Chapter 2596: Journey to Death

With witches present, Mr. Nelson naturally shrank his body and didn't speak. Ms. Brock introduced simply:

"She appeared after you left, and like me, she also wants to take a boat to leave here forever. That man over there and I comforted her, but if you also want to help her, I'm afraid you'll have to think of a way later."

"Did she also come here because she lost someone important?"

Xia De frowned and asked:

"If it's for the same reason, then let's set off together on the boat later. Anyway, we are all looking for people in death; looking for one is looking, and looking for two is also looking."

As he spoke, he took off the mithril eye mask clipped on his arm:

"Look, I brought this too."

He gently tapped the cat's little head with the warm mithril to let it not move around. Ms. Brock just saw the eye mask, and her eyes turned red while covering her mouth:

"Yes, I recognize this. This is the inheritance of the Fire-Holding Sister. With this, my sister will not refuse to come out to see me."

However, the reason why that young girl came here was different from Mr. Nelson and Ms. Brock:

"H-hello, sir, or madam. I-I have made a big mistake."

She said tremblingly, not even daring to ask whether Xia De was a man or a woman; this was something only powerful witches dared to do:

"My name is Peggy McConaughey. My teacher used a very dangerous ritual to fall into a deep sleep in order to advance, and she would advance to the Twelfth Ring after waking up fifty years later. She hid herself in a hidden space and gave the only key to me, telling me to wake her up fifty years later, but I... broke the key."

"Ah, this..."

Xia De looked at the Thirteenth-Ring witch, who was controlling herself not to sob:

"According to this girl's statement, the hidden space her teacher found was a special area naturally formed in the material world. And the power that locked that special space was an ancient ritual they didn't know where they got from, so I have always told my students not to use such ancient things casually.

Everyone is helpless if the key is broken. That ritual sounds completely like a sealing ritual; forcing it open will likely affect the safety of the witch inside."

"Miss McConaughey, did you bring the broken key?"

Xia De asked again. The young girl nodded immediately and took a small cloth bag from her skirt pocket, which contained some broken silver crystals.

"How long has the key been broken? I mean before you entered here."

"About two years. I have tried many ways to fix this in the past two years."

She sobbed softly. Because she thought she had killed her teacher, she came here in despair. Miss Peggy McConaughey, who wore braids, was not without thoughts of making up for it, but it seemed she could no longer find a way.

"Two years? That's fine. The limit of that sorcery of mine is to go back three years."

Xia De held all the broken silver crystals in his hands, took a deep breath under the secret glances of the two ladies and Mr. Nelson on the side:

"Breath of Time!"

The gray airflow was inhaled into his nasal cavity, and the broken crystals reassembled themselves in the rustling sound. The dim flowing light in the crystals became brighter and brighter during the reconstruction of the key, but the moment the key was completely formed, with a crisp click~ sound, it shattered again into the small crystals just now.

The restless cat immediately reached out its claws wanting to touch them, and Xia De didn't object, after all, the cat had sniffed them just now and knew it wasn't food.

He picked up a small piece of crystal with his hand and felt the power in it against the firelight:

"Time reversal is useless. It clearly succeeded just now... Is this key broken in concept? Miss McConaughey, I'm curious, how did you break it?"

Hearing this question, the young girl covered her face and sobbed again.

The kind-hearted Ms. Brock patted her on the back and then explained for her:

"She encountered something she couldn't explain while adventuring. The other party used conceptual annihilation powers like 'Hand of the Void,' 'Black Moon Rune,' and 'Song of the Dead.' That key helped her block it, allowing her to escape, but the key itself shattered like this."

"So, this is a means left by your teacher to protect you? Since your teacher wanted you to live, why did you still want to leave?"

Xia De asked again. The young girl pursed her lips and shook her head, while Mr. Nelson on the side said in a low voice:

"I said the same thing, so she was willing to sit down."

"This key was destroyed in concept, and I can't fix it. What on earth did you encounter?"

But the girl still shook her head. Ms. Brock gave her a gentle hug, probably remembering herself being protected by her sister:

"Since that boat can take us to death, it should also be able to take us to the past. Why don't we go and see what happened at that time together? We won't change the past, just go and confirm the situation at that time."

"No problem."

Xia De said, taking out the two paper figures of the doctor. Of course, the paper figures were Donald Gunn, whose whole family was killed, and Father Francois, who threatened Baron Kaming.

