The tsunami not only destroyed their camp by the sea but also caused extensive damage to the coconut grove. When the two of them went to check on the eastern side the next day, they found that less than thirty percent of the coconut trees had survived.

It was clear they wouldn’t be eating any coconuts for a while, much to Hua Mu’s disappointment.

Fortunately, the mangrove forest was not heavily affected. Bai Zhen managed to catch another coconut crab in almost the same spot, conveniently solving their lunch problem.

Hua Mu started a fire while Bai Zhen dismembered the crab. Working together, they quickly prepared a meal from the creature, which weighed several pounds. Having not had a proper seafood meal in two months, Hua Mu was determined to make up for lost time, so she had been eating quite extravagantly these past two days.

However, besides the delicious food, the conversation that had been cut short the day before was still on her mind.

The Sentinel seemed to have little reaction to her fuzzy and missing memories. After a long silence, she had simply responded with, “Is that so?”

This attitude was so strange that Hua Mu couldn’t even bring herself to be angry.

If she had discovered a problem with her own memories, she would have been terrified and desperate for answers. Yet Bai Zhen remained calm and composed, telling her to get some rest.

If she hadn’t been kissed until her head was spinning, she would have pried open Bai Zhen’s skull to see what on earth she was thinking.

While chewing on a crab leg, Hua Mu stared intently at Bai Zhen, as if trying to bore a hole through her with her gaze.

“Miss…”

Bai Zhen finally couldn’t pretend not to notice.

“Don’t you have any curiosity at all?”

Although she had long understood Bai Zhen’s personality, Hua Mu still found it incredible that she could be this way. How on earth did this woman fall in love with her?

“Are you referring to…?”

“Of course, I’m talking about what we discussed yesterday. Don’t you find it strange? That you have no impression of it at all.”

Bai Zhen didn’t find it strange in the slightest. If the Miss had caused that incident and she happened to be present, then having her memory altered was the most normal thing in the world—she would have requested it herself. It was a necessary measure to protect the Miss.

To be safe, the one who carried it out might have even been the Queen.

The reason Bai Zhen didn’t dare to press for answers was more due to her uncertainty about herself.

Had she truly kept her promise? Had she really not harmed the Miss, and truly protected her?

If so, why would the Leader choose to replace her memories? Or perhaps, she herself had been afraid of a certain truth and made such a request.

Even more so, wasn’t she doing something similar right now?

“That incident was defined as a mass hallucinatory syndrome among Sentinels. All parties involved have no memory of it. I believe this was a measure taken to protect you, so there’s nothing strange about it.”

Alright, the Sentinel’s explanation was logical, but it didn’t satisfy Hua Mu.

In fact, what truly displeased her was Bai Zhen’s excessive indifference to having forgotten her.

Didn’t she want to know what she had done back then? Didn’t she want to know about their first meeting?

Didn’t she want to know what kind of catalyst had made her fall head over heels for this clumsy, slow-witted, big-breasted, pretty-faced… ahem, let’s also count tall, fit, strong, and powerful… alright, and add gentle, considerate, honest, and loyal… this big oaf who was otherwise useless?

She was convinced this Sentinel didn’t care about her at all!

“Hmph, if you say it’s not strange, then it’s not strange.”

Hua Mu couldn’t be bothered to say more. The other person clearly didn’t care. It would be too shameless of her to enthusiastically recount things that only she remembered!

Bai Zhen smiled gently and ended the topic with silence.

Hua Mu was quite annoyed.

After finishing lunch and resting for a bit, they continued north. The main purpose of this trip was to survey the island’s periphery to assess the extent of the damage.

The condition of the mangrove forest was much better than expected, which gave Bai Zhen some confidence about the northern side.

To get past the mangrove forest, they still had to go by sea. The two were already adept at building rafts. Due to the tsunami, the beach was littered with dried-up trees, so building the raft was even faster than when they had made the bamboo one.

After confirming there was no danger in the vicinity, Bai Zhen and Hua Mu pushed the raft into the sea. After more than two months, the seawater had returned to its clear state, and sunlight filtered through the surface, casting dappled shadows on the fine white sand below.

Gazing at the boundless sea, Hua Mu’s mood lightened slightly, and she temporarily set aside her annoyance. Emergency Rations wasn’t afraid of water and crouched at the edge of the raft, curiously peering into the depths. When a wave lapped against the raft, it would retreat a few steps, only to chase after the receding water, the cat thoroughly enjoying itself.

Bai Zhen poled the raft at a leisurely pace this time, and Hua Mu also appeared relaxed. If they didn’t have to check on the northern side, spending an afternoon fishing like this wouldn’t be bad at all.

As she was thinking this while gazing out at the sea, something suddenly appeared in her field of vision, giving her a huge fright.

“Bai Zhen!” Hua Mu grabbed Bai Zhen’s arm in terror, her voice urgent. “Let’s go, quickly, there’s a shark!”

Bai Zhen looked in the direction Hua Mu was pointing and smiled faintly.

“Miss, that’s not a shark. It should be a dolphin…” She wasn’t unaware of the large mammal in the nearby waters, but she hadn’t paid it much mind since she had determined it wasn’t a threat. However, as she watched the dolphin’s swimming posture, her brow furrowed. “Something seems wrong with it.”

