"Big brother, I'm all cleaned up now." With a shy blush, Qing Lin emerged from the tent, her face red from embarrassment.
At this moment, Qing Lin had washed off all the dirt, revealing her delicate and pale face. The tattered coarse cloth she had been wearing was replaced by the light blue shirt originally belonging to Xiao Se.
Seeing Qing Lin wearing the shirt like a short skirt, with her snow-white calves exposed beneath, Xiao Se couldn't help but have a sense of déjà vu reminiscent of a scene from a earth's anime where a loli wears an uncle's white shirt. He silently repeated three times: "I am not a lolicon, I am not a lolicon, I am not a lolicon."
He then smiled slightly and said, "Sorry, Qing Lin, I don't have any clothes that fit you. You'll have to wait a few days for your own clothes."
"No, no... Big brother's clothes are very nice. This is the best outfit Qing Lin has ever worn. And..." Qing Lin quickly shook her head, hesitated for a moment, and then whispered with a faint blush, "And Big brother's clothes are really good."
"Is that so? If it is good, then I'll just give it to you." Hearing Qing Lin's whisper, Xiao Se's face showed a mischievous smile as he teased.
"Ah!" Qing Lin obviously didn't expect Xiao Se's hearing to be so sharp. She turned red and quickly retreated back into the tent.
Seeing Qing Lin's shy demeanor, Xiao Se shook his head with a smile. He took out a package of dried meat and a jug of water from his storage ring and said, "Alright, you must be hungry. Come and have something to eat."
As soon as these words were spoken, a faint growling sound came from inside the tent. Covering her face, Qing Lin emerged from the tent once more.
"Eat up," Xiao Se handed a piece of dried meat to Qing Lin. This was the beef from a first-tier magical beast, the Green Bull, which Xiao Se had roasted with beast fire and stored in the system warehouse for occasional snacking.
"Wow, this dried meat is really delicious," Qing Lin said with a mouthful of the meat, her voice somewhat muffled.
"Is it? If it tastes good, then eat more. There's plenty more where that came from." Smiling, Xiao Se handed over the water jug and took a piece of meat for himself.
In no time, Qing Lin had devoured half a pound of dried meat, washed it down with a gulp of water, and finally let out a satisfied sigh, smiling, "Big brother, I'm full."
"Good, as long as you're full," Xiao Se said with a smile. He put the remaining dried meat into a storage ring and handed it to Qing Lin, saying, "The environment in the desert is harsh. With your delicate skin, you won't be able to endure it. I'll keep you in a special storage pouch that can contain living things while traveling. This storage ring has enough food and water to last you for a while. You can take it out to eat if you get hungry."
He added, "Remember to wear it on your left hand's ring finger."
"Thank you, big brother." Qing Lin's heart felt warm as she accepted the storage ring with a smile and put it on her ring finger.
However, after wearing the storage ring, Qing Lin's pretty face showed a hint of sadness.
"What's wrong, Qing Lin? If you don't like it, you can wear it on another finger," Xiao Se said, noticing the subtle change in Qing Lin's expression.
Qing Lin shook her head, blushing and hesitantly said, "Qing Lin doesn't know how to use the storage ring."
"You haven't cultivated before?" Xiao Se realized that to use a storage ring, one must at least cultivate Dou Qi; otherwise, it is unusable. Since Qing Lin was from the slums, who would have taught her to cultivate?
"Yes," Qing Lin nodded slightly, her voice filled with hesitation as she asked, "Big brother, is Qing Lin really useless?"
"It's alright. Not everyone is born knowing how to cultivate. You just haven't had anyone to teach you. I'll teach you how to start cultivating Dou Qi later," Xiao Se said, patting Qing Lin's head with a smile.
Upon hearing Xiao Se's words, a touch of joy and gratitude appeared in Qing Lin's green eyes as she smiled and said, "Thank you, big brother!"
Nodding with a smile, Xiao Se took out the map given by Hai Bo Dong and began to check the next location.
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In the depths of the Tager Desert, at the Snake People's Holy City.
A snake-people soldier clad in armor swayed her snake tail and hurried into the Snake People's Holy City.
Soon, the soldier stopped in front of an elderly snake-people man and a charming snake-people woman.
"Elder Yin Shi, Commander Yue Mei," the snake-people woman saluted the two snake-peoples.
"What happened? snake-people Yi, why such haste?" Yue Mei frowned.
"Commander Yue Mei, Miss Yue'er knew we were coming to the Holy City and secretly followed us. Unfortunately, she was captured by humans along the way," the snake-people woman said urgently.
"Damn it." Yue Mei cursed softly and waved her hand, "Let's go, we need to rescue her."
Yue'er was the most gifted member of Yue Mei's tribe, her only disciple, and the successor Yue Mei had cultivated for the tribe. It was unacceptable for anything to happen to her.
"Yes." Several snake-people women around nodded and straightened up.
"Elder Yin Shi, Yue Mei will take her leave first." Yue Mei bowed to Elder Yin Shi, who was the oldest member of the Snake People, having dedicated his life to protecting the clan. Even the snake-people Queen Medusa held him in high regard, making Yue Mei respect him greatly.
"Go. Saving her is important. I will explain to the queen," Elder Yin Shi waved his hand and sighed.
At that moment, another snake-people woman rushed in, "Commander Yue Mei, Miss Yue'er has already returned."
Hearing this, Yue Mei was slightly stunned. How did Yue'er return before she even set off? She then waited quietly in place.
Soon, a relatively young and immature-looking snake-people woman elegantly swayed her tail as she walked over, followed by three adult snake-people women.
"Teacher, I thought I would never see you again." The young snake-people woman, tears in her eyes, threw herself into Yue Mei's embrace with a sob.
Yue Mei was about to reprimand her but softened immediately upon seeing the young snake-people woman cry. She gently patted her back and said, "Tell me, Yue'er, what happened?"
Wiping the tears from her eyes, Yue'er said with red eyes, "I learned from the tribe that you were coming to see the queen today, so I secretly followed with a few guards. Unfortunately, we were ambushed by some bad people who captured me and the guards."
"How have you been taking care of Yue'er? Can you bear the consequences if something happened to her?" Hearing Yue'er's account, Yue Mei was furious and scolded the three kneeling snake-people women beside her.
"Forgive us, Commander Yue Mei. We are sorry," the three snake-people women pleaded for forgiveness as Yue Mei's anger was evident.
"Teacher, don't blame them. I snuck out by myself, and there was a Dou Shi among those bad people. The three of them were captured while trying to protect me," Yue'er quickly pleaded on behalf of the guards when she saw Yue Mei's anger.
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