The reason Eve had specifically told Lin Gui to "drive slower" was because... the speed at which this mage controlled the flying vessel was truly beyond belief.
Especially with her continuously supplying mana from the rear.
On the path from Shield City to the various observation nodes, there was a treacherous stretch of road known as the Blackwater Corridor.
It spanned a straight-line distance of over a hundred kilometers and was filled with canyons and lurking High Rank demons.
Normally, even an experienced team would take several days to traverse it with extreme caution.
But Lin Gui...
He had blazed through the entire route in a single day.
He didn't even bother looking for the Golden Route markings; he simply steamrolled straight through.
Along the way, he had even startled a sleeping Epic rock troll.
That colossal creature had roared as it rose from the mountainside and gave chase with massive strides.
In the end, it was shaken off so completely that even its shadow vanished, thanks to a series of unbelievable sharp turns, climbs, and wind pressure cannon bursts from Lin Gui.
By the time they finally reached the nearest Bounty City...
Two girls were leaning against the city wall, their faces pale, vomiting until the world turned upside down.
Even Theia, who had once excitedly controlled the magic crystal cannons in Shield City and shouted to fire, tremblingly raised her hand and stated she would not participate in any further observation missions.
She would rather wait in Bounty City.
"I... I'll just wait here... for you two to come back..."
Her voice carried the exhaustion of someone who had just survived a high-speed drift.
The novelty and excitement she had felt when she first boarded the flying vessel had long since vanished, replaced by a pure, unadulterated fear of the craft.
Now, an hour later.
On a grassy slope outside Bounty City, Eve was bent over with her hands on her knees, softly retching into the bushes.
Her short pale-gold hair was messy and stuck to her sweaty forehead, and her face was as white as a sheet.
Lin Gui stood to the side with his arms crossed, looking at her state while muttering in confusion, "I already drove slowly enough..."
This time, even the usually gentle Eve finally reached her breaking point.
She looked up, her purple eyes still shimmering with physiological tears, and shot Lin Gui a speechless glare.
Yes, he had indeed slowed down.
When they came here, the trip had taken fifty-five minutes.
Coming back, it had taken an hour.
Because of her specific request, Mr. Lin Gui had "considerately" slowed down by a grand total of five minutes!
Five minutes!
Once Eve finally caught her breath, Lin Gui led her into this frontier outpost known as Bounty City.
It was a city-state born entirely from the astronomical bounty offered by the dwarf king.
However, the scene before them was quite bleak.
The streets were empty, and people were scarce; only an occasional figure would drift by.
The houses were mostly low and simple, with walls made of rough wooden boards or rammed earth.
What was most alarming was the so-called "city wall."
It was essentially just logs of varying thickness crudely nailed together, barely tall enough to clear a person's head.
The gaps were large enough to reach an arm through; it likely wouldn't even stop a Low Rank demon.
In scale, this city-state was similar to New Covenant City, but its state of ruin far exceeded that of the frontier town.
Yet, who could have imagined that this place once had its moments of glory?
Years ago, when the dwarf king's bounty order was first issued, the powerhouses of the entire continent flocked here.
Legendary and Epic figures, and even some reclusive organizations, had all stayed here.
The inns were packed, taverns were noisy all night long, and weapon and potion shops did a roaring trade.
The entire city seethed with that ethereal sense of hope.
It had risen because of the bounty, and it had fallen because of the bounty.
Decades had passed, and countless powerhouses had perished within the Wall of Sighs, with not a single success to speak of.
Hope had been kindled again and again, only to be extinguished repeatedly.
Eventually, enthusiasm was exhausted and people dispersed, leaving only this abandoned shell on the edge of the Forbidden Zone, silently waiting for a "successful one" who might never appear.
On the way to the inn, the scenery grew increasingly oppressive.
On both sides of the street, many ragged families of commoners were sleeping out in the open.
They had built shelters out of scraps of cloth and boards that barely blocked the wind, with dark earthenware pots placed over small fires to boil thin, mushy food.
Almost every family had an elderly person with them.
They were curled up in tattered blankets in corners, skin and bones with weak breathing.
Some were already drifting in and out of consciousness, and some couldn't even turn over, relying entirely on their families to feed them liquid food.
They were all the dying.
Lin Gui immediately understood the reason these families were gathered here.
They were using the final moments of their kin's lives to trade for a bounty.
Those who came to Bounty City hoping to win the dwarven bounty were quite strong, and what such people lacked least was money.
Lin Gui's stomach churned, and he forced himself to look away, quickening his pace.
Eve silently lowered her eyes and traced a symbol over her chest, whispering something under her breath that sounded like both a prayer and a sigh.
Just as they were about to pass through this gathering area, several figures turned out from an alleyway ahead.
Lin Gui instinctively stopped in his tracks.
The other party also paused simultaneously.
Both sides came face-to-face.
When Lin Gui clearly saw the unconcealed features of one of the people, his pupils suddenly contracted.
How could it be her?
"Why the sudden stop, Sister Jesse?" a flashily dressed, handsome young man on the opposite side asked with a smile.
His gaze swept flippantly over Lin Gui and Eve, lingering for a moment longer on Eve's exceptional beauty.
"Are these two... people you know?"
The girl addressed as Jesse looked up and glanced at Lin Gui indifferently.
There was no surprise in her gaze, no hostility—not even a ripple of emotion.
It was as if she were looking at a complete stranger.
"I don't know them."
She uttered those four words in a flat tone.
Then, without another look, she led the few people behind her straight past Lin Gui and Eve without the slightest hesitation.
Watching their figures disappear around a corner of the street, Lin Gui slowly loosened his grip on Eve's wrist, which he had been clutching tightly.
He turned, his gaze heavy as he looked in the direction they had gone.
"Who... were they?" Eve asked softly, her eyes filled with confusion.
Lin Gui was silent for a few seconds before shaking his head.
"I don't know."
After a pause, he added, "They're just people I crossed paths with at the Withered Rift."
Indeed.
That girl named Jesse was one of the three tomb guardians he had encountered at the exit when he had rescued Rona and was leaving the ancient tomb ruins.
At that time, Carl and Isaac had been with her.
The three of them had called themselves guardians and acted friendly, but Lin Gui knew they were anything but 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' tunnels that made him feel watched... the traps that had mysteriously triggered when he was discovered and fled...
Without a doubt, it had been the handiwork of Carl's group.
Lin Gui had not delved into those oddities at the time, thinking they would never meet again.
But who could have imagined?
In a remote city-state so far from the Withered Rift, he would see them once more.
If they claimed to be tomb guardians and weren't guarding the ruins, what were they doing here?
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