South of the Blackwater Corridor, in Black Reef City.
In front of a dilapidated house.
A woman gripped Lin Gui’s hand tightly, her eyes red and her voice choking with emotion.
"Messenger, thank you so much... This letter, this letter is vital to me..."
She looked up and wiped the corners of her eyes with her sleeve.
"That kind soul who wrote to me, I... I don't even know who he is."
"If you ever have the chance to meet him, please tell him that I am grateful from the bottom of my heart. Truly, truly grateful."
Lin Gui looked at her and nodded.
"If there is a chance, I will."
He turned, preparing to leave.
Just as he took a step, the woman’s hurried voice came from behind him.
"Um... you're a mage, aren't you?"
Lin Gui stopped and looked back at her.
The woman bit her lip and hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"Could... could you take me away?"
She quickly added, "I have a lot, a lot of money! Really!"
Lin Gui looked at her with a bitter smile and pointed to himself.
"Well, I am only a High Rank mage; I don't have the ability to cross the wilderness."
"This letter was just a commission posted by the Adventurer's Guild."
"I didn't bring it in from outside the wilderness myself."
He paused for a moment.
"Besides, do you think a powerful Transcendent mage would run around delivering letters for commoners?"
The woman froze.
The hope that had just ignited in her eyes was extinguished, bit by bit.
She lowered her head and gave a bitter smile.
"I see... Sorry for bothering you."
Lin Gui did not say anything more.
He turned around and continued walking forward.
Behind him, the woman took a deep breath and slapped her own face hard.
Then, she turned back into the house.
A moment later, she walked out of the house carrying a bulging pack and leading a growing child.
The pack was stuffed so full that the fabric seemed on the verge of tearing.
The child asked curiously, "Mama, where are we going?"
The woman forced a smile. "To find someone to take us away from here."
She clutched that bulging envelope and walked with determined steps toward the Adventurer's Guild.
Walking down the street, Lin Gui caught this scene out of the corner of his eye.
He knew where she was going.
And he knew that she would likely return in disappointment.
The money in that envelope was a man's life savings from Avalon.
In the letter, the man had shared some memories of his youth in Black Reef City.
He mentioned that he had once hidden some assets here.
Since his parents had died early and he had no family, he had decided, after much thought, to send this money—which he had saved for a long time—to his secret crush from back then.
That was right.
Strictly speaking, the woman before him didn't even know the Avalonian who had sent the letter.
But given the sudden windfall, she didn't care to haggle over details.
Especially at this moment, when the Dark Tide was imminent and everyone felt in peril, this money was exceptionally important.
However, the woman was likely to be disappointed.
When the news reached here that the Dark Tide was being born in the borderlands, every adventurer, knight, wealthy merchant, and noble capable of crossing the wilderness had already left.
Only the commoners who couldn't leave remained.
Lin Gui had the power to take her away.
But he did not do so.
His next stop was Shield City—the city-state that would be directly affected by the surging of the Dark Tide.
Whenever the Dark Tide began, all demons within its several-hundred-kilometer impact zone would riot in sequence.
Then, they would gather toward the center.
Eventually, under the leadership of a Demigod demon, they would begin to migrate.
Several small towns south of Black Reef City, near Giant's Canyon, had already been swallowed by the demon riot.
Hundreds of thousands of people, and not a single soul had made it out.
Yet Black Reef City still stood.
This meant that the demon riot associated with the Dark Tide erupting from the Withered Rift had not yet extended to this area.
So, in reality, the situation in Black Reef City was far better than anyone imagined.
At least until the Demigod demon began the migration, Black Reef City was safe.
Lin Gui walked down the street.
Everything he saw along the way was a doomsday scene.
Panic-stricken people were everywhere on both sides of the street, carrying large and small bundles as they crowded toward the North Gate with their families.
Some pushed wheelbarrows piled high with belongings, children sitting at the very top, looking around in confusion.
Some carried boxes that rattled with every step, likely containing every scrap of property they could trade for money.
Some sobbed by the roadside as they held their relatives, unable to scrape together enough money to hire mercenaries.
There were even elderly people sitting on doorsteps, their cloudy eyes staring into the distance, lost in thought.
In front of the Adventurer's Guild, people were packed tightly together.
They waved money bags and held up valuable jewelry, shouting at those inside.
"Please, take me with you! I have money!"
"Where is the Gold Rank adventure group? I want to hire a Gold Rank adventure group!"
"Don't push! Don't push! One at a time!"
But those walking out of the guild only had faces of disappointment and despair.
"They're gone... they're all gone..."
"Those mercenaries, those adventurers, they all ran off long ago..."
Cries and wails broke out from the crowd.
The carriages of nobles and wealthy merchants had long since vanished from sight.
All that remained were these commoners who could not escape.
Lin Gui passed through the crowd and continued forward.
Then, someone noticed him.
A black-haired young man, dressed simply but carrying a staff, was walking toward the south.
"That man... why is he walking south?"
"South? Isn't south the direction the demons are in?"
"Is he crazy?"
His mage's attire momentarily raised their hopes.
However, upon seeing his somewhat worn clothing and his crude oak staff, most of them showed disappointment.
Lin Gui’s appearance undoubtedly told them that he was only a weak mage.
And yet, that happened to be the truth.
A High Rank mage only counted as an expert in a place as tiny as New Covenant City; out in the world, they were nothing special.
Lin Gui paid no mind to these gazes.
He continued south.
Then, a cold voice rang out in his mind.
"South? Are you going to seek your own death?"
Lin Gui's footsteps faltered slightly.
Then, he continued forward.
He let out a light chuckle.
"Lady Shadow Blade Lynn, so you're awake?"
"How does it feel to be outside the Wall of Sighs?"
The other party fell silent.
The smile at the corners of Lin Gui's mouth faded.
Since leaving the Wall of Sighs, she hadn't said more than a few words to him.
But through his Eyes of the Netherworld, he could keenly perceive it.
Since coming out of the mist, the soul force emanating from Shadow Blade Lynn's soul bead in his pocket had been clearly weakening and dissipating.
It had weakened to the point where even a novice soul mage like him could suppress her.
He knew that what Shadow Blade Lynn had said back then was not a lie.
Thus, he had confidently used Soul Attachment to defuse the soul bomb she had placed on him.
Three days had passed since then.
She had long since regained consciousness.
But when she realized the soul bomb was gone, and that her only lethal leverage against him no longer existed—while her own strength had essentially returned to zero—this sudden turn of events left her unsure of how to face Lin Gui.
Lin Gui did not look back.
He simply kept walking forward.
Heading southwest.
Rate on N.U.