Hua Mu’s heart leaped into her throat.

“Wh-what’s wrong? Let’s just go, dolphins aren’t small either.”

If it rammed them, the raft would surely capsize.

Although Hua Mu hadn’t reached the point of being terrified at the mere sight of the sea, her fear of the ocean was now almost on par with her fear of heights. If the water were any deeper, she would definitely feel dizzy.

“It seems to be injured.”

“Injured?”

The dolphin’s dorsal fin appeared and disappeared on the surface, and all Hua Mu could see was its erratic path.

Bai Zhen looked at the sea with a hint of concern.

Hua Mu knew that while this Sentinel could kill seabirds and wild boars for food without hesitation, she would also rescue a rusty-spotted cat in a moment of extreme danger. When it came to obtaining food or defending against attacks, Bai Zhen never hesitated and was incredibly decisive. But beyond that, she never took a life unprovoked, which was a testament to her respect for life.

In fact, this Sentinel was kinder and gentler than anyone else.

“Let’s go take a look at its injury.”

Hua Mu had heard that dolphins were creatures that were quite friendly towards humans, seemingly having a natural affection for them. There were still legends of them rescuing people who had fallen into the water.

If she were alone, Bai Zhen certainly wouldn’t hesitate, but with Hua Mu on the raft, she didn’t dare to take risks lightly.

“I’ll take you ashore first…”

Hua Mu was even more worried about her. The memory of encountering a shark here last time was enough to give her lingering fear.

“No need. Just paddle the raft over. We’re just trying. Maybe we won’t even be able to catch up to it. If it doesn’t work, we can just leave.”

Bai Zhen hesitated for a moment before finally nodding.

She had interacted with dolphins during a mission once, so she had some experience in how to deal with them.

Hua Mu couldn’t help but feel nervous. Even Emergency Rations seemed to sense something and leaped into her arms.

Bai Zhen paddled very slowly, cautiously and carefully approaching the direction the dolphin was swimming.

“Aww~”

Unexpectedly, the dolphin, which had been only partially visible, suddenly leaped out of the water and let out a high-pitched, clear cry. Because it was so sharp, it sounded a bit like a baby’s cry, but it wasn’t grating at all.

It was an azure-blue bottlenose dolphin, about two meters long. Probably due to its injury, its swimming posture was slightly tilted.

“Aww~”

Tense, Hua Mu was focused entirely on the dolphin when another dolphin-like sound suddenly rang out beside her, nearly scaring her off the raft.

The sound, of course, came from Bai Zhen.

Sentinels could produce and hear a wider range of sounds. Ordinary people could only hear about a third of the frequencies in a dolphin’s call, but they were different.

Hua Mu looked at Bai Zhen in amazement—she had no idea she could produce such a high-pitched sound.

The bottlenose dolphin seemed completely unguarded, wagging its tail as it swam towards them.

“Aww~”

Nestled in Hua Mu’s arms, Emergency Rations curiously watched the source of the sound.

The two women, one cat, and one dolphin soon met in the middle of the sea.

The bottlenose dolphin circled the raft a few times, calling out all the while. Hua Mu felt that the sound was cloying, almost like it was trying to be endearing.

The Sentinel knelt at the edge of the raft and tentatively reached out her hand. Without any hesitation, the dolphin swam closer, turning slightly to expose its left flipper.

They quickly spotted its injury—a metal nail was deeply embedded at the base of its flipper. The wound looked like it had been there for some time, and the surrounding area was even showing signs of festering.

“Ugh…”

Hua Mu couldn’t stand the sight of such things and quickly looked away.

Bai Zhen first gently stroked its head and back before lightly touching its flipper.

The bottlenose dolphin cried out, seemingly in pain.

“This will hurt a little. Be a good girl and don’t move.”

“Aww~”

The dolphin obediently floated still. Bai Zhen held its body, and after confirming there were no barbs on the nail, she pulled it out.

“Aww—”

The bottlenose dolphin let out a short cry. Bai Zhen pressed some herbs onto its wound while softly coaxing it, “Good girl, don’t move. It’ll be better soon.”

“Aww~”

What, it’s a girl?

Hua Mu had been feeling quite moved watching Bai Zhen’s gentle demeanor, but the words that came out of her mouth immediately unsettled her.

Was this Sentinel so gentle with every female? Emergency Rations was a female cat, and this dolphin was a female dolphin… Was rescuing her back then the same as rescuing them?

Bai Zhen was not yet aware of Hua Mu’s burgeoning jealousy. To keep the dolphin steady, she held it in her arms for a full ten minutes, only letting go after confirming that the bleeding had stopped.

“Don’t do anything too strenuous, okay? You’ll get better slowly.”

Bai Zhen patted its head, signaling that it could leave. However, the bottlenose dolphin showed no signs of leaving. It kept circling the raft and even used its snout to help push it along.

“That’s alright, you can go. We can paddle ourselves.”

The Sentinel smiled at the dolphin’s gesture of repayment.

“Hmph!”

Hua Mu finally couldn’t take it anymore and let out a cold snort.

Was this relationship going to work or not? The Sentinel was openly flirting with a female dolphin right in front of her—she had heard that dolphins were super promiscuous and would even solicit humans for sex!

She hadn’t even solicited Bai Zhen yet!