Chapter 16

15. Unfulfilled Promise

"I'm sorry," the girl sobbed, "today, I just... I didn't understand that dueling people is forbidden. Dad told me not to cause trouble for others. It turns out this is causing trouble. I didn't know it was like this."

"I know nothing. I can't understand what the villagers say. I'm short and thin, and I have no friends. When I go into the mountains, they say I'm doing bad things. I'm a child no one wants."

"I really didn't know. I'm sorry, wuwu..."

The girl's emotions suddenly collapsed.

Li Ang glanced at the dinner she had carefully prepared, finished the fruit in his hand, wiped his hands, stood up, picked up the chair with one hand and placed it gently in front of her, then sat down closer to her side.

He softened his voice: "I had issues today too. I was impatient. If it were usual, I would have explained the reasoning clearly."

"I know. Because I understand nothing, and I don't understand what you say, so you... wu, I did wrong. Being beaten is what I deserve."

"That's not how it is."

Li Ang gently patted her trembling shoulder.

"It's because you are so excellent that I got anxious."

"..."

The girl's trembling subsided slightly. She squeezed out a tiny voice and asked, "Really?"

"Of course it's true. You haven't been outside. Children your age in the various outer air domains could never possibly understand such sword techniques."

Actually, there were still a few children whose talent was so perverted it reached the extreme, but what Li Ang said was basically true.

"You also haven't fought anyone of equal strength. You don't know that your power, if used carelessly, could hurt others. I was a bit anxious, worried you might take the wrong path."

Li Ang sighed inwardly. Ten years. He had thought more than once about the truth and falsehood of this world.

Everything seen before his eyes is real; otherwise, there would be no way to account for ten years of mental effort and passion.

But if this is a false world, why does it present itself before him? Even matters that even the game designers might not understand have been completed.

Now, this question floated in his heart once again.

Zoe. In "Nubis Fantasy," originally intended as the female protagonist controlled by players, she should not have any personality existence.

But in this real world, she is a complete person. The fact that she has no father or mother might have been for the convenience of game settings, but this became her past, shaping her present.

She grew into the kind of girl standing before Li Ang: full of vitality, kind-hearted, lacking common sense. She is a blank sheet of paper, a rough jade.

He had not made the decision to invite her to form a party—let alone that she might not accept even if he asked—but he had to admit that the positive aspects of her personality were quite infectious to him.

Li Ang admitted he was worried. Worried that this rough jade would be tainted by filth, so he was willing to play the villain just to tell her what was wrong.

"I know now. It won't happen again."

The girl's voice came from between her legs: "And I know the way. I know where to go anywhere on the island."

Li Ang laughed helplessly: "Taking the wrong path means doing wrong things, becoming a bad person."

"I got it wrong again."

"It's okay. You don't always have to apologize. No one taught you before; it's not your fault. Everyone comes through making mistakes again and again."

Zoe finally raised her head. Her face was smeared with tears, and her eyes were soaked red by them. For the first time, Li Ang saw her liveliness fade, revealing a completely delicate temperament.

Only at this moment could one feel how slender her figure was; one could embrace her entirely in a single hug. This might not be a developmental issue, but simply innate.

"If I do wrong things again, will you still blame me?"

"No, but—"

Hearing "no," the girl was just about to show a smile, but she was scared back by Li Ang's second half of the sentence.

"Don't be afraid. I just want to say, ask before doing anything. I also hope you remember: if you didn't intentionally do wrong, don't take it to heart; just correct it in time."

"Okay."

Zoe suddenly felt much more relaxed.

She put her feet back on the ground, clasped her fists and propped them on her smooth, soft leg flesh, her shoulders slightly hunched, not yet fully relaxed.

"And," Li Ang told her the truth, "you are not short and thin. Being small in body is actually very cute."

"Really?" Zoe asked with hope, looking at him with pleading eyes.

"I absolutely won't lie to you."

"Then will you not want me?"

What does this have to do with that?

"We can't say it like that," Li Ang hurriedly said. "We've met for less than three days. It doesn't count as a relationship of wanting or not wanting. At most, we are friends."

"Friends are people who play together, right?" Zoe asked.

"Yes."

"I want to play with you. Are you still willing to play with me?"

Seeing her expression full of expectation yet fragility, Li Ang nodded.

Wiping the corner of her eye with the back of her hand, the girl held a smile again.

"Hehe, friends."

She clasped her hands together, a silly smile hanging on her exquisite face.

As if remembering something, she quickly raised her head.

"Will friends leave and never come back? Can you promise not to leave?"

"..."

After leaving, Li Ang certainly did not feel he would ever return to Satus Island.

He could not make a promise.

He knew the girl meant "I still want to spend more time with you," and he understood that her acting as his little shadow these past few days, including provoking and playing around, was actually just a desire for interaction born of loneliness.

Seeing him pause, Zoe became a bit anxious, her eyes widening.

"Is there something wrong with me? Mom and Dad said they would come back but didn't. You won't promise me either."

"Did your parents say they would return?"

"Yes, it has been two years since the agreed time."

So there was an agreed time.

According to the villagers, the Zoe family arrived on the island ten years ago; they lived together for two years before her parents left. By that logic, their original plan was to return six years after departing.

Li Ang looked again at the small, carefully built home around him and said to the girl, "What do they look like? Perhaps I might know them."

He wasn't merely changing the subject; since these parents could come and go through the clouds, their mindset must differ from that of the Sky Island settlers. They were very likely adventurers, or registered Knights of the Sky.

Li Ang had been active as a member of the Great Ensemble for a long time; if they were Knights of the Sky with some strength, he truly might have seen them.

"Is that so? I'll take you to see."

Zoe trotted to the room on the right side of the main door, opened it, stepped halfway inside, then turned back and waved at Li Ang.

"Come, come here."

He followed and discovered this was the girl's room.

But there was nothing in here to make one's heart race, for her possessions were truly few; many showed wear, and some were even damaged beyond recognition of their function.

Various small stones and shells were scattered in many places; this was her only real hobby.

In the corner stood a height chart and a scale; the latter was obviously bought from an industrially advanced Sky Island.

What surprised Li Ang was that on her bed, besides the faded full set of bedding, lay a large mat woven from grass blades. It was somewhat tattered, but because it had been dried well back then, it had not rotted, only worn.

This is my mat; so this little girl brought it here.

Zoe didn't notice his gaze; she took a photo frame from a handcrafted shelf and handed it over.

Li Ang took it and, at first glance, saw the logo on the frame, belonging to a boutique in the Holy City of Vitask.

The photo was a group shot of a man and a woman; the man was tall and the woman petite; it seemed the daughter took after her mother.

Due to the long passage of time, the photo had turned pale yellow, and the two faces were blurred. Li Ang glanced at the stunningly beautiful Zoe beside him; the two in the photo certainly wouldn't be ugly.

Li Ang could recognize where they had taken the photo: right at the main entrance of the Holy City.

Under the towering dome of the Holy City's Gate of Glory stood a fountain constructed from multiple bronze statues and intricate decorations; it was one of the Holy City's most famous sights, and many tourists were recommended by merchants to take photos there.

The attire of these two was also the common garb of Knights of the Sky.

"I might actually be able to find them, or at least check where they went," Li Ang said.

Zoe ran lightly out of the room, instantly arriving at the doorway of the room on the other side, her voice carrying across the corridor.

"Li Ang, come look in their room."