Chapter 506: The City of No One

In the Godforsaken Land, Leike Dun crossed that eerie forest, then walked forward about two kilometers and encountered a city that had collapsed by more than three‑quarters, nearly three‑quarters of it in ruins.

The city was vast, comparable to Three‑Afternoon Town, and unlike the haphazard structures of that town, its buildings were orderly and their sizes closer to those of ordinary human dwellings.

The houses here were predominantly red; each had a slanted spire and dark‑red tiles, and irregularly spaced clock‑tower‑like structures bore huge cross and sun motifs, inlaid with dim crystals. The building materials varied: some stone slabs blackened with soot, some rusted metal, and some bricks fired from earth. "It seems the locals have developed a fairly decent industry? I hope there are clues I need."

Muttering softly to himself, Leike Dun strode into the city; the streets paved with stone slabs and baked bricks were riddled with pits and hollows, as if they had endured multiple battle‑baptisms.

Almost none of the houses lining the street were intact; doors and windows were largely broken, walls peppered with holes of various sizes, though some repair marks were visible.

Although the stone‑built houses around the Giant King's Court were somewhat crude, they indeed withstood the test of time better.

Leike Dun sighed as he paced the street.

A deep‑blue radiance slowly flowed in his eyes, tracing one mysterious, strange symbol after another within his pupils.

In this state, he could see markedly more, no longer hindered by darkness.

After surveying his surroundings for a moment, he noticed numerous pipelines made of gray‑white stone and long‑rusted metal linking the houses, binding the entire city into a single whole.

Following the traces of these pipelines, Leike Dun arrived at the city's center, a massive structure resembling both a temple and a palace.

Dozens of gray‑white stone columns, each so massive that two people had to clasp them together to encircle, upheld a lofty dome; the hall's floor plan and ceiling décor emphasized flowing curves, the walls were highly reliefed and richly, even extravagantly, ornamented. The floor was roughly olive‑shaped, surrounded by irregular small prayer rooms and scattered residential courtyards.

The building's materials seemed unusual; after a long baptism of time, only minor collapses occurred, and most of it remained intact.

Through Leike Dun's secret‑gazing eye, the entire massive structure radiated bright spiritual light, interweaving brilliant gold, deep red, and pale blue, like night stars studded with suns and a red moon.

The palace itself was a wondrous artifact, merging so many disparate traits while maintaining a delicate balance, indicating that its builders were extraordinary individuals of considerable rank, though coincidence could not be ruled out.

Murmuring two words to himself, Leike Dun drew a pale‑yellow paper figure from his coat and flicked it twice in mid‑air.

The paper figure slipped free instantly, twisting and expanding in the air, scattering specks of brilliant starlight, and quickly formed a silhouette identical to Leike Dun.

Its eyes glittered with pure light, exuding an unusually holy, wise aura, yet appeared rather cold and emotionless.

Leike Dun then raised his hand, feigning a grasp in mid‑air before pulling; a heavy veil of shadow instantly formed, completely covering his figure, which vanished into the tranquil darkness.

The paper figure's eye light flickered once, then, like a robot receiving a command, it moved stiffly toward the hall ahead.

Upon entering, a spacious prayer hall stretched before him, and directly ahead stood an unusually grotesque, inverted statue.

A tall, majestic yet horribly grotesque figure was bound to a massive inverted cross planted in the ground; behind it hovered a black disc like a sun shedding light, etched with numerous strange symbols and mysterious patterns, appearing exceptionally sinister and twisted.

Below the statue stood a row of neatly placed dolls clad in clerical robes, their exposed limbs of wood or metal, kneeling devoutly on the floor and praying toward the aberrant statue.

The prayer hall was silent and dark, with no wall lamps or candle holders on either side, as if illumination were unnecessary; on the altar ahead, the candles had long since burned out, leaving only faint remnants of melted wax.

Yet the floor and walls were oddly spotless, as if cleaned daily.

The paper figure, now mimicking Leike Dun, stiffly paced the prayer hall twice; it did not touch the altar's statue or the seemingly devout dolls, merely glanced from a few meters away before turning toward the area behind the hall.

Behind the prayer hall lay a long corridor, with three tightly shut wooden doors on each side; the paper‑Leike Dun made no attempt to push them, moving stiffly and slowly toward the opposite end.

