The following day, Lin Gui started another round of the wrist-breaking daily routine, sporting a pair of obvious dark circles under his eyes.
After Eve patiently calmed the group of believer ghosts who were worried she might be "overworked," she finally sat down at another small table to help share the burden of transcription.
Although she could not see the ghosts' appearances, she could clearly distinguish the "voices" that seemed to drift in and out, entering her consciousness directly.
Over the next few days, time passed in the rustling sound of quills.
Aside from writing, Lin Gui also had to sort and record the letters. The letters he received were diverse, and their destinations far exceeded his initial expectations.
In addition to those addressed to the nineteen swallowed city-states, many actually pointed to distant lands:
Some were sent to the Dwarven Royal City.
Some were sent to edge outposts of the "Elven Forest" in the east.
There was even one where the destination was clearly written as "Canopy of the World Tree," the sacred land of the High Elves.
The sender was an old elven scholar who had once been stationed in Blackwater City as a diplomat and was now only a soul body.
Looking at the souls of dwarves, elves, humans, and other races before him, Lin Gui marveled once again that Blackwater City was truly a hub of transportation and a cultural melting pot in the past.
Days went by one after another.
It continued until Lin Gui's right wrist completely lost all sensation, forcing him to develop a new skill: using 【Levitation】 to manipulate the pen to write on his behalf.
It continued until even the usually calm Eve could barely maintain her holy posture, rubbing her aching wrists and sighing softly.
It continued until the letters for the very last glass bead were finished.
On the morning of the twelfth day, accompanied by the first pale ray of dawn shining through the window, it was finally over.
Lin Gui set down his pen, and Eve gently placed her quill aside.
Simultaneously, the two of them let out a long, deep sigh, as if to exhale all the fatigue, numbness, and torment accumulated over these twelve days.
It was over.
This grand, silent marathon of scribing, fueled by obsession, had ended.
At this moment, behind Lin Gui, twenty-three waist-high thick wooden mailboxes were neatly stacked. Inside were a total of 7,760 letters, far exceeding his initial estimate of "a few thousand."
For a moment, Lin Gui didn't know whether to laugh or cry. At the very least... he had survived it.
All the mailboxes were placed into his 【Storage】 space one by one. Lin Gui and Eve did a simple cleanup of their personal belongings and took one last look at this post office built by the hands of ghosts.
It was time to depart.
Outside the post office, next to the flying vessel, the scene of the send-off was quite spectacular and eerie.
Thousands of glass beads floated in mid-air, piled up by the roadside, or clung to the walls. The faint blue glow formed a silent sea of stars.
"We will take good care of the post office!"
"That's right! If any bounty hunters dare to come in and steal things..."
"We'll haunt them to death!"
"Hehehe, I'm good at that!"
The souls' voices drifted over, thin and excited.
Lin Gui's mouth twitched slightly. He could see that these "residents" seemed very enthusiastic about this activity. No wonder Blackbeard's expression had been so complicated when he mentioned that Blackwater City was "haunted."
He smiled helplessly and said no more, briskly boarding the flying vessel with Eve.
"Eh? Are they leaving just like that?"
Troy's bead rolled to the front, her tone sounding a bit disappointed.
"They didn't even say goodbye properly..."
"Why does it feel like... they're running away?"
The surrounding glass beads remained silent in understanding for a few seconds, not picking up that line of conversation.
The flying vessel slowly rose and adjusted its direction. Lin Gui gave one final wave to that faint blue "sea of stars."
Immediately after, the wind pressure cannon let out a low roar. The flying vessel turned into a streak of light, darting out of the ruins and charging toward the mist-covered wasteland. It quickly vanished at the end of the grey horizon.
On the flying vessel, Lin Gui breathed a long sigh of relief and rubbed his still-sore wrist.
Almost simultaneously, the System's notification sound rang clearly in his mind:
【Ding!】
【Letter Retrieval and receiving for the Blackwater City area is complete.】
【Total valid letters received: 7,760.】
【Weekly Commission has been updated.】
【Content: Deliver the received letters to the designated recipients with a Sign-off rate of over 70%.】
【Route planning in progress...】
【Based on the distribution of destinations, the optimal circular delivery route has been generated:】
【Blackwater City → Stonestrand Town → Longbridge Fort → Greywood City → Old Camp Fort → Hearth Manor → Ramshorn Town → Raven City → Three-Way Junction → Whitestone City → Deepwood Outpost → Shadowmoon City → Gloomlight Forest → Mirror-Shadow City → Valley Town → Highwall Town → Silverstream Town → Blackwater City.】
【Estimated total mileage: approximately 1,400 kilometers.】
【Remarks: Try to avoid known Epic spectral demon core territories.】
【Time limit: One week per node.】
【Rewards: Random Novice Magic rewards and mana rewards will be issued based on the mileage and the number of signed letters.】
【—May the longings of the deceased cross the mist and reach the departed—】
...
Meanwhile, in the library of the Seventh Princess's Mansion in the Carter Royal Capital, the lights were brightly lit despite it being late at night.
Spread out before Elvia were piles of ancient books, geographical atlases, recent climate records, and a thick stack of scholarly reports hired for a high price.
She gripped a secret report that had just arrived, her fingertips turning slightly white.
There was only one line on it:
"Eagle Fortress confirmed empty. The banshee race has completely evacuated; whereabouts unknown."
Evacuation.
That word was like an ice shard, stabbing into the reason she was striving so hard to maintain.
No, don't panic, she told herself.
The banshees leaving didn't necessarily mean the Dark Tide was being born in the borderlands.
Perhaps... Selene just suddenly wanted to move?
Perhaps a better hunting ground had appeared in the north?
Perhaps they were sick of the taste of the men in the Carter Royal Capital and wanted to change things up.
Regardless, she needed evidence.
Evidence that the Dark Tide wouldn't come. Evidence that the Royal Capital was still safe.
Thus, she began to act.
Under the pretext of "studying the stability of the borderlands," she mobilized large amounts of capital and connections. She hired multiple authoritative historical scholars, geographers, and even two retired Dark Tide researchers.
She provided them with all the data that might suggest a Dark Tide tendency: the abnormal appearance records of the Brain-Digger Demons, the migration of the banshees from Eagle Fortress, and the reports of demon activity near the Royal Capital gathered by the numerous adventurers she had sent to scout.
However, she only emphasized that the defensive lines around the Royal Capital were solid, supplies were sufficient, and the climate was "normal."
She wanted them to argue for one conclusion.
That in a month's time, a Dark Tide would not occur in the Carter Royal Capital—or rather, the borderlands!
Under the influence of heavy rewards, reports were submitted one by one. The writing was rigorous, citing classics and drawing on meticulous logic. All of them told Elvia one fact: it was impossible for a Dark Tide to break out in the borderlands.
Rate on N.U.
