I Start with a Mysterious Island-Chapter 108: Come On, Baby! I Can’t Wait
After saying goodbye to Xia Qing, Lin Li opened the door to his apartment. A cool, refreshing breeze washed over him.
THUD.
After closing the door, Lin Li changed into his indoor slippers and then walked toward the bedroom.
A short while later, Lin Li emerged from the bedroom, now wearing a set of camouflage fatigues.
BEEP.
Back in the living room, Lin Li picked up the air conditioner remote from the coffee table, turned off the AC, and then, with a thought, vanished.
On the Mysterious Small Island, shrouded in a vast white mist, Lin Li’s figure appeared out of thin air.
Arriving at the southern part of the Mysterious Small Island, Lin Li looked at the Spirit Plant he had planted yesterday and saw that it wasn’t struggling with its new environment.
In fact, the Spirit Plant seemed to quite like the environment on the Mysterious Small Island, because overnight, Lin Li noticed new buds sprouting on its branches.
’Phew...’ Seeing that the Spirit Plant he had dug up from that unknown Otherworld had survived, Lin Li, who had been worried it wouldn’t acclimate, let out a long sigh of relief.
SPLASH...
He picked up the bucket he’d left nearby and gave the Spirit Plant a little water.
Afterward, Lin Li went to the center of the island to check on the Magical Little Tree, which hadn’t changed at all.
Then, he walked toward the arched Stone Gate that stood beside the Magical Little Tree—a structure that was pitch-black, as if painted with ink, and appeared utterly unremarkable.
’Tsk... Who would have thought that this ordinary-looking Stone Gate could actually send someone to an unknown Otherworld.’
Standing before the Stone Gate, Lin Li recalled his experiences in the unknown Otherworld from the day before.
He then sized up the unremarkable Stone Gate in front of him, muttered something under his breath, and then, just as he had yesterday, reached out to touch it.
’Right, I almost forgot about that.’ Just as his outstretched right hand was about to touch the Stone Gate, Lin Li pulled it back.
Then, he took a pair of black sunglasses from his pocket and put them on.
’Alright, this should do it. Yesterday, the light from this Stone Gate was so dazzling I couldn’t even open my eyes...’
SLAP.
With his sunglasses on, Lin Li once again reached out his right hand and, just like yesterday, patted the pitch-black, arched Stone Gate before him.
’You know, the material of this Stone Gate looks dark and dingy, not very appealing, but it’s cool and smooth to the touch. Feels really nice.’
Just as Lin Li was stroking the black Stone Gate, savoring its cool touch, the unremarkable, seemingly useless gate began to erupt with a dazzling, pale-golden Spiritual Light, just as it had yesterday.
’Heh, you won’t make me close my eyes this time.’ Lin Li adjusted the sunglasses on his nose, widening his eyes to stare at the Stone Gate as it erupted in a dazzling glow.
Because of his experience yesterday, Lin Li wasn’t the least bit flustered by this phenomenon.
’Come on, baby! I can’t wait.’
WHOOSH.
A pale-golden beam of light shot out from the Stone Gate. Lin Li stood his ground, not dodging or flinching, allowing the beam to strike him.
It didn’t hurt or itch; he felt no discomfort at all.
Struck by the pale-golden beam, Lin Li’s body instantly turned from solid to ethereal, vanishing from the Mysterious Small Island in the blink of an eye.
...
「The Unknown Otherworld.」
A massive sun, twice the size of the one on Blue Star, hung high in the sky.
Bright sunlight shone down on the land. In the cloudless sky, several giant birds, one or two meters in length, would occasionally fly past.
SPLASH...
Water flew everywhere, and the clear pond instantly became murky.
"Damn it, my shoes and pants!"
His shoes and pants soaked by the pond water, Lin Li quickly waded toward the shore.
SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH...
After getting ashore, Lin Li looked at the murky pond he had disturbed and realized that when he left this unknown Otherworld, his next arrival point would be the exact same spot.
In this respect, the Stone Gate was just like the Mysterious Small Island.
’Seriously? I just changed into these shoes and pants, and now I have to change again... Good thing I have a spare set.’
Lin Li glanced down at his soaking wet shoes and pants, muttered to himself, and then, with a thought, retrieved a clean set of backup clothes from the Mysterious Small Island.
In broad daylight, someone was shamelessly stripping by the side of a pond.
Oh well! There was no one around in this desolate wilderness anyway. So what if he stripped? At worst, some animals hiding in the grass might get a peek. No big loss.
After changing into the clean clothes, Lin Li stored his soaking wet shoes and pants on the Mysterious Small Island, then retrieved his Spiritual Longsword.
’Time to head out. I’ll continue exploring to the east... So far, I know there are Mutant Beasts in this world. I just don’t know if there are any humans.’
...
Using the giant sun in the sky as a reference point, Lin Li began to head east.
After leaving the open area around the pond and entering a lush forest, he walked for about ten minutes before coming across a large swath of destroyed trees.
Examining the ruined trees, Lin Li found slashes from blades and claw marks from a fierce beast.
"This..." Lin Li stared at the chaotic battle scene before him and fell silent for a few seconds. Then, he continued on in his chosen direction.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t curious about what had destroyed that part of the forest.
But his primary mission for now was to get out of this vast forest and see if he could find any traces of civilization beyond it. He simply didn’t have the spare time to investigate the cause of the destruction.
CRACK.
He swung the sharp Spiritual Longsword in his hand, severing the vines that blocked his path.
For Lin Li, who had never been in a great forest before, the environment he found himself in was truly uncomfortable.
Compared to yesterday, Lin Li found that the path forward today was becoming increasingly difficult to traverse.
There’s a saying: "There are no roads in this world to begin with; as more people walk, a road is made."
But here, in a vast forest with no sign of human life, the so-called paths Lin Li followed weren’t made by people. Judging by the tracks, they were probably made by the forest’s animals.
Besides the difficult paths, some of the trees in the great forest were so overgrown that their dense branches and leaves blocked out nearly all the sunlight, forcing Lin Li to use the flashlight he had prepared in advance to see.
As for why he didn’t use his Superpower to conjure a small Fireball for light, it was, of course, to conserve his Spiritual Energy for emergencies.
In addition to the sunlight being blocked, there were also swarms of insects under the trees. Sometimes he’d encounter fallen trees whose leaves would completely cover the ground, making it impossible to see the terrain.
Occasionally, he would also see large holes of indeterminable depth on the path.
When faced with these large holes of unknown depth, ranging from about twenty to sixty centimeters in diameter, Lin Li would choose to go around them.
He was worried that some Mutant Beast might be hiding inside these deep, dark holes.
If he recklessly walked past these holes, he could easily be ambushed by a Mutant Beast lying in wait inside.
If that were to happen, it would be very difficult for him to escape.
...
