Why play in a band if you don't form one for life?

PAREO gave an awkward military salute: "Yes, PAREO!" She left in a hurry.

CHU? looked at her: "What are you going to do?"

Shizi's hand flashed, and a miniature model of an airship appeared. "I'll make a small unmanned airship and let it explore the way later."

"..." Yukina didn't say anything. As they continued forward, she saw the coast more clearly.

Scorched earth.

This was her only impression of that land.

The charred coast, the charred mountains, the charred trees—and the scarlet river that flowed into this inland sea. It was as if the entire continent had been burned in a raging fire, and the fire had finally died out, leaving only embers.

That's where Hell itself is, she thought.

There is a clear dividing line between the river and the sea at the mouth of the river. It seems that the abnormality there has not affected this side, which makes Youxina feel relieved. Without her saying anything, the airship has already hovered in place.

Ako ran over with PAREO, and she and Shizi quickly completed the work.

The model was released. Several people followed it, slowly moving away.

Gradually, the small airship shrank into a white dot in the field of vision. Now, only CHU? could track it. CHU? watched the model continue to move forward, getting closer and closer to the layer of black curtain.

The model was engulfed in black smoke.

At that moment, CHU?'s eyes trembled.

There was a brilliant light that briefly cut through the black smoke, enveloping the tiny intruder and burning it into nothingness in an instant.

Shizi groaned. This was the first time her jade slip was damaged by external forces.

Yukina's eyes narrowed. In her eyes, the light was so bright that it even briefly usurped the position of the sun.

It is so out of tune with the surrounding environment.

Chapter 38: Garden of Eden (Happy Birthday, Brother Jiao~)

"Are you okay? Shizi-san."

The buzzing in my head gradually subsided. My vision gradually stabilized, and I could see the things in front of me clearly again.

Shizi put down her hand. Beside her, PAREO and Azi were looking at her worriedly. She shook her head: "It's okay... What happened?"

"The model was damaged by an unknown attack," Yukina said, "and it doesn't look like an attack that our defense system can block."

"Do you want to try a few more times?" CHU? looked at Shizi.

"Why don't we forget it? Student Shizi doesn't look well." PAREO frowned, but saw that Shizi had condensed another blank jade slip.

"Wait for me." Before Yazi could stop him, Shizi had already walked out the door. She went to find Liang.

Soon, the second and third models were released. Without exception, they were destroyed as soon as they flew over the coastline.

Shizi's face turned pale. She wanted to try again, raised her hand, but this time she failed to generate the jade slip.

CHU? looked at her face, frowned, and reached out to stop her: "Don't try again."

PAREO looked at her in surprise: "CHU? Adult actually cares about others?" CHU? did not answer.

"That's right." Yukina agreed, "We have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to enter from the air."

At this time, a brisk voice came in: "What's wrong? Stop suddenly, there are still so many people - ah." As soon as Kita stepped into the room, he saw the distant coast from the porthole.

Her pupils quickly emptied and were stained with black. Suddenly, musical notes appeared beside her, penetrated her body, and made her eyes clear again.

"..." She held onto the door frame, seeming a little unsteady. PAREO quickly went up to support her: "What happened again?"

In the past two days, Kita's situation has gradually been known to other people.

"I..." Kita muttered something in a low voice, but PAREO didn't hear it clearly: "What?"

Xiduo shook his head and stood up with the help of PAREO: "This place is called the Garden of Eden."

"Ah?" Chu looked back at the coast. In her eyes, it was still shrouded in black air that blocked out the sky and sun. "Garden of Eden? Like this?"

"I don't know why, but I just feel that way..." Kita saw the scene on the coast clearly at this moment, hesitated a little, and continued to add, "It feels like... It's like I knew I was going to come here before, that's how I feel."

There was excitement flashing in Yazi's eyes. She had already begun to imagine a great battle between gods and demons that had taken place eons ago, and she kept muttering words like sacrifice, rebellion, and depravity.

"The name doesn't matter." Yukina said at this time, she looked at Kita, "Do you know how to get in there? Just use your feeling."

Kita closed his eyes and pressed his temples hard, with a look of pain on his face. He looked as if he was suddenly called by the teacher and asked a question he had no idea about.

"Okay, okay, it seems... there is an entrance, right..." She said hesitantly, "If you don't go in from there, you will be considered an intruder and attacked..."

