The large boat floating on the water, after the tiger jumped onto it, instantly sank halfway, and the entire boat looked especially “stable.”

That hollow was made according to the tiger’s body shape, but after all, the area was limited, and it was made to fit quite snugly. When the tiger jumped up, it was like a big cat stuffed into a cardboard box—packed full, with her belly slightly overflowing on both sides, and even her fur as well.

“Mom, come down, we’re not ready yet, it’s not time, we’re not setting sail yet!”

Under Song Xu’s repeated calls, the big tiger unwillingly stood up from the boat, jumped back to the shore, and shook her fur.

When Song Xu and Wumu were building the boat, the big tiger would occasionally come over curiously to watch. She wasn’t interested in other things, but she paid some attention to the boat building. Now, every day, instead of lying on the reef and gazing toward the distant island, she lay there watching them build the boat.

The big tiger had recently become more and more steady and serious. Very occasionally, when Song Xu looked at those two amber-golden eyes of hers, she would feel that she was very different from the ferocious big tiger she had first met. Those eyes that used to look at everything like prey, full of viciousness, now had a bit of their wildness fade, and a human-like glimmer appeared.

When Song Xu saw that kind of gaze, she would suspect that maybe she had remembered that she was a beastman, but her behavior showed that she hadn’t remembered yet. After all, even now she still firmly believed that the squirrel was her biological cub—how could that be someone who had remembered?

The hardest preparations were already done. Next were the scattered supplies of food, fresh water, and tools. Mainly Song Xu’s food—because the other two could catch fresh food in the sea. Fresh water was especially important. Song Xu filled many fruit shells and the wooden buckets she had made with fresh water, and also brought along all kinds of self-made tools. These filled another small hollow Song Xu had made, as well as every bit of empty space on the boat where something could be placed.

Of course, Wumu couldn’t possibly be like what the squirrel had joked before, wrapping himself around the mast. He… was going to be in the water, responsible for pushing the boat.

There was no other way. The big tiger clearly had a shadow about the deep sea—asking her to go into the water wasn’t realistic. The little squirrel could go into the sea, but with her body size, she couldn’t push it. So only Wumu could do it.

“These preparations should be enough.” Song Xu said, climbing onto the big tiger’s back to command. “Set off!”

Today’s weather was good. The wind and waves at sea were not big, the sunlight was bright, and the water visibility was high.

After Wumu pushed the boat out from underneath, he no longer needed to use too much strength, because the buoyancy of the water and the suitable wind direction allowed the boat to slowly drift forward along the current.

The excitement only boiled for a short time after setting off. As the boat left the coast and headed into deeper parts of the sea, the feeling of being far away from land gradually made people a little afraid.

The big tiger became restless, but the space on the boat was small. She couldn’t run wildly on the beach like she usually did when restless, so she could only let out low roars from her throat.

“Pa.” Song Xu placed two huge leaves over the big tiger’s eyes. “Come, come, put on an eye mask and sleep, okay?”

The tiger didn’t sleep, but the two leaves covering her eyes made her look a bit better. She lay there with her head on her front paws, not moving.

Song Xu was being roasted by the sun. In a flash, she climbed down from the big golden tabby “fur blanket,” jumped straight into the sea, and swam over to Wumu under the boat.

Wumu was in his beast form. After catching so many fish, he had completely become a “sea snake,” swimming skillfully in the water.

Below was the seabed whose color gradually deepened, above was the green and clear surface of the water. Song Xu floated and swam beside the snake. After swimming for a while, she would float up again, hug an empty fruit shell tied to the side of the raft, and cling to it to breathe.

At noon, the sea was calm. Without the help of wind and waves, pushing the boat became somewhat laborious. The snake was tired too, so he swam back onto the boat to rest.

Half of his body rested on the boat, with his tail soaked in the seawater. Seeing him lying like that, the big tiger boredly stretched out a paw and pulled him over to rub. Wumu dodged the thick paw and climbed onto the mast.

This mast was something Song Xu had made after hesitating. Its main purpose, of course, wasn’t for Wumu to coil around—it was for a sail.

The material was the wings of a certain primitive beast. Two pieces put together just happened to form a somewhat passable sail. After testing that once the wings of this primitive beast were removed they wouldn’t rot quickly, but would slowly air-dry and become thinner and tougher, she decided to use them to make a sail.

Right now, the sail was still placed underneath and hadn’t been installed yet, because the wind wasn’t strong and it wasn’t needed. And the wind direction wasn’t right either. With this wind direction, if they installed the sail, the boat that had just left the shore would be sent straight back by the wind.

The boat stopped in the sea. From above, the orange color on the big tiger’s body, within the azure and blue-green seawater, looked as conspicuous as a light bulb.

The squirrel, hot from the sun, hugged an empty fruit shell and floated in the sea for a midday nap. After she fell asleep, she unconsciously loosened her grip, and the whole squirrel gradually drifted away from the boat. By the time Wumu noticed, she was already about to drift far.

The snake could only climb down from the mast again, go into the sea, hook the sleeping squirrel back with his tail, and coil her back to the side of the boat.

Unable to catch a single long-strip cub, the big tiger got bored and pressed this sleeping furball under her paw. But she only played with her for a moment before a snake tail stretched over, snatched the furball away, and took the squirrel along to coil around the mast and rest together.

The big tiger, who usually loved to quarrel and fight with the snake, only glanced at him this time before closing her eyes to sleep, being uncharacteristically tolerant.

