Vivian decided to meet the Lucas Family first. Even though she had little interest in other unusual creatures, especially the old-fashioned, arrogant, xenophobic and obsessive man in the Lucas Family, they had to deal with the die-hards if they wanted to get into the ruins. She had several contacts with the former patriarch of the Lucas Clan and seen his younger brother, who was now the current patriarch of the Lucas Family. Therefore, she felt like she could be somewhat persuasive.
In addition to his attention to the relic, Hao Ren was now curious about the state of the unusual creatures in the city. He wondered how many "shelters" were there in the world. However, Hessiana did not tell them much. "Honestly... It's not that I don't believe you. I have no idea too. When we started building these shelters, it was during the collapse of the Mythological Era. At that time, the surviving unusual creatures in the world had been separated by demon hunters and intercommunication was completely interrupted. This situation lasted more than 1,000 years. And, were met with the hanging of witches by the human church before we could even settle down in our various shelters. It was all a mess and we were too afraid to go out. On one hand, staying in the shelter gave us security, but on the other hand, we could not keep up with information of the outside world like the rest. Of course, such a situation did not last forever. We then slowly started to reach out to the outside world, but the number of other settlements we could contact was far less than expected. Many shelters were speculated to be completely closed to outsiders and no one knew whether they had been destroyed or not. It is said that there are several settlements in the depths of the mantle and the deep crust of the North and South poles. But, how do we even find those?"
All this while, people on Earth thought they had ruled the planet completely. People thought they knew most of the secrets of the planet. But now, Hao Ren realised that there were still too many places in the world that human beings had yet to discover. These obscure and muddled historical facts were very different from the chapters that humans kept in the library. The vast majority of humans on Earth would have never imagine that there were still so many secrets about the planet—and these secrets had been slowly creeping in the shadows until the present day.
Because of the constant blockade from the demon hunters and the Church, the unusual creatures in the world had to be extremely low-key. It was difficult for them to openly seek out their own people or find clues to other shelters. Hessiana called the period between the end of the Mythological Era to the end of the witch hunt as the "severe winter". After the end of the severe winter, shelters that gradually recovered and reached out to the outside
world could still be contacted. However, there were more shelters that did not reopen after they settled down. Even the most senior of elders were simply aware of the existence of these fortress. No one knew how to open these fortresses from the outside or how to contact the survivors inside. Additionally, no one knew if these fortresses had been infiltrated by demon hunters. Everything was shrouded in a dense fog and everyone was clueless.
With his growing understanding of the creatures' current situation on Earth, Hao Ren felt that the still waters on Earth ran deep. His original impression of the human world was ordinary, peaceful and even a little boring. But this had been overturned. The shadows of the past that stirred in the dark were hidden everywhere in the world, in areas beyond the reach of ordinary humans. The Fortress of Shadows in Athens was one of the representatives of this phenomena: could anyone have imagined that there were actually two version of Athens?
Another city was hidden in the shadows of the real Athens and it was properly preserved in another layer of space by the Shadowy Divide. Vivian had led all of them through the strange streets to Hesperides' antique shop. It lay between the two paralled worlds, and the layer of thick fog across the street was just the first layer of protection in the Shadowy Divide. They were far from touching the real wall of the sanctuary. Hesperides was like a gatekeeper—she guarded the nodes of the Shadowy Divide with other strong and senior elders. Only those who gained permission could pass through a deeper shadow and reach another city.
Hessiana invited everyone to "another city of Athens" in the shadows. Vivian was a little hesitant, but everyone else was happy to go.
It was never too troublesome to join in a fun thing and Lily jumped around, insisting to go. How could one expect these people to stay quietly in the hotel?
Hesperides finished her work in the real world within a few minutes and reappeared before them along with the same, strange bell. Hessiana happily jumped up at once and loudly said, "Can you please help them open the door to the deeper space… and give each of them an imprint so that they can move freely from level one to level three."
Hesperides nodded, lifted a finger and softly recited a very strange spell. Hao Ren did not feel
feel any change in his body after the casting process was over. Hessiana explained, "For outsiders to enter the Fortress of Shadows, they must be guided by the gatekeeper. All of you have been imprinted. With this imprint, you can move freely from level one to three in the Fortress of Shadows—it basically means that you guys can move freely in 70% of the places in the Fortress of Shadows. Forbidden areas will be guarded, so don't worry about it. Come on, I'll show you the way."
