The first ray of morning sunlight pierced through the outer walls of the Ice and Snow Castle, spilling into the hall, making it quite impossible to sleep in— as you see, most of this castle’s walls are made of semi-transparent snow blocks piled up, and under the continuous transformation of the Extreme Cold Eye, these snow blocks are almost turning into ice blocks. Everyone knows that while this impure ice can partially block views, it barely blocks light, and if the angle is right, some places in the castle hall become the focal points of convex lenses due to the focus effect of the ice blocks: like my face this morning. This once again struck a heavy blow to my childhood fantasies about the beautiful ice and snow castles in fairy tales. To think that the Northern Witch sleeping in the Ice and Snow Castle wakes up to sunshine every morning made me feel like my childhood has almost been completely destroyed.

The two Half-Dragon Girls woke up early. By the time we woke up, the two of them had been stretching on the open ground in front of the porch for quite a while, sparring with each other as if practicing some kind of martial arts of this world. Seeing me come out, Sona waved her tail friendly: "Good morning, slept well yesterday."

My gaze fell on her tail, and it took me a moment to realize that this is how Half-Dragon People greet...

The two Half-Dragon Girls still wore their slightly provocative short leather clothes, with tiny sweat beads on them after their morning exercise, glistening in the slanted sunlight, emitting a wild aura. Shajina wiped the sweat from her face and lightly said, "One needs to keep fit while adventuring outside, unlike mages who don’t really move around."

Is she saying I slept in until the sun woke me up? The thing is, we have a War God named Yelsen still asleep inside at this time... And a Shield Maiden named Lin probably sleeps all the way till 9 a.m.

"The sky continent is gone!" Qianqian’s voice came from above. I looked up to see her somehow climbed up to the tower of the castle, pointing and shouting at me from afar, "Seems that thing called the Ancient City only stays for one day!"

"These Lost Worlds stay connected to the Mother Continent for a longer time, while the overlap between Lost Worlds usually lasts only one or two days," Sona explained next to me indifferently, "This should be common sense, don’t you travel with a Cycle Calendar?" I was stunned, thinking this question is really hard to answer. I’ve heard them mention the Cycle Calendar several times, but I never got the chance to ask for one to see it: what reason could I use to borrow a calendar and broaden my horizons?

Just as I was thinking how to phrase it, a tiny voice spoke straightforwardly from my chest, "Cycle Calendar? What’s a Cycle Calendar? Can you eat it?" Shajina, who had just walked by, suddenly jumped back over two meters: "What the heck is that?!"

I was stunned, then remembered Shajina hadn’t met Dingdang yet: This Little Thing has been jet-lagged since coming here. She started getting drowsy yesterday afternoon, and when Shajina and I met for the first time, she was already sound asleep, sleeping all the way until past midnight last night. She woke up and started bothering me, jumping around on my face, or rummaging all over me for sweets: this is also the true culprit of my sleeping in. Until now, this was the Little Thing’s first meeting with the two Half-Dragon Girls, and Shajina was frightened to suddenly see such a strange creature crawling out of me (why say "again"?).

"Dingdang, oh! It’s Dingdang here! Very powerful Dingdang!" The little guy popped out of my pocket, hovered in midair, friendly greeting the two Half-Dragon Girls, "Hello! Ah Jun, Dingdang is hungry, Dingdang wants food!"

I was curious where she put those sugar blocks, almost the same size as her, she found from me last night!

"Looks like it’s completely domesticated," Bingdisi wandered over and casually commented, then took a small piece of biscuit from her pocket and handed it to Dingdang. The little guy happily took it and started munching, just like a pet being fed.

"This little guy is called Dingdang, it’s my..." I was halfway through my sentence when Shajina shakily interrupted herself: "Is this your daughter or your wife?" I was dumbfounded immediately, then looked over with a dark face, "Which do you think is possible?"

Dingdang showed a thoughtful expression, stopping her munching on the cookie, and climbed up to shake my ear: "What is Dingdang to Ah Jun? It feels like ’friend’ isn’t intimate enough..." I gritted my teeth, glanced at Little Douding, and firmly said, "Pet!" Then the little one just said "Oh" and continued gnawing on the cookie. Honestly, this little dummy actually just "Oh’d," she really did!

Shajina was looking over here regretfully, muttering, "Why does weird stuff always show up around this guy..."

Just as I was about to say something, Bingdisi suddenly pointed off in the distance: "What is that? Is it leading to that Mother Continent thing?"

Following the direction of her finger, I saw at the far riverbank, at some point, a mirage-like scene had appeared. Numerous buildings and pedestrians materialized out of nowhere, and as time passed, these mirage-like landscapes quickly became vivid. Soon, we could see people carrying large packages or driving carriages starting to converge towards this direction, seemingly about to emerge from the "mirage." I quickly nudged Bingdisi’s arm: "Go wake up those two lazy pigs, 123 and Lin." Then I looked up and called to Qianqian sitting on the tower: "Girl! Retract the castle!"

