"There’s a path!"

"A path to the island across the water!"

In the early morning, the first to wake up spotted the clear path right away.

One person told ten, and those ten told a hundred.

A large crowd quickly gathered at the Gated Community’s entrance.

"If you ask me, this is a low tide."

"I can’t believe there’s a tidal flat path here. It’s so long, it connects directly to the island over there."

"That island is much bigger. It must have more resources."

The island everyone was talking about was the one to the east of the Gated Community.

It wasn’t the largest island in the vicinity, but it was much bigger than the reef they were currently on.

The island was covered in trees, and you could even see seabirds landing and taking off.

The reef they stood on and the island across the water were both situated along this straight isthmus.

And about one or two kilometers further north of that island was the largest island in the archipelago, one that even had small hills.

"Low tides are always temporary. We just don’t know if this is a diurnal or semidiurnal tide," murmured a resident who had lived by the sea.

After those who didn’t understand asked, they learned that tides varied with the terrain.

A semidiurnal tide has two cycles of high and low tide per day. Each cycle of rising and falling tide lasts about twelve hours.

A diurnal tide has only one cycle per day, with the rising and falling tides lasting about twenty-four hours in total.

But someone else speculated, "We might not even be on Earth anymore. A twenty-four-hour low tide isn’t out of the question, let alone twelve."

"It’s hard to say how long it will last, but it’s probably not a semidiurnal tide. The tide hadn’t receded yesterday evening, and we only saw it had gone out this morning. That suggests a longer tidal cycle."

Qin Ziwen was also a little surprised. He thought for a moment, then made up his mind. "First, we’ll assemble an elite team to check out the other side and gather intel on the island. Once we’ve confirmed the tidal cycle, we can begin a large-scale exploration."

With the Node, once they confirmed it was safe over there, they could activate it directly.

He wasn’t the only one with this idea.

When Zou Jianghe saw the scene, he quickly turned to ask Huang Tao, "How’s the boat coming along?"

As the Alliance Association developed, Huang Tao’s early advantage with the carpentry hut Card solidified his position as the top carpenter within the Alliance.

Huang Tao had managed to get his hands on nearly every related or complementary Card.

Therefore, Zou Jianghe had also entrusted the task of shipbuilding to Huang Tao.

"One boat is finished," Huang Tao said, hesitating for a moment. "But it was originally designed to be a five-meter boat for coastal fishing near the island. Traveling such a long distance might be quite risky."

Zou Jianghe said, "It’s fine. A boat is better than no boat. Get a group of people who can swim ready first. Not too many. We’ll go check out the situation on the other side before deciding what to do next."

While everyone was still discussing it, some of the braver people had already walked off the reef and onto the exposed tidal flats.

Shells and starfish were scattered everywhere on the flats, and small fish were trapped in some of the tide pools.

In the sky, a few puffins circled overhead, occasionally swooping down to snatch a small silver fish from a tide pool before strutting about with an air of complete arrogance.

Seeing more and more people heading out onto the flats, many who had been waiting on the sidelines couldn’t sit still any longer.

As the main group moved down and the number of residents on the flats grew, Qin Ziwen thought for a moment, then instructed Jia Liangcai to have someone watch for the tide. If there were any signs of it coming in, they were to tell everyone on the flats to return.

Then, Qin Ziwen led his team across the tidal flats to the island on the other side.

They stepped onto the island. It was about the size of five or six Gated Communities. There were a few coconut trees on the outer beach, and a dense forest in the central region.

In the central forest, the trees were packed with countless birds’ nests.

Sensing people approaching, a huge flock of puffins burst out from the nests, chirping warily.

Animal life on the island was somewhat scarce. Besides the puffins, someone found a few inland taipans near the shore, as well as some coastal marine life.

They didn’t dare get close, having heard that this type of snake was extremely venomous.

After circling the island, Qin Ziwen reached the northern beach and stopped.

His gaze fell upon another island to the north.

On the opposite beach of that island, another group of people was watching them from a distance.

"So they really are on that Island."

When that group noticed them, they didn’t greet them or wave. They just stared. A few people from their ranks retreated back into the forest behind them.

He frowned slightly and took out the telescope he carried with him.

As the lens zoomed in.

The faces in his view gradually came into focus.

He noticed their expressions were indescribably cold. One person was looking their way, licking their lips.

Their weapons were a motley assortment. You could tell they were crudely made, but some showed signs of being more professionally crafted.

"Is that the other Gated Community?" Zou Jianghe, hearing the commotion, walked over and stood not far from Qin Ziwen.

...

"That’s right. Looks like that’s our competition." On the beach, a tall young man in a white shirt with narrow, sharp eyes, holding a Long Spear, looked back at the burly man behind him. "Yesterday we saw their Gated Community was still on that isolated reef. This morning they dare to get this close to us. If it weren’t for the sea between us, I’d really love to charge over and kill them all!"

Yang Long glanced at the unhinged young man in the white shirt, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly. "Pu Jia, don’t get careless. They’re opponents who, like us, have survived two maps."

A smile played on Pu Jia’s lips. "So what if they survived two maps? They were just lucky to get matched with us. Once the boat is built, it’ll be their doomsday.

"If you ask me, competing with them for mission points is the stupidest idea. The best way is to just charge them, kill all the men, and capture all the women."

Hearing Pu Jia’s words, the group of able-bodied youths behind him, regardless of gender or age, let out a chorus of sinister laughter.

Yang Long turned, beckoned to the team members behind him, and then led them toward the other side of the island.

A team member following Yang Long whispered, "Brother Long, I feel like those people from Blood Words are a little... off."

Another team member beside him sneered, "You ’feel’ like it? Isn’t it a fact? I thought our Urban Village was high-pressure enough, but this group from the office buildings are all basically lunatics. I heard that many of them have even eaten..."

"Enough," Yang Long interrupted. Some things were better left unsaid.

"First, we cooperate with the Blood Words group to finish the boat. Then we find a way to test the strength of the group on the other side. I have a feeling our opponents this time aren’t so simple." A shadow of unease passed through Yang Long’s eyes.

Unlike the arrogant bunch from Blood Words, Yang Long remembered something important.

This time, the starting locations for both sides were determined by a comparison of their scores from the last map.

And if he wasn’t mistaken, his group’s starting location seemed to be the more advantageous one.

...

...