Where the Mortal Heart Directs, Plain Shoes Will Travel

Back at the camp, Lin Shan gathered everyone together.

"You called us together-what's up?" Zhang Zhonghua asked curiously.

"What is it, Lao Lin, all flustered. I'm building a clay stove right now. In a while, we'll have ironware to use-this is a cross-era advancement," Jin Tianzong laughed proudly.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Lin Shan said solemnly, "There were beast roars just now. I followed the sound and found people other than us, or rather, cats."

Lin Shan told them what had just happened, and their eyes widened with total astonishment.

If this were on Earth, they definitely would have thought Lin Shan was making up a story, but now they all believed it.

"According to you, there are other intelligent beings in this world. It's a pity we can't communicate; if we could communicate, that would be great..." A middle-aged female with glasses who looked about forty-odd years old spoke with a look of regret, saying, "To master an unfamiliar language, even with the other party cooperating, it takes at least a year."

She was a language expert and a true top scholar, proficient in dozens of languages on Earth, pursuing the study of new languages as her goal. The language of another world had an appeal to her that could not be described as anything less than immense.

Lin Shan had only had a few brief conversations with her, knowing that her name was Yan Ruxin and that she could effortlessly speak the languages of various countries. Due to their short time together, he knew nothing else about her.

Suddenly, Zhao Xiao An pointed behind Lin Shan and cried out in shock,

"Ah! That girl you mentioned-is it her?"

"Huh?" Lin Shan was startled, abruptly turning his head to look behind him, and found that the Green-Robed Cat Girl was observing them with keen interest.

Bad business! Lin Shan thought to himself secretly, not expecting that this cat girl had feigned leaving while actually trailing him.

At this moment, Yan Ruxin spoke up.

"It's fine. If she has no malicious intent, I'll communicate with her."

The Green-Robed Cat Girl walked over naturally, staring intently at Zhang Zhonghua and making him feel somewhat creeped out.

"Zojise? (New race?)"

Afterward, she extended a hand indistinguishable from a human's and poked Zhang Zhonghua in the chest.

Zhang Zhonghua's heart leaped into his throat. He couldn't beat her in a fight, so he could only pray the other party bore no hostility.

"Clang, clang, clang..." The spot where she poked him emitted metallic clanging sounds.

Zhang Zhonghua paused for a moment, suddenly recalling that roll of the Jade Tome on his chest. It seemed this girl wasn't trying to poke him, but rather the Jade Tome placed against his chest.

Zhang Zhonghua took out the Jade Tome. He knew this might be a treasure, and perhaps even tied to the future of the human race.

The Green-Robed Cat Girl stared for a moment at the seemingly unremarkable Jade Tome.

"Worlirawo, Detotezozeta. (Such a weak Clan Artifact. As expected of the Pioneers.)"

After she finished saying this, one could distinctly sense the Green-Robed Cat Girl heave a sigh of relief.

"Hello." Yan Ruxin walked up to the Green-Robed Cat Girl and extended a hand, attempting to communicate with her.

The Green-Robed Cat Girl hesitated for a moment, reached out a fair hand to gently touch Yan Ruxin's hand, and immediately pulled it back.

Seeing the other's action, Yan Ruxin felt a surge of joy in her heart, knowing there was a chance. She immediately pointed at herself and said in Chinese, "I am of the human race."

She pointed at Zhang Zhonghua and said, "He is also of the human race."

She pointed at herself again: "I am of the human race, Yan Ruxin."

Then she pointed at Zhang Zhonghua: "He is of the human race, Zhang Zhonghua."

Repeating this cycle over a dozen times, the Green-Robed Cat Girl finally made a move, pointing a finger at herself: "Nobefuha, Bufuzo. (I am of the Cat Clan, Shashali)"

Yan Ruxin silently noted this sentence in her heart. Fortunately, the phonetic elements of both languages were identical, each syllable corresponding to a single character. This would make learning much more convenient and reduce stages of misunderstanding.

Watching the two of them sitting on the ground with their give-and-take speech plus body language, with Zhang Zhonghua cooperating on the side, Lin Shan promptly stopped paying attention to them and went back to punching trees. He needed to stockpile more tree resin to make torches, and tonight he would still proceed according to plan.

He perfunctorily made do with some wild fruits for lunch, fighting back the sourness as he finished a wild fruit that looked like a pear, then returned to the temporary camp to drink some water. At the camp, he saw the Green-Robed Cat Girl nibbling on a wild fruit in her hand in small bites without even frowning, while eating she didn't forget to gesture with Yan Ruxin opposite her.

Professional matters definitely required professional people; for him, getting back to punching trees took priority. The simple wooden cabin over at the camp still needed a lot of timber to be fully built.

"Snap."

"Boom!"

As he felled the twelfth tree, the sky grew dim, and the black dot representing the Specter Thread Fish reappeared on the Parchment in his mind.

Returning to the camp, this time there was no need to sleep out in the open. A simple rain shelter had already been set up at the campsite as a temporary base, its roof covered with tree branches while the sides remained empty. Beside the rain shelter stood half a crude wooden cabin-the reason it was only half was because only the initial framework had been built, and it would probably take a very long time to finish.

Including the newly arrived cat girl, there were twelve people in total. Everyone gathered around the campfire, eating wild fruits from their hands and conversing in low voices.

Fortunately, there were plenty of fruit trees nearby, and various wild fruits were practically inexhaustible. So far, they hadn't encountered any poisonous fruits, though they hadn't run into any delicious ones either. He also didn't know if this world had distinct seasons; if winter arrived and they had no stored food, they would all starve to death.

It was worth mentioning that the time in this world didn't deviate much from Earth's. When the watch showed seven o'clock, the blood-red moon appeared right on schedule, hanging high in the sky and draping the earth in a carpet of blood.

Right at this moment, the Green-Robed Cat Girl Shashali suddenly walked over to Lin Shan's side, and in awkward Chinese, softly said, "Nee-how... Ah-m Shashali." At the same time, she extended her hand, wanting to shake hands with Lin Shan.

Lin Shan was stunned. These otherworldly beings were far too friendly; he hurriedly reached out to shake hands with her. The moment he grasped it, before he could even register the softness, Shashali abruptly jerked her hand back, staring at Lin Shan with a vigilant expression.

"..." Lin Shan was speechless. What was happening here? He didn't get it.

The others also looked at Lin Shan with odd expressions, thinking to themselves, This guy wouldn't have taken advantage of her, right? He's got some serious nerve...

Seeing Shashali glare warily at his hand, Lin Shan finally understood why she was so guarded. It was because of his own ice-cold body temperature-and perhaps it wasn't just cold; that touch carried a trace of the bizarre. Even he himself would sometimes suddenly break out in goosebumps when he touched his own skin.

Flashing a smile at Shashali, Lin Shan began rubbing torches together by hand. As long as he wasn't embarrassed, the ones who were embarrassed would be everyone else.

Regrettably, this cat girl had no concept of embarrassment whatsoever and continued staring fixedly at Lin Shan's hand.

"Shashali, what is it?" Yan Ruxin noticed the anomaly and asked gently from the side.

Shashali shook her head, returned to her original spot, and nibbled slowly on the wild fruit in her hand.

After a long while.

Looking at the seven torches of varying thickness by his feet, Lin Shan felt tension start to build in his heart. The task he was about to undertake could cost him his life if he were the least bit careless.

However, since he had come to this world and witnessed Transcendence, he didn't want to simply remain at the mercy of others every time he encountered Transcendence-he too wanted to pursue that illusory power of Transcendence.

Where the mortal heart directs, plain shoes will travel!