Rolling red sands churned along the horizon, and through the clamorous dust, a dead city could vaguely be seen.
A towering skyscraper had snapped in half at its middle, with what appeared to be the wreckage of a space elevator embedded in the broken section.
The remaining glass curtain walls reflected faint light through the windblown sand, illuminating the deserted, dilapidated alleyways below.
Unknown dangers lurked behind shattered display windows, while mutated hyenas with sharp fangs and vicious jaws prowled beneath rusted billboards.
A cloaked woman stood atop a nearby dune, holding binoculars as she looked toward the skyscraper.
After a moment, a mutated eagle owl with brown feathers and mottled markings flapped over and landed on her shoulder.
After meeting its sharp gaze for a moment, she reached out and stroked the mutated eagle owl's feathers before tossing it into the sky.
"Caw—"
The owl let out a long cry and vanished into the rolling dust.
The cloaked woman vanished from the dune as well.
Before long, the wind and sand had erased her footprints, as though no one had ever been there.
This was the Great Desert.
If Sunset Province was a forbidden zone for life, then this place was a forbidden zone for civilization.
No one could leave any trace here.
No one remembered what this street or district had been called, and even if they did, it was meaningless.
It was not only the nomads of the Great Desert who migrated with the wind and sand, but also the endless layers of dunes.
Landmarks exposed aboveground today might become entrances to the "underground world" tomorrow. Skyscrapers still standing yesterday might collapse into ruins a few days later.
The only thing that could mark this region was a special string containing longitude and latitude data.
Though there