Chapter 34 Duwei's "harvest"

Duwei and Vivian dashed towards the woods, reaching the spot where the dragon lay dormant, only to find Vivian's flame dragon already awake, anxiously looking around and emitting roars of distress, clearly showing signs of fear.

Vivian immediately ran up to it, lifting her hand to grasp one of the dragon's claws and softly chanting some kind of spell. A faint glow emerged from her small hand, weak but enough to gradually calm the dragon down.

The roars turned into murmurs, and eventually, the dragon lowered its head again, laying back down to slip into slumber once more.

After casting the spell, Vivian looked exhausted. Duwei approached, noticing her unsteady stance, and gently supported her arm, whispering, "What happened?"

"I-I don't know, Lierre seemed seemed like it was startled, just now..."

"Hmm, have you managed to calm it down now?" Duwei inquired. Seeing Vivian nod, he continued solemnly, "The earthquake just now, and that strange roar, you must have heard it too. It came from the north of the island... I suspect there might be something on this island that we haven't discovered yet... Maybe some kind of wild beast."

Vivian's expression soured; though naive, she was still intelligent.

A wild beast?

What kind of wild beast could produce such terrifying roars? What kind of beast's roar could frighten a dragon?!

"I'm going to take a look," Duwei suddenly declared.

"Uh? W-will it be dangerous?"

"Dangerous...," Duwei shook his head, "I don't know. But what I can say for sure is that this island is not ordinary... Look around, there's not a single animal, not a single bird! What does that tell you? I suspect there might be a fearsome creature on this island, claiming it as its territory, which is why there are no other creatures here. Regardless, we're stuck on this island for the time being. I must figure out what's going on; otherwise, we might encounter that thing in the future... Did you hear the terrifying roar just now? We need to gather some information first! That way, if we do encounter that thing, we'll at least have some preparation and be able to come up with countermeasures in advance."

Vivian nodded vigorously, "I-I-I'll go with you!"

Duwei's expression turned serious, "No! Listen, little silly girl, you stay here and watch over your big pet! What if that roaring sound comes again, and the dragon gets startled? You're better off staying here to take care of it. And... you're too clumsy to bring along. Can you traverse the island barefoot all the way to the north?"

"..." Vivian was speechless. After some thought, she cast a pitiful glance at Duwei and hung her head, "Okay."

With a long stick in hand, Duwei set off. Instead of trekking through the forest, he chose to follow the shoreline of the island, skirting along the edge of the woods towards the north. It might take a bit more time, but it could potentially be safer.

With the thick fog and Duwei's suspicion of a formidable creature on the island—let's call it a "beast" for now—it was simply too dangerous to traverse through the jungle.

Heading north, as they approached the northern end of the island, Duwei suddenly noticed some low trees by the edge of the woods, bearing interesting-looking fruits.

These were large, round fruits, which delighted Duwei at first. He rushed over and plucked two, only to be disappointed soon after.

These seemingly green, large fruits turned out to be hollow. They resembled dried gourds from Duwei's previous life.

Nevertheless, Duwei decided to clumsily pick a few of these large "gourds" and tied them to the vine around his waist.

In case they encountered any formidable beasts, Duwei could just jump into the sea! With these hollow gourd-like things tied to him, they could act as floatation devices, providing buoyancy like swimming rings! If danger arose, Duwei could just leap into the sea.

Finally reaching the northern tip of the island, Duwei looked around and was astonished by the sight!

The northern end of the island, still covered in trees, was blanketed in frost!

Along the beach and the surrounding small woods lay a thick layer of frost! It was as if a small ice storm had just passed through here. However, what was alarming was that the climate here was unlikely to experience any ice storms!

And, noticeably, the area covered in frost was just that one large patch! Everywhere else remained perfectly normal!

Duwei's mind immediately raced as he thought of something!

He scanned the surroundings, searching for something, but the damn foggy weather severely limited visibility. Running along the beach for a while, Duwei first scoured the nearby woods, examining the frost on the ground. He then laboriously dug through the frost covering the ground until he made a discovery.

