Just now, the boy John provided a valid clue, which Shard shared with the witch beside him. Audrey also believed that the missing two boys might have encountered that door which occasionally appeared by the river.

So the two continued to walk forward, and shortly after reaching the area the boy pointed out, Megan shared the Seven-Color Mushroom Potion with Shard, and they each dripped it into their eyes.

Because this was a diluted version of the potion, it certainly didn’t have the same effect as directly consuming the mushroom. Therefore, they couldn’t completely see the black cracks in the air; they could only see some twisted light and shadow, and because they couldn’t thoroughly observe them, they couldn’t touch them.

Continuing to walk forward, carefully observing the area by the river where the door might appear, Shard initially thought this would take some time, but to his surprise, in less than five minutes, they both saw the door standing abruptly.

The street was much higher than the river, and every mile or so, a small opening led down to the river with steps. This was both for the convenience of transporting goods and for City Hall to maintain the river.

At this moment, at the end of the small pier at the bottom of the steps, a wooden door stood quietly in the thin sunlight, as if enticing those who saw it to open it.

"Whisper Element."

Shard said softly, and Audrey nodded slightly:

"Yes, a Relic. We can’t be sure what it is yet, let’s get closer and take a look."

They descended the narrow stone steps, walked onto the pier, and reached the end. The door was a wooden door painted with white paint, looking quite old and weathered, yet it blended well with the environment.

This door had no keyhole, but there was a slightly rusty golden doorknob. Audrey pondered what it was, while Shard walked around to the back of the door. He observed that although the details of the front and back panels were slightly different, they were of the same design. On the side of the door frame, he discovered an inscription:

[Open, fulfill all dreams.]

He translated the words and told Audrey, who seemed to be in deep thought:

"I have a rough idea of what this is, but I can’t be completely sure. Open it, no, no, don’t open it with your hands, don’t touch it directly."

She made a motion as if pulling the door open from a distance, but the door didn’t move at all. She then looked at Shard, who nodded, and a chain flew out from his sleeve, grabbing the doorknob. With just a gentle pull, the door opened.

Light emanated from within the door, illuminating Shard and Megan’s faces. Both of them widened their eyes, and Shard believed that what Megan and he saw were definitely not the same scene.

Inside the door, he saw the interior of his own home, the view of the living room on the second floor of No. 6, Saint Delan Square. The furniture, layout, and even the view of the square outside the window were identical to his home. If it weren’t for the "Desire" mermaid oil painting on the wall, which inside the door had turned into a blank canvas, Shard might have thought this door connected to a different space.

"I saw my own home."

Shard told the girl beside him, then softly asked:

"What did you see?"

"I saw..."

Audrey began to speak instinctively but quickly closed her mouth cautiously. She inexplicably glared at Shard, then closed her eyes, and Audrey turned into Megan.

And Megan simply ignored Shard’s previous question:

"I know what it is. It’s a location-type Relic, Keeper of Secrets Level - [Door of Fulfillment]. Opening the door, you’ll see the scene you most desire in your heart. Gold, silver, treasures, power, beauty, strength, wisdom, you can have it all, and it’s all real. But the price is, you can only possess them by entering the door, and once you step inside, you absolutely cannot leave on your own."

As she spoke, she gazed at the scene inside the door:

"The description in the documents likens it to a large mouth. This door can randomly appear in any scene related to water and possesses the ability to entice people to open it. Once a person touches the doorknob with their skin to open the door, even a Circle Sorcerer must make an extremely difficult decision to break free from the urge to step inside."

"Are there any beneficial effects of this door mentioned in the documents?"

Shard asked curiously, and Megan thought for a moment:

"Fulfilling wishes might count? Or... using it to kill people? That’s too troublesome. Not all Relics can develop so-called positive traits, which is why most Relics can only be contained."

"Can this door be contained?"

Shard continued to ask, and Megan shook her head:

"After staying in one area for a while, it will move on its own, and there is no way to stop it. However, we can set up a ritual on this small pier to ward off idle passersby or prevent them from seeing this place, just like right now. Of course, the best method is to report it to the Church and have them seal off the area before the door leaves."

"That’s a good idea."

"Moreover, if someone has just recently become trapped, although they absolutely can’t get out on their own, we, who haven’t entered the door, can attempt to rescue them. This doesn’t benefit us, but it should fill in the gaps in the documentation of this relic. You can probably guess, very few people are willing to deal with such trivial matters."

