"Phew, this is really a map from a long time ago, and I don't know if it will come in handy. ”

Blowing away the ups and downs on the old map, the old village chief spread it out on the small table, because there is no paper in this world, so this map is also transcribed in sheepskin, the animal fat left over from the rough workmanship makes the oil paint of this map fall off, and its age cannot be seen from the yellowing of the paper alone.

Seeing this old map, even Jimmy, who was not so interested in it, leaned over and poked his head out to look at it curiously.

"Sunrise Beach....... Aurora Fortress ...... Fei Lai Feng ....... Where is Jaerson City? Oh oh, I found it, Langya Mountain is here! Wait, where is Green Algae Lake?"

Jimmy's fingers swiped between the mountains and rivers depicted on this map, and he squinted for a long time to find the location of Langya Mountain in the corner of the map, but to his special puzzlement, this map was not only confusing to be completely incomprehensible, but according to the map, there should be a lake called green algae around Langya Mountain, which is even larger than the Langya Mountain.

There is also a village called Gilson City next to the village of Uto, which does not actually exist, and Utoe Village is the only known settlement in the vicinity.

Before the old village chief could answer this question, Linda, who was also looking at the map, said suspiciously: "I'm sorry, although I was a little offended when I said this, but is this really a map, no matter how you look at it, it's all scribbles drawn by children, right?"

It's no wonder that Linda suspects that the so-called "map" markings on the parchment are not arranged in an orderly manner, and all the routes and the like are chaotic, as if countless markers overlap each other. The drawing is not right, the words are not right, the characters are reversed, and some of the annotations and legends are even obliquely arranged, which looks really like ...... A child's essay doodle.

Moreover, this map is divided into several blocks, and the fragments are all irregular shapes, mixed together, misplaced, and a large number of chaotic pattern information is squeezed into the observer's mind at the same time, which will inevitably make people a little dizzy after looking at it for a long time.

Without blaming Linda for her abruptness, the old village chief stroked his gray beard and said, "This map was like this when it came to me, and I don't know if it's true or not, but maybe it's really a bad joke left by the ancestors." ”

"After all, if this map was true, I wouldn't have watched it go around and around and back to the village. The old village chief summed up with emotion.

Roger nodded, thinking of the old village chief's previous performance, Roger guessed that it was perhaps because they were sure that they could not crack the mystery of this map that the old village chief took it out so easily.

"Huh?"

On the other side, Jimmy, who was originally lying on the table, raised his body and looked surprised: "Could it be that the person who slipped out of the village at night was the village chief?

"Hehe, I'm not the head of Uto Village from the beginning, people, there will always be times when you are young and frivolous. The old village chief smiled kindly, the folds on his face were clustered like a chrysanthemum, "It is precisely because of that experience that I understand that only this is our only paradise, and the so-called outside world may not exist at all." ”

"Then I wonder what the village chief went through?" asked Roger, pretending to be curious.

"Haha, this person is old, his memory is not good, and he doesn't remember the previous things so clearly," After listening to the first half of the sentence, Roger thought that the old village chief would shirk like before, but he didn't expect the old man to continue, "But since you want to understand, then let's listen to it as a story." ”

Sitting cross-legged, the old village chief showed a reminiscing expression, "That's when I'm young, probably your age?" or bigger.

At that time, I heard from my elders that there were other villages and cities outside the village, but I had already cut off contact with our Uto village a long time ago, and it was at that time that I was tired of the life of farming day after day, so I thought that maybe I could find a way to get out, to go outside to earn a living, and to see the world.

After a few days, I boldly went to the village chief to explain my thoughts, but the village chief gave me this map very happily. He told me that there had been people who had tried to find a way out of the village, but no one had ever succeeded, and over time the map was useless, so I had an idea, so he gave it to me as a souvenir. ”

"Although the village chief said so, I was quite naïve at that time, always thinking that I was different from others, and I would not return to the same place if I walked in one direction if I was not good. ”

"On the day I got the map, I packed my bags, and after I was busy with farm work during the day, and after my family had gone to sleep, I set out at night, trying to follow the map to the neighboring village, but unfortunately, like my predecessors, I didn't understand this strange map, and I wandered around the village for a while, thinking that I couldn't just go back, so I chose a direction with a momentum and walked away. ”

Speaking of this, the old village chief smiled with some relief, "At that time, I really admired my courage and luck, so I dared to walk forward so sullenly at night, and I didn't even encounter any wild beasts, but in the morning, I found that I had really returned to the far post outside the village." ”

"Then village chief, are you sure it's not because you're going around in circles?"

