When Yao tied the vines around himself and then bound Dai Xiaomei and Gun Gun together, the tide surged forward, directly submerging the trees on the island. When the waves receded, Yao and the two girls sank into the sea.
Fortunately, the three were tightly bound together by the vines, which prevented them from being separated.
Yao also gripped the small wooden boat tightly with his own hands. Otherwise, the boat would have been smashed to pieces or turned into a deadly weapon to strike them.
The three held their breath. After an unknown amount of time, the waves finally stopped crashing.
When they stood up, all the trees on the island had been uprooted, leaving only wreckage. Thankfully, the small boat had been protected by Yao, and Dai Xiaomei and Gun Gun beside him seemed unharmed.
It was fortunate that Gun Gun was so large that the three of them were barely moved.
"It should be safe now. Let's quickly get into this small boat and return to our Golden Coast."
"We'll talk about what happened when we get back. I'm afraid the coast might surge again here, and if it does, we'll be in trouble."
Hearing this, Dai Xiaomei quickly followed Yao as they ran back.
Dai Xiaomei was still in a daze, only knowing to follow Yao. She had no idea what she had experienced.
Looking around, everything seemed completely different from what she had seen moments ago. It was as if Yao had simply woken her up, and she had unknowingly opened her eyes from a hallucination.
Although she had never felt her eyes were closed in the illusion, now that she was awake, she realized that everything she had done was not real but had occurred within her own hallucination.
However, there was no denying that she had followed the shadowy figure in the illusion for an unknown distance.
Zhou Niannian and Jiang Fan returned to the Golden Coast first and waited there for Yao, Dai Xiaomei, and Gun Gun.
"Do you think they won't be able to find Dai Xiaomei? I feel like they must have found her, otherwise they wouldn't be gone for so long. They're probably dealing with something."
Clearly, Zhou Niannian's statement lacked logic. Jiang Fan could only shake his head helplessly.
"I can't say for sure. We don't know what they've encountered. If they ran into monsters like we did, it would be difficult to handle."
"After all, Gun Gun is huge. Escaping from those monsters wouldn't be easy."
Jiang Fan hadn't really fought much. If it hadn't been for his small size allowing him to hide in very concealed places, he would have been torn to shreds long ago.
"With Yao there, it should be fine. Yao is a very cautious person, and if he hadn't found Dai Xiaomei, he wouldn't have returned so easily."
Jiang Fan understood Yao very well.
If he didn't find Dai Xiaomei, he wouldn't return easily. The fact that they were so late in returning was probably because he was helping Dai Xiaomei with something.
Zhou Niannian slowly nodded.
"Look over there. Are those them returning?"
Zhou Niannian scanned the coastline and suddenly spotted a figure. This figure seemed to be Yao and Dai Xiaomei.
Jiang Fan immediately took out the binoculars he carried and looked at the small boat ahead. He confirmed that it was indeed them.
"Yes, they're back. They must have successfully rescued Dai Xiaomei."
"However, Dai Xiaomei's expression is a bit strange. I don't know why, perhaps what just happened made her feel scared."
Jiang Fan looked at Dai Xiaomei's expression and felt that she was still extremely frightened.
Although Yao had brought her back, her eyes were still filled with confusion. Something terrible must have happened, because her gaze seemed the same as Zhou Niannian's when she encountered that black monster.
Zhou Niannian understood this feeling the most, having experienced it once herself. Dai Xiaomei's current panic and vacant stare were likely identical to her own at that time.
"You're finally back! We searched everywhere and couldn't find them. We almost lost our lives out there. Fortunately, we returned in time."
"Now that you've found Dai Xiaomei, that's for the best. Dai Xiaomei, tell us, what exactly happened that kept you out there for so long?"
Hearing this, Dai Xiaomei felt quite embarrassed.
"I'm truly sorry. I didn't expect something like this to happen. I thought I was taken away by something, but Yao said I walked away myself."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Fan found it incredible.
Everyone had assumed Dai Xiaomei was abducted, but the news was too terrifying for anyone to believe so far.
However, upon closer consideration, most people did believe Dai Xiaomei was taken, otherwise, she wouldn't have vanished into thin air.
"If you weren't taken, then how did you leave? Did you just leave on your own? You couldn't have been that brave, could you?"
Dai Xiaomei certainly didn't have the courage. The only reason she left was because she believed a shadowy figure had taken her.
Furthermore, she left at that time because she thought she had fainted.
But Dai Xiaomei didn't realize that the shadowy figure was herself all along, and she was the one who led herself away.
"Dai Xiaomei must have been infected by something, causing her to hallucinate and take our small boat away from the Golden Coast to another island."
"When we found Dai Xiaomei, she still believed she was on a dark island."
"Fortunately, we managed to wake her up, and she realized she wasn't in a dark place."