The weather is not good today. The cold wind whimpered and dark clouds spread across the sky. The gloomy sky was exactly the same as when Duan Qing first entered the forest, as if heavy rain would pour down from above in the next moment.
The five-man team and the two chief mages of the Mages Council packed their gear and set off according to the planned plan. Freya took the lead, Christine took the rear, and Duan Qing and his five-person team walked in the middle. Although the formation was rigorous, it actually didn't mean much anymore - if yesterday's exploration was not wrong, they would soon follow You will arrive under the high tower.
But before that, they wanted to study the human skeletons.
According to Freya's description last night, the skeletons were located not far in front of the tower, and they could be seen as long as they walked along the road along the river bank. Yesterday, she and her elder sister had carefully inspected the ruins. Later, they heard the sound of fighting in the ruins, so they turned back and did not continue forward. However, according to their thoughts at the time, there was nothing interesting about some bones. However, after some analysis last night, the existence of these bones became particularly important.
The banks along the river have obviously been artificially repaired. Although they are covered with moss and the gaps are filled with weeds, the blue stone slabs are still neatly and orderly laid out on both sides. The clear river water flows quietly in it, making almost no loud noise - the terrain here is already very gentle, and the water flow is not as violent as before, but the bluestone slabs near the river bank are still affected by the thousands of years of water. After washing, it became very smooth, so they still needed to be careful when walking.
Snow Spirit Huan Bing in black cloak was walking at the front of the team. Probably because it was finally the harvest season, he looked excited and eager to try. A Niu, who was walking behind Duan Qing, was yawning, as if he had not slept well last night. Mengzhu and Duan Qing were walking side by side, with a tangled expression on the fresh girl's face.
Duan Qing smiled bitterly. It seemed that she was still thinking hard about what happened last night.
During yesterday's discussion, Duan Qing also took out the badge he found and asked Christine to "appraise" it. The answer he got was a bit surprising - one of the seven members of the Mage Council, Water Elemental Their spokesperson, the water mage Christine known as "Fiery Ice", also didn't recognize where the strange emblem came from.
"It was probably the symbol of the ruined village at that time." The generous woman didn't care that her knowledge could not solve such a problem. She waved her hand casually and came to this conclusion.
Duan Qing himself would naturally not give up on such a vague conclusion, but he could not solve such a problem by himself. Things in this game cannot be checked online. Even senior "Bai Xiaosheng" from major platform forums probably doesn't know about such things - you know, they are probably the first batch to arrive here. player.
Even though I didn’t get any treasure... fairy tales are indeed lies.
But a moment later, the little girl gave Duan Qing a surprise: After looking at the badge for a while, Mengzhu held it in his hand and raised his eyebrows and looked at it for a long time, and then muttered in a low voice, as if he had seen it somewhere. this pattern.
"Well..." The girl's expression at that time was the same as the one standing next to Duan Qing now, and she said intermittently: "I should...have seen it somewhere... It’s this sign, but I can’t remember it now… uh…”
Everyone waited for a long time, but Mengzhu still didn't remember. Duan Qing comforted the little girl for a while, and had to temporarily put aside this most likely explanation of the origin of this ruin. But later, a few people still made random guesses. For example, A Niu guessed that the symbol was the emblem of which gang, and Duan Shanyue guessed that it was the emblem of an evil force that would leave a standard after genocide. Xue Ling Huan Bing thought for a while and chose to change the angle to remind the little girl: "Why don't you think about where you saw it, when you saw it, and what happened recently?"
"I don't remember..." The little girl was still thinking about it, wrinkling her nose and looking confused.
"This kind of thing is like this. The more you want to remember it, the less you can remember it; when you don't think about it, you might remember it." Duan Qing shook his head and reached out to rub the little girl's cheeks. head.
"But if this is the case, it means that you did see that thing inadvertently, such as an advertising sign when you were watching TV, or the background picture in an anime, or the necklace around your neck or the metal buckle on your belt in real life , the patterns on the sheets, the toilet paper in the toilet, uh...why are you looking at me..."
"Uncle, what you said is disgusting...and don't touch my head! I'm not a child anymore!" Mengzhu shook his head and began to protest, so Duan Qing rubbed the little girl's head harder for a while, Several more strands of hair came loose, causing the other party to yell again.
But even so, Mengzhu was still very sad that she could not help the team at this point, so until now, she is still in a state of recollection. Duan Qing tried to continue joking, but found that the little girl who was thinking seriously did not accept the move, so he had to let her go.
