People do not need to travel through all nine kingdoms to reach Midgard. In fact, after Heimdall was killed, the Midgard space was fixed on the seventh level of the Nine Kingdoms, behind this solidified space chain.
, there are also the Nibelungen, the land of death, and Niflheim, the underworld. It is said that the situation in those two countries is worse than other places, but Hao Ren does not plan to go there yet.
They arrived at the destination of their trip: the Twilight City of Midgard.
Midgard, in the old days when the Nordic pantheon was prosperous, was the "Atrium" of the Nine Kingdoms. It is said that Odin led the gods to open up various kingdoms on the branches of Yugudora Hill and built the Atrium
It is divided into a place for human survival, and in Vivian's memory, this continent is actually the human experimental base and observation test site of the Nordic "gods". But no matter what it used to be like, now it is different from other
The kingdom is almost there.
The sky in Midgard is a reddish lead color, and the extremely dim skylight is almost the same as midnight. The turbid and thick clouds cover the dry and twisted land, as if they are about to collapse. And under the sky,
The scorched land can no longer see its former appearance. Thick smoke and poisonous mist are constantly spewing out from the crisscrossing ravines. The tentacles of the eldest son are snaking out from some of the largest cracks in the ground. On the land after the disaster
It formed a series of ridge-like protrusions. Midgard once had several rivers flowing through the entire continent and a stretch of green mountains, but now the rivers have dried up and the mountains have become bare. Between the scorched mountains
, hides the last fire of this "world": the Twilight City.
The spherical aircraft slid silently in the darkness, gradually approaching the energy reaction source in front, and the situation in the Twilight City was presented to everyone through holographic projection.
It was a city of unprecedented scale, but it was also a chaotic, old, and crumbling city. Hao Ren saw a hazy barrier shrouded between the mountains. The barrier was translucent and irregular in shape, like
Someone worked hard to expand it into what it is today. Inside the barrier, you can vaguely see large groups of strange-shaped buildings. Those buildings are stacked on top of each other, like some kind of diseased and proliferating biological tissue.
It fills every inch of space within the barrier. Just as Wendell described.
The spherical aircraft stopped some distance away from the Twilight City, and Anthony asked: "Where is the entrance?"
Wendell was obviously not used to this kind of perspective from the air. He stood on the edge of the platform for a long time to figure out the direction of the city. He raised his hand and pointed to the corner of the barrier near the mountains: "That's one of the gates."
"Are there any procedures required for entry and exit?" Hao Ren asked casually.
Wendell just shrugged silently: "Who should handle the formalities?"
Hao Ren quickly understood the meaning of this sentence:
Inside the barrier is humanity's only remaining refuge, and outside the barrier is endless darkness cut off from life. This can almost be regarded as a one-way passage between the living and the dead. Who would dare to go out through the gate except for light seekers? And this
In the eternal darkness, who will come in from outside the door?
Perhaps thousands of years ago, there was a pass through the gate to the Twilight City, but now, even the pass is probably in vain.
"We may have to deal with the Steam Council after entering," Wendell said, "They manage this city."
The old man's expression was a bit complicated when he mentioned the name "Steam Parliament", with a hint of dissatisfaction mixed with respect: he respected the city's managers, but this "Steam Parliament" did not support the cause of the light seekers.
.In fact, as a pragmatic ruling group, it is the Steam Council that is constantly reducing the size of the team of light seekers, and not long ago issued a notice that it will no longer send out light seekers.
This made Wendell's feelings towards the Parliament very complicated.
"Steam Parliament? We are not very interested in this." Vivian shook her head, "We want to meet your 'Old Saint' first. He still protects the City of Twilight."
An "Old Saint" suddenly appeared two thousand years ago and has been protecting the humans of Midgard to this day. This aroused Vivian's great interest. She vaguely guessed the identity of this Ancient Saint. And this is exactly what happened.
This is the important reason why she came here.
Wendell glanced at Vivian in surprise: "Of course the Ancient Saint is still protecting us, but it may not be easy for you to see him."
Hao Ren raised his eyebrows: "He doesn't see anyone?"
