Vanna had been traveling this road for a very, very long time—so long that she couldn't even remember when or why she had embarked on this seemingly endless journey, so long that she had forgotten where she started and what her destination was.

All she knew was that the world was barren, and all she saw on the road seemed to be yellow sand filling the sky, and lost cities collapsing and decaying on the Gobi Desert, and ancient relics buried by sand. She passed through those ruins filled with a desolate atmosphere, as if traveling back in time that had been forgotten. Occasionally, she would stop in those ruins for a while, but soon she would leave them behind—when the sun rose the next day, she would forget the specific appearance of those ruins, only vaguely remembering that she had passed them and seen some broken and collapsed walls.

The wind blew from afar, howling and sweeping across the desert. The yellow sand danced, blowing out sharp and terrifying sounds like the wails of ghosts and monsters between the huge rocks. And in that sharp howling sound, Vanna heard another sound, a sound that she always heard on this journey:

"Ding... ding... ding..."

It sounded like metal hitting stone, or the activity in a blacksmith's shop.

Vanna stopped in the middle of the sandy road, squinting her eyes and looking into the distance. She knew that whenever this "ding ding ding" sound rang, it meant that there were new ruins or relics nearby.

But she didn't know exactly why this was, or where the sound came from.

A vague silhouette of buildings abruptly appeared against the background of yellow sand, just like the countless scenes she had seen during this journey.

Vanna looked at the abruptly appearing group of buildings for a while, and after a brief daze, she started walking towards it, walking forward into the increasingly chaotic and disorderly wind and sand.

And a young woman's voice suddenly appeared beside her at this moment: "Where are you from?"

Vanna looked around in surprise, but could only see yellow sand dancing. The direction the voice came from was empty, as if it were just an illusion.

She frowned, feeling that the wind and sand seemed to have even blown into her brain, making her thinking even more unclear. She shook her head and decided to continue on.

The voice sounded again from beside her: "Why aren't you talking to me?"

Along with the voice, she seemed to faintly hear the sound of another person walking in the desert—very close to her.

Vanna suddenly stopped again, staring at the spot beside her. She still couldn't see the person speaking, but she seemed to vaguely feel the "atmosphere" of someone being there.

An invisible traveler was walking with her, trying to talk to her.

Was this normal? Did this phenomenon exist in this world? Was there really an unobservable race living in this world?

Vanna felt dazed again, and bizarre and absurd associations popped up in her mind, but soon these messy thoughts faded from her heart. She hesitated for a moment, and hesitantly opened her mouth: "...I don't remember where I came from."

"Forgot where you came from?" The invisible companion did speak again, her tone sounding a bit raised. "Ah, that's not good. If you forget where you came from, it will be difficult to go back... But it doesn't matter, there are many people like you here anyway."

"Here? Not uncommon?" Vanna raised her head in surprise. "Are there other people here?"

"Yes, many," the voice said cheerfully. From the tone and content of her words, "she" seemed to be pointing in a certain direction. "They're all over there, in that city."

Vanna couldn't see the invisible companion's actions, but she instinctively looked up at the silhouette of buildings vaguely emerging in the wind and sand, and said with curiosity in her tone: "In that city..."

"Yes, in that city," the cheerful voice continued. "Everyone is, coming here from all directions. Some still vaguely remember where they came from, and some have even forgotten their names, but that's not important. The journey is like that, from one very far place to another very far place. Sometimes you stop for a while in the middle, and sometimes you stop and can't move anymore—when you can't move, wherever you stop is the end... Well, that's what my brother told me."

Vanna frowned. After a brief hesitation, she started walking towards the hazy group of buildings again. She heard another footstep almost immediately beside her, and a faint presence followed behind her.

"Your brother?" Vanna asked casually. "You have a brother?"

Talking to an invisible companion felt very strange, but for some reason, she gradually felt that it was a matter of course—in any case, it wasn't a bad thing to have someone to talk to on this long journey.

"Yes, I have a brother. He's six years older than me," the cheerful voice said immediately. "But I haven't seen him for many years. He went to Vessellan to study, and I haven't heard from him since."

