Everyone survives in the ocean, I pick up a goddess for vacation Chapter 037

“Why are you doing this?” Lin Hao suddenly exerted force, pressing Xu Qiuyas against the cold metal bulkhead.

Xu Qiuyas grunted, her back aching from the impact.

She struggled, but didn’t budge.

Yet, her face showed no panic, instead, a flush appeared.

“Does that even need asking?” She panted, her eyes burning, “Mythical… one in ten billion, you’re the only one in all humanity!”

“It would be strange if I wasn’t tempted, wouldn’t it?”

Lin Hao frowned: “If you can see my talent, you should know.”

“You just need to stay on the ship, and I naturally won’t mistreat you.”

“Why sacrifice yourself?”

“Sacrifice?” Xu Qiuyas looked as if she had heard a joke.

“How can this be called a sacrifice?”

She suddenly became exceptionally serious: “Do you think I could possibly fall in love with a second man after meeting you?”

“No,” Lin Hao looked bewildered, “We’ve only met for a few hours in total, and you call this love?”

“Why not?” Xu Qiuyas looked directly into his eyes, her gaze scorching.

“Falling in love with someone, feeling a connection, isn’t it inherently an instantaneous thing?”

This overly direct confession caught Lin Hao off guard.

He was speechless for a moment.

“Do you think I’m utilitarian?” Her words came quickly, “While that’s not wrong… isn’t so-called love at first sight just coveting beauty?”

“You’re handsome, capable, and the only one in all humanity!”

“The fact that I’ve held out until now to confess is already extraordinary restraint, okay?”

She spoke with genuine emotion, without any hint of flirtatiousness.

But it made Lin Hao feel even stranger.

“But…” He tried to argue.

“Alright, alright~” Xu Qiuyas suddenly softened her voice, with a hint of helplessness and a strange indulgence.

“I’m really scared of you…”

“A man like you… is truly a rare animal.”

“Clearly…”

Her gaze meaningfully swept downwards.

Lin Hao’s tensed body reaction revealed his physiological honesty.

“However, this only makes me like you more, hehe~” She smiled slyly.

Then, her expression became serious: “Let me down, okay?”

“I’ll tell you my story.”

Lin Hao gazed at her rare serious expression.

After a moment of hesitation, he slowly released his hands.

Xu Qiuyas leaned against the bulkhead, her voice as calm as if she were talking about someone else.

“My parents divorced when I was very young.”

“My mom, she was very beautiful and strong-willed, and she raised me alone.”

“All these… skills of mine.”

“Observing people, speaking and acting, utilizing one’s advantages… she taught me all of it.”

She caught the unusual flicker in Lin Hao’s eyes and immediately added:

“But she never taught me these things to hurt others!”

“Only to… protect myself!”

“Think about it, how much malice and covetousness would a single little girl face, without a father’s protection and with an overly beautiful mother?”

“My mom taught me how to make those malicious gazes and outstretched claws retreat… with the least cost.”

“…Or, turn towards others.”

Her eyes sharpened.

“But I never actively swindle money.”

“If others insist on giving it to me, I’ll take it first, considering it protection money.”

“When we part ways, I’ll return it exactly as it was.”

“That’s the bottom line my mom set.”

“Protect yourself?” Lin Hao’s voice carried doubt, “This is more like playing with fire, if you’re not careful…”

“This is an emotional armor!” Xu Qiuyas interrupted him, cutting him off decisively.

“So, I also desperately practiced martial arts!”

“I’ve been learning Sanda since elementary school, won an award in the provincial youth group, and got into university on a sports scholarship!”

“I need to have real strength, to go hard when soft methods don’t work!”

She slightly lifted her chin, with a hint of stubbornness.

“In short, I am someone who severely lacks a sense of security.”

“Fortunately, relying on these… methods, I haven’t truly been harmed.”

“Whether mentally, or… physically.”

Lin Hao was silent.

He hadn’t expected that beneath this seemingly confident, even unrestrained woman, lay such a survival logic.

Distorted, dangerous, yet tinged with the sorrow of struggling to survive.

