Hao Ren looked back at the direction where everyone came, the path in the dense fog had disappeared, and only a layer of rippling black mirror surface was left in place, this circular "mirror" extended abruptly from the building as if it was depicted in space, up to more than ten meters wide, and many trivial black strips floated on the edge like oil paint of dry painting. Curious, he reached over and touched it, not feeling that he had touched any entity, and he peered in again, only to see that the path was still on the other side of the mirror. Hethiana threw a sentence angrily from behind: "If you want to go back, you can leave from this mirror, just follow the road." You have a mark on your body, as long as you don't break into the fog, there is an ancient guard at the entrance and exit where the shadow layer and the real world intersect, and you can come and go freely in and out of this place by telling them. But don't bring anyone in - your sigil is only valid for yourself, and outsiders are destined to die if they enter the second shadow dimension. ”

This mirror-like thing is the passage of the Shadow Fortress to the outside world, which is scattered throughout the city, guarded by powerful guards at both ends of the passage. Hao Ren's current one is still one of the smaller ones, and there are large entrances and exits dedicated to the entry and exit of large quantities of goods in the more heavily defended places in the city, but it is not a place where visitors can set foot casually. Hethanna led everyone away from the platform, and at the end of the steps they saw a tall old tree, and Hao Ren couldn't help but look at the tree a few more times: this tree was different from normal trees, its mottled and wrinkled bark was tangled, giving people the impression of an old face.

"What's wrong with me?" Hao Ren is observing here. The ancient tree actually spoke, and the folds on its trunk trembled. A pair of dark brown eyes peeked out from beneath the heavy bark, and a creaking wooden grinding sound rang out deep in the trunk. "Hmm...... Guys I don't know, outsiders...... However, with the guidance of Hether Anna, it should be possible to trust. Don't mess around in the city, or it will turn into fertilizer. ”

"This is the Ancient Tree Gangrudar, the guardian of this gate, who just came to this city a hundred years ago," Heatherana bowed slightly to the Ancient Tree, and then introduced to Hao Ren, "There are two gatekeepers in each passage. One for the real world and one for the shadow fortress, Hesperius guards the reality side of the passage, and Gonrudar guards the shadow side. Don't underestimate the power of Gonrudar, all the plants in the city are at his command, although he guards the gates here, he also monitors the streets of all other urban districts, and he is also an ancient man who has survived from the age of mythology, and is one of the most senior elders in the city in terms of age. ”

The ancient tree Gonrudar swayed its canopy reservedly, and seemed to like this compliment of age and seniority. But after Vivien circled around it, she suddenly said thoughtfully, "I think I've seen you...... Wait a minute, it seems that I planted you back then! I remembered -- what about the good fruit? ”

The crown of the Gonrudar tree shook, and then he glanced at Vivien intently, and as a result, the whole tree trembled as if it had opened the vibration mode: "Woman...... Hostess! ”

Vivien didn't care about that. She went up and grabbed the trunk of Gonrudar's tree and shook it for a while: "Is there any fruit hanging or not?" What about the good fruits?! ”

Gonrudar fell leaves and dead branches in a clatter, and his voice was trembling: "Wait...... Wait a minute...... It's a misunderstanding! I'm not a fruit tree! I've long said I'm not a fruit tree! I explained it to you when I first spoke! I'm a fighting treeman! ”

Vivien let go of her hand in disappointment: "Cut, I know." I'm just upset - it took me years to find out I got the wrong sapling......"

Hao Ren was very strange: "What's going on?" ”

"I brought it out of Ymir's garden," Vivien resented. "Once I went to Ymir's and found a fruit that was delicious. So he went to the orchard and cut a branch and came back to plant it himself, but he got it wrong, and after taking care of it for several years, he realized that Ya was a tree man who did not bear fruit, and the one who grew the fruit was his second cousin. Tsk, I've been stupidly happy under a broken tree for years, and I've been watering and fertilizing it every day, but I can't even bear any fruit. ”

Heathera looked at this qiē in amazement, and suddenly remembered something and showed a look of sudden realization to Gonrudar: "Ah, I said, why do you pretend to be asleep every time I mention Lord Vivian's affairs, so that's what happened...... I've always admired your juniors! ”

Gonrudar's canopy shook: "So what! I'm your senior in terms of age! We must pay attention to the dignity of the young and the old, no matter how difficult the situation is, we must not forget the glory of the past, if we live just to survive, then what is the difference between the nest of shadow night sparrows on the third fork of the branch in my east! ”

As he spoke, Gunrudar spread out his branches to prove that there was indeed a nest of birds living on the third fork of the eastern branch, which he used to strengthen his persuasiveness.

