Arknights is too real, right?

New partners, new home, new life, the bagpipes describe very beautiful things.

For people like them who had escaped from the whirlpool of the Victorian Dark Ages, this was the blandness they longed for.

But for a warrior like Matomaru who has just started his journey, it is too dull.

Sometimes people are like this. If you don't experience something, you will never realize the beautiful side of things.

Just like a young boy with a dream, if you don't let him stay away from his hometown and challenge the cruel society, he always feels that he is a special being and has the possibility of creating miracles.

He will be deeply missed only when he is bruised and bruised by the blows of life and struggles with millions of similar people with no hope.

The life of living at home, eating and waiting to die, is so delicious.

The trajectory of life is very strange, and things like fate cannot be explained clearly.

If Xia Feng met Matomaru when Kuroba was at his most glorious, Matomaru would definitely join without hesitation, just like she would join Rhode Island without hesitation in the future.

But now, it is absolutely impossible for Matomaru to follow them to "retirement care".

On the carriage, Matomaru looked at Bagpipe gratefully. For her, Bagpipe's sincere invitation was also very touching.

"Bagpipe, thank you, but I still have my own path to walk."

The sun rose in the east and set in the west, and the caravan resumed its previous pace.

A few days later, we finally arrived at the destination of our trip, Nohara Town.

This medium-sized town is the last town on the west side of the entire Dongzhou region. Further west, it enters the territory of the Nishimiya family.

Of course, Nohara Town is also a strategically important place, just like Yehua City in southern Victoria, where the Border Defense Military Region is stationed.

In the town, warriors wearing light armor and carrying long swords can be seen everywhere, and occasionally majestic generals riding war horses can be seen.

After the caravan stopped, Xia Feng took off the luggage from the carriage and said goodbye to the caravan leader.

In the few days they got together, they experienced quite a lot, and naturally they developed some feelings.

"Captain, we parted here. Thank you for taking care of us along the way."

Recalling that late-night bandit attack, the caravan leader also felt a little emotional.

"Little brother, it's us who should thank you."

Afterwards, the caravan leader took out a large package of tea leaves from the carriage and handed them to Xia Feng sincerely.

"If you hadn't reacted quickly that night, our losses might have been unpredictable. I don't have much to thank you for. Hehe, I don't think you are very short of money. So, this is the new tea in the early spring of this year. Just treat it as... Our entire caravan has expressed your gratitude, please accept it."

Under the circumstances, Xia Feng's reaction was entirely self-help. Seeing the caravan leader so grateful, he felt a little embarrassed.

"That's too polite of you."

"That's not polite."

The caravan captain smiled honestly.

"It's fate that we met each other. You are going to Xichuan. I don't know if we will have a chance to meet again in the future. This tea is not expensive. Just think of it as our blessing to you and Miss Bagpipe. I hope you will be happy for a hundred years. Give birth to a precious son soon."

Xia Feng snatched the tea leaves and replied awkwardly but politely.

"Thank you. It's getting late, so we'll leave first."

Talking for a while, he was afraid that the bagpipe would go crazy again, so this "beautiful" misunderstanding was just like that.

afternoon.

Xia Feng, Bagpipe, Feng Bao, and Matang Wan, carrying their bags on their backs, waved goodbye to the caravan members behind them at the intersection on their way out of the town.

"Goodbye, friends, see you soon!"

"goodbye!"

After bidding farewell to the caravan, Xia Feng once again embarked on a journey to find a new home, but this time, the end was in sight.

The garrison of the Sakura Takeshi family does not block the entry and exit of civilians, and there is not even so-called registration and interrogation. As long as it is not a large-scale samurai team, they will all let them go.

In fact, this is normal. Dongzhou and Xichuan are adjacent to each other, and they are a whole that has been forcibly separated. If the family owner interferes with commercial interactions, it will greatly affect the development of the town.

Both the people of Dongzhou and the people of Xichuan understand the truth.

The owner of a household in an iron-clad town is not afraid of wearing shoes even if he is barefoot. He has nothing to care about. I will move to whoever is good to the people and pay food to him.

After leaving Dongzhou, Xia Feng felt that the sky was bluer, whether it was a psychological effect.

"Wow, the air in Xichuan is so fresh."

Matomaru sniffed and sniffed.

"Why don't I think it's the same thing?"

"You do not understand."

After entering Xichuan, the map I bought before finally came into play.

The supplies in the luggage are sufficient. Bagpipe's suggestion is that they no longer need to find a town to stay. After they are far away from the Sakurawu family, they no longer have to worry about the only threat. They only need to go directly to their destination.

The so-called destination was the west coast of Xichuan. Before any on-site inspection, Xia Feng felt that this was his ideal place to settle just from looking at the map.

As the saying goes, if you rely on the mountains to eat the mountains, if you rely on the sea to eat the sea, then in a place with both mountains and seas, you will naturally have no worries about food and drink.

Bagpipe always agreed with this choice, and then the few of them continued westward and started a pleasant picnic according to the route on the map.

Along the way, they met many people and many things happened, some good and some bad.

During the process, they met the people of Xichuan who enthusiastically guided them, and they also stayed and rested in wooden houses in the mountains.

On dark and windy nights, they encountered bandits who blocked the road and robbed them. In the bustling town, there were also people who tried to defraud "outsiders" like them out of money.

But no matter what, the unknown journey is full of twists and turns, but Xia Feng always enjoys it.

After entering the hinterland of Xichuan, Xia Feng's experiences along the way also gave Xia Feng a better understanding of this region.

An old man who was sunbathing at the entrance of the village once told him that the west coast of Nishikawa was not suitable for seclusion because there was the Nishinomiya family's port there.

