They found an old, dusty door at the end of the basement corridor. Gu Ye gestured to Shireen to keep silent, and then gently pushed the door open and entered.

The room was dark, damp, and eerily quiet. Shireen held her breath involuntarily.

"Put down the crossbow, kid." Dead Leaf said suddenly, "Can you use that thing?"

"Load the arrow, tighten the string, and loosen the string." A boy's voice answered, sounding a little nervous.

"That's not bad. So they sent you to guard the gate?" Dead Leaf said, "Where's Ari?"

"Left last week," the boy answered. "I have the gate now. He left his crossbow with me."

"Good boy, but you won't need it today." The female elf took off her hood, "I'm Gu Ye, I just came here last week. You should still remember me, right?"

There was a moment of silence. The female elf nodded toward the darkness, and Shireen swallowed nervously.

"Who came with you?" the boy asked again.

"A female human."

"Is she here to take people away?"

Ku Ye glanced at Shilin, "She is here to visit a friend," she explained, "When something happened to Xia Yue's family yesterday, she was at the scene and she helped a lot."

"Let her come closer," the boy said.

Dead Leaf nodded to her, so Shireen cautiously took a step forward, praying that the boy would not accidentally fire the crossbow in his hand.

"You just said she helped? But she doesn't look like a warrior."

"Yes, she is just an ordinary person." Dead Leaf said, "but she is very brave, and she is a friend."

The boy was silent for another moment, and Shireen looked at the darkness at a loss.

"Okay, you can come in." He finally said.

Shireen breathed a sigh of relief, secretly glad that she was not shot by the out-of-control crossbow. Maybe she underestimated the danger of the whole thing, or overestimated her courage... But at this moment, she only knew that she wanted to see

The elf father and daughter confirmed that they were safe and sound.

"The corridor is a bit dark. Humans may need lighting. Have you brought light balls?" The boy's voice came from the darkness.

Dead Leaf shrugged, then took out a handheld alchemy lamp ball and shook it gently. The lamp ball gave off a dim light, illuminating the surrounding area.

Shireen finally got a clear look at the room. It was an abandoned storage room, the floor was dirty, and the walls were covered with traces of mold. An elf boy wearing a turban was hiding in a bunker made of crates.

Behind him, he held a loaded crossbow.

He is thin and has a bad complexion, which is obviously the result of long-term malnutrition. From the appearance, this boy is younger than Shireen. But she doesn't know many elves, so she doesn't have much confidence in guessing his age.

"You know how to get in," the boy said to the dead leaf.

Dead Leaf nodded and stretched out his hand towards the wall to their left. The wall rippled, as if the water was lightly touched.

"It's an illusion. Only the touch of the elves can temporarily soften it." She put the lamp ball into Shireen's hand. "It's an old trick, but it's always useful."

They passed through the illusory wall and entered the room on the left. The room behind the wall was an empty foyer with some old wooden furniture piled around it.

The female elf strode across the room. This level of darkness was not a problem for the elf at all. Shireen followed her with a lamp ball, carefully watching where every step was taken, for fear of stepping on something.

After passing through another illusion wall, they came to... an underground forest. Shireen held up the light ball in surprise, trying to see the whole room clearly. But the size of this room was obviously beyond the lighting range of the light ball.

The elves opened up the adjacent rooms, dug through the bottom of the basement, expanded it downwards to about a floor, and planted a lot of grass on the dirt floor.

Some broad-leaved vines climb along the walls and shelves to form fishnet-like curtains, dividing the entire room into several areas. The air is filled with the smell of earth and humus, and there is also a faint scent of flowers.

There was a pool near the entrance, but there seemed to be no fish in the water. A tall male elf wearing a dockworker's vest stood by the pool, looking listlessly at the two visitors.

"Dead leaves." He said as a greeting.

"Seagull." Dead Leaf nodded to the other party, "I brought the guest I mentioned before. She wants to meet Mr. Xia Yue and his daughter."

The elf named Seagull looked at Shireen with interest for a while, "She's a little cutie, huh? Did she really defeat two city guards?"

"Just one," Shireen felt a little embarrassed, "and it was a sneak attack from behind."

"With a knife?"

"High heels." Shireen sighed.

The seagull opened his eyes wide and looked at the dead leaves. The female elf nodded towards him. He burst out laughing. "Don't you have any other better choice?"

"Okay, stop teasing her." Dead Leaf shrugged, "Before that, she had never hurt a rabbit. Hitting someone on the back of the head with high heels is already a great improvement."

"You should take the time to teach her how to use a knife. Maybe she will need it in the future."

"Forget it, she's the type who'll hurt herself first when she picks up a knife." Kuye said and glanced at her, "I've seen too many people who are not suitable for holding weapons. This lady is undoubtedly

It’s one of them.”

