The Wisteria Train 13

Bai Ci yawned. Thinking she would just doze off for a little while and wouldn't sleep too long, she closed her eyes.

Perhaps because the swaying of the train was too soothing, she quickly fell into a deep sleep. Her consciousness gradually blurred, and the sounds in her ears drifted further and further away.

She had no idea how long she slept before a faint floral fragrance quietly drifted into her nose.

The fragrance was very light, carrying a hint of sweet freshness. It wasn't overpowering, yet it was thoroughly refreshing.

What kind of flower was this?

The name “wisteria” instantly popped into her head, even though she had no concrete idea before this of what wisteria actually smelled like.

Wisteria?

At that thought, Bai Ci suddenly felt a sharp pain in her fingertip. Her consciousness jolted awake amidst the floral scent. Her eyelids felt as heavy as lead, and it took a great deal of effort before she could slowly open them.

What met her eyes was a pair of icy purple eyes, looking down at her calmly.

Bai Ci's heart skipped a beat. Looking closely, she realized that the person standing in front of her was the trainmaster, Wisteria.

He was still wearing his dark uniform, his small brown braid draped over the side of his neck, and a standard, polite smile still graced his face.

“Miss Lora, you're awake,” Wisteria's voice was gentle and deep. “You were sleeping very soundly; you've been asleep for most of the day.”

“Mr. Violita, who is in the same carriage, knows some basic medicine and gave you a brief examination. He said there is nothing seriously wrong with your body, only that you are overly fatigued.”

“However, you have slept for a long time without eating. I was worried your body wouldn't be able to take it if this continued, so I took the liberty of waking you.”

Bai Ci quickly sat up straight and tidied her slightly messy hair.

A look of embarrassment appeared on her face, and she said softly, “Thank you for your concern, Mr. Wisteria. I don't know why I slept for so long either. Perhaps I really have been too exhausted lately.”

No way.

What did she have to be mentally exhausted about? She hadn't felt any such fatigue at all.

Wisteria pulled off a polite smile. “It is no matter. Travel is exhausting, so it is only natural to sleep a bit longer.”

“As it happens, the train has just arrived at a new station. The stop won't be long, but if you feel hungry, you can take this opportunity to go to the dining car to grab a bite and recover your strength.”

Bai Ci looked out the window and indeed saw the train parked steadily beside a new platform. There were not many passengers coming and going, making the station look somewhat deserted.

She nodded and gave Wisteria a slight bow of her head. “Alright, thank you for the reminder. I'll go in a moment.”

“You are most welcome; it is only my duty.” Wisteria bowed slightly, still maintaining his respectful and gentle demeanor. “Then I shall not disturb you any longer, Miss Lora. I wish you a pleasant meal.”

With that, he turned and left.

Only after Wisteria left did Bai Ci slowly let out a sigh of relief, raising her hand to rub her throbbing temples.

She turned her head to look at the wall clock in the carriage. The hands pointed to four o'clock in the afternoon.

This meant she had actually slept for over six hours straight, from morning all the way into the afternoon. This was indeed far too abnormal.

Recalling the pain that had woken her, Bai Ci instinctively raised her hand and cast her gaze onto her fingertip.

There was a tiny mark there. It was dark in color, making it easily visible at a single glance without needing a close inspection.

The edges of the mark still bore a faint, undried hint of red, as if it had been lightly pinched by something, or as if a drop of blood had seeped out and quickly coagulated.

She examined it closely, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't recall or determine when or by what she had been injured.

She could only be sure that it had appeared while she was asleep, looking as though she had been bitten by something.

Could it have been Wisteria who bit her?

But this didn't look like a human bite mark. If it was his true form that bit her, how could a plant bite someone? Or was his true form not a plant?

Then why did he bite her?

Was it to wake her up?

...

Bai Ci remembered the floral scent she had smelled in her dream and sniffed the carriage air deeply, but there wasn't a trace of it left.

Thinking of the wisteria fragrance, she looked over at the flower vase where she had casually tucked the torn piece of wisteria vine into the bouquet earlier.

After rummaging through it carefully, she found that the piece of vine was gone.

Had Wisteria taken it?

At that moment, a thought instantly flashed through Bai Ci's mind.

Her sleeping for so long was absolutely no accident; there had to be a reason. Could it be... an issue with that wisteria vine?

Bai Ci also recalled Wisteria's special skill, Grudge Hunt. The skill description contained a phrase: “presumptuously drinking the life force of the mortal realm.”

Did “life force” refer to vitality?

Just like what was written in many ghost stories and folklore novels, people whose essence was drained would experience lethargy and lack of energy.

In that case, could these vines be the medium through which Wisteria absorbed life force?

Speaking of which, was the quietness in the other carriages also due to this? She had previously assumed they were just exhausted from traveling.

Bai Ci's heart tightened. She had still been too careless.

She had only thought of the vine as a plant that wouldn't be ingested, so she hadn't used Grow with Time to check if the vine itself possessed other dangerous qualities.

Remembering that Arbiter and Yan Zheng might go and physically investigate the wisteria vines, she couldn't help but feel worried.

They were, after all, her crucial labor force and reliable carry in this instance.

If they only fell into a deep sleep for a while like she did, it wouldn't be too big of a deal. However, she had the foundation of Wisteria's favorability, whereas they did not. Would they encounter a far more dangerous situation?

No, she had to find Arbiter and Yan Zheng as quickly as possible to warn them.

Not daring to delay, Bai Ci stood up immediately, picked up her handbag, and walked quickly toward the carriage exit.

She first went to Carriage Six, but it was empty, with no sign of the two.

Then she went to the rear carriages. There were still many passengers, but she never saw Arbiter's conspicuous pink Lolita dress, nor did she see any sign of Yan Zheng.

She even kept an eye out for the cleaning woman, but failed to find her either.

Seeing no trace of them inside and not spotting them through the train windows either, Bai Ci actually breathed a sigh of relief.

Not finding them meant they might have gone to investigate elsewhere.

Veering off her path, Bai Ci stepped out of the train door to look at the wisteria vines hanging outside the windows.

This time, she didn't rashly pull the vines down. Instead, she took out Grow with Time and used it to touch them.

There was no reaction, proving that this thing was non-toxic.

Bai Ci thought about it carefully and roughly understood. This thing was feeding by capturing life force. It was a predatory behavior of taking away, not giving.

The fatigue of the captured victims was the consequence of losing life force, rather than the wisteria vines inflicting any negative status effects upon them.

This fell right into the blind spot of Grow with Time's effects.