A Former Police Officer Who Died And Get A Second Life!-Chapter 81: Grilled Fish and a Reward

He just wanted to eat fish.

That was all.

"Mayo, please wait here, okay?"

"Mayo~"

Thinking that the climate would be too hot for Mayo, Qiong Xing made a simple shade using driftwood and a bath towel he had picked up.

They had brought spare clothes for everyone, but there was no need to deliberately soak them.

After leaving Cari in just his underwear and taking off only his own trousers, Qiong Xing headed toward the shallows with him.

Feeling the texture of the sand flowing beneath his feet on the beach for the first time, Cari seemed to feel strangely restless.

"Are you scared?"

"My feet feel weird."

While holding hands with Cari as he splashed the water’s surface, Qiong Xing scraped at the sand with his feet as if digging.

When something lightly tapped against his foot, he reached down and pulled it up with his hand.

It was small, but it was the clam he had been looking for.

"This is a shellfish. Like this, try moving your feet as if you’re scraping the sand. If something bumps into your feet, it might be a clam."

"Okay."

It would probably be difficult for young Cari, but since experience mattered in everything, Qiong Xing let him try.

Watching Cari make a serious face as he searched for clams reminded Qiong Xing of himself as a child.

Back then, he had gotten carried away after being taught by his mother and wandered too far into deeper water, nearly drowning, only to be hurriedly saved by his father.

After that, Qiong Xing had become unable to swim, but playing like this in the shallows was still possible.

"Uu... uun, huh? ...This?"

In the small palm he showed, there lay a tiny shell.

"That’s right. Amazing, just as expected of you, Cari."

"Ehehe."

When Qiong Xing praised him again and again, saying how amazing he was, Cari happily went back to searching once more.

Qiong Xing searched together with him and before they knew it, they had managed to gather enough to fill both hands.

"Qiong Xiiing, look! This one’s hu... Wait, what kind of getup are you wearing!?"

"Leander? Wow, that’s quite a haul."

Leander had a huge fish in one hand and skewered onto the tip of the spear in his left hand was another large fish.

Joa who had followed behind him were also carrying fish in both arms and Elias was holding the kelp Qiong Xing had asked for as well.

"As expected of you. You even properly brought back what I asked for."

The kelp was the same color Qiong Xing recognized, but as for the fish, their colors were different from what he had imagined. It’s so colorful that he couldn’t tell which fish was which.

"Right!? Give me a reward!"

"......."

Could it be that Leander had worked that hard just for that reason?

However, having a vague idea of what Leander was hoping for, Qiong Xing promised him it would be later and decided that they would grill and eat a few of the fish for now.

He thanked Joa who skillfully started a fire, then skewered some smaller fish (large by Qiong Xing’s standards) onto branches, sprinkled them with salt, and set them around the fire.

"It’s making crackly sounds."

The pleasant smell of the grilling fish tickled their noses and Cari seemed unable to wait.

Qiong Xing poured out some cool water for Mayo, then let the grilled fish cool before flaking it apart and feeding it to him.

It felt like camping and it was fun.

After carefully flaking the fish so that no bones would get stuck, Qiong Xing fed some to Cari as well and Cari smiled, saying it was delicious.

"It’s delicious. Thank you, all three of you."

When Qiong Xing expressed his gratitude for their unexpected effort, they laughed and told him not to worry about it.

All except Leander, of course.

"After a short break, shall we head back for today? If we get back too late, Fei will start to worry."

Laughing that they couldn’t make the motherly Fei worry, the three of them nodded, saying that was true.

Only Cari looked confused, not quite understanding what they meant.

After properly putting out the fire and packing away the many fish and the kelp they had worked hard to gather into their bags, they left the sea behind.

Relying on Leander and the others again to carry them on the way back, they were able to arrive at the hideout by the time the sun was setting.

Since it was already late, they decided to cook the fish the next day, and Cari with his eyelids already drooping as if he were exhausted from getting too excited was quickly put into the bath and then laid down in his bed.

"Good night. Please rest well."

When Qiong Xing gently patted his head, Cari fell asleep immediately, and Qiong Xing smiled at the sight.

He then turned to head toward the dining hall to quench his dry throat, only to be caught by Leander.

Elias and Joa were behind him as well, so they were clearly accomplices.

Dragged along as if being pulled, he was escorted straight into Joa’s room.

"What is it? I want to go to sleep already too, you know..."

"We haven’t gotten our reward."

It was completely unexpected.

Although he’s not as tired as Cari, Qiong Xing was exhausted enough that he just wanted to lie down, but it seemed they had no intention of letting him off the hook.

On top of that, before he knew it, all his clothes had been stripped away on Joa’s large bed and then he was made to put on only a big shirt.

"...Nice."

Seeing the three of them nodding in satisfaction, Qiong Xing could only feel exasperated.

Certainly, wearing a boyfriend’s shirt was something men admired, but that only had meaning when it was a cute girl doing it.

Even if he was more slender compared to Leander and the others, Qiong Xing was still an adult man, and this wasn’t something he should be doing.