Chapter 1444 Ancient Tree Gangludar

Hao Ren turned back to look in the direction they had come, but the path in the dense fog had vanished. All that remained was a layer of black, mirror-like ripples in the air. This circular "mirror" jutted out from the building as if painted onto the space, spanning over a dozen meters. Its edges resembled the strokes of dry-brush painting, with many fragmented black bands floating around. He curiously reached out to touch it, but didn't feel any solid form. He peered into it, and found that the "mirror" still showed the same path on the other side. Hesperiana tossed a somewhat annoyed comment from behind: "If you want to go back, you can leave through these mirrors. Just keep walking along the path. You have the mark on you, so you'll be fine as long as you don't stray into the dense fog. The intersections between the Shadow Interlayer and the real world are guarded by an Ancient One. Just tell them, and you can freely enter and exit this place. But don't bring anyone else in—your marks only work on yourselves. Outsiders who enter the second layer of Shadow Space are doomed."

These mirror-like things were the passages connecting the Shadow Fortress to the outside world. They were scattered throughout the city, and both ends of the passages were guarded by powerful sentries. The one Hao Ren was looking at was one of the smaller ones. In the more heavily guarded areas of the city, there were also large entrances specifically for the passage of bulk goods, but those were not places that visitors could casually set foot in. Hesperiana led the group away from the platform. At the end of the platform, in front of the steps, they saw a tall, ancient tree. Hao Ren couldn't help but take a few more glances at it: This tree was different from normal trees. Its mottled and wrinkled bark was knotted together, giving the impression of an old face.

"Do I have something strange about me?" Just as Hao Ren was observing it, the ancient tree actually spoke. The wrinkles on its trunk trembled, and a pair of dark brown eyes emerged from beneath the thick bark. The creaking sound of wood rubbing together echoed from deep within the trunk. "Hmm... unfamiliar fellows, outsiders... but guided by Hesperiana, so they should be trustworthy. Do not cause trouble in the city, or you will become fertilizer."

"This is the Ancient Tree Gangludar, the guardian of this gate. He came to this city a hundred years ago," Hesperiana bowed slightly to the ancient tree before introducing him to Hao Ren. "Each passage has two gatekeepers, one in the real world and one in the Shadow Fortress. Hesperides-senpai guards the real-world side of this passage, while Gangludar guards the shadow side. Don't underestimate Gangludar's power. All the plants in this city obey his orders. Although he guards the gate here, he also monitors the streets of all other districts. Moreover, he is an Ancient One who has survived since the age of mythology. In terms of age, he is one of the most senior elders in this city."

The Ancient Tree Gangludar swayed his crown with reserve, seemingly enjoying this praise regarding age and seniority. However, after Vivian circled around him, she suddenly uttered thoughtfully, "I seem to have seen you before... Wait, I think I planted you back then! I remember now—what about the promised fruits?"

Gangludar's crown trembled, and he finally focused on Vivian. As a result, the entire tree began to shake as if it had entered vibration mode. "Mi...Mistress!"

Vivian didn't care about that. She went up and shook Gangludar's trunk. "Did you bear fruit or not? What about the promised fruits?!"

Gangludar rustled, dropping leaves and枯枝 (kūzhī, withered branches), his voice trembling. "Wa...Wait... this is a misunderstanding! I am not a fruit tree! I have said that I am not a fruit tree! I explained it to you when I first learned to speak! I am a combat-type tree man!"

Vivian released her hand in disappointment. "Tch, I know, I'm just annoyed—it took me several years to realize I had the wrong sapling..."

Hao Ren was puzzled. "What's going on?"

"I brought it from Ymir's garden," Vivian said, full of resentment. "Once I went to visit Ymir and found a fruit that tasted very good, so I went to the orchard and cut a branch to plant myself. But I got the wrong one. I took care of it painstakingly for several years before I realized it was a non-fruiting treant. The one that bears fruit is its second cousin. Tsk, I was happily being a fool under a broken tree for several years, watering and fertilizing it with great enthusiasm every day, but it couldn't even bear a single fruit."

Hesperiana stared blankly at all of this, and suddenly seemed to realize something as she revealed a look of realization towards Gangludar. "Ah, I was wondering why you always pretended to be asleep whenever I mentioned things about Vivian-sama. So that's what happened... I even worshipped you as a senior all along!"

Gangludar's crown trembled. "So what! In terms of age, I am your senior! You must pay attention to seniority, and you must not forget the glory of the past no matter how difficult the situation is. If you only live for survival, then what is the difference between me and that nest of Shadow Nightjars on the third branch of the fork on my east side!"

