Chapter 429: Chapter 429: Inheritance and Flame

“Is there someone else?”

Seeing a figure appear ahead, Fang Zhou was taken aback.

Didn’t Night Mouse say that besides him, there were no living people in this ghostly place, so why was there someone?

“That’s not a living person.”

Night Mouse heard Fang Zhou’s surprise and replied softly.

The figure in front quickly ran towards them, and Fang Zhou was able to see clearly.

Indeed, it wasn’t a living person but a semi-transparent white figure with a very blurred face, vaguely appearing to be a man wearing armor.

“This is a past image, a historical echo.”

Night Mouse explained to Fang Zhou: “There are many such things in the city. They might be figures from decades or even centuries ago. The city records their shadows and keeps recreating them.”

While listening to Night Mouse’s explanation, Fang Zhou’s eyes were fixed on this phantom that ran up to him.

The phantom seemed lost, looking around in panic.

Fang Zhou attempted to use a soul conversation with this phantom, and surprisingly, a connection was made instantly.

The phantom abruptly looked towards Fang Zhou, shouting something as if asking, “Who’s there?”

“Don’t worry, these are just century-old echoes, they won’t affect the present…”

Night Mouse was comforting Fang Zhou when the phantom suddenly turned its head to look this way. It seemed as though his voice was caught in his throat, abruptly stopping.

Fang Zhou patted Night Mouse’s shoulder, “Why is he staring at you?”

Night Mouse opened his mouth, looking completely astonished: “I have never encountered this situation before!”

While putting the blame on Night Mouse, Fang Zhou was also receiving messages from the soul conversation.

A monster has appeared…

Run quickly…

These were messages transmitted back from the phantom, presumably the lingering thoughts within it.

Night Mouse had already walked over, attempting to communicate with the phantom, but it still looked towards Fang Zhou.

Fang Zhou promptly cut the soul conversation, causing the phantom to look around confusedly before continuing to run forward, quickly disappearing from sight.

“What…what’s happening?!”

Night Mouse was full of confusion. He had lived in this city for many years and had never encountered such a bizarre thing.

These historical echoes and reality usually run parallel, visible yet unable to interfere with each other.

Night Mouse was long accustomed to it, but the sudden intersection of the two lines leading to an unprecedented event filled him with unease.

“I have a bad premonition!”

Night Mouse turned to Fang Zhou and said, “We might need to be more careful.”

Fang Zhou also nodded solemnly, “I think the same.”

If this city has many such echoes, Fang Zhou might use them to learn about the city’s past and history.

The two continued moving forward, Night Mouse deliberately taking secluded paths and rooftops, sometimes taking a longer route or even circling around the same spot, but it did help them avoid many monsters.

Another historical echo appeared, by the attire it seemed to be a Knight, patrolling along the corridor, ignoring Night Mouse and Fang Zhou as they passed by.

Night Mouse cautiously observed the echo, and only after confirming that it was behaving as usual did he breathe a sigh of relief and said to Fang Zhou, “It seems earlier was a special case…”

Before he could finish his words, Night Mouse abruptly stopped as if his voice was caught again—the echo suddenly halted and turned to look this way.

Night Mouse was a bit flustered; what was happening tonight, why did all these echoes seem to come to life?

Luckily, the echo just glanced at them and continued its daily routine.

“Let’s move!”

Night Mouse quickly calmed down, calling out to Fang Zhou.

Fang Zhou followed behind Night Mouse, glancing back at the Knight patrolling.

Through the soul conversation, Fang Zhou received two messages from the echo’s lingering thoughts.

Legacy…

Flame…

He couldn’t decipher much from these two messages alone, so Fang Zhou silently noted them down.

Along the way, besides the monsters, there were also numerous historical echoes, and Fang Zhou attempted to converse with each, obtaining quite a bit of information.

Night Mouse, initially astonished and surprised, gradually became accustomed and thoughtful.

Such occurrences had never happened before, only starting tonight with such frequency.

Night Mouse cast a questioning glance at Fang Zhou—he suspected that Fang Zhou, the outsider, caused these unusual behaviors of the echoes.

Previous outsiders never provoked such occurrences.

Moreover, Night Mouse noticed that Fang Zhou shamelessly blamed him from the start, making him think the echoes were staring at him.

Fang Zhou didn’t notice Night Mouse’s resentful gaze, as he was sorting through the information gathered from the echoes.

Many were chaotic and disordered, but the message of flame appeared frequently, with most seemingly related to it.

Even Night Mouse’s recorded books described the Fire of Hope as the sole means of sustaining the world, and the world’s end came with the fire’s extinction.

It seemed the significance of flame in this world was high.

Of course, in other worlds as well, fire’s status is unparalleled, being the cornerstone of civilization.

Fang Zhou also realized that since entering this world, he had not seen a single flame, as if it had completely vanished here.

Fang Zhou firmly remembered all this, in case it became useful later.

Night Mouse was an outstanding guide. Throughout the night, he led Fang Zhou past countless monsters.

There were no mishaps or unexpected events, proving to be a very reliable veteran; his years of single life were not in vain, his steering arm unusually strong.

As dawn broke, the grand cathedral appeared in the duo’s sight.

An imposing structure, estimated to be at least a hundred meters tall, the typical cathedral style, looking rather eerie under the gray sky.

Between them and the cathedral lay a small plaza, with a fountain in the middle, a few Living Corpse Soldiers moving around it.

Being so close now, Fang Zhou prepared to take down the Living Corpse Soldiers before proceeding, but Night Mouse held him back.

“Don’t rush, these Living Corpse Soldiers are bait, dealing with them would cause big trouble.”

Fang Zhou gave up on his actions and asked, “Then should we fly over?”

Night Mouse gestured to the sides of the plaza with his chin: “The grand cathedral in Lorric City is a significant place, heavily guarded. The number of eyes here is ten times that of other places, and anything flying will be shot down. If you don’t want to be turned into a sieve, don’t fly.”

Fang Zhou looked in the direction he indicated and indeed saw many watchtower-like eyes on the buildings on either side of the plaza. Those eyes roamed around like creepy stalkers.

“Then do we take a detour?”

“Other places are more dangerous; this is the safest.”

Fang Zhou was at a loss and spread his hands, “Then what do you suggest we do?”