"Did you hear any noise?"
On a nature trail deep in the forest, Shirley suddenly stopped and muttered suspiciously.
"There was no sound, but I smelled... that distinct 'stink'," Agou stopped beside Shirley and made a low, disgusted sound in his throat, "There was more than one, mixed with a chaotic and ignorant filthiness, and a pure and blind impulse to destroy..."
"It looks like those 'old acquaintances' are here again," Shirley muttered, "They really are tireless. What on earth is there in this 'Dream of the Nameless' that is worthy of their attention? Is the so-called 'Original Blueprint' so attractive?"
Agou did not speak, but crouched down, carefully sensing the remaining breath around him - the breath left by the Annihilation Cultists and the Deep Demons.
It found something familiar in those scents.
"The Annihilation Cultist named 'Richard' is also among them." It suddenly looked up and said.
"That guy dares to come?" Shirley suddenly opened her eyes wide in surprise. "Last time I hit him like that, I thought that guy would at least have to lie in the real world for a while..."
Agou shook his head. "It seems that they have made sufficient preparations before entering the dream. They have sufficient protection on the mental level. The damage they suffered in the dream will not have much impact on reality... This makes sense. After all, they organized so many people to enter the dream of the nameless one. They must have a full understanding of the operating mechanism of this place."
Shirley frowned, "Are they still around here?"
"They've been gone for a while," Agou judged cautiously. "The aura of the Deep Demon is fading quickly, but it's hard to say how far away they are from here now. Shirley, we have to be careful. That 'Richard' is here too. He knows you. The trick you used last time won't work the second time."
Shirley's expression suddenly became tense. She quickly checked the surroundings, turned her head and said to Agou seriously, "Why don't we just find a place to hide here and wait for the daybreak in the real world? After all, this forest is so big, those cultists shouldn't go back."
"I don't recommend this. Don't forget the weird and dangerous 'erosion' phenomenon - it will happen suddenly and spread quickly," Agou shook his head. "No corner here is safe. The only possible safe area may be inside the so-called silent wall. We have to find that 'wall'."
As it spoke, it raised its head and looked in a certain direction deep in the forest: "Those Annihilation Cultists are also looking for the 'Wall of Silence'. We will follow them from a distance. As long as we hide well, we will have the initiative."
"Tsk, okay, I just said it casually," Shirley smacked her tongue and said helplessly, "Then let's go, and be careful not to get too close to those cultists."
Agou nodded, carefully confirmed the remaining breath in the air and the direction it pointed to, and walked forward - but he only took one step forward and suddenly stopped again, and quickly whispered: "Watch out, someone is approaching!"
Almost at the same time when Agou finished speaking, Shirley heard footsteps suddenly appearing nearby - the sound came without any warning, as if someone had appeared out of nowhere nearby. Shirley's whole body tensed up instantly, and then she tightly grasped the chain with one hand and suddenly turned her head to look in the direction where the sound came from.
A tall elf girl appeared in Shirley's sight.
She was wearing a strange style of light armor, which looked like some kind of hunting suit that was convenient for moving in the forest, and it was reinforced in key places. She had long light golden hair like the sun, with slightly glowing blue silk threads woven between her hair - and in her hand was a strangely shaped weapon, like a combination of a spear and a long-handled battle axe...
After seeing this elf girl who seemed to appear out of thin air, Shirley was stunned for a moment, and in the one or two seconds when she was stunned, the elf girl had already taken a step towards her.
"Didn't you receive the order to evacuate? Why are you still outside the wall?"
Hearing the other party's voice, Shirley opened her mouth. The sudden change made her a little confused, but she quickly reacted. The acting skills and observation of people's expressions that she had learned since childhood came into play: "Ah, I... I'm lost. I was just about to go to the Wall of Silence."
The strange elf girl didn't seem to notice Shirley's momentary nervousness and confusion, and she didn't even show any strange expression to Agou, who looked ferocious and had no time to dodge because of the sudden incident. She nodded to Shirley and Agou naturally and said, "You and your friends are in an area where the erosion phenomenon is active. This place is not safe. Fortunately, you met a ranger like me."
As she spoke, she pointed in a certain direction in the forest with the long-handled axe in her hand: "Follow me, I will take you to the Silent Wall."
"Ah... OK." Shirley was stunned for a moment, then reacted quickly. She quickly called the captain in the depths of her consciousness while pulling Agou to keep up with him.