"Hesperides, see you later," Vivian said goodbye to her old friend. Hesperides walked back to the counter and waved her hand.
After they left the strange antique shop, Hao Ren found that the scene outside the shop changed again: This time, even the pavements on both sides of the road were gone. There was only boundless thick fog outside and a blurred path extended forward into the thick fog. No one could see the end of the path.
He looked back to discover that Hesperides' antique shop had unsurprisingly vanished in the thick fog, leaving only a lone glass door. There was nothing around the door; it was eerie.
"You said Hesperides was an eccentric person. I think she's fine," he turned around and said. "Just a little gloomy."
Vivian smiled and said, "She just happens to be normal today."
"Huh?"
"It's safer inside the Fortress of Shadows." Hessiana led the way in front of them, jumping around happily while walking. It was weird to look at Hessiana, who looked exactly like Vivian, but behaved like Lily. "The city is not the same as anywhere else. The demon hunters have been trying to find a way to break through the Shadowy Divide. They have spies all over the city, and you may be targeted anytime when you're out there. There's my territory in the Fortress of Shadows, which is much more comfortable than staying in the hotel. After two days we go straight from the Fortress of Shadows to the ruins, so the route is safer."
Vivian seemed dissatisfied with Hessiana's involvement in The Day of Return. "How can you be interested in The Day of Return such a stupid thing?"
"I'm not interested in The Day of Return. I came out of you anyway. For me, return means hanging back on your body. I don't want to return to any other strange place," Hessiana said with a bright smile on her face, but it gave Vivian goosebumps. And then Hessiana continued explaining, "I am interested in the kind of bizarre…err, environment in the relics. Anyway, you will be full of energy when you're inside it. It refreshes your mind and clears your eyes, and it also cured an old vampire's lumbar disc protrusion. Who doesn't like such a good thing? My Lady Vivian, you must try, too. The air inside is filled with magic. It makes me drool."
Hao Ren and Vivian looked at each other when heard this and asked, "Wait, the effect is so exaggerated?"
"There's plenty of magic in The Plane of Dreams, but it's not like the situation that Hessiana just said, is it?" Y'zaks whispered beside them, telling the common doubts of Hao Ren and Vivian.
"No exaggeration," Hessiana did not know what they were saying and thought it was too good for them to believe. She was swinging her hands to increase her persuasiveness while describing, "The energy environment in the ruins is abundant, and even something like Aurora can be seen at any time in the air, which are magic cloud and mist…"
"It's not like The Plane of Dreams," Hao Ren was very surprised, whispering to Vivian, "this relic may lead to somewhere else ..."
Nangong Wuyue also moved closer to them and whispered, "or it's not connected anywhere, but there is a radioactive energy source inside?"
"What are you whispering about?" Hessiana noticed that Vivian was chatting in a low voice intimately with the group of people but ignoring people but ignoring her, she immediately looked unhappy and said, "Lord Vivian, you can't treat me this way, no matter what I…"
Vivian glared at Hessiana and said, "I would only talk to you if you could behave yourself when you see me!"
Hao Ren did not expect that the relationship between the 'mother and daughter' seemed to be very disharmonious. He touched Vivian's arm and said,"Why do you dislike her so much? I think this girl is all right except for a little bit of playful. And no matter what she has a very close relationship with you."
Vivian looked at Hao Ren with a fake smile and said, "Imagine if one day you lose a hair, and the hair turns into a man who looks exactly just like you, and this man follows you and stick to you everywhere, and his biggest wish is to go back to your body…"
Hao Ren's face turned green and said, "Stop!! I'm not going to talk about this anymore, okay?"
Vivian covered her face and turned her head and said, "So I would rather wander outside than take a step closer to this city, even if I don't have to worry about food here."
Hessiana heard this and felt sorry for Vivian. "Lord Vivian, you still don't have enough food to eat?"
"Don't worry about it," said Vivian, pointing to Hao Ren, "Now he takes good care of me, and I have one more reason to stay away from you."
Hao Ren broke out in a cold sweat. He could obviously feel that Hessiana looked at him as if he killed her mother…