The bubbly friend held her on both shoulders. "How did you do that?"
She scratched her head. "The what?"
The two leaders approached her. "What happened? How did you end the monster?" the leader with eyeglasses interrogated.
"How?!" the chubby leader added.
She calmed them all down first. "Well, first, I wondered why we were attacked tonight. Second, the monster looked like a hybrid of a dog and a cat. Third, it had worms in its stomach. Fourth, why didn't it attack us all when we got close to the river?"
"And then?" the bubbly girl persistently queried.
"The answer is that the monster is afraid of water and salt."
"Huh?!" they questioned her in harmony.
"Animals are more vigilant at night compared to humans; this secures a probable win for the monster. Its face is a combination of a dog's and a cat's. Aren't most dogs and cats afraid of water? We managed to pierce its body through its stomach. The stomach with worms in it dies when you pour salt on it. There's a possibility that it might not die completely, but the effect is painful. The proof of that was why it didn't attack us right away when we were near the river because it was afraid of it." She gazed into the river while she continued explaining her theory to them.
"Actually, this river is not an ordinary form of water. Its water is too salty, confirming it is very dense, so we were able to stay afloat even if it was too shallow, with a depth of a little higher than our knees. And because the monster was afraid of water and salt, I splashed its wounded stomach with worms inside with salt water from the river."
She hoped they got her explanation. In winning this first game or challenge that the hologram gave them, the answer to this victory was not purely of strength but also a battle of wit. She made them confused earlier when she threw water on the monster's stomach using an empty coconut shell lying on the ground, which she just gotten somewhere. Gladly, there were nearby coconut trees near the river.
"Aha!" a blonde funny boy exclaimed. "That's why when I went there with a wounded ankle, it hurt like hell!"
But the mystery does not end here. She squinted, glaring at the quiet river behind them. The mystery is why the river is too shallow and why their clothes and hair have become waterproof before.
"Ugh," someone tapped her shoulder and took her back to her senses. "Kyah! You're now my idol!" It's her bubbly friend.
"Thank you for saving us," The modest girl beamed.
The leaders tapped her on the shoulder and smiled. The others also thanked her. She didn't know how to handle their compliments, but what matters is they're safe.
"It's better that we go back to our huts. The monster didn't damage it too much, so we can still sleep there," the chubby leader announced.
The others left at once, while some left a trace of trauma on their faces. She did not expect her classmate to approach her. Wait, was she really the one he was approaching? She checked if someone was behind her, but yup, she's alone.
He stood right next to her and brought his mouth close to her ear.
"Well done," he whispered with a subtle smile, then walked away.
That made her smile. Something took over the weight of her burden when she heard his voice of gratitude. Ever since they landed in space, they haven't spoken a word to each other. She wishes she could talk to him more because there are so many questions bothering her. She doesn't think they spent a full 24 hours here yet, so she still has a lot of time to approach him soon.
"Ayiiee," the nerve of this bubbly girl as she teases her.
"You and that guy, huh?" It seems that the modest girl has been influenced. She ignored them.
"Hurry up, three of you! Don't get lost with the group!" the chubby leader shouted, so they ran.
She stopped when she was about to leave the mysterious river. She took a fairly large rock and threw it into the river.
*tchg*
She wasn't too surprised by what she heard. A sound of a rock falling into the water and a sound of a rock hitting a metal. She smirked.
"Come on!" the two of them called out to her.
***
She was so tired that she didn't realize that they had fallen asleep here in the forest. And since some of their huts got destroyed and left unfinished, they just took a banana leaf and made a sleeping mat out of it. There was a bonfire in the middle, so it wasn't too cold. Boys and girls are also mixed in their sleep. It was a challenging start for all of them.
It's now morning. Fresh air feels good. Others are still asleep from the traces of fear and fatigue they experienced last night. The only beautiful and positive thing she sees now is the picturesque view of this place. Her tiredness seemed to go away even for a moment. The atmosphere today is different from the tension that prevailed last night. Too much happened yesterday that she doesn't want to go back to. She doesn't have any idea what time it is because she doesn't have a clock. She thinks it's about 7:00 am - 9:00 am.
She would have stood up when she felt as if someone held her body. The two hugged her tightly and made her a body pillow. She slowly removed their hands and legs from her body, but they tightened their grip even more. After a few minutes, the escape was finally over. She breathed a sigh of relief. She was about to look for a place where there was clean water to wash her dirty face when she remembered the unsolved mystery of the river.
She ran quickly to the river barefoot. When she arrived, she was shocked and amazed at what she saw. Her eyes widened as she looked at it. She was right. She wasn't mistaken in her suspicion last night. Mystery shrouds this river. But even so, she also can't believe that her deduction was correct. She thought she was just imagining it, but here she was now, seeing with her eyes. In front of her is a castle-like infrastructure.
Yes, impossible, but they are on the nth planet. It's enormous that you'll think you're in a fantasy land in an amusement park. The only difference is that, unlike the colorful castles for princes and princesses they have on Earth and in fantasy books, this one is filled with terror. It is almost covered with dark steel with a triangular top, and the rest is pure gray color. It's like a haunted version of an ideal princess castle.
Last night, she threw a rock into the river to see if she could hear the strange sound, and she's not mistaken. Since metal-like was the sound she heard last night and not concrete or wooden material, this castle is made of an unspecified type of metal, but most likely steel. It is huge and wide in scope. It seems to be floating on the surface of the shallow river, but the truth of the matter is that this castle has long been submerged under this river and hidden. It is like an underground plant that grew overnight underwater.
"Hey"
She gasped when she heard a boy's voice. She turned around, and her classmate called her.
"What is..." Instead of looking at her, he directed his attention on the mysterious castle in front of them.