Chapter 876: An Old Friend?
Hearing the praise from the Lord of the Sixth Island, Lin Yu nodded slightly.
At the very least, the other party seemed quite "friendly" on the surface, not as neurotic as Old Zheng had described.
So Lin Yu continued to speak with her.
"Apologies, I may have been a bit rough with the residents of your town... but I was also trying to find you as quickly as possible."
The Lord of the Sixth Island looked at Lin Yu. "That is also my question, outsider. Why did you come looking for me?"
"Since you noticed the course of my questioning, I imagine you already know how I arrived on this island," Lin Yu said unhurriedly. "I came aboard that special airship, and everyone on that airship shared the same purpose."
The Lord of the Sixth Island lowered her eyelids, her long, trembling lashes framed against her platinum-gold eyes like a small brush dusted with glitter. "Ah, you all came for the object my old friend entrusted me to safeguard, didn't you?"
Her voice still carried no fluctuation, as if she were talking about something entirely ordinary, so ordinary that it seemed she had safeguarded many such inheritances for many other people.
Lin Yu nodded again. "That's right. I hope to obtain the inheritance of the first-generation 'Freud'... but were you and he old friends?"
The Lord of the Sixth Island raised her head again and said softly, "Yes, old friends. Surprised, outsider?"
"Use common sense. If I weren't his friend, why would I safeguard his belongings for him?" she murmured, then took a step forward. "However... all I can tell you is that he did store some 'items' with me, waiting for someone fated to claim them. But I won't give you any more hints than that."
"If you came to pry information about those items from me, then please turn back. I won't help you."
She gently raised her hand, making a gesture of dismissal.
Lin Yu shook his head. "No. While I did come to the Sixth Island for that man's inheritance, I didn't visit you to fish for information about those things."
"Compared to that inheritance... what I'd rather learn from you is the first-generation 'Freud' himself."
"What he did in this world, what legendary tales he forged, that's what I want to hear from you."
As Lin Yu spoke, the Lord of the Sixth Island turned her calm gaze toward him.
"That just sounds like another way of extracting hints from me. You want to understand him from the side, then deduce information about his inheritance, is that it?"
Lin Yu didn't deny it. "You could see it that way, but... how much useful information could such a roundabout approach yield? It should be far from enough to tip the balance."
"After all, listening to your story takes time."
"And besides... based on your understanding of him, could you judge whether he was the kind of person who would want his deeds spread abroad?"
As Lin Yu spoke, the Lord of the Sixth Island fell into thought.
And her answer, Lin Yu could almost predict. After all, once that last line was spoken, Lin Yu couldn't think of any reason for her to refuse.
Whether Old Zheng wanted these deeds spread didn't matter.
This Lord of the Sixth Island absolutely wanted the deeds of her beloved, cherished first-generation 'Freud' to be passed down.
Lin Yu understood this mentality very well. When someone you love dearly passes away, if you have the chance to carve their traces left in this world a little deeper, a little longer, no one would refuse to do so.
It was an almost instinctive longing.
Sure enough, the Lord of the Sixth Island spoke in a low voice.
"He truly did many things in this world that could be called 'legendary.'"
"And the most unbelievable of them all was how he designed the death of that usurper who attempted to 'steal divine authority.'"
"Originally a guardian of the ruins, after all hope of the Federation's revival was lost, that man chose to claim the power that wasn't his, allowing the calamity's influence to spread ever further. Then he shamelessly packaged himself as a wise scholar and prophet, calling himself the 'Misty Islands Master' and deeming himself a god," the Lord of the Sixth Island said, her voice carrying a chill. "Under his designs, this world withered and decayed. Even if he wasn't the root cause of it all, he was certainly an accomplice to the tyranny."
"What 'Freud' did was deceive the trust of that hypocritical villain who had allowed curses and aberrations to isolate everyone, all for the sake of ascending to a high position. What's even more astonishing is that Freud accomplished all of this without paying too great a price. He simply saw the man's desires, gave the villain exactly what he wanted most, and became his most trusted companion."
"Then, within a very short time, he used his words to turn the man's loyalists against him and revealed the truth to the other island lords. For those he couldn't persuade, he used 'sorcery' to forcibly rewrite their minds and temporarily turn them into puppets. The influence that hypocrite had spent a century building, he completely overturned in just a few months. In this single regard alone, he was a hundred times stronger than that man."
"And all of this happened silently, without a sound," the Lord of the Sixth Island said, her voice pleasant to the ear, the tale unfolding like an epic. "Finally, on that day, within the thick fog, the villain fell from the sky into the sea where the 'curse' was most severe. The monster trapped in eternal madness because of his selfish desires tore the hypocritical villain apart. Until the very last moment, the 'Misty Islands Master' never knew who had orchestrated it all."
Even though Lin Yu already knew roughly how things had gone, hearing it from the Lord of the Sixth Island's lips felt different.
After all, in the account she gave, Old Zheng was practically a master strategist. With just a few sentences, Lin Yu felt that Old Zheng was absolutely magnificent.
And besides...
From the details of this different perspective, Lin Yu did gain new information.
Old Zheng's methods of scheming were richer than he had imagined, and his speed was faster than expected.
Of course, those weren't the important part.
What mattered was that, with the conversation having reached this point, it was time for Lin Yu to toss out information that could shake the Lord of the Sixth Island.
Looking at her, he spoke in a low voice. "Truly remarkable. As expected, his experiences were more magnificent than we could ever imagine."
"Only from your account, as someone who fought alongside him back then, someone most vital to him, could I have learned all this."
After saying this, Lin Yu made as if to continue expressing his admiration, but paused slightly.
And in that pause, it was enough for the other party to interject on the most crucial part of Lin Yu's words.
"'Most vital to him,'" the Lord of the Sixth Island repeated. "Is that how everyone in your world who knew him views me?"
"Well... not exactly. Perhaps only I thought so," Lin Yu said with an apologetic expression. "That's why I was a bit surprised when you said 'old friends,' not because I felt there was no connection between you two."
"But rather... I had always assumed that your relationship was more than just 'old friends.'"