"Okay, you are the authority in this regard." Seagull waved his hand, "So are you two still planning to come down? It's very tiring to talk with your neck raised."

They stepped on the vine rope ladder on the wall and went down to the ground floor. The cold humidity underground made Shireen shiver. Although the elves worked hard to improve the environment in the basement, it was obviously still not suitable for long-term living here.

The seagull led them into the corridor separated by wooden frames and vines. Shirin made a rough estimate and found that the area of ​​this underground forest was about three-quarters of the above-ground area of ​​the entire apartment building.

How long does it take to build such a facility? The lawns and plants here look like they have grown for a long time. How do they survive in an underground space without sunlight?

Even if the two elves saw her doubts, they had no intention of providing answers. Shireen followed them into the living area full of confusion. Thick vines hung down from the ceiling and turned into airtight soft walls.

Shireen inevitably noticed for the first time that most of the rooms in the residential area were unoccupied, and only a few had vine curtains hanging on the doorways.

As they walked between the cubicles, some vigilant eyes were cast from the shadows behind the curtains, and most of them fell on Shireen.

"Don't be nervous, everyone." Seagull reassured, "She is a friend."

"She is human." A child's voice said. Shireen turned around and saw the boy's mother pulling him back behind the door curtain.

"The recent situation is not good, and everyone is a little nervous." Seagull explained to them, "Four families were sent back last month alone. The risk of continuing to shelter elves is getting higher and higher, and the kindness of human friends is about to end.

Exhausted."

"Everyone has very little faith in humanity left." Dead Leaf said worriedly, "We have to speed up and try to send as many people out of the city as possible."

"I will take care of this issue. I am the authority in this regard." Seagull yawned, "Are you here to see Mr. Xia Yue? He is right in front."

Shireen raised the lamp ball and followed his line of sight. A male elf was sitting in the innermost compartment of the basement. His head was wrapped in a bandage and his face was a little pale.

He recognized Shireen. "I forgot to ask your name yesterday," he hissed.

"Shireen Marron," she answered.

"I want to thank you." He licked his chapped lips, "I later found out what happened. If it weren't for your help, my daughter and I wouldn't have been able to escape back to the shelter."

Shireen looked at the dead leaves questioningly, and the female elf nodded towards her. Then she lowered the lamp ball and walked forward slowly.

"I'm sorry about your wife," she said apologetically, "but I saw her stabbed in the chest with a sword, so I must stop you from going back to find her."

"I know," he looked away, his voice full of pain, "It's not your fault."

Shireen realized that she shouldn't say this now, so she had to change the subject. "Is your daughter okay?"

"…She was not injured."

"Reassuring good news. But that's not what I'm asking about."

He was silent for a while, staring at Shireen intently, as if he wanted to dig out her true inner thoughts from her face. Shireen looked back at him fearlessly.

He looked away again, "She hasn't spoken since she came back."

"Not a word?" Seagull suddenly interrupted.

"Not a word." He nodded.

"By the way, Oriane," Dead Leaf murmured, "That girl saw her mother die tragically with her own eyes... We can't deal with this now."

"What are you talking about?" Shireen turned around and looked at them in confusion.

The two elves exchanged glances, and Dead Leaf sighed softly, "It's really not a good time," she said, "We don't have the conditions to cope with the awakening now."

"Tell him, maybe he has a way?" Seagull suggested, "I mean, he is an authority in this area after all."

Dead Leaf glanced at Shilin, obviously knowing what she was thinking.

"Mr. Ende has been a little busy recently," the female elf said, "but I will ask him to take time to come and have a look as soon as possible. Where is the girl?"

"...in the sunroom," the girl's father said.

Calling this kind of place a sunroom should be regarded as some kind of black humor. When Shireen followed the two elves to this cramped and narrow compartment, she couldn't help but frown. There was a small skylight on the ceiling of the room.

, the light on the street passes through the greasy glass, and the brightness is not even as bright as the alchemy lamp ball in Shirin's hand.

However, this is the only place in the underground shelter that can get sunlight. Maybe at ten o'clock in the afternoon, the sunlight here can barely meet the needs of reading... but it is evening now.

The girl stood where the light fell, facing the vines covering the wall. She was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, and it seemed that someone had combed her hair.

"What do you think?" Seagull asked softly, "Is this a sign of awakening?"

Dead Leaf didn't answer, but stepped forward and gently hugged the girl from behind. The girl didn't resist Dead Leaf's embrace. In fact, she didn't react at all.

Shireen covered her mouth and sobbed softly.

The female elf said something to the girl in her arms, using Elvish language. From beginning to end, she was the only one speaking. Shireen didn't know if the girl heard it, but she didn't make any response.

Finally, Dead Leaf returned to them. "I will ask Mr. End to come over as soon as possible." Her voice was hoarse. "We have to leave, Marron. Walking around the ghetto after sunset may lead to questioning."
Chapter completed!