Vanna frowned slightly, feeling that she seemed to have heard a familiar word... Vessellan? What was Vessellan? A city?

"Are you worried about him?" she asked subconsciously.

"Not worried," the voice beside her replied. "Many of us haven't received any news from the outside for a long time, and we haven't sent any news out either. There's nothing wrong with that..."

The voice in the wind suddenly became a little distorted, as if the distance had suddenly increased, and then there was a mess of noise. Vanna didn't hear clearly what the last few words were, and then silence fell beside her.

She stood there for a few seconds, and never heard the invisible companion speak again. She hesitated and looked around, breaking the silence: "Are you still there?"

Only the sharp and strange howling sound in the desert and the occasional "ding ding ding" tapping sound responded to her.

The companion seemed to have disappeared into the wind.

After a while, Vanna shook her head and continued walking towards the distant city.

She trudged for a long time, and finally finished this particularly torturous journey before the sky darkened again. She saw the "city" that the companion had mentioned. As expected—there were no prosperous cities or residents here. All that met her eyes were the broken walls in the yellow sand, buildings that had been abandoned for who knew how many years.

Vanna found a gap in the broken city wall that looked like the remains of a gate. She confirmed the situation in the city ruins through the gap, and then stepped into the "city."

However, just as she was about to pass through the "gate," a serious and imposing voice suddenly came from the air: "Stop, stranger—where are you from?"

Vanna was immediately stunned.

There was an invisible guard... guarding the gate here?

She had dealt with cultists in the sewers and solved monsters growing in the darkness, but she had never dealt with this situation.

She stopped, looking somewhat at a loss in the direction of nothingness. After thinking for a moment, she decided to communicate with the other party in a "normal" way: "I'm... traveling, but I can't remember where I came from."

She remembered that the invisible companion had told her that there were many "residents" in this "city" who had forgotten where they came from, just like her. So surely her answer wouldn't seem too suspicious here, right?

The "guard" didn't speak, seemingly judging something, or perhaps he had disappeared into the wind and sand in that instant. Vanna waited patiently for a while, and just as she was about to give up waiting and walk in directly, a familiar and cheerful voice suddenly came from the side—

"Ah, you're here!"

It was the "invisible companion" who had disappeared suddenly before.

"I thought you were lost," the voice said happily to Vanna. "There are quite a few forks in the road along the way, especially those paths in the woods. If you're attracted by the berry bushes by the roadside and go into the small paths, it might take you a whole day to get out..."

Woods? Small paths? Berry bushes by the roadside?

Listening to the rambling voice beside her, Vanna looked up in astonishment at the road she had come from—of course, there was nothing there, except for sand and stones. Where did the woods and berry bushes come from?

And just as she was stunned, the guard's voice appeared again. He was talking to the "invisible companion": "Is this your friend?"

"Yes, we met on the road," the young woman's voice said immediately. "She's come from a very far place, and she's new here. I'm taking her into the city to look around."

"...Then go in, but don't run around. It's getting dark, and the woods outside the city aren't very peaceful."

"Okay! Thank you!"

The cheerful voice thanked the guard, and then turned to Vanna: "We can go in now."

Vanna immediately turned her gaze away from the desert outside the city and nodded in the direction of the voice: "Okay."

She walked into this "prosperous city," walking on a wide and desolate avenue that was directly opposite the city gate—yellow sand buried the ruins on both sides of the road, and broken stone slabs were scattered disorderly on the ground. Occasionally, she would hear some vague sounds, which seemed to be merchants hawking, people talking, and the sound of wheels rolling over the road, but those vague sounds would almost immediately melt into the wind, not even having time to hear anything clearly.

"How is it? This place is very prosperous, right?" the young and lively voice said beside Vanna, as if pointing to the shops on the roadside and the bustling traffic on the road. "I've lived here for many years. This city is the most prosperous place on the entire continent!"

...Continent? What was that again?

Vanna felt a trance, as if some kind of knowledge that didn't belong to "common sense" suddenly broke into her cognition, trying to drill into her brain.

But the next second, her firm will dispelled this trance.

The knowledge didn't get in.

(End of this chapter)