The plane flew for two and a half hours, directly from winter into summer. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by novel•fire.net
Upon arrival at Yeyu City in Qiong Ya, Lu Shouyue’s childhood friend was already waiting at the airport in a luxury car.
Lin Wanwan didn’t continue with Lu Shouyue because he was going to stay at his friend’s private seaside villa in Yeyu City, while she felt it was more comfortable to spend her money staying at a hotel, since she only knew Lu Shouyue and not his friend.
Even after landing, both Lu Shouyue and his friend invited Lin Wanwan again, but she politely declined. So, he had to drop her off at the hotel first and planned to pick her up in the evening to attend the party together.
It was Lin Wanwan’s first time traveling out of her province, and she felt quite excited. She wasn’t short on money, so she booked one of the best-rated seaside hotels locally.
After putting away her luggage in the hotel’s ocean-view room and changing into summer wear, Lin Wanwan pushed open the glass door and stepped onto the balcony, letting the sea breeze blow against her. She listened to the sound of the tide coming in and out, stretched lazily, took a deep breath, and shouted into the air: "Yeyu City, here I come!"
After standing in the breeze for a while, Lin Wanwan returned to the room and started inspecting every nook and cranny of the room with her phone camera — not because she had a paranoia, but because what she was about to do next couldn’t afford any accidents. Reports of hidden cameras in hotels happen all too often.
Once she thoroughly checked the room and confirmed there was nothing out of the ordinary, Lin Wanwan texted Lu Shouyue: "I’m going to nap for a bit, Mr. Lu, please leave a message if you need anything."
This was to prevent Lu Shouyue from calling her while she was gone. After all, they were traveling together, and the likelihood of him searching for her was quite high, so better to send a preventive message.
Then, Lin Wanwan sprayed herself with mosquito repellent, put on the backpack she’d recently bought, stuffed full of outdoor gear, and opened the Space-Time Gate in her room, stepping back into Yeyu City a thousand years ago in the era of the Great Tang.
In the Great Tang, Yeyu City belonged to Qiongshan County in Qiongzhou Prefecture. Although geographically located in Lingnan, in the eyes of people from the Central Plains during the Great Tang, it was part of the Southern Barbarian Land. However, due to its geographic location, not only was trade active with the mainland, it was also a crucial node of the Maritime Silk Road, where Eastern and Western cultures interconnected and converged.
During the Great Tang, although the majority of Qiongzhou’s population was ethnic minorities, it was considered a remote area. Yet, the court did not allow it to autonomously govern like other frontier regions but instead took a direct control approach, indicating its importance.
Once Lin Wanwan pushed open the Space-Time Gate, as expected, she was standing in a coastal forest rather than the room where she left the Great Tang.
"It seems as long as the distance is far enough, the location where the Space-Time Gate opens will update according to the new geographic location," Lin Wanwan was quite pleased, confirming her previous hypothesis was correct.
Although Lin Wanwan always traveled back and forth to the original point where she left in Mao County, she felt it couldn’t always be unchanged. Now the facts were in front of her; she opened the Space-Time Gate, returning not to Mao County but the borders of Qiongzhou.
Lin Wanwan looked around and found herself surrounded by tall tropical trees and no signs of human habitation.
She took out a hiking stick, cleared the path ahead, and was about to explore when she keenly sensed the ground vibrating and immediately stopped her exploration of the ancient primal forest.
Looking up at the big tree beside her, she wondered whether she should climb it if faced with danger when suddenly she saw a snake thicker than her arm coiled around the branches, making her stumble and hurriedly retreat.
At this point, the ground vibrations became increasingly apparent, accompanied by loud "bobo" sounds — an elephant’s trumpet, a herd of elephants was passing through.
Adult elephants are absolute giants among all land animals, standing at the top of the food chain with no natural enemies. Humans might be their biggest foe — but those are humans with hunting rifles and tranquilizer guns, not Lin Wanwan with just a hiking stick.
Thus, seeing the elephant herd pass through, Lin Wanwan could only stand still, watching them, ready to open the Space-Time Gate to escape at any moment.
Fortunately, elephants are relatively gentle when not in the rut and don’t exhibit strong aggression; for Lin Wanwan, such a tiny human, they couldn’t care less.
Once the elephant herd moved far enough, Lin Wanwan finally sighed in relief, took out a compass, picked a random direction, and started walking. She knew not how far she’d have to walk to encounter humans; this was truly unpredictable. After all, a millennium separated the modern era from the Great Tang, and researching materials wouldn’t help accurately.
But she knew Qiongzhou Baisha Port was a major port and a hub on the Maritime Silk Road during the Great Tang, which belonged to modern-day Yeyu City. As long as she walked out of this forest, she should be able to find signs of human habitation.
Walking in the opposite direction of where the elephants had trod, she found it relatively peaceful; the impressive deterrent of the herd had long scared away nearby beasts and birds. After a short walk, Lin Wanwan’s ears once again caught the sound of "bobo" elephant trumpets.
"Strange, are the elephants returning?" Lin Wanwan murmured, "No, the sound seems like a lone baby elephant."
Following the sound for about a thousand meters, Lin Wanwan saw the baby elephant making the distress calls. It had fallen into a mud pit and couldn’t get out, abandoned by the herd.
If no one helped, it would probably die here.
The baby elephant noticed Lin Wanwan, and its eyes emitted a humanoid glow full of hope, crying even louder, clearly seeking her help.
Lin Wanwan surveyed the surroundings, cautiously approached the edge of the mud pit, got down on the ground, and stretched her hand to fetch the baby elephant. The baby elephant cooperatively reached out its front hoof, desperately clawing the edge of the pit, trying to reach Lin Wanwan’s hand.
Lin Wanwan was quite confident in her strength, seeing that the baby elephant seemed to be just over a meter tall and at most wouldn’t exceed 200 kilograms. With her enhanced arm strength passed through the Space-Time Gate, it was worth a try.
However, her hand wasn’t long enough; if she couldn’t grab the baby elephant, no amount of strength would be helpful.
After confirming she couldn’t reach it after a while, Lin Wanwan sat down on the ground, not caring if it was dirty, contemplating how to rescue it.
Her backpack had ropes, but they were useless — the baby elephant couldn’t loop itself. And she couldn’t risk jumping into the pit; what if she got stuck too and couldn’t get out? If modern conveniences were available, she could hire an excavator operator to easily pull the baby elephant out. But now, in the Mécanically sparse Great Tang, figuring out how to save it really gave her a headache.
Lin Wanwan stood up, glanced around, hoping to make use of local materials to craft a suitable tool.