He simply continued walking toward them, maintaining a distance of more than ten meters, then headed toward the spot where he had set his traps in the morning.

When others are on guard, any direct approach will only heighten their vigilance.

By simply going about his own business and letting them see his intentions, he could put them at ease.

The man didn't actually understand these psychological subtleties, but he knew what he had to do.

And his goal was achieved. When Jiang Luoluo and the other women saw him standing on the reef, pulling up three traps, their wary expressions did relax considerably.

"Ah Cheng, do you think he lives on this deserted island?"

"Looks like it. I saw those traps when I was diving. He probably survives by catching small fish with them. I just don't know why he's here, or how long he's been living here."

There were some things Chu Mingcheng didn't say. He was worried about his background.

But if the man was really in trouble, he should have hidden when he discovered them. So what was his purpose in appearing?

For a moment, he felt like packing up and leaving, but the man was too close.

If the man attacked while they were packing, Chu Mingcheng was afraid one of the women might get hurt.

Now, he just hoped the man would leave, and then they could pack up and go.

But the man, with his traps and catch, didn't leave. Instead, he started gathering dry branches not far from them, as if preparing to grill fish on the spot.

This behavior made the three women relax, but Chu Mingcheng did not let his guard down. Instead, he prepared to head back to the boat.

"You guys pack everything up first. Luoluo, you drive the dinghy later and take everything back to the boat first. We'll talk when we're on board."

Jiang Luoluo was naturally obedient. Even though the video wasn't finished, she didn't question him.

Chen Wanying, with her years of work experience and dealing with all sorts of customers, was no longer naive and had no objections either.

As for Zhang Ruomei, there was even less to say. None of the women here was foolish enough to feel sorry for the man and develop misplaced sympathy.

Even if they saw a perfectly able-bodied man living slovenly on the street, they wouldn't feel sympathy, let alone on a deserted island.

Only a complete idiot would be overflowing with sympathy and take the initiative to approach someone like that.

That kind of thing probably only happened in TV dramas—otherwise, the story wouldn't progress.

As they began to pack, the man grew anxious.

What he had done was not only to lower their guard but also to arouse their curiosity and sympathy.

After all, he looked so pitiful with only a few small fish, while they had all kinds of top-tier, precious seafood.

These people didn't look very old. How could their hearts be so hard?

And he had already taken the risk of appearing this time. He knew that next time, it wouldn't be tourists or fishermen coming to the island to rest, but the police.

"Hey, friend, could you spare some soy sauce?"

His Mandarin was very standard, and for a moment, Chu Mingcheng couldn't tell where he was from.

Unsure of the other party's identity, he wouldn't make an enemy over a bottle of soy sauce.

"Of course." Although he didn't want to interact, since the man had asked for soy sauce politely, Chu Mingcheng thought for a moment and still picked up a bottle, walking closer and tossing it over. "Catch."

The man caught the soy sauce, opened it, and poured some into a wooden bowl he had made, then capped the bottle again.

But in the instant he was capping it, transparent liquid from a small tube in his palm was poured into the soy sauce bottle.

As the cap was screwed on and tossed back to Chu Mingcheng, the traces of soy sauce on the inner wall that had been washed away by the liquid instantly disappeared, leaving no one to notice any problem.

"Friend, why are you on the island alone? Why don't you just keep this bottle of soy sauce!"

Chu Mingcheng now got a clear look at the other party's appearance. His hair was quite long, tied in a small ponytail.

His beard was messy. No matter how you looked at it, he seemed to have been on the island for a long time.

As for the soy sauce, he actually hadn't thought of taking it back. It was just that the man had tossed it back so suddenly that he had subconsciously caught it.

"It's fine, I'm just playing a deserted island survival game with a friend—a little bet. The time is up tomorrow, so I don't need that much."

"By the way, I saw you were filming a dance video just now, right? If it's inconvenient because of me, then I'll head back first."

Playing a deserted island survival game?

Chu Mingcheng couldn't tell if the other party was telling the truth, but with him saying that, his original idea of calling the police wasn't so strong anymore.

If he called the police and it turned out to be a misunderstanding, not only would it be embarrassing, but it would also waste police resources.

Plus, the man picked up the dry branches he had collected and left the beach after a short while, which made him temporarily lower his guard.

After all, Jiang Luoluo was here to shoot scenery today, and the dance would be recorded soon.

Since there were no problems for the time being, not leaving was naturally the best option.

Afterward, they returned to their work. Jiang Luoluo continued filming the rest of the dance, and Chu Mingcheng also began making dinner.

However, when they were eating dinner, because there was only this one bottle of soy sauce, Chen Wanying directly took it to use.

Chu Mingcheng looked at the soy sauce, thinking that the man had poured it right under his nose. He felt he was being overly cautious, so he didn't say anything.

But a short while after dinner...

Chen Wanying suddenly said, "Why am I suddenly feeling a little dizzy?"

"Me too..." Zhang Ruomei couldn't even stand steadily and sat down on the ground with a thud.

She had eaten more food with soy sauce just now, so the drug's effect was more severe.

Jiang Luoluo was in the same situation. She was about to fall when Chu Mingcheng caught her.

"Ah Cheng, get us out of here quickly." She already realized that the man from before was trouble. Now she could only hope that Chu Mingcheng had a good constitution and strong resistance to the drug, so he could take them back to the boat before passing out.

Chu Mingcheng's face was grim. After supporting Jiang Luoluo, he also felt a little drowsy, his head spinning.

He immediately tried to use Life Conversion once, to clear his head and get them all back as soon as possible.

