The eerie dream from last night rushed back to her instantly, and the image of the massive wisteria tree being engulfed in raging flames surfaced vividly in her mind.
Bai Ci spoke almost instinctively, a faint, barely perceptible trace of daze in her voice. “It was fire.”
A sharp, stinging pain seemed to throb in her fingertips once again.
As soon as the words left her mouth, she froze for a moment. Snapping back to reality, she quickly explained with a touch of embarrassment, “I was just talking nonsense. The color just really reminds me of the inside of a fireplace.”
Violita did not dismiss her words as nonsense. Instead, following her line of thought, he carefully studied the black pit. After pondering for a moment, he nodded slowly.
“Now that you mention it, that actually makes some sense.”
He paused, pointing toward the walls of the pit. “Look at the color of the pit walls. It really does look a bit like the scorch marks left by a raging fire.”
“If it were just ordinary soil, the color would have faded long ago after being washed by such heavy rain. Yet it remains so black. Perhaps it was hardened by fire.”
While Violita was speaking, Bai Ci took a quick glance at her fingers. They were still perfectly intact, with no visible wounds.
She followed his train of thought, and the image of the burned wisteria tree from her dream flashed through her mind again. She couldn’t help but propose a hypothesis: “Could a tree have been burned there?”
“Oh? Why do you say that?” a steady voice suddenly chimed in from behind, interrupting their conversation.
Bai Ci and Violita turned their heads at the same time and saw Yan Zheng walking toward them, having already put down his work.
His hands were still dusted with a bit of flour. Where there had been only two large bowls covered with cloths on the table, a third had now appeared.
Clearly, the morning preparations had finally wound down, allowing him to free himself.
Bai Ci did not keep the information to herself. This wasn't some team-versus-team instance; hiding clues would only end up hurting everyone, including herself.
She spoke candidly, “I had a dream last night. I saw a massive wisteria tree completely destroyed by a huge fire, leaving nothing but a charred wreck.”
She paused, then looked out the window at the black pit. “When I saw that pit just now and heard what Mr. Violita said, I instinctively associated it with the scene from my dream.”
“Maybe a tree used to grow there, and after being burned down by a fire, it left a pit like that.”
“Here?” Violita asked to confirm. “Was the tree in your dream growing in this exact spot?”
Bai Ci carefully recalled the scene from her dream.
People often forget what happened in their dreams shortly after waking up. Thank goodness, she could still clearly remember everything that had happened to the wisteria tree in her dream.
This was also strong evidence that it was absolutely not just a simple dream.
Her recollection over, Bai Ci shook her head. “I don't know.”
“There was only that wisteria tree in my dream, with no other scenery to use as a reference, so I don't know its exact location.”
“Then let's go out and take a look in person!” a lively female voice suddenly chimed in.
Bai Ci looked toward the source of the voice. The speaker was Zhou Caiwei, who had just walked in from outside carrying a bundle of firewood.
She placed the firewood next to the fireplace, patted the dust off her hands, and said with a smile, “The pit isn't far from us anyway. It won't take much time to go check it out.”
“I shall go with you. How can such a momentous task as seeking the true path of destiny and discerning falsehood proceed without my presence?” Arbiter had also woken up. She spoke with a hair tie in her mouth, her voice sounding a bit muffled.
It was hard to say how much of their conversation she had overheard, but she had definitely caught the part about going outside to check.
She stretched, her once-fluffy twin tails now somewhat disheveled. She untied them, looked at her reflection in a wooden bucket filled with water, and began to restyle them with her hands, single-mindedly smoothing down the stray hairs that stuck out.
Once her hair was tied, she checked her reflection in the water again. Only then did she clap her hands and quickly chant a brief spell under her breath. A faint pink glow emanated from her palms.
“Hear my prayer, O folded pink flower of softness—bloom!”
In the next second, an exquisite pink silk parasol appeared out of thin air in her hand.
Arbiter offered the small pink parasol to Bai Ci. “My dearest friend, I bestow this upon you. May it shield you from the wind and rain, and keep you safe.”
With that, she raised her hand again and chanted the exact same spell once more. A similar pink glow flashed.
A second, identical small parasol appeared in her hand, and she turned to offer it to Yan Zheng.
Yan Zheng waved his hand, pointing to the three large cloth-covered bowls on the table. “You guys go ahead. I need to hurry up and finish making these.”
Arbiter nodded. Without pressing him, she turned and handed the second parasol to Zhou Caiwei, who was standing nearby.
Zhou Caiwei's eyes lit up. She immediately reached out to take it, excitedly and curiously fiddling with the canopy to see how an object summoned by magic differed from ordinary items.
“Wow, what a beautiful umbrella! Thank you, Big Boss Arbiter.”
Whatever her private thoughts, when it was time to provide emotional support, she delivered. After all, clinging to a powerhouse's thigh was much faster than trying to make it on her own.
Arbiter smiled and chanted the spell once more, summoning a third pink silk parasol into her hand.
She opened her own umbrella and turned to Bai Ci and Zhou Caiwei. “Let us depart. We shall set forth immediately to uncover the secrets buried deep within the dark abyss.”
Yan Zheng warned Arbiter uneasily, “Keep an eye on your surroundings. If you run into anything unusual, come back immediately.”
“I am well aware. Do you truly take me for someone who acts rashly and imprudently?” Arbiter tossed her twin tails and marched out the door.
Bai Ci and Zhou Caiwei followed close behind. The three of them opened their pink parasols and stepped out into the pattering drizzle.
The spot they had seen through the window was not far at all. In just half a minute, the three of them reached the edge of the black pit.
As they drew near, Zhou Caiwei quickened her pace, taking several steps in one go to reach the edge. She poked her head over to look inside, and the excitement on her face instantly vanished, replaced by utter disappointment.
“Oh, what is this? This isn't some pit left behind by a fire at all.”
Hearing this, Bai Ci also quickened her steps and approached the pit to take a closer look.
She saw that the pit was not as deep as she had imagined. Instead, it was quite shallow, looking more like a naturally formed depression.
The blackness on the walls was not the scorch marks they had speculated either, but a thick layer of silt. It had probably turned a deep black from being soaked in rainwater for a long time.
Quite a bit of rainwater had collected in the depression, with some fallen leaves and weeds floating on the surface. It looked completely ordinary, with nothing special about it.
It turned out to be just a common, muddy depression.
Looking at the hollow before her, Bai Ci also felt a wave of disappointment.
Rate on N.U.
