Hello, is this a letter addressed to Demon Fortress?

The raft drifted south along the red wall.

It was much faster than Elvia had anticipated, yet surprisingly stable.

The red wall below slowly receded into the twilight.

On the wall, there are those watchtowers that were once inlaid with perception magic crystals.

One after another, they swept across the field of vision.

Some of the tower tops have collapsed, exposing the rotten wooden beams and rusted metal supports inside.

Some of the walls have developed thin, long cracks.

Sand and wind seeped in through the cracks, making a low, mournful sound.

There used to be a manned watchtower every few kilometers, but now most of them are empty.

The magic crystal at the top of the tower has long been removed.

Only the empty base remained, casting a lonely shadow in the setting sun.

Several sections of the city wall have even collapsed on a large scale.

The rubble rolled down to the base of the wall, and was mostly buried by sand and dust.

Those lights that once burned day and night are now just a silent gray.

Elvia withdrew her gaze and looked at the Forest Ghost sitting at the front of the raft.

His back was straight, and he held an oak staff in one hand, maneuvering the raft smoothly forward.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then swallowed it back.

There were too many questions stuck in her throat about what happened at Red Earth Collar.

Theodore's probing, Lin Gui's almost nonchalant response, and the commission of fifty million gold coins.

Why did he accept the offer?

He could have refused, made excuses, or avoided this trouble.

But he didn't.

He even personally selected the three most valuable items from his collection.

They acted as if they were really only after that money.

But Elvis Asia Pacific understands him.

She knew he wasn't that kind of person.

But her gaze fell on his profile, and she couldn't bring herself to ask him the questions.

Because ahead lies the Three Cities of Spark.

That was the place Lin Gui least wanted to look back on.

That night, his words still echoed in her ears.

For him, Xinghuo was just like Shia.

His "Shia" had already died in that massacre.

Elvia's fingers twitched slightly, and her heart clenched with a sharp pain.

She had seen his composure in the Carter capital, his decisiveness in the barren wasteland, and his calmness in the Thousand Towers.

But at this moment, she didn't know what his expression was.

All she knew was that she couldn't bring herself to ask.

Words of comfort remained unspoken.

As a former socialite who had graced countless banquets in Carter's capital, she was at a loss for words.

She could only sit silently, her gaze fixed on his back.

The raft continued flying southeast.

After passing through a gray-brown hilly area.

The outline of a city-state came into view ahead.

Qingshibao.

The watchtower on the city wall is still there.

The outer wall was made of stone bricks that fit together perfectly, and the city gate was wide open.

At first glance, the city-state appears to be still inhabited.

But as the raft lowered its altitude and slowly drifted over the city wall...

The shocking scenes then emerged from every corner of the city.

Bones were scattered on the streets.

Some remained in a lying position, huddled under the eaves.

Some leaned against the wall, their heads bowed, as if in their final pose before death.

The doors were wide open, and the room was completely empty.

Everything that could be moved was taken away.

Several skeletons lay across the well opening, their arms reaching towards the well's edge.

It's like trying to get water in the last moments of life.

Further away, a large number of bones were piled up in a square.

Layer upon layer, as if they were piled up there and then forgotten.

The air was filled with a dry, dusty smell.

It had a faint smell of decay, but the smell of rotting flesh was gone.

Long enough time has passed, long enough that all flesh has turned into skeletons.

Lillian shrank back a little, her face even paler than before.

Lin Gui turned his head and glanced at her.

They didn't say much.

He simply adjusted her position slightly, placing her perfectly between himself and Elvia.

It was a very subtle movement, as if it were done casually.

But Elvia noticed.

She had assumed he would be as silent, repressed, and unwilling to talk much as she had imagined.

But he didn't seem as sad, angry, or in pain as he had imagined.

The raft continued to fly forward, passing through another dry riverbed.

Grayish-white gravel spread out below.

Occasionally, you can see a few clumps of withered thorns emerging from the sand.

The twisted branches point towards the sky.

A huge city-state appeared ahead.

That's Annabelle.

It is one of the three cities of Xinghuo, and the city-state where Lin Gui once lived.

Returning to this place, Lin Gui did not stop or even slow down.

The raft floated over the city wall, and Elvia looked down.

This was once a prosperous granary city.

Now all that remains is a charred and grayish-white ruin.

The building's outline is still there, but most of the roofs have collapsed.

The twisted beams and pillars inside, as well as the walls licked by flames, were exposed.

The streets are wide and well-organized, clearly the result of careful planning.

But now those stone pavements are riddled with cracks, and the gaps are filled with withered grass.

More than 60 people once lived here.

The number of buried bones is countless.

She glanced at it only once before turning her gaze away and turning to another city-state that was approaching below.

Melting Light City.

It was very close to Annabelle, almost at the edge of her sight.

The three cities of Xinghuo are all very close to each other, only about 100 kilometers apart.

However, their strategic value far exceeds that of Red Earth Territory and Greenwood Fortress.

The City of Melting Light produces magic crystals, which supply the operation of the Red Wall and the magic crystal needs of the entire Southeast and even the Thousand Towers.

Annabelle was a granary, supporting the food supply of the entire Southeast.

Grayview City is located at the entrance to the Hill Forbidden Zone and is also a hub where several golden routes converge.

These three city-states were practically the lifeblood of the southeast.

Sparks seized them, intending to use them as leverage in negotiations with the Alliance.

But what they didn't expect was that the alliance would choose to abandon the entire Southeast.

massacre.

Suppression.

The destruction of Xinghuo City led to the collapse of seventeen city-states.

Millions of lives were reduced to ashes in just a few months.

Tens of millions of people were affected.

Only two people anticipated all of this.

One is the fox that ran away.

In the illusion of the Silent Rift, Sivir and he were together participating in the revolutionary celebration.

In fact, she did not show up that day.

And the other one...

it's him.

He had the opportunity to prevent the tragedy of the revolution.

But it was never done from beginning to end.

It seems he didn't consider himself one of them.

The raft slowly descended in front of the black walls of Molten Light City.

Even after three years, the towering city wall still stands silently, just as it did when he last left.

Even endless flames could not destroy it.

Lin Gui did not move.

He just stared at the wall and remained silent for a long time.

Suddenly, a hand reached out from the side and gently placed on the back of his hand.

The fingertips were slightly warm.

Slowly and silently, it slipped between his fingers, intertwining with his ten fingers.

Lin Gui turned his head to the side.

Elvia sat beside him.

There was an awkwardness in his golden eyes, a desire to offer comfort but an inability to find the words.

Her lips moved, but she didn't say anything.

Lin Gui looked at her for a while, then chuckled softly.

He held her hand tightly and didn't let go.

Then he turned his head.

With a flick of the staff, the raft slowly rose.

They flew over the towering black city wall and into the City of Molten Light.