Fog.

Coast of Japan.

The strong wind swept the waves, rolling and howling under the dead silent sky. In the chaotic fog, a little light vaguely emerged.

It was a ship. The hull was not big and was shaking violently among the waves. On the bow, a graceful figure wearing a dark blue Han robe and holding a slender black box stood there quietly. No matter how the waves hit the deck, she remained motionless like a rock.

The sea water flowed back into the sea along the deck, but the girl's body was not wet at all. She didn't even look at the sea water. She just stared at the fog in front of her. At the end of the fog, the vague outline of the land was looming.

Wu Xiangnan stood in the cabin, controlling the hull while looking at the girl standing at the bow with a helpless expression.

"This girl... is really desperate."

He glanced at the sea chart beside him. Now they were about to cross this sea area and enter the range of Japanese land. The meeting place with the Shangxie Society mentioned by Zuo Qing should be nearby...

Just as Wu Xiangnan was carefully observing his surroundings, a red dot suddenly lit up on the screen and approached the ship from a distance at an astonishing speed!

Its speed was too fast, completely exceeding the speed of any sea vehicle, and even less like that of a human. Wu Xiangnan turned his head to look in the direction where the red dot came from, and saw a white arrow-like shadow approaching rapidly in the rolling waves!

Bow.

Galan, who was looking into the distance, seemed to have noticed something. He frowned, and the slender black box in his hand suddenly opened, and a golden spear popped out of it!

She grasped the spear, her body flashed, and she rushed to the other side of the deck in an instant. She suddenly stabbed in the direction where the white shadow came from. A thick golden beam of light shot out and pierced through the deep sea!

boom--!!!

A huge column of water burst out, and the waves directly lifted the hull. After a brief pause in the air, it fell heavily on the sea surface.

Amid the violent shaking, Galan still tightly grasped the golden spear in his hand, his eyes fixed on the sea.

In the past two years that she has been wandering alone in the fog, she has encountered these "mysterious" attacks from the bottom of the sea almost every day. Now, dealing with this sudden crisis has become an instinct ingrained in her bones.

At the same time, a white figure emerged from the waves and stood in mid-air above the sea level. His slightly curly golden hair swayed gently in the wind. He held a Western knight's sword in his hand and was confronting Galan who was standing on the bow of the ship.

Galan saw the man's appearance clearly and a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes.

Not a "mystery"? A person?

White skin, golden curly hair, blue pupils, high nose bridge... Doesn't this look like a Daxia person?

Westerner?

Just when Jia Lan was confused, that person spoke first, and his tone seemed very dissatisfied:

"Hey, what are you doing? I was almost stabbed by your gun!"

The blond-haired, blue-eyed white man spoke standard Chinese, even with a bit of a Northeastern accent, which sounded a bit out of place.

Galan stood there in a daze.

"You are the night watchmen from Daxia, right?" The man glanced at Wu Xiangnan who walked out of the cabin and continued, "I am the sixth special envoy of the Shangxie Society, codenamed [Knight], and I serve as the 'sentinel' for the destruction of the 'human circle' in Takama-ga-hara, Japan."

Our own people...

Jia Lan silently put down the golden spear in his hand and said apologetically: "I'm sorry... I... I'm used to it."

She paused, "I am Jia Lan, a member of the fifth special team of the Daxia Night Watch."

"Daxia's night watchman, Wu Xiangnan."

Wu Xiangnan walked to the bow and extended his hand apologetically, "I'm sorry, because you were so fast, we thought you were the attacking 'Mystery'."

The knight shrugged, stretched out his hand and shook it with him, and said helplessly: "Forget it, forget it, as long as we meet up safely."

"Come on, let's go to the cabin and talk."

The three of them walked into the cabin and sat down at the round table. The knight looked around curiously, as if he was very curious about the furnishings inside the ship. "Did you sail directly here from Daxia?"

"yes."

"Daxia..." A look of longing appeared in his eyes, "It's the only free place in the world. I've wanted to go see it for a long time."

"You are not from Daxia?"

"No, I was a slave in the 'Human Circle' in London. Later, the president led his men to blow up the 'Human Circle', and I regained my freedom. After that, I joined the Shangxie Society and started working for the president."

“So your Chinese is so good?”

"Before joining the Shangxie Society, everyone must receive Chinese language training. I also learned it at that time." The knight smiled.

When Jia Lan heard this, he couldn't help but ask in confusion: "What exactly is the 'human circle'?"

The knight looked at him, put down the cup in his hand, and asked a question, "Do you know what the Kingdom of God is?"

“It is the abode of the gods.”

"That's right." The knight nodded and explained seriously, "The Kingdom of God is the residence of the gods and the main source of their power. What supports the existence of the Kingdom of God is faith.

Faith comes from human beings and also from the myths and legends that are circulated in the world.

After the fog fell, most of the gods' kingdoms in the world sacrificed their land and people in order to protect themselves, but they would also deliberately retain a part of the human race and keep them in a special place. Because once all their citizens died, their bloodlines and myths and legends that had been passed down for thousands of years would be lost, and the power of faith they could mobilize would be greatly reduced.

The ‘Human Circle’ is where they keep humans captive, spread divine glory, collect faith, and allow them to reproduce.”

Galan pondered for a moment, "Similar to... a farm for raising humans?"

"That's understandable." The knight nodded, "Different kingdoms of God use different containers to hold 'human circles'.

Some gods set aside a separate area in the kingdom of God as a place to keep humans in captivity, but this method is relatively low-end, because the number of humans that can be accommodated is very limited, and the geographical scope is also restricted, and it will cause dissatisfaction among other gods... just like you wouldn't want your bed to be next to a pigsty.

Some kingdoms of God use some kind of divine artifact as a carrier and place all the surviving humans in this artifact, like a fish tank, allowing them to form a kind of circulating world of their own. This method can accommodate a large population and allow them to operate on their own without the need for God to manage them.

The saddest thing about this second type of "human circle" is that the humans living in this container may not even realize that they have become the captive party. When they are alive, they may not notice anything...

But once they die, what awaits them is eternal torment.”

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