Three small boats landed, without counting Zi Di, there were sixteen people.
Every boat had supplies: food, water, and weapons. On Zi Di’s boat, there was a wooden box in the shape of a coffin.
Coarse wind surged, making the ocean waves turbulent.
They could avoid the closest beach and land on a beach far from the shipwrecked Hog’s Kiss.
“Quickly, row quickly!” Zi Di constantly urged.
Not far from the three boats, there was an immense shadow in the seawater that was rapidly approaching them.
The other sixteen people knew the danger and used all of their strength to row the boat forward.
“Magic and battle qi can’t be used! Dammit, if only the situation on the island was different. My authority isn’t enough to freely use magic!”
Zi Di bit her jaw, seeing the immense shadow come closer, her heart couldn’t help but jump.
Thankfully, as they approached the beach, the shadow in the seawater gradually slowed down and stopped.
The three boats smoothly landed on the beach.
“Quick, move the supplies, we must move quickly!” Zi Di jumped onto the beach first.
The other guards were flustered as they rapidly emptied the three boats.
All of them were rejoicing: “What was that gigantic shadow?”
“Did it cause the shipwreck?”
“Luckily it gave up, obviously it could have overtaken us, but it hesitated.”
“I don’t feel reassured, I think it is scared of some threatening existence on this island.”
“In the end, Miss Zi Di, why have we come here?”
Zi Di coldly snorted: “You should thank me first, haven’t I saved your lives?”
All of the guards immediately looked somewhat embarrassed.
Zi Di didn’t think killing the captain would activate such a dead man's switch. The shipwreck was too abrupt, after exhausting her abilities, Zi Di could only take away these sixteen guards and a great amount of supplies.
Earlier she had fought over these three boats and left everyone else behind without a second thought.
“This really is Mystifying Monster Island!”
“I need to find the alchemy factory, but where is it?”
After landing, Zi Di didn’t know where the alchemy factory was because she had been teleported last time.
“Some of you were employed by me, and some of you are old guards of the Wisteria Merchant Alliance. You will follow my commands.”
“Now, we will set off immediately.”
“Right, guard this wooden box, there is something important inside. You will protect it like you defend me!”
“Understood Miss Zi Di (Lord President).” The guards looked at each other in dismay as they replied.
When they began to penetrate the rainforest, a terrifying aspect of Mystifying Monster Island revealed itself.
blood-streaked snakes died under the guards’ swords.
“What is this magic beast? Anyone know?”
“It resembles a snake, but I have never heard anything about it.”
“Then call it a blood-streaked snake.” Zi Di said, “It isn’t important, we need to move faster!”
“Wait a moment, magic crystals are very valuable, Lord President, I killed this snake, can I first remove its magic core?” The caravan guard requested.
“This blockhead.” Zi Di sighed and nodded helplessly. She had toured the alchemy factory and learned from Jian Zuan’s mouth that the remodeled magic beasts didn’t have magic cores.
The others looked at the lucky guy with slight envy.
Cutting the blood-streaked snake wasn’t strenuous, but after dissecting it, the caravan guard’s expression suddenly vanished as he said with bewilderment: “How can this be? It doesn’t have a magic core, but its life aura is clearly that of a magic beast’s!”
“Unknown. Since there is no magic core, let’s set off.”
However, things went south, and everyone’s speed became slower.
The rainforest’s complex terrain often halted the people and the extremely dense vegetation concealed dangerous magic beasts, causing the group to move cautiously. If they were somewhat careless, a team member’s life would be in danger.
Under the guards’ repeated advice, although Zi Di was unwilling, she yielded to reality: “Then we will build a camp to rest and reorganize.”
After resting for two days, the group continued forward.
However, the more they penetrated the rainforest, the more terrifying the dangers.
At the third campsite, someone had a suggestion.
“We have too many supplies and are actually using up a lot of stamina to transport them. I think it is feasible to leave some supplies here.”
After reflecting, Zi Di also felt this was the correct move. If the group was routed in the future and lost their supplies, they had somewhere to retreat to.
“I underestimated the dangers of Mystifying Monster Island!”
“If I had known this place prohibits magic, I would have woken up the body double earlier. He is a silver level cultivator and a transformed beastified person.”
“Obviously in the alchemy factory, my magic wasn’t prohibited.”
“Hold on, since War Merchant is dead, radical changes must have happened here! Perhaps Mystifying Monster Island is free, but the dramatic changes produced this magic prohibition environment. Is this one of War Merchant’s defensive measures?”
Zi Di’s heart had many guesses.
After a dozen days in the rainforest, she completely dispelled any thoughts of finding the alchemy factory quickly.
“This will be a very long exploration.”
“But if I succeed, my entire life will change!”
“I must succeed!”
Zi Di was very resolute.
However, a few days later, she suffered a blow.
The encountered a silver level artificial magic beast——the blue dog fox wolf!
It was a crafty magic beast, first it ambushed the last guard, then deliberately didn’t kill him immediately, instead it dragged him away as it escaped.