Xu Qiuyas took a deep breath.

“However, the absolute disparity in strength between men and women is not something I can change with effort.”

“Especially since coming to this damned sea! The law of the jungle is infinitely magnified!”

“I feel even more insecure!”

“I searched like crazy, desperately looking for someone who could truly make me feel at ease, someone who would free me from the constant need to be on edge, protecting myself!”

“Commander Lu? He’s strong, very upright, but he represents the collective, he represents order…”

“He can’t give me that… unique, absolute sense of security that belongs only to me!”

Her gaze once again focused on Lin Hao’s face, burning.

“Until I met you! Lin Hao!”

“The first moment I saw you, I knew I had found it!”

“You are the one who can end all my anxieties, the one worth entrusting everything to, gambling everything on!”

“Even if you can perceive my talent,” Lin Hao remained calm, “How can you perceive my character?”

“Why are you so certain?”

Xu Qiuyas suddenly revealed a sly and mysterious smile.

“Who said I don’t know your character?”

“Did you forget…”

“…We’re alumni, aren’t we? Senior Lin Hao?”

Lin Hao was instantly stunned.

She added triumphantly: “Though not in the same class…”

“But is it hard to inquire about a good-looking senior who always kept to himself, a bit mysterious?”

“You even inquired about me?” Lin Hao was truly shocked.

In school, due to his impoverished family background, he lived like a ghost.

In winter, he had no money to bathe, and his clothes were faded and patched, making him seem like an oddball and a pauper in his classmates’ eyes.

He had never imagined he would become an object of observation for a goddess-like figure like Xu Qiuyas.

“Of course!” Xu Qiuyas’s eyes were serious.

“My observational skills are very strong.”

“Although you were taciturn and your clothes… well… plain, I noticed a few things.”

“First, you never bullied the weak; I once saw you quietly help a bullied junior student pick up books.”

“Second, your grades were very good, especially in science, which shows you are smart and focused.”

“Third, and most crucially…”

“…Your eyes were very clean and stubborn, with a kind of… unyielding spirit.”

“If not for…”

She paused, her tone carrying a hint of imperceptible regret and coldness.

“…If not for your family being so poor…”

“I might have tried to approach you much earlier.”

“I know this sounds very realistic, very materialistic…”

“But Lin Hao, a relationship without a material foundation is like a mirage, it disperses with a gust of wind.”

“I don’t want both of us to fall into a deeper quagmire.”

“That’s why I didn’t…”

Lin Hao felt incredibly complex.

Beneath Xu Qiuyas’s glamorous exterior lay a subtlety, calculation, and clear-headedness far beyond his imagination.

She was like a butterfly navigating through thorns, using beauty and danger to protect her fragile wings.

“Since you know my character,” Lin Hao’s voice was low, with a hint of weariness.

“Then there’s even less need for you to be like this.”

“As long as you behave yourself and don’t cause trouble, with your ability and value…”

“I will naturally treat you as an important partner, protect you, and be good to you.”

“No, Lin Hao, you still don’t understand me enough.” Xu Qiuyas slowly shook her head.

Her eyes held a resolute determination, like a moth drawn to a flame.

“People like me, either don’t trust anyone and isolate themselves, using every means to protect themselves…”

“Or, once I choose to trust, it’s a complete, unreserved surrender!”

“More than anyone, I yearn for a passionate, reckless love!”

“It is the only light I want to grasp in my bleak life!”

“Even if it might burn me!”

She looked at Lin Hao, her eyes shimmering with an almost pleading, persistent light.

“As for your feelings for me… please, don’t say anything now.”

She suddenly took a step forward.

Her cool fingers gently covered Lin Hao’s lips.

Her voice carried an imperceptible tremor, shedding all pretense, leaving only pure vulnerability:

“These past years, I’ve lived on thin ice…”

“Every step has been cautious, wearing a thick mask…”

“Just let me be willful this once, okay?”

“Let me… try to grasp this ray of light…”

“Even if it’s just a moment of warmth and peace of mind…”

“Don’t… disqualify me so quickly…”