"It has been confirmed that we will be attacked." Shizi finally cheered up, "Where is the entrance?"

Kita shook her head: "I don't know." Judging from her expression, she had tried her best.

CHU? began to operate inside the armor, searching the coastline inch by inch, trying to find a place that resembled an entrance.

"The entrance may not be right here, right? Isn't there a large area?" asked Yazi, pointing to the sand table on the table next to her.

Shizi took another look at the sand table. "If there is an entrance, it is probably here. You see, this area is surrounded by plateaus on both sides. Two rivers flow along the border of the plateau. In the middle is a valley that extends all the way to the downstream. The two rivers merge into one and then flow into the sea." She pointed at their current location. "If there is a designer, he would not open the door somewhere else for no reason."

"Otherwise, it's just Chun Chun torturing the players." Yazi understood.

CHU? It seems that they have come to a conclusion: "Xiduo, you said... this is called the Garden of Eden?"

In the enlarged image, an ancient torii gate stands quietly among the waves.

The speedboat cut through the blue waves, leaving a long wake.

There were 15 people on the speedboat. Shizi sat at the front, controlling the direction.

"I didn't expect you to be so decisive and just abandon the entire airship." She said as she steered the boat.

Yuki sat beside her, arms folded across her chest, her long hair rustling in the sea breeze. Not long ago, she and the others had discussed and decided to pack up their important belongings, abandon the airship, and take a boat into the Torii.

"After all, an airship certainly can't pass through the Torii Gate. The area we're exploring this time is different from last time. We could be stuck in there for a few months. It's not realistic or reasonable to let you stay on the airship."

Hong Xia looked back. The remains of the airship were half submerged in the sea, slowly sinking. Before leaving, Shizi removed all the jade slips on it.

"But after all... it is our home." She was a little reluctant. She turned back to look at Shizi: "Will you not look back again?" Since leaving the airship, Shizi has never looked back.

"After all, I'm still nostalgic, so forget it." Shizi said lightly.

Yukina glanced at them both and said, "No."

"?" Hongxia looked at her.

Yukina's tone was calm: "Our home is still here. Where all of us are, that's home."

"Ah~ Yukina can say such things?" Lisa nudged Yukina with her elbow and joked.

Yukina's face turned slightly red, but she said nothing.

"...Let's rebuild the airship after this trip is over." Shizi's tone became a little lighter.

"Yeah." Yukina said.

After that, they didn't say anything, just quietly enjoyed the sea breeze, waiting for everything to officially begin.

The outline of the Torii Gate became clearer and clearer. Kita stood up, shielded his eyes from the sun with his hands, and stared at the Torii Gate. The sky and the earth were vast, and the mountains were infinitely far away. Here was only this small gate standing alone on the sea, leading to an unknown dimension.

There was a hint of nostalgia in her eyes.

Why do I miss it? I have never been here before.

No, I was...

"Ah!" Ako's scream interrupted Kita's thoughts, "There's something inside the torii!"

Ako pointed to the inside of the torii. She saw that the inside of the torii seemed to be covered with a layer of phantom light, like a soap film. Through this film, she could glimpse the distorted scenery inside. The outline of the coast was similar to the outside, but she seemed to be able to see an extremely huge structure, shaped like a towering tree, but taller than the surrounding mountains, echoing the Tower of Babel in the distance.

"Everyone, get ready." Yukina stood up and reminded everyone. The others put away their nostalgic or expectant expressions and got ready. The airship slowed down and stopped next to the torii.

At this point, the group was able to take a closer look at the structure of the Torii: it was red in color, made entirely of wood, and looked like it had weathered countless years without decaying. The lower part was built in the sea, and it was unknown where the bottom was.

Yuki stretched out his vines, dragged a group of worms from the sea, and threw them into the torii. The membrane rippled, and the worms sank directly into the sea water on the other side without any damage.

The speedboat restarted and passed directly through the torii gate.

It was just a moment.

However, the world was different in their eyes. Blood was splashing beside the speedboat, and the air was filled with sulfur and dust.

Lifeless.

The daylight is but a last gasp, its source—

The sun in the sky is black.

The world is dying.

In the distance, there was a huge blackened tree that almost supported half of the sky. Its canopy was split in two, which reminded people of the legendary World Tree. That was what Ako had seen outside the Torii Gate before, but even though it was so huge, it was already charred.

"There." Youshina pointed in a direction. The land was still scorched earth, but there were dilapidated wooden buildings and smoke everywhere, as if a war had just ended.

