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

Shen Xi, how dare you treat your husband like this? Just you wait...

With this in mind, he put on his infiltration helmet, lay flat on the bed, and entered the corridor.

……

Beneath the starry sky at the site of the crash, the dense sea of ​​clouds was illuminated by the moonlight, appearing as a dull gray-blue.

The teardrop-shaped airship sails on this sea of ​​clouds, spewing out streams of green particles from its tail, relentlessly moving towards the towering World Tree.

Cheng Fei walked out of the cabin and asked Nagasaki Asuna before finding Shen Xi, who was standing on the top deck gazing into the distance. The girl's waist-length silver hair danced in the wind.

The boy, hands in his pockets, approached her and stood beside her, clearing his throat. "Your Highness, shall we reconcile?"

The girl remained expressionless and motionless, her stubborn, pink lips tightly closed, like a masterpiece sculpted by an artist's chisel, unable to hear or see him.

“I’ve already told you the attribute values. I know you have a lot of questions, but you don’t have to take it out on me, do you? Of course, I admit that my attitude was a bit off just now. How about we each take a step back and let’s just let this matter go?” the boy said seriously.

"Cheng Fei," the girl said softly, without looking at him.

"what?"

"Be careful." The girl's tone was unreadable.

The boy was taken aback. "You mean I should be more careful in the future?"

"The environment beneath the sea of ​​clouds might be more dangerous than we thought." The girl narrowed her eyes, lost in thought.

"So, what's the reason?" The boy glanced sideways and slowly reached his hand behind the girl's back.

"Tailless scorpion".

"A tailless scorpion?"

"Although the Tailless Scorpion is a mass-produced, low-level combat unit, it is precisely because of this that the Protoss have waged war in the Land of the Fall. But neither the humans nor the elves of this world are worthy of fighting against the Protoss. If there is anything dangerous, it seems to be hiding under the sea of ​​clouds." The girl stared at the World Tree on the horizon, her expression solemn.

"Not worthy? You're really starting to have the aura of a Protoss Queen." The young man lightly touched her small shoulder in a probing manner.

"Just stating the facts." The girl flicked her hair. "And another thing..."

"Anything else?" The boy gradually placed his hand on her small shoulder.

"Get your mouse claws off, today's meeting is over."

As soon as she finished speaking, the girl turned and walked towards the lower deck, her slender legs moving swiftly.

Cheng Fei's outstretched hand missed its target. He casually withdrew it, scratched his head, and followed her. "Teacher Shen, shouldn't the regular meetings be 24 hours long as usual?"

"Shut up, we need to get down to business." Shen Xi strode into the driver's seat.

Upon her arrival, Leia relinquished her position controlling the airship.

Shen Xi stepped forward and focused on checking the instruments.

Cheng Fei, who was watching from the side, coughed lightly and said, "Teacher Shen, actually I had a question yesterday."

"Speak." The girl didn't even look at him.

"Can't we fly to the World Tree first and then descend vertically, so we don't have to cross the reefs of the Misty Islands?" the boy gestured in mid-air.

“Aquatic mammals only become a little smarter at times like this,” the girl chuckled. “Normally, they could reach the entrance to the roots directly this way.”

"Normally speaking?" Cheng Fei looked at her profile.

“The vertical descent is too slow. With the tree spirits around, we'll just be sitting still and getting attacked. It would be dangerous if we got entangled by the endless stream of tree spirits. So, the best way is to descend while navigating,” Shen Xi said, pushing the control stick whose function was unclear.

Cheng Fei felt the floor tremble slightly. "So we're entering the sea of ​​clouds now?"

“That’s right, the entire ship will be on high alert starting tonight.” The girl nodded.

The airship began its descent, and visually, due to the lack of reference points, it appeared as if the surrounding sea of ​​clouds was quietly rising.

"Speaking of which, wouldn't entering the roots be like lambs to the slaughter, with the World Tree and its entire tree spirit family waiting for us?" Cheng Fei rubbed his chin.

"According to the adventurers, no, we just need to get past the obstacles along the way." Shen Xi finished adjusting and began to observe the road ahead on her own.

In the blink of an eye, the sea of ​​clouds that had been supporting the airship, like seawater, rose to the height of the deck.

Thick white fog began to seep into the ship, making it seem as if the floating vessel was gradually sinking.

