The eerie unease radiating from Blade's Edge put Lin Gui on high alert.
He reached out and snatched the novel from Theia's lap.
“Stop reading. Something's not right. Stay alert.”
Theia was startled for a moment, then she raised her eyebrows, the playful look in her eyes instantly vanishing.
Her sharp gaze swept through the thick fog like a hawk, her body tensing slightly.
But after a moment, her shoulders slumped, and she deflated a bit.
“I can't even see those creepy things, so how am I supposed to stay alert?”
“I can't even hear their sighs as they move around... Not a single one.”
Helpless, Lin Gui leaned past her and spoke to Eve in the back seat.
“Eve, activate a light barrier.”
“Most soul-type entities fear light.”
“Although light magic can't easily deal actual damage to them.”
“At least it can serve to ward them off and warn us.”
Eve nodded without asking any questions.
She closed her eyes and gently crossed her hands over her chest.
A faint golden glow emerged from her fingertips, and her low chanting flowed smoothly and clearly.
“...May the light banish the shadows and protect us as we move forward.”
As her voice faded, a soft and stable milky-white halo rippled outward with her at the center.
It formed a hemispherical transparent barrier, enveloping the entire flying vessel.
The glow was not dazzling, yet it carried a comforting, warm power.
Once the barrier took shape, Lin Gui focused his mind and scanned their surroundings once more.
He did not activate 【Wind Listening】 to catch any sounds.
The "sighs" emitted by the spectral demons were essentially mental fluctuations, not physical sounds.
And so, they went on, carrying a faint sense of unease.
The flying vessel followed the sprinting team below, continuing deeper into the Wall.
The "West Ridge" chosen by Blade's Edge was a relatively safe, ancient path.
The team first traveled along a stretch of rolling, sparsely vegetated grayish-white hills.
Afterward, they entered the area of the Forest of Sighs.
The Forest of Sighs was immense, almost completely cutting across the Wall of Sighs; the forest on the outskirts of the City of Bounties was actually a part of the Wall of Sighs as well.
It was not just the Forest of Sighs; even the Blackwater Mountains, the range they would have to cross later, was incredibly vast.
It spanned a massive area.
The peak where Shield City was situated was also part of the Blackwater Mountains.
And their first destination this time was clear.
It was Blackwater City, once the core of the Blackwater Corridor.
Its status in the Blackwater Corridor was like that of the Carter Royal Capital to the borderlands.
It was once a bustling transportation hub.
Unfortunately, the Dark Tide had swallowed it, leaving the once-thriving city-state as nothing but a collection of dead cities.
The resource-rich Blackwater Mountains and the Forest of Sighs had also become a forbidden zone for the living.
It was worth noting that this was entirely different from other city-states swallowed by the Dark Tide.
Blackwater City, along with the other sixteen city-states that fell in that same event, remained in a peculiar state.
Their main structures were almost eerily intact.
The tall, stone-masonry city walls still stood, though they were covered in moss and rust.
The frames of the residential buildings inside the city were mostly intact, their empty windows staring blankly into the fog.
The signs of the commercial streets were still faintly discernible, and rusted iron buckets still hung by the stone railings of the wells.
According to Blackbeard, these buildings had not suffered even a shred of structural damage.
When a typical Dark Tide swept through, it came with the trampling and ravaging of nearly a hundred million demons.
Forget the overall structure; afterward, even the ruins were often unrecognizable, reduced to nothing but rubble.
However, the Dark Tide that created the Wall of Sighs was exceptionally unique.
It was as if an invisible grim reaper had quietly swept across that vast land.
Precisely and silently, it claimed the lives of every living being within its range.
Houses did not collapse, city walls did not crumble, and even... the demons did not run rampant.
Subsequent investigations revealed that all the demons within the affected area had also dropped dead.
Had the signature thick fog of the Wall of Sighs not suddenly risen a few days later...
And completely blocked key transportation arteries like the Blackwater Corridor...
The City-State Alliance might not have even realized right away that the Dark Tide had already ended.
Seventeen city-states, spanning an area of over nine hundred kilometers.
Every living soul—whether human, elf, dwarf... or demon.
