Charlotte tackled Calvin to the ground and began pounding his chest with her tiny fists.
"Ah! Ow, ow, ow! Cut it out, Charlotte!"
Only then did Charlotte realize Calvin was still injured.
She looked smug at first, then a flicker of guilt crossed her face.
Still, she kept her tough tone,
"Who told you to say I smell bad? You're the one who stinks. you ! Serves you right!"
She looked at Calvin and snickered.
"Oh yeah? You brat. I'm gonna beat you up today!"
...
"Today is the fourth day of the mass crossover."
"I thought after the crossover, we'd never have to go to school or work again. We'd reach the peak of life, feast on endless delicacies, and have all the time in the world for fun..."
"If it weren't for the fact that we can't even fill our stomachs, that all we have is raw meat, and that we're constantly attacked by beasts and monsters, I might've actually believed it."
Early in the morning, Calvin and Charlotte sat at the edge of their platform, exchanged a look, and sighed.
"Calvin, are we really eating raw meat for breakfast again?"
"What else can we do? We've been sitting here for two hours and not a single cloud has passed by."
Calvin yawned and glanced at Charlotte's messy hair. He casually helped smooth out her split ends.
Charlotte didn't object. Her scalp was itchy, and his help actually felt nice.
Today, Calvin duplicated the water condenser.
Now they had two, producing 2 liters of water a day—just enough to get by with strict rationing.
Still, they were always thirsty.
But what choice did they have? This was survival.
Sometimes under the blazing midday sun, their lips would crack from the heat.
With no other options, they ate raw meat again.
It wasn't like Calvin hadn't tried starting a fire with wood.
But it was too difficult. He drilled for ages, failed, and rubbed his hands raw.
According to chat messages, if you wanted cooked food,
You either had to fish it from the clouds,
Or use a furnace.
But to make a furnace, you needed a blueprint, ten pieces of stone, and an energy crystal.
The stone and crystal were doable.
But the blueprint?
Well...
It was either being sold at a ridiculous price in the marketplace,
Or already claimed and used by someone else.
After finishing her raw meat, Charlotte happily scooted up to Calvin and let out a big burp.
Calvin stared darkly at the cute yet sexy brat in front of him.
"Charlotte, tell me. Are you mentally unstable?"
"You're the one who kept mocking me! Serves you right if I disgust you!"
"Fine, I'll take that as your reward to me."
"??? Calvin, you're the one who's messed up!"
Just as Calvin was about to say something else, maybe to punish this unruly brat. Sudden announcement rang in their ears:
[Congratulations to all players for surviving three days. The Floating Island Exploration feature will now be activated.
Floating Island Exploration: All platforms will now begin moving randomly. Floating islands will appear in the sky.
Note: The following guidelines will be announced only once.]
1. Floating islands vary in size. Some are huge, some are tiny.
2. When a platform approaches a floating island, it will pause for a short time based on the island's size.
3. The larger the island, the longer the pause. The smaller the island, the shorter the pause.
4. If the platform fails to reach the island during the pause, it will be left behind forever. Staying on a floating island is not necessarily safe. Remain too long, and a great horror will appear...
5. The islands are rich in resources, but also full of countless dangers.
Good luck. Survive as long as you can.
When the number of survivors drops below 30%, a new feature will be unlocked. Stay tuned.
After the announcement ended, a trace of seriousness flashed in Calvin's eyes.
"So this is the Sky Island Expedition? I originally thought it was some kind of bonus. Now it seems like it's anything but that."
"Calvin, what should we do?"
"What else can we do? We just wait for the Sky Island to come."
"But what if we run into danger?"
"You're so fat, we could just strip your clothes off and feed them to the monsters."
"??"
Charlotte lowered her head and realized she couldn't see her toes. She grabbed her slender waist and puffed out her cheeks in frustration.
"Calvin, I'm not fat! I'm sexy, okay? Sexy! Got it?"
"You? A stubby little dwarf?"
That hit a nerve.
"Stupid scrub! If you don't like me, why do you keep staring at me?"
"…"
Calvin stayed silent.
Could it be…
She actually noticed that he occasionally sneaked glances at her?
He smiled awkwardly and lowered his head again.
At that moment, the Sky Island suddenly began to move.
Charlotte, standing near the edge, lost her balance and started falling off the cube platform.
Calvin reacted quickly and grabbed her, pulling her tightly into his arms.
Her soft scent filled the air.
For a moment, Calvin didn't want to let go of the beautiful girl in his arms. He held Charlotte tightly.
Charlotte pressed against his chest, her face flushed.
The island moved forward at a speed neither of them could judge.
But it didn't seem fast.Otherwise, they both would've fallen off the tiny platform due to inertia.
"That scared me… I almost fell…"
Charlotte pulled away from Calvin's embrace and patted her chest, still shaken.
Then, it dawned on her.
Just now, Calvin had held her for quite a while…
Didn't he say he didn't like her?
Then why…
Why didn't he let go?
Charlotte glanced at Calvin's calm face, a little stirred.
"Th-thank you, Calvin."
"No need. I just did it for myself."
Calvin shook his head.
He wasn't sure what came over him. He actually wanted to keep holding Charlotte… even had the urge to kiss her.
What was wrong with him?
Was it because of that dream?
Calvin thought to himself.
No, he couldn't let that happen.
He didn't even know if he truly liked Charlotte.
She was pretty, sure, but maybe he just found her pleasing to the eye.
Besides, they were still in survival mode…
"I must be hungry."
Calvin told himself silently.
The two sat in silence until a cloud drifted by.
It was empty so it was a fishing cloud, not a monster or beast cloud, and definitely not a Sky Island.
[Random Cloud]
They sat side by side and cast their lines into the cloud.
[Obtained: Stone ×10]
[Obtained: Food ×3]
Their luck wasn't bad.
In one try, they fished up ten stones and three Food meals.
Since they had just eaten meat, they weren't too hungry.
They decided to share one Food and save the other two for lunchtime.
"Calvin, you go ahead and eat first. B-but don't drool on it, okay?"
Charlotte blushed slightly as she handed him the Food.