Chapter 36: Crisis Approaches

Chapter 36: Crisis Approaches

After a simple lunch, Chen Shouyi clapped his hands, dug a hole nearby, and buried all the plastic waste underground.

Next, he pulled out a book from his briefcase and tugged the thin string tied to the Shell Woman, dragging her over. He planned to practice his speaking skills during this short break.

"Hello!"

The Shell Woman wore a reluctant expression, refusing to say a word and showing no cooperation whatsoever.

"Gem!"

Those words worked better than anything else. The Shell Woman immediately straightened up and sat properly, her attitude turning respectful.

Chen Shouyi sighed inwardly, feeling that the Shell Woman was becoming increasingly difficult to manage. She was utterly obsessed with payment—without glass beads, she wouldn’t willingly cooperate. Fortunately, small glass beads were cheap, costing only a few cents each. Otherwise, continuing like this would bankrupt him.

"Hello!"

"Great Giant, hello to you too!"

Chen Shouyi listened carefully for a moment, then quickly searched for the unfamiliar syllables in the previous sentence.

"Kaluo" meant great, sacred, or revered.

"Duye" meant enormous, mountain, or giant.

Combined, it translated to "Great Giant" or "Revered Giant."

Chen Shouyi couldn’t help but feel amused—such a title was... utterly embarrassing.

Without hesitation, he took out a glass bead as a reward. The Shell Woman clutched it gleefully, her focus sharpening even more.

"What about your parents?"

"I don’t have parents. I was born from a Yatuo Flower," the Shell Woman said indifferently, showing no sadness over her lack of parents.

Chen Shouyi burst into laughter.

Was this a joke?

Shouldn’t mammals be viviparous?

If a person could grow from a flower, wouldn’t your primary and secondary female characteristics be redundant?

"Really?" Chen Shouyi asked skeptically.

"Really. I was born from a Yatuo Flower," the Shell Woman blinked, speaking with utmost seriousness, showing no signs of lying.

Chen Shouyi figured he wouldn’t get any further answers.

He guessed that the Shell Woman, having never seen her parents, probably assumed she was born from a flower.

It wasn’t unusual—when he was little, he had once believed he was picked up from a garbage dump.

Still, he searched for the term "Yatuo Flower" in the dictionary but found nothing after flipping through the entire book.

Then again, humanity’s exploration of the Otherworld was still extremely limited.

Not only was the Otherworld unpredictably dangerous, but the gravity alone severely restricted human movement. Most people, like Chen Shouyi, only operated within limited areas near the portals.

Add to that the unique slang and dialects formed over long periods in different regions, and it was no surprise that this universal language dictionary was far from complete.

"What happened to the Yatuo Flower then?"

"I ate it!" The Shell Woman—or perhaps she should be called Flower Girl—said with an innocent expression.

Ate it?

Chen Shouyi couldn’t help but stare at her.

Didn’t you just say you were born from a Yatuo Flower? Wouldn’t that make the flower your mother? And you just... ate it?

Truly a child’s logic.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he decisively changed the subject: "How old are you?"

The Shell Woman tilted her head in thought, then gestured animatedly with her hands, as if trying to convey something: "Many, many sunrises and sunsets. I can’t remember clearly. When I first opened my eyes, the biggest tree on the island was only this tall."

She first pointed at the large tree where Chen Shouyi had been practicing his swordsmanship earlier, then flew up about a meter off the ground to show him the height.

Chen Shouyi wasn’t sure whether the tree was a fast-growing or slow-growing species, so he couldn’t make a judgment.

"Do you have a name?"

The Shell Woman shook her head indifferently.

...

Once the conversation ended, Chen Shouyi rewarded the Shell Woman with another glass bead, and she immediately flew away in delight.

After resting, he picked up his war bow and began practicing archery, using the tree as a target.

The 500-pound war bow was extremely heavy, and under the threefold gravity of the Otherworld, it was far more challenging than on Earth.

Chen Shouyi had to exert all his strength just to draw the bow fully.

When he released the bowstring, the arrow let out a sharp whistle, as if piercing through the air, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

He paid it no mind, nocking another arrow and continuing his practice.

...

Three days passed in succession.

No traces of barbarians appeared on the island in the Otherworld, and Chen Shouyi gradually set aside his concerns.

Day after day, he followed a strict routine, practicing swordsmanship and archery according to the Otherworld’s day-night cycle. Though the days were monotonous, they were also fulfilling. Watching the changes in his Swordsmanship and Archery skills on the Attribute Panel, he could feel himself growing stronger with each passing day.

During this time, he sold another batch of gold, earning 250,000 yuan, which replenished his nearly depleted account.

However, since their last meeting, he hadn’t been able to arrange another nighttime outing with Zhang Xiaoyue.

The workload for senior year of high school was becoming increasingly demanding, with small tests every three days and major exams every five.

To make matters worse, the school had started evening self-study sessions, which lasted until 9 p.m.

And due to safety concerns, her father personally escorted her to and from school at night.

There wasn’t even the slightest gap to exploit.

It filled Chen Shouyi with deep frustration.

...

The dark clouds overhead churned violently like spilled ink, and the oppressive low pressure weighed on his chest like a boulder, making it hard to breathe.

Suddenly, a flash of lightning split the sky, illuminating the entire world.

A deafening thunderclap followed.

Chen Shouyi, gripping a wooden stick, mechanically and monotonously thrust at a small ball, completely absorbed in the exercise. Sweat poured from his body, but the thunderclap snapped him out of his focus.

He looked up at the sky, and a raindrop landed on his face. Wiping it away, he muttered in surprise:

"It’s going to rain."

This was the first time he had seen rain in the Otherworld.

The rain came swiftly, pelting down before Chen Shouyi could react.

Under threefold gravity, the raindrops struck his face like hailstones, stinging sharply. He quickly took off his shirt to shield his head and ran toward the passage entrance.

He was growing more and more accustomed to the gravity here.

Over the past few days, his Strength attribute had finally increased by another 0.1, reaching 12.7—the standard for a Martial Artist, albeit the bare minimum.

In this Otherworld with threefold gravity, such strength was now sufficient for him to move about with relative ease.

It's like someone who is physically weak—basic activities are no different from a normal person, but if you ask them to run a 100-meter sprint or lift something heavy, they simply can't do it. They’d even be worse off than the ordinary barbarians living here.

The rain grew heavier, and after just a few steps, he was completely drenched.

"This rain is absolutely brutal!"

Through the downpour, he spotted the Shell Woman still flying in the air, the rope behind her pulled taut.

Was she trying to escape again?

The thought crossed his mind, but then he realized that wasn’t the case—she was clearly heading toward him.

She seemed to be shouting something at him.

Unfortunately, her voice was too faint, drowned out by the storm, making it impossible to hear.

Raindrops pelted her relentlessly, causing her body to sway uncontrollably, leaving her in a pitiful state.

Chen Shouyi was baffled by her strange behavior. "What’s going on? Has she lost her mind?"

"Go back! Hurry, go back!" he shouted, wiping the rain from his face as he quickened his pace.

Half a minute later, the Shell Woman, soaked like a drowned rat, finally landed swiftly on Chen Shouyi’s shoulder. Her face was deathly pale, her whole body trembling violently. The moment she steadied herself, she leaned close to his ear and screamed:

"The—the sea!"

"A giant, just like last time, is coming!"