I Start with a Mysterious Island-Chapter 152 - 151: I Just Said It Casually, Why Did You Take It Seriously?
In a garden fragrant with flowers and alive with birdsong, colorful butterflies danced among the blossoms. Suddenly, a few birds perched on a large tree chirped, their clear calls echoing through the garden.
Gazing at the beautiful scenery, Zhu Xinru, who had been silent for a long while, suddenly spoke to her maid, Chunxiang.
"Chunxiang, when Mr. Lin bid us farewell, I did tell him he could come find me at our home if he ran into any trouble, didn’t I?"
The maid, Chunxiang, was watching two large, beautiful butterflies playfully chasing one another when she suddenly heard her mistress speak. She froze for a moment before replying.
"You did! When Mr. Lin was leaving, you told him so very clearly, my lady."
"If I did, then why hasn’t Mr. Lin come to find me after all these days?" Zhu Xinru, a beauty that outshone the flowers, furrowed her lovely, willow-leaf brows in confusion.
"My lady, if Mr. Lin hasn’t come looking for you, it must mean he hasn’t run into any trouble!" Chunxiang said.
"Oh, that’s true! Had I known, I would have told Mr. Lin to come find us after he got settled." Hearing Chunxiang’s reasoning, Zhu Xinru’s face fell with regret.
’Is... is this still my quiet and intelligent mistress? Why do I feel like she’s gotten dumber?’ Chunxiang fought the urge to palm her own forehead.
Ever since she had last parted ways with Lin Li, for some reason, his image would flash through Zhu Xinru’s mind from time to time.
It wasn’t that Zhu Xinru had fallen in love at first sight with the man who had saved her life, especially after spending so little time with him.
It was simply that she had developed a favorable impression of her rescuer, a man who not only saved her life but also carried a unique, distinguished air about him.
She recalled riding in the carriage with Lin Li and her maid, Chunxiang. During the entire journey, he had only been interested in asking about Dongwu City, showing no curiosity about her whatsoever.
Moreover, his gaze was remarkably clear and frank. This stood in stark contrast to the other young, wealthy scions she had met, all of whom had ulterior motives, which only improved her impression of Lin Li.
It was a feeling she had never experienced with any of the numerous wealthy young men she had met over the years.
"Chunxiang, Mr. Lin said he has no permanent home and enjoys traveling the world. Do you think he might have already left Dongwu City for another by now?" Zhu Xinru asked as her maid picked up a teacup.
"Dongwu City is huge. Since Mr. Lin came all this way, I doubt he would leave so soon." Chunxiang set down her cup, thought for a moment, and then answered.
"Mr. Lin mentioned he enjoys traveling the world. I wanted to ask him about the places he’s been. It’s a shame our time together was so short; I never got the chance," Zhu Xinru said, a hint of regret in her voice.
The Chu Kingdom was significantly larger than the entire continent of Asia, and its many cities were separated by vast distances.
Although Zhu Xinru was the esteemed Miss of the Zhu Family, she had never once set foot outside the borders of Dongwu City. Her only knowledge of the world beyond came from her father’s stories.
And while her father’s business was quite successful, its reach only extended to a few dozen cities surrounding Dongwu. He had never ventured any farther than that.
If Lin Li had been in the pavilion at that moment and heard Zhu Xinru’s desire to ask about his travels, an embarrassed expression would have likely crossed his face.
Back when he was sharing the carriage with Miss Zhu and her maid, Lin Li had figured they were just strangers meeting by chance. Once he reached Dongwu City, they would part ways, never to meet again.
That was why, when introducing himself, he had carelessly fabricated a history of wandering the world. Who would have thought that both Zhu Xinru and her maid would actually believe it?
* * *
The sun sank in the west, its last rays bathing the boundless wilderness in a fading glow.
"CAW CAW CAW..."
A few plump crows streaked across the sky, leaving a desolate caw in their wake.
"ROAR..."
A shrill, desperate roar, thick with unwillingness, shattered the wilderness’s silence.
"PSCCHT."
The Spiritual Longsword, glowing with a faint golden Spiritual Light, shot forward like a bolt of lightning and pierced through the head of the Mutant Beast, its eyes filled with despair.
"Sixteen."
As Lin Li drove the Spiritual Longsword, still glowing with faint golden Spiritual Light, into the Mutant Beast’s head, the creature died instantly.
He wasn’t taking any chances, though. With a twist of his wrist, he churned the already-dead beast’s brains to pulp with the glowing Spiritual Longsword.
’No coming back from having its head destroyed like that.’
Once he confirmed the Mutant Beast was well and truly dead, Lin Li yanked his arm back, pulling the Spiritual Longsword from its head.
A string of viscous white matter, streaked with blood, flew from the blade as he withdrew it, splattering onto the verdant leaves nearby.
"A little more progress today than yesterday. I’m getting more and more skilled at hunting these Mutant Beasts."
Lin Li didn’t hesitate to give himself that small bit of praise for his progress. He then crouched down, placed his left hand on the slain Mutant Beast’s corpse, and with a mere thought, absorbed it into the Mysterious Small Island.
"Time to head back. If I wait any longer, the rain will start. The ground in this wilderness will turn to mud in no time, and trying to ride the motorcycle back will be a real problem."
Lin Li had been thinking of hunting one more Mutant Beast, but the sight of dark clouds massing on the horizon made him immediately discard the idea.
He stored the Spiritual Longsword in the Mysterious Small Island, then retrieved the black motorcycle he had bought.
After hopping on the black motorcycle, Lin Li twisted the throttle. A loud roar shattered the wilderness’s newfound quiet.
"RUMBLE..."
The motorcycle roared to life. Lin Li sped off, maneuvering the rumbling bike skillfully across the rugged wilderness.
"Tch... It’s starting to thunder. Come on, heavens, give me a little more time! Don’t start raining just yet, I don’t want to get soaked like a drowned rat."
As Lin Li sped toward the safe zone on his motorcycle, he saw brilliant flashes of silver-white lightning occasionally illuminating the distant, ink-black clouds. ’This is bad,’ he thought.
"BOOM..."
A deafening clap of thunder exploded across the sky, instantly drowning out the noise from Lin Li’s motorcycle.
If not for the earth-shaking peals of thunder, the racket from Lin Li’s motorcycle would have already drawn a horde of Mutant Beasts to chase him down.
