"I've taken you to so many places these past few days, but none seem right. I'm really running out of options... Maybe you should ask someone else!"

"No no! Don't give up!"

Seeing Leon seemingly wanting to bail, Fredri couldn't help but feel a bit anxious, then she tugged at him with stubborn eyes and said:

"My intuition tells me that by following you, I can fulfill my ambitions! You can't just abandon me like this!"

"I'm not abandoning you, I truly have no options..."

Having long been accustomed to her tendency to use the wrong words at critical moments, Leon, too lazy to critique, lamented:

"I've shown you almost everything worth seeing, and tomorrow morning is already set as the departure time. I'm truly... How about one last walk, and if it doesn't work, you just go back early to rest?"

"Deal!"

"You better stick to your word... This is the last time!"

With a mindset of trying everything possible, a gloomy-faced Leon left the Virgin Branch, leading Fredri towards Veteran Alley where he and Anna used to live.

"Where is this?"

After walking behind Leon for a while, watching the outside walls of the buildings getting newer, the young woman couldn't help but ask curiously:

"The houses here look so new. Where is this? The affluent uptown district?"

"No."

Squinting at Veteran Alley, which had undergone several rounds of refurbishment and already transformed, Leon couldn't help but reply complexly:

"This is still the old town of the capital, not far from here are the slums and prison, considered just slightly better than the worst places. I used to live here."

Slightly better than the worst places?

After listening to Leon's words, Fredri blinked and then said puzzledly:

"But it looks quite... nice here?"

"That's because later on, funds were allocated to renovate the buildings, move away the surrounding prison and factory, fill up the stinky ditch caused by random waste disposal, and incidentally, a part of the residential area was expropriated to build a road wide enough for four carriages to run side by side."

After simply explaining the reasons, Leon, who conjured many memories in his mind, didn't say much more, but led the confused Fredri to wander around Veteran Alley and the old town.

Subsequently, the situation indeed matched his expectations. Although the originally filthy and decayed street alleys had changed drastically, for Fredri who hadn't witnessed the unbearable past of Veteran Alley, the vigor exhibited in these changes was still far from being called hope in her eyes.

"Alright, let's end it here."

Watching the young woman outside Veteran Alley, who still refused to leave after several rounds, Leon could only shake his head and then urged:

"It's time to go... Not finding hope is actually okay. I've tried familiarizing myself a bit with 'Dream Butterfly' these past two days, and feel I can resist most of its negative effects. So even if you're not in good shape, it's fine. I'll step in when you can't take it anymore."

"Okay..."

Upon hearing Leon's words, the young woman reluctantly bit her lip and even deliberately dragged Leon to jump over the outer wall to visit Ryan Family's already renovated old residence, but ultimately she could only follow Leon, leaving Veteran Alley with frequent backward glances.

But shortly after she was dragged away, a small lighthouse-shaped imprint surfaced from the outer wall of the Ryan Family's old residence, rotating slightly as if it were a tangible object.

And each time the lighthouse imprint's tiny lantern room rotated, numerous human eyeball-like patterns surged from the 'light,' then like schools of fish, they leapt eagerly, rushing along the wall towards the surrounding unknowing residents.