In the darkness, ti seed to stretch endlessly.
Suddenly, Bi Bi regained consciousness and awakened from the chaos.
She opened her eyes and found herself imrsed in impenetrable darkness. Her limbs felt heavy, as if sothing was pressing down on her, rendering her immobile.
Her face felt damp, as if covered by wet sand. A "rustling" noise reached her ears, like small insects moving nearby, and her nose detected the earthy scent mingled with grass, fresh yet slightly pungent.
What happened?
Bi Bi’s mind was filled with questions: What had happened to her? Where was she now?
Wondering about it, she gathered all her strength and pushed away the heavy covering on her body, sitting up. Only then did she realize she was in a pit outside of Gray Wood Town, surrounded by freshly dug earth and shovel marks, clearly indicating she had just been buried.
Buried?
What... exactly happened?
Bi Bi looked around, her confusion deepening as she glanced at the setting sun in the west, frowning as she tried to recall past events.
After pondering for a long ti, she couldn’t rember anything, except that she had co here on a mission, guided by the dove in pursuit of her target, entering the town, and then...
Then... it was blank, completely forgotten.
Could it be that she encountered her target within the town? Did the target then attack her and bury her here?
Hmm, it’s possible, quite possible.
Bi Bi nodded slightly, agreeing with her own speculation, feeling it made logical sense.
Now the question was, what should she do next?
As she contemplated, the sound of "flap flap" wings caught her attention, and she looked up to see a white dove descending from the sky.
She reached out a hand to catch the dove, listening as it cooed continuously.
After a while, Bi Bi waved her hand to release the dove, contemplating, "The target stayed in the town for so ti and then headed north? Hmm, it seems they buried and got scared, so they ran away. In that case, I definitely can’t let them go, I must catch them and bury them once as well!"
With that, Bi Bi stood up from the pit, shook off the dirt and sand, and began striding northward, ready to pursue.
After a few ters, she slowed her pace slightly, as if rembering sothing, and muttered to herself, "Right... Wasn’t soone advising before to avoid too much contact with the target, to be careful? In that case, rushing to pursue like this, could it be dangerous?"
"Was there such advice? Wasn’t there?"
Bi Bi found herself in a state of ntal chaos, feeling unsure of what had previously happened to leave her dazed and her mories blurry.
After a few seconds of confusion, Bi Bi clenched her fist and knocked on her head firmly, clearing her mind slightly. She frowned, "There shouldn’t be such advice, right? After all, if they want to find the target, how could I not contact them?"
"Hmm, there definitely wasn’t such a warning; I must have rembered wrong." Bi Bi confird, nodding to self-encourage, "I need to hurry and catch up with the target as soon as possible."
With that, her gaze set, full of determination, she strode towards the north.
The sunset cast its glow, stretching her shadow longer and longer...
...
Under the sa sunset.
Richard and the long-haired woman Moli, along with their group, moved onward until they reached a river over ten ters wide.
Leading the way at the front, Moli stopped and said, "This is it."
"This is it?" Richard blinked, slightly surprised. He had to admit, this wasn’t the site he had anticipated as the most likely Ancient Relics’ location. He asked, "Where’s the entrance, how do we get in?"
"You’ll know right away," Moli said, turning her head slightly and calling out, "’Ice Cube’!"
"Yes, captain." The shivering "Ice Cube" responded and stepped toward the river with understanding.
He crossed the pebble-covered riverbank, stepping on the soft, brown river mud, stopping just a few centiters from the water.
Slowly bending his body, his hands moved close to the water’s surface, muttering a blurred spell in his mouth. His whole body jerked, and a mass of intense cold erupted from his palms, colliding with the "gurgling" river water.
The icy cold burst out like a thick coiled giant python, striking the river’s surface, causing intense waves to ripple and then part to both sides, freezing swiftly.
"Click click click..."
The sound of freezing cold echoed, and a crack over a ter wide appeared in the river’s channel.
On either side of the crack were ice blocks turned white from the cold, while the interior of the crack was empty, except for a hint of sothing on the riverbed’s center—looking closely, it was a heavy black slab, a ter square, draped with a few strands of waterweed whose edges were frosted like sugar.
"Ha ha ha..."
Having just cast the spell, "Ice Cube" trembled more fiercely, his teeth chattering like cotton fever strikes, shivering as he approached the black slab, lifting it to reveal a well-sealed passage.
Turning his head, he looked at Moli and said, "C-captain, d-done."
"Yes, I know." Moli nodded, then turned her head toward Richard, raising her hand in a motion to proceed, saying, "Please!"
"Alright." Richard didn’t hesitate, stepping toward the passage. As he neared, he stepped onto the stairs, entering the interior.
Moli and the others followed him closely, entering the passage one after another.
"Ice Cube" was the last one, gesturing at the icy sides, swiftly darting into the passage, restoring the slab to seal it off.
Soon, the frozen river water lted quickly, returning to its original flow, covering and concealing the secret entrance.
...
"Tap tap tap..."
Within the passage, Richard and the long-haired woman walked down the stairs, moving continually onward and downward. They continued for over ten minutes until finally reaching the passage’s end.
Stepping out of the passage, Richard felt an expanse opening up, aided by the spell "Dark Vision" to survey his surroundings, realizing he was within an enormous underground space hundreds of ters deep.
Right in front of him stood a greenish stone wall, nearly endless in its reach, standing like a barrier dividing two worlds.
Midway across the wall, dense magic runes were etched into the surface, arranged in a particular pattern, resembling a bizarre human face. At the two points where the runes converged were the eyes of the strange face, clearly indented with a small hole each.
Scanning it, Richard imdiately understood: clearly, this was where the two seals needed to be inserted—the "keyholes." It seed the text at the bottom of the Blue Seal was indeed correct; both seals were indispensable.
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