Lordman City, an ancient city forged from steel— or rather, for various reasons, Coletos is unlike most countries where old cities are demolished and rebuilt.
Just like Maomu City. In fact, Maomu City hasn’t necessarily existed for a shorter ti than Lordman City, but because it’s been constantly renovated and rebuilt, Maomu City looks like an ordinary modern city.
Lordman City is different. Most cities in Coletos adhere to the idea of "patch it up and keep using it." In this city, you can see buildings from different eras.
Because the snowfield region has seen relatively little warfare, those buildings are rarely completely destroyed. For the sa reason, this has ford Coletos’s unique architectural style.
Here, you can walk down a single street and see buildings from different periods and in different styles coexisting. Ti has left them in varying states of preservation. From a tourist’s perspective, it’s a novel experience, but living here is another matter.
The consequence of endless patching and repairing is that the streets of the whole city are extrely narrow. In fact, in the three major old districts of Lordman City, the oldest—Snow God District—even forbids bicycles.
For no other reason than this: Snow God District is the oldest, and its roads are the narrowest. Even pedestrians feel crowded passing through, so naturally there’s no space for ans of transport.
The three old districts as a whole prohibit vehicles from entering— or rather, in all five major districts of Lordman City, aside from the Alliance District, the others are so constrained by their antiquated planning that most vehicles are essentially banned.
Only the Northern Emperor District has streets that are relatively wide, so official vehicles are allowed to pass through.
Strolling down the streets of Lordman City, Feng Yuan kept scrutinizing the houses around him. Perhaps because large amounts of steel reinforcents had been used, these buildings, despite the long years they’d weathered, were still relatively intact.
Of course, these buildings had in fact been rebuilt many tis, but each ti, their external appearance hadn’t changed much.
"This environnt really takes so getting used to. It’s fine for sightseeing, but actually living here feels like it’d be a real hassle."
Glancing at the main street that could only accommodate three or four people walking abreast, Feng Yuan couldn’t help sighing. Lordman City didn’t really get many tourists, so although the streets weren’t wide, at least the group hadn’t gotten stuck in a crowd.
Veronia walked along under her parasol and said,
"Maybe people here are already used to it."
"In terms of architectural style, though, there don’t seem to be any traces of the Mythical Era here."
"Of course not. I don’t think they’d be arrogant enough to flaunt it so openly. Still, there should be so traces in Snow God District, right? Although in theory, the New Emperor District is actually the most likely place."
Sweeping his gaze around, Feng Yuan said irritably. Snow God District was where the earliest city had been founded; the other districts had been added over ti.
The New Emperor District had been established more or less right before and after that super blizzard. For Coletos, that period marked the important transition of royal power from the traditional queens to the new emperors.
From then on, the throne of Coletos was no longer inherited by the direct bloodline of the queens, but chosen from within the Twelve Families.
As for the later districts, it was basically a similar story. Coletos had a long history, but its internal political system had been altered many tis.
The naming of each district was generally tied to these changes of regi. Only Snow God was different— it was the oldest district, unrelated to any Coletos regi.
According to Coletos legend, when they first founded Coletos, it was connected to the Snow God. It’s just that the later records beca so jumbled that ordinary people can no longer know the specific reasons.
Feng Yuan could have asked Agunas to dig out that information, but he was too lazy. The relationship between Coletos and the Snow God had absolutely nothing to do with what they needed to do.
"Why do you think it’s in Snow God District? The ti gap between that area and when Kastantos first made contact with Coletos is too large. Isn’t the New Emperor District more suspicious?"
Agunas looked at Feng Yuan in puzzlent. In its view, the New Emperor District was the most likely place to have left traces.
"If even you think that way, don’t you think they’d have considered it too, if they wanted to hide sothing? Besides, because Snow God District is old enough, even back when the New Emperor District was being built, they were constantly renovating and rebuilding it. I don’t think they’d have the free ti to inspect every single household."
Spreading his hands, Feng Yuan spoke. If their opponents had no intention of hiding their existence, it wouldn’t matter. But if they did want to hide, the buildings in the New Emperor District would obviously be their first priority for cleanup.
