Hello, is this a letter addressed to Demon Fortress?

The raft moved silently through the dark cave.

The orb of light from the Micro-Light spell hovered about three zhang above the raft, vaguely illuminating the outline of the path ahead.

The stone walls on both sides appear both near and far.

The dark rock surface was covered with wet watermarks, reflecting a dim light in the sunlight.

Elvia sat at the stern of the raft, looking around.

"This space is so vast, how come the Overturning Fire Society and the Black Dragon Army never discovered it?"

Lin Gui explained as he steered the raft forward.

"More than 100 meters underground."

"Even an epic mage wouldn't be able to detect the existence of this place."

Elvia remained silent for a moment.

She watched Lin Gui's retreating figure, her voice lowering.

"If you can't detect its presence here, why...?"

"Of all of Starfire, only you, that fox, survived?"

The raft continued to glide forward smoothly without stopping.

But Elvia noticed that Lin Gui's knuckles tightened slightly for a moment while gripping the armrest.

It all started when I fell into this space.

Elvia felt a sense of unease.

Actually, she felt something was off when Lin Gui mentioned there was a secret passage that led into the Red Earth Desert.

A space.

A vast space located beneath Starfire City?

A vast space that even an epic could not perceive.

With all these things around, how come the entire Starfire was slaughtered down to just one person, Yihu?

This is much safer than those hiding places scattered across the hills.

The raft passed through a narrow gap in the distance.

The rock walls on both sides suddenly narrowed, and the raft slid past almost touching the rock face.

Beyond the gap, the passage ahead suddenly changed.

The rough natural rock face has disappeared, replaced by a smooth stone wall.

The joints between the stones are perfectly fitted, and the surfaces are engraved with blurry ancient patterns.

It was an ancient, man-made secret passage.

With the raft in hand, they flew into the secret passage with a whoosh.

Lin Gui spoke.

"That space, the secret passage before us, the buried desert ruins, were discovered by Annabelle's 42nd Expedition Team."

"That is, the person who saved me in the red desert."

"Thirteen years in the Dark Ages."

"They discovered this relic, hidden a hundred meters underground in Annabelle, through a tattered parchment scroll."

"Through it, the exploration team can safely reach the red desert."

"They were able to bypass the enormous number of demons on the outer perimeter and reach the core area directly."

He paused for a moment.

"You should understand what it would mean for the exploration team if the nobles discovered this secret passage."

"Especially that nobleman, arrogant, conceited, and looking down on everyone."

Elvia understood, of course.

In the dark ages under the oppressive rule of the nobility.

This is a secret passage that can bypass the demon's blockade and lead directly to the core of the red desert.

For nobles, it was an invaluable strategic resource.

The only possibility for the exploration team that discovered it is death.

For no other reason than their background—they came from the lower class.

The nobility would not allow a person from the lowest class to discover a path that could make the city-state take off.

If it's a knightly order, or that noble young master.

That is, a widely publicized praise.

"Therefore, apart from the four members of the exploration team, no one else knew about the existence of this secret passage and space."

"Even I discovered this place by secretly following them."

His voice became even fainter.

"This space is very important to the exploration team."

"At least, through him, they don't have to let their offspring eat black bread that could choke someone to death."

"This was their only straw to cling to for survival in these dark times."

"They intended to take this secret to their graves, but... Spark arrived."

"The emergence of the spark, the overthrow of the aristocracy, and the liberation of Annabelle."

"They saw hope."

"They also planned to hand this secret over to the Spark Organization after the revolution's victory."

The raft glided silently through the dark tunnel.

Only the airflow made a slight whistling sound in the narrow space.

"But they no longer have a chance."

"A false victory, followed by unbridled revelry, ultimately leads to destruction."

"And they... also died..."

Lin Gui did not continue speaking.

Throughout, he remained calm, yet for the first time, he allowed Elvia to sense his pain.

Elvia opened her mouth, then closed it again.

She wanted to slap herself across the face.

It seemed that he had inadvertently touched upon a memory that Lin Gui did not want to recall.

Although she was very curious about Lin Gui's past.

But the devastation she witnessed along the way in the three cities of Xinghuo made her lose all desire to explore further.

Annabelle didn't see many skeletons.

But the presence of burnt ashes all over her body still made her very uncomfortable.

Then I thought, these are the ashes of people from Lin Gui's second hometown...

She sighed and swallowed the words that were about to come out.

Then he sat quietly on the raft and stopped making a sound.

She sat obediently on the raft, watching Lin Gui intently discern the route as he navigated the complex and strange passageways.

Time passed by, second by second.

The dark, cramped environment left Elvia feeling utterly bored.

The passageway they are currently in should be located outside the red wall.

It is located between the boundless desert and the red soil desert.

Such a buffer zone is the safest area with the fewest demons.

The unique characteristics of the red desert make this buffer zone very large.

Therefore, Lin Gui did not raise Elvia's suspicions about the possible existence of underground demons.

As Elvia relaxed, she felt genuinely bored during the long and dark journey.

The raft was not moving very slowly.

Therefore, I do not support her dabbling in those leisure-relieving purchases on it.

Out of sheer boredom, she could only turn her attention to the third person.

Seemingly sensing someone's gaze, Lillian's body stiffened abruptly.

Then she quickly moved her hips towards Lin Gui's direction.

He gripped Lin Gui's clothes tightly with both hands, almost shrinking into Lin Gui's body.

It looked just like a hamster that had been frightened.

He wished he could stuff himself into Lin Gui's pocket.

Elvia looked at her like that and reached out her hand in an annoyed manner.

He grabbed Lillian by the back of her collar and pulled her to his side.

Lillian froze, even stopping her breathing.

"..."

Elvia looked at her as if she were facing a formidable enemy and spoke in an annoyed tone.

"Are you that afraid of me?"

Lillian didn't dare look at her, her gaze fixed on her knees, her voice barely audible, like a mosquito's hum.

"Afraid……"

Elvia: "..."

Is Lillian afraid of Elvia?

Of course, I'm afraid.

Every time she came into contact with Elvia, she would think of that night.

The opponent delivered a deadly blow.

With a single punch, he was transported from the Thousand Towers to a desert a thousand miles away.

Although Lillian had anticipated that the other party would take her away.

But his gentle greeting was met with a fist full of murderous intent. Waking up to find himself thousands of miles away was still too drastic.