Although Bai Zhen said there was no danger, she couldn’t be entirely certain. Her words were mostly meant to comfort Hua Mu. Besides, the whole situation was too bizarre for her to simply ignore.

“Miss, let’s head back for now.”

Hua Mu, of course, had no objection.

“My basket!” But Bai Zhen showed no sign of putting her down, seemingly intending to carry her all the way home, which made Hua Mu worry about the fruits of her labor.

Bai Zhen crouched down, letting Hua Mu grab the basket herself. She then summoned their two spirit animals, who were in the middle of a chaotic tussle, to head home with them.

“What do you think that thing was, really?”

Nestled in Bai Zhen’s arms, Hua Mu’s mind was still fixated on the fleshy, ugly-cute creature from earlier. The only thing she could be certain of was that it was definitely not an ordinary animal.

“Judging from Hati’s reaction, it’s highly likely that it’s a spirit animal.”

“But can spirit animals exist on their own?”

Hua Mu vaguely recalled learning in a class once that spirit animals required a host.

“That… I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Textbooks from every nation stated that for a spirit animal to exist in the physical world, it required a medium. If that medium was a human, they would become a Sentinel or a Guide. If it was an animal, they would become an sapient creature.

As far as Bai Zhen knew, the spirit animals of most sapient creatures were unable to leave their mental landscapes. This was likely because animals lacked sufficient mental power; their spirit animals often had no concrete form and were difficult to manifest, typically just possessing their hosts to influence and enhance their abilities.

She had occasionally heard rumors of a few cases where the spirit animals of sapient creatures had taken form, usually in a shape similar to their own species, but she had yet to see it with her own eyes.

“So you’re saying… there are other people on this island?”

A chill ran down Hua Mu’s spine. If she had known there were other people on the island when they first arrived, her reaction might not have been so extreme. But they had been living here for over eight months, and to only find out now that there were others… how could she not be horrified?

She had lost count of how many times she had let herself go completely. Heaven only knew if that person—or those people—had been secretly spying on them!

“If they were deliberately hiding, it’s not impossible, but I really don’t think so…” When Bai Zhen first arrived on the island, she had performed a wide-area sensory scan. While that method was crude, it was highly sensitive to the presence of humans. That was how she had determined this was a deserted island.

But if the other party was also a Sentinel and had concealed themselves before her scan, the likelihood of her misjudging would be very high. Still, Bai Zhen didn’t believe there were other people on the island. After all, while a presence could be hidden, the subtle traces of daily life were not so easily erased.

As things stood, there were absolutely no traces of anyone else living on the island.

Could this person survive without eating or drinking?

The island wasn’t exactly small, but it wasn’t huge either. Bai Zhen found it hard to believe that someone could conceal their existence so completely.

Hua Mu understood what Bai Zhen meant; she hadn’t sensed anyone else either. Her own senses weren’t reliable, but what about Bai Zhen’s?

“Ah! What if… what if they aren’t living on the surface of the island, but are living… in the caves?” Hua Mu suddenly recalled what had happened in the cave last time.

“In the caves? You mean that storage cave?”

“Yes! Doesn’t it lead downwards? The passages branch out in all directions, and it’s so, so deep.” The more Hua Mu thought about it, the more it made sense. “Bai Zhen, do you remember what happened last time when I went to the cave to get wine? The time you sensed I had summoned Luna and rushed over.”

“The time you said you summoned Luna for light?”

“Yes, yes, yes! Actually, that day, it seemed like Emergency Rations had sensed something, so I summoned Luna to take a look. But I didn’t find anything, so I didn’t think much of it.” Hua Mu’s imagination was now in overdrive. She declared confidently, “This cave and that one are probably connected! They’re moving around inside the caves!”

Although spirit animals could pass through solid objects, if the object was too massive, it would increase the strain on the host. So Hua Mu’s theory wasn’t without merit—there might be a three-dimensional network of tunnels within the mountain.

As for the so-called “other people,” that part could be re-evaluated.

“Emergency Rations sensed it?”

“Yes, but Luna didn’t really react, so I didn’t pay it any mind at the time.”

Bai Zhen frowned, musing, “Some wild animals are indeed sensitive to spirit animals.”

But even Hati couldn’t see it, and she herself only had a vague sensation, yet Emergency Rations could perceive it clearly. That was still a bit strange.

Hua Mu was now completely convinced by her own deduction. After glancing around nervously, she leaned against Bai Zhen’s chest and whispered, “Do you think someone could be watching us right now?”

Bai Zhen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at her paranoid state.

“Miss, there’s no one nearby. Please, believe me.”

In the past, Bai Zhen couldn’t have been so certain, but her abilities had grown immensely since bonding with Hua Mu. While she couldn’t determine if there was anyone else on the entire island, she could at least accurately perceive her immediate surroundings.

