Chapter 65: The Massive Floating Island

At this moment, Zhang Lianmeng continued, "Little brother, please wait a moment."

Han Xing slowly came to a halt and frowned. "What else is the matter?"

Seeming to sense the impatience in Han Xing's tone, Zhang Lianmeng said nervously, "Well... can I do this hidden quest with you?"

Han Xing frowned.

Seeing this, Zhang Lianmeng quickly explained, "Don't... don't misunderstand, I'm not suddenly going back on my word, it's just that I thought of something related to the quest..."

"What is it? Speak." Han Xing's tone was somewhat impatient.

Zhang Lianmeng said cautiously, "This fragment... I accidentally found it while exploring a floating island."

"There was a goblin camp inside. After defeating that group of goblins, I found an iron cage in the camp. Inside the iron cage, a terrifying, absolutely terrifying person was locked up..."

"That person was curled up on the ground, with bloody holes all over his body, but not a single drop of blood was flowing out! He was thinner than a skeleton, it was beyond exaggeration!"

At this point, Zhang Lianmeng seemed to recall something horrifying, and her delicate body trembled slightly. "I... I originally wanted to rescue him, but the moment I opened the iron cage, that person suddenly grabbed my arm!"

"His palm was colder than ice, and I was so scared."

"Then, without any explanation, he used his own blood to draw a mark on my wrist!"

"He... he also said that there is a hidden location in this place, and only by using this mark and that weapon fragment can the boulder gate be opened to initiate the quest."

"After saying that, that person died..."

"So, I feel that if I don't participate in this quest, it probably won't be possible to complete it."

After listening to Zhang Lianmeng's narration, Han Xing's eyes widened. "Damn it, why didn't you say so earlier?"

Han Xing's questioning tone made Zhang Lianmeng instantly tremble all over. She lowered her head and didn't dare to speak.

Realizing that his attitude had been a bit harsh, Han Xing softened his tone slightly. "Show me the mark on your arm."

Zhang Lianmeng obediently rolled up her sleeve, revealing a section of snowy, lotus-root-like arm, and brought it close to Han Xing's eyes.

At the wrist, Han Xing indeed saw a blood-red mark, resembling a symbol or some kind of bizarre script.

Han Xing nodded, pondered for a moment, and said, "How about this? You can come with me to do this quest, but let's make it clear beforehand: all the rewards from this quest belong to me."

"And as payment, after the quest is completed, I can escort you to where your man is. What do you think?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Lianmeng was instantly overjoyed, nodding continuously like a chick pecking at rice.

"Mm-hmm!"

Han Xing nodded, then returned to his floating island territory and slowly sailed away.

Seeing Zhang Lianmeng still standing dazed in her spot, he called out, "Keep up."

Zhang Lianmeng hastily maneuvered her floating island territory to follow.

Han Xing was decisive in his actions; since he had decided to undertake this quest, he immediately sprang into action.

At the same time, standing on his territory, he stroked the glowing, gold-plated fragment in his hand and muttered, "The Molten Gold Cannon? Sounds like a ranged weapon, its power should be quite decent."

"If I can get my hands on it and place it in the territory, it will greatly enhance the territory's offensive capabilities."

The two floating islands proceeded one after the other.

Night fell shortly after Han Xing rescued Zhang Lianmeng.

However, not long into the journey, Zhang Lianmeng suddenly discovered that her territory was getting farther and farther away from Han Xing's. Her territory's speed seemed to be a large chunk slower than his.

This was because she was currently two levels lower than Han Xing, making her territory's forward speed inherently slower. Coupled with the Lord's Castle's 10% speed bonus that Han Xing possessed, it didn't take long for him to leave this woman behind.

"Please... please wait for me..."

From afar, Han Xing heard Zhang Lianmeng's cry.

With no other choice, he temporarily stopped his floating island and waited for the woman for a moment.

Han Xing looked back and saw Zhang Lianmeng biting her lips tightly, desperately trying to catch up to him.

Han Xing shook his head, then controlled the floating island's forward speed to roughly match Zhang Lianmeng's.

Only then did Zhang Lianmeng feel much more at ease.

They traveled continuously for four hours.

Deep into the night.

According to Han Xing's habit, it was time to prepare for rest.

Therefore, he came to a stop.

Behind him, Zhang Lianmeng cautiously maneuvered her floating island territory to merge with Han Xing's.

Zhang Lianmeng asked nervously, "Um, why aren't we moving anymore?"

