novelraw Chapter 860: We Need to Go
Chapter 860: We Need to Go
Lu Li found the others at the edge of the gray fog, including the missing Elder Sister.
They had gathered together, preparing to venture deeper into the gray fog to find Lu Li and search for the artifact fragment with him.
"I already have it."
Lu Li showed them the stone shard gifted by Socrates. Katerina felt nothing, but Ophelia and Prusius recoiled, sensing a deadly power emanating from the fragment.
"When?"
"Mister Lu Li, you didn't run into any stone statues?"
Katerina and Prusius asked at the same time.
"After we split up, I did."
Lu Li briefly recounted the three trials and the final Thinker statue of Socrates.
"I think he was implying that none of us are very bright,"Katerina said, glancing at her companions who, like her, had been stuck on the first trial.
"Are we leaving now? Or should we stay in the gray fog for the night?" Prusius asked; there wasn't much time left before dark.
"We'd better not," Lu Li said, looking into the depths of the gray fog.
Although Socrates seemed more like a friend than an enemy, this gray fog clearly concealed other dangers.
"You decide."
Katerina began to put on her clothes and headed out of the gray fog.
As they emerged from the gray fog, a howling, biting wind assailed them, pushing them forward.
The tailwind on their return journey allowed them to reach Rylstein just as it was getting dark. However, they didn't enter the town but instead skirted its ancient wall to the gate they had originally entered through, returning to the cabin before the anomaly fog descended.
In the living room, everything was just as they had left it. Ophelia inspected the house while Lu Li stood by the door, watching the street. Seeing their tracks gradually disappear under the falling snow, he closed the door and slid the bolt shut.
The temperature in the cold cabin, where every breath turned to mist, gradually began to rise.
One oil lamp stood on the dining table, another under the stairs. Everyone sat around a "campfire" made from a dozen pieces of fluorite, pretending the warmth radiating from Ophelia was coming from the "fire".
"How did you get it?"
Katerina moved the kettle closer to Ophelia.
"Socrates."
Lu Li recounted his adventures after they had split up.
"So that's how it was..."
Katerina and the others had been stopped by the first trial and hadn't progressed any further.
Recounting her own trial, Katerina paused for a moment before saying:
"It told me that I'm actually still in the Emerald Dream."
Her anxiety that this was all just an illusion had never truly faded.
When she thought about it, the changes in Katerina's life had indeed begun after the Emerald Dream.
Besides death, her only fear was waking up one day to find that everything she had experienced had vanished.
"It... it told me I could never become human again," Prusius said, his human face drooping in sadness.
Ophelia's trial was a bit different. She was asked to fluently recite a Saying after the statue.
For her, this was truly a challenge.
The Elder Sister's trial was that her mother came looking for her.
Even the Merchant faced Socrates's trial, and it was about the Merchant's desire, if he had one: the awakening of more Merchants.
"So... you don't know what the price is for taking it, either?"
Katerina asked, looking at the stone shard lying next to the fluorite. After receiving her answer, she couldn't help but complain:
"Do all these wise men talk like this? In riddles."
The Prophet was like that, Socrates is like that; it seems none of them know how to speak plainly.
In any case, they had the artifact fragment now, and tomorrow they could return and sort everything out.
Assuming the artifact fragment could truly counter the contamination of Himpfast.
After dinner, they lay down on the soft blankets they had spread out and drifted off to sleep.
Prusius and Ophelia read a book for a while, until he yawned.
"Miss Ophelia, I'm going to sleep."
"Good night," Ophelia said without looking up.
"Good night, Miss Ophelia."
Prusius lay down between Lu Li and Ophelia, curling into a ball. His two tails covered his face, hiding the peeking eyeball.
The howling wind and snow raged outside, and the rattling planks sounded ceaselessly, like a knock at the door.
The living room of the cabin, once again plunged into silence, was still for a moment. Then, the resting Prusius slowly rose and approached Lu Li.
Lu Li and Katerina were sound asleep. The Elder Sister slept nestled against Lu Li's arm. The Merchant stood in a corner. Ophelia was reading her book.
No one noticed as Prusius stealthily snatched the fragment lying beside Lu Li and silently headed into the darkness leading to the second floor, slipping through a gap between the tables and chairs.
A charred hand suddenly shot out and grabbed his hind leg, and a hoarse voice spoke.
"Where are you... going?"
...
"And then... a whisper tempted me, telling me to lead you all back to Belfast."
Prusius sat by the oil lamp, his ears drooping guiltily, full of self-loathing.
He had almost made an unforgivable mistake.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
Katerina asked coldly, finally understanding why Prusius had been having nightmares for several nights in a row.
"I... I was scared. I was afraid you'd kick me out."
Prusius's quiet sobs stopped Katerina from questioning him further. She couldn't help but think of herself. Even she would find it hard to return to her former difficult life.
But betrayal was unforgivable.
"Why did you steal the artifact fragment?"
Katerina gritted her teeth.
"Your goal is that fragment. If I took it, you would have to come after me..."
"The thing that's tempting you, is it related to the contamination?"
The usually silent Lu Li suddenly spoke.
"I don't know..." Prusius shook his head in confusion, a pained expression on his youthful face. He looked up and said,
"Mister Lu Li, send me away. I'm afraid I won't be able to control myself and I'll do it again..."
Katerina remained silent. She couldn't make the decision; it was up to Lu Li.
"There's no need. When we find Anna, we'll solve your problem," Lu Li said calmly.
"Really... really?"
Prusius raised his head excitedly, only to see that Lu Li had already lain down to rest.
Joy, excitement, and a host of budding emotions caught in his throat.
"Weakness has its advantages, I suppose,"
Katerina muttered with relief as she returned to her blanket. They would be on the move again tomorrow morning.
The incident, a near-betrayal, was resolved easily. Besides Prusius, no one else seemed to pay it much mind. Even Katerina only remarked sarcastically that they'd have to keep a close eye on Prusius to make sure he didn't cause any more trouble.
For Prusius, it was a restless night.
In the morning, the group awoke, ate breakfast, put on their bulky traveling clothes, and pushed open the door to step into the knee-deep snow.
Prusius, walking at the rear, followed their tracks through the wall of snow and suddenly spotted a letter hidden in a drift.
It had been left at the cabin door last night.
Ophelia opened it, read it, and passed it to Lu Li.
Lu Li reached out and took it.
"To our unfamiliar guests:
Greetings. We sincerely invite you to our gathering in the square today."
"It's an invitation from the anomaly that has occupied this place."
Lu Li said, meeting the gazes of Katerina and Prusius.
The anomaly had already noticed their intrusion, but it hadn't yet discovered that two humans were hiding among them.
Staring calmly into the misty depths of the town, Lu Li averted his gaze.
"We need to leave. Now."