The elder's footsteps paused slightly upon hearing these words. He turned his head to look at Yuan Qingqing, his tone tinged with inquiry, "Is it the younger brother adopted by Yuan Shize?"
To think he even knew about that.
She just didn't know if he was her brother's companion.
Yuan Qingqing nodded slightly, making no attempt to conceal it. Since the other party already knew, she might as well use them.
Oh, no, she shouldn't call it using them, she should say, she was leveraging the elder's strength to rescue her younger brother.
This secret realm was simply too dangerous.
Yuan Qingqing had no idea how she had made it this far.
If she hadn't encountered this elder midway, she might not have been able to reach this point.
Yuan Qingqing secretly exhaled. In reality, with the elder present, she wasn't without an advantage.
She spoke softly, "My younger brother is also in this secret realm. I hope the elder can help me rescue him."
Hearing the address "elder," the old man seemed helpless.
He spoke with particular helplessness, "Please don't call me elder. Just call me by my name. My name is Zuo An."
Yuan Qingqing was somewhat surprised. She looked at the old man in front of her and quickly shook her head, hastily saying, "How can I do that? I am only in my twenties, barely past twenty, how can I call you that? It would be too disrespectful."
However, upon hearing this, Zuo An's expression truly turned bitter.
Zuo An glanced at his hair and his tattered clothes. The bitter smile on his lips was so evident.
Yuan Qingqing couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? Why does your expression look so distressed?"
Zuo An shook his head, his voice filled with grief and indignation, "How can I not be distressed? I am only twenty-four years old this year!"
Upon hearing this, Yuan Qingqing was shocked.
She widened her eyes, looking at the old man before her. She could not believe that Zuo An was only twenty-four.
Zuo An was particularly distraught.
"I knew you wouldn't believe me, but there's a place in this secret realm that's incredibly strange. I am indeed twenty-four, but my appearance looks like I'm forty-two, or even sixty-two."
There was nothing that could be done about this.
Moreover, he hadn't shaved. In this secret realm, he had thought he would never get out and wouldn't meet anyone else. Unexpectedly, he was meeting a living person now.
Zuo An's inner pain was something no one could comprehend. Yuan Qingqing, on the other hand, was desperate to contact her brother.
Logically, with the map, she should be able to contact him, as it had communication functions.
However, Duan Chen, the spiritual energy provider, was not here. They had no idea how to use their abilities to provide communication spiritual energy for this map.
Therefore, Yuan Qingqing could only watch helplessly as her brother's health bar slowly dropped, unable to do anything.
She could only try her best to rush to him.
Yuan Qingqing nodded perfunctorily, not particularly concerned about whether Zuo An was twenty-four or forty-two.
Her greatest concern now was her brother's situation.
Although Yuan Yuan possessed offensive capabilities, Yuan Yuan did not have as many methods at her disposal as Yuan Qingqing.
Although Yuan Qingqing was purely a support, some of the food she made could grant her temporary abilities.
This was something Yuan Qingqing had not disclosed.
She looked at Zuo An with great calmness and said, "If... if you have the ability, I hope you can help me save my brother."
Zuo An shook his head.
He said, "It's not that I don't want to help you rescue him, but you simply don't know that in this secret realm, there is no sense of time, space, or direction. It's very difficult to know our current location."
"Unless one possesses a bound item upon entering, once separated within, it's possible they might never meet again in this lifetime."
Upon hearing this somewhat secret piece of information, Yuan Qingqing's eyes widened in disbelief.
She was stunned.
"How is that possible?"
Seeing her reaction, Zuo An shrugged helplessly, "I wouldn't lie to you about this. You just need to stay longer, and you'll discover it yourself. There's no need for me to deceive you. Don't you believe me?"
"If it weren't for the peculiar nature of this place, I wouldn't have been separated from your brother and the others."
"As for finding your brother, of course, I can't do that."
Upon reaching this point, Yuan Qingqing suddenly interrupted.
She said very calmly, "No, there is a way to find him."
Zuo An looked at her, and Yuan Qingqing said with great composure, "You don't know, perhaps my brother didn't tell you, but my brother and I are twins. We are biological siblings."
Zuo An nodded. He was aware of this matter.
Yuan Qingqing calmly stated, "My brother and I have a telepathic connection. I can know my brother's current location."
Zuo An was somewhat surprised and also delighted. "If that's the case, then it's much easier."
Yuan Qingqing's face did not flush at all.
She did not care that she was lying.
If she didn't lie, she would have to expose Duan Chen's abilities.
That was something she absolutely did not want to do.
Moreover, the lie she had just fabricated was entirely without danger.
She and her brother were twins, which was why they possessed telepathic abilities, not obtained through external means. The prerequisite was also the twin connection.
Therefore, even if others harbored greed, they couldn't take away her talent here.
To this day, Yuan Qingqing had not truly trusted Zuo An.
Relying on Duan Chen's map, she pointed in the direction of her brother.
"I can vaguely sense," she said with great sincerity, as if it were true, "that my brother is in that direction."
She spoke with such certainty that Zuo An believed her immediately.
He nodded.
"Since that's the case, there's no time to lose. I'll help you rescue your brother first."
Yuan Qingqing closely followed behind Zuo An, not holding back.
Zuo An had snatched the pie from her hand. He likely already knew her capabilities. At this point, it was better to play along and let Zuo An recognize her value, preventing him from abandoning her.
Then, she would look for an opportunity to find her brother and the captain and the others...