Life Conversion didn't disappoint him; it really did make him a little clearer-headed.

But the dizziness quickly returned, and Chu Mingcheng had to continue using it.

In the end, after using all seven remaining charges of Life Conversion, dizziness completely disappeared.

Jiang Luoluo could no longer speak, her eyes half-open, her whole body already lying against Chu Mingcheng.

The last impression in her mind was Chu Mingcheng picking her up in his arms, his expression sharp as he looked at the woods on the deserted island.

He hadn't expected that after being so careful, he had still fallen for the trick.

He had also figured out the reason—it was that bottle of soy sauce.

Although Chu Mingcheng couldn't guess how the other party had managed to pour the knockout drug into it right under his nose, this incident made him understand that if you were going to be on guard, you had to be completely on guard.

Even if it turned out to be a misunderstanding, it was better than losing the ability to resist.

If it weren't for having enough charges of Life Conversion today, the consequences would have been truly unthinkable.

Chu Mingcheng carried the three unconscious women onto the dinghy and then drove toward the fishing boat.

The man who had been watching them had an expression that was both shocked and confused: "It shouldn't be like this—it doesn't make sense!"

At this moment, he panicked. If the other party called the police, he would definitely not be able to escape.

But he could do nothing but continue to wait.

The fact that the three women had collapsed told him that his knockout drug had not expired.

Perhaps Chu Mingcheng's resistance to the drug was stronger, which was why he had held on until now?

Therefore, he moved to a different location and continued observing the situation.

If the fishing boat didn't start, then his guess was correct.

But if it did, then he would have to find a way to leave this deserted island. Although drifting at sea still had a high probability of being caught, and even if not caught, would be a near-death experience, he would not go down without a fight.

After a long while, the fishing boat did not start. The man breathed a sigh of relief, and a smile reappeared on his face.

It was just that smile no longer had its previous affability—only cruelty, perversion, and an astonishing desire in his eyes.

He put on a life jacket he had specially made—two foam boards tied with discarded fishing net ropes—and then came to the seaside and began swimming toward the fishing boat.

He didn't know that there was a man underwater with a wooden speargun, watching him.

After carrying Jiang Luoluo and the others into the bedroom, Chu Mingcheng took his unused wooden speargun and carbon fiber speargun and slipped into the water, preparing to give the other party a surprise.

He knew that since his boat hadn't left, the other party would definitely think he had also succumbed to the drug. There was no reason for the other party to give up this opportunity.

However, before getting into the water, Chu Mingcheng hesitated for a moment. He was hesitating whether to call the police.

Chu Mingcheng, who often spearfished and had even taken down many large fish, was, in a sense, the same type of person as a butcher who slaughters pigs.

He had a considerable violent streak. For a moment, he really wanted to kill this man and feed him to the fish.

Because if he didn't have his abilities, the consequences for Jiang Luoluo and the other two were self-evident.

He didn't even dare to imagine that scene. The moment he picked up the wooden speargun, a voice in his head kept tempting him.

In the end, reason prevailed. He picked up the satellite phone and called the police. The marine police were already on their way.

But now, he didn't mind collecting some interest first and letting the other party taste some pain.

The fishing boat was about three hundred meters from the beach. Because of the waves, the man swam extremely slowly.

After waiting for a long while, Chu Mingcheng finally saw him swim to the steps at the back of the fishing boat.

The man floated on the surface, completely unaware that there was a man underwater watching him.

He placed his hands on the steps, the smile on his face unstoppable.

Chu Mingcheng naturally saw the smile on his face, and the corners of his mouth curved up. The more excited you are now, the more painful it will be later.

Aiming at the other party's knee, he wanted to test the power of this wooden speargun.

He pressed the trigger, and with a bang, the spear shot out at a speed invisible to the naked eye. He hadn't expected it to pierce directly through the other party's knee, emerging from the back of his leg.

A blood-curdling scream echoed across the sea.

The man turned over, his hands on his thigh, looking at the spear in his knee with both terror and fear.

The seawater touching the wound made him even more pained, and he kept making sounds of agony.

However, it wasn't over. Chu Mingcheng released the wooden speargun, picked up the carbon fiber speargun, and aimed at his other leg.

This time, it was the uninjured left leg. The spear's force was much smaller, only lodging in the other party's calf bone without penetrating through.

Another scream rang out across the sea, followed by the man's constant pleas for mercy.

Chu Mingcheng still had a fish spear on him. He had originally been thinking of aiming at another spot for another shot, but when he surfaced and saw a boat in the distance, he put away the fish spear.

The man was lucky. The marine police had arrived in time; otherwise, he would have had to suffer more.

Soon, the marine police boat arrived in this sea area. Seeing the blood-stained water and the man who was weak and occasionally groaning in pain, they couldn't help but be on guard against Chu Mingcheng, who had already surfaced with his hands up.

Because he had injured someone, Chu Mingcheng was also temporarily taken into custody.

However, when they found the knockout drug and confirmed the man's identity, Chu Mingcheng was cleared.

The man was currently wanted nationwide. He was a murderer.

The other party had already drugged three people and was attempting to board the boat. Whether it was to hijack the boat or to assault the three women, Chu Mingcheng's attack on the other party at that moment, causing injury, was considered self-defense.

If the other party were still swimming in the sea, then attacking him and causing serious injury would make Chu Mingcheng criminally liable.

Therefore, the timing was very important.

Of course, you also couldn't seriously injure someone after they had already harmed others. This was "after-the-fact defense," which also carried criminal liability.