Chapter 13

"......"

A whole day had already passed, and by the normal route, they should have arrived at their destination long ago. However, now... the airship still hadn't stopped, and the staff member had clearly tricked him.

Even if he went back to cause trouble, the staff member wasn't worried at all. Perhaps from the moment he boarded the airship, he was already considered dead in the other person's eyes. As for the route, it was probably just a bluff.

Even so, Zheng Chen didn't plan to go out at this moment. All he could do was wait for an opportunity.

Two more days passed, and the airship, which had been flying steadily, suddenly came to a halt. There was no sense of falling, so it seemed to have stopped in mid-air?

Zheng Chen, who had intended to observe, was startled and quickly grabbed the edge of the container. This time, the container he was in was being moved. Truly...

He couldn't act rashly now. If he jumped out, he would immediately be surrounded... He decided to continue observing the situation... He was a bit frustrated.

"Quickly unload the stuff, there are air pirates around here."

Zheng Chen's gaze shifted to the only place where he could hide, a box that looked like a coffin, with a gem-encrusted and strangely patterned exterior. Zheng Chen touched the box; it was metal, but he didn't know what kind.

If he used brute force to destroy it, he wouldn't be able to restore it intact. He touched a seam on the box, and five metal wires emerged from his fingertips, intertwining to form a simple crowbar.

"......"

Staring at the blue-haired girl who was sleeping quietly inside the box, she had a strange metal plate on her head, connected to a band with some kind of pattern.

The space inside the box wasn't large. Hearing the sound of the box being opened, Zheng Chen didn't hesitate to push the girl to one side and jump in, pulling the lid back into place.

A faint click sounded, and Zheng Chen immediately broke into a sweat. This box had another layer of construction, seemingly impossible to open from the inside...

And it didn't seem to be ventilated inside!?

How could the girl, who was sleeping next to him, be unharmed? He tried to slow his breathing as much as possible. Making a hole in the box now would easily expose him, so he decided to wait until the people outside moved the items. The air that had entered the box when he got in was enough for him to hold out for a while.

"Uh, take this thing away first, it's very important."

The voice outside was very close. After the voice fell, the box Zheng Chen had hidden in started to shake. This old box was the first to be moved, seemingly very important?

Because of the sleeping girl next to him?

With two people squeezed into the box, even though Zheng Chen wasn't particularly large and the girl was slender, the space was still severely compressed. Soon, Zheng Chen started to sweat. He moved his fingers slightly, pushing aside the soft padding inside the box. With his fingers touching the bottom of the box, Zheng Chen began to slowly extract the metal.

The material of the box wasn't ordinary metal, and the process of extraction was more energy-consuming.

After making a small hole, the stuffy feeling inside the box dissipated somewhat. It should be fine for now.

He quietly waited for the commotion outside to end. After hearing the sound of a door closing, he waited for a while longer. Then, Zheng Chen pressed the edge of the box, and from the outside, the intact side of the box seemed to collapse and disappear.

"Really..."

Zheng Chen, who had just emerged from the box, pressed his hand on the ground. A metal that looked like flowing water emerged from his palm, quickly forming into a large square ingot.

This was just the iron he had stored previously. Even though it had been refined to an extraordinary hardness, he had naturally cleared out some of it to save space.

Now, where was he?

Zheng Chen sat on the edge of the box with the open side, rubbing his head. This series of events was something he hadn't encountered even in the wasteland; he was still not used to it.

He needed to find an opportunity to leave. He lightly tapped the large box he was sitting on. As for the girl inside, who looked like a doll, was she really human?

He had almost suffocated inside the box due to lack of oxygen, but she had been fine the whole time. Zheng Chen couldn't even detect her breathing.

Was it because of her special nature that she received extra attention?

Things related to the special are usually troublesome...

"You're blocking me."

"Oh, sorry."

Seeing the blue-haired girl's head poking out from the side of the box, Zheng Chen wasn't too surprised. He nodded and moved to the side. The metal plate that had been on her forehead like a decoration had now slipped to the side.

It probably slipped when he came out.

