Hello, is this a letter addressed to Demon Fortress?

Scholar Eli pushed up his glasses and smiled as he made a suggestion to Lin Gui and the other two.

"You can go and explore Twin Reefs."

"Although this place is small, you can find many interesting things if you look closely."

Lin Gui glanced at Freya in the distance, somewhat hesitant.

"We shouldn't act recklessly without Captain Freya's permission."

The scholar laughed upon hearing this.

"After spending these days together, everyone already considers you all family."

"Betty often says she wants to change teachers and become your student."

Lin Gui chuckled to himself as he recalled the girl who couldn't stop talking about levitation.

"Didn't Captain Freya deal with her?"

"Of course she's been dealt with," the scholar chuckled. "She's been punished by having to inspect the train's concealment magic incantations."

"So relax, don't be so formal."

As he spoke, he waved to Freya in the distance and then pointed to Lin Gui and the others.

Freya looked over, smiled, and waved, which was taken as tacit approval.

Shea immediately jumped up excitedly.

She pulled Eve up with one hand and grabbed Lin Gui with the other.

"Hurry, hurry!"

They dragged the two of them and ran towards those strange residential areas.

Passing through several crooked stone houses, Lin Gui's gaze pierced through the gaps between the buildings.

Once again, it was cast into that desolate, dark sea.

Remembering what the scholar had told him, the North Wind Caravan would pass through the forbidden area tomorrow.

Lin Gui's brows furrowed involuntarily.

Suddenly, a pair of hands cupped his face and forcibly turned his head back.

Shea glared at him angrily.

"Lin Gui! Stop thinking about this and that!"

"Your top priority right now is..."

She released her hand and gestured for her name.

"She's here with me and Eve!"

"Explore the sea and islands!"

Her eyes lit up.

"This is my first time seeing the ocean, and my first time setting foot on an island!"

Under Lin Gui's helpless gaze, Xia began to pull and drag her forcefully.

"Let's go, let's go!"

In the end, Lin Gui could only be dragged along by her, along with the smiling Eve.

We walked toward the small island that stood at the entrance to the forbidden area.

They passed through the noisy cluster of goblin stone houses,

Watching the little green creatures decorate the lintel with coral and seashells.

We passed by the sea creature's wet spiral tower again.

A blurry shadow swam by behind the transparent swim bladder window.

Two completely different architectural styles are squeezed together.

There was a strange harmony to it.

Shea is curious about everything.

I stood on tiptoe to watch the goblin mend his tattered fishing net.

He then squatted by the roadside, studying the glittering beads on the seafood stall.

Eve quietly followed Lin Gui's side.

Occasionally, stop and feel the salty, damp sea breeze that brushes against the islands and reefs.

Lin Gui was dragged along by Xia, weaving through the narrow alleyways.

His gaze, however, would always inadvertently...

Beyond these extraordinary landscapes,

It falls towards that silent sea in the distance, a sea so vast it can swallow even the light.

His brows were never fully relaxed.

Something wet and cool suddenly pressed against Lin Gui's cheek.

He turned his head and saw it was Eve.

She was twirling a small, iridescent seashell between her fingers.

"If anxiety doesn't solve the problem," she said with a slight smile, "it's better to let it go for now."

"Just let things take their natural course."

"Since the prophecy indicates we will successfully arrive..."

"Then this time, we'll definitely be able to get through smoothly."

Lin Gui raised an eyebrow: "The word 'certainly' shouldn't come out of the mouth of someone who knows divination."

Eve smiled without saying a word.

But she's right.

Now that we've reached the outskirts of the Silent Sea, we have no choice but to trust the North Wind Caravan.

Even if the method they are going to use tomorrow is extremely risky.

Lin Gui breathed a sigh of relief, his mind calming down slightly.

Only then did he have the mind to look around.

I found myself standing in a small market, in front of a seafood stall.

The stall owner is a typical mermaid.

She had the beautiful face of a human woman, with translucent, gill-like fins connected behind her ears.

Its lower body is covered with silver-blue scales, which extend into a powerful fish tail.

Merfolk are the sea creatures whose appearance is most similar to that of humans.

Like the orcs, the sea creatures comprise many strange and wonderful races.

On the way here, Shia curiously approached a crab-like sea creature.

I reached out to tap its thick carapace.

As a result, he was forced back by the opponent wielding large pincers.

From its mouthparts, which were covered with fine teeth, came a series of gurgling, bubbling sounds.

Lin Gui and the others couldn't understand what the other party was saying.

Such marine humanoids with their own language can also be considered members of the sea race.

Lin Gui looked around and was shocked to find that Xia was gone.

"She went back to her carriage to get something," Eve explained softly.

"Barter is the only accepted service here."

She said she wanted to exchange some daily necessities.

"I see."

Lin Gui squatted down and looked at the items the mermaid stall owner was selling.

Most of them are beautiful pearls, corals, and strange shells.

Many seafood items bear obvious demonic features.

For example, black seashells with fine scales.

Or it could be a dark red coral with sharp spikes.

There are even some materials from deep-sea demons.

Lin Gui didn't know much about the deep-sea demons, but that didn't stop him from asking.

"This," he pointed to a bone that glowed with an eerie green phosphorescence, "is from some kind of demon?"

"And this," he pointed to a clump of seaweed wriggling like a nerve plexus, "does it move when it's alive?"

The mermaid stall owner smiled sweetly, her voice as gentle as waves lapping against rocks.

"Those are the finger bones of the drowned, from the ghostly demons that roam the shallow waters of the Black Reef Sea."

"This seaweed is the dried corpse of Soul-Eating Algae; when it was alive, it would indeed entangle its prey."

Her voice was extremely pleasant to the ear; it was a gift of the merfolk.

In the slave market, there was a beautiful mermaid with a melodious voice.

The price is miles higher than that of elven slaves.

But for some reason, it seems that we haven't seen them in recent years.

Lin Gui asked them one by one, but most of them just looked at them.

Finally, his gaze was drawn to an unassuming glass bead covered in cracks.

It was mixed in with a pile of shiny junk, looking rather dusty.

But Lin Gui always felt that there was a glimmer of light flashing through the depths of that broken place.

Lin Gui picked up the cracked glass bead.

I looked at it against the sunlight, but didn't find anything special.

"What is this?" he asked the mermaid stall owner.

The mermaid blinked her beautiful big eyes, hesitated for a moment,

Then, in a mysterious tone, he said:

"This was salvaged from a shipwreck deep in the silent sea."

"Legend has it that it was a magical vessel belonging to an ancient great sorcerer!"

"At night, it emits a faint blue light."

"Look at these patterns; they contain ancient wisdom..."

"Look at this luster; it's formed from the condensed tears of a mermaid..."

She kept going on and on, and even she couldn't keep up the story.

Lin Gui looked at her speechlessly.

His boasting skills are just like those of unscrupulous merchants on land.

He didn't ask any more questions, and casually reached into the pocket of the mage's robe.

He pulled out a slightly worn, but still reasonably well-made, charcoal pencil.

handed over.

"Should we exchange it or not?"

The mermaid stall owner's eyes lit up, and he snatched the charcoal pencil away.

He flipped through the pages with great interest.

Such exquisite writing instruments are rare on this island far from the mainland.

"Change!"

She answered crisply and decisively, as if afraid that Lin Gui would change his mind.

I carefully put the charcoal pencil away.

That dusty, broken glass bead ended up in Lin Gui's hands.