When Song Xu woke up, she naturally discovered that she had been tied to the mast by a snake tail, with only her head exposed, like a hostage on a pirate ship.

Life at sea was just that boring—if not playing in the water, then playing with the snake.

In the afternoon, the wind picked up. Song Xu finally installed the two sails, and Wumu could relax a bit, only helping to change direction when the boat drifted off course. Song Xu was responsible for observing the wind direction. Once the wind direction wasn’t right, she had to dismantle the sails, otherwise they would veer off to who-knows-where.

The daytime was sunny, and at night the starry sky was dazzling. Watching the stars at sea seemed even more beautiful than anywhere else.

On this journey, Song Xu had seen stars in countless places—on vast grasslands, in deep valleys, atop high cliffs, at the edges of barren deserts, on the treetops of dense forests… each had its own charm. But on the ocean, the starry sky overhead reflected on the calm sea surface. Whether above or below, it all seemed to become a sea of stars, and they were wrapped within countless stars.

Song Xu stretched her feet into the seawater and gently swayed them. She scratched the big snake coiled beside the boat. “Wumu, want to do an exciting night swim in the sea?”

What Wumu heard: “Wumu, get up, I want to go night-swimming in the sea.”

The snake tail coiled around the squirrel whose eyes had lit up, and with a splash, they rolled into the sea.

Not long after, the squirrel climbed back onto the boat, declaring that she never wanted to night-swim in the sea again. It wasn’t fun at all. Everything was pitch-black, she couldn’t see clearly, and it seemed like there were hazy shadows swimming below. Something lightly brushed against her body, making her fur stand on end. Once she entered the water, she couldn’t even find where the snake was.

The extremely imaginative squirrel honestly curled up on the boat, leaning against the softly rumbling furry tiger, feeling as if she were lying in bed under a blanket, finally gaining a sense of security.

The big snake also poked his head out of the sea. In his current half-beastman form, scales had already grown up to below his eyes and were spreading toward his forehead. His eye shape was gradually becoming more snake-like. From head to toe, only his eyes and a bit of snow-white skin above them could still be seen. His hair fell down loosely, and his appearance was especially strange. This kind of scene—suddenly emerging from the pitch-black seawater—could make even the naughtiest child cry.

This sea demon stretched out a stiff hand and touched the squirrel hidden under the tiger’s belly, using his actions to ask her why she suddenly stopped playing and came back up.

Of course, the squirrel couldn’t admit that she was afraid of the sea at night. She affectedly yawned. “Ah, I’m sleepy. Let’s play again tomorrow, hahaha.” This method never failed.

Wumu fished her out and coiled around her to sleep off to the side. Song Xu thought that he was doing this more and more openly. In the past, he would wait until she fell asleep before pulling her over to sleep with him. Now he didn’t even bother with the process anymore.

This kind of snake still hadn’t lost his reason, but there were changes. If it were before, Song Xu could sleep wherever she liked. Now, she often woke up to find that she had changed places and was tightly coiled by the snake, unable to move.

In response, Song Xu said: no big problem. He was just a bit clingy. At least he could still tell people apart.

At the hottest time of day, Song Xu drank some water and also fed water to the snake and the tiger. Looking at the remaining fresh water and the distant destination, she felt a little uneasy.

The destination she had set was the small island in the sea that the big tiger often gazed at. Since Heisen cared about it so much, there must be something special about it. It was very suitable as their first stop in this voyage. According to Song Xu’s observations, that small island shouldn’t be very far from the shore. The boat she made and the food she prepared should be enough to successfully reach it.

However, after two days at sea, Song Xu realized that the small island still looked just as far away.

“That isn’t a mirage, right?” If it was, then they were in trouble.

Wumu was catching fish in the sea. It was time for the big tiger to eat. Only when eating would the big tiger stand up from her seat, lean her head over the side of the boat, and bite the big fish that Wumu delivered.

They couldn’t grill fish on the boat. At first, Song Xu had worried that Heisen wouldn’t like eating raw food. Who knew she adapted well. It was obvious that she was afraid of the ocean, but in other aspects she was extremely cooperative. Song Xu routinely suspected that she might have recovered part of her sanity.

On the third day at sea, Song Xu felt that the shape of that small island seemed to be a little bigger. This was exciting news, although only she herself was excited.

Wumu was still diligently pushing the boat, completely indifferent to this news. To him, what he was doing now was no different from the countless times before when he agreed to go somewhere to play with the squirrel. Whether they could reach that small island didn’t matter. As long as he did what the squirrel wanted to do, she would be happy.

Heisen was still dozing with her eyes closed, only flicking her ears.

Suddenly, the dozing big tiger stood up. Her eyes widened as she let out a fierce roar toward the sea surface, her tail lashing toward Wumu who was lying in the water, urging him to come up.

Her posture of facing a great enemy made Song Xu realize something. She climbed onto the mast and looked down, discovering that a patch of shadow had appeared beneath the hull. Something had come under their boat!

Just like encountering huge waves, their boat was jolted and rocked by whatever was underneath. Combined with the tiger’s reaction, Song Xu had reason to suspect that when she had gone to sea before, it was probably this thing that had smashed her boat apart.

The big snake, who had been struck by the tiger’s tail, did not obediently return to the boat. He glanced at the one big and one small on the boat, then directly plunged into the water. Before he entered the sea, Song Xu once again heard the long-unheard furious hiss of the snake.

After being the sweet little darling of the squirrel and the tiger for so long, she had almost forgotten that the snake was a violently aggressive giant serpent with deadly poison.