Rhodes Island does not exist.

“Hmm…” Amiya looked at the Doctor quietly.

"It means we feel comfortable entrusting a part, or even the vast majority, of Rhodes Island to you for management," the Doctor continued.

"So...?" Amiya still didn't know what message the Doctor was trying to convey by asking these questions.

“So, if you have any information you want to know, you can go directly to the archives to investigate, or simply ask me or someone in the know. You don’t need to be so timid and hesitant, like a child who has done something wrong,” the Doctor said. “And if I’m not mistaken, when you asked Kal’tsit about Agor, you weren’t yet the commander of Rhodes Island, were you?”

“That’s true.” Amiya nodded.

“If you ask her now, the answer will definitely be different,” the doctor said with a smile. “But since you’re already here, it’s better if I tell you directly.”

"Okay!" Seeing the Doctor's smile, Amiya cheered up as well. She subconsciously rubbed her coffee cup together and exhaled a puff of hot air. "Let's start with the question I just asked?"

"It's about the chaos in Agor... right?" the Doctor asked, recalling the conversation they had just had.

Amiya nodded twice, her long rabbit ears swaying.

"First, how much do you know about Agor? Anything is fine." The Doctor leaned back in his chair, his gaze passing over the teacup and monitor on the table, landing on the girl from Carter's brow.

“It’s a coastal area, and… sparsely populated and full of mystery.” Amiya put her coffee cup on the table and rubbed her hands together. “And they don’t accept tourist applications.”

"It's not so much that tourism applications are closed, but rather that outsiders simply can't find where Agor is," the doctor said. "This place can't be found on any official map currently on the market."

“Only those who share the same bloodline as Agor can find Agor,” Amiya added.

"That's correct." The doctor nodded slightly. "Where did you hear that from?"

"To Dr. Kal'tsit's place," Amiya said, pointing diagonally upwards towards the medical department.

“No wonder.” The doctor said thoughtfully. “Then, regarding your understanding just now, let me correct a few points for you.”

"You say."

“First of all, Agor is not a coastal region.” The doctor’s gaze lingered from under his hood, flowing towards Amiya. “It is part of the sea itself.”

“Part of the sea, meaning…” Amiya frowned slightly.

“Terra is not a fully explored area, you probably understand that,” the doctor said.

“Yes, I understand.” Amiya nodded. “Terra is just a short name used to describe the existing world. There are many unexplored areas beyond the lands we know.”

“And most of these unexplored regions are oceans.” The doctor closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and said, “Agor is part of the ocean.”

"What is the closest known city to the ocean?" Before Amiya could express her opinion, the professor asked another question.

“Hmm…Iberia?” Amiya answered uncertainly.

“Correct.” The doctor nodded. “Agor is near Iberia, Iberia is near Lateran, and Lateran is near Syracuse.”

“Is there any connection between these four regions?” Amiya asked.

“Geographically, they are few, but religiously, they are many,” the doctor said. “Latland’s religions connect them all.”

“Ah, that’s true. Iberia, Lateran, and Syracuse all follow Lateranism, and I’ve heard that the believers in Iberia seem to be even more devout,” Amiya agreed.

"No, no, no, that's not called piety," the doctor said with a smile, shaking his head.

"That's called fanaticism."

-

-

Thank you segment.

Chapter 64, Section Sixty-Three: The Spiral of Escalating Contradictions

To be honest, there's nothing on the second floor.

The emptiness of the eighth floor is reflected in its vast yet useless density, but the second floor is neither vast nor dense.

If you had to describe it, it might just be a small foyer, with an entrance to the upper level opening onto its pale walls.

"Go downstairs first, then go back upstairs."

The doctor sighed, "If this were outside, the designer who came up with this design would be dragged out and burned like a sky lantern."

Facilities used in daily life should naturally be designed with human-centered design and convenience in mind... However, it is clear that the person who turned Rhodes Island into this state did not have such ideas in mind.

So who is that person? Ghost Shark?

The doctor didn't know.

Ever since he left the third floor, whenever he thought of Ghost Shark, all he could think of was endless inner turmoil.

He didn't even know what kind of expression and attitude he should have towards Ghost Shark when he met her again.

Don't trust nuns.

Don't trust nuns.