Han Xing shook his head. "It's getting late. The coordinates on this metal fragment are a bit far. A conservative estimate is that it will still take five or six hours to arrive. We'll rest for today."

"Traveling at night is not very safe either. We'll continue tomorrow."

Hearing Han Xing say this, Zhang Lianmeng also heaved a sigh of relief.

She was indeed exhausted to the bone.

First escaping death from the hands of that group of kobolds, and then traveling continuously for more than four hours, both her spirit and body had reached their limits.

At this moment, Han Xing noticed that Zhang Lianmeng's complexion was abnormally pale.

He looked at the woman's body and found that the wounds on her lower abdomen and shoulder were still oozing blood.

A somewhat bizarre feeling suddenly arose in Han Xing's heart.

For this woman to drag such an injured body and constantly struggle to keep up with his pace—it must be said, it was quite hard on her.

At this point, no matter how hard-hearted Han Xing was, he couldn't help but feel a shred of compassion.

Thus, Han Xing asked, "Why aren't you using a Life Potion to heal your injuries?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Lianmeng was first somewhat blank, and then, too ashamed to speak, she said, "I... I don't have any Life Potions..."

"You don't?"

Han Xing was somewhat puzzled. "Didn't you say your man is part of the management of God's Whisper? With such a large team, he couldn't even spare a single bottle of Life Potion?"

Hearing this, Zhang Lianmeng replied, "Uh, he told me that Life Potions are relatively precious items, and he doesn't have many bottles on hand either..."

"Recently, he just reunited with the team, saying they are going to challenge a two-star secret realm, and right now the team members are the ones who need potions the most. My injuries are only minor and will get better after resting for two days..."

Zhang Lianmeng lowered her head, not daring to meet his eyes directly.

Han Xing looked at her with a strange expression and asked, "Is your relationship with your man not good? Your own fiancée got injured, and he's unwilling to even spare a single bottle of Life Potion?"

This question was very sharp and seemed to pierce Zhang Lianmeng's heart. Her delicate body trembled slightly, and she found it difficult to put into words.

Seeing this, Han Xing said, "If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to."

Zhang Lianmeng raised that pitiful face, smiled bitterly, and shook her head. "Saying our relationship isn't good—actually, we aren't familiar with each other at all..."

"Him and I... were introduced through relatives and friends, and we've met less than twice in total. Getting engaged to me was just to fulfill a family obligation..."

"After that, he threw himself entirely into his career and never looked for me. I thought that since we indeed weren't very familiar yet, we could gradually get to know each other."

"But not long after that passed, we arrived in this world..."

After listening to Zhang Lianmeng's narration, Han Xing suddenly asked with a strange look in his eyes, "Is your fiancé impotent or something?"

"Huh?" Zhang Lianmeng seemed not to understand the meaning behind Han Xing's words.

"Never mind, it's nothing." Han Xing shook his head.

With that, Han Xing took out a bottle of Life Potion from his inventory and tossed it casually to her.

Zhang Lianmeng instinctively reached out and caught it.

When she saw the system description and the attributes of this potion, her mouth instantly dropped into an "O" shape in shock.

Han Xing waved his hand ahead and said, "Drink it quickly to recover. We still have quests to do later, and I don't want to be dragged down by your injuries."

Zhang Lianmeng gripped the potion tightly in her hands, nodded heavily, and her eyes filled with gratitude.

Being a woman several years older than Han Xing, she seemed to have grasped Han Xing's personality, knowing he wasn't the overly squeamish type.

So right in front of him, she drank the potion in her hand in one gulp.

The next moment, she felt a wave of warm energy melt in her stomach, and a soothing warmth spread throughout her entire body.

Especially around her wounds, a tingling, numb sensation made her almost unable to hold back a cry.

"Hm..."

A suppressed sound mixed with a hint of pleasure echoed from behind.

Huh? What kind of weird sound is that?

Han Xing abruptly turned around and stared at her with wide eyes.

Realizing her lack of composure, Zhang Lianmeng hurriedly covered her mouth, but waves of inner heat continued to wash over her.

She tried her hardest to keep herself from making any noise, pressing her legs tightly together and rubbing them unconsciously, while simultaneously covering her mouth and pressing against her wounds.

This delicate, alluring, and pitiful sight caused Han Xing, a hot-blooded young man, to feel a surge of boiling blood and a dry throat.

Han Xing hurriedly turned his head away and gave a couple of dry coughs.

"Ahem, rest quickly once you've recovered. We have to hit the road early tomorrow morning."

