Pale dunes stretched to the end of sight. The dim heavens displayed all manner of bizarre scenes, and from time to time, a colossal phantom silhouette revealed a corner of its outline before dissolving into nothingness amid the chaos.
Countless black figures wandered across the dunes. Most possessed human outlines, as though shadows had taken on tangible forms, with slowly surging shadowy mist bound and restrained by rune-covered bandages.
Besides humanoid forms, the black figures came in all sorts of strange and grotesque shapes, some even standing shoulder to shoulder with mountains.
They trudged forward like soulless husks, hollow and desolate.
Yet the faint glimmers flickering before them dispelled much of the icy chill.
Magic Phones.
Nearly every figure held a Magic Phone, the light from its screen illuminating one void-like face after another.
A light screen floated above the dunes, nearly obscuring the sky. The information displayed upon it changed without pause, and a great many figures had gathered before it.
Origin Mall's customers would never know that such a vast customer base existed beside them, only that they had never appeared before the public.
Even after so much time had passed, the Shadow Dwellers still remained here in silence.
Like a group of insubstantial ghosts, they quietly observed the outside world through their Magic Phones, never overstepping their bounds in the slightest.
Beside the light screen stood a portal forged from light.
It was the Teleportation Portal Luo Chuan had specifically set up, directly connected to Origin Mall.
Unfortunately, from beginning to end, these Shadow Dwellers had shown no interest whatsoever in going to Origin Mall, leaving it as mere decoration.
A small figure passed through the portal and landed steadily on the ground, kicking up a cloud of sand.
...Well, perhaps it was not entirely just decoration.