Secalia.

An ordinary agricultural town in the northeast of the stars. You can't even find this place on the map. The name comes from Lord Sekariya, who opened up this land thousands of years ago. This unknown nobleman multiplied and thrived in this place, which made this land populated. If you want to trace your bloodline, 80% of the residents have the blood of that lord flowing in their veins.

It was not until half a year ago that this agricultural town was registered in the latest star map. Before that, even the most detailed military map would only record that there were continuous fields here, as if the fields could grow food on their own.

At dawn, Martha had already gotten up and folded her quilt. Perhaps because of her age, she had been sleeping less and less in the past year, and sometimes she would lie quietly in bed until dawn. She went outside to fetch well water to wash. Although there was running water, well water was free.

The air was slightly cool. Martha mixed coarse grains and concentrated feed, and went to feed the chickens with food and water bowls. After preparing breakfast for the chickens, she watered the kudzu, and occasionally she would use the tenderer leaves of the kudzu to cook.

Then she drank a glass of light salt water, put on a light coat and a pair of clean running shoes, and stepped into the morning mist.

It was not the busy farming season, nor was it factory opening time, so there were few people on the road, only the occasional barking of dogs. Although it was an agricultural town, Secalia was no different from a rural village. Apart from two grocery stores, there were basically no other facilities, and fresh produce had to be purchased at the market an hour away.

When Martha ran past the grocery store, a middle-aged man sitting outside who seemed to have been drinking all night shouted something drunken at her that no one could understand, but his friend next to him immediately pulled him back and they both laughed. Martha was used to this and ignored them, jogging around the field, but it took more than half an hour until she ran to the highway entrance before turning back.

This road was only connected to Secalia six years ago. Before that, you had to walk half an hour on a dirt road to get to the nearest road. When she returned, the sky did not get brighter, but darker. Martha thought it was going to rain. Sure enough, it started to drizzle as soon as she got home. She quickly put the clothes that were drying outside into the inner room and closed the chicken coop to prevent the chicks from running out. After all the work, she was soaked all over and couldn't help sneezing.

Martha was so nervous that she quickly changed into a set of dry clothes and made a cup of hot tea. She prepared breakfast after her body was warm. Two eggs, a box of milk, three slices of bread, chicken breast and banana. To be honest, Martha didn't have much appetite. She had always had a bad stomach and usually preferred vegetables, but she still forced herself to finish this breakfast.

In the past, she would have gone to work in the factory by this time. Although her daughter had repeatedly advised her to quit her job, Martha did not feel tired at all. She had been working for decades and could do it with her eyes closed. What was tiring? What was the point of staying at home all day? She might as well chat with her fellow workers.

She knew her daughter wanted her to enjoy life, but her time was worthless anyway, so why not exchange it for some money?

Drinking hot tea to digest her food, Martha looked at the rain outside, and the dark clouds flooded the sky like a tide. It would never rain at this time of year in previous years, but the weather changed after the collapse of the sky. The temperature no longer changed every three months, and the sowing time, the types of crops, the harvest season, etc. Martha once thought that the world would never change, and the life she had been accustomed to for ten years was completely changed by the collapse of the sky.

But the collapse of the sky changed not only the world, but also her life.

It was raining outside and she couldn't exercise, so Martha had to postpone her morning exercise plan to the afternoon. She put on her glasses and opened the miracle bracelet, and a message popped up.

She squinted her eyes and looked at it, and couldn't help but smile. It was a photo sent by Adele. She had defeated her first opponent in Meteor Robbery, and she was so happy that she wanted to share the news with her.

Marsha carefully edited the congratulatory message and sent it back, but Adele did not reply, probably still sleeping. Although her daughter's classmates would contact her from time to time, Marsha was most familiar with and liked the lively and cheerful Adele the most. This city girl was more noisy than the country girl, which reminded Marsha of her daughter's naughty childhood.

She used to think her daughter was a well-behaved and gentle person, until other parents came to her house and she realized that her daughter's minor injuries were not just scratches and scrapes. She didn't believe her daughter would bully others, but she was not a capable and strong mother, so she could only lock her daughter in the house and not let her get involved in the affairs between adults. She bowed her head and bent over to apologize to the other parents, paid money and begged for forgiveness... But her daughter ran out, holding two rice bowls and knocking from one end of the village to the other, shouting "Sterling, I'm sorry I hurt you, you eight-year-old child, please forgive me, a five-year-old child." Everyone looked at her daughter and laughed, and the other parents were quite satisfied. Only Sterling cried and chased her, asking her to stop talking.