The soil beneath this frost was still moist and warm. This meant that the frost layer was instantly applied... perhaps by magic?

Duwei dashed towards the sea. Standing at the coastline, the waves gently lapped at his shins. Duwei strained to peer out over the sea...

Dimly, Duwei thought he saw something floating gently on the surface ahead. It seemed quite large, but details were obscured by the mist, only a vague outline visible.

"Could it be a ship?"

Hope surged in Duwei's heart as he shouted loudly and waved his arms.

Unfortunately, after shouting for a while, there was no response, and the object seemed to drift further away.

"It's not a ship..." Duwei confirmed to himself, as after staring for a while, he could vaguely discern a conical shape.

Regardless, Duwei made up his mind to investigate.

With the island's dire straits, scarce food and water, any opportunity had to be explored. Who knows, they might find something that could alleviate their situation!

Duwei tightened the large "gourds" strapped to his body, then threw himself into the sea, swimming frantically towards the object.

He swam with all his might, but being a landlubber in his previous life, Duwei had no swimming skills. His current actions resembled a dog paddle more than anything else.

Fortunately, the sea was relatively calm. In rougher waters, swimming would have been significantly more challenging, with every two meters gained often lost to the waves.

Struggling with all his might, buoyed by the excellent flotation of the large gourd-like objects tied to him, Duwei finally reached the vicinity of the large object...

Staring at the scene before him, Duwei was stunned. A wave splashed over him, almost choking him with seawater.

"Oh... my... god! Can this be true?!"

In front of him, unmistakably, was a small iceberg! A floating iceberg on the sea! It wasn't a ship or anything useful to Duwei.

More importantly, on the iceberg lay a person.

Clad in white ornate armor, a long white cloak... and hair as white as snow!

Vivian anxiously waited until dusk, the sky almost darkening. Her stomach growled with hunger once again. She still had a few roots of the plants Duwei had dug up in the morning, but Vivian didn't take them out to eat. Instead, she rubbed her stomach, sighed, and tucked the plants back into her pocket.

He... he probably hasn't eaten anything either.

The creature in the cage around her waist let out a sharp cry. This little creature was called Jiūjiū, a name quite fitting for it.

Vivian gently patted the cage and softly said, "Jiūjiū... please don't cry. I know you're hungry too. But... we can't eat these. We have to wait for him to come back."

Finally, just when Vivian was almost desperate, Duwei returned.

Vivian saw Duwei laboriously stepping forward, each step seeming to drain all his strength. He was carrying someone on his back!

Vivian's eyes widened in disbelief, fearing she was mistaken. She rubbed her eyes vigorously, confirming that it wasn't an illusion! Duwei had indeed brought someone back on his back!

Vivian hurriedly exclaimed and ran over. Duwei was almost out of breath, collapsing to the ground before Vivian could reach him, the person on his back tumbling to the side.

"Water! Please, some water... My goodness, I'm so exhausted." Duwei chuckled weakly, panting. "This person is much heavier than you!! My goodness... I can't... I can't anymore..."

Vivian hastily fetched a shoe filled with water and rushed over, but Duwei shook his head, gesturing towards the large gourds strapped to his body. Vivian picked one up and found it quite heavy, sloshing with water inside.

"I... I found these in the trees... they can hold water. And I collected some from a puddle on the way back... You can put on your shoes now."

Vivian felt a sense of gratitude. Indeed, her delicate feet had suffered enough throughout the day.

"Also, take a look at the person I brought back," Duwei said, chuckling. "Do you want to try reviving her? It's up to you to decide." After speaking, he took the gourd Vivian handed him and took several gulps before reclining again, still catching his breath.

Vivian then ran over to take a look at the person Duwei had brought back.

It's not that Vivian's eyesight was poor, but the moment she saw Duwei return, it was as if she had forgotten everything else. All her attention was focused on Duwei, so she completely ignored everything else, including the person Duwei had brought back.

However, now Vivian noticed the person, and her eyes widened in shock as she covered her mouth with her hand!

Carefully, the young sorceress approached and tried to turn over the person lying face down. Then, she confirmed that she hadn't mistaken.

"Sis... sister?!"