We're trapped

"This might be useful later, it did save my life. Better tuck it away for now."

Xiao Zhou slipped the black tortoise shell into his shirt. Consider how it destroys the Red arm ape's eye, the shell was surprisingly light. 

He knew no what exactly this mysterious tortoise shell is, on how it can generate so much force with just a simple toss. 

What he knows is that this tortoise shell might be useful for whatever is coming to him next.

He also noticed his clothing. His left sleeve got torn off, a few holes were added on his pants and small cuts around the shirt. 

"This is my favorite pair of clothes," he lets out a sigh. Still, in exchange for the damage done to his favorite clothes, he gets to keep his life.

"Now," Xiao Zhou brushes off the dust and sand on him and straightens his tattered clothes. 

"What should I do now?" He looks at the sky.

"How did I get here in the first place?" he wondered, mentally retracing their steps. 

They had traversed forests, waterfalls, and grassy plains, yet never climbed a mountain, certainly not one as high as this. The more he thought about it, the stranger it felt.

They have been walking for quite some time on this island, unless the trio are idiots, there is no way they can't even find the tomb of Qin Mu Long, even with a detailed map on hand.

Xiao Zhou didn't give much thought before as he just mindlessly followed them around, and also spent all his energy in trying not to trigger the already bad mood Shan Bao.

"It was as if…we are walking in the same place over and over again," he figured out something.

With a bit more analysis on what happened ever since they came to this island, Xiao Zhou realized that they may be trapped in the same place the moment they landed on the shore. 

It was also hard for him to logically make sense of this feeling, but his abnormally heightened sense of space and coordinate tells him that they are walking in the same space, just different things placing around the space. Like the same pattern of route, but change the location to waterfall, grassy field, or a forest. 

For example, they walked into a forest, and after a few twists and turns, they finally walked out the forest and headed to a grassy field. Those twists and turns they made in the forest were exactly the same as the one in the grassy field. The scenery was an illusion while they were walking in a looping route.

"We are trapped, this island…is dangerous!"

Cold sweats began dripping down from his forehead as he had realized what kind of situation he was in now. He is on an unknown island that trapped its visitor in a looping route, there were dangerous wild beasts that lurked in the shadows, and he was stuck with the people that his father warned to stay away the most, Wu Zhe.

"If I told them about our situation…they would probably just laugh it off like I just made things up," he pondered.

"Worse, they may even chop me in half because they thought I made things up to fool them," he shivered in fear for a bit with that thought.

What to do, what to do? Xiao Zhou scratches his hair as he ponders his next course of action.

If he returns to the trio side, nothing will change, he will just follow them blindly going round and round on this loop of madness, and eventually either get strangled to death by any one of the Wu Zhe because of the stress and frustration, or starve to death.

He can also choose to take off by himself, but can he survive any danger ahead? Maybe he can, if his fate was not to die on this island. Still, the most crucial problem is that will the trio chase after him?

The thought of getting caught by the trio and suffering the beat down from them for running away made him shivered in fear again.

"Finally found you, stupid dumb kid!" 

Xiao Zhou fear turns to reality. He saw the dagger guy emerge out of the trees, daggers at both of his hands, fresh red blood still dripping from it.

"What the hell are you doing here? Do you have any idea how stupid it is to spend time finding you? I could have been harvesting more crystal right now if it wasn't for Shan Bao's order. Goddamn son of bitches!"

The dagger guy cursed and rants as he stomps his way to Xiao Zhou.

"Found the damn kid!" he shouted as he forcefully pulled Xiao Zhou's arm, dragging him away.

("Shit!")

Despite screaming and cursing inside his mind, Xiao Zhou didn't fight back. He knew what this dagger guy would do to him if he struggled.

As Xiao Zhou forcefully drags away, his arm unintentionally touches the smooth surface object inside his clothes. 

("The black tortoise shell!")

An idea pops out instantly. The idea was like a fire spark, which also lit up his fighting spirit, the will to fight back.

("If it can even sent the Red arm ape flying, surely it can do much worse to this guy.")

He closely observes the dagger guy. Though he completely treats Xiao Zhou like an inorganic object as he drags him without an ounce of care, it works perfectly for Xiao Zhou. This means that the dagger guy was completely uninterested in Xiao Zhou, so seeing him as a threat is even out of the option.

Xiao Zhou knew what he had to do. The longer he stays with the trio, the higher chance he will end up dead.

Instead of letting others decide his fate, Xiao Zhou prefers to take control of his course of action, even if it means choosing the way he would like to die.

("I can do it. I can do it. I can do it.")

Xiao Zhou chanted repeatedly in his heart. Not only is he finding the right timing to launch his attack, he also strengthens his resolve to execute the thing he is about to do, taking a human life.

A normal ten years old kid wouldn't even have the guts to kill an animal, unless they are a Wu Zhe, they will probably cry out their eyes on wanting home if they were in Xiao Zhou's position now. 

But Xiao Zhou is different. Something about the way he was brought up differs him from other kids of the same ages in his village.

"Aim the head, Xiao Zhou," his father's words ring in his mind. That was the time his father taught him to butcher the fishes they caught. 

"No matter how strong the living being is, once their head gets damaged, they are as good as dead," his father handed him the wooden stick.

"But…wouldn't that be too cruel? hesitation swims in Xiao Zhou's eyes.

His father turned silent for a moment. "No matter how many eras, how many millennia have passed, only one rule remains," his father spoke again, harshly this time, he pushed the wooden stick firmly to Xiao Zhou's palm. 

"And it shall continue to stand above all rules, as long as the world still crawling with living beings," his father grips Xiao Zhou's hand together with the stick, then guides his hand up to air, aiming for the head of the fish that was on the chopping board, still struggling and pulsing with life.

"The strong always rule the weak."

A sudden force gushes into his hand, his father pushes Xiao Zhou's hand, and lands a crushing blow to the head of the fish.

The jumping and moving was no more. The fish is dead. 

"And this is the right of the strong."

His father's words ring for the last time as Xiao Zhou's mind returns back to reality. 

The strong conquer the weak, while the weak can't even conquer their own fate. If he doesn't fight back now, if he loses his resolve now, he will stay weak, and the weak will die.

A killing intent erupts inside Xiao Zhou's heart. His resolve has been firmly made. 

("Wu Zhe or not, a force so strong that blows off the Red arm ape's eye will surely do a lot more to a human head.")

Xiao Zhou reassures himself that his attack will definitely be a deadly blow to the guy dragging him like some sort of package. 

("The wicked deserve no mercy.") 

Xiao Zhou was just waiting for the moment to strike. His other hand was already holding the black tortoise shell inside his shirt.

The dagger guy suddenly let go of his hand and walks forward, as if he was getting tired of dragging Xiao Zhou around.

("NOW!")

This is the moment Xiao Zhou has been waiting for, the moment where the dagger guy was completely forgetting his presence, the perfect timing for him to land a headshot.

"Oh, you found the boy!"

Xiao Zhou reflectively stops what he was about to take out from his shirt and hastily pushes back in.

Panic painted on his face as he looked up to see the hulking figure in the distance. That figure was Shan Bao.