"Hey!"
Having her foot suddenly grabbed by Chuck, Julia was first startled. She instinctively tried to pull her leg back but was held firmly by Chuck.
He gently rotated the foot, feeling a surge of pleasant surprise.
The sensation in his hand was unexpectedly comfortable.
The top of her foot was cool and slick, while the sole was soft and warm, with a slightly rough texture that wasn't coarse at all, but more like fine silk.
What an exquisite foot.
So, his hand began to rub and knead it, completely unrestrained, like a professional masseur.
Julia tried to pull away a few times, found it futile, and eventually gave up.
But she didn't anticipate that his kneading technique would become increasingly provocative…
His fingertips delicately traced her heel, gently swept across the arch, pressed between her toes, rubbed her sole, and then flirtatiously scraped the top of her foot.
Every movement sent a ticklish sensation through Julia, like small electric currents repeatedly traveling up her foot to her back.
"Mm…"
She bit her lower lip, a faint whimper escaping her nose. Her pale, delicate toes instinctively curled, and her body involuntarily trembled slightly.
Her legs began rubbing together subconsciously, and the look in her eyes as she gazed at Chuck became decidedly ambiguous.
As her breathing grew heavier, she suddenly spoke.
"Chuck, are you into feet?"
Hearing such a direct question, Chuck was first startled, then chuckled. He neither confirmed nor denied it.
"I'm into a lot of things. It depends on what I'm looking at right now."
"Mmm—"
The foreign woman responded with a nasal sound, staring at Chuck with her blue eyes for a moment longer, before making another astonishing statement.
"So… you want to fuck me?"
At that question, even someone as composed as Chuck was momentarily dumbstruck.
The feeling was similar to a meme he once saw online—a highly educated man wrote an elaborate, sophisticated love letter filled with jargon, only for the recipient to reply:
I ain't educated. Are you trying to sleep with me?
Oh my god.
Chuck's mind momentarily short-circuited.
To be honest, yes, he was.
But just as he was about to nod in affirmation, the foreign woman seized the moment he was stunned, violently pulled her long leg back, and then subtly distanced herself from Chuck.
"Chuck, I told you before, I'm not an easy woman."
The exquisite foot disappeared from his grasp, and a wave of disappointment washed over Chuck.
But then Julia curved her lips into a teasing smile.
"But honestly, you are a good man, and at least I don't dislike you."
As Julia spoke, a provocative smile appeared on her beautiful, doll-like face. Her long legs crossed over each other, presenting a tempting sight.
"So maybe, one day in the future, I might let you fuck."
God damn it…
Hearing such explicit language and looking at the captivating beauty before him, Chuck almost couldn't stop himself from pouncing on the sassy foreign woman and ravaging her right then and there.
But she was his companion in this predicament, and a goal linked to his System.
So, he could only sigh softly, sit cross-legged, and continue to brazenly admire the foreign woman's long legs with his eyes.
"When you talk like that, it's hard for me to tell if you're being reserved or outright liberal."
"What's the difference?"
Julia laughed softly at his comment. "Life is about anticipating all possibilities. That's the fun of being alive, isn't it?"
Chuck was slightly taken aback by her perspective, then smiled and nodded.
"Hmm, you're right."
Late at night, Chuck added more wood to the fire. He and Julia agreed to take turns tending the fire overnight, then each laid out palm leaves on one side of the cave, used their life vests as pillows, and gradually fell asleep in the narrow space.
The night was uneventful.
As the morning sun just peeked over the ocean, Chuck awoke from a deep sleep. He rubbed his aching temples and climbed up from the palm leaves.
He met eyes with Julia, who was already sitting cross-legged nearby, staring blankly at the rising sun outside the cave.
"Good morning."
"Morning…"
The foreign woman yawned and mumbled a reply. Her golden hair was slept into a messy bird's nest, giving her a look reminiscent of a lion's mane.
Because the cave walls were extremely hard and the temperature difference between day and night was large, neither of them had slept very well.
They both went to the sea to wash their faces, then collected more firewood from the jungle perimeter. They returned to the cave, stoked the fire, and placed two bamboo tubes filled with fresh water over the flame.
Holding a tube of boiled water, Chuck stood at the cave entrance, watching the sun rise over the ocean, feeling a surge of emotion.
The last time he woke up early was in a company-paid hotel, where he opened his eyes and ordered a McDonald's panini breakfast, sipping coffee while scrolling through short videos, and then idly playing a game before boarding the plane.
And now, barely a day later…
"Hey, what's the plan for today?"
Julia's voice from behind pulled Chuck's scattered thoughts back into focus.
He turned around and glanced at the four remaining water-filled bamboo tubes in the corner of the cave. He already had a plan.
For now, food wasn't an immediate problem. The jungle was full of various tropical fruits and bananas, enough to sustain them in the short term.
The biggest issue remained water.
The climate of a tropical island meant rainfall was not a concern; there would likely be a rain shower every few days.
But the problem was whether they could survive the period between rainfalls.
With this in mind, Chuck had a rough outline of what needed to be done next.
First, they needed to continue cutting bamboo to collect more tubes, ensuring they had enough containers to hold water for the next rainfall, whenever it might come.
After that, he had to figure out how to use his System to build his own reservoir on this island!
Or perhaps even dig a water well!
Only by having a sufficiently large water storage location, capable of handling long periods without rain, would the water problem be completely solved. Only then would Chuck have the capacity to address other issues that needed improvement.
After sharing his thoughts with Julia, Chuck saw the foreign woman frown, seemingly deep in thought.
She was silent for a moment, then suddenly reached for the recently emptied bamboo tube, holding the fire-charred mud bottom up to Chuck.
"Chuck, did you notice that this shit became especially hard after being baked in the fire?"