There is a small wooden pier on the coast. It is dilapidated, but it seems to be repaired frequently.

There was a man on the dock.

It's LAYER.

ps: Basically I can only write 4000 words a day. I can barely write 6000 words if I am in a very good state and have nothing else to do. God knows how those who can easily write , , or words a day do it...

Chapter 39 I Pushed It Into Two

LAYER?!

Everyone's eyes were fixed on LAYER sitting on the boat. LAYER was still there. So who was the one on the shore?

The one who was more surprised than anyone else was LAYER herself. She squinted her eyes and looked at the black-haired figure standing on the shore, waving at them. Although she couldn't see the facial features clearly, she was sure that the person on the shore looked exactly like her. Because every time she looked in the mirror, she would see her own face.

The boat docked in silence.

"LAYER" on the shore trotted towards them. She really looked exactly like LAYER: both in appearance and temperament. The only difference was the clothes she was wearing. It was a black jacket with obvious wear and tear, worn over wrinkled white long sleeves. The lower body was a pair of jeans with holes, some of which did not seem to be natural. Everything was similar to the one LAYER was wearing now, but it was definitely not Shizi's creation, and it was obvious that it came from reality. The clothes looked like they had been worn for a long time, and its owner cherished it very much.

"Hello, I've never seen anyone here before. I didn't expect you to be my age... come up first." This "LAYER" looked like he hadn't seen a living thing for a long time. He seemed particularly enthusiastic, which made everyone who were used to LAYER's mature image a little uncomfortable.

No one moved. Everyone just watched.

The "LAYER" seemed unaware and continued to call out to them: "Just come up, I maintain this place frequently, so it should be no problem for me to support a few people..."

LAYER observed her carefully, observing this person who appeared out of nowhere and looked exactly like her.

The people on the shore finally sensed that something was wrong. She looked over and found a pair of eyes in the crowd.

LAYER and LAYER's eyes met.

The people on the shore immediately showed the same expression as LAYER on the boat.

Yukina was the first to stand up. "I'm sorry, but this is necessary caution. Please identify yourself."

LAYER on the shore seemed to have a lot to ask, but she finally held back her words: "My name is Hezo Ruiyi."

The people in the boat looked at each other.

Yukina's questioning continued: "How did you get here?"

"After I traveled through time, it was difficult to survive in the outside world. I found this place by chance. There are no monsters here and it is relatively safe, so I have stayed here ever since." The words of this LAYER seemed impeccable.

"Leave it to me next." Layer stood up and questioned her other self on behalf of Yukina. Her other self didn't seem to trust Layer very much, but after observing the situation, she still accepted it obediently.

After a while, LAYER said to everyone, "She looks trustworthy. Let's follow her. We need a guide."

"Can I know her background?" Yukina asked.

LAYER shook her head: "I don't know, but it seems that there is no malice." To prove this, she first stepped out of the speedboat and walked to the dock. The wooden board seemed to be overwhelmed and made a creaking sound.

Seeing this, another LAYER took the initiative to step down, stood back on the ground at the dock and said, "Come down one by one."

However, no one else dared to move first. MASKING finally sighed and followed LAYER to stand on the dock. With her leading the way, everything became much easier. Shizi, LOCK, PAREO and others stood on the land one after another. "Be careful, don't touch the sea water, you will get hurt." Another LAYER reminded.

"This way, follow me." Seeing everyone get off the boat, another LAYER called out to everyone, and walked on a simple path towards the collapsed buildings. The others followed her silently. LAYER was closest to her, and the two seemed to be talking happily, but they were both slightly on guard. Shizi followed behind the two of them, and occasionally interrupted them, probing them without leaving any trace.

She did not take back the jade slip that was on the speedboat.

No one else gave any reminders.

They walked into the ruined buildings. It can be seen that these buildings are all Japanese-style, and many of them were once commercial sites such as shops and teahouses. Many people once gathered here, and even a civilization was created. But now, there is no one here, only charred soil and beams, and dusty broken flags half buried in the soil, covering a pile of white bones.

Skeletons half buried in the ground can often be seen. Most of them look like human bones, but some look like animals. In this environment, everyone becomes silent. Only another LAYER seems to have gotten used to it, but after the excitement of meeting a living person, she doesn't talk much. She has long seen that everyone still doesn't trust her, and trust takes time to cultivate.