Zi Di immediately rushed over to help.
As the formation became disorderly, the blue dog fox wolf seized the opportunity and attacked. The guards’ crossbows seriously injured it, but it killed three of them.
The guards were furious and wanted vengeance.
“It's a silver level magic beast, are any of you its opponent? Continue forward!” Zi Di’s attitude was tough, “It is already seriously wounded, and in extreme danger. The jungle will dispose of it and other ferocious beasts will devour it.”
“If its body had a magic core, perhaps I would go after it.”
“But after so many days of killing magic beasts, there hasn’t been a single magic core. That wolf is unlikely to be an exception!”
Zi Di’s words were reasonable, since everyone saw it wasn’t profitable, after their anger subsided, none of them wanted to risk their lives for vengeance’s sake.
Besides, searching for a single wolf in this boundless rainforest was very troublesome.
No one searched for the evil wolf, however beyond their expectations, the evil wolf ambushed them again/
This time, the blue dog fox wolf attacked the entire camp with a fire-poison beehive.
Four guards were grievously wounded and sank into unconsciousness.
Despite Zi Di’s best efforts, they died that night.
The blue dog fox wolf’s attacks did not stop, it ambushed Zi Di’s group over and over, and became an unshakable nightmare.
Forced by circumstance, Zi Di and the others had to artificially increase their speed by reducing their supplies.
The body double’s box was very heavy; thus, they could only abandon it at a camp.
Everyone knew there was a person stored in the box.
“He is my fiancé, Lord Zhen Jin, you also know we were an advance party dispatched by him. But in fact, we schemed to sneak him into White Sands City and catch his rivals unprepared.” Zi Di explained.
“So that’s how things are, it's no wonder you were so nervous about this box President.”
“But why hasn’t Lord Zhen Jin woken up from his sleep?”
Zi Di sighed: “It isn’t easy to hide from his competitors. Originally, he would have woken up when we reached White Sands City. But due to unexpected events, I don’t have a way to wake him up, I can only hope he can awaken himself.”
Afterwards no matter how dangerous the situation was, Zi Di never left the body double’s side.
“The situation is getting worse; he is my final safeguard!”
But waking up the body double was extremely troublesome.
Zi Di couldn’t use magic, forcibly using the memory crystal in a magic prohibition environment had a high failure rate and a low success chance.
Even if he was woken up, if an accident happened during the process and body double found flaws, thus discovering he wasn’t Zhen Jin, it was hard to say what he would do to Zi Di in his anger.
“Run for it Lord President!”
“We will obstruct it!!”
The final two guards chose to stay behind and stall for time, their end was self-evident.
Zi Di firmly gritted her teeth and evacuated with the sleeping body double.
Huff!
Huff!
Zi Di opened her mouth wide, taking in deep breaths although the pit of her stomach was already aching with pain.
She was dripping from head to toe in sweat. As a magician, her delicate body right now was giving off shocking energy that surprised even herself.
“Mystifying Monster Island was too dangerous! But I shouldn’t die here, I can’t die here.”
“I need to leave here at once!!”
“Ahh——!”
Suddenly a loud intense scream was heard from afar.
The young girl’s body trembled just as if she was shocked by lightning.
“They were also murdered!” The girl turned deathly pale, and her gaze was frantic.
“No, it doesn’t matter, I still have the body double.” When her gaze looked at the youngster on the stretcher behind her, she steadied herself again.
By climbing trees and crossing a river, Zi Di broke away from the blue dog fox wolf for the time being.
But she quickly realized her life was still hanging by a thread.
“In that case, there is only one thing I can do!”
The girl’s eyes flashed with unwavering determination.
She took out the memory crystal and began to activate it with all her strength.
Anxiety grew in the girl’s heart as she softly said: “Hurry, hurry up! I’m begging you, please work.”
As if hearing the pleas of the young girl, the white crystal slowly started to light up with streaks of barely visible rays of light.
“As expected! “Although this island prohibits a vast majority of magic, it is only relative. As long as the grade is high enough, it will be usable. However, the power and effect will be greatly reduced…”
Like Zi Di expected, the blue dog fox wolf really came back to murder her.
As it pounced through the sky, death’s shadow enveloped the girl’s body and mind.
“Will I really die here?!”
In Zi Di’s moment of despair, the body double suddenly opened his eyes.
Roused by a roaring beast, he ruthlessly kicked the blue dog fox wolf into the river.
Soon after, the youthful boy propped himself up from the ground with his hands and stood up with a glare.
“I, I’m saved?! I successfully woke him up!”
Zi Di’s eyes contracted, and her breathing stopped as she looked at the youngster’s thin back, however she felt an intense sense of security.
Notes
Time to speedrun the last 170 chapters through Zi Di’s perspective. Zi Di probably should have asked how War Merchant raised and researched the magic beasts before leaving, but you can’t change the past. Hope and ambition blind even the best to the dangers lurking ahead. It’s funny that Zi Di already feels better next to 866 than all those times she spent with Zhen Jin.