Hethanna was speechless, she could only smile and nod, but Vivien glanced at the ancient tree with some sighs: "Forget it, you can live well...... Live a little longer, the Nordic family of killed chickens and dogs are gone, and there is only one tree like you left to remember what they look like. ”

Gonrudar was silent for a moment, and lowered all his branches slightly: "Yes, mistress. ”

Bidding farewell to the millennia-old guards, the group walked with Hethanna through the strange city in the shadows, passing through medieval-style stone-paved streets and past dintermottled and dimly lit old houses, occasionally passing by pedestrians who looked like ordinary people but were actually strangers. Most of the city's inhabitants are bloodborne, with about a third of the city populated by humanoids known as shadow fiends, and the rest mostly unclimated motiles. There are also a small number of werewolves in the city, and their situation here is a little awkward, after all, the city is dominated by their rival race, but due to the current situation, this small group of werewolves still maintains relative peace with the blood clan in the city.

The so-called peace is to work hard with each other, when the other party does not exist, and if we don't meet each other, we naturally can't fight.

Hao Ren noticed that although the scale of this shadow city was quite large, in fact, the residents were probably pitiful, and there were only less than ten people at the end of the huge main road, and most of the huge and solemn ancient houses were as gloomy and deserted as ghost houses, and the real residents in them might not occupy more than a tenth of the rooms. Originally, he thought that there would be a lively scene in the alien shelter, and that vampires or little demons could be seen on the road at any time, but in fact...... It's like a ghost town, and it can only be said that there are still people living there, but it is definitely not popular.

"There are actually only tens of thousands of inhabitants in the city, you think about it, a city as big as the real Athens, but only tens of thousands of residents," Hethanna said, introducing the current situation of the city, "and even among these tens of thousands of people, many people are not visible at all, too many people are disappointed with the status quo, so they simply go back to sleep, only to wake up once in hundreds of years to look at the situation outside, and find that the situation is still not improving and go back to sleep." Some guys even slept for two thousand years...... Longer than I've been in the city. ”

"Didn't you live here when the city was first built?" Nangong May asked curiously.

"No," Heatherian shook her head, "I'm eighteen hundred...... Or maybe I was sent here by Lord Vivien 1,700 years ago, when the city was still under lockdown, but with Lord Vivien's guarantee, Hesperius made an exception to take me in. At that time, I was still alone, and it was only later that I started my own family. ”

Vivien nodded, "Well, she's so annoyed, I had to throw her here." And to be honest, it was a difficult time for me to even support myself, so I might as well send her to a safe place - she was still a little girl who didn't know anything at that time, and it was too dangerous to run around with me outside. ”

Lily is an upright girl: "But when the situation is not difficult, it is also a problem for you to support yourself!" ”

Hao Ren hurriedly pulled the husky behind him: "This girl is really ...... What nonsense is the truth! ”

Eventually, the group arrived at a new, well-planned neighborhood in the depths of the city, and Hethanna was visibly happy when she arrived, pointing to the largest spired bungalow in front of her: "This is it! This is where I live, and all the surrounding houses with the same emblem are the domain of the Hethiana family - welcome to my house~~"

This is a big house with a black roof and gray walls, exquisite decoration, and a gloomy appearance full of vampire style, although the style is oppressive but the details are gorgeous, Hao Ren saw at a glance what the emblem that Heatherana said: the most conspicuous place on the exterior wall of the house hangs a huge family crest, and on the fabric that is seven or eight meters long is Vivian's oversized headshot - not a short-haired and childlike version of Hethanna, but a long-haired image that is exactly the same as Vivian, and the degree of restoration is at least 99.9 percent, This headshot is the so-called family crest. Vivien hid her face when she saw this scene and turned her head: "That's why I don't want to come to this place...... She's so annoyed. ”

(Happy New Year's Day, everyone!) In addition, take advantage of the big holiday to give a few monthly passes, and double it now. and continue to reflexively ask for annual work tickets, but it seems that the free ticket mechanism has changed, and if there are no free tickets, forget it, let's not spend money on tickets. (To be continued......)