Colonel Michael took them to the hole. After saying goodbye to the old soldier, William and his party set out for the wheat field. They climbed a hill and came to a basin. Looking around, this place was surrounded on three sides by gentle slopes. Only to the east was a plain that went straight ahead. The fearsome forest was even denser than where they had found the compass. Millions of branches of different thicknesses were intricately entwined, like the hands of the devil. The sound of their footsteps raised a great crowd of crows which cried in alarm.

William began to tremble slightly. Seeing this, Ranran kissed his forehead gently and said, "It's all right. Everything will be all right."

He was better. So they set off east and continued on their way. Following the compass, they soon found the wheat field. In the dim starlight and the almost frozen air, the golden wheat swayed gently and danced with the faint wind that occasionally passed by. Listen carefully and the voice of frogs could be heard. It was simply a symphony of nature and a sonata of animals, better than any musical instrument.

"Here we are." Aria said, "Now we need to find the frog. Can the compass help us?"

The compass showed,

Sure.

"Oh?" Asked Rebecca, "It can find the frog? Why is that?"

The compass told William that when they found the frog, they would soon know how it worked. So William kept an eye on the needle.

Checkpoint 30 is cleared. Energy charge: 1.5%.

Now, the energy core was close to 60% full. No one knew what the You-Know-Who would have thought of if he had seen the increasing energy in the energy core.

The compass stopped them just in time and told William to look down. He looked at his toes, and sure enough, there was a frog. By the light of the compass he could examine it carefully. It was dressed in a turquoise coat with black stripes, and its bright black eyes sparkled. The thick hind legs were bent to support the whole body. It had a huge bulge on its gills that could give out a loud song.

William greeted the frog warmly. After briefly explaining where they had come from -- he mentioned Colonel Michael -- he said, "Colonel Michael sent us to you. And this compass says you'll show us how it works."

"Oh, I see. No problem at all, come with me." Said the frog, and he hopped and led them to a round stone. He tapped it with his two forelegs, and then the stone made a noise and began to fall slowly. At the same time, the surrounding soil lit up with brilliant lights. They found themselves surrounded by a large picture of a wheat field. What made them even more amazed was that as they descended, the patterns on the walls gradually changed. So they saw the swaying wheat and the leaping frogs just as they had seen them with their own eyes.

"Ah," Ranran said with a smile, "how incredible!"

"Did not expect it?" Said the frog, "We put our heads together. There's actually a huge screen next to you right now, and it's playing animation. Well, did you feel like you were there?"

"Wow, you bet." Natalie said.

While talking, they reached the bottom. The frog gave a cry, and the lights came on. The party looked ahead. There, on the ground, lay a huge treasure box. It looked exactly like the one that had contained the compass.

When they got closer, Rebecca realized that they were identical. It was just that this one was larger. The frog opened it and showed them the compasses it was full of.

"I am Griffin, but you might think Griffin is a man at first. Ha ha ha." Said the frog, "If you don't believe me, use your computer map and search, William."

It turned out they were at Griffin's.

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William was enlightened. "Now, let me show you something." Said Griffin the frog, opening another treasure box and taking out some coils. Then he cleared his throat and said, "That's why a compass helps you find those places. I buried these coils where the map could not show data, and plugged them in. In this way, the compass can use the magnetic field they create to navigate."

"Oh." Photon said. "Besides that, I sell many other things, such as various medicines, small robots and so on. However, in view of your dangerous situation, I can give you some dry ice free of charge. This will help you shoot down the drone fighter. Come with me." Griffin went to a different looking box and pulled a large bottle of reagents out of a cloud of smoke. The party saw that it was full of small white squares, arranged in neat rows like building blocks.

Griffin told them that one bottle of dry ice, according to the instructions, would be enough for 100 effective artificial rainfalls. If it was needed that the weather should be made even worse, it could also be used with a minitype dry ice machine. "You would have dense fog and heavy rain at the same time, so the radar of the drone would be even more dull." Griffin explained.

The dry ice machine was small: its maximum cross section was merely the size of a sheet of B6 paper. And thanks to its carbon fiber and aerogel composite shell, it was lightweight and easy to carry.

"How nice! Thank you so much!" Aria said politely.

"It doesn't matter, and actually these two things are not very expensive." The frog replied, "But they are excellent quality and reasonable price, because they make it much easier to shoot down the drone. Colonel Michael should have told you that."

"Yes." Replied Photon.

"That's good. That fighter doesn't have fixed patrol routes, so be careful anytime, anytime!"

"Rest assured, I will protect everybody." Photon's eyes looked firmly ahead.

The frog offered to take the party to the wheat field, and they readily agreed. So the stone carried them to the ground. Then the wind grew stronger, and the golden wheat danced more obviously. They fell one after another in the wind to enjoy the endless joy, drawing beautiful curves. It was like a ballerina's fluttering skirt.

"The fun is yet to come." Griffin called all the other frogs together with a single croak. After a brief explanation, they began to sing at the same frequency as the wheat was dancing. The frog and the wheat danced and sang together in perfect harmony. Beautiful singing and beautiful curves, like little elves, jumped happily on the party's bodies. For a moment, William felt that nothing in the universe could be better than what was in front of him. He even wanted to enjoy it forever.

"I want my friends to keep performing too, alien friends. It's a pity you need to get out of danger." Griffin stopped singing, sighed and said, "I wish I were you guys."

William said gravely, "I once thought so too. I, too, fantasized that someone could take my place, so that I could continue to live a good life in my own home. But since this is a fantasy, there is no need to try to find someone else to replace me. This is my task, and must be done by me."

The wheat swayed as if in silent support of William.

Griffin the frog looked up into the dark night. He found that although the stars were sparse and dim, they seemed to be twinkling at the same frequency. "Eek, that's very strange." He said to William.

"Yes, I found that too. I don't know why."

"Wait, I seem to have found the probable cause. I heard that there is a kind of magical creatures on this planet that can be suspended in the air and give out as bright and dazzling white light as the stars. However, this is just my guess, not necessarily accurate. Maybe other people on this planet know more about this kind of creature."

"You've got a point there. Maybe someone can give me the answer. If this is true, it would be amazing because it has never been found on my planet."

They were silent, just looking at the scene around them. William thought again of You-Know-Who, as well as the several inexplicable phenomena he had encountered. The more he thought, the more dizzy he felt and the more he could not stop thinking. In desperation, he grabbed his hair and pulled at it, letting the pain replace the thoughts.

"I... I can't let myself be controlled by him... Otherwise I really can't go back." He said.

His head was spinning again, and he saw terrible sights. A fighter zoomed through the air and swooped down on him. It let out a volley of bullets, and they hit him hard. There was a splash of red blood everywhere. Finally, he closed his eyes and fell heavily in a pool of blood.

Next came Black Tower. This time, though, it was the skeletons on the top floor. They all stared at the fleeing party, full of anger. Then there were the frightening forest and the screaming crows.

William tried to come to his sense, but he couldn't. The images kept repeating.

"William!" It was Ranran's cry that finally stopped him thinking. She looked at him anxiously.

"Don't think about them." She said, "They will only douse the flame of your faith."

William nodded, stroking his still-aching head.

"Cheer up, William." Griffin cheered him up, "No matter how far away your home is, you can always go back. There is never daylight on the nighttime hemisphere of this planet. But since there is no chance of seeing the sun, let hope be the sun."

"Yeah, you're right." William said to himself thoughtfully, "Since there is no chance of seeing the sun, let hope be the sun."