However, Shard could see that Megan’s willingness to do this was driven more by curiosity than by kindness.

"What should we do?"

"Guess what the person trapped inside desires, then throw the corresponding desire into the door, and it will temporarily reveal scenes that aren’t of their own desire."

She gave an example:

"For instance, if someone desires food, then we throw delicious food into the door. But this method won’t work for those whose desires are too abstract."

For example, if Shard were trapped inside, he couldn’t imagine what to throw in to rescue himself.

Shard had many toys with him, so he first threw some cooked food and fruit, but the scene inside the door did not change. Then, he threw in a large handful of coins, and when the coins clinked to the floor, the interior of No. 6, Saint Delan Square in Shard’s eyes finally changed.

It was a rundown house, with nothing but a table and a bed. But the floor, the bed, and the table were covered with banknotes, coins, and gold bars and bricks.

The whole room thus became resplendent with gold, but the seventeen-year-old boy, who was gnawing on the corpse of a frail boy, seemed out of place in this scene.

He heard the sound of the door opening and turned around abruptly, the dried blood around his mouth making his face extremely terrifying. Seeing the door open, and the familiar city outside, the tall seventeen-year-old boy rushed out at once. Shard and Megan stepped aside to let him pass, as he rushed towards the stairs leading to the street, then Shard asked the frail spirit following behind him, the boy whose corpse had been gnawed:

"How did you die?"

"He strangled me."

The spirit said dryly, Megan added:

"It’s not a lie."

The "Bully Hansen" mentioned by the boy John had at that moment stumbled to the seventh or eighth step, when he suddenly heard a whooshing sound from behind. Because he had been trapped inside the door for too long, his stagnant thoughts didn’t allow him to react immediately.

When he realized the danger and lowered his head, what he saw were dark chains bursting out from his chest.

Pink crystals appeared around the penetrating wound, and without even a final scream, the man-eating boy’s body exploded into a pile of pink crystals.

The chains whooshed, binding the dark soul and flying back. Under Shard’s control, the soul, corrupted by the Whisper Element, was not stained by the pink crystals.

With just a gentle toss, the soul was thrown back into the door, and then the door was closed.

Shard sighed, drawing a crack in the air, a fissure of death opened, and the frail boy’s spirit bowed slightly to Shard before walking towards the tidal flats illuminated by the Nether Moon beyond the crack.

Megan made no comment on Shard’s actions, as the Great Witch of Knowledge and Wisdom looked curiously at the slowly "healing" crack:

"You opened a spatial rift! To still be able to do such things in Green Lake... Wait! Is this True Death? It’s unbelievable!"

She looked astonished:

"If I hadn’t met that nun, I would surely have thought you were The Chosen One of death. Opening such a passage doesn’t just require power, but also permission. Death is willing to let you use its power, otherwise even the Witch Empress wouldn’t have the right to meddle with True Death. How did you master this power? It’s utterly unimaginable in our times."

"It’s a long story, that was in the autumn of last year. We can talk about it later when we return."

The chains retracted into Shard’s sleeve, and the closed door stood immobile by the river. The two of them continued talking as they left, and the crystals from the body’s explosion had silently melted away into the air.

Getting a chance to get out for a bit before dinner indeed helped to improve the mood. At least when Megan and Shard returned to the cruise ship, the bad mood influenced by family stories had vanished. However, considering tonight’s family banquet, Megan, who had originally not planned to dress up, made a special effort to prepare her outfit.

As for Shard, his biggest concern was Dr. Schneider, who was also staying at the Green Lake Hotel, encountering the two brothers from the Mirror Association who came to the hotel for the banquet. The brothers’ blindness was directly related to the doctor, and although Shard was confident that the two brothers together could definitely not defeat the current doctor, he was worried that if a conflict arose between the brothers and the doctor, it would disrupt the doctor’s and Shard’s plan to hunt for demons.

In any case, as the sun set to the west, the cloudy skies of Green Lake City welcomed another evening. More than half of spring had passed, the days were getting longer, and as the carriage carried Shard and Megan to the hotel, the gas lamps on the streets remained unlit.

The scheduled time for the gathering was six thirty in the evening, but when Shard and Megan arrived, it was only six o’clock.