The crowd moved quickly along the street, and the surrounding scene quickly receded.
It was midnight in Dolifen, and the scenery on both sides of the street was completely different from what it was during the day. The ruined city had disappeared, and there was a layer of fireflies among the surrounding trees. The mist was replaced by the shadow of its past.
That was the scene thirty years ago——
There are neat buildings with closed doors. There seem to be pale faces standing behind the windows, and the sounds of laughter and daily conversations can be heard from behind.
In a hurry, he passed an empty factory. Inside, there was a working magic furnace, rows of tall shelves, and orange firelight. And even though it was midnight, there was still the sound of clanking and banging coming from the empty factory.
This scene is really weird.
But what was even more nerve-wracking was the pursuers behind them. There was a dim light at the end of the street, and the countless ghost army.
Forcing everyone not to stop.
Jita ran a few steps, pressed her chest and slowed down, her face turned pale. Fang Plover looked back. Sylvide was supporting Siesta, Etila was carrying Tianlan, Papalar was busy with his short legs, and Dict was also carrying a wounded man under Hansen.
He turned back and walked over. "I, I'm fine, brother Ed." Jita adjusted her glasses, knowing she was in the wrong, her voice was like a mosquito.
"I'm not here to blame you, but it's too slow and you can't run?" Fang Pliance asked.
Jita nodded slightly. The wound on her chest had healed on the surface, but the wound left by the blade piercing the lungs still affected her physical ability - plus she was not a warrior in the first place.
She frowned, feeling a sharp pain in her chest.
Without saying a word, Fang Piao reached out and put his hand on Jita's shoulder. The little girl was startled and subconsciously wanted to shrink back. "Don't move," Fang Plover said to her, "I'll carry you away."
"Team...Captain." A red cloud appeared on Jita's face, she looked at him in surprise, her words were incoherent.
"Don't think too much, just think of me as Miss Attila."
"But," Jita was a little ashamed, curled up her head and muttered: "It's all my fault for following you out..."
"This is none of your business. The captain must understand the value of the decision he makes. In fact, you have helped all of us a lot during the day. This is your value, Jita. You will definitely become the best naturalist in the future. Scholar." Fang Yu looked at her and replied seriously: "And now, it is my turn as the captain to take responsibility."
Jita blushed and nodded, then put her hand on Fang Plover's arm.
Fang Pliant then bent down, put his hands through her knees and picked her up horizontally - for him, a non-combatant selector, this was starting to be a bit difficult. But after I picked him up, he felt much more relaxed.
Jita was light and airy, like a ghost in a trumpet.
The little girl huddled in his arms with her head buried, her face dripping with blood, her long eyelashes reflecting the bright moonlight, soft and touching.
But for such a little girl, Fang Yu had no other thoughts in his mind. Just like he used to protect his sister, he led her to catch up with others. When passing Miss Elf, the former glanced at him with some relief in his eyes: "Well done, Ed."
This guy was a little embarrassed. He subconsciously wanted to touch his head but couldn't pull his hand away, so he had to giggle.
Not far away, Sylvester couldn't help but look a little funny when she looked at him.
Seeing this scene, Siesta shook her head slightly. "Why are you shaking your head, Siesta?" Sylvide turned back and looked at her maid with interest.
"It's nothing, Miss."
"to be honest."
"I just don't understand. He's obviously just a big boy."
"It's really hard for Shesta to understand this." The noble girl replied with a smile: "Old boys are more reliable, and men are just cunning and selfish creatures. In fact, he will become like that when he grows up. , greedy."
"So what does the eldest lady see in him?"
Sylvide smiled slightly in the moonlight and did not answer.
Opposite the factory, there is a hillside covered with lush vegetation, reflecting the bright river bend that passes through the inner city, and a trestle stretches into the sparkling light.
There is a low wooden house next to the trestle with white walls and brown eaves. According to Hansen, it was the guard's duty station. In the past, when escorting the mission target here, there would be a small battle that needed to be defeated. Guard blocking the road.
But today, there are neither guards nor mission objectives here.
Ahead is already Fisherman Street——
Fang Plover still remembered what the older knight had introduced about the situation in Dolifen City. They passed through Fisherman Street and connected to the Ruins Avenue, which was not far from the outer city gate when they came.
As long as they get there, they will be safe. These ghosts, including the Dawn Knight behind them, are no match for the lion-man Red.
