Chapter 2232

The wall, capable of resisting sunlight, wind, sand, and time, turned into soft mud in Xia De's hands.

He reached his hand into the mud and soon retrieved a scroll of parchment. Because it had been completely sealed inside the wall, isolated from the air, the parchment was preserved quite well, though the ink had faded somewhat upon contact with the air, the content remained legible.

Xia De chose to turn it into a toy as well. As for his hands stained with dirty mud... water was precious, so he wiped them against the wall and then bent down to wash them in the sand, which served to clean them somewhat.

The light-brown skin shone in the sunlight, highlighting the health and fitness of the figure. Miss Mester continued to lead the way, and soon, beneath an overturned stone fountain outside the ruins, Xia De found a buried chest.

Because the metal chest was rusted, its surface was so rough that touching it with his hands caused pain. The chest itself had no value, and the lock had long since been destroyed by time, but the parchment inside could probably only serve as fuel.

However, at the bottom of the chest, wrapped in a piece of red rag, was something Xia De discovered upon opening it: a piece of black metal.

It was roughly the shape of a third of a round cake, with some rough carvings on its surface. This piece of metal itself was not ordinary, as the cold metal was the only item discovered in the ruins so far that could not be turned into a toy by 【Toy Manufacturing】.

"Let's go back; there is nothing else interesting here."

After Xia De turned the chest, which was likely useless, into a toy and put it away, the lady standing behind him spoke.

Xia De did not ask to wander around any further; in reality, he was already feeling a bit dizzy from the heat. Even if the sun's blessing was useful, it was by no means enough to make Xia De completely immune to the environmental damage of this sand sea.

He now longed for the cool shade of the temple and wanted even more to find a place to sit down and rest.

"Do you need water?"

He asked the lady with light-brown skin before taking out the supplies handed to him by Miss Knight. After she shook her head in refusal, he drank the liquid in the entire water bottle in large gulps:

"Let's go back. I never knew I hated summer this much."

Empty-handed they came, and empty-handed they left. The ruins gradually receded behind them. Even after drinking water, Xia De didn't take many steps before he could only follow the lady with light-brown skin while panting heavily.

The spatial confusion of this desert was indeed severe. Although it wasn't total disorientation, even for him, he couldn't determine where they had come from at the first moment.

Even though the ten minutes it took to arrive felt short, walking the same path back after his physical state had declined made the time feel exceptionally long.

The goddess walked barefoot in front. The golden sand surface, rising with heat, made Xia De, who was still trailing half a step behind, feel as if he could even smell the scent of those bare feet being steamed by the heat... He repented of such thoughts in his heart, but the heat from which there was nowhere to hide indeed made his brain not very obedient.

However, most of those inappropriate, romantic thoughts soon vanished. Xia De, who had drunk another bottle of water, only wanted to return to the temple as quickly as possible, lie down on a chair or the ground, and do nothing quietly.

Of course, if he could return directly home, sit at the dining table with Miss Galina, Luvia, and Princess Lei Qianya for breakfast, and then pet Little Mia, that would be even better.

"You seem to be letting your imagination run wild."

The voice of the goddess came to his ears. Xia De let out an "Hmm~" while panting, looking down at the sweat beads sliding down his cheeks, which evaporated before they could hit the sand:

"Yes, but I dare swear that some of the things I just thought about were absolutely not things I imagined of my own volition."

The lady with light-brown skin seemed to smile:

"I must remind you that this is a very dangerous behavior. Whether in the desert or in the fog, once you start letting your imagination run wild while your physical and mental states are declining, the possibility of walking out of the desert or leaving the fog becomes much lower."

As she spoke, she turned her head, observing Xia De's current state with great interest:

"If you need to, you can ask me for help."

"Thank you for your kindness, but it is not necessary for now."

Xia De shook his head:

"Although the sun is scorching and the light is melting my skin, I... I can feel that my body is absorbing the power of the sun and the light. This might be an illusion caused by heatstroke and my body temperature rising too fast, but if I persist a little longer, it should be fine. If one thinks of retreating at the first sign of difficulty, the road ahead will only become harder."

The lady with light-brown skin continued to smile:

"When I first saw you, I knew you were quite to my liking. Then continue to persist. If you do not ask me for any help—asking questions doesn't count—before you help them find the Heart of the Oasis, then in the end, I will give you a gift."

"Thank you... Am I having hallucinations because of heatstroke? Why do I see Grandmother Sinuode appearing on the sand dune ahead?"

