The reason Eve had specifically told Lin Gui to “drive slowly”
was simply because... this mage's speed when piloting the flying vessel was far too ridiculous.
Especially when she was constantly supplying him with mana from the back.
On the way from Shield City to the various observation nodes, there was a treacherous stretch of road known as the “Blackwater Corridor.”
With a straight-line distance of over a hundred kilometers, it was filled with canyons and lurking High Rank demons.
Normally, even an experienced team would need several days of cautious travel to cross it.
But Lin Gui...
He had sped through the entire distance in a single day.
He hadn't bothered looking for any “Golden Route markers” at all, choosing instead to plow straight through.
Along the way, he had even startled a sleeping Epic Rank rock troll.
The colossal beast had roared as it rose from the mountainside, taking massive strides in pursuit.
In the end, Lin Gui had shaken it off completely with a series of mind-boggling sharp turns, climbs, and blasts from his wind pressure cannon.
Leaving it so far behind that even its shadow was lost to sight.
By the time they finally arrived at the nearest “City of Bounties,”
two girls were leaning against the city wall, their faces pale-green as they threw up violently.
Even Theia, who had once joyfully operated the magic crystal cannon in Shield City and shouted for them to fire,
raised a trembling hand and declared that she would not be participating in any future observation missions.
She would rather wait in the City of Bounties.
“I-I'll just stay here... and wait for you to come back...”
Her voice carried the utter exhaustion of someone who had just survived extreme drifting.
The novelty and excitement she had felt when first boarding the flying vessel had long since vanished.
Only a pure, unadulterated terror of the flying vessel remained.
Now, an hour later.
On a grassy slope outside the City of Bounties,
Eve was bent over, hands on her knees, dry-heaving softly into the weeds.
Her short, pale-gold hair was messily stuck to her sweat-dampened forehead, her face devoid of color.
Lin Gui stood to the side with his arms crossed. Watching her, he mumbled in confusion,
“I already drove slow enough...”
This time, even the usually gentle Eve could not take it anymore.
She looked up, her violet eyes still tearing up from the physical strain, and shot Lin Gui a speechless glare.
Yes, he had indeed slowed down.
On the way there, the trip had taken fifty-five minutes.
On the way back, it took an hour.
Because of her specific request, Mr. Lin Gui...
had “thoughtfully” slowed down by a grand total of five minutes!
Five minutes!
Once Eve finally caught her breath,
Lin Gui led her into the border outpost known as the “City of Bounties.”
It was a city-state born entirely out of the dwarven king's staggering bounty.
However, the scene before them was quite desolate.
The streets were empty and people were scarce; it took a long while just to spot one or two figures drifting past.
Most of the buildings were low and crude, with walls made of rough wooden planks or rammed earth.
The most alarming sight was the so-called “city wall.”
It was nothing more than logs of varying thickness hastily nailed together, barely taller than an average person,
with gaps wide enough to stick an arm through, likely unable to stop even a lesser demon.
While the scale of this city-state was similar to New Covenant City,
its state of decay far exceeded that of the border town.
Yet, who would have thought that this place once had its glory days?
When the dwarven king first issued the bounty, the strong from across the continent had flocked here.
Legendary and Epic experts, and even some reclusive organizations, had once stayed here.
Inns had been packed to capacity, taverns had bustled all night, and weapon and potion shops had done roaring business,
and the entire city had boiled with excitement over that elusive hope.
It had risen because of the bounty,
and it had fallen because of the bounty.
Over the decades, countless powerful figures had perished beyond the wall, with not a single one succeeding.
Hope had been kindled time and again, only to be shattered repeatedly.
In the end, enthusiasm was exhausted, and people dispersed,
leaving only this empty shell abandoned at the edge of the Forbidden Zone,
silently waiting for a “victor” who might never arrive.
On the way to the inn, the scenery became increasingly depressing.
On both sides of the street, many raggedly dressed commoner families slept out in the open.
They built makeshift shelters out of rags and wooden planks that barely blocked the wind,
and over small fires, black clay pots were set, boiling thin, mushy food.
Almost every family had an elderly member.
They curled up in ragged blankets in the corners, bone-thin with faint breath,
some already semi-conscious, and some unable to even roll over, relying entirely on their families to feed them liquid food.
They were all dying.
Lin Gui instantly understood why these families had gathered here.
They were using the final moments of their loved ones' lives to obtain money.
Those who came to the City of Bounties hoping to win the dwarven bounty were quite powerful,
and money was the one thing they did not lack.
Lin Gui felt his stomach churn. He forced himself to look away and quickened his pace.
Beside him, Eve silently lowered her gaze.
She gently drew a symbol over her chest and murmured something in a low voice,
sounding like a prayer, yet also like a lament.
Just as they were about to cross this gathering area,
several figures stepped out from an alleyway ahead.
Lin Gui instinctively stopped.
The other group also paused at the same time.
The two sides came face-to-face.
When Lin Gui clearly saw the unconcealed face of one of them,
his pupils suddenly contracted.
How could it be her?
“Why did you suddenly stop, Sister Jesse?”
The flashily dressed, handsome young man opposite them asked with a smile.
His gaze swept over Lin Gui and Eve with a hint of frivolity.
It lingered for a moment longer on Eve's exceptionally striking features.
“Are these two... people you know?”
The girl addressed as Jesse raised her eyes, casting an indifferent glance at Lin Gui.
There was no surprise, no hostility, and not even a single ripple of emotion in her gaze,
as if she were looking at a complete stranger passing by.
“I don't know them.”
She uttered the words in a flat tone.
Without another look, she led the few people behind her and walked straight past Lin Gui and Eve,
her steps not faltering in the slightest.
Watching their figures disappear around the street corner,
Lin Gui slowly released his grip on Eve's wrist, which he had been holding onto tightly.
He turned, looking in the direction they had left with a heavy gaze.
“Who... are they?” Eve asked softly, her eyes filled with confusion.
Lin Gui fell silent for a few seconds, then shook his head.
“I don't know.”
After a brief pause, he added,
“Just some people I crossed paths with back at the Withered Rift.”
Indeed.
That girl named Jesse
was one of the three “tomb guardians” he had encountered at the exit
when he rescued Rona and escaped the ancient tomb ruins.
At the time, she had been accompanied by Carl and Isaac.
The three of them had claimed to be guardians and spoke in a friendly manner, but Lin Gui knew they were definitely not simple.
He even suspected that John's Holy Knights, who had died mysteriously after they left, had been killed by them.
The eyes in the ruins' passages that made one feel watched.
The traps that had inexplicably triggered when Lin Gui was discovered and fled.
Without a doubt, Carl's group had been behind those tricks.
Lin Gui had not delved deeper those oddities.
He had assumed they would never meet again.
But who could have imagined?
In a remote city-state so far from the Withered Rift,
he would see their figures once more.
For people who claimed to be tomb guardians, why were they here instead of guarding the ruins?
Rate on N.U.