The other members, who had nothing else to do, also noticed this and ran to the side of the ship to look around curiously.

"Is this white mist poisonous?" Miriam suddenly covered her mouth, her worried expression seemingly imbued with wisdom.

She hadn't been to Wuzhen a few days ago, and this was her first time experiencing being submerged in a sea of ​​clouds.

"Don't worry, don't worry, you'll just have trouble seeing things." Zhou Han, who had accompanied Nagasaki Asuna on her shopping trip, smiled and seemed quite used to it.

Shadow watched the white mist flow onto the deck, then crouched down to try and scoop it up with her small hands, but failed. She blinked her ruby-like eyes, observing curiously.

Under these circumstances, the teardrop-shaped airship gradually sank into the dense sea of ​​clouds and eventually disappeared.

Shen Xi pulled the switch to turn on the magic lights arranged around the ship. The bright white light was blocked and reflected by the seemingly endless layers of mist, shrouding the airship in a hazy spherical space, where nothing could be seen except for the white mist.

"From now on, everyone will take turns keeping watch in the groups we discussed before. Although we have a general route to refer to, we may encounter reefs at any time, so if you find anything unusual, report it to the watch helmsman immediately." Shen Xi walked onto the deck and gave the order to everyone in an unquestionable tone.

Nagasaki Asuna, with her hands behind her back, nudged Ye Shuang beside her with her shoulder and whispered, "She's really starting to act like an empress."

Cheng Fei wanted to say something, but the aloof girl turned her head and went back to the cockpit to take the helm. Her small face was expressionless, as if she didn't want to communicate. So the boy could only look at the scenery.

Once inside the sea of ​​clouds and surrounded by endless white mist, the air became exceptionally quiet. Apart from checking the status with instruments, the unchanging scenery around us seemed to make time lose its meaning.

After the initial novelty wore off, the atmosphere on the Miriam returned to one of utter boredom, with the crew continuing to play Ludo on the floor of the cockpit.

The only unexpected thing was that when everyone was jumping around, Weinuo suddenly tilted her head and collapsed with a thud, panting heavily and sweating profusely. The others were so frightened that they quickly moved her to the bed.

“I told you this white mist was poisonous!” Miriam shouted, as if she had discovered the truth of the world.

"Shut up, this is normal. Many new adventurers experience this. You'll get used to it. It's probably just a problem with the air composition inside the Cloud Sea," Shen Xi said coldly.

"Teacher Shen, but why are we alright?" Cheng Fei stood by with his hands in his pockets, thinking for a moment.

The girl turned her head and looked at him with a strange sense of pity. "Haven't you noticed yet? She's the only ordinary human on this ship."

The boy opened his mouth, realizing that this was indeed the case.

"But, but, Xiao An is alright too?" Zhou Han cupped the blonde half-elf's childish and blank face and rubbed it, as if treating her as some kind of interesting toy.

Asuna Nagasaki leaned down and pinched Shadow's cheek, tilting her head and smiling, "A half-elf still has elven blood, right?"

The blonde half-elf responded with a blank blink.

……

The next day, as dawn broke over the crash site, the sea of ​​clouds brightened slightly from top to bottom. Looking up, one could see a hazy halo, like gazing at the surface of the ocean from the depths, so distant it seemed like another dimension.

The crew of the Miriam took turns on duty according to a set schedule to ensure the airship's normal navigation.

Until noon.

"Teacher Shen, how about we play Ludo together?" Cheng Fei approached the aloof girl who was looking at the scenery from the side of the ship (although there was nothing to see around her except for the white mist).

"No." Shen Xi said expressionlessly.

"Still angry about yesterday? There's no need to be like this, is there?" The boy said helplessly.

"Please make it clear that no one here is angry; they're just not interested in that kind of boring game of chance." The girl tossed her hair.

"Okay, it really is my Teacher Shen." Cheng Fei smacked his lips and stayed to stand with her.

The atmosphere was quiet for a moment.

"Teacher Shen, if things go smoothly, how about we hold our next regular meeting next Monday?" the boy asked calmly.

"Shut up." The girl completely ignored him, her eyes narrowed as she stared out the side of the ship.

"Teacher Shen, no matter what, you've already agreed to the conditions. As the Empress, you wouldn't change your mind so easily, would you?" The boy observed her beautiful yet cold face.

