I Start with a Mysterious Island-Chapter 97: You Can’t Say They’re Similar! You Can Only Say They’re Identical.

Chapter 97: Chapter 97: You Can’t Say They’re Similar! You Can Only Say They’re Identical.

In front of Lin Li was an open area of several thousand square meters, filled with dense weeds, low shrubs, and beautiful wildflowers of every color.

If that were all, it wouldn’t have been enough to make Lin Li stop and stare.

The real reason he was stunned was that he saw many scorched, blackened areas within this open field.

The weeds, shrubs, and wildflowers in these areas were a complete mess, with wisps of black smoke drifting up from them as if they had just been burned.

Looking further into the distance, he could also see many trees snapped in half, and the ground was pockmarked with craters of various sizes.

’This... could this be the result of a battle? If so, with this level of destruction, the fighters must have been stronger than Tier Two.’

After snapping out of his daze, Lin Li looked toward the distant, rumbling source of the noise with a grim expression and took a deep breath.

WHOOSH...

’Forget it. My life is more important. I’d better not risk going over there to see what’s happening.’

Lin Li, who just moments ago had resolved to see what was causing the rumbling, immediately and sensibly abandoned the thought after witnessing the devastation in the open field before him.

Although Lin Li could escape danger by retreating to the Mysterious Small Island with a single thought, that was predicated on him having enough time to think it.

If a Tier Two enemy attacked him, he felt confident he could retreat to the Mysterious Small Island with ease.

But against a Tier Three opponent, one who had gained Aerial Ability, he had no idea. He’d never fought one before and had no clue how powerful they might be, leaving him completely uncertain.

He was afraid that against such an enemy, he might be killed in a single blow before he even had time to think of escaping to the Mysterious Small Island.

"I’ll explore somewhere else for a bit, then head home," Lin Li muttered, looking at the distant source of the rumbling. He then prepared to move away from the dangerous area.

"Huh? What’s that?!!"

Just as Lin Li was about to turn and leave, he caught a glimpse of a faint golden glow in a nearby pond out of the corner of his eye.

TAP, TAP, TAP...

Driven by a sliver of curiosity, Lin Li ran toward the pond, telling himself he would just take one look and then leave.

But when he reached the pond and saw the object emitting a faint golden Spiritual Light, his intention to just take a quick look and leave instantly vanished.

His eyes widened, and he stared intently at the plant in the pond, which was suffused with a faint golden Spiritual Light.

"A Spirit Plant! This plant glowing with a faint golden Spiritual Light is a Spirit Plant!" Lin Li muttered to himself, his eyes filled with joyous surprise. "I can’t believe I found a treasure like this here."

The Spirit Plant growing in the small pond was emerald green all over. Its stalk was about two fingers thick, and its slender branches bore green, fan-shaped leaves.

The Spirit Plant was currently radiating a faint golden Spiritual Light, and it swayed gently in the water with every puff of the occasional breeze.

’I’ll dig up this Spirit Plant and get out of here immediately.’ The thought spurred Lin Li into action.

Although Lin Li was impatient to dig up the Spirit Plant, he didn’t let the prize cloud his judgment.

Before getting into the pond, Lin Li used his Spiritual Longsword to probe its depth. He also twisted his wrist, stirring the water to check for anything dangerous lurking within.

SPLASH...

Water splashed, but there was nothing unusual in the clear pond.

’The pond is shallow, only about thirty to forty centimeters deep, and there are no dangerous creatures hiding in the water. I can go in.’

After confirming it was safe to enter, Lin Li quickly took off his shoes and socks, placed them in the Mysterious Small Island along with his Spiritual Longsword, and then stepped into the pond.

The clear, cool water rose past Lin Li’s ankles as he walked briskly toward the center of the pond.

SPLASH...

As Lin Li strode toward the center, water splashed and ripples spread out across the surface of the pond.

Before long, Lin Li arrived in front of the Spirit Plant growing in the center of the pond.

Impatient, he bent down and prepared to reach into the water to dig out the Spirit Plant radiating its faint golden Spiritual Light.

But just then, he saw a small, light-green fruit growing on one of the Spirit Plant’s slender branches.

"This... this Spirit Plant can actually grow a Spirit Fruit!!!" Seeing the fingernail-sized, light-green fruit on the plant, Lin Li, who was already overjoyed, became ecstatic.

The transformation that followed stunned him yet again. In the five short seconds after he spotted it, the small, light-green, fingernail-sized fruit rapidly grew to the size of a pigeon’s egg.

And its initial light-green color turned a vibrant red.

"The Spirit Fruit ripened in seconds? That’s way too fast!" Lin Li muttered, then reached out to pick the now-ripe, pigeon-egg-sized Spirit Fruit.

SNAP.

After carefully snapping the Spirit Fruit from its slender branch, Lin Li looked at the pigeon-egg-sized fruit in his palm and couldn’t help but think of the cherry tomatoes he grew in the fields on his Mysterious Small Island.

The reason this association came to mind was because the Spirit Fruit in his hand didn’t just look *similar* to those cherry tomatoes—it looked exactly the same.

If he were to place this Spirit Fruit in a bowl full of cherry tomatoes, it would be impossible to pick it out by sight alone. You would have to taste them one by one.

’I’ll figure this out when I get back. I need to hurry and dig up the Spirit Plant.’

Lin Li put the Spirit Fruit, which looked identical to a cherry tomato, into his pocket. He then bent down again, plunged both hands into the water, and started digging up the Spirit Plant.

HNGH.

SPLOOSH...

Lin Li’s hands dug rapidly through the underwater mud, and the water in front of him quickly turned murky and opaque.

Although he was digging through the mud quickly, he immediately slowed down upon reaching the Spirit Plant’s roots and began to excavate them carefully.

After about three minutes, Lin Li managed to pull the nearly one-meter-tall Spirit Plant from the pond, completely intact.

"Hahaha... I got it." After pulling the Spirit Plant out intact, Lin Li couldn’t help but laugh out loud. However, he immediately clamped his mouth shut and warily scanned his surroundings. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

RUMBLE...

Just then, a tremendous roar echoed from the distance. Lin Li whipped his head around and saw terrifying, silvery-white bolts of lightning flashing one after another from the direction of the rumbling.

"Tsk... the power of that lightning is terrifying! Well, I’ve got the Spirit Plant now. Time to go home!"

With a final look at the distant spot, which was still erupting with lightning and rumbles, Lin Li—his face filled with the joy of his harvest—had a thought, and his entire body vanished from the pond.

...

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