Fang Hong exhaled lightly. "What do you think about the travel plans afterward?" he asked Hilveld.

"That depends on the Captain's opinion," Hilveld looked at him. She put down her wine glass, interlocking her fingers. "We generally still have to go through the Great Canyon. It's an ancient road that existed before the trade route to the east of the Kudi Mountain Range was established. The Great Canyon passes through the mountainous area to the south, and there's an abandoned ancient castle in the mountains, just south of here—"

"What's said about that ancient castle?"

"It once belonged to a noble family, but its ownership is unclear now. I couldn't even trace its noble lineage. Now it's haunted by ghostly creatures, and there are also some legends about 'strange shadows'—the Captain should know that the area around Tibial Creek has always had a lot of undead creatures, so it's particularly dangerous there. Adventurers with average strength typically avoid that direction."

"Strange shadow?"

"Yes," Hilveld nodded, she had inquired quite thoroughly before. "A few people in the forest have witnessed such a monster, describing it as a long, narrow ghostly shadow cast on rocks or snow—it only appears in winter, bringing an icy chill, moving swiftly and silently. Everyone who has seen it has come back alive."

Fang Hong was a bit curious: "Without exception?"

Miss Ship's Officer took another sip of her wine. "Yes, but that doesn't mean they must be very powerful. In your words, in our world, monsters are distributed regularly, so these things shouldn't exceed the danger level of this area. Unless they are all 'BOSSes'."

Fang Hong took a breath, somewhat surprised she could utter such 'game-like' language. But evidently, Miss Ship's Officer was quite open-minded and skilled at accepting this 'Earthlings' knowledge.

"After all, I once considered seeking political asylum at 'Stargate Port'." She tilted her head slightly, looking somewhat cute as she faced Fang Hong's surprised gaze.

"Really?" Gita, holding her cup with a white milk streak on her mouth, asked with some curiosity.

Hilveld shook her head. "In the end, I couldn't make it, actually they are all politicians, no different. I'm worried I don't have enough leverage, and honestly, I still have some doubts about them in my heart."

"But why did you choose us then?"

"Isn't it because your Captain, easy to fool," Fang Hong replied irritably.

Hilveld couldn't help but cover her mouth with a smile.

She steered the topic back to the main point. "Putting aside whether the legend of the 'strange shadow' is true, for those who have witnessed it to not be alive, I think there are only two reasons."

"One is they are strong enough to kill all the witnesses, but that's unlikely. I've heard there are some capable teams nearby. The second is that these 'strange shadows' are quite intelligent, striking with certainty, indicating that they are adept at choosing targets."

"I've checked several recent attack records and found a common pattern. They rarely attack large groups and always strike in ambush."

"How does Miss Hilveld know these?" Gita asked curiously; even she hadn't heard about these 'strange shadows'."

"When I was at the Adventurers' Guild, I casually looked through the mission records from previous years. This is just a small place, so the guild's records aren't too many, and it doesn't take much time to get a lot of useful information."

"Miss Hilveld is really meticulous," Gita sincerely praised.

Hilveld smiled, "Miss Tata helped me quite a lot too, I couldn't have read it all so quickly on my own."

Miss Fairy, upon hearing herself being mentioned, lifted her head from her focused reading and glanced at the others.

Fang Hong 'crack' opened a shell of dried fruits in his hand.

Not far away, a few Dwarves left to settle the bill after their dispute, donning cloaks, and one by one stepped into the cold wind outside. Fang Hong put down his small knife. He had already noticed Hilveld delving into the guild's past mission records at the Adventurers' Guild, it turns out it was to check into this kind of information.

But whether these 'strange shadows' are of the first or second type, they're all quite troublesome. Though they came to improve themselves, it doesn't mean looking for trouble. People familiar with 'games' should understand that 'leveling up' by slaying simple and rewarding monsters is the most cost-effective.

Even though Eteliria is a high-dimensional information world, the Invoker's philosophy isn't much different.

He asked, "We aren't confined to just this one road to Dulun, are we?"

Regardless of whether the legends of the 'strange shadow' are true or not, Fang Hong at least knew that in places filled with dark magic power, especially in such an ancient castle, it is most likely a vampire's den. He hadn't forgotten about the vampire on the ship along the way that they had a close combat with in the lower decks and only subdued after a good struggle.

But in the end, it still managed to escape.

Vampires are one of the rare and difficult high-level undeads, let alone adding a mysterious 'strange shadow' to the mix.

"At least it can get you to the Ash Woods," a voice said from behind them.

This mature, hoarse voice should belong to a lady, but it sounded weathered by time: "Other roads will circumvent that barren valley, no one would want to go to that place."

Fang Hong turned around and saw that the Big Catfolk had returned.

And standing beside Reed was a lady, about forty years of age, tall in stature, wearing a thick coat, with long black hair draped behind her. She wasn't particularly beautiful, with high cheekbones, but her expression was very tough, like someone who traveled extensively, with sun-tanned skin that had visible layers of tan marks.

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