The Headless Knights on the square were patrolling neatly, their rusty armors making a harsh friction sound with their steps. Li Wen stood at the edge of the square, observing these strange guards. Although they had lost their heads, their movements were not affected at all, and they were even more precise than ordinary people. Whenever they walked to a specific position of the fountain, all the knights would turn around at the same time, and their movements were as consistent as mirror images.
Guinea Pig Lord nervously tugged on the hem of Li Wen's cloak. "I, I will take you here, you can handle the rest by yourself!"
After saying that, it wanted to run away, but Li Wen grabbed the back of the neck and carried it back.
"Wait a minute." Li Wen's voice was terrifyingly calm, "You haven't told me how to communicate with them yet."
Guinea Pig Lord's purple eyes moved wildly, and his short claws clawed in the air. "Let me go! Those guys don't need to communicate at all. As long as you get close, they will naturally -"
Its words stopped abruptly. Li Wen felt a cold gaze. Although these knights had no heads, she was sure that they "saw" her.
Twelve Headless Knight stopped at the same time and turned in the direction of Li Wen. Gray Mist seeped out from the gaps in the rusted armor, squirming like living creatures. The knight in the front row stepped forward, his movements stiff but precise, and the ground would tremble slightly with every step he took.
Li Wen let go of Guinea Pig Lord, and quietly pressed the dagger with his right hand. Headless Knight stopped five steps in front of her and slowly raised his right arm. The arm was wrapped with a chain, and a heavy Metal Book was tied to the end of the chain.
"Request... or deal..." Metal Book turned the pages automatically, making a harsh scratching sound, and a hoarse voice squeezed out from between the pages, "Choose..."
Li Wen squinted her eyes. This book looked like some kind of contract carrier. She didn't recognize any of the words on it, but her intuition told her that it was never a good idea to sign it rashly.
"I want to inquire about the whereabouts of a person." She said bluntly, "A person wearing Brass Mask, with a pointer embedded in his right eye."
Metal Book suddenly trembled violently, the pages of the book turned wildly, and finally stopped on a blank page. Headless Knight traced the page with his fingers wrapped in chains, Gray Mist condensed into a vague pattern - it was indeed a human figure wearing a mask, but the details were not clear.
"The price..." the book hissed, "The price of knowing..."
Li Wen was already prepared. "What do you want?"
"Memory... knowledge... or..." A pattern of an eye suddenly appeared on the page, staring directly at Li Wen, "Your path..."
Guinea Pig Lord ran away without knowing when.
Li Wen said without changing his expression, "Change."
Metal Book was silent for a moment, then turned the page again. "So... your name..."
"Name?"
"True name..." the book explained, "Give your real name to us for safekeeping... in exchange..."
Li Wen was alarmed. In any occult system, the true name has special power. Handing over the true name is equivalent to handing over a part of yourself.
She shook her head decisively. "That's impossible."
The book seemed to have expected her rejection, and immediately put forward a new condition. "Then... a story..."
"Story?"
"A story that you have personally experienced..." the book's voice suddenly became softer, "It must be true... it must be unforgettable..."
This condition sounds much more acceptable than the first two, but Li Wen knows that in a place like this, any seemingly harmless transaction may have hidden traps. She thought for a moment and decided to tell an insignificant experience.
"I once got lost in the forest for three days and survived by eating wild fruits and drinking dew."
Metal Book slammed shut with a loud "bang" sound, and a large amount of Gray Mist spurted out from the gaps in Headless Knight's armor. Obviously, he was extremely dissatisfied with this perfunctory story.
"Not... qualified..." Shu Shu trembled angrily, "It must be unforgettable... it must be heartbreaking..."
Li Wen sighed. It seemed that she had to tell some real experiences. She pondered for a moment and then slowly spoke:
"I died once."
This sentence made Headless Knight restless and restless. Metal Book also stopped trembling and hung quietly in the air, waiting for her next words.
"That was when we were fighting against some kind of horrific natural disaster that was bound to come." Li Wen's voice was very soft but extremely clear. "We, my companions and I knew that victory was impossible, but we still chose to fight. In the end, everyone died, including me."
Bronze-colored liquid oozed from Metal Book's page, and the liquid automatically formed text, recording the words of Li Wen.
"But fate gave me a second chance." She continued, "I returned to before the disaster began. Now, carrying everyone's hope, I walk alone on the road to fight against the doomsday."
There was silence in the square, and even Gray Mist stopped flowing.
Metal Book slowly closed it and sighed with satisfaction, "A qualified... transaction..."
"What about the person I'm looking for?" Li Wen asked immediately.
Dark red rust stains suddenly oozed from the cover of Metal Book. Those rust stains squirmed like living creatures, gradually outlining an ancient picture: It was an era before Gray Mist covered the earth. Several figures with different images stood in the wasteland. Under their feet was the cracked black earth, and above their heads was Sky Dome, which was as yellow as amber.
Li Wen saw a familiar presence, an old giant with a height comparable to a mountain peak and wearing a gorgeous cloak - Wan Zhong.
In addition, there is the guy whom Wan Zhong entrusted her to find, a figure wearing Brass Mask, whose race is difficult to determine.
"The original builders..." Metal Book's voice became ethereal, "They called themselves 'Eternal Descendants'... guarding the secrets at the root of the world..."
As the picture flowed, Li Wen saw towering black spiers rising from the ground, and pyramid-shaped temples spreading out on the wasteland. It was the establishment of a magnificent country. The houses and city walls were made of some kind of luminous white stone. Various races walked on the streets - elves, dwarfs, humans, and even strange creatures that Li Wen had never seen before.
"Then disaster struck..." Metal Book's voice suddenly became sharp.
The picture suddenly distorted, a huge gap opened in the sky, and the dim yellow liquid poured down like a waterfall. The liquid solidified immediately when it touched the ground, forming countless sharp crystals. The buildings collapsed under the erosion of the crystals, and the creatures were reduced to ashes in the wail. The figure wearing Brass Mask stood at the highest point. He held a scepter in his hand and stopped the disaster with a single wave.
But this didn't help, more and more cracks appeared on Sky Dome, and the entire country was destroyed.
"They failed..." Metal Book's voice carried a strange joy, "'Eternal Descendants' disappeared one after another... In the end, only him was left."
The scene finally settled on a ruins, with Gray Mist seeping out from the ground and gradually covering everything. The figure wearing Brass Mask stood alone in the middle of the ruins, with the scepter in his hand already broken.
"Where is he now?" Li Wen asked.
She could guess that Metal Book should be telling the history of Amber City Outer City. At that time, the inner city had not yet been built, and the Elderss gathered here and established the first residence of Twilight Witch.
But what was the reason that led to its demise? And that faint yellow liquid, that Gray Mist seeping out from the ground, always feels...