The minstrel spoke with a peculiar intonation, deliberately mystical in his wording, and Erin jumped up the moment she heard him: "What the hell? A dwarf? A giant over four meters tall and you call him a dwarf?!""Miss Shorty, you said it yourself that he's from the Giant Clan," the minstrel lifted his hood and glanced at the little puppet in front of him, "Giants have an average height of over ten meters."
Erin was stunned, then suddenly reacted, jumping up and down: "Who the hell are you calling short?! If you've got the guts, challenge me to a duel! I'll fry you in a pan and smash your spine with two pots, and we'll see who's the short one you *@#&%#!..."
As she spoke, the little puppet had already summoned her frying pan, and Yu Sheng quickly grabbed the small figure in a hurry, trying to calm her down quietly, "Wait, wait, we haven't finished questioning yet..."
Erin was flailing her arms and legs in the air, cursing relentlessly, while the minstrel across seemed oblivious, still holding a strange instrument and staring at the campfire in a daze, somewhat mentally off. Hu Li approached curiously and asked, "What exactly is this place?"
Minstrel: "There's a fee..."
Freyia tossed another handful of spiritual body coins over.
"Ah! So dazzling!" That minstrel seemed only capable of saying that sentence upon seeing the coins. He quickly caught them and tucked them into his pocket, appearing more invigorated by the glow-cast currency, speaking much faster, "This is the shattered border — it wasn't always like this, but ever since the sky cracked, solidified lightning fell to the ground, and the border gradually fused with darkness... Something from the other side of the darkness spread over, transforming this place completely."
"Solidified lightning..." Yu Sheng furrowed his brow, and then a thought struck him, "Do you remember where it fell? Is it nearby? If we get you out of here, can you point out where it originally landed?"
As he spoke, Yu Sheng waved Freyia over, preparing for Miss Angel to produce more counterfeit coins, figuring that with the minstrel's character, this line of questioning might cost quite a bit.
To his surprise, the ever "fee-charging" minstrel simply shook his head.
"I cannot leave this campfire," the poet said with a somewhat somber voice, "nor can you take the fire away... It burns on the land beneath my feet by the King's command."
Standing nearby, unable to hold back anymore, Zheng Zhi scratched his head and began to mumble, "Uh... why can't I understand any of this?"
The minstrel offered no reply, merely reached to the side, grabbing something and tossing it into the campfire before him, causing the small flame to burn a touch more vigorously.
The minstrel's shadow was elongated in the flickering campfire light. Within that light, Yu Sheng saw that what was tossed into the fire was merely a handful of dirt.
"Strangers," the minstrel suddenly spoke, "may I ask you a question?"
Yu Sheng was a bit surprised; he didn't expect the minstrel to take the initiative to ask something. Meanwhile, the little puppet, still in his grip, responded even faster: "Sure! There's even a time for you to ask questions! Let me tell you this deserves a fee..."
Before the little thing could finish its clawing and cursing, the minstrel suddenly flicked his hand, sending a shiny coin flipping through the air: "Take it, this thing is useless to me now."
Erin immediately extended the frying pan, catching the coin with a clatter — it was a bright, shining gold coin.
"Wow!" the little puppet exclaimed with wide eyes, "You actually have an honest side... So, what do you want to ask?"
"Is that clumsy knight with you?"
Yu Sheng furrowed his brows, exchanging a glance with Hu Li, then nodded gently, "He is on 'our side.' Is there a problem?"
"I just want to ask you to pass a message," the minstrel said softly, the campfire crackling beside him, "just say... don't come back, even the most awkward and lengthy story has to end."
Yu Sheng was stunned upon hearing this, but just as he wanted to ask more, the small campfire suddenly began to flicker precariously, and the shadow beside it rapidly grew blurry.
"Ah, it seems about to go out again..." the minstrel murmured softly, without throwing more dirt into the fire, instead gazing absentmindedly at the flame that seemed ready to extinguish at any moment, "Will it ever rekindle?"
"Wait, don't you dare leave!" Erin's figure bounced around as she shouted, "Tell us about the Kingdom! And what's with these surrounding roots, where do they come from?"
The minstrel stood up beside the campfire, placing a hand over his chest as he bowed gracefully, "If we meet again, Miss Shorty."
Upon his words fading away, the cloaked figure and the campfire vanished silently into the air.
Erin was stunned for a moment, and then the next second, the entire puppet went wild: "Damn, this @*#& just left so suddenly!! Who are you calling short! Who are you calling short! Next time we meet, nobody had better stop me, I must whack his pelvic axle, I'm so angry—"
Yu Sheng had to grab the little figure with both hands to prevent her from falling to the ground, as he knew from experience that if Erin hit the ground, she'd become even more humiliated and furious, attacking everyone's knees indiscriminately.
