Nina had never expected this to happen - she had imagined that some changes might occur after Mr. Morris touched the light curtain, such as something running out of the light curtain, or the surrounding environment being turned upside down. She even imagined a loud bang, and Uncle Duncan and the entire Lost Homeland falling from the sky, but she had never expected this to happen.

This light curtain that seems to be the "wall of silence" will burst silently like a soap bubble.

The majestic wall of light that formed the barrier shattered into pieces, the structure that once supported heaven and earth dissipated into dust in the blink of an eye.

At the moment the barrier shattered and disappeared, it seemed that the entire forest fell into a short period of stillness, and then a second later, the fog in the forest began to flow again - Nina finally reacted and ran to her teacher in three or two steps.

"Mr. Morris!" she cried in surprise. "Are you all right? How did this thing suddenly ..."

"I don't know..." Morris was obviously a little confused. This old scholar who usually seemed calm, reliable and elegant seemed a little at a loss. The corners of his mouth trembled, and his mind inexplicably remembered the seven rules of archaeology that his teacher Rune taught him when he was studying at the Academy of Truth many years ago -

First, don’t touch anything.

Second, handle the environment with care;

Third, don’t touch things;

Fourth, don’t jump to conclusions;

Fifth, don’t touch things randomly;

Sixth, respect the traces of civilization;

Seventh, don't touch anything...〗

The old man lowered his head and looked at his hands in confusion. After many years, he finally had the feeling again that "this must not be let the teacher know."

But soon, the messy thoughts in his mind were interrupted by Nina's sudden low exclamation beside him.

"Ah——" Nina couldn't help but exclaimed softly. At the edge of the shattered light curtain, in the mist that continued to flow out of the forest, she widened her eyes and looked at the distance - the place that was once shrouded by the "Wall of Silence".

Morris subconsciously raised his head and followed Nina's gaze.

It was a dim sky, a turbid sky, and a chaotic fog covering everything. It was the end of the forest, where vast mountains and hills connected. In the endless fog, the outlines of huge objects gradually emerged.

At first, Morris thought it was a mountain, a strange, jagged, twisted mountain.

Later he discovered that it was a tree, a giant tree that was almost torn into pieces, with its remains covering the ground in a twisted and tangled manner, making it almost impossible to imagine its original appearance.

The tree canopy that once covered the entire plain has collapsed, the trunk has broken and collapsed, and the lush green has long since faded from it, as if it had been burned by a raging fire. Only twisted branches that look like hideous skeletons are left, pointing strangely and ruggedly towards the sky.

There, the giant branches were like towers, the stumps were like cities, and the terrifying debris formed a doomsday wilderness. Ashes and dust like bones filled every inch of the earth, splashing a pale wilderness around the giant tree - Maurice and Nina stood on the edge of this extinct country, as if standing on the border of the end of the world, looking at the ancient day of destruction.

A breeze blew from the ashes, stirring up a fine, pale ash that mixed with the mist from the forest and swirled around Maurice and Nina.

In the disorderly wind, Nina seemed to hear someone whispering beside her - the voice sounded a little familiar:

"…Because she knew from the beginning that the Wall of Silence could not save anyone. She was just a small sapling. When that day came, all she could give them was a beautiful bubble…"

Nina opened her eyes slightly and instantly looked in the direction where the sound came from.

But there was no one there, only a small tree.

A thin little tree, quietly rooted in the dust and ashes, its trunk and branches grew upward in a crooked manner, while the branches at the edge drooped down, swaying left and right in the breeze. It looked like... the tree that Shirley mentioned, that Shireen turned into in the end.

Any tree in the Nameless Man's dream is taller and stronger than this one.

Nina slowly came to the small tree. After hesitating for a long time, she took a step forward, put her hand on its trunk, and asked tentatively: "Shirin?"

The little tree didn't speak, only the branches hanging down from the edge of the crown swayed in the wind.

The whisper that just came into my ears seemed like an illusion, and what came from my fingertips was nothing more than the rough and hard touch of the bark.

However, Nina couldn't help imagining how the elf girl, who had taken herself and Mr. Morris on a long journey and finally returned home excitedly in the mist of the Wall of Silence, had passed through the border of the dense forest, passed through the tomb of light, and then came to the edge of this land of ashes, and quietly turned into a tree in this place where she could overlook the ruins of Silantis.

"Nina, look over here."

