He Ao flipped to the last photo, it was the gate of the cleaning company under the sunset.

Scattered crowds were sweeping at the entrance, and a person-sized photo frame was placed in the middle of the gate.

Inside the frame was a photo of an elderly man, wearing a white shirt and plain long pants, his face wrapped with some horizontal flesh, sitting quietly there, his aged eyes gazing forward.

He seemed to be staring at the tall buildings in the distance, yet appeared to be observing the nearby people.

He wasn’t exactly benevolent, and even appeared to have a stern presence that marked him as unapproachable to strangers.

Yet, just sitting there, he exuded an invisible sense of security.

The glow of the sunset fell on the photo, behind this picture, was a faint glow, and in front of this photo, was a dim shadow.

It was as if the place where the elderly in the photo stood was the borderline of sunset and night.

He quietly stood where he was, merging with that line between light and shade.

In front of his photo frame were solitary flowers, these flowers did not seem like real ones; they looked more like an artisan’s creation or plastic flowers, often used by the poor in Fro City for memorials.

Real flowers, for ordinary people, were still too expensive.

But these simple and roughly-made plastic flowers, piled up in the photo, like a small mountain, enveloping the photo frame.

The figure in the photo was none other than Hawke’s grandfather,

He Ao glanced at the photo’s timestamp, February 13th, which was indeed his grandfather’s memorial day.

But Hawke had always paid his respects to his grandfather in the family cemetery, many times believing few in the world remembered his grandfather.

He never imagined there was a place in Fro City that conducted memorials for his grandfather on this fixed date.

So many people still remembered this elderly man who had passed away decades ago.

He Ao flipped to the end of the album, reached out, and closed it.

Erian was not as blind and ignorant as Hawke remembered; he had his own thoughts, his own plans, and his own goals.

Even now, standing in Hawke’s position, He Ao still felt the son was rash and uninformed, yet he could understand some of his son’s decisions.

Hawke rarely participated in the child’s education, it was mostly completed by Erian’s mother.

In Hawke’s memory, Erian’s mother had a simple method of education, not telling the child ’what this is’ but guiding the child to think ’why this is.’

Erian’s psychological journey following ’K’ was not, ’Since others follow Him, I should too’, but ’Why do so many follow Him?’

Thus, he embarked on his own exploratory journey, spending nearly three years traveling across the Federation’s southeast, west, and north, to observe, witness, and understand.

He Ao didn’t know if he had his own answers, but clearly, he became more resolute in his ideas.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come to Ains here, to involve himself in the organization of the large protest.

"So are these photos important?" the gaunt young man sitting on the bed raised his head, looked at He Ao, and asked again.

"Very important to Erian and me." He Ao nodded lightly.

"That’s good." The gaunt young man also nodded slightly.

"Did you participate in the Ains large protest?" He Ao looked at the gaunt youth and asked gently.

"No," the gaunt young man shook his head, "I felt they were quite rowdy."

He thought for a moment, then continued, "But my brother participated, he was much smarter than me, he said it was a good thing, a dangerous good thing, someone had to come out and do such good things."

"Is your brother also a protest organizer?" He Ao asked softly.

"No," the gaunt young man shook his head, "he was living downstairs, and when those bad people came to kill Erian and them, my brother came up to inform and got caught."

He paused, glanced at the small door to the bedroom, "He died in the living room."

Seeming to recall something, he raised his gaze to the window, "My mom said my brother was too smart, the reason he died was also because he was too smart. I am good as I am, able to live."

He paused, his tone slowing slightly, his dry eyes staring out the window, "My brother was really good to me, he attended elementary school. My mom said if our family had money, my brother might have gone to university, even community college, he wouldn’t have died here, but she couldn’t afford that much."

He Ao lowered his head, quietly watching the gaunt young man before him.

He raised his head, looked at He Ao, "Do you have anything else you are looking for? Everything in this room has been taken, but the things belonging to Erian, it should just be this."

He pointed to the electronic album in He Ao’s hand.

"Nothing else," He Ao shook his head, "the things I need can’t be found here."

"Alright," the gaunt young man nodded, "I need to work the night shift later, I’ll sit here for a while, someone died here, they don’t want to come over, it’s really quiet."

He looked at He Ao, "Do you want to sit here for a while?"

He Ao turned his head to look out the window.

That piece of window framed the city outside, like a photo painting hanging on the wall.

The foreground was a few dilapidated low-rise buildings, behind which were towering skyscrapers, faint neon shadows flashing between the buildings, like rainbow-like empty tracks traversing between the structures, connecting this crisscrossed city.

He Ao retracted his gaze and looked at the young man before him, nodding slightly, "No, I am still searching for some things."

The young man raised his head, looked at He Ao, and after a brief pause, nodded slightly, "Alright, old man, be careful, the stairs here are slippery."

With that, he turned his head back to the window, his gaze blurred.

"Hmm."

He Ao glanced at him, retreated his body, and left the room.

He returned to the bloodstained living room, walked to the window in the living room.

The scene outside this living room window was similar to that of the bedroom, only those continuous old buildings dominated the field of view even more.

He tapped on his wristband, glancing at the messages on it.

Medala said she’d fetch important information, but still hadn’t sent him any messages; this was not like Medala’s character.

He raised his hand, holding the window ledge, lifted his head, glanced at the slender street below and tiny figures, leaped forward.

——Beyond the West Gate of Dawn City——

Brilliant sunlight illuminated the endless wilderness; a queue of large cargo trucks quickly entering the city after inspection.

A small caravan with white trucks was trailing far behind the cargo trucks.

In the middle of the caravan, the door of an off-road vehicle was pushed open, and a young figure jumped out. He looked up and gazed at the towering city, exclaiming, "We have finally arrived, Dawn City."

