Godforsaken Lands, Silver City.

The lightning in the sky was frequent, and in the minds of the inhabitants of the city, it was a new day.

When "Sun" Derick Berg walked out of the house, he habitually patted the tall "lamppost" at the door—the stem of the "mushroom lamp", on which was tied a circle of stone leaves strung with rough threads, all in the shape of black-faced grass blades, which for Sun City was a prayer for "good harvest" and "hope".

Carrying his "Thor's Roar", Daerik was ready to go to the training ground and start a new day of workouts.

Mushrooms that glow softly are everywhere in the streets, and small tree-like mushrooms are now standing in the places arranged by the "cultivators" who are skilled in cultivating and tending plants.

The light was neatly arranged in rows and distributed on both sides of the road, becoming the unextinguishable street lamps in the Silver City, forming an umbrella to isolate the terrible darkness.

After researching this new species that could survive in the Forsaken Lands several times, Derrick did not hide it from the Chief, but frankly told the Chief that this kind of thing came from the "Fool" and had already prayed to the "Fool" and successfully made a charm.

It was a completely unexpected surprise.

After inspection, this special mushroom could not be used as a food source, because the nutrients contained in it had been drained by that light, but the light of the lantern mushroom was more stable than ordinary lights, which made it quickly accepted by the residents of Silver City.

What's more, these mushrooms seem to have a natural ability to fight against darkness and pollution, and balance with shadows, which is why the Council of Six finally agreed to plant these glowing mushrooms throughout Silver City.

Nowadays, almost all members of the expedition will bring some lantern mushroom fruits with them.

They have a useful extra purpose - when the surrounding pollution is too strong, or when encountering wandering crazy monsters, the lantern-like fruit will start to flicker or even go out directly, giving the owner a first warning.

This allows team members to adjust their defenses more quickly, effectively reducing team casualties when going out hunting.

Now, near the door of every house, there are inevitably one or two very tall mushroom lamps, and some people even hang strips of cloth on them, and paint the juice of the rest of the colors on them, and make some insignificant decorations.

A little bit of light fell, and then it was pulled up from the soil, holding up an umbrella of light that shaded life.

Daerik even saw a crooked red bow, and it was obvious that the person tied the strip of cloth was not good at tying knots, but he tried to share the joy anyway.

Dyric slowed slightly, and a smile could not help but appear on his face. The Brivi family had just given birth to a child, and Darik wasn't a gossip man, nor did he have a wide social circle, and he didn't even ask if it was a boy or a girl.

But this did not prevent him from being happy about it, even if Derrick was not familiar with the Brevis family, and only knew that the couple worked in the workshop of the black face grass, but such a pure joy of welcoming a new life was a common joy that everyone could feel in Silver City.

It is precisely because every life is hard to come by, and it is difficult to survive, that they attach so much importance to all this.

Darek tightened his grip on his weapon and walked forward with his head held high.

——

In July, the temperature in Desey Bay is hotter than that of Beckland, and even the seaside dock city is not much cooler, and in the afternoon when the sun is too long, it can even approach 30 degrees Celsius.

It's not a good weather to wear a tuxedo.

"Demon," Barnabe Charathu grumbled inwardly, tugging hard at the neckline twice, unbuttoning the top of his shirt and holding the men's bowler hat in his hand.

But complaining is complaining, he will never change into other clothes.

The inside of this custom-made tuxedo has plenty of pockets for the "magician" to hide props, and most of his bits and pieces are inside, including cigarettes and matches. However, the waistline-hugging and lined cut is not at all suitable for the current season, nor is it suitable for walking around Didsey Bay.

At this time, Banabe was a little envious of the secret puppet beside him, at least the secret puppet did not feel the temperature.

His suitcase was in the hands of a "bodyguard" in a gray trench coat, an absolutely loyal servant who was also extraordinary.

Before leaving Intis, after being arranged by the ancestor of unknown generations, Banabe had to follow the eighth game team and cooperate with the Inquisition of the Church of the Eternal Sun to conduct a joint operation to hunt down the descendants of the demon family.

This secret puppet is the biggest gain of Banabe's operation, and Banabe himself finds it funny, this extraordinary person in Sequence 6 is a real "demon", but it is the same as his own code name.

At the tarot meeting a few days ago, Banabe had already found the "hanged man" and asked him to help him prepare a fake identity certificate. After obtaining his identification, he planned to board a steam train from Desey Bay to visit Beckland as a "former mercenary".