Wendell shook his head: "The Ancient Saint has not shown up for many years. Now only the caregivers in the lower areas can see him. There are thousands of people in the Twilight City who want to meet the Ancient Saint, but ordinary people simply can't.
This qualification.”
Vivian smiled slightly: "We feel from other countries that this identity is enough to arouse the interest of the ancient saint."
Wendell's expression changed instantly, and he obviously recognized Vivian's words. He pondered for a moment: "Okay. It makes sense. The Ancient Sage will definitely be very happy if he hears your news. I can pass
The Lightseeker organization will help you send a message in. We still have some friendship with the caregivers. But no matter what, the Steam Council will definitely pay attention to you. They manage the entire city, and everything that happens within the barrier cannot be hidden from them. Say
To be honest, I want to avoid provoking the Steam Council as much as possible. They are very conservative and may block it."
Hao Ren waved his hand to indicate that it didn't matter, and then Anthony controlled the spherical aircraft to approach the gate of Twilight City.
When they were still some distance away from the barrier, the aircraft slowly descended, and the group landed directly in the desolate area outside the city: in order not to cause too much commotion, they couldn't fly in with such a large space shuttle.
.
Before reaching the entrance of the barrier, Hao Ren saw what was happening outside the light curtain.
Outside the barrier is a dry and twisted land. This land has also been eroded by magic storms. Everything on the earth shows signs of severe weathering, and a group of quite ancient buildings can be vaguely seen in the severely weathered landscape:
They are probably the remains of cities from more than 2,000 years ago.
This ruins is close to the twilight barrier, and some of the ruins are even split in two by the barrier!
"That's the ancient city of Camsilon." Wendell explained, standing next to Hao Ren, and curiously fiddled with the life-support collar around his neck: this small device was smaller than his original magic talisman.
But it was so advanced that he didn't feel anything at all while walking in the magic radiation while wearing this thing.
Looking at the ruins of buildings split into two by the light curtain, Hao Ren certainly knew what they meant: "Life and death are separated by a wall."
"When the barrier was raised, the city was right on the edge of it, so the entire city was split in two. Half of the city survived and is now integrated into a block of Twilight City, while the part outside the barrier became
It looks like this," Wendell smiled bitterly and shook his head. "There was no gate here at that time, so everyone who stayed outside died."
Lily stood on a large rock protruding from the ground and climbed up to look into the distance. She suddenly discovered that there were dots of light in the dark wilderness outside the light curtain. She was immediately surprised: "There are actually people moving outside the barrier?!"
"Those are the gatherers," Wendell nodded. "The resources in the Twilight City are always limited. We have to take risks to mine ores from the darkness outside. Scholars have studied various methods.
We were able to open up three mines near the Twilight City, but unfortunately we can't do it further away. Come with me, I know a way after entering the gate, and we can walk from there without causing any trouble."
The team moved forward in the darkness, heading towards the magnificent light curtain that emitted soft yellow light.
As its name suggests, the City of Twilight serves as the last beacon of civilization on the continent of Midgard shrouded in the long night.
It took them half an hour to pass through the ruins of the city outside the barrier. After passing through a large piece of weathered and collapsed building debris that was almost the same as rubble, a halo that could accommodate three trucks traveling side by side appeared in front of everyone: this
The halo is embedded in the twilight barrier. The light curtain inside the halo is obviously thinner than outside. This is the gate.
"What is this?" Hao Ren looked at what was outside the door in surprise.
Outside the gate of the Twilight City is a piece of land that has been artificially leveled. There are hundreds of sculptures arranged in an orderly manner, all of which are men, women, old and children with different expressions. Some of these lifelike figures are crying with their heads in their arms, and some are crying.
Some are supporting each other, some are struggling to crawl forward, and the most eye-catching one is the one at the front of the sculpture group: this is an old man sitting on the ground, his legs have shrunk and deformed, but he is just silent
Sitting there quietly, facing the door, waving and smiling.
It was as if he was waving and smiling to the entire Twilight City, and it was as if there was someone standing on the opposite side of the light curtain, and the old man was waving goodbye to him.
In this regard, Wendell only said one sentence: "When the barrier was raised, half of the city remained outside." (To be continued.)