The sun slanted westward, and Фэн Юань and his companions found nothing of great value in the mountain forests. Although they had some clues, the presence behind these clues remained elusive, whether because the target was avoiding them or some other reasons. With Veronia’s help, Фэн Юань’s group quickly returned to the place they had gotten off the vehicle.
Due to delays on the road, the sun had completely set by now. Fortunately, the driver was an experienced one, so there was no danger of driving at night on the rugged mountain road. However, as they passed by the third village along the mountain road, Фэн Юань furrowed his eyebrows and took a look at the map.
In fact, the place where they got off was not very far from Jin Sha City, but because this road first loops away from the Hu’er Mara Desert before heading towards Jin Sha City, they actually traveled several times the direct distance.
"I didn’t notice before, but these villages unexpectedly spread outward from the center of Hu’er Mara Desert, which is quite strange."
Looking at the villages marked on the map, Фэн Юань furrowed his brow again. With the current electronic map alone, he couldn’t find any useful information because, although the villages near Jin Sha City seemed to be built around the Hu’er Mara Desert, in reality, they were not too far from Jin Sha City—most were located where they are due to geographical advantages.
However, knowing that the forested area was intentionally altered by the Духовные звери, Фэн Юань wondered if there was something amiss with this distribution. Thinking about it, he made a call to the archaeological team. The driver in front overheard Фэн Юань’s conversation and couldn’t help saying after he hung up,
"If you want to know about the nearby villages, I do know of some news, or rather, this isn’t exactly a secret in our Jin Sha City. Those villages could be said to have been built entirely around the current boundaries of Hu’er Mara Desert.
Of course, the strange part isn’t there but in the construction time of these villages—it was more than a thousand years ago. Although not all the original villages have been completely preserved, the earliest batches can still be traced back.
Sigh, it’s said that the people who originally established the villages could foresee the changes of Hu’er Mara Desert in the future, thus accurately placing the villages at the desert’s edge. To speak of it, the Hu’er Mara Desert seems to have stopped shrinking several hundred years ago, but before that, these villages went through transitions from desert to the current forested areas."
Upon hearing the driver’s words, Veronia’s gaze sharpened. Prophecy? Compared to the possibility of that, she believed it was the doing of the Духовные звери behind the scenes, but what exactly were they trying to accomplish?
During that period, humans were entirely inferior to Духовные звери in combat power. Putting them at the forefront seemed unreliable and besides...
"This information is quite important; perhaps this is related to the mysterious Духовный зверь. But why, why would they choose to settle in this place?"
Touching his chin, Фэн Юань said while looking at the map. The driver, cautiously guiding the car, spoke up,
"Needless to say, this place has experienced less warfare compared to others. For ordinary people like us, peace is more important than anything, and aside from sandstorm threats, there aren’t any other dangers."
"Oh! Almost!"
Perhaps due to being distracted by the conversation, the driver reacted a little late and almost drove the car off the road on a sharp bend. He dared not become distracted again, as he understood that compared to previous parts of the road, this section was very difficult; a lapse could easily lead to an accident because this last segment of road, constructed after the founding of the Great Xia, was filled with numerous sharp twists and turns.
Touching his chin, Фэн Юань was not frightened by the recent narrow escape. At this moment, the archaeological team had already helped him retrieve the town evolution map of Jin Sha City and allocated access to his account.
Pulling up town evolution information stored at Jin Sha City’s historical archive center, Фэн Юань saw that villages had begun to appear starting from the Golden Feather Dynasty. Indeed, the initial batch was close to the modern edges of Hu’er Mara Desert.
It could be said those villages and Jin Sha City alike stood at the edge, where one could see the rolling yellow sands.
Other villages started from this edge and gradually expanded outward until Jin Sha Ancient City emerged, and the villages farthest from the desert began to be abandoned. Despite that, those closest to Hu’er Mara Desert remained strong.
Retrieving the corresponding files, Фэн Юань noted that aside from wartime accidents, the initial villages were not actively abandoned. In contrast, many villages further from Hu’er Mara Desert were abandoned when Jin Sha Ancient City was established, due to villagers collectively leaving.
