On the way back, Betty was very silent, but Ethan knew the girl had been quietly observing him and the others. Although she thought she was being very careful and cautious, unfortunately, it couldn't fool anyone present.
On the contrary, Ethan had noticed some things about Betty.
Considering she had just woken up from over 800 years of hibernation, Ethan initially controlled his walking pace, fearing Betty wouldn't be able to keep up.
But after walking for a while, he found that Betty showed almost no signs of falling behind and had no issues with physical exhaustion. He gradually increased their pace, returning to the group's normal speed, yet Betty still showed no signs of struggling.
If a normal human had just undergone such a long period of hibernation, they would have difficulty even walking after waking up, let alone moving quickly with a full set of equipment like this.
Even if the hibernation equipment she used was extremely powerful, and the injected agents could instantly restore her to her pre-hibernation state, a normal person carrying so much equipment and moving quickly for a distance would still feel tired, and at the very least, their breathing would change.
But Betty showed none of these signs, which indicated her physical condition.
Physical condition can reflect many things. For example, in this sea area, even Brad, who returned from the Sea of Miracles, was only a strong ordinary human who hadn't reached the human limit, let alone surpassed it.
Based on the information Ethan currently had, it seemed that to surpass the human limit in this sea area, one could only do so like Beckford, using special magic stones to undergo some extreme transformation of their life form.
Betty didn't seem to have undergone such a transformation, so why was her physical condition so strong?
Was it innate? Or enhanced later?
Combining the information Betty had revealed earlier, Ethan suddenly felt some curiosity about what they might encounter in that vast, boundless sea of stars.
After a few seconds of random thoughts, Ethan stopped.
He didn't need to go any further. His companions hadn't set up camp on the beach, but had built a camp on the grassland near the beach. They had already lit a bonfire and set up a few simple shelters for resting.
"The terrain here is slightly higher. We're not sure if that beach will be submerged by the sea during high tide."
This was a normal consideration. If it were Ethan choosing, he would also build the camp on slightly higher ground, rather than directly on the beach that could be swallowed by waves at any time.
"What's the situation with that girl?"
Because the area was flat, everyone had seen Ethan and the others returning from a distance, and there was a strange woman added to the group.
From her clothing and the weapon on her back, she didn't look like an adventurer from this world. Had Ethan gone to another world for a quick trip while he was out?
"I haven't figured out the specifics yet. I'll talk to her later, she should know what this island is about. As for how I met this girl, you can ask Laura or Ada if you're interested."
After giving the instructions, Ethan turned back and called out to Betty.
"You've been in hibernation for so long, do you need to replenish food and water?"
"I can only consume special nutrient agents right now. If possible, please give me some clean water."
Ethan nodded, whispered a few words to Logan, and then led Betty to a shelter in a relatively secluded corner.
These shelters were assembled using a few logs, slightly thicker branches, some wide leaves, and ropes made from twisted bark.
The technical difficulty wasn't high, anyone with patience and strength could build one. And this group had no shortage of strength, so they built several in one go.
It was convenient for Ethan to use now. After entering the shelter, Ethan motioned for Betty to sit down directly.
Beneath the grass was soft soil. There was nothing wrong with it except that it would dirty pants, besides, Betty's pants weren't afraid of getting dirty at all, soil would wash off with water.
As soon as the two sat down, Logan brought over a bottle of water and handed it to Betty.
"Thank you."
Betty didn't drink the water immediately after taking it. Instead, she kept looking at the bottle in her hand.
This was bottled water specifically for the Prinz Eugen. It looked like an ordinary plastic bottle on the outside, but it was actually made of a special polymer material, making it quite sturdy.
Inside was plain clean water. The Prinz Eugen had special equipment that could inject treated clean water into empty bottles that had been cleaned and sterilized, and then transport them through dedicated channels to almost any room, ensuring crew members could find water to drink at any time.
Besides being convenient to use on the ship, bottled water was also easy to carry. For this island landing, almost everyone brought many bottles.
This wasn't particularly special, but in Betty's eyes, it had a completely different meaning.