The enormous Ice and Snow Castle vanished into thin air the same way it appeared. A hundred meters away, Yelsen was just being kicked awake by Bingdisi. Opening his eyes groggily, he immediately shouted, "Hey, what happened? Did someone demolish our house? Who’s so bold to even dare take down the temple while the gods are sleeping..." He didn’t finish his sentence as Monina, unable to bear her silly brother any longer, decisively shoved his head into the ground.

Sona blinked: "Mr. Yelsen just mentioned something about gods..."

Monina puffed her cheeks and ran over just in time to hear Sona’s comment, immediately responding, "Ignore my silly brother, most of the time treating him like a background prop won’t disrupt the plot at all." She then stuck her tongue out at me apologetically: "My brother tends to become a fool within the first five minutes of waking up. While others might have low blood pressure, he has low intelligence." I was left speechless: "..." You two supposedly have a good sibling relationship, yet you speak about your brother like that!

We quickly gathered our things and headed towards the riverbank with Shajina and the others, which was the intersection of the Mother Continent and this Ancient Garden. The two worlds converged incredibly along a crack about 20 kilometers long (as favorably measured by Sandora).

This merging phenomenon can be explained by a simplified model of a World Gate. The probe Sandora deployed showed that the two parallel spaces are currently at their theoretical closest point. At this "distance," the information and matter of the two worlds exchange unobstructedly, resulting in this large projected area by the riverbank. This zone stretches 20 kilometers long and about less than a kilometer wide. The scenery within appears to be a port-like area: close to us is a spacious plaza or a tourist goods transit zone, while further from us tall buildings can be seen, some exactly on the border of the merging area, creating an illusion of being "sliced in half." As we got closer, the natural hustle and bustle of a gathering crowd could be heard — goodness, after staying in this deserted Ancient Garden for two days, although the scenery here is nice, it’s monotonously dull, with not a single animal in sight for thousands of kilometers. Now encountering this crowd truly brings back some fond memories of human presence.

The projection has now stabilized and appears solidified. A large crowd gathered on the opposite plaza in groups, lining up in disorganized rows. Among them were people dressed like civilians, carrying various luggage like they’d missed a train, and others driving either ornate or simple carriages, waiting for clearance. While most of these people appeared to be human, there were quite a few visibly distinct races, the most noticeable being the "Half-Dragon People," similar to Shajina and her companions, with their lizard-like large tails standing out in the crowd. I noted one thing: the Half-Dragon People mostly carried massive amounts of luggage, which was obviously unnecessary for one individual’s use. This could only mean one thing: they were laborers — or at the very least, people who had to do hard labor to survive at this "port."

Other than that, there were bizarre races mixed in the crowd, like those with beastly features or dwarf giants, yet due to lack of knowledge and the sheer number of people making everything blur, I didn’t pay much attention.

The entrance from the "port" leading to the Ancient Garden was marked by a security line. A row of heavily armored soldiers was inspecting and permitting passage. I noticed everyone coming from the port had to show a small wooden board or card to the soldiers for clearance. Then I saw Shajina and Sona taking similar cards out of their bags: those things were passes.

I glanced at Sandora, and she knowingly nodded. Then a group of us followed Shajina and the others toward a special inspection point far off. There were no crowds on the opposite side of this checkpoint, and the soldiers guarding there were lazily stretching — it seems this "port" indeed has some sort of traffic control; those entering the "Lost World" and those returning must travel through different passages.

Seeing a group of people approaching, those soldiers finally perked up a bit. A man who looked like a low-ranking officer, without a helmet, mumbled as we got closer: "Returning from the Ancient Garden? At this time of year? That’s strange, you’ve been there for a month or something..."

"Explorers, Sona, and this one here is Shajina." Sona showed their permits to the soldier, who nodded in understanding: "Oh, you’re out exploring, no wonder, you must have come through from the Ancient City. The documents are fine, but they’re about to expire. If you don’t want to delay your next trip, go renew them quickly. You can go through, Lizard People."

Sona had just taken back the permits and immediately hissed loudly, "We’re Half-Dragon People!"

The verifying soldier glanced at Sona in surprise and shrugged indifferently: "Half-Dragon People, then Half-Dragon People. Hah, didn’t expect there are still such superstitious Lizard People—oh, Half-Dragon People. You’re good to go, if you don’t want any trouble."

Sona seemed a bit upset, but Shajina quickly tugged her, and the two swiftly walked through the checkpoint.