Xia De was, of course, not hallucinating. It was indeed the old elf from the Moon Creek Clan who had come to meet them.

The bright sun made it impossible for anyone to keep their eyes open, but this 13th-tier witch, who had lived through a long life, also saw them at the same time.

Grandmother Sinuode did not waste her energy walking over to meet them; instead, she waved her arm, and after confirming that Xia De had also seen her, she waited in place for the two to walk over.

Soon the three converged. The goddess in her saintly form transformed back into "Miss Mester." Of course, her appearance and temperament didn't actually change; it was just that Xia De told himself in his heart that there was no goddess here now.

Because Grandmother Sinuode had the protection of that 【Leaf of Eternal Youth】, her state looked acceptable. Upon seeing Xia De, she even helped him up. Perhaps it was the influence of the goddess's power, but she had no doubts at all as to why Miss Mester looked completely fine, while Xia De looked like he was struggling to catch his breath:

"Child, take my hand."

She said to Xia De. After grabbing Xia De's hand, some cool green energy seeped into Xia De's arm. Although Xia De didn't feel any cooler, the feeling of heatstroke was alleviated quite a bit:

"Thank you, I think I really need to rest."

He thanked her softly:

"Grandmother, how far is the temple from here?"

"Very close. I feel I haven't been out for too long. Let's go back quickly. Persist a little longer, child; the temple is just ahead."

This old elf, whose face was already covered in wrinkles, was truly very worried about Xia De. As she prepared to lead the way, she even offered her cane to him.

When he first arrived at the temple, Xia De knew that the cane was a relic, and its danger level was definitely not low. But feeling that he could still persist for a while, he let Grandmother Sinuode lean on her cane herself:

"Once I get home, I must first lie on the floor and let my whole body cool down. It's a pity that No. 6 St. Deran Square has wooden floors, not the tile floors of my hometown; otherwise, pressing against them would be even cooler."

He had a very simple wish in his heart, and "She" laughed softly in Xia De's ear.

The two-person team became three, and the sun overhead remained just as hot. In fact, since arriving in this desert, Xia De hadn't carefully observed what the thing emitting heat in the sky actually was, because the sunlight was simply too blinding.

And as he followed Grandmother Sinuode and Miss Mester back to the temple, when this sudden thought appeared, he squinted his eyes and tried to raise his head to look at the sky:

"Oh~"

He groaned and immediately covered his eyes. Tears flowed from his eyes in sharp pain, but what he saw was just a glowing thing similar to a sun.

"Silly child, how dare you look at the sun?"

Xia De heard the old elf's helpless voice while covering his eyes. Soon after, he felt himself being supported, and the person supporting him was clearly not Grandmother Sinuode, who was walking in front:

"Let Miss Mester support you first. Rest assured, this is not permanent blindness; you will be able to see clearly again in a while."

"Grandmother, I will support Mr. Hamilton."

The lady beside Xia De said. Xia De, feeling his whole body stiffen, had no choice but to continue forward, eyes closed, supported by Miss Mester.

The brief blindness ended quickly, and after Xia De thanked her politely, he moved slightly away from the lady with light-brown skin. No matter how much she looked like a human, she was a genuine goddess. The Outsider hadn't been in this world for a short time and knew what a god meant to a human.

While his mind was wandering, Grandmother Sinuode suddenly stopped. Xia De thought she had seen the temple, but looking forward, he saw dozens of white bones lying on the bright, sun-drenched sand.

"What's going on? Were these things here on the way over just now?"

There was no need to worry about the undead rising under such intense sunlight. The three walked quickly to check the situation. Xia De could tell almost at a glance that these white bones belonged to elves; he knew the slight differences between elven skeletons and human ones from his elven knowledge.

Grandmother Sinuode could clearly see this as well. She crouched down beside a skeleton and picked up a necklace from the neck of the remains with trembling arms.

"This..."

Afterward, she went to another skeleton and checked the scar on its right leg bone. Just as she was about to continue checking the other bones, she heard Xia De say:

"There are more here! There are so many!"

This patch of sand continued forward, and one would have to slide down the dune to continue. When Xia De stood at the edge of the dune and looked down, what he saw was a sand pit almost filled with white bones.

In his surprise, he also saw more details. All the white bones his eyes could capture belonged to elves. At the same time, the postures of those white bones clearly showed they had died in a struggle and terror.

Grandmother Sinuode and Miss Mester also came to the edge of the dune beside Xia De and looked down. The latter said softly:

"This is truly extraordinary."