The second second after the mysterious silver-haired girl named Morning Star disappeared, the whole world returned to normal.

The wind in the forest began to flow again, and the obscured aura environment returned to perception again. The light and shadow in the dense forest flashed, and returned to the shadow state that was approaching dusk but not completely dark. The Ranger soldiers who had disappeared before were now alert around them. These concentric soldiers seemed to have never left from beginning to end, and maintained the position and posture they were in at the last moment in Maggie's memory, and no one noticed anything unusual in the forest.

The great adventurer Modir was standing in front of Maggie, woven a mysterious and complex rune array in his hand, as if he had just reached the last step of memory extraction.

However, the next second, Modir, who should have been unaware of it, suddenly blinked, and then the rune array in his hand suddenly changed its layout. The almost-formed memory extraction technique was reversed by the legendary magician into a certain mental protection spell. Maggie felt that the magic power in the air was restless at a frightening frequency, gathered, and was forced to suppress and reshaped by powerful forces. Her spirit was instantly protected. At the moment of slow thinking, she heard Modir's voice sound directly in her mind: "What's going on? I just felt that there was another consciousness in your mind... but I didn't seem to catch the invader."

At this moment, Maggie deeply realized that the old man who seemed harmless and always happy was actually a legendary caster. Only less than one percent of the second "consciousness injection" appeared in her mind, but she could not escape the old man's perception. The other party even built layers of defense in her mind the moment she noticed the strange phenomenon - this even ignored her powerful magic resistance and spiritual strength as a dragon descendant!

No wonder the girl named "Morning Star" came and went in a hurry. It seems that even if she stayed for a moment, Modir could project her spiritual image out and imprison her!

Fortunately, everything was a false alarm. Maggie quickly calmed down and responded in her mind: "Don't worry, I'm fine, the uninvited guest has left."

Then she blinked to show that her control over her body was as normal, and her consciousness was in the same state as her body. After Modir breathed a little relieved, she explained: "A 'invader' appeared just now. I'm not sure whether the other party invaded my memory or interfered with my perception...Mr. Modir, I need to sort out my thoughts a little."

In Modir's sight of instantly becoming serious, Maggie quickly sorted out her thoughts and organized her language. She recalled the whole process of "communication" just now, sorted out all suspicious and important details, and then she told her own experiences - from the emergence of Modir's memory, the arrival of the mysterious figure, the surrounding environment fell into a strange phenomenon, and then the departure of the uninvited guest, she suddenly woke up.

The whole story didn't last long, but Modir became more and more frightened as he listened. Even the Rangers nearby were affected by the alert state - these were elites, soldiers who were impeccable from training to equipment and then to combat experience. However, they knew nothing about what had just happened. Although this was indeed beyond the ability of conventional soldiers to respond, it was enough to shock them.

"She calls herself a senior operator in the Shadow Affairs Department of the Military Intelligence Bureau? And she also clearly mentioned the title of "Amber Director"?" Modir stared at the eyes. The old mage traveled all over the world for a lifetime (or perhaps more than a lifetime). Such bizarre things are counted in his experience. "You are sure you read it right? That badge is really from the Military Intelligence Bureau?"

"I confirm that the emblem is correct - and the emblem problem is actually secondary. What is important is that if the other party lies on such a problem, it is really meaningless," Maggie frowned. Although she returned to the real world, the confusion in her thoughts increased instead of reducing. "She has very obvious non-human qualities...skin color, pupil color, breath, these are not hidden, and she doesn't seem to be planning to hide. If she really wants to make up an identity for herself, then it is better to make up than to say that she is an operator of the Military Intelligence Bureau...

Speaking of this, she frowned, her tone a little uncertain: "And I don't know if it's an illusion. When she mentioned the name of 'senior operator', she seemed to really show a kind of pride, as if this identity is not only real, but also glorious... Mr. Modir, have you never heard of this 'Shadow Affairs Department'?"