"Next... uh, are you a group?" The guard looked surprised at the big crowd in front of him. With a bunch of kids running around the adults’ legs, it was clear this was a massive group. The soldier counted our party and then pointed to Pandora and Visca, "These two girls also need permits, they’re above the height limit. If they don’t have them, go to the booth next to me and get one."

When the soldier pointed at the Pandora sisters, I thought it was going to be troublesome. But in the next moment, the situation turned completely opposite. The two Shorties heard "above the height limit" and lit up like they’d just seen a banquet after being starved for three days. Pandora and Visca immediately released my coat and proudly walked to the front, clearly trying to present themselves as height-above-standard adults. Especially Pandora, who, though expressionless, was tilting her head almost parallel to the sky—hey, you two are overreacting!

"What’s with these two kids?" The soldier looked in shock at the Pandora sisters, who were almost glowing with delight. But before he could say anything more, Sandora stepped forward, waved a bunch of paper in front of him, and said, "We can go through."

The soldier was startled and nodded obediently: "Yes, you can go through."

A soldier nearby seemed puzzled: "But sir, haven’t you checked..." "They can go through." The checking guard waved impatiently, silencing the subordinate immediately.

Shajina and the others were waiting ahead, and when they saw us get through the checkpoint, they came over in disbelief, pointing at the stack of poker cards in Sandora’s hand: "You used this to pass?!" They had seen poker cards: last night 123 was playing cards with Uncle Kenser.

"Checkpoints and tolls are the arch-enemies of road trips," Bingdisi casually replied while looking around, "If you go out and don’t even know how to dodge tolls, it’s a waste of the word ’dodge’."

"Though I don’t understand, it definitely sounds fishy," Shajina pursed her lips, "We’re staying in the Town Square zone for a few days; we’ve got a temporary resting place here. What are your plans? Continue on, or stay with us? I’m fine with either."

"Is this a subtle way to say we’re being kicked out?" I laughed, glancing at Shajina, but before she could answer, Sona quickly waved her hand: "Don’t mind her, Shajina’s just straightforward. We need to rest a bit after coming back and sell some materials we found in the ruins and Lost World, so for now, we can’t stay with you. If you’re staying in the city for a few more days, you can come find us. We live in the Dark Alley District, right across from the central sculpture, and might stay until the next Miracle Day..."

Sona gave us an address, which I probably would not find, but I remembered it anyway. Then, we temporarily parted ways with the two Half-Dragon girls. Next, we’ll go meet up with my sister and the others. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Seems like they don’t really mind us anymore." Qianqian mumbled, watching the backs of Shajina and Sona as they left.

"No kidding, this piece of Wood has over forty affinities, especially with that nice-guy smile. Who could hate him," Lin Xue gave me a gentle kick, "Make sure to keep an eye on him on this trip, if he ends up liking girls with scales and tails, we’ll be at a loss."

I hadn’t even spoken when Lin timidly raised her hand: "Um... please don’t be prejudiced against girls with scales, okay?"

Oh, this girl is hilarious...

Yesterday, Lilina had already found out about the intersection point between the Mother Continent and the Ancient Garden and arrived at this special "Port." So when the spiritual connection was established, I immediately received a message from my sister. She told me to stay put and wait for her to come: Her tone was exactly like when she used to instruct me not to wander off after school and wait for her to pick me up, leaving me helpless.

While waiting for my sister, I curiously observed the surrounding buildings and street scenes. As one of the time-space nodes where the Mother Continent and Lost World intersect, it should be one of the larger cities in this world, though its prosperity can’t compare to Earth’s people-packed "human cages." Most of the buildings around are less than four stories high, primarily made of white stone blocks and neatly cut timber, though quite primitive materials, the precision of execution and meticulous decoration showed this world, lacking industrialization, had its own remarkable technical skills. Most of the rooftops are painted red or blue, and the distance between buildings is orderly, with broad stone-paved streets lined with well-organized stalls and seemingly purposeless city structures. This indicates that the city is built according to a clear plan—when I heard Shajina’s story and thought of poor orphaned kids like Vanilla, I didn’t have a good initial impression of this world’s civilization. But now, it’s slightly improved. Perhaps there are unpleasant aspects like slavery and racial strife here, but overall, this peculiar world built on an unstable spatial structure is pretty orderly.

Just then, a loud shout suddenly interrupted my rambling thoughts from behind: "Hey! Boss! Here! We’re right here!"

I turned around to see Lilina, festooned in flamboyant trinkets, and next to her, my Big Sister looking utterly resigned.

Of course, there was also the Silly Bird, letting out a "Quack!" as it bounced into a flying pounce...

(Today is my birthday. I originally planned to take a break to celebrate and as a sort of holiday, but I suddenly found that I have a terminal condition of "not updating will die," so I had to update... Speaking of which, having a birthday alone is really boring...)(To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)