Next to them, Hu Li joined in soothingly, "Calm down, calm down, at least we got a gold coin..."
Erin finally calmed down, picked up the gold coin the minstrel left, and examined it, only to be instantly dumbfounded.
The bright yellow coin had somehow turned into a piece of gray-black flat stone.
"This is counterfeit currency?!"
Yu Sheng had no choice but to keep persuading, "Just try to stay open-minded, after all, Freyia also gave us counterfeit currency, and we wanted information. His last question just now can be seen as a piece of information..."
Erin finally quieted down again but still looked angry.
Hu Li pricked his ears up and glanced around, "Savior, where do we go next?"
Yu Sheng frowned and observed the surrounding situation, noticing that there were many withered tree roots spreading into the cave, including the position where the minstrel was just now, where there was a root coiled on the open ground.
The Little Puppet seemed to sense Yu Sheng's thoughts, "Want to try some traditional skills?"
Yu Sheng touched his chin, "Let's do some traditional skills."
After speaking, he raised his hand, "Luna..."
Luna moved swiftly and fiercely.
Then Yu Sheng found a root nearby that he looked somewhat pleased with and reached out to touch its surface.
In an instant, his blood seeped into the withered roots, and the cave fell silent for a moment.
The Little Puppet watched Yu Sheng's reaction nervously, "How, how is it? Can we still summon the spirit?"
Yu Sheng closed his eyes slightly at this time, concentrating completely on perceiving the information fed back by the blood, yet some faint connection quickly dissipated, leaving only a meaningless hollow howl in the depths of darkness.
"Not really good," he shook his head with a frown, "This thing seems 'empty,' a bit like the empty shell left behind by the Inference Star Body before, with no effective information left."
"Empty shell..." Erin froze for a moment, and then felt a bit nervous, "Ah, if this was really left behind by the 'Tree Angel,' would it have completely died already?"
Yu Sheng didn't speak for quite a while, finally breaking the silence, "To be honest, if we previously confirmed that a Dark Angel was completely dead, that would be great news, but the current situation... I can only hope that's not the case."
After finding a few different roots and performing Blood Transfer separately, Yu Sheng shook his head.
"Not working, let's retreat first, and after we get out, inform Baili Qing of the situation here. Relying on us, we should not be able to find more."
His proposal was approved by everyone.
A moment later, an illusory gateway appeared on the open ground in front of No. 66 Wutong Road. The gateway opened, and Yu Sheng and the group filed out.
The warm, bright sunlight shone again on their bodies, dispelling the oppressive feeling brought by the low, chaotic sky of the Exotic Realm quickly under the daylight. Zheng Zhi, after coming out, stretched lazily, exhaled, and felt refreshed.
"It's still better on the outside, no wandering entities on the street..."
Li Lin also stretched beside him, nearly injuring his back upon hearing his nephew's words, "Don't talk, whenever you say things like this, it makes me uneasy!"
"Brother Li, you can't be like this; how can you not believe in supernatural stuff at level 8 Spiritual Ability?"
"Shut up, if an 8-level Spiritual Ability User doesn't believe in supernatural things, what do you believe in..."
Zheng Zhi was at a loss for words for a moment, while Li Lin took out his phone to report the situation to the bureau, and once he got his phone out, it started vibrating nonstop, then the screen began flashing a series of alerts like a bulletin.
"Oh man, what's going on, missed calls? No, why so many alert broadcasts?!"
At this time, Yu Sheng also stepped aside to take out his phone to call Baili Qing, but he got a busy signal twice, and on the third attempt it finally connected. As soon as the ringtone sounded, before he could speak, Baili Qing's voice rushed from the receiver, "Yu Sheng, do you have time now? Come to the bureau."
Yu Sheng was just about to recount his recent experiences, but upon hearing the other party's tone, he immediately became serious, "What's going on?"
"...A large-scale Exotic Realm invasion," Baili Qing's voice carried a rare heaviness, "It started several hours ago, and currently the erosion points have spread across all Exotic Realm within the Boundary Land — it's complicated, I'll explain in person."
Almost simultaneously, Li Lin's call to Yu Sheng was also heard nearby, "Brother Yu! It seems like something's happening! I received an emergency notification from the bureau, stating that all Exotic Realms are now on lockdown, and prohibiting all third-party exploration activities, demanding all agents remain on standby."
"Something's up, I need to go to the Special Service Bureau," Yu Sheng quickly said as he put away his phone, then turned to Hu Li and the others to instruct them, "You don't need to come along, stay at home and guard — Erin, pay extra attention to the room on the 2nd floor, and contact me immediately if there's any movement."
"Alright!"