As Gangludar spoke, he even spread out his branches to prove that there really was a nest of birds living on the third branch of the fork on his east side, in order to enhance his persuasiveness.

Hesperiana was speechless, and could only nod and laugh drily. But Vivian looked at this ancient tree with some emotion. "Forget it, live well... live a little longer. The Norse lineage was slaughtered, leaving only you, a tree, to remember what they looked like."

Gangludar was silent for a moment, and lowered all of his branches slightly. "Yes, Mistress."

The group bid farewell to this ancient guardian who was already several thousand years old, and walked forward with Hesperiana in this strange city under the shadows. They passed through medieval-style stone-paved streets, and past mottled, old, dimly lit, and gloomy ancient houses. Along the way, they occasionally brushed shoulders with pedestrians who looked no different from ordinary people, but were actually aliens. The majority of the residents in this city were bloodkin, and about one-third were humanoid creatures called Shadowfiends. The rest were mostly insignificant miscellaneous races. There were also a small number of werewolves in the city. Their situation here was somewhat awkward. After all, the leaders of the city were their nemesis race. But due to the current situation, this small group of werewolves still maintained relative peace with the bloodkin in the city.

The so-called peace was that they tried hard to pretend that the other party didn't exist. Naturally, they wouldn't fight if they didn't meet each other.

Hao Ren noticed that although this shadow city was quite large, the actual number of residents was probably pitifully small. Even after walking to the end of the huge main road, they only encountered less than ten people. Most of the huge and solemn ancient houses were gloomy and deserted like haunted houses, and the real residents probably occupied less than one-tenth of the rooms. He originally thought that he would see a lively and bustling scene in the alien sanctuary, and that he could see throngs of vampires or little demons at any time on the road, but in reality... it was as desolate as a ghost town. One could only say that there were still people living here, but it definitely couldn't be called popular.

"There are actually only tens of thousands of residents in the city. Think about it, a city as big as real Athens, but with only tens of thousands of residents," Hesperiana introduced the current situation of the city. "And even among these tens of thousands of people, there are many who don't show their faces at all. Too many people are disappointed with the current situation, so they simply go back to sleep and only wake up once every few hundred years to see the situation outside. If they find that the situation has not improved, they go back to sleep. Some guys have even slept for two thousand years... longer than I have stayed in this city."

"Didn't you live here as soon as the city was built?" Nangong Wuyue asked curiously.

"No," Hesperiana shook her head. "I was sent here by Vivian-sama one thousand eight hundred... or maybe one thousand seven hundred years ago. At that time, the city was still sealed off, but with Vivian-sama's guarantee, Hesperides made an exception and took me in. At that time, I was all alone. It was later that I formed my own family."

Vivian nodded. "Well, she was too annoying, so I had to throw her here. And to be honest, the situation was difficult at the time, and I had trouble even supporting myself. It's better to send her to a safer place—at that time, she was still a little girl who didn't understand anything. It was too dangerous for her to run around with me outside."

Lily was a straightforward girl. "But you have trouble supporting yourself even when the situation isn't difficult!"

Hao Ren quickly pulled this husky behind him. "This girl is really... telling the truth recklessly!"

Finally, the group arrived at a new district in the depths of the city that looked more orderly and well-planned. Hesperiana's mood obviously improved after arriving here. She pointed to the largest spire-roofed Western-style house in front of her. "Here we are! This is where I live. All the houses around with the same crest are the territory of the Hesperiana family—welcome to my home~~"

This was a large house with a black roof, gray walls, elaborate decorations, and an exterior that looked full of vampire-style gloom. Although the style was depressing, the details were gorgeous. Hao Ren saw at a glance what the crest Hesperiana was talking about was: The most conspicuous place on the outer wall of the house was hung with a huge family crest. On the fabric, which was seven or eight meters long, was a super-sized headshot of Vivian—not the short-haired, childlike, shrunken version of Hesperiana, but the long-haired image exactly like Vivian. The degree of restoration was at least 99.9%. This headshot was the so-called family crest. Vivian covered her face and turned her head away when she saw this scene. "That's why I don't want to come to this place... she's too annoying."

(Happy New Year to everyone! Also, take advantage of the festival to give a few monthly tickets, taking advantage of the double now. And continue to ask for annual work tickets by conditioned reflex, but it seems that the free ticket mechanism has been changed, so if there are no free tickets, forget it, we don’t promote spending money to swipe tickets.)