"Mm... mm..."

Zhang Lianmeng tried her best to control her vocal cords, but little did she know, the harder she tried to control it, the stranger the sound she emitted became.

Han Xing rushed into his castle as if fleeing for his life.

Behind him.

After Zhang Lianmeng suppressed herself for a while, the healing effect of the Life Potion finally came to an end.

She slowly exhaled, sat on the ground drenched in sweat, her form-fitting mage robe soaked through, faintly revealing her magnificent silhouette and patches of snowy skin.

At this moment, Zhang Lianmeng looked at the huge castle within Han Xing's territory, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and then blinked her eyes with curiosity.

However, she didn't ask any further questions and honestly returned to her own territory.

At the center of Zhang Lianmeng's territory was a makeshift tent constructed from wooden sticks and fabric, where she usually rested.

Night grew deeper.

Zhang Lianmeng fell asleep on a straw mat, though in her dream, she seemed to see the back of a man.

...

The next day, as dawn broke.

Zhang Lianmeng felt someone calling her from outside the tent.

Just as she poked half her head out, she saw Han Xing sitting quietly on a stone near the tent, waiting.

Since their territories were already connected, Han Xing could freely enter her territory.

Zhang Lianmeng blushed, feeling somewhat embarrassed to have a man witness her waking up.

However, Han Xing asked with a stern expression, "Didn't you seem to mention yesterday that your man plans to challenge a two-star secret realm recently?"

When waking up this morning, Han Xing suddenly recalled that the woman mentioned last night that the God's Whisper team was preparing to challenge a two-star secret realm, which had caught his attention.

Mind you, even for himself, challenging a one-star secret realm had been an uphill battle.

Could the peak strength of the God's Whisper team have already reached such heights?

However, upon reflection, that shouldn't be the case.

The difficulty of a one-star secret realm was already extremely high, and a two-star secret realm's difficulty would skyrocket even further. At the current stage, probably very few teams could clear it.

Even if there were, casualties were bound to be heavy.

Therefore, he found the woman and said, "As a friendly reminder, if you still want to see your man alive, tell him not to challenge the two-star secret realm."

"Ah? Why?" Zhang Lianmeng seemed utterly perplexed.

"Because he'll die." Han Xing stated succinctly.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Lianmeng turned pale as a sheet. She didn't doubt the words of the man before her; his formidable combat power had already proven that point.

There was no way he would lie to her about something like this.

Zhang Lianmeng hurriedly sent a message to her fiancé.

A moment later, Han Xing noticed her expression turn extremely ugly.

"What did he say?"

Hesitating for a moment, Zhang Lianmeng stammered, "He... he said what does a woman like me know? The team strength of God's Whisper is very powerful, and they won't fail the challenge. He even told me not to disturb him these past few days."

At this, Zhang Lianmeng appeared deeply aggrieved, and inwardly, she felt an even greater sense of disappointment toward her unfamiliar fiancé.

Han Xing spread his hands—it was impossible to save those who were hell-bent on seeking their own doom.

He had only mentioned it in passing as a kind reminder; whether they chose to listen or not was their own business.

Zhang Lianmeng had no idea what to do at this moment.

Han Xing shook his head. "Since he doesn't want to listen, forget about it. Pack up and get up, we need to hurry on our way."

"Hopefully... he can survive..."

Zhang Lianmeng trailed off, lost for words. A moment later, she sighed, no longer knowing what to think.

After waking the woman up, Han Xing returned to his own territory and continued advancing toward their destination.

Six hours later, the two of them traveled continuously for over 600 kilometers, detouring around numerous large clouds along the way without pausing for almost a single moment.

Finally, by the afternoon, they reached their destination.

Appearing before him was a massive floating island.

This floating island was an island in the truest sense of the word, roughly the size of a mountain peak.

It was not enveloped by clouds, allowing the internal landscape to be seen at a single glance.

It was covered in lush flowers, trees, and all kinds of vegetation.

Flocks of birds could be seen occasionally flying out from among the forest.

This was the first time Han Xing had ever seen such a bizarre floating island; it was like a world straight out of a fairy tale.

It didn't seem to be a monster's territory, because even as Han Xing approached, no system prompts appeared.

With a puzzled expression, Han Xing controlled his territory to move closer, secured the floating island's position, and then led Zhang Lianmeng into the mountain forest.

The moment they landed, Han Xing felt a soft cushion beneath his feet. Due to the accumulation of fallen leaves over the years, stepping on them produced a rustling sound.