Lin Feng nodded and turned to look at the second item.

It was a crystal the size of a fist, completely transparent, with a miniature scene sealed inside.

A city gate, and beneath it, a giant clad in heavy armor, wielding a battle axe and a tower shield, facing the surging Black Tide. A line of small text appeared on the surface of the crystal.

【Memory Fragment · City Gate · Loyalty】

【Fragment Collection: 1 /?】

【Activate to view the memory scene of the gatekeeper, Gruen】

Lin Feng picked up the crystal and held it in his palm.

He glanced at the group, nodded slightly, and then, with a thought, activated the crystal.

Light erupted from the crystal, unfolding a massive, three-dimensional holographic scene before them.

The scene was too realistic; it didn't feel like watching from behind a screen, but rather as if they had been pulled into another world, where the sounds, scents, and wind were all within reach.

They stood before a massive city gate.

The gate towered into the clouds, the walls built from blue-gray boulders, engraved with complex magical patterns that pulsed [N O V E L I G H T] with a pale blue light.

Above the gate, a flag fluttered violently in the wind, embroidered with a book with a star suspended above it.

It was identical to the silver badge on Alan's collar.

Outside the gate was a black ocean. It wasn't water; it was monsters.

Dense and overwhelming, they surged from the edge of the horizon like a tide, like locusts, like a black blanket devouring the land inch by inch.

Some of the monsters resembled wolves, others humans, some giant insects, and others had no fixed form at all, just writhing shadows.

Their eyes were blood-red, like countless burning coals within the Black Tide.

Before the gate, the final line of defense was crumbling.

The ground was littered with the corpses of the Imperial Guards, those young men in silver breastplates, fallen in pools of blood, beside their companions, only dozens of steps from the gate.

Their swords were broken, their shields shattered, but most had died facing the Black Tide.

Less than thirty survivors remained, forming a semicircle to protect the civilians flooding into the gate behind them.

Their formation had broken; some were bandaging wounds, some were trembling, and one person was kissing a portrait of his wife.

The giant Gruen stood in their midst.

He was not a stone statue, but the living Gruen. His skin was not gray-black, but deep brown, with bulging muscles brimming with power. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The chains on him were not restraints but decorations, every link polished until it gleamed.

He wore a complete set of Imperial Guard armor, the royal capital's emblem engraved on the chest plate.

He held a battle axe in his hand, his tower shield planted before him, his spine straight as a mountain.

The Imperial Guard captain, Elvin, limped over, leaning on his sword. His armor was cracked, and blood flowed from his forehead, obscuring his left eye.

"Gruen, how much strength do you have left?"

The giant looked down at him, his dark red eyes as calm as deep pool water: "Enough."

Elvin smiled, revealing blood-stained teeth: "That means not enough. Listen to me, the people in the city haven't finished evacuating. We need at least another half hour, and we can't hold out that long."

He glanced back at the gate.

Civilians were still pouring in—elderly, women, and children, pushing carts, carrying bundles, leading livestock.

Some were crying, some shouting, some looking back. A child had been jostled and lost a shoe, crouching by the roadside crying.

Gruen bent down, picked up the shoe with his massive fingers, and placed it gently in the child's arms.

The child looked up at him, stopped crying, clutched the shoe, and ran off.

Elvin watched this scene, took a deep breath, and turned to the remaining men: "Imperial Guards, form up."

Twenty-some men stood up, silently moving to Gruen's sides, raising their battered shields and gripping their notched swords.

No extra words were needed; they were all veterans and knew what this meant.

Elvin walked to Gruen's side and pressed his hand against the giant's rough skin: "We'll buy you time, you guard the final gate for us. When I'm dead, you close the gate."

Gruen looked down at him. The human captain's forehead was still bleeding, but his right hand was tightly gripping a leather cord around his neck.

Tied to the cord was an old silver coin, polished shiny from being rubbed, on which the profile of a woman could vaguely be seen.

Gruen recognized the silver coin. Three nights ago, he had seen Elvin sitting alone on the parapet, talking to the coin.

The giant's ears were sharp; he heard him say: "Leah, after this battle is over, I'll come back and marry you. I'm serious this time."

Gruen was silent for a moment: "Tell her yourself."

Elvin froze for a moment, then laughed, ripped the silver coin from his neck, and stuffed it into a gap in Gruen's chest armor:

"Alright, then you keep it for me. When the battle is over, I'll need it back."

The Black Tide arrived.

When the first wave crashed into them, Gruen's tower shield was like a wall, blocking them all out.

His battle axe swept horizontally, cutting a row of monsters in half.

Elvin led his men to strike from the flanks, pinning the monsters that tried to bypass them to the ground.

But there were too many. They were endless.

The second wave. The third wave. The fourth wave.

