and saved you out of good intentions. If you don't trust us, you can leave on your own, no one will stop you."
It wasn't until his words fell that the nervous breathing sound inside the room finally gradually calmed down a bit. After another long silence, a response finally sounded.
"Sir... have you ever seen my Yaoguang Society's merchant ship?"