I really don't want to date a girl addicted to the internet!

Holding the staff, Shen Xi slapped her forehead and sighed.

After a while, when the crimson beam of light, as thick as a washbasin, swept across the floating island, melting all the monsters along the way and leaving behind red-hot marks, the monsters that were originally climbing upwards suddenly seemed to lose their strength and fell into the sea of ​​clouds. Those still on the island also retreated in unison and jumped down.

Soon, only the corpses of numerous monsters, reduced to ordinary withered branches after being killed, remained on the island.

The group of people on the airship breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this scene.

The man and woman exchanged a glance, their expressions showing a sense of relief.

"Thank you so much. I thought I was going to die today." The man wiped his sweat, calmed himself down, and reached out his hand to Cheng Fei.

Next, at the other party's invitation, the Miriam crew went to the house on the island, where the two sides had a brief conversation.

"You mean you live here and don't even know what those monsters are?" Cheng Fei raised an eyebrow.

"Those...tree spirits, that's what everyone calls them now, they only appeared recently, I've never heard of them before." The man smiled wryly.

"Who are you people, and why do you live in a place like this?" Shen Xi asked coldly.

"As you can see, this is actually the hotel we run," the man said, gesturing towards the room.

"Will there be any guests here?" Nagasaki Asuna tilted her head.

"Of course there are. They're all adventurers like you, planning to go to the roots of the World Tree. You must be adventurers, right?" The man sized up the group, whose members were a complex mix of people in various senses.

Leia thought for a moment, then looked at the woman beside her, "You're an elf, why are you in a place like this? And she... is she your daughter?"

The elven saintess frowned slightly, lost in thought.

The little girl who had fought alongside the man was now being held in the woman's arms; both of them had identical blue hair.

Under everyone's gaze, the little girl nestled in the woman's arms, calling out, "Mommy..."

“She is my daughter, and this is my husband.” The woman looked at Leia and Eve with a determined gaze, her eyes falling on their runic longswords, a hint of unease flashing across her face. “You… are from the guard?”

"Don't worry, we won't interfere with your marriage to a human." Leia shook her head.

"Thank you..." the woman said quickly, as if she had breathed a sigh of relief.

"So she's a half-elf? She looks so strong." Nagasaki Asuna looked at the little girl.

Aside from her pointed ears and hair color, the little girl's appearance was no different from that of a normal human child, forming a stark contrast to the dazed and thin shadow that Nagasaki Asuna was holding in front of her.

"Nana, according to the lore, she should be a first-generation half-elf, definitely not someone that can be compared to an ordinary half-elf," Cheng Fei reminded her in a low voice.

"Hello, what's your name?" Zhou Han bent down to the little girl and said with a smile.

The little girl shrank her neck and buried her face in the woman's arms.

764. Something that makes a young girl tremble

"Ruan Jingyi, do I look scary?" Zhou Han's smile froze, and she turned to her best friend for help.

The quiet girl holding the sniper rifle gently shook her head at this.

Shen Xi watched this scene unfold, then suddenly kicked Cheng Fei, seemingly losing interest in everything. "Once the problem is solved, hurry up. According to the markings on the empty map, there are towns nearby where we can stay. Ask for their exact locations."

“Okay.” The boy nodded seriously, then looked at the man. “She asked me to ask about the exact location of the nearby towns?”

The man scratched his head and thought for a moment, "You're going to Fog Town? It's not far ahead, you'll see it easily when you get there."

"Then let's go." Shen Xi turned and left.

Upon seeing this, the rest of the crew on the Miriam immediately followed suit.

Stepping out of the hotel, Shen Xi stopped and looked around. "Oh, right, collect some tree spirit corpses to take away for research."

"Understood." Leia nodded quickly and told Eve to do as she was told.

"Me too!" Vino jogged up to catch up.

Just as the group was about to board the ship to end this little incident, the couple who ran the inn quickly came up to them.

“If you’re going to stay in Fog Town, why don’t you stay here? It’s very convenient for us to get to all the islands, and it’s getting late anyway.” The man spoke tentatively, then paused. “We’ll offer you accommodation for free. We’re worried the tree spirit might reappear… and we can pay you if there’s any trouble.”

Upon hearing this, Cheng Fei and Shen Xi, who were walking ahead, stopped and exchanged a glance.