At the corridor's end was a relatively spacious garden, featuring artificial hills, waterless canals and lakes, surrounded by fake flowers and trees made of colored paper, wooden sticks, and thin metal sheets; they were impeccably preserved, showing no decay, ruin, or even dust.

Within the garden, roads of broken stone slabs branched in all directions, and at the intersections stood signs written in Giant language: "Courtyard No. 1, Courtyard No. 3, Cultivation Room, Doll Workshop."

The paper‑Leike Dun read the sign word by word, his voice hoarse like an aging machine, as if about to fall apart. Then, as if suffering a bad signal, he paused, lingered for a while, and finally resumed his stiff steps toward "Courtyard No. 1."

After only two steps, he suddenly collided with a doll dressed as a gardener, wielding large scissors, yet clearly a scavenger.

Its construction was crude, cobbled together from scant materials; its face was a massive bird skull adorned with strange patterns, its arms assembled haphazardly from wood, iron pieces, and nails, and beneath a gray coarse‑cloth tunic were three appendages resembling both claws and legs.

The paper‑Leike Dun locked eyes with the doll brandishing the huge pruning scissors, then slowly, stiffly turned to avoid it.

The gigantic scissors the gardener doll held suddenly swung wide, landing on the paper‑Leike Dun's neck.

Snap!

Bang! The sound of the scissors closing rang out; the paper‑Leike Dun's head detached from its body, then thinned and brittle in mid‑air, turning into a paper figure sliced horizontally.

Having completed the act, the gardener doll resumed its previous motionless pose, standing quietly amid the garden of entirely artificial flowers and trees.

In the darkness outside the hall, within a concealed space, Leike Dun held a transparent crystal sphere in his left hand, emitting a faint starlight that illuminated the surroundings.

"Once inside that building, my paper figure falls into a strange negative state, like a decayed, antiquated machine; even if that doll doesn't destroy it, within minutes it will disintegrate into fragments on its own."

"If only we had a historical echo image of the Ancient Scholar, or a Parasite's avatar, the paper figure could carry only limited spells and serve merely as a simple probe."

"Unfortunately, Kelaine has just been promoted to Secret Doll Master, still far from the Ancient Scholar."

He sighed, lifted the concealment around the area, and gazed up at the magnificent hall ahead; his eyes flickered briefly, becoming profoundly deep, clearly losing focus, a blank stare.

This state lasted about half a minute before his eyes cleared again.

There is danger, but its level keeps shifting? He frowned briefly, abandoned the plan to explore the hall now, intending to have Kelaine lead after the next Tarot gathering, standing above the gray mist.

Having made up his mind, he turned eastward through the city; perhaps because that side used more stone, its houses were better preserved.

Walking the silent street, Leike Dun encountered no monster attacks hidden in the darkness; the place was unusually safe for a Godforsaken Land.

Suddenly, dense gray mist surged in his view; deep red light rose from it, eventually forming a vague silhouette of a woman praying beside a desk, while the voice of Magician Fo Si echoed in his ears:

"Esteemed Mr. Fool, I wish to seek assistance from Mr. White Tower; I need him to record some demigod‑level spells in Leimanno's Travel Journal, which concerns our plan to assassinate Mr. X of the Aurora Society tomorrow; I will pay an equivalent reward."

Leike Dun tilted his head slightly, gazing at the figure seated above the gray mist, and nodded lightly, saying:

"Fine, let her sacrifice that Leimanno's Travel Journal to the gray mist; I will inscribe suitable demigod‑level extraordinary abilities on it."

"Hmm, record on the gray mist."

"Agreed." From deep within the dense gray mist, a leisurely low voice resonated beside Leike Dun.

Then the gray mist before him swiftly receded, and his view returned to darkness illuminated by faint starlight.

"The feud between Mr. X and the Abraham family must not expose my existence; otherwise the Aurora Society will be hard to account for."

Murmuring two words softly, Leike Dun continued walking the pothole‑riddled street for about a quarter of an hour, until a relatively intact house appeared ahead.

Leike Dun stood on the street, looked up for a moment, and a deep‑blue‑purple radiance flowed in his eyes, encompassing all surrounding discord and anomalies.

(End of Chapter)