Char raised his hand, and with the surge of magic power, they instantly crossed the distance of thousands of miles and came to a border town on the European continent.

Char passed through this place in Alicia on her globetrotting decades ago.

Due to its remote location, it was not affected by the war, and the structure of the 16th-century wooden house is still preserved.

The timber-reinforced house is a form of architecture in medieval Europe, originating in Germany in the 12th century, with a timber-reinforced structure exposed on the façade, also known as a "half-timbered building" or "timber-framed building".

In forested Bavaria, where wood and earth were widely available, houses were not expensive, so craftsmen used wood to form the entire frame of the house, and then filled the wood with earth and bricks to make the house.

You don't need to bring a map to get here. It's a small town, and you can visit it all in a day. West France has some lovely little towns, Troyes with its unique timber-barred houses, Cassis with its colourful little houses, Annecy with its canals and Saint-Emilion with its refreshing wines...... And all of these, this town has it all.

The wooden houses on the street, painted in various colors, dotted with flowers, and the canals are quietly meandering, giving the whole town a fairytale-like dreamy color.

This town left a deep impression on Char and Alicia at that time.

Walking in the old town here, it is like being in medieval Europe, the streets are narrow enough for only one car to pass through, and the paving stones form a pattern on the ground like water waves.

Compared to the neighboring big cities, there are not many tourists, the pace is slow, the sun is soft and bright, and it is not a waste to find a small bar near the waterway and ask for a glass of Alsatian wine.

But at the moment, this beautiful, fairytale town has turned into a purgatory.

The air was filled with a strong smell of sulphur and burning, and most of the houses were burned into a frame, and the raging fire was still spreading around, and the red tongues of fire slapped into the darkness of the night.

The sound of crackling flames burning sounded in their ears.

Other than that, there was not the slightest crying

Char took a step forward.

"Click"

He seemed to have stepped on something, so he slowly lowered his head, and there was a charred wood under his feet

Not wood to be exact, this "wood" has obvious finger parts, which are carbonized arms.

He looked at the burnt black thing on one side, which was completely invisible, and could vaguely make out some traces of a human form.

From here, you can see these charcoal-like things everywhere.

The road blackened by the flames was littered with charred corpses, and their bodies did not make many painful movements, and it looked like they should have been instantly carbonized by the ultra-high temperature.

The people here must have seen something and fled in terror through the streets, but they were all burned to death by the flames.

Char and Alicia crossed the coke together and continued on their way. The smell of phosphoric acid in the air and the smell of burnt wires became stronger.

Char was walking to the side of the street when she saw a family.

Parents guard their young children under them, as if they want to protect them with their own bodies.

But it's a pity that the ultra-high temperature that can make people carbonize instantaneously is not something that people can stop at all.

The child in their arms is also basically mature, but she can still see what she used to look like.

The half-charred bow fell to one side, and the color of the bow was bright.

Alicia looked away, breathed a sigh of relief, and no longer looked at this one, but continued to walk with Char.

They came to the canal, and there must have been a lot of people running here when the flames came, but they obviously didn't know how hot the dragon's flames were.

The river was steaming hot, and the river boiled at the moment it was scorched by the flames, and the people inside.

Char couldn't put into words what he saw.

In the steaming heat, there is a disgusting smell.

A warm breeze blew, and the sky echoed with thunder.

When Char raised his head, sporadic raindrops fell one after another, crystal and heavy raindrops spread across the sky like black blood droplets, the moon was obscured, and the town under the night sky became even hazy.

The flames gradually stopped, and the sparkling firewood sizzled from contact with the rain, but other than that, there was silence.

The stench in the town spread wantonly in the dark night, and in the dark night, the rain seemed to make the town clothed in a shroud.

"Why, this dragon is here to kill?" Alicia finally couldn't help but ask her doubts.

"There aren't so many whys in this world, Alicia." Char muttered softly.

After a pause, Char said, "Have you ever seen an ant's nest?" ”

Alicia nodded.

"When I was a child, if a teenager saw an ant nest, there were generally two options other than those who weren't interested.

One is to throw some candy or food and then observe how the ants take the food in swarms.

The other is to pour water and see how the ants run away in panic.

You will definitely think that the children in the front are more good, while the children in the back are more evil.

But what would you think if I told you that a child who loses candy is just as likely to pour water into it, and maybe even boiled water? ”

Alicia fell silent.

