I Start with a Mysterious Island

Chapter 357 - 272: The Ship with the Pirate Flag

CLICK CLICK CLICK...

After a few moments of shooting, Su Yue raised a hand, signaling him to stop for a bit.

Lin Li let out a long sigh. ’Finally,’ he thought. ’If she hadn’t stopped me, I would’ve run out of angles to shoot from.’

He looked down at the phone in his hand, scrolling through the photos he had just taken.

He had to admit, even though his photography skills weren’t great, Su Yue was incredibly photogenic. That more than made up for his lack of technical ability.

"Let me see! How did they turn out?" Su Yue hopped down from the reef, walked over to Lin Li, and leaned in to look at the phone screen.

"Here, take it and look for yourself." Seeing Su Yue get so close, Lin Li took a step back and handed her the phone.

Su Yue took the phone and swiped her finger across the screen, browsing through the pictures carefully. She nodded as she looked, murmuring to herself, "Your photography skills are pretty good! These all look great..."

Lin Li knew the photos looked good for reasons that had nothing to do with his skills. It was mainly because Su Yue was beautiful and photogenic, so any picture of her would turn out well no matter what.

Hearing Su Yue praise his photography, he knew his own limitations and couldn’t help but scratch his head in embarrassment.

"Lin Li, which one of these do you think is the best?" Su Yue asked with a bright smile after looking through all the photos he’d taken of her.

"Uh, they all look pretty much the same to me... I can’t really say which one’s the best. If I absolutely had to choose one, I guess I’d say the one from the beginning, where you had your arms spread wide with your back to the ocean."

Lin Li carefully recalled the photos he had just seen as he spoke.

"This one?" Su Yue sifted through the large batch of new photos in her album, picked one out, and held it in front of Lin Li.

"Yeah." Lin Li nodded after looking at it.

Once she had his confirmation, she tapped the photo and forwarded it. "Check your phone."

DING.

Before Su Yue had even finished speaking, a soft chime came from the phone in Lin Li’s pocket.

"Huh?!" A confused Lin Li pulled out his phone and saw that Su Yue had sent him a message. He opened it, stared in a daze, and then asked, "What are you doing?"

"You worked hard taking all those photos for me. Since you think that one’s the best, consider it a thank-you gift. It’s yours now," Su Yue said, her sparkling eyes fixed on Lin Li, brimming with amusement.

Lin Li looked at the photo Su Yue had sent him and grumbled, "If you wanted to thank me, you could have just bought me some ice cream."

Hearing this, Su Yue immediately shot him a look, then pretended she hadn’t heard him. She changed the subject. "You just took pictures of me, so now it’s my turn to take some of you!"

"No thanks, you can just take pictures of yourself." Lin Li, who didn’t particularly like having his picture taken, shook his head.

"Uh... then let’s take a picture together!" Su Yue suggested.

"Together?" Lin Li thought for a moment. "How are we supposed to do that? We don’t have a phone stand."

"Silly, if we don’t have a stand, can’t we just ask someone to take it for us? Wait here for a second. I’ll go ask someone to help us out," Su Yue said to Lin Li.

She then scanned the other tourists taking pictures on the beach, picked her target, and walked toward two girls in the distance who were taking photos of each other.

"Hi, excuse me."

The two girls, who were busy taking photos of each other with their phones, heard a very pleasant voice beside them. They lowered their phones and turned to look.

"Whoa..." Upon seeing Su Yue, the same thought popped into both girls’ minds. ’This girl has an amazing figure, and she’s gorgeous!’

"Sorry to bother you, but could you do us a favor?" Su Yue asked with a smile.

"What is it?" the girl with long hair asked.

"I forgot to bring a phone stand, and I was hoping you could help us take a picture." As she spoke, Su Yue glanced back at Lin Li, who was standing in the distance watching them.

"Oh, take a picture of you and your boyfriend? Sure!" the long-haired girl said with a nod.

"..." Seeing that the girl had misunderstood her relationship with Lin Li, Su Yue just smiled without offering an explanation and led her over to where he was standing.

A moment later, the long-haired girl, holding Su Yue’s phone, aimed the camera at Lin Li and Su Yue, who were facing her with the ocean at their backs.

"Hey, get a little closer to your girlfriend! Don’t stand so far apart," the girl shouted as she focused the shot.

"Huh?" Lin Li, standing beside Su Yue, froze for a second when he heard that.

Just as he was about to explain that Su Yue wasn’t his girlfriend, she leaned against him, wrapped her arm around his, and snuggled up close.

Su Yue’s sudden move made Lin Li swallow the words he was about to say.

"Get ready, look over here..." the long-haired girl called out to them again.

Lin Li was staring in astonishment at Su Yue, who was clinging to his arm, when he heard the girl’s shout. He subconsciously lifted his head and looked toward the camera.

CLICK.

The long-haired girl seized the moment and tapped the phone screen.

Lin Li, with a look of surprise on his face, and Su Yue, with a radiant smile—the moment was frozen in time, preserved forever.

"All done," the long-haired girl said to Su Yue after taking the picture.

Hearing that the photo was taken, Su Yue very naturally let go of Lin Li’s arm and hurried over to the girl, taking the phone she was offered.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

After the long-haired girl left, Lin Li walked over to Su Yue’s side.

After looking at the photo, Su Yue held the phone in front of Lin Li and said with a grin, "Lin Li, look! Your expression is so dumbfounded!"

"Ugh, delete it! Let’s find someone else and take another one..." Lin Li glanced at the photo and saw that he did indeed look a bit dazed. He immediately suggested a do-over.

"No way. I think this picture turned out great..." Su Yue’s lips curled into a smile as she flatly rejected his proposal and put the phone back in her pocket.

Judging by the unconcealed joy on her face, she was clearly very satisfied with the photo.

"You..." Just as Lin Li was about to try again to convince Su Yue to delete the photo where he looked dazed, she raised a hand and pointed out at the distant sea. "Lin Li, look over there..."

Lin Li turned his head and followed her finger.

He saw a ship appear on the vast, distant sea. Flying from its mast was a pirate flag that gave off a seriously cringey vibe.

Before coming here for the diving tour, Lin Li had looked up the owner’s boat online. The moment he saw that cringey pirate flag, he knew the owner had arrived and that they would be heading out to sea soon.

The ship with the pirate flag was moving quite fast, and it reached the pier in no time.

The tourists waiting for the diving trip were called over by the plump Ms. Chen and gathered on the pier just before the ship docked.

The shop owner standing at the bow was a middle-aged man, close to fifty, and about five-foot-nine.

He wore a straw hat, a colorful shirt, and beach shorts. His skin was tanned dark from frequent trips out to sea. At that moment, he was calling out to the tourists gathered on the pier.

"Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Chen Jack, but you can call me Captain Jack! I will be your guide as we head out to sea to experience the natural beauty of the world below. Are you ready?"

The tourists, amused by the owner’s playful demeanor, laughed and replied, "We’re ready!"

"Alright, since everyone’s ready, please come aboard!" Captain Jack waved a hand, beckoning the tourists on the pier to board the ship.

"Lin Li, this owner is so interesting!" said Su Yue, who was walking at the back of the crowd, to Lin Li beside her.

"This Captain Jack actually flies a pirate flag on his boat. How cringey," Lin Li said, looking up at the flag fluttering in the wind at the top of the mast.

Su Yue followed Lin Li’s gaze to the top of the mast, then looked away, shot him a look, and thought to herself,

’You’ve got some nerve calling someone else cringey. You’re not much better yourself.’

...