Seeing Andre's expression of lingering fear, we guessed his last visit here hadn't been a pleasant experience.

It made sense; if that operation had gone smoothly, I doubt he would have needed us.

Daxiong was clearly very curious about Andre's previous ordeal, so he asked, "Professor, what exactly happened to you last time? Could you tell us about it?"

Andre frowned, thought for a few seconds, then sighed and said, "It's a long story. We'll talk as we walk. Suffice it to say, that time nearly cost me my life."

With that, Andre looked up at the black royal city before them, his eyes suddenly glowing with an unusual light.

He looked up twice more, took a deep breath, and then set off up the hill.

We hurried to follow, as the thin mist hadn't yet dispersed. The royal city on the hill was densely packed with buildings, and the streets were naturally very intricate; if we lagged even slightly, we risked getting separated.

The village chief waved to us from behind, calling out, "From today onwards, I will wait for you here every evening at dusk. If you encounter any danger, you must remember to return here!"

I knew the chief was worried about us because there were far too many legends surrounding the Ruin Island.

So I turned back and waved to the chief, saying, "Thank you for your trouble."

After waving, I turned back around, just about to catch up, when suddenly a veiled face was nearly touching my nose, startling me badly.

But I recognized her—the mysterious shamaness. The strange scent she carried rushed straight into my nostrils.

I pulled my face away from hers, took a breath, and asked, "What are you doing?"

"You saw it, didn't you?" The shamaness's Mandarin was still a bit clumsy.

I froze, thinking she must be asking about what happened earlier in the ship's cabin, so I played dumb: "Saw what? I didn't see anything."

The sorceress just stood there staring at me, her gaze icy cold.

Seeing her like that, I actually started to stammer, saying, "I... I'm leaving now. If you don't follow, I won't come looking for you later!"

With that, I hurried towards the figures ahead, while the shamaness's voice drifted from behind, low and chilling: "If you dare tell anyone, I have plenty of ways to deal with you."

Hearing that icy voice, my spine went cold. I couldn't figure out how this woman had cultivated such a chilling skill.

The five of us and the dog walked along the beach, passing the cylindrical warehouses built on the sands. Not far ahead were stone steps, and two colossal sculptures formed the gateway leading deeper into the royal city.

The statues were perhaps seven or eight meters tall, depicting armored warriors. The armor style somewhat resembled the heavy cavalry of ancient Western knights, though near the cheeks of the helmets, there were tassel-like decorations.

The sculptures were carved from massive black sea stones; the lines were rugged, yet they highlighted the muscular definition in the warriors' arms, conveying immense strength.

Clearly, this nation must have endured many wars in the past, which is why they used such power-infused sculptures as guardians at the gate—it reminded me of the war sculptures of ancient Greece.

The erosion of time had obscured the features of these statues, and their lower halves were hidden in the mist, making them indistinct from a distance.

However, I did notice that on the foreheads of both sculptures, there was a fist-sized hole, irregularly oval in shape, whose purpose was unknown to me.

None of us rushed to ascend the steps; instead, we stood still, gazing up at the path above.

Andre spoke to us then: "The heavy fog has just lifted; the Sea Witches might not have completely withdrawn yet. And you all saw the wounds on those Sea Witches last time, so you must be extra careful this time. Whoever is in the rear must stick close; getting isolated here will be very troublesome. The bizarre things within this royal city are countless, far exceeding your imagination."

We all nodded. Even though it was daytime, we all switched on our flashlights to help distinguish each other's locations once we entered the thin mist ahead.

After saying this, Andre led the group forward.

I took a few steps ahead and noticed that Lauren, who was behind me, hadn't followed but was intently sniffing something on the ground.

Since boarding the island, Lauren had been unusually quiet, constantly smelling the earth.

I knew he was desperately trying to find a clue about his master, which is why he was sniffing so intensely.

And now, it seemed he had discovered something.

So, I shone my crude plastic flashlight onto the patch of ground he was investigating and saw nothing there.

