It took Lan Hao Tian a while to calm down after witnessing her power. Judging by her display, he even felt that she might be stronger than him.
"You... who exactly are you?"
"I'm Shui Xin Ling."
He immediately shook his head and said,
"You know that's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?"
"Are you pretending not to understand? I'm asking about your identity. The power you just showed isn't something an ordinary person could possess."
"Then shouldn't you tell me your name first? If only one of us is asking questions, how is that fair?"
Lan Hao Tian found her reasoning quite fair and nodded.
"I'm Lan Hao Tian. It's a pleasure to meet you. Now, could you tell me where you come from?"
A single tear slipped from the corner of her eye as she spoke.
"I was born on a poor island, completely cut off from the outside world. As I grew older, I was abandoned and left to wander aimlessly. Just today, I was unfortunate enough to fall into the hands of a group of human traffickers. If you hadn't saved me, I might have already become a slave. Such a debt... can only be repaid with my life."
The more Lan Hao Tian listened, the more off it sounded. By the end, his expression had darkened considerably.
"Stop, stop, stop. You don't need to say any more. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. After all, we just met. If you want to travel with me, that's okay too. I could use strong companions on this path."
Shui Xin Ling's eyes lit up with interest. She asked,
"So what exactly are you planning to do that requires powerful people?"
He didn't answer immediately. The matter was too dangerous, and he wasn't strong enough yet. Besides, her background was unclear. If she turned out to be a noble, he could be in serious trouble.
But then she said something he didn't expect:
"You... want to go against the empires."
Her words struck him like thunder, shaking his very core. Lan Hao Tian couldn't tell where he had slipped up.
Lan Hao Tian had no choice but to take a deep breath and ask,
"How did you know?"
But her reaction surprised him even more—her eyes widened in shock.
"No way! You actually meant that? I was just joking around like I always do."
The corner of Lan Hao Tian's mouth twitched uncontrollably. He hadn't realized he'd accidentally exposed his true intentions. But he could tell this girl wasn't ordinary.
"Your background isn't simple either. Normal people wouldn't joke about something like that."
"Haha, let's just say I can't reveal my identity for now. But what you're planning sounds really interesting. I want in."
Lan Hao Tian was even more stunned. Over the years, he'd learned just how powerful the great empires were—and how dangerous it was to go against them.
Yet she didn't seem like someone ignorant of the empire's strength. Her willingness to join him only deepened his curiosity. He thought to himself:
"She probably doesn't belong to any of the empires. But whatever power she's with... it must be big—big enough that even the empires wouldn't dare act recklessly. Or maybe her individual strength is already at a world-class level... but that just doesn't add up. She might be stronger than me, but not that much stronger."
After careful thought, he nodded and said,
"Alright. You can come with me."
She grinned with delight, patted him on the shoulder, and asked,
"Great! So what's our relationship now?"
He scratched his chin, thinking for a moment before asking,
"I'm planning to start a pirate crew. Would you like to be one of my crewmates?"
Shui Xin Ling immediately shook her head.
"No way. We're about the same strength—I'm not going to be your subordinate. I want something more... equal."
"How about... friends?"
"Too boring. Pick something else."
Lan Hao Tian's mouth twitched again. In that moment, he genuinely wanted to kick her out—but his rational side quickly stopped him:
"Calm down. Calm down. She might be a little weird, but she's strong. And there's clearly a powerful force behind her. If I'm serious about starting a revolution, I can't afford to lose someone like her."
He dug through the dusty corners of his memories from his past life, recalling the great revolutions of human history. Eventually, a word came to mind, and he said,
"Then how about... comrade? It means people who share the same ideals."
"Comrade?"
Shui Xin Ling repeated the word softly. It had a nice ring to it, and the meaning wasn't bad either. She nodded cheerfully.
"Alright then, from now on, we're comrades. So, where are we headed?"
"No specific place yet. First, I need to borrow a map of the surrounding area... and borrow a boat."
"Borrow?"
She raised a skeptical eyebrow. On the way here, she had "borrowed" quite a few things herself—like the loaf of bread she'd eaten earlier.
With a straight face and steady voice, Lan Hao Tian declared,
"That's just standard pirate behavior. If I don't have it, I borrow it from others."
"And whether you return it or not... doesn't matter, right?" Shui Xin Ling said.
"Huh? So you're the same as me?"
She quickly shook her head and scoffed.
"Hmph. Don't lump me in with you. I'm not a pirate; I'm just poor. What I do is rob from the rich and give to the poor. It's a noble cause."
Lan Hao Tian's mouth twitched. Whether you called it noble or not, it was still stealing from other people.
But he wasn't in the mood to argue. So he asked,
"If you got here, then you must've had a boat, right?"
Contrary to his hopes, she shook her head without hesitation.
"Nope. I hitched a ride on a merchant ship to get to this island. Don't tell me you did the same."
Lan Hao Tian let out a sigh.
"I had a boat at first, but it was so old it broke down halfway. I swam the rest of the way here."
"Are you serious!? What kind of comrade are you? You're totally unreliable!"
His face darkened, and he fired back,
"You've got some nerve saying that! What exactly makes you any more reliable than me, huh?"
"I'm prettier than you."
"Y-You—damn it!"