Originally, the accumulated depression from the night of slaughter was immense, but this bout of passionate release had completely vented the pent-up frustration in his chest.
The two young people rolled from the lake to the shore, and Xiao Lan's panting and moaning made Chen Daolin almost want to cry. He hugged the beautiful girl with long legs tightly, as if he wanted to crush her and merge her into his body.
When dawn broke, Chen Daolin woke up to find the long-legged girl had disappeared. Looking up, he saw Xiao Lan already dressed, holding a steel cleaver and gently sharpening the blade on a whetstone.
Even as Chen Daolin approached, Xiao Lan only lifted her eyelids to give him a calm glance.
This calm gaze instantly cooled the tenderness and passion in Chen Daolin's heart.
The long-legged girl continued sharpening the knife, and Chen Daolin stood beside her, feeling he should say something, but the language barrier made it difficult. As he stood there, the long-legged girl never looked up at him again.
Chen Daolin suddenly felt his expression was awkward and despicable, and a sense of self-contempt arose in his heart.
If this girl doesn't care, why should I care at all?
Although he thought this, he still felt a bit resentful—wasn't it always said that men become heartless after sex? How come this woman also reneges on her promises after using me, treating me like a human massage machine?!
With this resentment, Chen Daolin took a piece of bread from his bag and ate it. As he ate, feeling a deep sorrow, Xiao Lan stood up and walked over, handing him the gleaming cleaver she had sharpened.
"Hey? You... were sharpening the knife for me?"
Chen Daolin looked up to see Xiao Lan's silver eyes fixed on him.
In that instant, all his resentment vanished.
Damn, in the end, I'm just a wimp!
For the entire morning, Xiao Lan was busy. She fiddled with the crossbow Chen Daolin brought, seemingly disdainful of its power. However, she was quite satisfied with the cleaver—after all, modern iron smelting technology far exceeded that of this era.
Chen Daolin prepared food on the side, taking out the packaged cooked food from his backpack, some cheap cakes and bread from the supermarket, and finally, a bottle of beer he was reluctant to open.
On the lakeside grass, the two sat on the ground. Chen Daolin looked at the girl in front of him—last night, they had communicated in the most primitive and intimate way.
In his twenty-four years of life, this seemed to be the first time he had a picnic with a girl like this.
The lake's water was as clear as a mirror, stretching endlessly, and the vast forest was like a boundless sea...
The weather was nice, the view from the lakeside was wide, and under the sun, he hugged his long-legged girl (was she his, really?), enjoying the afternoon sun and the fun of the picnic.
Although the girl seemed a bit cold, it still made Chen Daolin very happy.
Xiao Lan didn't show much interest in the bread, cakes, and cooked food, but when the beer bottle was opened, she sniffed it, her eyes showing a hint of struggle—she seemed to resist it, but after looking at Chen Daolin, her expression changed. She slowly took the cup Chen Daolin offered, silently took a sip, and then coughed.
"Wow? Just a sip of beer, have you never had it before?" Chen Daolin exaggeratedly patted the long-legged girl's back, but it was just an excuse to take advantage of the situation.
Xiao Lan glanced at him and tacitly allowed Chen Daolin's hand to rest on her shoulder.
After a while, the girl suddenly spoke.
Just one sentence, and Chen Daolin almost fell over in shock!
"I... am not allowed to drink."
Chen Daolin sprayed beer everywhere, staring at the girl in shock, his finger trembling as he pointed at her: "You, you, you, how can you... no, how can I understand you?!"
The girl's words were clearly in the language of this world, but Chen Daolin understood them perfectly, as if he had known the language from birth.
The long-legged girl looked at Chen Daolin silently. Chen Daolin, feeling a chill, blurted out: "Ah, could it be you...?"
The long-legged girl nodded: "It's the 'Tongue of the World' spell. Haven't you heard of this magic before?" She added, with a strange expression: "I once thought you were a mage."