The old village chief stroked Jimmy's head and said: "Maybe yes or maybe not, these are no longer important, to this day I still remember the family who was looking for me all over the mountains that day, and the village chief who stood at the entrance of the village with a tired expression and a look of self-blame, that is at that moment I realized, why do I need to do such a thing, my life is stable enough now, there are people who love me and care about me, why should I change it?"

"Maybe the closed village is a gift from the gods. The old village chief added in a small voice.

While Jimmy and the old village chief were chattering and discussing, Roger would hold his right elbow with his left hand for a while, and hold his chin with his right hand for a while, his head would look at the map and his head would become more and more crooked, his expression would become more and more strange, and he would still have words in his mouth: "I see...... The terrain on this map is not arranged according to normal physical laws, is it not some kind of mapping? then there is some angle between each other...... Is it possible to make a three-dimensional map......"

But Roger tried his best to make up for it, but he couldn't piece together a complete geometry, no spatial geometry could correspond to this map, obviously felt that some kind of truth was in front of him, but he was like a layer of window paper separated from it, but how could he not find an opportunity to puncture it, which made Roger scratch his ears and cheeks very uncomfortable.

"Hey, I said. ”

Just as Roger was staring at the map and his head was getting lower and lower, Linda's white palm suddenly shook in front of his eyes, "Why are you still staring at this map that I don't know if it's true or not?" ”

"Ahh

"Just now, the village chief was called away, and he didn't greet you when he saw that you were fascinated. Linda pointed out the door, "The village chief is busy, so you can't let the old man stay here with you, and besides, after all, the family is an old man, and it is normal for him to be in bad spirits." ”

"But the village chief said that if you are interested, this map can be lent to us temporarily. ”

Jimmy had long since lost interest in the map, and when Linda and Roger finished talking, he said, "Okay, the village chief is with you, can you go and destroy the dragon?" I can tell you everything I know about the dragon." ”

"No hurry, no hurry, believe me, the hunting thing is not in a hurry. Roger picked up the map and didn't look at Jimmy, who was impatient, "Or at least daytime isn't the right time....... Anyway, would you be interested in accompanying me on a trip outside the village?"

"What do you mean? Do you understand the map?" Jimmy looked incredulous.

Roger rolled up the map and put it close to his body before saying, "Sort of, half and half, but I still need to go to the 'border' to verify my idea, and there will be some surprises." ”

"Strange guy. ”

Muttering, Amy struggled for a while, but there was nothing wrong with him, and he was indeed very interested in the so-called outside world, so he agreed to Roger's request.

"Why don't you stay here?" Roger asked, seeing Linda's grimace, "there's no carriage here, and we don't know when we're going to get there." ”

Linda did hesitate for a moment, but finally shook her head, "Don't think of me as those delicate and frail young ladies, I just feel that your behavior is not so reliable." ”

Shrugging, Roger glanced at the map and walked out of the village with Linda and Jimmy, walking in the opposite direction from Wolf's Tooth Mountain.

The area outside the village was not as barren as Roger had imagined, and the flat terrain was also planted with the same purple vegetables. On a hill less than five kilometres northeast of the village, there are places where you can see large piles of rocks, which Jimmy says are exposed stone mines, from which part of the village's houses are sourced.

But Roger could barely make out that the so-called pile of stones was once some kind of megalithic structure, perhaps the remains of a castle, but now it was only a collapsed foundation, and the grayish-white icy stones were piled up to form a ruins in a roughly 'convex' shape, but for various reasons, the majestic structure had now completely collapsed.

As they got farther away from Uto Village, there were fewer traces of human activity around, and the unknown otherworldly weeds around them grew waist-high, and the three of them did not hold small branches to drive away possible snakes, insects, rats and ants in the grass, and as the environment became more and more barbaric, there were more and more stone moths that resembled the ruins of the castle, and most of the ruins were covered with moss - this was a place where the villagers would not come, and at this time, even Jimmy began to wonder about their origins.

After walking for about half a day, when the three of them were already a little tired, the distracted Jimmy only found that Roger, who was taking the lead, disappeared in the blink of an eye!