Within those few days, they had all perished collectively and silently.
This was the most bizarre Dark Tide ever recorded in the City-State Era.
The Alliance Council bestowed a name upon it.
They called it "The Silent End."
Fortunately, the Wall of Sighs did not expand slowly like the Silent Sea.
It was like a frozen scar, tracing the path of those seventeen dead cities.
It remained firmly fixed over the Blackwater Corridor and its surrounding areas.
Blackbeard and the other members dispatched by the Dwarven Royal City to various outposts outside the Wall had their duties.
Aside from exploring navigation routes and opening paths, they actually harbored a secret mission.
That was to continuously monitor the Wall of Sighs for any unusual activity.
After all, not far on the other side of this high wall lay the Dwarven Royal City.
Of the city-states swallowed by "The Silent End," a total of four belonged to the dwarves.
Additionally, three others were elven settlements.
And the northeastern end of the Wall of Sighs bordered...
...none other than Theia's former home, the Elven Forest.
It was also the place where Elvia had previously tried to "trick" Lin Gui into going.
The terrifying reputation of the Wall of Sighs was simply too immense.
Elvia believed it was absolutely impossible for Lin Gui to cross it.
After all, this was a place that even the dwarves, using the strength of their entire race, had failed to breach.
In truth, Lin Gui himself was hardly willing to step into such a desperate land.
But the system's route pointed directly here.
Eve's prophecy had also clearly anchored itself to this mist.
Lin Gui could only steel himself and charge into this desolate place.
He truly did not understand what the members of Blade's Edge below were so terrified of.
In his eyes, the surroundings were clearly empty.
But he didn't have the time to analyze their psychology.
Because a more pressing, practical problem was right before him—
Blade's Edge was planning to turn back and retreat.
“Let's... let's retreat, Leader!”
The priestess in the team spoke with a sob in her voice, her face as pale as paper.
She tightly gripped the holy symbol on her chest, her knuckles turning white from the strain.
That two-hour-long, completely unprecedented dead silence...
It was far more devastating to her mental defenses than facing the roars of demons directly.
In this Forbidden Zone that had claimed countless lives, encountering an anomaly was the ultimate horror.
All thirty-six times Blade's Edge had entered the Wall of Sighs, they had done so while enduring the raspy, terrifying voices of the spectral demons.
Without exception. Yet now, their journey inward was unbelievably smooth, and terrifyingly calm.
Like the calm before a typhoon.
“This is too eerie... It's absolutely not normal!”
The scout carrying the other guide also spoke in a low voice, veins throbbing at his temples.
“We've never encountered this kind of situation. Not even once.”
“Something absolutely terrifying must have happened in here!”
Leader Ryan pursed his lips tightly, his gaze sweeping across the panicked faces of his teammates.
He knew that their morale was on the verge of collapsing.
“If we retreat now, the money we spent on the guides will go completely down the drain.”
He tried to stabilize the situation, but his voice sounded a bit dry.
“Our mission isn't finished yet...”
“Mission?” The priestess shook her head violently, her voice turning shrill.
“If we stay any longer, we'll all turn into the Voiceless!”
“Just like those hunters who fell in the mist!”
“Lost forever in this fog!”
“I don't want to become like them—hideous, soulless Voiceless.”
Her emotions completely spiraled out of control, and tears rolled down her cheeks.
Up above, Lin Gui listened, utterly baffled.
What on earth were they so afraid of?
The two major threats Blackbeard had mentioned—mist-induced hallucinations and spectral demon attacks.
They hadn't actually encountered either of them yet.
Could it be... that there was a danger even the Eyes of the Netherworld couldn't perceive?
An invisible "thing" chasing after them?
But if they were truly being pursued by something, why hadn't he noticed it at all?
And how did they "know" about it?
Doubts churned in Lin Gui's mind, but he didn't have time to overthink it.
Right now, he had to find a way to stabilize this team.
He couldn't let them just retreat like this.
There was no telling how long it would be before the next selection meeting was held.
He also didn't have the time to run off to other city-states to look for a guide.
But the problem was... if he went down like this, their group, who had been hitching a ride right over their heads, would be completely exposed.
Rate on N.U.