That was a warning from the doctor himself; to ignore it would be to indirectly deny oneself.

"I'd better not think about it for now; the more I think about it, the more uncomfortable I feel."

The doctor shook his head, putting the chaotic and difficult-to-organize information out of his mind, and then stood in front of the stairs leading to the upper floor, staring at it intently for a while.

The direction of the staircase is very abstract.

Because this is a spiral staircase leading upwards.

"Like a tower in places like Victoria or Wolumond..." the Doctor muttered to himself.

Although he had no recollection of ever being in Wolumonde or Victoria, this almost common-sense idea still appeared in his metaphor.

"Then, let's get ready to climb the tower."

He tightened his grip on the pickaxe in his right hand and stretched his muscles.

"Hopefully this spiral staircase won't be too long."

-

However, the truth is that the doctor was wrong.

From the moment he entered the staircase until now, he felt as if at least ten minutes had passed.

During those ten minutes, he barely rested once, only persisting in climbing the spiraling upwards beneath his feet.

But the finish line seems far away.

Forget about the finish line, he didn't even see a door he could open along his spiraling ascent.

The scenery around me remained unchanged; the only thing that kept changing was my own weariness.

"Could this also be a trap with special rules?"

The doctor finally couldn't hold on any longer and could only lean against the wall, panting. Even as he gasped for breath, he pondered the true nature of the spiral staircase.

"Should we try walking back a bit?"

Then, this idea came to his mind.

Of course, this wasn't the first time this idea had come up.

He had already been wondering about this for about six or seven minutes.

But he didn't do that back then.

Because he carried a worry in his heart.

He was worried about what would happen if he went back and actually saw the entrance he came from.

If that's really the case, it means all the hard work I've done along the way has been in vain.

But this time, he made up his mind.

"If we don't investigate thoroughly, we might really end up walking here forever."

He said this to himself as he turned around.

—Then, in the next instant, he turned his body back.

And they probably won't look back anymore.

"what is that?"

The doctor leaned against the wall, his mind filled with the images that had just been projected onto his retina.

"what is that?"

At this moment, two things were churning in his mind.

Firstly, this corridor was indeed a special trap.

Secondly, there was no way to retreat anymore.

"Hu-hu-"

The tension caused by fear made his breathing rapid.

Having just drunk seawater, if the ghost shark wasn't lying about the toxins in the seawater, he wouldn't be able to drink it again for a while, so relying on seawater to calm himself down is probably unrealistic.

He could only rely on his inner strength to suppress the corrosive feeling that was spreading from the depths of his bones.

So, what did the doctor see?

He saw something very simple.

Things that most people see every day in their daily lives.

It's something everyone has.

--Eye.

He saw eyes.

Countless eyes.

Those eyes were wide open, connected to each other, with strands of nerves intertwining and converging into lines, like a spider web, clinging to the corners of the spiral staircase and the walls.

No, it's more like spider eggs than a spider web.

These distorted eyes remained stacked on top of each other, silently watching the doctor from behind.

Moreover, the doctor had reason to suspect that they had been following him throughout his ten-minute climb.

Great.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but cheer inwardly.

Because this at least proves that his journey has not been in vain, and he no longer needs to go back to find his starting point.

Although the fear was real, as the inner turmoil gradually subsided, the doctor began to realize that it did not seem to pose a substantial threat to him.

—As long as you don't look back or retreat.

"So, just keep moving forward."

He thought to himself.

As long as you keep moving forward, you can pretend that the strangeness behind you doesn't exist.

But even if the anomaly didn't exist, his problems would still remain.

He only found a solution to a newly discovered problem, without making any progress on the old problems that already existed.

No, no, no, saying there has been no progress might be an exaggeration.

There has been some progress.

The problem he was facing was that he had been walking aimlessly for ten minutes, and the destination was still nowhere in sight.

Now, he has added a few more words to this question.

I've been walking aimlessly for ten minutes, and the finish line is still nowhere in sight. But the good news is that my escape route is blocked, so there's no possibility of checking backwards. So, I'll keep going.

Probably that's it.

So, is there any solution to this problem?

The answer is obvious.

"Since there's no way to retreat, this is the only option."

As the doctor tried to avoid looking back, he slowly raised his pickaxe toward the wall beside him.

Traditional methods are often the most effective.