"Of course I haven't heard of it. How could I know something that you don't even know," Modir spread his hands, his face full of helplessness. "You don't know my situation. At most, I'm the 'family' of the Grand Consul of Victoria. I'm afraid I know the upper class of the empire and I'm not as good as the clerk in the Government Affairs Department."

What the old man said was true, and of course Maggie knew that she could only shake her head: "The girl who called herself "Morning Star" gave me a very strange feeling. I have seen many strange races in this world, including Miss Tyre who suddenly flowed out of the faucet and Mr. Nicholas who rolled down the slope after catching a cold. However, the 'abdominal' on Morning Star, which is not like a human, and even does not seem to belong to the real world, was the first time I felt it. There were many contradictions and weird things she said... I even felt that she was pretending to be mysterious, but the information she revealed was very important."

"Indeed, even if she was pretending to be mysterious, she was pretending to be mysterious when she mentioned Ms. Ye... She had contact with the ancient god, and the little divine in her words was nothing more than a problem," Modir pinched the beard on his chin and his eyes gradually became serious. "No matter what, everything that happened today must be reported to the imperial capital. His Majesty Gao Wen must know about this...especially the 'oral message' that Morning Star asked you to pass on."

"Do you really want to pass this oral message?" Maggie seemed to be a little unnecessary worry. "The origin of the morning star is a mystery, and the purpose is unknown. The message she is about to convey comes from a more mysterious ancient god. This "oral message" may contain something that we mortals cannot perceive... Some kind of "element", you know, the power of the gods can even be hidden in words and cognition..."

"...that must be passed on," Modir thought for a while, and his tone was firm. "On the one hand, I don't think Ms. Ye needs to throw a trap in this way at the time. After all, all clues prove that He is a sober and friendly God, and He is clearly on our side during the Battle of Tarash; on the other hand, even if there is power in these words and cognition, I don't think that His Majesty Gowen will be affected by it... He is Gowen Cecil, the God of Death cannot take him away, the evil god cannot defeat him, and the God of War died under his cannon fire. I heard that even the true body of the Dragon God has no effect on him at all - how much power can Ms. Ye put in in one sentence?"

The old mage's evaluation of Gao Wen had a strong and unconcealed impression of reverence, but anyone who knew this great adventurer knew that he had always regarded the pioneering hero as idol worship. Of course, Maggie was not surprised by this. She just nodded, recognized the old man's judgment, and then said, "Then should we continue to explore the 'stone pile' four kilometers away as planned?"

"…Continue," Modir thought for a moment and nodded, "we are going to find a safe place to spend the night before the sun sets. There is open terrain near the pile of stones, better than the deep shadows of the dense forest."

"I understand," Maggie nodded immediately, then turned around to greet the Rangers who were guarding nearby, "Continue to move forward - be careful to avoid the extremely dense areas on the road, do not be under the canopy for a long time, and report any abnormal perceptions immediately."

In this Violet Island operation with strong shadow power, many things must be taken into account the special and weird environment here. When operating, people should avoid too strong shadows as much as possible. When staying in a place, do not let their bodies be covered by tree canopies for a long time. Even when camping, they should find ways to avoid forest areas. It is best to camp on the open ground where stars can shine - although the weak starlight cannot dispel darkness, at least in places where stars shine, the power of "shadow" will disappear a little.

These are all the experiences summarized by Modir, Maggie and others along the way.

Ms. Ye is not hostile to the real world, and there are no traps or beasts on this island to choose people to eat. However, the ubiquitous shadow environment itself is a danger to mortals. Although there is no evidence that the shadows in the dense forest can "eat people", when passing through the thick shadows several times before, soldiers who were accidentally shrouded in shadows for a long time felt an inexplicable "gaze" or "traction" coming from the shadows. The reports of these soldiers made the entire team more cautious in their actions.

But this caution does not affect the speed of the team's progress—the trained special warriors are already moving quickly in the dense forest, and there are also the human-shaped dragon Maggie and the legendary wizard Modir who violently open the way in front of it. The entire team is moving very fast. Before the sun sets, before the deep night falls, they arrive at the pre-determined location, the edge of a glade in the forest.