Freya, who was walking in front, was very fast and seemed to be familiar with this journey. Thinking of what Christine had said before, Duan Qing suddenly remembered something: "Freya... Your Excellency, you have been there before Have you explored this area?”
The red robe was swaying in front of her, but in the fiery red woman's reply, she seemed to see what Duan Qing wanted to ask: "I was separated from my elder sister before, and chased the restorers here, and was discovered by them. In the end, I There was a fight.”
"Restorer?"
Realizing that she seemed to have said something she shouldn't have said, the woman in front paused, and then continued her pace: "You just need to know that they are not good people, and the rest... it is best not to know. "
Tsk, that doesn't sound like good news... After scratching his head, the stone in Duan Qing's heart became a little heavier, and even he couldn't tell clearly. The weight came from those unknown strong men. The enemy still comes from the tall tower standing in front of him.
After turning a corner again, the front finally became clear. The branches of the giant trees swaying on both sides can no longer block the scene ahead, because the intersection is already several meters wide. The gentle flow of water continues to extend, and then turns in front of the road. Those who see this scene can already determine that that is the end of the river, because there is a high gray-black wall blocking the flow of water in front.
The wall is so high that it's hard to see all the way.
If they are not mistaken, this is the end of their journey.
"It's right there." Not far away, a plain voice belonging to Freya sounded. The others looked in that direction, and sure enough, they saw a pile of white bones in the corner under the tree next to the road.
"We initially judged at that time that these humans should be the aboriginal people here. It seems that our guess was not wrong." The blue-robed mage also raised his finger and pointed in that direction: "They should have experienced similar experiences in the last moments of this place. Something like war ended up dying here.”
Except for Mengzhu, who stood far away because he was timid, several other people in the team were squatting next to the remains, inspecting them carefully, with Christine's explanation in their ears.
"How do you know what they went through in the last period of their lives?" Xueling Huanbing first asked: "His Excellency the Great Magician is indeed extraordinary..."
"Silly girl, take a good look at these bones." It was Broken Mountain who answered her question: "Look at this."
He picked up a bone - technically speaking, it was half a bone: "This bone should have been broken. Look at the stubble... He couldn't have broken it like this." He picked up the bone again. He threw it back and chuckled: "And I don't believe that someone would be stupid enough to break off his own forearm..."
"And this, this skull has been broken." It was Duan Qing who spoke this time, but he would not touch these things casually. He just pointed to a place on the ground: "In this situation, it is probably the head He died from a heavy blow. If you look at the posture of this skeleton, you can probably explain this..."
Perhaps because the scene in front of them was too heavy, a few people checked the condition of the bones and returned to the bluestone road next to the river bank. Standing there were Mengzhu squatting on the ground and the woman in red robe accompanying her.
Freya raised her finger and pointed to the ground in front of her, signaling if they wanted to continue investigating. There were more bones lying on the ground. Some bones were still in their last state of life, but more of them had been aged for thousands of years. The inhuman shapes that were damaged by the wind and rain were scattered all over the place. It is estimated that some of them fell into the river and were washed away to unknown places.
Death without a burial place is nothing more than this situation, and there are still so many people...
Maintaining respect for these last deceased people, everyone carefully avoided these remains and slowly approached the foot of the tower. When the little girl walked over, she still clasped her hands together, kept bowing down, and muttered something. Duan Qing did not tease her about her superstition this time, but walked silently.
Several people followed the river and finally reached the foot of the tower. The river flowed into the wall from one side, and then circled around the tower. This circle was more than a hundred meters long, and then it flowed to no one knows where.
This is already the lowest place, and it probably flows into some crack in the ground...
Duan Qing and others also circled around here, but they found no way to cross this "small moat" normally - there was not even a bridge in this place.
Even more strangely, they found no entrance.
Looking at the bare wall on the other side of the river, several people were dumbfounded. Xueling Huanbing even gritted his teeth bitterly: "What kind of setting is this? Are we supposed to climb up..."
"You want us to climb such a tall tower? Do you think we are all archmages..." Duan Shanyue, who was responsible for the objection, immediately spoke up.
"Maybe the entrance is higher, or lower..."
"Maybe in other places, when we came here, we found other man-made buildings nearby..."
Freya stood aside and looked at everyone, her face expressionless as always. Christine walked to the river and looked at the tall tower, as if she wanted to see something from high up. The two great magicians just let the players continue to discuss without any intention of stopping them.