“How do you know? That spirit animal can turn invisible! Maybe those people can turn invisible too!”

“Er, invisible…”

“Yes! Neither we nor Hati could see it, but for some reason, that little fool Luna could!”

Bai Zhen had considered this. In fact, she thought it might be the key to the whole mystery.

At the Tower, there was a major course called “Concealment,” and one of its main subjects was how to hide a spirit animal. In the past, this course even had a sub-branch on how to make one’s spirit animal invisible during combat, but it was later discontinued because it wasn’t worth the effort.

Generally speaking, spirit animals are invisible to ordinary people but visible to Sentinels and Guides, as the latter act as mediums and share a connection with them. Just as it is difficult to make an ordinary person see a spirit animal, it is equally difficult to prevent a Sentinel or Guide from seeing one—unless it remains within its mental landscape.

The main purpose of concealing a spirit animal in the past was to launch surprise attacks during battle. However, after the discovery of simpler and more effective methods like “teleportation,” this “invisibility” tactic, with its minimal returns, faded from the stage of history.

But it wasn’t as if Bai Zhen had never encountered an invisible spirit animal. To this day, no one had ever seen the form of the spirit animal belonging to her master, the Leader of the Tower.

In her opinion, her master’s spirit animal’s invisibility didn’t seem to be a deliberate act, but rather a passive ability—somewhat similar to the situation with this “unidentified creature.”

“Miss, please don’t worry for now. Nothing is conclusive yet, and it hasn’t shown any malice. We should just wait and see what happens.”

Hua Mu understood, of course, that worrying wouldn’t help, so she could only nod.

Setting aside the “unidentified creature” for the moment, their grand oil-pressing project had to continue. Bai Zhen gathered a full basket of oil palm fruits to take back and process, and Hua Mu did her best to shift her focus back to improving their living conditions.

The first step with the oil palm fruits was to boil them to stop fermentation, which would allow the fruitlets to be separated from the bunch. This step alone required boiling them for three hours.

The two of them spent the entire afternoon busy with this task, and for a time, they truly didn’t have the mental energy to think about that other matter.

After dinner, the oil palm fruits had cooled. Bai Zhen took advantage of the remaining daylight to separate the fruitlets from the bunches, setting them aside for the next day.

There were other important matters to attend to at night, and Bai Zhen had developed a habit of not working after dark. Afraid of keeping Hua Mu waiting, she quickly washed up and hurried back to their room, only to find that Hua Mu wasn’t sitting on the bed waiting for her as usual. Instead, she was at the table, staring blankly at a candle.

“Miss,” Bai Zhen said, finding this odd. She walked over and sat down beside her. “What are you thinking about?”

Hua Mu glanced at her and sighed. “I’m thinking about that fleshy blob…”

Bai Zhen assumed she was worried about danger and reassured her, “Don’t worry. Hati has memorized its scent. As long as it comes within a hundred meters of us, Hati will definitely detect it.”

“But what if they can see us from within a hundred meters?”

Bai Zhen was a little confused. “See what?”

Hua Mu leaned in nervously and whispered in her ear, “See us doing… happy things!”

That’s how it’s always written in those little romance novels… the shame of being watched…

“Er…” The Sentinel was momentarily speechless. After a long pause, she said, “I don’t think so. It’s never happened before.”

“How would you know? Maybe they’ve been watching us this whole time!”

In truth, Bai Zhen still didn’t believe there were other people on the island. She had a different theory, but for certain reasons, she found it difficult to voice.

“I doubt they have that kind of interest.”

Hua Mu was stunned by Bai Zhen’s innocent way of thinking. What person wouldn’t be interested in that? Watching two beautiful women doing happy things would make anyone happy, wouldn’t it?

“I see you have no sense of danger whatsoever!”

Hua Mu didn’t want to talk to her anymore.

Bai Zhen found the Young Lady’s worry rather cute and asked patiently, “Then what do you think we should do?”

Hua Mu bit her lip, steeled herself, and said, “For the time being, maybe we should… stop…”

It wasn’t that she disliked… or rather, she quite enjoyed doing happy things, but she had no interest in being watched!

But when the words reached her lips, she found she was reluctant to say them.

Bai Zhen looked at her, puzzled. “Stop what?”

“Stop… er, stop…”

Ugh, why was this woman looking at her with such a deep, intense gaze? That was practically a silent invitation! How could she possibly say it now?

Besides, Bai Zhen had worked hard all day. It would be too cruel to refuse her!

“Stop… stop worrying unnecessarily…”

Bai Zhen smiled warmly and gently pulled her into an embrace.

“Alright. Miss, it’s getting late. We should get some rest.”

“Mmm-hmm!”

Oh, whatever! If they watch, they watch. She and Bai Zhen were so nice to look at, let those people be consumed with envy and jealousy!