"If I told you I could completely eliminate those vampires, would you give up this cursed power?"
"..."
Hearing Duanmu Huai's question, Hong Lian fell silent for a moment before letting out a bitter laugh.
"I'm sorry, but I don't have the authority to make that decision..."
"I understand. After all, you've suffered quite a lot just to survive here. It's obvious that living here is extremely dangerous and difficult. I understand, I understand."
Facing Hong Lian's response, Duanmu Huai said no more. He simply laughed and brushed the matter aside.
"Then I haven't asked you all yet...where exactly are you from? There isn't a second human city anywhere nearby, and judging by your appearance, you don't look like vampires either..."
"Oh, we're from the surface."
"The surface..."
"Hmm?"
"May I ask what the surface is?"
"..."
So we have to start explaining from here?
Hearing Hong Lian's curious question, everyone was left dumbfounded. But thinking about it carefully, it made sense. The humans living underground had reproduced here for thousands of years, so their understanding of the world was probably limited entirely to the underground. Duanmu Huai remembered a Dwarf joke about how, when a Dwarf first emerged from underground, he hugged a huge wooden barrel and refused to let go. When people asked what he was doing, he said, "I have to hold on tight. Otherwise, if I let go, I might fall into the sky! There's no ceiling overhead, after all!"
Drizzt's novels had also mentioned that the Dark Elves had always believed there was a great ball of fire on the surface, constantly scorching the earth. Merely looking directly at it would blind you. So, in the Dark Elves' imagination, the surface was basically no different from Hell.
But you couldn't exactly say they were wrong.