Morris's voice suddenly came from not far away, interrupting her wandering thoughts.

Nina suddenly woke up, immediately came to Morris' side, and looked in the direction of the teacher's finger.

More small trees appeared in her field of vision—at the edge of the remains of the giant tree, on the boundary between the ash and dust land and the forest, at this border of doomsday, one small tree after another was lined up in sequence, as if guarding the ashes and debris.

Or perhaps it is guarding the lush forest beyond the wreckage that was outlined in dreams.

The entire ruins are covered with countless of these nameless small trees.

A breeze blew, and the small trees swayed their branches, making a very subtle sound that made it difficult to tell whether it was the wind or the trees.

Nina stared at this scene in a daze. After an unknown amount of time, she couldn't help but mutter to herself: "So many... these are all Xilin..."

Morris did not speak. The old scholar just quietly looked at the small trees that were lined up around the wreckage of Silantis. Then, as if he had thought of something, he came to a nearby earthen slope, looked in the direction he and Nina had come from, and looked at the vast dense forest in the distance.

The fog escaped from the dense forest and mixed with the ash and dust above the plain, outlining a hazy "border".

He came down the slope and came to Nina with a thoughtful look on his face.

Nina noticed the look on her teacher's face: "Mr. Morris, did you notice anything?"

"...I have a bold guess - 'Shilin' is the Wall of Silence." Morris said in a deep voice.

Nina was a little dazed.

"Silantis created the Silent Wall and gave it the mission of protecting the elves, but this is an impossible task, and it seems that the 'creator' Siantis knew this from the beginning - but the Silent Wall has been carrying out this order," Morris said with a serious expression. "I just observed the scene at the edge of the forest and confirmed that those 'nameless small trees' are arranged along the boundary between the forest and the ruins, and there is a subtle pattern in the arrangement, like some kind of... array, rather than a random natural distribution. This is a sign of careful design."

"Then..." Nina hesitated for a moment and couldn't help asking, "But we are not elves..."

"But this is not the real Silantis or the 'Original Dream' either," Morris shook his head and said, "Don't forget, this is just the 'Dream of the Nameless'."

Nina was startled when she heard this, and immediately understood the deep meaning of the teacher's words.

This is just the dream of the nameless.

In the era described in the ancient mythology of the elves, the great demon "Sasloka" who created the world in dreams, and the world tree "Silantis" that protected the elves in dreams, were actually active long before the deep sea era.

That era ended long ago—in the Great Oblivion.

What is now appearing in Breeze Harbor is nothing more than a large-scale anomaly caused by the malfunction of the sun and the approach of "dusk", an "echo" that is suspected to have remained in the memory of the elven race.

Silantis and the Wall of Silence in "Echo" will treat every individual who enters this forest with good intentions as an "elf".

Because they died many, many years ago - before any intelligent race other than elves appeared in this world.

"So what should we do next?" Nina asked.

Morris did not answer immediately. Instead, he calmed down and communicated with the captain in his heart. He reported everything that happened here and waited patiently.

※※※

Duncan was a little confused.

At this moment, he was still staying with Agatha at the bottom of the "Dreamland Lost Homeland", studying the huge spine of the ancient god, hoping to find some useful information related to the "Great Demon God Sasloka" here, or to unearth more secrets of the "Dreamland Lost Homeland" itself.

He didn't expect that during the time when he wasn't paying attention, Morris and Nina's team actually came up with such a shocking thing.

They broke through the Wall of Silence, saw the truth inside the Wall of Silence, and even... saw Silendis which had turned into wreckage.

Duncan felt a little unreal in his trance.

The "witch" and the illiterate group were still wandering in the forest, the sports student was still eating dirt alone in the desert, but the historian had already taken his students to the center of the map and dug out the graves of the ancient gods.

There's a kind of excitement that comes from sending out two investigators at the beginning, and three rounds later finding Cthulhu lying dead at the door.

Duncan shook his head, temporarily putting aside the random thoughts that suddenly popped up in his mind.

Morris is still waiting for his instructions.

He raised his head and looked at the dark and foggy space around him.

Sasloka's spine extended under his feet. This fragmented ancient god seemed to be conveying some information to him in this way. Even the Lost Homeland built on the spine of this ancient god... seemed to be doing its best to show its "memory".

Duncan exhaled slightly.

"Go closer to that 'ruin'," he said in his mind, "and investigate Silantis."