The emergence of Jin Sha Ancient City seemed not to affect the villages near Hu’er Mara Desert negatively. Even after Jin Sha City was formed, many young people moved into the city from those villages but didn’t relocate completely, instead opting to develop specialty agricultural products or tourist leisure areas after earning money.
’Hard to leave one’s native land?’ Maybe, but it seemed not just because of that.
Furthermore, Фэн Юань also pulled up Jin Sha City’s surrounding road construction plans. Since they had to ensure the preservation of wild Духовный зверь habitats, the village roads, though improved several times, remained quite difficult to travel. Despite such obstacles, those villages still managed to thrive...
Veronia reverted to her original form, floating on Rainbow Bubbles behind Фэн Юань as she watched the data he retrieved, looking puzzled. She could also guess the purpose behind Фэн Юань’s examination, and shared his thoughts.
The anomalies of these villages must be related to the mysterious Духовный зверь, but what was the reason for such actions?
Gathering numerous Духовные звери might be intended for dealing with dangers within Hu’er Mara Desert, but during the Golden Feather Dynasty, most humans actually lacked the power to rival Духовные звери.
Moreover, recorded villagers had no special traits. As for attracting rulers’ shelter through such means?
Sorry, during the Dynasty Era, not only were these villages unremarkable, even Jin Sha Ancient City didn’t hold much significance for them—if destroyed, they’d send people to rebuild and investigate. If the attackers were weak, they’d retaliate, but if the attackers were strong, they’d heartlessly pretend not to see.
It was precisely due to this that Jin Sha Ancient City, near the Dynasty Era’s end, was reduced to the status of Jin Sha Town. If not for the later development into Jin Sha City by the Great Xia, it might have further dwindled to a large village.
Фэн Юань and Veronia couldn’t decipher the hidden truths behind this, but Фэн Юань decided to both consult the driver about local legends and prepare the information to pass on to the archaeological team.
After all, their analytical capacity was strong, and the more people analyzing massive data sets, the better. By this time, the car had left the village road, and as the driver sighed in relief, he couldn’t help but continue to flaunt the various rumors he knew to Фэн Юань.
Upon dropping Фэн Юань off at Jin Sha Academy’s entrance, the driver made arrangements with Фэн Юань, exchanging contact information in case Фэн Юань needed a vehicle again.
"Are you starving?"
Gently patting Xiao Ji beside him, Фэн Юань smiled and said. Xiao Ji glanced at Фэн Юань, shook its head, spread its wings, and let out a worried chirp. Veronia chuckled lightly, saying,
"It doesn’t feel hungry itself; instead, it’s worried about what you’ll have for dinner~"
"Dinner... I wonder if the Jin Sha Academy cafeteria is still open at this hour. If not, I’ll grab some ingredients from Kong Qing and make something myself."
Фэн Юань scratched his head and said; even if the academy cafeteria had closed, he didn’t mind. Aside from convenience foods, he had stocked up a lot of ingredients from Kong Qing and Да Мао, so except for needing to wait a bit longer, there was no problem.
Upon learning Фэн Юань had returned, Ци Чэнь and Dou Yanlan hurried over to see him. Looking at Фэн Юань and Veronia beside him, Ци Чэнь couldn’t help asking,
"Where did you go today? Have you discovered something again?"
"Well, I did—but it’s still discoveries without answers. Overall, it’s quite troublesome."
After thinking about it, Фэн Юань said беспомощно. Although he could infer quite a bit, he remained clueless about what that mysterious Духовный зверь was intending or doing.
"Have you eaten? Would you like to grab some food from Jin Yue Street nearby?"
"Jin Yue Street?"
Upon hearing Ци Чэнь’s words, Фэн Юань froze. Ци Чэнь looked at Фэн Юань and sighed, saying,
"The snack street near Jin Sha Academy usually operates until one or two in the morning."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go quickly~"
Фэн Юань’s eyes lit up as he said excitedly.

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