Because of her long sleep, the girl's movements were stiff and difficult as she pulled the metal plate to the side. She rubbed her eyes, moved her nose, and sniffed her sleeve. Her emerald eyes stared straight at Zheng Chen, who had just picked up the metal plate from the ground.

The material of this thing was similar to the box, but it lacked some components and wasn't as hard.

"I can smell you on me. What did you do?" The girl's tone was very calm, as if she wasn't worried about her situation.

Zheng Chen glanced back at the girl in the black dress, shook his head, and said, "Nothing. I just used this to get here."

"Did you take that off?" The girl asked, looking at the metal plate in Zheng Chen's hand.

"I accidentally brought it off."

"Uh, thank you." The girl said calmly, walking towards the exit of the warehouse. She pressed her hand on the iron door and tried to pull it, but it didn't budge. After a few attempts, she realized she couldn't open it and looked at Zheng Chen.

Zheng Chen didn't say anything, just shook his head. "It's not the right time to go out."

Everything had just been moved here; going out now would definitely lead to a confrontation with the people here.

"Are you planning to leave on your own?"

"......Yes."

Under the girl's gaze, Zheng Chen hesitated slightly before answering honestly. This girl was different from anyone he had ever met, and she had a very high level of approachability.

"......" Zheng Chen's answer made the girl fall silent for a moment, and the atmosphere in the warehouse became tense again. Zheng Chen didn't intend to break the tension. After a while, the girl spoke, "Can you take me with you?"

The girl wasn't foolish. Although she didn't know where she was, it wouldn't be easy to leave here.

"Too much trouble." Zheng Chen said bluntly. Having survived in the wasteland for many years, he knew how much an extra burden would affect him. He preferred to act alone, even if it was more dangerous, rather than deal with the complexities of a team.

Team actions don't always mean safety.

"What year is it now?" After a moment of silence, the girl changed the topic.

Zheng Chen shook his head. "I don't know."

In the library before, Zheng Chen had gained some understanding of the world. Each major region had different date records, and he didn't know where he was now.

"Where are we?"

"In the sky."

"......Flying?" The blue-haired girl's calm face showed a hint of surprise as she looked around. Unfortunately, this place was a warehouse with no windows.

Zheng Chen also noticed the girl's expression. She seemed unaware of the existence of airships?

He glanced back at the damaged box behind him. The marks on it indicated that it had been around for a very long time... Had she been sleeping in it all this time?

"Uh."

The girl's expression became even more surprised. "Can houses fly now...?"

"Sort of." Zheng Chen answered casually, tapping the metal rod in his hand. The metal he had absorbed from the box was stronger than any he had encountered before, and the refinement process during absorption made it even stronger.

Not only that, but the box had survived for a very long time without damage, indicating that its material was extraordinary.

Since he had already removed one side and damaged the overall structure, leaving the rest would be a waste. He might as well take it all.

Under the blue-haired girl's watchful eyes, the lid of the box disappeared like flowing water under Zheng Chen's palm...

After doing all this, Zheng Chen's forehead was covered in sweat. The higher the quality of the metal, the more energy it took to absorb.

"Did you eat it?"

Seeing her sleeping box disappear before her eyes, the blue-haired girl asked in surprise.

"......" Zheng Chen remained silent, not sure how she could think of eating.

Looking at the patterns on his palm that were fading, in a sense, he had "eaten" it.

The box, after refinement and reduction in size, still took up a significant portion of his body. The absorption limit of the patterns on his body was now less than one-tenth of his volume.

The benefits of this metal were numerous. It was far stronger than steel in all aspects, but its weight was similar. It also had some special effects. During the absorption process, Zheng Chen felt some unknown resistance.

A small drop of amber liquid emerged from his fingertips and dripped into his mouth. This was a medicinal liquid refined from ginseng, with only a few drops from a single root, but it contained all the medicinal properties of the ginseng.

This small amount was enough to quickly restore Zheng Chen's energy, with some to spare.

Just as he was preparing to leave after his energy was restored, Zheng Chen felt a jolt under his feet, and the entire warehouse suddenly shook.

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