Seeing that the others had walked quite far ahead, I clapped my hands and called out, "Lauren, hurry up and follow!"

Lauren seemed to understand my words, smelled the ground one last time, and then, as if reluctant to leave, trotted over to me.

We advanced cautiously, stepping over stones that had fallen from the mountaintop, until we reached the area beneath the two sculptures.

The seven or eight-meter-high statues were already magnificent, and standing beneath them, one truly felt the grandeur of the royal city.

Daxiong asked curiously then, "Professor, what is the history behind these two statues?"

Andre looked up and replied, "I don't know the specifics, but you can look for yourselves. Although these two sculptures have human torsos and hold long swords, they have the tails of fish. I suspect this was an ancient form of worship towards the sea."

As he spoke, we all looked towards the base of the statues. Through the hazy mist, we indeed saw that neither statue had legs; instead, a segment of black shadow curved backward.

I walked closer out of curiosity and saw that these fish tails were no ordinary ones. They had no scales and were forked, meaning they belonged to either a dolphin or a whale.

At that moment, I pointed to the foreheads of the sculptures and asked, "Then what are those small holes on their foreheads for?"

Andre looked up and said, "Those are lamp-holder holes. There used to be lamps placed inside them."

In truth, I understood the general purpose; holes on such statues are usually for lamps. But lamp holes typically have regular shapes. A small, irregularly oval hole like this didn't look like it was shaped by weathering; it felt strangely odd.

But investigating such a meaningless detail now would be a waste of time, so we walked beneath the nearly eroded swords held by the statues and ascended the badly broken stone steps.

The stone steps were quite long and rather steep, meaning that as we climbed, we couldn't see any buildings constructed above us.

On either side of the steps were clusters of low-rise structures that had fallen into disrepair. These were likely where ordinary residents once lived, but they were now enveloped by mist, with only occasional glimpses of ruined walls. Clearly, this area must have suffered the most severe damage from the tsunami back then.

As I walked upward, I asked Andre, "Mr. Andre, you mentioned earlier that the place we need to find is underground in this royal city. Where do we go down?"

Andre didn't look back at me but replied in a low voice, "Don't rush. There are only a few entrances to the underground city; you can't just go down wherever you like. Not long from here is the ruin of the Royal Grand Theater; there is an entrance there. That's where I descended last time. However, we used explosives in the passage to deal with the Sea Witches, so that tunnel is now sealed. We need to follow the street forward, toward the lighthouse. I never managed to reach the lighthouse last time; perhaps we'll find something new this time."

He paused, then added, "Moreover, beneath the lighthouse is the Royal City. The library near the city holds many books. Although after all these years, the books made from vellum have all decayed, I cannot guarantee there aren't other clues preserved—like stone carvings or mural collections."

We naturally had no objection to Andre's suggestion; after all, he understood this place better than we did.

Climbing up the steps for thirty or forty meters, we were already feeling tired. The scenery on both sides seemed unchanged: those dilapidated civilian houses, perpetually shrouded in lingering mist.

I felt a bit bored and checked my phone. Half an hour had passed, and we had accomplished nothing.

Just then, I looked up and heard a 'buzz' right in front of my face, as if a fly had passed by.

"Strange? Why would there be flies here?" I wondered, when suddenly Lauren started barking wildly ahead and darted forward rapidly.

I didn't have time to pull him back and shouted, "Lauren! Come back!"

Lauren ignored me and shot straight into the thin mist ahead.

At that moment, we also faintly saw something large and black drift past not far ahead, like a tattered cloth, emitting a buzzing sound.

"What is that? A swarm of flies?" I muttered to myself in confusion.

The others had clearly all seen the sight.

Especially Liang Qian, who was walking just ahead of me. She turned back to look at me, a puzzled expression on her face.

Then she reached into her backpack and pulled out something wrapped in a red cloth.

I knew that was the Qilin Bone Censer. Liang Qian had used that item before to ward off poisonous insects, and I figured she was about to use it again now.