Can't Stand It

Although Lin offered no further explanation, Chen Qiang felt a wave of awkwardness. In his previous life, he had been nothing more than a college freshman, not even twenty years old. During that time, he had never had a girlfriend; apart from his parents, he hadn't even held a woman's hand.

Yet, just moments ago, he had assumed she was merely a child. Worried about whether she was injured, he had touched her all over—after all, with children, there weren't so many taboos to consider.

Now that he knew she wasn't a child, but a young lady not much younger than himself, Chen Qiang couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

"By the way, what is your ability? That explosion just now was so powerful, yet you didn't suffer a single scratch!"

To mask his awkwardness, Chen Qiang quickly changed the subject.

"A contract! I can form a contract with any living thing I touch! That explosion wasn't harmless; I simply transferred the damage to the person I had contracted. As long as the person I've contracted doesn't die, I won't die! Furthermore, if the person voluntarily enters into a Symbiotic Contract with me, I can use their abilities and share their life force. As long as I don't die, they won't die either."

Speaking of her ability, Lin lifted her head with pride.

"Impressive! Truly impressive!"

To ease the lingering tension, Chen Qiang praised her.

"Of course it is!"

"So, where do you plan to go next? Are you heading home?"

"I don't have a home!"

The two had been chatting quite well, but the moment Chen Qiang asked about her home, the proud, haughty expression on her face vanished, replaced by a look of deep dejection.

"Then where do you intend to go?"

Seeing her crestfallen expression, Chen Qiang consciously skipped over the topic of home and asked directly about her upcoming plans.

Although Lin had demonstrated powerful abilities and claimed to be sixteen, her appearance made it impossible for Chen Qiang to associate her with that age. Subconsciously, he still viewed her as a child, and the things he needed to do next were not suitable for a child to be involved in. Thus, he wanted to ask about her intentions so he could settle her somewhere before proceeding with his own tasks.

"Next? I'm going to save the villagers! Oh, the villagers!"

Hearing Chen Qiang's words, Lin spoke instinctively. Once she finished, she realized that the villagers who had been captured with her were also on this ship, and she still needed to save them. Without even greeting Chen Qiang, she ran straight toward another cabin.

"Hey! Wait for me!"

The conversation had been going smoothly, and Lin's sudden departure caught Chen Qiang off guard. He was about to chase after her immediately, but then he remembered something. He quickly returned to the room where he had been held, picked up the Seastone chains he had used earlier, wrapped them around his body, and then hurried after Lin.

"The villagers are gone, what do I do? Wuu wuu~~~"

Following behind Lin, they navigated the corridors and quickly reached the room where the slaves had been held. However, all the slaves in the room had completely vanished. Seeing this, Lin didn't know what to do and sat helplessly on the floor, bursting into tears.

"Don't panic. It doesn't necessarily mean something bad happened to them. Try to recall how many times these slave traders stopped after capturing you. Perhaps your villagers were just taken to the island earlier. We still have a chance to rescue them." Seeing Lin's tear-streaked face, Chen Qiang quickly crouched down to comfort her.

"Right! You're right! After they captured us, the ship only stopped once—the time before you were locked in. But that time, the ship seemed to have encountered an attack and only docked for a few hours before setting sail again. Maybe the villagers were just taken to the island!"

Hearing Chen Qiang's words, Lin forced herself to calm down through her tears and quickly reflected on the events of the past few days. Although she had been locked in a dim room, she still had a certain perception of the outside world; the sensations of a ship sailing versus docking were completely different, so she quickly recalled her recent experiences.

Thinking of this, Lin stopped sitting on the floor, scrambled to her feet, and prepared to rush out of the room to save the villagers on the island.

"Don't be so hasty! We don't know what the situation is like in the 'Underground City' they mentioned. Since it's called a city, it must be huge. If you just rush out like this, you'll never find them!"

This time, Chen Qiang was quick. Just as Lin was about to dash out, he grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop.

"Then what should I do? I've been an orphan since I was little; it was the villagers who helped raise me. I can't let anything happen to them!"

As Lin spoke, tears streamed down her face again. Clearly, she was thinking of the kindness the villagers had shown her growing up. Now that they had been captured and taken to the island, their fate was uncertain, making it impossible for her to remain calm.

"It's okay! I will help you!"

Chen Qiang bent down, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, placed his hand on her shoulder, and spoke with firm conviction.

Hearing his words, Lin looked up at Chen Qiang with her large, glistening eyes, filled with expectation.

"But we don't know where those people are on the island yet, so for the next step, we need to find them first!"

"Then how can we find them?"

"Step one, we need to get to the island. Since this place allows slave traders to conduct business, it must be somewhere the Navy can't reach. Such places never lack people who sell information. We just need to find them and buy the intelligence we need!"

Chen Qiang analyzed the situation.

"But we don't have any money. How can we buy information?"

"Who says we don't have money? Even if we didn't, we have this to make them tell us what they know."

As he spoke, Chen Qiang pulled out the box he had found in the captain's quarters from behind his back and brandished his sandbag-sized fist.

"But..." Lin was clearly still hesitant.

Before she could finish, Chen Qiang interrupted her, subconsciously ruffling her hair. "Don't worry, there won't be any problems. I will help you rescue your villagers!"

"Why help me?" Listening to Chen Qiang's firm tone and seeing his resolute expression, Lin slowly calmed down, looking up at him with confusion.

"Because I can't stand it. I can't stand these people who don't treat others like human beings, and I can't stand seeing such a cute young lady shedding tears."

"It's that simple?"

"Of course!"

Chen Qiang smiled broadly and said with certainty.