"I told you to shut up." The girl frowned slightly, becoming impatient.

"Teacher Shen..."

"We can talk nonsense later, there's something over there." Shen Xi interrupted without any politeness, gesturing in a certain direction with her small hand.

Cheng Fei paused, followed her finger, and hesitated, "Really?"

"Yes, look closely." The girl squinted.

As the airship moved forward, a dark shape gradually emerged from the white mist and became clearer.

"Is that the reef?" Cheng Fei thought for a moment.

"It should be." Shen Xi nodded slightly.

Not far from the airship appeared a shattered floating island, silently drifting in the white mist, like a predatory beast watching the passing airship.

"Teacher Shen, there seems to be something up there." Cheng Fei shaded his eyes with his hand.

“I can see it.” Shen Xi also stared at the floating island, her expression turning puzzled.

778. Reaching the Roots

The floating island on the side of the Miriam is crescent-shaped, surrounded by fragments of varying sizes. These fragments are entwined by winding, dark red roots, remaining relatively still with the floating island. They give the impression of a small asteroid that was smashed by some force, born in the distant past and surviving in the desolate void.

On this floating island lay the skeletal remains of some kind of creature. The grayish-white remains allowed one to vaguely discern the skull and spine, and the entire structure was larger than the Miriam.

"Teacher Shen, what kind of monster is this?" Cheng Fei asked curiously.

"How would I know?" Shen Xi glanced at him.

"I thought the goddess of wisdom who oversees the repository of species in the corridors knows everything about all kinds of creatures in the multiverse."

The girl ignored him and turned to leave.

"Teacher Shen, are you angry again?" The boy caught up with her.

"I just wanted to stop the ship for an inspection." The girl suddenly scoffed. "Since yesterday, Cheng Feiyu has been worried that I'll be angry. He's just ridiculous with a guilty conscience."

"Not at all, I'm just checking in on my little darling's feelings as usual." The boy shook his head and sighed.

"Perhaps." The girl sneered. "If you really care, then you should explain your secrets clearly. Don't waste my good intentions and tolerance."

“Sweetie, can’t you learn from me? Look at me, I never question your secret about hiding the Protoss Queen, I only care about you wholeheartedly.”

"Here comes your clumsy rhetoric again. 'Wholehearted devotion' is a fallacy, not to mention that I've never hidden anything important from you. And I'm not like you, a mindless aquatic mammal with no ambition, who can just sit around doing nothing and wait to die while a major secret is right in front of him." The girl said as she walked into the cockpit, making Leia, who was on duty as the helmsman, move aside.

"Sigh, let's not talk about the differences in our views on life and values." Cheng Fei watched as she slowed down the Miriam and adjusted its course to approach the crescent-shaped floating island.

Soon, the airship docked on the island.

"Cheng Fei and I can go down. You guys stay here, and Leia will come to help." Shen Xi ordered the rest of the people on the ship, nudged the boy next to her, and walked out.

Leia followed behind.

Shen Xi carried a bundle of rope to the side of the ship, tied one end to the side of the ship, and tied the other end to her slender waist.

"Teacher Shen, what kind of operation is this?" Cheng Fei asked in confusion.

“The island is too small. If we accidentally fall, Leia will pull us up.” After Shen Xi finished speaking, she handed another rope to the boy.

"Understood." The elven saintess nodded earnestly.

"I don't need it," Cheng Fei shrugged.

"Stop talking nonsense." The girl glared at him, not too hard, not too soft.

"So concerned about my safety? Even though it's just a game."

"Heh, sorry, I was just worried that you'd die here and we'd lose a man."

"A stubborn woman." Cheng Fei smacked his lips and had no choice but to tie the rope up as well.

After he finished, Shen Xi raised the back of her hand, tilted her chin up, and stared at him expressionlessly.

"What?" Cheng Fei asked, his hands in his pockets, his expression genuinely puzzled.

"Fine, if you don't want to carry me down, then forget it." Shen Xi gritted her teeth, turned her face away, and pretended to jump down herself.

"You little darling, if you want to make up, just say so. You're being too arrogant." The boy immediately picked her up in a princess carry around her waist.

"Enough with the nonsense, let's go!" The girl punched his shoulder and then wrapped her arms around his neck to hold herself in place.

"As ordered."