This is "evil," but it's not "evil" either. Char said seriously, "Because whether it is a child who pours water or a child who throws candy, they have no subjective "malice", just "curiosity". ”

"For them, the ant is something that can be pinched to death at will, and even if it is a real life that exists in this world, it cannot leave any trace in their hearts at all."

He looked at Alicia, "And for the dragon, humans, are the ants. ”

"It's fun to watch people flee in terror under their own flames, to see these houses destroyed by themselves." Char muttered softly.

Alicia didn't say anything back, she just fell into a long silence.

She can understand what Char means, but it is precisely because of her understanding that people can't help but feel cold in their hearts.

In her opinion, this unwarranted evil is more terrifying than any kind of evil in this world.

At this moment, a slight whimper sounded in their ears, and Char and Alicia both turned their heads together.

Not far away, under the ruins, beside a horizontal beam and pillar, a pair of dark eyes were watching them.

As if sensing Char's gaze, he quickly hid like a mouse, and then began to run down the street towards the outside of town.

Char and Alicia glanced at each other.

"Is that a survivor?" Alicia asked.

"It should be." Char said.

He looked at the place where the owner of those eyes had just been, "There is a cellar here, and this cellar is very deep, blocking some of the temperature. ”

"Is he the only one?" Alicia asked.

Char looked at the town with clairvoyance, then nodded.

"To be exact, he's the only one in the whole town......"

Alicia lowered her eyes, "Everything that this child encountered after he came into this world, relatives, friends, and homes, all of them are gone, leaving him alone.

I don't know, it's lucky or unlucky."

"How many really lucky people are there in this world, most of them are lives that are intertwined with misfortune and luck." Char muttered softly.

Char looked in the direction of the child's departure, and there was a moment of thoughtfulness in her eyes.

The boy ran through the streets of the town in terror, and he had just taken refuge in the cellar with great speed, so he did not know what was going on outside.

And at this moment, the impact of the outside scene on this young child is almost indescribable.

In the smell of burning, all you can see is a ruin.

His mother's Aunt Sally's flower shop, Uncle Nick's pork shop with a fierce but kind face, and the homes of some of his most playmates, all of them were left with a frame at the moment, and some were even black ashes in the same place.

He had even seen the pig-killing knife that Uncle Nick often used to scare him, but it was now blackened, and the handle of the pig-killing knife held a blackened severed hand.

And in the corner of the ruins, he saw a child whose face and body were burned by a charred pillar, and the corner of the garment that had not yet been burned under the pillar—it seemed to be a skirt.

Uncle Nick has a daughter, four or five years older than him, who is his best friend.

He didn't dare to think about it, he just kept running, speeding up his running, as if as long as he kept running, he could get out of this nightmare and return to the real world.

Suddenly, he tripped over something and fell to the ground, stained himself with soot soaked in the rain.

He glanced back at what had tripped over him, a charred corpse, to be exact, a charred corpse, completely invisible.

The boy only felt as if he had been pierced with countless needles in his head at the moment, and he cried out in horror, ignoring the injuries on his body, and ran out of the town with a hysterical cry.

Perhaps with the blessing of adrenaline, he ran fast and tirelessly, running wildly for several minutes in a row.

Just as he ran out of the town and into the forest, and made sure that he was safe, his legs and feet went limp, and he fell directly to the mud, gasping for breath.

The rain was pouring down, and countless raindrops slapped at him like beans, washing his soot-covered cheeks, but not the burns on his face.

The boy didn't look very old, five or six years old, but neither his eyes nor his movements looked like what a child of his age could have.

As the rain began to form puddles where he had fallen, he barely managed to get up from the ground, exhausted, cold, hungry, and still scorching from the burns of the dragon's flames.

However, these are only physical pain and exhaustion, and they are far from mental pain.

Just now, he watched his parents and his sister turn to ashes under the dragon's flames.

And as he had just run, he saw everything he knew, the town, his friends, everyone he knew, everyone he had ever seen, all turned into black coke.

A thunderclap swept across the night sky, like a red dragon engulfing the town.

The boy finally couldn't hold it anymore and began to cry bitterly, crying loudly, and the rain swept down his cheeks and dripped down the puddles below, splashing everywhere.

I don't know how long I cried, but the puddle stopped splashing, but it wasn't because the rain had stopped.

A young man with white hair and white robe stood beside him at some point, holding an umbrella in his hand, looking at himself quietly with his head down.

The boy didn't stop crying, just continued to howl and vent hysterically, and Char didn't say anything, just stood quietly beside him.

I don't know how long it took, the boy lost his strength to cry, his tears dried up, and he fell to one side and fainted.

(End of chapter)