But Fang Yu suddenly stopped.
They also visited Fisherman Street during the day, but Fang Plover remembered that the street was definitely not what it is now. Even though the buildings on both sides of the street were intact, the terrain change was by no means so drastic - he raised his head and looked at the abyss that stretched in front of him.
It was bottomless, so wide that you couldn't see the other side of the abyss. There was a cliff in front of you, and half of the street was swallowed up. To be precise, the entire Nancheng District and the ruined avenue in front have long since disappeared.
Fang Plover couldn't help but look to the left and right, and could only see a few remaining buildings. Stones were even peeling off the edge of the cliff and rolling down the abyss.
Hansen stopped far ahead and frowned at this scene. But when Fang Plione approached, he turned around and saw Fang Plover and Jita in the other person's arms. He was stunned for a moment and then said: "Brother Ed, we are in big trouble."
"What's the matter? What's going on?" Fang Plover put down Jita, looked at the abyss in front of him - and the half of Fisherman's Street that disappeared in front of him, and couldn't help but ask.
"Remember what I told you, this is the boundary of this illusion."
"Boundary?" Fang Yu was stunned: "Wouldn't it appear only after the mission is triggered? Could it be that we are already in the mission illusion now?"
"I don't know about that either," Hansen was also confused. "There is no mark of martyrdom for the faithful, and there is no mission goal. Theoretically, we should have missed the mission, but... this boundary..."
Fang Yu couldn't help but look at the scholar behind him. He had been very calm since the beginning of the Traveler's Rest, as if all the dangers had nothing to do with him.
He felt weird from the beginning, but now he couldn't help but ask: "Mr. Scholar, do you know anything?"
"Is this a question?" the scholar looked at him through the shadow under the hood and asked.
"We have a cooperative relationship, Mr. Scholar." Fang Plover frowned and said in a bad tone: "This is not something I am asking for from you. You know, I am the one who selected you."
"But she is a trainee," the scholar replied. "Don't try to hoodwink me."
Then he saw what Fang Plover wanted to say and quickly stopped him: "Okay, I don't want to waste time on boring arguments. It's not that I don't want to answer this question. After all, it is closely related to my safety. But the fact is, I am too I came to investigate this place, if I knew everything, would I still come here?"
Fang Yu glanced at this guy suspiciously and nodded. Then he turned back and continued to ask Hansen: "So Mr. Hansen, what will happen if we enter this border? I mean if we give up the mission, can we cross it and leave this place?"
"This is the troublesome part," Hansen said with a wry smile. "There is no way out after entering this boundary. Some selectors say that it is the Starlight Dead Zone. I don't quite understand what that thing is, but I heard The Dead Zone doesn’t work for us Aboriginal people – but it’s different here.”
At this time, Tian Lan, who was catching up from behind, stood on tiptoes and looked down into the abyss. She was so frightened that she almost fell. If Atila hadn't rushed up and grabbed this lawless little girl, Miss Elf would have said sternly: "Don't cause trouble, Fuli."
But Tianlan still asked with some fear: "Then what should we do now? Wait until dawn?"
"I'm afraid it won't work until dawn. We don't know whether Dolifen's vision is actually in Dorifen. Before the mission is over, there is no precedent for outsiders to encounter other adventurers in the mission." Jita Yi He whispered to her in Fang Yu's arms.
Hansen also nodded and sighed: "Maybe we will be trapped forever until we die."
Forget it, just wait until death, Fang Yu thought, not to mention that ordinary chosen people and aboriginals can be resurrected five times for a total of six lives. As a stowaway, he could only be resurrected twice, with only half of the star power, and the two trainees, Ji Ta and Tian Lan, could not be resurrected.
According to Chris, the old knight Dickert in the team is also like this.
He looked back. "What should we do to complete this task?"
Hansen heard the implication of Fang Plover's words, but shook his head. "Usually the normal process is like this. After getting the Mark of Martyrdom of the Faithful, go to the Gray Oak Square to activate the Shadow of the Past. After defeating it, the road to the City Hall will open. You should all know the story after that. Have you heard of it——"
"That's good, let's go over there." Fang Plover still remembered the fork in Fisherman's Street. He turned back to look at the other end of the street and asked at the same time: "If I remember correctly, this direction leads to Gray Oak. It’s in the square, right? Is there a border over there?”