It was evening in Elkonis, and the orange-red sunset cast its light on the trunk of the World Tree, one side bright and the other dark.

"What does Teacher Shen think?" Cheng Fei shrugged.

"Whatever." The silver-haired, aloof girl lowered her eyes.

……

After discussion, the crew of the Miriam stayed at an inn called "The Gerster Family Inn," Gerster being the name of the man who owned the inn.

Since there was nothing urgent, the group dispersed and went their separate ways.

"Little Dark, you're all half-elves, why don't you chat with Yuna?" Zhou Han squatted down and patted Dark's little head with a smile, speaking in a tone that sounded like she was coaxing a child.

In front of the blonde half-elf, the blue-haired little girl shrank her neck and hid a rough rag doll behind her back.

"What is chatting?" Shadow blinked her wine-red eyes, her small face blank.

Zhou Han pondered for a moment, "Chatting is about talking about things that interest us."

"Oh." Shadow nodded, thought seriously for a moment, and looked at the little girl named Yuna, "Have you ever killed anyone?"

The little girl's eyes widened, and she turned and ran to hide beside the innkeeper who was passing by.

"I'm sorry, this child hasn't had many friends since he was little, and he's rather introverted." The proprietress turned around and gave an apologetic smile.

Zhou Han's smile froze for the second time today. She lowered her voice and said, "Uh, Xiao An, can we talk about something normal?"

Meanwhile, outside the inn, Shen Xi was staring at Cheng Fei dissecting the dead tree spirit, looking as if he were untangling a tangled thicket of bushes.

Among the branches, the boy found something that looked like a tuber. When he cut it open, a milky white sap seeped out from the cut surface. He picked it up and squeezed it.

"How does it feel?" Shen Xi frowned slightly.

"It's similar to other places, why don't you give it a try?" Cheng Fei handed her the tuber, whose outer skin texture was strangely similar to a kiwi but also very soft.

"No." The girl quickly hid her hands behind her back, her face tense.

"Why?" the boy asked in surprise.

"It's soft and limp, like both a plant and an animal, and it's covered in fuzz. It's disgusting. Just let me know if you find it." The girl looked disgusted.

The boy smiled helplessly, "She really is my little darling."

The baby-faced girl next to him scratched her head, looking like she was racking her brains to remember something. "Strange, really strange. I've never even heard of this kind of monster. I should have brought that Encyclopedia of Elkonis Species with me."

"Teacher Shen, didn't your Corridor Species Collection find this either?" Cheng Fei turned his head.

“I asked Isena, and there are no records of similar creatures in the corridor.” Shen Xi shook her head expressionlessly.

"Well, we've come at a pretty good time, just in time to discover a new species." The boy fiddled with the soft tuber in his hand and shook his head.

“The fact that these tree spirits crawled out of the sea of ​​clouds means that the world below the sea of ​​clouds is more complex than we thought,” Shen Xi pondered, stroking her chin.

“They must have existed for a long time. The fact that they weren’t recorded means they never left the sea of ​​clouds before. It’s reasonable to speculate that the world below is undergoing some kind of change,” the boy continued.

"Ha, Cheng Feiyu's walnut-kernel brain, inherited intact from rodents, actually works occasionally." The girl said with no small amount of disdain.

"Teacher Shen, please don't reuse those clever ideas that come to you during the exam, thank you."

"But there's a problem. How did the tree spirits climb up from the sea of ​​clouds? Could they fly?" Vino asked, puzzled.

"Maybe with the help of the Light Magic Crystal, you could try grinding these things up and extracting them," Shen Xi said casually.

"Great idea! I'll go get it right now." Vino's eyes lit up, and she ran off with a handful of branches in her arms.

"Finally, I can trick her into being alone with me. Teacher Shen, you're really clever." Cheng Fei breathed a sigh of relief.

"Nobody here wants to be alone with you. Go find that person and ask about Fog Town and Roots," the aloof girl commanded.

"You're so stubborn, little cutie. If I really go, you'll be unhappy again." The boy shook his head and sighed.

"You're being so self-righteous again. Just go when I tell you to." Shen Xi kicked him, her tone leaving no room for argument.

"Yes, Your Majesty." The boy's expression hardened, and he obediently walked towards the man named Gerst who was chopping wood under the eaves.

As Cheng Fei began inquiring about the road ahead, Shen Xi followed behind, listening in.

