[Du Wei's "Harvest"]

(All right! I admit it—the reason I wrote Vivian as such an insanely "adorable" girl is because I've been playing Princess Maker 5 lately. Haha...)

[Du Wei's "Harvest"]

Du Wei and Vivian sprinted into the woods toward where the dragon slept, only to find that Vivian's fire dragon had already awakened. It was looking around in terror and unease, letting out thunderous roars, clearly frightened out of its wits.

Vivian immediately ran over, raised her hands, and hugged one of the dragon's claws. She slowly chanted some kind of spell, and threads of light emerged from her little hands. Though faint, they gradually calmed the dragon down.

Its roars turned into low whimpers. At last, the dragon lowered its head again, lay down, and fell back into sleep.

After casting the magic, Vivian looked exhausted. Du Wei walked over and saw that the little fool could barely stand steady. He quickly supported her gently by the arm and asked in a low voice, "What happened?"

"I-I don't know. Blazing Sun, it-it-it seemed to have been frightened. Just now..."

"Mm. Have you calmed it down now?" Du Wei asked. Seeing Vivian nod, he said gravely, "You heard that earthquake just now, and that strange roar. It came from the north side of the island... I suspect there may be something on this island—something we haven't discovered yet. Maybe some kind of beast."

Vivian's face darkened. She might have been innocent, but she was still clever.

A beast?

What kind of beast could make such a terrifying roar? What kind of beast could make even a dragon afraid with its roar?!

"I'm going to take a look," Du Wei suddenly said.

"Uh? W-w-won't it be dangerous?"

"Dangerous..." Du Wei shook his head. "I don't know. But one thing is certain: this island is probably not simple... Look, there isn't a single animal here, not even a single bird! What does that mean? I guess there may be some terrifying creature on this island that has turned it into its territory, which is why there are no other living things here. No matter what, we're on this island now, and we won't be leaving anytime soon. I have to get to the bottom of this. Otherwise, we might run into that thing next... Did you hear that terrifying roar just now? We need to scout things out first! That way, if we do encounter it later, we'll have some preparation and can think of ways to deal with it in advance."

Vivian nodded hard. "I-I'll go w-with you!"

Du Wei's expression was stern. "No! Listen, little fool, stay here and watch your big pet! What if that roar comes again and startles the dragon awake? You should stay here and take good care of it. If it wakes up, calm it down. Besides... you're so clumsy, you'd only be a burden if I took you along. You don't even have shoes. Can you cross this island barefoot all the way to the north?"

"..." Vivian had nothing to say. After thinking for a moment, she gave Du Wei a pitiful look and lowered her head. "All right."

Du Wei picked up the long wooden stick and set off. Rather than cutting through the woods, he chose to follow the beach around the edge of the island, skirting the forest as he made his way north. It might take a little longer, but perhaps it would be safer.

The weather was thick with fog, and Du Wei had already decided that there might be some terrifying beast on this island—well, for now, he would call it a "beast." Since he knew that much, walking through the jungle would be far too dangerous.

Heading north, just as he was nearing the island's northern tip, Du Wei suddenly noticed some short trees beside the woods, bearing some interesting things.

They were large, round fruits. Delighted, Du Wei hurried over and picked two, but he was soon disappointed.

These big green fruits were actually hollow. They were somewhat like the dried gourds from the world of Du Wei's previous life.

But after giving it some thought, Du Wei still hurriedly plucked several of the large "gourds" and tied them onto the vine around his body.

That way, if he encountered some terrifying ferocious beast, Du Wei could run into the sea! With these hollow gourd-like things tied to him, they could serve as flotation rings! If danger came, he could simply leap into the water.

At last, he reached the northern side of the island. Du Wei looked around, then froze at the sight before him!

The island's northern tip was still covered in forest, but what shocked Du Wei was that the ground here was covered in frost!

The beach, along with a patch of the surrounding woods, had been blanketed in thick frost! It was as if a small ice storm had just swept through this place. Yet what was frightening was that this climate made an ice storm impossible!

And clearly, the frost covered only one large patch! Everywhere else remained perfectly normal!

Du Wei's heart immediately stirred as he thought of something!

He raised his eyes and scanned the distance, searching all around, but this damned thick fog made visibility far too low. Du Wei ran along the beach for a while, searched through the nearby woods first, and examined the frost on the ground. Then, with effort, he dug through the frost covering the earth, digging deeper beneath it—and immediately found something.

The soil beneath the frost was still damp and warm. In other words, this patch of frost had been laid down in an instant... by something like magic?

Du Wei immediately ran toward the shore. Standing at the water's edge, with the gentle waves lapping against his calves, he strained to look out over the sea...