The three blank cards given by the "boatman," or the "God of Ferrymen," last time were taken out by Ms. Brock. Two of the cards now had patterns: one was a teardrop representing "tears of regret," and one was a flame representing "a little warmth of the soul," in which Ms. Brock's profile could be vaguely seen in the translucent flame.

Xia De pressed the paper figure of Father Francois onto the last card, and the paper figure was sucked into the card. At the same time, the gilded font also specified the information of this card—

【Cowardice · Rare Item · 2.3 Ke.】

According to the classification of sins, rare items were already the highest quality.

Xia De brought the remaining 0.9 Ke of ordinary quality cowardice close to the card, but the card had no reaction to this:

"Don't want it, huh?"

But since 2.3 Ke was greater than the 1.1 Ke required for the boat ticket, the boat ticket was collected, and it was time to set off.

Mr. Nelson had no interest in taking a trip to death; he still had to wait for his wife here, so he would not go with Xia De.

And although the young witch didn't want to be left alone with a man here, obviously "death" in the legend was more dangerous. Moreover, Ms. Brock didn't want more people to see her privacy, so she stayed behind.

Without delay, Xia De and the Thirteenth-Ring great witch temporarily bid farewell to the two companions by the bonfire, rose and stepped on the wet black pier to the boat.

Probably seeing something from Xia De's attitude toward the "boatman," Ms. Brock stood behind Xia De this time and still let him negotiate. After Xia De showed the three cards, the tall "boatman" in a black robe did not give Xia De "change," but made a gesture inviting them to board the boat.

"The boat ticket is 1.1 Ke of cowardice, I paid 2.3 Ke, and it's a rare item."

Xia De had to emphasize, but only the sound of the tide was still splashing, and until both boarded the small boat and the boat left the pier silently, he still didn't get any change.

Different from what Xia De imagined, the boat was not stable at all, but kept shaking with the sound of the waves.

The tall boatman in a black robe made of black mist stood at the stern. When the small boat moved toward the depths of the boundless black water area, whether it was Xia De holding the cat or Ms. Brock, both turned to look at the shore.

The black beach and the pier were moving away little by little, and the bonfire by the pier soon became a swaying candle in the thin mist.

The two sat down on this simple small boat on the left and right. Ms. Brock curled up and looked very uneasy. Xia De looked at little Mia in his arms with some worry first, and after finding that the warm cat was looking around with great interest, he looked toward the depths of the water area.

Ahead was deep darkness, undulating waves, and thin white mist. As Xia De stared at the scene, he first instinctively felt some fear of darkness and the unknown, as if someone was telling him that this was a one-way voyage;

But immediately after, he suddenly felt that they didn't seem to be moving, because no matter how the boat shook, the scene in front of him remained surprisingly consistent.

When he turned his head again to confirm the distance from the shore at this time and found that the Black Sand Wharf and the bonfire had completely disappeared, he understood that darkness had completely descended.

No one spoke. The monotonous sound of water made the unknown environment around them look even more terrifying. Even if a behemoth that could not be named crawled out from the bottom of the water in the next second, Xia De would not be surprised. The outsider had not read many horror novels about deep-sea voyages, but even the most terrifying scenes described in books were probably just about the same as now.

He didn't know whether the gradually rising faint fear and loneliness were the characteristics of this area itself or the depression brought by the scene itself, but in short, he felt okay holding little Mia, because the cat was really warm, and he felt like he was holding a small heater in his quilt in winter.

And in contrast to him, the Thirteenth-Ring witch's face was already frighteningly pale. Xia De originally wanted to hand the eye mask clipped on his arm to her again, but after thinking about it, flames rose directly in his right hand.

The flames with the power of the First Fire were so dazzling and warm in this depressed dark water area. Thus, Ms. Brock moved closer to Xia De, and the cat also excitedly reached out its claws toward the flames.

However, it looked up at Xia De again. Seeing Xia De looking down at it, it honestly withdrew its claws.

In the rest of the journey, the two remained silent. Because the time adventure was strictly limited by time, he was originally worried that this journey to "death" would be too long, but fortunately, the sound of the tide around gradually became smaller, and the originally thin mist suddenly became thick.

The "boatman" rowed the small boat and carried the two into the thick white mist, so the sound of the tide disappeared completely, and the boat that was originally shaking also stabilized completely. ===== CHAPTER 2597 =====