But the daggers were clearly in the hands of her sister at this moment, and Alice was acting too strangely in front of him, overly cautious and excessively frail. He certainly wouldn't think it was due to his own charm.

But he knew that in this world, there is no love or hate without reason.

He sighed, whether it was true or false, a trap or not, Miss Hilveld was likely to be there. She might not have told the truth, might have used them all from the beginning, but suspicion would never be the answer.

He had to see for himself that she was in that place.

Not for any other reason—

but because he was the Captain, and she was his Ship's Officer.

He wouldn't give up easily, so he nodded lightly, "I've naturally made up my mind. If you are not afraid of death, you can come with me—"

He looked at all the members of the Silver Vislan, and also at Sophie, "But I'll say one thing, once we get past that place, I will do my utmost to take you to the thirteenth layer."

"The Obelisk can only be our target."

Everyone stared at him in surprise.

The people from Silver Vislan thought they had seen their Princess, Parker and Xiangzi also seemed somewhat astonished; this Captain was somewhat different from the one they were used to seeing. Only Telaric remained as calm as ever, in the eyes of the Lizard People, all that is fated is like the stars in the sky, already foreseen by the Prophet.

The Star Sky reveals the answer, for the path of the Dragon's Chosen, must be like this.

Sophie smiled, "That's more like a Captain's spirit. Alright, the boys are all yours now, I'll wait here for your good news."

With her words, the members of Silver Vislan stood up in unison.

Fang Hong glanced at her, "You talk as if you won't be monitoring from the sidelines."

Sophie playfully winked at him, "Good luck, this is big sister's support for you."

Fang Hong found himself at a loss for words.

It was only when they headed towards the location marked on the map that they realized what the so-called path from the eleventh to the twelfth layer meant. This Black Holy City, suspended over a cliff, had its foundation layer destroyed when it sank into the ground during the Ancient Era, with one side of the city tilting downward, facing the Abyss.

They moved along that broken road, with pebbles occasionally breaking off from the buildings on either side, clattering into the deep darkness below, then vanishing without trace, as though even the echo was swallowed by the Abyss.

This tilted side crumbled in steps, and at times other Invokers could also be seen advancing from the other side, although they generally didn't concern one another.

Before long, they saw the Lonely Bridge—

The Tip of Desperation.

That was less a bridge, and more a High Tower that had toppled over as the city tilted down, crashing against an isolated rock on the other side, forming such a solitary bridge suspended in the darkness—across this bridge, on the other side, was a temple on an island unto itself.

From a distance, one could see the Pyramid and sharp Obelisk atop that temple.

Beneath that isolated rock, deeper down, were many more such islands standing tall within the Abyss, creating a unique landscape.

A cliff of islands erected upon the Bottomless Depths.

With just one glance, Fang Hong recognized what that place was—the twelfth layer of the ruins—the middle region. The entire middle region was said to be very large, but not many ventured deep into it, and the dangerous terrain was one of the factors that made people turn back.

Below was the Dead Silence Zone. Most people upon reaching the Tip of Desperation would simply take one look at the environment below and lose the will to go further.

Even the brave few couldn't fully explore the ruins below; they brought back only scraps of information.

And as for the thirteenth layer, the deepest level of the Black Holy City.

That might be off-limits to anyone other than those from Toragotos.

And the path from the eleventh to the twelfth layer—that spire suspended in the darkness, had actually split down the middle after the collision, a huge crack visible in this direction, extending to the surface of the bridge.

However, someone later secured the ends of the High Tower to the cliffs with chains, but the central part of the tower still gradually broke away, held up mid-air by a dense mesh of chains, resembling a shaky platform.

It seems that quite a few people are converging toward the direction of the 'Lonely Bridge' below.

However, due to the distance, Fang Hong couldn't make out exactly how many groups of people were down there.

"More and more people are coming this way."

Xiangzi said in a low voice after seeing this scene, "It seems that Miss Alice didn't lie to us."

"That doesn't prove anything," Parker said, indicating he didn't trust her, "She might be planning to set a huge trap and dupe everyone into it."

"What's in it for her?" Xiangzi retorted, the sophomoric youth might be sophomoric, but he wasn't dumb, "If she helps the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team trap everyone, then the Rain Listener would be next, don't forget they can't afford to fail here, unless they surpass the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team or reach the last layer, Toragotos will only shelter the Rain Listener in front of the latter."

"But you can't guarantee that woman is still loyal to the Rain Listener, can you?"

Xiangzi looked irritably at the Papalarian, "Miss Alice is not as bad as you think."

"Alright."

Fang Hong interrupted them and launched a Clockwork Fairy to check the nearby street blocks but didn't find any ambush or anomaly. He knew in his heart that if Alice was truly planning to harm them, it was highly unlikely that she would make her move so early, but the unusual quietness of the surroundings still surprised him.

Do they not worry that they might take an unusual path and suddenly turn away from this place?

But at that moment, Sophie suddenly looked up, telling them a piece of information, "There's one piece of good news and one piece of bad news, which do you want to hear first?"

The knights of Silver Weslan couldn't help but laugh and cry at her words, "Miss, now's not the time for cliffhangers."

Sophie smiled, only looking at Fang Hong.

"What's the bad news?" he asked.

"The bad news is the girl didn't lie to you, people from the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team indeed found that woman," Sophie replied, "but I don't know if it's the one you know, tall, blonde, exceptional presence, well—the informant reported that she always carries a leather suitcase, bearing the crest of a unicorn, the inscription is—"

"Informant?"

Fang Hong suddenly interrupted her. His mind was actually a bit unsettled, and he couldn't help but take a deep breath.

Sophie looked at him and said, "Not exactly an informant, just a member of an Adventure Group I previously asked Xi to contact — these people didn't ask for much, especially since it's only about passing on information."

She paused, "Hmm, the report emphasized that she's very pretty, a real beauty."

Fang Hong looked at her, amused and exasperated.

"So what's the good news?" He calmed himself down, Hilveld being there was a possibility he had already considered, it was just a mild surprise.

"The good news is, someone onsite discovered Toragotos' reward, the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team and Rain Listener are alright, but some people wanted to fish in troubled waters, causing a bit of chaos," Sophie answered.

Fang Hong felt a bit more at ease inside, the more chaotic it was down there, the more opportunities they had, which indeed could be considered good news.

However, Toragotos, that cunning old dragon, really went too far by placing the reward in such a place.

He looked up at the bridge—

"So Hilveld..." he paused, then corrected himself, "That woman, where is she?"

Sophie pointed in that direction, "Right on that bridge, stopped by the people from the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team."

"The worst-case scenario."

Fang Hong couldn't help shaking his head upon hearing this.

...

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