Hansen was stunned and replied: "Of course not, there is also a mission area over there. But wait, our problem now is that we don't have the martyrdom mark of the faithful."
"Got to give it a try."
Fang Yu said, as if to satisfy his curiosity, he glanced at the bottomless abyss again, and then put his arm around Jita's shoulders - the latter nodded to him, and then he picked up the little girl and continued. Go in the other direction.
There was no need to give orders at this time, Hansen's men followed him in that direction - after all, the ghosts behind him were getting closer and closer.
Hansen naturally followed. He sighed and said to Fang Plover: "Although I always feel that it is unnecessary, you are right. No one wants to close their eyes and wait for death. You have to give it a try."
"I didn't think too much about it, Mr. Hansen. It's just a matter of habit. I don't want to give up until the end." Fang Yu replied seriously.
Hansen glanced at him in surprise. "Twenty years earlier, I was as motivated as you, brother Ed."
Fang Plover chuckled and didn't answer.
But Jita whispered unconvincedly: "Brother Ed is different."
Hansen was stunned for a moment, then looked at the little girl and laughed: "I'm not convinced by this. Even an uncle like me had his days when he was young. Why is it different?"
Jita moved her lips. Of course she knew Fang Plover's courage when he fought against the Spear of the Silver Forest and the Jeffrite Red Team in the Dragon Roar Mountains. After Fang Plover confessed that day, she found him privately in the community. I watched that video over and over again many times.
How could those Chosen Ones and Combat Craftsmen be the same as everyone else?
But when the words came to her lips, she realized that these things could not be spoken out, and she was also very embarrassed. She blushed and curled up and stopped talking.
Hansen looked at her look and couldn't help but joked: "Of course, even when I was young, I was not as popular with girls as Brother Ed."
Fortunately, this guy had troops chasing him behind him and was intercepted in front of him, but he was still able to make fun of them nervously, making Fang Plover and Jita blush at the same time.
"It's not like that!" Fang Yu quickly explained, are you kidding? Doesn't this make him go straight to start in three years? "Mr. Hansen, you may not quite understand——"
"I understand, I understand," Hansen said with a smile: "Young people are thin-skinned, it's understandable."
"No, that's not the case."
But such a feeble excuse could only be exchanged for a burst of laughter. Fang Yu turned around and wanted Tian Lan to explain to him, but the little French girl was happy to see him embarrassed and just pretended to be stupid.
In the end, Fang Plover could only leave the team alone and walked to the front, determined to stay away from these boring guys.
According to Dickert, the section of the road from Fisherman's Fork to Gray Oak Square is actually still part of the Ruins Avenue, and this avenue does not have many intersections and leads almost straight to the square.
Therefore, it didn't take long for Fang Plover to vaguely see the spear and flag in the hands of the statue on the square.
The moonlight on this night was undoubtedly very bright. A lone moon hung in the sky, and the moonlight was extremely full.
Fang Yu recalled the moon phase a few days ago, and felt a little confused. Logically speaking, he shouldn't have seen such a bright moon today. And Jita, who had been shrinking in his arms and quietly observing his expression, now seemed to see what he was thinking.
She grabbed the hem of his clothes with her little hands and whispered to him: "Brother Ed, when Dolifen was abandoned thirty years ago, it was almost in April and May, and there happened to be a full moon in that period."
"Did time even freeze on that day?" Fang Plover looked at the ghosts coming from all directions, thinking that it would be great if he could figure out what exactly happened on that day.
Because they were at the front, the two entered the square first.
Unlike Travelers Rest, which is full of ghosts, this square is very quiet - although the surrounding buildings are well preserved in the illusion, they still appear as they were decades ago, without any trace of burning.
But the doors of each building were closed, and there was silence. There was no light around, and it was pitch black.
On the uneven stone floor of the square, there was only the clear brilliance of the moonlight.
Fang Plover put Tata down again and looked at this place with some doubts - in his opinion, there didn't seem to be anything noteworthy here.
There is neither the legendary Blade of False Victory nor any sign of the enemy's existence. Not to mention the shadow of the past, there is not even a ghost citizen.
But if there was anything strange about it, there was one detail that caught his attention.
He turned around and said to Jita:
"Jita, how do you feel?"
"Well, it's strange, Brother Ed."
The little girl also whispered and answered word by word.
…
