Fang Hong picked up a brick from the ground and threw it fiercely towards the wanderer. The brick passed through the phantom, hit the wall, and fell back into the dust. But the wanderer remained unmoved, turned around, and his figure dispersed like wind and sand.
Fang Hong probably felt that his behavior was somewhat childish, so he turned around without saying a word. Elf Miss looked in the direction where the wanderer disappeared and lightly sighed: "So the Dragon Witch was innocent too."
But Fang Hong shook his head and said: "The innocent one is not the Dragon's Witch, but Miss Eve."
He dusted off his hands, and in that instant seemed to mature a lot, turning to walk forward. He thought that according to the timeline, ahead should be that catastrophic disaster where a pure girl transformed into a Giant Dragon.
From then on, all history could never turn back, and the once prosperous Idus turned into ruins. It wasn't until a hundred years later that a group of people set foot on this land buried under the yellow sands.
But what Fang Hong didn't expect was the light appearing in the passage ahead, growing larger in his vision until it unfolded into a vast sky and earth.
Blinding sunlight shone down from above, forcing Fang Hong to raise his hand to shield his eyes. He squinted in surprise at this scene; the passage under the City Hall seemed to end here—
Outside was endless yellow sand, the dust-laden winds of Istania perpetually sweeping through the Valley. But this Valley was not quite the same as the one they saw earlier; there it was only towering crimson cliffs, but here there were ancient Holy Temples.
Those Holy Temples, almost all from the architectural style of the Xinsas Era, were sealed beneath the gravel here for thousands of years. The wind and sand had nearly eroded their outlines and contours.
Near Idus, there was no such place.
So this was still in the Phantom Realm—
But Fang Hong remembered Eve telling him, near the Dragon's Land there was an ancient Holy Temple from the Xinsas Era. It was the forbidden land of the Oathkeeper Clan, yet it was her and Yoshude's childhood exploration site—also a rendezvous for the budding romance between them.
The wind in the desert was wailing, as if gathering many people's sobs, yet sounding like sharp curses. Fang Hong almost heard the fine, lingering curse sounds around his ears, he had actually heard such sounds more than once.
But the memory he most vividly remembered was in Dolifen. At the moment Lady Misu fell into the fragments of the Dragon Witch's memories, he saw many chaotic images.
There were ones about Dolifen, Yoshude, and even the Dwarf Haggston. But the moment he fell from the square, the first thing he heard was these noisy, disorderly sounds of dispute.
At that time, he didn't hear clearly.
And this time, he finally heard clearly what those people were disputing.
"She is a parentless monster."
"Gold-eyed freak."
"Dragon Witch."
"Shape of calamity."
"Make her leave."
"She's the cursed one in the prophecy."
"We will all die by her hand."
Fang Hong saw amidst the endless yellow sand, stood a graceful silhouette. The girl wore a white long dress, akin to a flower blooming in the desert, with one hand pressing her ebony hair, her eyes occasionally flickering with a golden flame.
Atira pulled his hand slightly, signaling him to be cautious, to not get too close to those memories in the Phantom Realm, otherwise, he might get lost in them.
But the girl had already turned her head, her gaze holding a faint smile, she nodded at the two of them.
"We meet again, Mr. Ade."
"Eve?"
"It's me."
"How come you're here?" Fang Hong was stunned: "After leaving the underground, where did you go? Didn't anyone take you away?"
But the girl first raised a finger, pressed it against her lips.
She extended her hand, pointed to the distant sand dune.
Fang Hong instinctively looked in that direction, and a small, stumbling silhouette ran out from the top of the high sand dune. She hadn't run far before she tripped, rolling down the dune.
All the way to the bottom of the sand dune.
Fortunately, due to the Dragon Witch's physique, the little girl wasn't injured, she dusted off and stood up again.
Although unharmed, her expression was full of disappointment, appearing somewhat lost in the boundless yellow sand. She didn't know that a huge city called 'Idus' was dozens of miles north.
Because this small Oathkeeper Clan village was the entirety of her world since she could remember, now in this world, there was no one willing to accept her anymore.
Just because she was called Evril-Nikopolas.
And she had a pair of unusual golden eyes.
Fang Hong recognized her at first glance; the little girl was none other than the young version of Eve, because he had seen her once before. In a previous phantom, she was walking with that wanderer.
The little girl looked towards this direction bewilderedly, seeing three people here, and stumbled over.
The young Eve went up to support her.
"Who are you?" The little girl's gray face looked at the three, curiously asked: "I haven't seen you around here before, are you Istania People?"