Vaguely, Du Wei seemed to see something drifting lightly on the surface ahead. It appeared to be quite large. The fog obscured its details, leaving only a rough outline.

"Could it be a ship?"

Hope suddenly rose in Du Wei's heart. He shouted loudly and waved with all his might.

Unfortunately, after calling for a while, the thing gave no response. Worse, it seemed to be drifting farther and farther away.

It wasn't a ship... Du Wei became certain of that. After staring for a long time, he could barely make out that it seemed to be something conical.

No matter what, Du Wei gritted his teeth. He had to go take a look.

Right now, they had nothing on this island—food and water were both in short supply. Any opportunity had to be investigated. Perhaps he might find something that could tide them over!

Du Wei immediately tightened the large gourds around his body, hurled himself into the sea, and clumsily paddled forward.

He swam with all his strength, but unfortunately, he had been a landlubber in his previous life and couldn't swim at all. The way he flailed with both hands and feet looked very much like a dog paddle.

Luckily, the wind and waves were not strong right now. Otherwise, swimming in the ocean would have been extremely difficult—often, after swimming two meters, one wave could knock you back three!

Du Wei gave it everything he had. Fortunately, the large gourds on his body provided excellent buoyancy. After struggling for ages, Du Wei finally reached the vicinity of that large object...

At the sight before him, Du Wei was stunned. A wave rolled over, and he opened his mouth so wide that he nearly choked on seawater.

"D-Damn it! No way??"

Before him stood a small iceberg! An iceberg floating on the sea! It was neither a ship nor anything that could be of any use to Du Wei.

More importantly, there was someone lying atop the iceberg.

White light armor patterned with openwork designs, a long white cloak... and a head of snow-white, silvery hair!!

Vivian waited anxiously until evening, when the sky was nearly dark. Her stomach had started growling again with hunger. She still had several of the plant roots Du Wei had dug up that morning tucked in her arms, but Vivian did not take them out to eat. Instead, she rubbed her belly, sighed, and carefully tucked them away again.

He... he probably hadn't eaten anything either, had he?

"Chirp Chirp!"

The Fear Illusion Demon in the cage at her waist let out a shriek. This little creature was named Chirp Chirp, which suited its name quite well.

Vivian gently patted the cage and said softly, "Chirp Chirp... d-don't cry anymore. I-I know you're hungry too. B-but we can't eat these... w-we have to wait for him to come back."

Finally, just as Vivian was nearly staring herself blind with longing, Du Wei returned.

Vivian saw Du Wei trudging forward step by step, each footfall taking all his strength. His waist was nearly bent beneath the weight... because he had someone on his back!

Vivian's eyes went wide. Afraid that she was seeing things, she hurriedly rubbed them hard, only then confirming that it was no illusion! Du Wei had actually brought someone back on his back!

Vivian let out a low cry and rushed over. Du Wei was already so exhausted he could barely breathe. Before Vivian reached him, his body tilted and he collapsed to the ground, flinging the person on his back off to one side as well...

"Water! Give me some water, quick... Good heavens, that nearly killed me." Du Wei gasped with a bitter smile. "This one is much heavier than you!! My God... I can't... I really can't go on..."

Vivian hurried over in a fluster, holding up a shoe filled with water. Du Wei shook his head instead and pointed at the large gourds on his body. Vivian quickly picked one up, only to find it rather heavy. She gave it a shake in her hand, and there was clearly the sound of water inside!

"I... I saw these up in the trees... and picked them. They can hold water. On the way back, I filled them with water from that puddle again... You can put your shoes back on now."

Vivian felt a little grateful. Indeed, after a whole day, the tender soles of her feet had suffered terribly.

"Also, take a look at the person I brought back. Ha ha, whether you want to save her or not is up to you." After speaking, Du Wei took the gourd Vivian handed him, gulped down several mouthfuls, then lay back down flat on his back and continued panting.

Only then did Vivian run over to look at the person Du Wei had carried back.

It wasn't that little Vivian's eyesight was poor. It was simply that the moment she saw Du Wei return, it was as though she had forgotten everything else. She had ignored all other matters, placing all her attention on Du Wei alone.

And so, though the person Du Wei had brought back had such obvious features—a set of white light armor, a white cloak, even white hair... Vivian had somehow not given her a single glance just now.

But now that Vivian noticed the person, her eyes suddenly widened, and she clapped a hand hard over her mouth!

Then the young female mage carefully walked over and, with great effort, turned the face-down figure over. Only then did she confirm that she had not been mistaken after all.

"S-Sister??!!"

(I'm sorry about yesterday, everyone. I'll definitely update two chapters today! There will be another one tonight, and I'll post it as early as possible.

Please throw some votes my way!)