Along the way, Chen An endured Ivanov's noisy and crazy speech. Finally, about one kilometer from the coast, they came to the garrison left by the Soviet Union.
As Ivanov said, the whole place smelled of decay. The island was estimated to have had no visitors for decades. It was overgrown with weeds and deserted. The ground was also littered with some scrap metal left behind when the Soviet troops withdrew.
"Find oil first."
"I'll go there, then you go there." Ivanov pointed to two different directions. Shout if any of us have discovery, and don't go far.
'Aren't we supposed to act together?' Chen An paused slightly, but still said, "Okay."
If he asked to be together, Ivanov would certainly make fun of him again.
Chen An walked to the right hand side by himself. Not far away were several huge rusty iron cans, which might still contain diesel oil.
The cool evening wind was blowing and weeds were swaying around his feet. It was too quiet to hear but his own breathing and footsteps.
Chen An looked back in Ivanov's direction. The hairy bear was running around happily in the distance. The gloomy atmosphere and the history of the island did not seem to affect him at all.
It seemed the bear looked thick not only in skin but also in nerves.
As the distance between them grew, Chen An turned back for the fourth time, but could no longer see him, "Ivan?"
He shouted softly. Since the distance was so far, the other party certainly could not hear unless Chen An shouted out loud, but that would be a bit embarrassing.
He had been dead once. What was he afraid of?
So he turned his head and continued striding toward the direction of the iron can. The eerie silence gave Chen An the illusion that he was the only person on the island.
Chen An's palms began to sweat unconsciously. He took a deep breath and tried to relax himself, thinking in his heart that he was not alone, not alone on this damn island. Ivanov, the noisy bear, was not far away.
He clearly just hated Ivanov's voice, but now Chen An found himself missing that idiot's voice all the more.
He hated this feeling, as if he was the only one left in the world, surrounded by loneliness, not knowing what to do and where the future lied.
Death was not terrible. What was terrible was loneliness and despair.
"Take a look and go back." Chen An took another few deep breaths. After adjusting his state of mind, he simply ran straight past as hard as he could, as if some beasts were chasing behind him.
Finally ran to the tin, Chen An tried to unscrew the valve, only to find that his hand was shaking violently.
"Damn it!" He gritted his teeth and unscrewed the valve with force. Soon there was oil flowing out, but before Chen An felt happy, he found something was wrong.
He stretched out his hand and touched the oil to have a sniff, and found it mixed with water.