At this time, Banabe had completely changed his appearance, looking like a middle-aged man with cunning in the vicissitudes of life, with two well-groomed supple mustaches, short curly brown hair sticking to his head, and his complexion was a little darker than that of the people of the Northern Continent, closer to the archipelagos.

When talking to someone, Banabe will first show a smile with a row of white teeth, looking very enthusiastic, but the smart and wandering eyes reveal cunning invisibly, making people think that he is likely to have bad intentions.

To put it simply, he doesn't look like a good person.

This also made the probability of Banabe encountering petty theft plummet, and almost no one would talk to him along the way, not to mention that he had a pale, gloomy "bodyguard" by his side, and a long scar on the face of the secret puppet that extended from the corner of his forehead to his cheek - a very new scar, which was cut by Banabe's card throwing knife when the two were fighting.

This provides a lot of convincing power for the identity of "overseas mercenaries".

Because he had just gone to meet the middleman and obtained the identity certificate that the "hanging man" promised to help prepare, Banabe planned to change to a hotel tonight, preferably closer to the steam train station, so that he could leave early tomorrow morning.

The only thing he didn't have to worry about was money.

Although the real Madame Margarita reminded Barnabe repeatedly when he left, "Frugality is a virtue, this is from Russell's famous saying". But Barnabe, having seen the golden toilet of the Russell Exhibition, nodded at Margarita's words and felt that he "had the need to emulate the frugal style of Russell the Great".

Anyway, it was all paid for by the Tantric Society, and with such a happy thought, Banabe inquired with the souvenir vendors on the street, and then chose a hotel with the most comfortable conditions.

As Banabe approached the door of the inn, known as the "Parasitic Tree", a gentleman of Rune with an elegant appearance and a long trench coat in a double-breasted trench coat happened to come out of the front door with two servants, he looked to be about forty years old, with a little silver in his black hair, and his posture was elegant and calm, and he was obviously trained in aristocratic etiquette.

A small, softly feathered lark crouched on the gentleman's shoulder, and Barnabe's eyes were drawn to it, and there were many people who kept cats and dogs, and many nobles kept horses in their homes because of the customs inherited from the chivalric tradition.

Although there are bird keepers, few seem to be so well-behaved, and they don't even have a rope tied to their talons.

Suddenly, a spiritual instinct struck a blow that prevented Banabe from subconsciously wanting to turn on his vision.

There will be trouble.

The moment he realized this, Banabe's breathing slowed, but when the gentleman turned his gaze as well, Banabe bared his teeth and smiled more provocatively than friendly, and nodded at him.

The gentleman of Rune raised the brim of his half-height silk top hat and bowed his head nonchalantly, his blue eyes as deep as a lake at night, and a gentle and polite smile on his face that did a good job of concealing any emotion behind him.

Banabe knew that he couldn't live here, so he pretended to pass by, and led his secret puppet to the corner without stopping at the door of the hotel.

But soon, Banabe felt a faint gaze and stayed behind him.

Pulling out the lucky gold coin and bouncing it into the air, Banabe looked at the iris that represented the pattern on the back, and wondered if he would hurt me.

Such divination results may occur due to many factors, and it is easy to be interfered with by the other party's anti-divination methods, and the most unfortunate one is that the other party is "higher than their own sequence".

The corners of Banabe's eyes twitched, and he thought to himself that he shouldn't be so unlucky.

He kept guessing about the identity of the other party or the extraordinary way, but he didn't stop, but led the secret puppet through the shops and alleys, trying to get rid of the tracker hiding in the shadows.

For some reason, the "Stalker" didn't seem to know how to hide his presence, and Banabe could feel a blank gaze falling on him. But when he looked around, he didn't notice any suspicious people.

Could it be that the other person is also a "Faceling", or has the ability to change his appearance? But if he knew how to change his appearance as much as possible so as not to attract my attention, why didn't he hide his consciousness at all?

Such an inherently contradictory behavior makes Banabe seem very confused, or is this a secret warning made by the other party on purpose, relying on his own higher order?

Banabe thought as he walked to a nearby rental carriage.

The carriage traveled through the street, and after ten minutes, it stopped at a bend in a certain street, and a pale and scarred man in a long trench coat and a suitcase in his hand walked down.

The carriage continued for a few dozen meters, but it didn't go far before it stopped at the next street corner.

Men in tuxedos and bowler hats paid the fare and walked into the empty alley.

A tiny, imperceptible shadow swept through the air, flapping its wings and looking down on the figure in the bowler hat.