As for Snow God District?
When residents rebuilt their own hos, it was impossible for soone to be watching all the ti. The chance of sothing slipping through the net was actually much higher.
Of course, that’s assuming those traces had survived into the present.
"It feels like treasure-hunting logic, but sohow sothing about it seems off."
Veronia looked at Feng Yuan suspiciously. She kept feeling that sothing was wrong, but couldn’t pinpoint exactly what. Tamur swayed its body slightly and said,
"How can you be sure those traces have lasted this long? If it’s sothing like a diary, how do you know where it is?"
"That’s where you co in. As Divine Beasts of ti, you should be able to locate and scan items from a specific period, right? Use a projection of the World of Mirrors and temporarily transfer everyone into the World of Mirrors. That way, no matter how big a commotion we make, no one will notice."
Smiling, Feng Yuan spoke. Agunas stared at him, speechless. Was this guy cutting loose just because they weren’t in Great Xia?
This plan was certainly viable, but...
Agunas’s thods naturally involved quite a bit of noise, but if paired with Veronia’s World of Mirrors to transfer people into a false Mirror Image World, it shouldn’t cause too much public disturbance.
It was just that the City Defense Army would definitely notice.
"It’s doable, but I can’t guarantee we’ll evade the City Defence Army’s inspections."
Spinning the parasol in her hand, Veronia said. Feng Yuan glanced at Agunas and replied,
"Just give them a heads-up. It’s only a simple screening anyway. Tell them we’re looking for sothing."
Feng Yuan didn’t think they’d refuse. As long as the Divine Beasts had sufficient reason, humans generally wouldn’t try to stop them.
What’s more, their actions this ti were ant to investigate the Kastantos Remnants, who might pose a threat to world safety. Even Milos Lulu, the Divine Beast behind Coletos, wouldn’t object.
As long as it didn’t affect ordinary people’s lives.
Agunas glanced at Feng Yuan, flicked its tail, and said nothing. The plan Feng Yuan proposed was indeed the most convenient route. Otherwise, slowly searching—given Lordman City’s situation—no one knew how long the investigation would take.
At the very least, Feng Yuan wasn’t expecting to find anything suspicious just from the exterior of the buildings. That was not only unreliable, but unrealistic.
Agunas went to talk to the City Defense Army about it. They’d initially intended to refuse, but under the collective request of the Divine Beasts, they finally agreed—on the condition that ordinary people’s lives not be disrupted, and that no one’s property be damaged at will.
Agunas naturally agreed to this. They only wanted to find things related to the Kastantos Remnants; they had no intention of doing anything else.
The Mirror Image World unfolded under the boost of the pitch-black Ancient Book. With Feng Yuan’s participation, the Mirror Image World perfectly replaced the original space of the Snow God District. The people inside didn’t even notice that they’d already been relocated.
Hexagonal crystals tiled together to form a hemispherical Protective Shield that enveloped this ancient district. Veronia looked at Agunas and said,
"All done. It’s your turn now."
Agunas tossed the book in its hand. Aurora light spread outward from Agunas as the center, continuously radiating in all directions. Wherever the light passed, every inch of ground was scanned, and all items tied to the marked era were lit up by the aurora.
"There’s quite a lot, and many of them are in hidden spaces. You guessed right— in Snow God District, there are indeed many things connected to that period."
Agunas turned to Feng Yuan as it spoke. The aurora was still spreading, but the items that needed investigation had already been marked.
"Don’t ignore the obvious spots just because of that. There might be a ’blind spot under the lamp.’ Forget it, we’ll just take our ti. Let’s split up."
Glancing at Agunas and the others, Feng Yuan spoke. Xiao Ji and the rest would of course have to stick with him; even Big Cat didn’t have the ability to conduct an independent investigation.
It wasn’t that Big Cat couldn’t understand or would be careless. It was simply that Big Cat couldn’t guarantee putting everything back perfectly after taking items out for inspection.
After all, what they were doing was technically against the rules. Feng Yuan was only going this far for the sake of convenience.
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