From then on, no one came to Martha to complain. She didn't know whether her daughter had learned her lesson or other children were afraid to say that they were bullied by girls a few years younger.

Martha clicked on the "Basic Education" on the screen, took out a pen and paper and continued yesterday's lesson. This miracle bracelet was used by her daughter before, and this set of courses was naturally also taken by her daughter before. When Martha was young, she only learned the simplest general education, and she had never been exposed to any knowledge that was not used for buying groceries. Therefore, learning basic courses was quite difficult for her, and it took two hours to roughly understand a one-hour course.

This is because she does not need to take the exam. If she does, she will have to take the "advanced courses" in the exam. After my daughter turned seven, when she had no farm work, she would spend all day studying, except for watching movies and TV shows, just to master these courses.

Martha actually didn't want her daughter to have such a hard life... Born into a family in such a remote area, as her daughter, she would have to suffer a lot when she grew up.

She hopes her daughter can at least have a happy childhood.

But as her daughter grew up, she understood her daughter's thoughts more and more, and her daughter's temper became worse and worse. Once she disturbed her daughter's study, and her daughter knocked over the water cup like crazy, cursing why she always bothered her, complaining that it was already difficult for her to be born in this family. She wiped the floor timidly and dared only to wipe away her tears secretly.

Martha also felt that she didn't deserve such a good child. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't provide good conditions. It would be better if her daughter was born in a better family. So no matter how her daughter scolded her, she felt that she deserved it. But the next day, her daughter followed her to do farm work without saying a word. At that time, Martha secretly made up her mind that she must not drag her daughter down.

So she quit her job, worked hard to exercise, changed her eating habits, and re-learned basic courses.

Everyone else thought she had gone crazy, but Martha's goal was very clear and simple, just like her daughter's when she was a child - she wanted to become a magician.

Because only magicians can enter and exit the Buddhist world to go to other countries.

Martha didn't know whether she could leave Secalia, nor did she know what the conditions were for going to other countries, but she had to become a magician first. Only by achieving this step could she leave the land where she had lived for decades and go to a foreign country to find her daughter.

She couldn't just keep wiping away tears and being a burden all the time.

The wind and rain outside were getting stronger and stronger, and the rain was hitting the glass windows. Martha took off her glasses and rubbed her sore eyes, then continued her class. At this time, there was a sudden strong wind outside. She was a little worried that the chicken coop would leak. Just as she stood up, she heard a knock on the door.

Who? A reporter?

Half a year ago, there was a period of time when many strange reporters came to her house to interview her, but they soon stopped. However, only strangers would knock on the door, while neighbors would just call her by her name.

But it was raining heavily outside, how could anyone come to the door at this time? While Martha was hesitating, the knocks on the door became more and more urgent. She answered and walked to the door. When she held the door handle, an inexplicable throbbing surged in her heart.

When Martha opened the door, the uninvited guest immediately rushed into the house with the sound of wind and rain. He was wearing a windbreaker and a hood, half of his face was hidden in the shadows, sneaking around and not looking like a good person, but his clothes were unusually dry, without a drop of water.

However, the stranger's appearance did not attract Martha's attention at all. From the moment he stepped into the door, Martha stared at the girl he was carrying on his back. The girl also wore a hood, with red hair leaking out from both sides. She lay quietly on the stranger's back, like a little girl who was tired of playing.

Martha stretched out her finger, but pulled it back as if she had been electrocuted before it touched the girl's face, as if she was afraid of bursting this bubble-like dream.

The stranger closed the door and considerately lifted the girl's hood, revealing her stunning sleeping face.

But in the mother's eyes, no matter how big or beautiful her child is, when she falls asleep, she will always return to the innocent and cute state of a baby. Martha carefully stroked her hot face, and her nose moved slightly, with the same expression as when she was a child.

"Where is her room?" Ash asked.

Martha looked at him with complicated eyes, turned around and said, "Follow me."