Several figures materialized behind him, one of them raised his hand, looked at the time on his wrist, and laughed, "It’s just two-thirty in the afternoon, we rushed here non-stop and still managed to arrive somewhat around noon."

"The first city of the Federation," a young girl with a ponytail looked up, her neck almost at a ninety-degree angle as she stared at the towering city walls in the distance, "Just how high are these walls? They’re almost reaching the sky."

She turned her head and looked to both sides.

The edges of the high walls extended to either side, like a dividing line splitting the world, stretching to the world’s end.

"We’re going to see the world now," the young figure who got out first climbed onto the off-road vehicle, sitting on the roof, shielding his eyes with his hand as he looked at the large characters above the distant city gate, ’Dawn City.’ "I never thought in my life that I’d come this far, to Dawn City."

"Neither did I," the ponytail girl casually pulled off a thin blade of grass beside her and placed it in her mouth, "Damn, this is really far."

Beep beep beep—

At that moment, a sharp horn sounded from behind the group, and a head popped out from the driver’s window of a white cargo truck, "When can we enter the city? Can we get Mayor Christos to give us a special pass or something? The line in front is so long, let us in quickly!"

"Can we decide that?" The young man on top of the vehicle shouted back, "We have to ask Mr. Sett."

"Then let’s ask Mr. Sett!" The driver immediately shouted.

"Fine," the young man reluctantly bowed his head, leaning down through the sunroof to look at the man in the driver’s seat, quickly asking, "Dest, can you ask Mr. Sett how much longer we’ll have to wait in line? Can we enter the city quicker?"

Upon hearing his voice, the driver raised his head, his gaze passing through the rearview mirror, looking at the young man on top of the car.

The narrow rearview mirror reflected a wide and sturdy face.

"Alright," that face smiled and raised a hand, revealing the communicator in his hand, "Mr. Sett was just contacting me, there’s internet here now, he’s already contacted Mr. Christos."

"Really?" The young man eagerly leaned down through the sunroof, looking at the communicator.

Bang—

He lost his balance and fell straight through the sunroof, landing in the back seat.

But soon, he climbed up from the back seat, looked up, and checked the communicator in Dest’s hand, looking at the small screen, "What did Mr. Christos say?"

"Mr. Christos said," Dest smiled, "that we’ll enter the city first, rest at the hotel behind the city gate, and then have a grand welcoming ceremony for us tomorrow morning."

"For us?" The young man widened his eyes instantly, "Really for us?"

Dest helplessly looked at the young man, then raised his gaze to look at the white cargo truck behind through the off-road vehicle’s rearview window, biting the words, emphasizing, "For ’us’."

"Oh oh oh," the young man finally understood, he turned to look at the white cargo truck behind, then nodded slightly with a smile, "Never mind, as long as there’s a welcoming ceremony."

He looked at Dest, glanced out the window, "Should I tell them?"

"Yes." Dest nodded slightly.

"Guys," the young man immediately excitedly pushed open the door to the back seat, shouting, "Good news! Great news!"

Dest watched the young man’s back as he got out of the car, watched him walk into the crowd, his lips still carrying a faint smile, his brows slightly curved.

——Ains——

He Ao raised his hand, climbed over the edge of the endless plant wall, his feet stepping onto the soft soil.

He raised his head and looked forward.

A broad and endless garden appeared in his field of view.

Various bright flowers that only exist in the wild swayed slightly under the calm sunlight, some still covered with water droplets just recently sprinkled, appearing delicate and charming.

He Ao’s gaze passed through these flowers, these beautiful flower beds were cut cleanly and divided by clean lawns and neat green plants, resembling colorful gemstone necklaces, embedded in the garden.

If it weren’t for the towering skyscrapers in the distance, He Ao would have had a momentary feeling of returning to the wilderness and nature.

This is the Ellison family’s estate.

The Julia family hid its family mansion in the headquarters building, while the Ellison family created a sophisticated and natural estate in the valuable land of Ains.

These ancient families sure know how to make things happen.

Patrolling drones floated over the garden, laser radars quickly scanned the flower beds below.

He Ao lightly clapped his hands, raised his foot, and swiftly encountered the lawns and stepping stones amid the flower beds.

His movements were smooth and natural, yet every time, he ’happened’ to step into the gaps between the drone scans, successfully passing through the drones below.

Soon, he passed through the flower beds and reached a short, castle-like building.

This low building had only about five floors, its architectural style ancient and aged, standing prominently in this garden.

The Ellison family’s population wasn’t large, and even fewer stayed in Ains.

He Ao glanced at the low building, memories quickly flashing through his mind.

Medala had a few rooms at the Ellison family headquarters belonging to her father, where she and her two brothers lived.

After her father’s death, she almost got expelled from the room by the Ellison family and sent to other cities.

Later, she resorted to extreme measures to stay in this city and kept those few rooms of this branch.

She rarely returned to Ains, but whenever she did, she would stay in those rooms and show her face to the whole family.

According to her, it was not for anything else but to tell other family members that she was still alive.

Hawke couldn’t understand such ancient family conflicts; even with a presidential family, Medala often said ’Hawke,’ to ancient families she was at most considered a ’nouveau riche’ from the countryside.

Of course, Hawke himself didn’t care about this disdain chain.

After all, he wasn’t involved in Ains’ circles, Ed might care a little, but Ed had already retired from the presidency.

So, Medala’s words meant nothing harmful to him.

Medala herself knew this, which is why she said such things.

However, Medala also told Hawke her room number in the Ellison family.

509.

Considering Medala’s character, the chances of her staying in her own room on this trip to Ains were high.

He Ao raised his wrist to glance at it, displaying several call records.

He dialed several times, but Medala still hadn’t answered.