Homecoming

Over the next few days, whenever Locke had free time, he would run to Yun Zhinnan's room and tell him about the state of this world.

Before long, they arrived at Chrisby Island. Locke and Carmen needed to disembark, while Yun Zhinnan had gradually come to understand what this world was like through his chats with Locke over the past few days. He had also agreed to follow Locke as the shipwright and see just how wonderful this world could be.

Through those days of conversation, Locke had not only recruited Yun Zhinnan onto his ship, but also realized something that had puzzled him ever since he had transmigrated: although the writing systems in this world were different, everyone communicated in Mandarin.

From his conversations with Yun Zhinnan, Locke learned that Great Xia not only spoke Mandarin, but even used the same writing system as in his previous life. According to Yun Zhinnan, those characters had remained unchanged for a thousand years.

This gave Locke a bold idea: perhaps this world had once always used the writing of his previous life, while the current script had emerged during those hundred blank years of history. And those so-called ancient characters were probably all Chinese.

Of course, these were only Locke's current guesses. Whether that was really the case could only be confirmed after he saw a Poneglyph someday.

At that moment, Locke, Carmen, and Yun Zhinnan had already disembarked and were riding a small boat toward Chrisby Island.

At the front, Locke was explaining Yun Zhinnan's background to Carmen and telling her that he would be joining them at sea from now on, while Yun Zhinnan sat alone in the back, slowly rowing the boat.

When Locke finished explaining everything, he realized Carmen's face was already streaked with tears. She looked at Yun Zhinnan sympathetically and said, "Xi Cai was so pitiful. Why didn't you go sooner?"

Yun Zhinnan, who had been focused on rowing, was caught off guard by Carmen's sudden question and did not know how to answer.

After freezing for a moment, he set the oar aside, took out the jade pendant, and said softly, "Yeah... why couldn't I have been faster back then?" As he spoke, tears slid down his cheeks.

"Hey! What are you two doing? Row the boat! Where are you trying to let it drift off to?" Locke could no longer stand it and tried to interrupt them.

But neither of them was in the mood to listen to him. They just kept crying. Left with no choice, Locke took the oar himself and began rowing.

As he rowed, Locke thought to himself, Maybe I shouldn't have told them that. Now no one's rowing, so I have to do it myself. I'm supposed to be their captain in the future, too. This is so humiliating!

Fortunately, the outline of Chrisby Island was already visible. Not long after Locke started rowing, they reached the island's small pier, where the old butler was already waiting.

"Grandpa Ross!" Locke threw his arms around the old man as soon as he came ashore.

"Young Master, you're back! It's good that you're back!" The old butler spoke warmly, his face full of relief as he looked at Locke.

"What the heck! Grandpa Ross only has eyes for your Young Master Locke. He didn't even notice such a beautiful young lady like me!" Carmen, having emerged from her grief, complained from the side.

"I saw you, I saw you. How could I fail to notice such a beautiful young lady, Miss Carmen?" Perhaps because Locke had returned, the old butler was especially happy today and even started joking around.

"That's more like it!" Carmen said haughtily.

Watching Carmen's smug expression from the side, Locke sighed inwardly. Carmen has been led astray by Zoro. She used to be such a shy little girl, but now look at that haughty attitude. It's really hard to put into words!

"And this young man is?" Being older and more dependable, the old butler saw Yun Zhinnan standing silently behind Locke and Carmen. He guessed the young man was a friend the young master had brought back and did not want to neglect him, so he turned the conversation toward him.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce him. This is my friend, Yun Zhinnan. He's from a mysterious country." After saying that, Locke introduced the old butler to Yun Zhinnan as well.

"This is the butler who raised me from childhood. I've always treated him like a grandfather at home, so just call him Grandpa Ross."

"Grandpa Ross!" Yun Zhinnan bowed to the old butler.

"You flatter me, Young Master," the old butler said modestly.

"Alright, alright! No need to be so polite. Let's go home first!" After they had all greeted one another, Locke spoke again.

And so, Carmen skipped along ahead of them. Locke and the old butler walked a little behind, with Locke telling him about his life over the past few years as they went. Yun Zhinnan walked last, looking around as he walked. After taking in his surroundings, he would gently touch the jade pendant in his hand and murmur something under his breath.

Yun Zhinnan no longer looked like he had when Locke first met him. Although he was still very thin, he had eaten fairly well aboard the ship these past few days and had managed to put back a little weight; there was at least some flesh on his face now. The rest of his body had not filled out so quickly, but the coat he had borrowed from Locke completely concealed it.

After he had recovered somewhat, Locke discovered that Yun Zhinnan was actually extremely handsome, only a tiny bit less handsome than himself. Combined with those perpetually melancholy eyes born from his tragic love, he outshone Locke by a huge margin.

When they had just passed through the town, the young women there had all been captivated by his looks and bearing. They had not even noticed Locke, who was slightly more handsome.

To be honest, after seeing Yun Zhinnan's appearance, Locke had somewhat regretted letting him join them. How could his ship possibly have someone with more presence than him? But in the end, he remembered that it was not easy to take back words once spoken, so he could only accept it.

Before long, they returned to the villa halfway up the mountain. After everyone had tidied up their rooms, Carmen pestered Locke to watch a show.

Speaking of watching shows, Locke was helpless too. He had been in this world for nearly nine years already. In his original world, nine years of compulsory education would have been enough to finish school. After so long, he had forgotten almost all the anime and television dramas from that world. The shows he told Carmen now were basically patched together from his memories and his own understanding, but he had mostly forgotten the endings.

Then Locke came up with a solution: whenever he could not remember what happened next, he would simply arrange for Mars to crash into Earth, and that would be the end of the entire show.

Although this made Carmen very dissatisfied, there was nothing he could do.