"Magic, mage..." Chen Daolin groaned inwardly; this was indeed a magical world.
"Yes, the stick that emits lightning, isn't that your wand?" The long-legged girl looked puzzled: "It's just a pity that your magic power is too weak, making the lightning too feeble."
"I..." Chen Daolin didn't know how to explain. His mind was in chaos, and he instinctively asked: "The 'Tongue of the World'... ah, are you a mage?"
"I... am not." The long-legged girl looked sad, her voice hesitant: "I am a penitent from the Temple of the Goddess of Light."
"The Temple of the Goddess of Light, what is that?"
The long-legged girl's expression became even stranger: "You... how can you not know this? Aren't you from the Roland Empire?"
She thought for a moment: "Your skin and black hair don't look like ours. I've heard that the people on the northwest grasslands have this kind of skin, but I've never seen them. Yes, and the natives of the South Seas are said to have black hair. Where are you from?"
Chen Daolin felt guilty, laughed awkwardly, and mumbled: "A very, very far place."
The long-legged girl looked at him: "If you don't want to say, I won't ask."
Then, she explained her identity to Chen Daolin. He listened in a daze but managed to remember a few key points.
First, he seemed to have arrived in a place called the Roland Empire, a vast empire and the only human empire in this world.
Second, the Temple of the Goddess of Light was the state religion of this country, and the long-legged girl was a penitent from the temple.
As for what a penitent was, the long-legged girl explained: Penitents are talented believers selected by the temple and sent to the most arduous and dangerous places in the world to train. After training, they return to the temple to take on important religious roles. She seemed unwilling to explain more about the details, and when the topic came up, a hint of sadness appeared in her eyes.
Chen Daolin asked shamelessly: "Since you know the 'Tongue of the World' spell, why didn't you use it earlier... we've been gesturing like fools for two days."
The long-legged girl's face turned red, and she looked deeply at Chen Daolin.
"I... I practice martial arts, not divine magic. Normally, I can't use magic. But because I come from the temple, my soul mark has a divine imprint, and only... only in..."
"Only in special circumstances can I break the seal and use this magic once. The 'Tongue of the World' spell, though not powerful, requires a soul connection, making it difficult to cast."
"Special circumstances? Could it be..."
"Yes." The long-legged girl looked at Chen Daolin calmly: "My virginity!"
This time, it wasn't beer but saliva that was sprayed.
Chen Daolin's expression became awkward and despicable. He glanced at the long-legged girl guiltily and coughed heavily: "That... that..."
He wasn't a fool... he was just a captured wimp, talentless and unattractive. There was no reason for this long-legged girl to offer herself to him.
Even if being a穿越者 (穿越者 means "穿越者" in Chinese, which can be translated as "穿越者" in English, but it's a term used in Chinese literature to describe someone who has traveled through time or to a different world. For the sake of clarity, I'll translate it as "time traveler" here.) was awesome, he hadn't emitted any aura of dominance yet, so there was no reason for this girl to bow to him.
But such a question, even if Chen Daolin was a fool, he knew better than to ask rashly, or he would be beaten to a pulp!
The two fell into a long silence. Chen Daolin couldn't help but start a conversation.
"So... where are we now?"
"In the north of the empire... the Icebound Forest, the Great Round Lake."
Icebound Forest, Great Round Lake...
The name "Great Round Lake" was fine, but the "Icebound Forest"...
"Huh? This place is so warm, why is it called the Icebound Forest?"
The long-legged girl looked at Chen Daolin, frowning: "Your questions are getting stranger. I really believe you must have just come from the South Seas to the continent! Every continent resident knows this common knowledge."
She paused and said slowly: "In the past, the Icebound Forest was covered in ice and snow all year round. But about a hundred years ago, when the non-human races attacked our human empire, the climate changed dramatically, becoming warmer and no longer as cold as before, so it became what it is now."