"Then how do you go in, punch a hole and then get in?"
"Hey, don't think you can hurt me. Let's not talk about whether there are any strange magic or devices in this place. What if I punch it and the tower collapses? This thing doesn't look like it's in good condition. thing......"
"Can you smash me? Don't joke, okay? How powerful do you think you are..."
"Okay, okay, stop arguing, guys." Duan Qing, who was also standing by the river, looked at the calm water and interrupted the endless debate: "Come and take a look, I seem to have seen... ..."
He pointed to the river: "The entrance is underground."
"Oh? Really?" The silence only lasted for a moment, and Aniu on the side ran over excitedly: "Do you want us to swim down? I am good at this, I won the swimming championship when I was in school... ..”
"A swimming champion is not a diving champion, idiot!" Mengzhu patted his head, then walked to the water next to Duan Qing and squatted down, looking around with his little head: "Is it true? Why can't I see it? ..."
"That said, I seem to have seen it too..." The soft voice of the blue-robed mage standing on the side came over. Several people looked at her, and they saw that Christine had just withdrawn her gaze upwards. : "I saw...there is indeed a passage under the water."
Did you really see it? You were looking at it just now...
"... Do we really want to swim down?" Xue Ling Huan Bing behind said hesitantly. Duan Qing looked at her face and found that her eyes were also flickering.
"What's wrong, little girl? You sound very unconfident? Can't you swim..." Duan Shanyue caught the cowardice in the other party's words and wanted to laugh at her again, but the stubborn woman immediately woke up. Take it, and the tall chest hidden under the cloak stands proudly.
"Who... who is scared? I was just thinking... whether there would be any danger... in this process..."
"That's not necessary."
As soon as the elegant and melodious words fell, a huge rumbling sound of water suddenly sounded.
When a few people retreated hurriedly, the sound of the churning water filled everyone's ears. In the moat in front, everyone watched the calm water rise up with Christine's white hands, and then followed her movements. Spread your hands outwards and apart.
Countless glowing magic lines are constantly entwining on those white hands, shining on one wrist, and then disappearing into the blue sleeves behind the hands. The colorful stream of light occasionally becomes intense, and then the wall of water formed by the rising water will also rise a little higher.
Except for Freya, all the players present had their mouths open enough to stuff eggs. Their eyes were about to fall when they looked at the scene in front of them that looked like the sea was opening.
"This is magic..." Duan Qing came to his senses first, and then saw Christine looking back at several people, with a pair of beautiful eyes emitting azure light. .
"Okay, no need to be surprised." Her voice became a little ethereal, as if she no longer belonged to the world: "Hurry in, hurry up."
"Uh... Okay." Duan Qing responded, then pulled the other team members who had not yet reacted and slid down the bank where the river water had been removed - it had even become a little dry.
"He is indeed a master... He has a level of control over water flow that I have never seen before." Duan Shanyue was the first to come down. He patted the wet slope next to him and sighed.
"That is the strongest water mage in the Free Continent. I guess you will never see such a high level in the future." The Snow Spirit Huanbing on the side slid down and walked over without looking back: "So we are now , it can be regarded as the right time, right place and right people. If we can't seize such an opportunity..." She crossed to the front and walked in along the hole formed by the separation of the water. As expected, there was a hole in the wall there. There are traces of the door shaft next to it, but the original door can no longer be found.
Duan Qing was the last person in the team to jump. Out of nowhere, he glanced back.
Christine raised her hands on the side, occasionally shaking them slightly, as if commanding something. When she noticed Duan Qing's gaze, she looked back at him with blue eyes, and then nodded slightly. The red figure behind him remained expressionless, but Duan Qing could still find a hint of encouragement in his eyes.
Then she nodded as well.
Duan Qing's eyes continued to look back. The river, the river bank, the path made of bluestones, then the giant trees on both sides, and the scattered skeletons lying on the ground not far away.
Now it seems that those skeletons are all tilted this way...but no matter what, they did die here.
Are they from the village? Why are they gathered here? What is going on here?
Duan Qing's mood was like the gloomy sky at this time - along the way, there were more and more unusual places. Even the scene in front of him seemed like countless question marks painted on the ground, which were deeply reflected in Duan Qing's eyes. fundus.
He remembered something, opened the map in the adventure notebook, and saw the name displayed on it.
"Emerald Tower".
Duan Qing no longer thought about it. He signaled to the two great magicians, then turned around and jumped down, heading towards the tower.
There should be an answer there.