"If you have anything you want to ask, just ask!"
Ethan watched Betty take a sip of water, then take out a tube-like object from her vest-like clothing. After fiddling with it a couple of times, she squeezed some paste into her mouth and swallowed it with the clean water.
After Betty swallowed everything in her mouth, she held up the bottle in her hand and asked Ethan, "Are these bottles made by yourselves?"
"Before answering that question, I think it's better to first clarify the meaning of 'you'."
Betty's expression became a little awkward. She realized that the man opposite her had learned something from her words, which wasn't good. She had originally wanted to ask more questions and confirm some things before deciding whether to tell the truth.
"I think it's better for us to tell each other what we know. Only then can we resolve our questions. Hiding things from each other is meaningless."
"You're right."
Betty felt that Ethan's words made sense, but she was deeply worried, fearing the other party couldn't accept the cruel reality. So she still wasn't prepared to tell everything, or rather, she planned to keep some things back.
Unfortunately, Ethan wouldn't give her the chance to keep things back. He immediately cut to the chase. "You know where this place is, right?"
"Uh..." Betty thought for a long time, unable to figure out how to answer the question with some reservations. "I know."
She secretly glanced at Ethan again, and their eyes met. Just as she was feeling a bit flustered and didn't know what to say to get by, she heard Ethan opposite her say something that surprised her.
"I know what you're worried about. You might think I'm an ignorant native of this place, unable to accept the cruel reality... What I want to tell you is, you're overthinking it. No matter what kind of truth you tell me, I won't find it unacceptable."
As a transmigrator who came to this world, then gained the ability to freely travel through multiple cosmic planes, learned magical spells from top mages like Isandra, Merlin, and the Ancient One, and even obtained Ares's blood to create enhancement potions, evolving himself to the demigod level.
And having gathered a large number of companions from multiple worlds who only existed in fantasy in his previous life, and even engaged in countless indescribable acts with one of the goddesses, what else could possibly surprise him?
According to his speculation, this so-called ocean world was simply a testing ground or examination site for that powerful force known as the Empire, because Betty had previously said she was a student here to undergo assessment.
The so-called natives of this world were likely low-level life forms specifically created by some advanced civilization, whose purpose was to fill this place and make it closer to a normal world.
In the eyes of Betty, a student of the military academy who had slept for over 800 years, Ethan was perhaps just such a pitiful, ignorant, clueless native who knew nothing about the truth of this world.
Betty did indeed think so. After realizing that her thoughts had been guessed by the man in front of her, she finally said, "Okay, since you say so, then I just hope you can remain calm after hearing the truth."
Ethan spread his hands, gesturing for her to speak. After hesitating one last time, Betty gave up struggling and slowly told the truth.
As Betty narrated, Ethan finally confirmed his speculation.
Just as he had expected, this so-called ocean world was actually a military training ground for that powerful force known as the Empire.
The entire world, including the ocean, floating islands, and various monsters, were all created using powerful technological means. The natives of this world were also low-level life forms created by the Empire using biotechnology.
The Empire possessed extremely powerful gene regulation technology. After generations of optimization, the Empire's citizens had long completed the evolution of their life forms from ordinary life to higher life.
Therefore, Imperial citizens possessed physical conditions far surpassing ordinary humans and much longer lifespans. The fact that Betty's body showed no abnormalities after sleeping in the hibernation pod for so long was not only due to the high quality of the pod but also related to her own strong physical condition.
In contrast, fragile life forms whose lifespans rarely reached a hundred years and were particularly susceptible to various diseases were not regarded as true people by the Imperial citizens, but merely low-level creatures used as consumables.
Ethan, in the eyes of Betty, an Imperial citizen, was a low-level creature.
As she said this, Betty kept observing Ethan, surprised to find that Ethan seemed completely unaffected. This cruel reality hadn't agitated the young man, which made Betty breathe a slight sigh of relief.
As long as the other party didn't go mad and lose control from the shock of reality, there was nothing left that couldn't be said.
(To be continued.)