Under the rich dusk skylight, a large-scale flat open space appeared as if a piece of shadow was dug out of thin air. A pile of "stone piles" that looked like some strange totem, as if they were piled up by a large number of precisely carved stone pillars, stood quietly in the center of the open space. The pile of stones was about dozens of meters high and was piled into a cone shape from hundreds of stone pillars, presenting a "architectural" style that was completely different from any cultural style known in the world, but mysterious and long-standing.

This is undoubtedly an artificial creature.

On the ground around the pile of stones, there were soft white sand, and almost the entire open space was covered with the white sand, which was clearly separated from the black soil in the forest not far away. This white sand made Modir think of the endless desert in the Kingdom of Shadow God - but he did not feel the extraordinary aura from the sand and dust under his feet, nor did he feel the divine power from the pile of stones in front of him.

"This is the 'weird boulder' mentioned by the reconnaissance plane..." Maggie raised her head and looked cautiously at the large pile of stones in the center of the open space. "Sure enough... it is man-made. This is what you saw with the Eye of the Wizard before?"

"That's right," Modir nodded slightly, and walked forward slowly as he said, "These piles of stones are distributed in the forest, and may even be distributed throughout the Violet Island... They are far away from each other, and the distribution looks uneven, and there are only bare clearings around the piles, but I always feel... they are related to the Violet Kingdom that has completely disappeared."

When he used the Eye of the Mage (heavy armor type) to investigate the depths of the island, Modir discovered this randomly distributed "building" in the forest area. At that time, he became curious about these strange things. Unfortunately, the Eye of the Mage is a summoning object with limited functions and is difficult to perform detailed and complex exploration tasks. So he did not understand what this thing was in the end. He could only judge from the appearance that it was an artificial creature. Now, he finally had the opportunity to investigate in detail.

"Explore the surrounding environment and set up a trigger warning rune," Maggie ordered the follower Rangers, "contact the rear command and said we are going to camp at Point 3."

After the soldiers received the order, she followed the big adventurer who was walking towards the stone pile, and while looking at the stone pile, she asked in a low voice: "What do you think this thing is for?"

"It looks like some kind of magic device... a magic device that is unheard of in style," Modir said of his first feeling. "I have never seen such a thing before, but it feels a little familiar to me... I'm not talking about their appearance, I'm talking about their 'breath', as if I've dealt with this kind of breath, but I don't remember it at all."

"Do you feel familiar, but don't have the corresponding memory..." Maggie thoughtfully. She knew that the great adventurer had a problem of incomplete memory. It was not the first time that "feel familiar but can't recall it" happened, but this time she suddenly had other thoughts, "Can your sense of familiarity come from the 'other side'?"

"Other side... are you saying 'Other me'?" Modir was stunned. He once mentioned to Victoria about his conversation with "Wilder" in his dream. The dragon-born lady was also present at the time, so it was not surprising that the other party thought about it. Moreover, after the other party reminded him, his thinking could not help but shift to this side, "This is really unsure..."

While saying this, he sighed: "Think carefully, as I get closer and closer to the center of Violet Island, I seem to be getting closer to that 'boundary'... In the past two days, I often have some strange dreams. In my dreams, I see some life related to myself, but I can't remember them at all, and lack real feelings. Perhaps, I and the 'other me' are already very close, so that our memories are gradually permeating each other..."

"...Is there no problem with this?" Maggie looked at the big adventurer with a little concern, "You probably should..."

"What should we do? Should we stop?" Modir laughed, "Victoria advised me so too, but she couldn't even persuade her.

"Don't worry, Maggie, I know what I'm doing-I'm uncovering a new secret. I like to uncover all kinds of secrets in my life, but it's the first time I reveal it to myself. This kind of experience is not something that anyone can do."

As he said that, he waved his hand and walked to the edge of the huge pile of stones: "Come on, as the first explorers to visit here, we should focus on the things in front of us, such as studying the things that are going on... This thing is shining!"

(End of this chapter)
Chapter completed!