Chen Daolin felt his brain was about to explode... the information was too much!
He swallowed hard: "That... the non-human races that attacked humans... who are they?"
"Dwarves, orcs, elves." The long-legged girl said coldly: "The war a hundred years ago lasted nearly ten years. Later, the dwarves withdrew from the war and migrated west to settle in the Kilimanjaro Mountains. The elves, who dislike war, entered this great forest to reproduce... now, the only ones still hostile to the empire are the orcs. However, the war has been over for almost a hundred years, and although they still don't get along, they manage to coexist relatively peacefully."
She pointed south: "To the south, beyond this forest, is a plain occupied by the orcs, now their orc kingdom. Beyond the orc kingdom, crossing the great Kaspersky Line, is our great Roland Empire!"
Chen Daolin instinctively heard a jarring word: "What line did you say?"
"The Kaspersky Line!" The long-legged girl suddenly looked solemn, her face full of reverence: "A hundred years ago, the great first Duke of Tulip led the construction of this magnificent, unbreakable line to resist the non-human races! It was this line that helped us withstand the fierce attacks of the non-human races in the early stages of the war, and later, it supported our great counterattack, ultimately defeating these ambitious non-human races and forcing them to submit!"
Chen Daolin's expression was one of despair. What a ridiculous name?
He instinctively became wary, catching the sensitive details in her words.
"The... first Duke of Tulip? The one who built the Kaspersky Line, what's his background?"
"Be careful!" The long-legged girl's face changed, looking at Chen Daolin seriously: "The first Duke of Tulip is a legendary hero of the empire! The Tulip family he founded is a top noble family with deep roots across the continent, even the royal family and the temple must give them respect! In the hearts of the people, the first Duke of Tulip is revered, and you must never speak of him so lightly! Otherwise, even if his descendants don't come after you, the public's condemnation will bury you!"
"Really that powerful?" Chen Daolin took a deep breath.
"You don't know the Tulip family?" The long-legged girl looked at Chen Daolin, puzzled: "But your chest armor clearly has the Tulip family's emblem."
Chen Daolin's expression became serious.
The Tulip emblem, the pattern on the portal of his time travel! It was clearly the same as the emblem of the Tulip family in this world! And in this world, there was a Duke of Tulip who built the "Kaspersky Line"... all these coincidences couldn't help but make him speculate.
"Can you tell me more about the first Duke of Tulip?"
The long-legged girl looked at Chen Daolin, nodded, and took a deep breath: "He is the greatest legendary hero of our Roland Empire, with countless glorious titles. He is the founder of the Tulip family, the great first Duke of Tulip; and he is also..."
Suddenly, the long-legged girl's expression changed! She jumped up, her eyes full of alertness, looking around nervously, and then reached out to grab the air, bringing it to her nose to sniff.
"Is this... an orc tide?!"
Before Chen Daolin could ask, the long-legged girl cried out in alarm, quickly grabbing Chen Daolin and running frantically into the forest. She found the thickest and tallest tree, grabbed Chen Daolin, and leaped up, climbing the tree trunk and placing him down.
The tree trunk was nearly ten meters above the ground, and the lush branches almost completely hid their figures.
"Hold on tight! Be extremely careful not to fall, and don't be discovered! Otherwise, we'll both die here!"
The long-legged girl's tone was unprecedentedly serious. She muttered to herself: "These orcs are so bold, daring to release an orc tide near the Great Round Lake! Don't they fear the wrath of the elves! Damn them!"
Chen Daolin was about to ask when he heard a deafening roar from the north!
The roar was like a tsunami in a hurricane! It seemed as if thousands of beasts were roaring together, the sound waves shaking the heart and soul!
The entire forest began to tremble, the ground shaking. Chen Daolin, sitting in the tree, clung tightly to the trunk to avoid falling.
[First, add this book to your Qidian bookshelf! Second, leave your recommendation vote!!]