Just then, Nagasaki Asuna, who was supposed to be helping out in the kitchen, rushed out and shouted, "You two, come here right now!"

"Nana, is there a fire in the kitchen?" Cheng Fei looked at her suspiciously.

"No, we've made a strange discovery!" The girl's expression was inexplicably anxious.

Cheng Fei and Shen Xi frowned simultaneously.

When the two followed her into the house, the rest of the people were gathered around the dining table, which was not set with food.

"Cheng Fei, Shen Xi, come here quickly!" Zhou Han waved to them.

The two men stepped forward and saw two items on the table: a small locked box and a tool resembling a hand pickaxe.

The pickaxe has a curved orange blade that remains eye-catching despite the dust. Upon closer inspection, the handle has a plastic feel and a textured design that makes it easy to hold with one hand. The pickaxe head is divided into two ends: one end is a sharp axe-shaped head, and the other end is a sharp hook-shaped head. Overall, it looks exquisite and sturdy, with an ergonomic design.

Cheng Fei felt a strong sense of unease the moment he saw it.

It doesn't resemble a creation of this era, nor does it look like a Protoss technological artifact unearthed from some ruin; it's more like a modern tool that can be found anywhere on Earth.

"What is this?" the boy asked in surprise.

“Junior, I think this should be a professional ice axe!” Miriam said excitedly from the side.

"Uh, senior, I can tell too. What I mean is, where did you find it?" the boy asked hesitantly.

"This hangs on the kitchen wall," Nagasaki Asuna whispered a reminder.

"Where did this come from?" Shen Xi immediately looked at the innkeeper standing next to her.

“This was given to us by a passing adventurer many years ago.” The woman’s expression turned to one of reminiscence, and she pointed to the small box beside her. “That person also said that if anyone recognized this pickaxe, they should show them what’s inside.”

Zhou Han carefully held the small box in her arms, looked at the silver-haired, aloof girl, and revealed a subtle, unreadable expression. "Shen Xi, before you look at what's inside, I suggest you take a deep breath first."

"What do you mean?" the aloof girl asked, puzzled.

"Take a look for yourself, but be careful." Zhou Han handed the box to her with a solemn air.

Shen Xi frowned, took the box, and opened it.

Cheng Fei leaned over to take a look.

A yellowed letter lay quietly in the box, with some kind of writing on it.

Shen Xi picked up the note and examined it intently. Then, her pupils contracted sharply, and a trembling expression appeared on her face, which was usually cold and emotionless.

The paper contained a line of Chinese characters, written in neat handwriting:

"Xiao Xi, you've grown up."

Cheng Fei was also stunned, feeling a buzzing in his head, and an unexpected sense of chaos surged over him like a tsunami.

Shen Xi stared intently at the line of words, her hand holding the paper trembling visibly. Something seemed to be violently vibrating and surging in her pure, dark eyes. The girl's mouth was slightly open, and her flat chest began to heave violently, as if someone had choked her, leaving only heavy breathing.

“Xiao Xi…you’ve grown up…you’ve grown up…you’ve grown up…this is impossible?!” She repeated the words on the note in a low voice, covered her mouth with an incredulous expression, swallowed hard, looked up and quickly surveyed her surroundings as if being watched by some being, and took a step back.

"Shen Xi, calm down." Cheng Fei grabbed the girl's hand, put the things back on the table, and put his arm around her shoulder.

“Cheng Fei, she wrote this, she must have written it!” The girl grabbed the boy’s shoulder, her voice choked with sobs.

"I know, don't get excited." The young man gently patted her back.

Everyone else in the room stared at the trembling girl; the air was silent.

Asuna Nagasaki pursed her lips, placed her hand on her chest, and frowned slightly, as if one could sense the girl's feelings.

Shadow lay on the edge of the table, his eyes wide open, looking completely bewildered.

Cheng Fei pulled Shen Xi into his arms, took a deep breath, picked up the ice axe on the table to examine it, and then frowned at the proprietress, "What's the name of the person who gave you this?"

“She didn’t say that.” The proprietress thought for a moment and shook her head.

"Was she a human woman, tall and thin, with black hair?" Cheng Fei asked again.

“Yes, you know her?” The proprietress nodded.

“I know her. When did she arrive? How did she arrive? Was she alone or with someone else? Did she tell me what she came for?” the boy said quickly.