They set off, heading towards the "wall of silence", passing through the natural trail covered with dead branches and leaves, crossing the rugged and undulating glades in the forest, and gradually walking into the depths of the forest.
The elf girl holding a strange weapon walked in front and rarely spoke on the way.
This was certainly not conducive to gathering intelligence, so Shirley could only take the initiative to break the silence. After thinking about the topic, she asked, "By the way, what's your name?"
The elf girl suddenly stopped, turned her head and looked into Shirley's eyes seriously. After two or three seconds, she spoke softly: "My name is Shireen - I hope you can remember my name."
Shirley's eyes widened.
…
Deep in the darkness and fog, on the "Lost Homeland" with an eerie and silent atmosphere, Duncan, who was sitting at the navigation table and communicating with "Goat Head", was suddenly startled and stopped talking with "Goat Head".
He frowned slightly, as if listening to a sound coming from afar, and the expression on his face changed rapidly, from confusion to thoughtfulness.
The "goat head" on the table did not react to Duncan's sudden pause - after Duncan stopped talking, it became quiet, with no questions and no tendency to express itself actively.
This "goat head" that appeared on the mysterious Lost Homeland was like an "answering machine" in a half-asleep state. Except for the initial greeting, it would speak actively. In most cases, it would rarely respond unless Duncan spoke to it.
Duncan glanced at the goat head.
In the end, the goat head didn't explain what "Sasloka died a long time ago" meant. It just repeated this sentence monotonously, as if its mind was stuck on this "information".
After a slight hesitation, Duncan stood up from his chair and walked towards the quaint oval mirror not far away.
The goat head on the navigation table slowly turned its head, silently tracking Duncan's movements with its eyes, but still said nothing - that silent gaze seemed particularly creepy.
However, Duncan was now more or less able to ignore the weirdness of this suspicious goat head. He walked straight to the mirror and knocked on the mirror with his hand.
Agatha's image appeared in the mirror almost immediately.
Duncan paid close attention to the gaze behind him, sensing the changes in the atmosphere in the captain's room - but the suspicious goat-headed man did not react to Agatha's appearance, as if he could not see her.
"Captain." Agatha in the mirror also looked cautiously in the direction of the goat's head. After confirming that the other party really had no reaction, she breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to Duncan.
"Shirley and Agou met another 'Shireen' in the forest." Duncan responded to Agatha's greeting and then said bluntly.
Agatha opened her mouth, looking a little stunned for a moment, then immediately reacted: "What about Miss Lucrecia..."
Duncan nodded. "She's still with 'Shireen'."
The two people fell into a brief silence across the mirror, and it was obvious that no one had any ideas.
After a while, Agatha took a deep breath and broke the silence: "Captain, I also found something here."
Duncan subconsciously lowered his voice: "What did you find?"
Agatha in the mirror raised her hand and pointed silently at the door at the deepest part of the captain's room - the wooden door leading to the captain's bedroom.
"Just now, when you were talking to Goat Head, I shuttled through the mirrors on the Lost Homeland. The positions of all the mirrors and the scenes presented were no different from the Lost Homeland in reality. Only inside... I was blocked by a strange 'barrier'."
Duncan immediately looked towards the direction of the captain's bedroom, and as he listened to Agatha's description, his eyes gradually became serious.
After a moment's thought, he walked towards the door.
On the navigation table, the black goat head wooden sculpture creaked again, and a pair of deep, turbid black eyes tracked Duncan's movements.
Duncan held the door handle with his hand, but he did not push it open directly. Instead, he turned his head and stared at the goat head on the table. After staring at each other for a while, he said in a deep voice: "What's in here?"
"I don't know." Goat Head said slowly.
"Can I come in?"
"I don't know." The goat-headed man spoke as if repeating himself.
“… What would happen if I went in?”
"I don't know." The suspicious goat head seemed to repeat this sentence forever.
But regardless, it doesn't seem to be stopping.
Duncan took one last deep look in the direction of the goat's head, then retracted his gaze, looked at the extremely familiar door in front of him, took a deep breath, and turned the handle hard.
A chaotic and overlapping scene, as if an empty space formed by countless abstract lines repeatedly rendered and superimposed appeared behind the door.
Deng stood firmly in front of the door, looking at the scene in the "room" - in the chaotic and superimposed abstract lines, he could still vaguely recognize some things: a bed, a table, a window, and a wall.
However, all these things are distorted, as if they were randomly reorganized in the mind of a mentally ill person and reproduced in a topsy-turvy dream, and there is no way to recognize their original normal appearance!
(End of this chapter)