When Elvin fell, no one else was standing beside him. A large hole was torn in his chest, his sword was still in his hand, and his eyes were still open, gazing toward the gate.

Gruen saw it. He didn't speak; he just swung his battle axe faster and smashed his shield harder. The chains flew from his body like two iron snakes, whipping the monsters climbing the walls down.

From dawn until dusk.

Gruen's armor was shattered, his battle axe notched, and his tower shield riddled with cracks. His left arm had been bitten off by a massive monster, blood gushing like a fountain.

But he did not retreat. He raised his battle axe with his right arm and continued to hack. When the chains broke, he rammed with his shoulders; when the shield shattered, he blocked with his body.

The last of the civilians retreated into the inner city.

The area before the gate was empty, save for the corpses littering the ground and the giant standing in their midst.

Gruen turned around, his massive body crouching down, and used his remaining right hand to grab the gate's locking mechanism—a winch that required twenty men to operate, yet was like a toy in Gruen's hand.

He began to turn the winch, and the heavy gate slowly descended. With every turn, magical patterns spread from the emblem on his chest, climbing up his arm, over his shoulder, across his heart, as his flesh turned to stone.

By the time the gate was completely closed, more than half of Gruen's body had turned gray.

He released the winch, stood up, and turned around. The Black Tide had already surged to the gate, countless blood-red eyes flickering in the darkness.

Gruen pried Elvin's silver coin from the gap in his chest armor and held it in his palm. He opened his mouth and let out a roar.

It was not fear. It was not anger.

It was a declaration: This path is closed.

Then, the final light erupted from the emblem on his chest, illuminating the entire gate tunnel. Magical patterns crawled over his entire body, turning the deep brown into gray-black, turning flesh into stone.

The Black Tide crashed into it, hitting the tightly closed gate, hitting a wall built with life.

It did not budge.

The scene dissipated, and the plaza was silent for a long time.

The bioluminescence of the moss flickered on the rock walls, casting the group's shadows on the ground, lengthening and shortening. No one spoke.

Tie Dun kept his head down, Zhao Hu closed his eyes, Arrow Eye stared at the ground, and Wang Wu's Adam's apple bobbed.

"It's the Black Tide again," Zhao Hu's voice was hoarse.

Lin Feng did not speak. He tucked the crystal into his robes; the fragment collection showed 1 /?, with a question mark at the end.

There might be other memory fragments in this Dungeon. He looked up at the stone stairs leading downward.

"Let's go down and take a look," he said.

The group followed him toward the stone stairs in the center of the plaza. The stairs extended downward, each step quite high.

The bioluminescence of the moss became dim here, with only a few scattered patches clinging to the edges of the stairs, emitting a faint light.

After walking about a hundred steps, a door appeared ahead.

The door was wooden, without decoration or a lock; it opened with a gentle push.

Behind the door was a small room, about a hundred square meters. The floor was paved with stone slabs, and the walls were natural rock faces. There was no decoration, no branching paths, and no monsters.

In the very center of the room sat a purple chest, its surface engraved with complex patterns, within which light faintly pulsed.

Tie Dun's eyes lit up.

He was the first to rush over, crouching before the chest, rubbing his hands together, and glancing back at Lin Feng with eyes full of anticipation.

Lin Feng watched him and couldn't help but laugh: "You open it."

Tie Dun grinned, turned around, placed his hands on the lid of the chest, took a deep breath, and threw it open.

Purple light flashed.

Inside the chest lay a purple crystal.

An amethyst, the size of a fist, completely transparent, with nebula-like light slowly swirling inside.

Tie Dun reached in, took out the amethyst, and turned it over to look at it several times. The expression on his face shifted from anticipation to confusion, and then to a hint of disappointment!

"Huh? It's not equipment..." He scratched his head, "Just an amethyst?"

Wang Wu walked over, took the amethyst from his hand, examined it, and nodded: "An amethyst is not bad. It's an essential material for crafting purple equipment; you can't buy it even with money."

Tie Dun was still a bit unwilling, muttering: "I thought I'd be able to open a purple helmet or something..."

Zhao Hu patted him on the shoulder without speaking.

Arrow Eye stood in the corner of the room, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding walls, his brows slightly furrowed.

Wang Wu handed the amethyst to Lin Feng, who put it away and began to inspect the room as well.

A hundred square meters, one chest, four stone walls, no exit.

This didn't look like the second floor of a Dungeon; it looked more like a... dead end.

"This place doesn't look like the second floor of a Dungeon at all," Wang Wu voiced the question on everyone's minds.

Tie Dun paused, realized it too, and scratched his head: "Then if this isn't the second floor of the Dungeon, what is it?"

A Wang stood at the doorway, looked left and right, touched his head, and said in a muffled voice: "Could it just be a hidden boss?"