Compared to other countries in Terra, although the Eastern Kingdom is technologically backward, its fishing industry is very prosperous. After all, it is an island country surrounded by sea.

The residents here seem to have never heard of the disappearance of the oil tanker decades ago. Of course, to them, it is not clear what a cruise ship is.

Dongguo's fishing boats never go to the far sea, but only fish in the offshore sea. They almost go out to sea and return on the same day. Moreover, there are a large number of mariculture areas and salt drying fields along the entire coastline.

The west coast of Nishikawa can be said to be the lifeblood of the entire Nishikawa, and according to rumors, the Nishinomiya family has intentionally broken the closed mind due to the appointment of the new head of the family, and is gradually establishing trade relations with Longmen.

All things considered, the West Coast is not a great place to live.

And according to the old man, if they want to live in seclusion, there is a relatively better choice, and that is the south coast of Xichuan.

Compared with the west coast, the south coast is separated by a natural chasm, traffic is almost completely choked, and carriages cannot move at all.

The entire coastline stretches for hundreds of kilometers. Except for a small number of local indigenous villages, it is almost in the most primitive state. And because of the geographical location, the Nishimiya family, as the head of the family, is completely laissez-faire and never collects food.

Because the Nishimiya family knows that those shabby villages that live in seclusion have no food at all.

Even if there were, it would be difficult to transport them out, and because villages often change locations due to typhoons, a lot of manpower and material resources would be spent searching for them.

However, the Nishimiya family gave up on the south coast, and Xia Feng seemed to have found a treasure.

To him, the area at the southern end of the map only has two words in his eyes.

Perfect.

More than half a month later.

The map has lost its usefulness. In the mountain forest with no roads at all, they only need to go all the way south.

In the end, after climbing over mountains with complex terrain, walking on a road that was almost untraveled by humans, and experiencing countless days and nights, Xia Feng and others finally saw the vast scenery.

Although they haven't seen the coast yet, the unique salty and humid smell of sea water is already in the air, and various phenomena indicate that they have climbed over the natural chasm.

"Xia Feng!"

"kindness!"

"Woof woof!"

After descending the mountain, the road ahead was flat. Several people looked at each other and smiled, their expressions full of joy.

Matomaru said in surprise as he put the naginata on his shoulder.

"I never thought there was a place like this in the Eastern Kingdom. It's such a hidden paradise."

Xia Feng was not sure whether it was a paradise or not, but at least, he felt that no outsiders would disturb him in this place.

There was flat grass under their feet, and the wind blew gently across their faces as the group continued to move forward.

The reason why Dongguo is called the land of cherry blossoms is because the unique climate is very suitable for the growth of cherry blossom trees.

A few hours later.

Standing in front of a huge cherry blossom forest, several people were stunned.

"There are so many cherry blossom trees!"

"It's so spectacular!"

"Woof!"

Even Matomaru, who was born and raised in the east country, saw such a large-scale wild cherry blossom forest for the first time.

It's just that it's midsummer now, not the time when cherry blossoms are in bloom.

But just by imagining, you can know how spectacular it will be when spring comes and the endless cherry blossom trees are in full bloom at the same time.

Everyone was marveling at this natural cherry blossom forest. Among them, only Xia Feng looked a little dazed.

For some reason, some fragmentary images flashed through his mind, like accidentally recalling a movie he had watched a long, long time ago.

This feeling was similar to the feeling he had when he pulled out the Red Demon Sword on the snowy mountain at the junction of Syracuse and Minos.

It's like an incomprehensible sense of déjà vu.

It's like a memory of a friend.

"Xia Feng, do you think someone will take care of such a large cherry blossom forest? There should be an original village nearby."

After withdrawing his thoughts, Xia Feng took a deep breath.

"The current village probably doesn't take care of it. If the reason for the formation of this cherry blossom forest is man-made, then it should have been a long, long time ago."

Bagpipe felt an inexplicable melancholy from Xia Feng's tone.

"What’s wrong with you?"

"It's nothing, hehe, I don't know either."

"Are you OK."

Xia Feng smiled easily.

"Of course it's okay, I just seem to have remembered something and I can't put it into words. Forget it, let's keep walking forward."

"kindness."

This cherry blossom forest is very deep, and when everyone walks in it, it feels like they are in a special space isolated from the world.

However, besides the cherry blossom trees, there is something else in the forest that seems to date back to the time when the first cherry blossoms bloomed.

The deepest part of the cherry blossom forest.

"Xia Feng, this."

Standing in front of a forest of tombstones, Xia Feng's expression showed relief.

Completely opposite to Bagpipe's reaction, there was no surprise or astonishment. The first time he saw these tombstones, he already understood something.

With a relieved smile on his face, he whispered to himself.

"Xina, it turns out you have been here too."

The large tombstones in the deepest part of the cherry blossom forest all bear the same surname.

Xia Feng was no stranger to these people. Although he had never met them, he knew that these were descendants of the Xiao family.

The first name is engraved on the tombstone at the front that has been ravaged by time.

【Xiao Li's Tomb】

That night on the rooftop of Black Feather Grill, the stories Master Xiao told about Xina were all true.

This cherry blossom forest is where the ancestor of the Xiao family, Xiao Li, once accompanied Xina, and this Xiao Li's tombstone should be more than 400 years ago.

However, next to Xiao Li's tombstone, there is a stone tablet that has been so weathered that no writing can be seen at all.

Xia Feng knew that the person buried under this stone tablet was the person Xina truly loved.

That story happened a long, long time ago.

It has been so long that this world has no name.

It wasn't until Styx intervened that the story of the immortal truly began in this world doomed to despair.

Until now.