Crimson Plants

At that moment, Solana's stomach rumbled again, the pangs of hunger growing even sharper.

She could only push her doubts aside once more, looking at the black-robed woman with a touch of embarrassment.

“Hungry? Just a moment!” the black-robed woman said gently.

As she spoke, she began setting out the items she had bought from the market one by one: two pieces of rye bread, a small wedge of cheese, and some figs.

She then tore one of the rye loaves in half, placing the larger portion in front of Solana. Taking the smaller piece for herself, she carefully lifted a corner of her mask and took a bite.

Chewing her bread, she walked over to the hearth in the corner of the room, squatted down, and built up a fire.

A pot hung from an iron hook above the hearth. She skillfully scooped some water into it and tossed in some home-ground rye. Once the grains had boiled down to a soft, mushy porridge, she stirred it with a wooden spoon and put out the fire.

Finally, the black-robed woman brought over a bowl of rye porridge and placed it on the table in front of Solana.

Solana was indeed starving. She quickly sat down and devoured all the food in one go.

The black-robed woman simply watched her in silence from the side, saying nothing.

After finishing her meal and softly thanking the black-robed woman, Solana prepared to leave.

The black-robed woman wanted to ask her to stay, but the words died in her throat. She simply rose in silence, escorted Solana to the door, and watched her figure recede into the distance.

Stepping out of the house, Solana found herself in a narrow alleyway.

It had just rained outside, leaving the dirt path muddy and sticky underfoot.

After walking a few paces, she turned back to look in the direction she had come.

From this angle, the house looked incredibly shabby. The mud and stone walls were cracked and peeling, and the patched roof bore the scars of many years of weathering.

Surrounded by equally dilapidated shacks, this ordinary house seemed even more unremarkable. There was nothing eye-catching about it, yet it was precisely this simplicity that made the deep well of emotion hidden within feel so profound.

But Solana had no time to dwell on it. After staring for a moment longer, she quickly turned and walked away.

...

Following the alleyway all the way out, Solana arrived at a storefront with a sign that read: “Old Oak Tavern.”

The Old Oak Tavern...

The name sounded familiar. Where had she seen it before?

Right. When she had someone divine Vincent's whereabouts, he had mentioned it.

That meant this alleyway had to be Candlelight Alley... the very path leading to the black market.

No wonder she felt a strange sense of familiarity. It turned out to be a place she frequented.

At that moment, she thought of the owner of the divination shop in the black market.

I wonder if I can get any information out of him... she thought.

...

Not long after, Solana emerged from the black market once more, sparks and flames still crackling around her.

Just now, she had engaged in another “friendly exchange” with the owner.

Unfortunately, his divination skills didn't seem up to par, as he failed to locate the Rank Two Demon pathway Beyonder.

However, Solana did manage to glean some information from him. The divination abilities of a Rank One of the Destiny pathway were not without limits. As the rank of the target increased, so did the difficulty and the backlash.

Divining a Rank Two Beyonder required a medium belonging to the target, such as their name, blood, or an extraordinary item. For a Rank Three Beyonder, even more was required, and the divination could still fail even if all mediums were gathered.

Solana knew too little about the assassin from the Abyssal Order, let alone having access to his blood or personal belongings. She had no way to even begin a divination.

Left with no other options, she could only duck into the Old Oak Tavern in frustration, hoping to try her luck there.

Pushing the door open, she saw a bar counter directly ahead. A few scattered tables and chairs were casually arranged in front of it, with a handful of patrons sitting apart. Against the right wall stood a large hearth.

Without pausing, she took a few steps toward the bar and spoke to a scarred man standing behind it:

“I want... um, a cup of ale...”

A childlike voice rang out in the tavern.

Hearing this youthful voice, everyone on the chairs turned their heads in unison toward the source, startled to find that it was actually a young girl.

Surprised, the patrons began to whisper among themselves:

“Huh? A little girl? What is she doing here?”

“Did this little brat wander into the wrong place?”

The girl acted as if she hadn't heard a single word of their gossip. Holding her mug of ale, she walked over to a corner and sat down by herself.

Glancing around, she noticed a long-haired man wearing a mask sitting at a table to her front-left. He was nursing a strong beer, occasionally turning his head as if staring at a Sister sitting diagonally opposite him.

His clothes were thick and his collar was pulled up high, as if he were deliberately trying to hide something.

But Solana paid him no mind. After all, she was hardly an ordinary girl herself. She simply listened quietly to the conversations around her.

“Did you hear? The underground stronghold in our alley was raided by the Church recently,” a one-eyed man sitting by the hearth said.

“Hah, those people from the Church of Life have always been unreasonable. I have no idea how they manage to recruit so many believers!” a cloaked man sitting opposite him replied, his face filled with indignation.

“Shh, keep your voice down! There's a Sister from the Church of Life right here!” another man nearby suddenly whispered.

Hearing this, the cloaked man instinctively glanced at the woman in a plain white robe and headscarf sitting not far to his right, lowering his voice slightly:

“What's there to fear? It's not like I'm lying. Just last month, my cousin's pet shop was shut down because of a single word from them. They claimed he was harboring some kind of heretical creation. Ridiculous! They're just pets, how could they be heretical creations?”

“What does your cousin do?” the man next to him asked with a strange expression.

“He breeds rats,” the cloaked man said casually.

“Don't you know those things spread a strange disease? Last time at the market, someone got bitten by one and started growing bizarre scales and even flesh buds!” The one-eyed man's tone suddenly grew heated at the cloaked man's nonchalance.

“Yeah, exactly! And that's not all! Some of those scale-covered fellows would suddenly convulse all over and die from bleeding of the heart!” the other man chimed in.

“Bah, what of it? Everyone has a few of them at home anyway... By the way, how many cases has that been recently?” the cloaked man asked, cutting himself off mid-sentence.

“Huh? Which one do you mean?” The one-eyed man didn't catch on immediately.

“The full-body convulsions and bleeding of the heart I just mentioned... Isn't that a recent phenomenon? The scales and flesh buds have been around for years,” the cloaked man followed up casually, his tone indifferent.

“Who knows... Anyway, that ailment only affects those scale-covered bastards. What we should be worrying about right now is how to avoid getting bitten by rats!” the one-eyed man said crossly.

“Wait, wait. Don't you guys think this is a bit bizarre? Before, those scale-covered people would at most grow some flesh buds on their bodies and scream in pain from time to time. But lately, they've been dying one after another, and all of them from bleeding of the heart!” the other man said in terror.

As the man was speaking, the Sister suddenly walked over, giving them all a fright.

“W-What is it?” Seeing the Sister from the Church of Life approach, the cloaked man's tone grew tense.

“How much do you know about these symptoms of full-body convulsions and bleeding of the heart?” a cold voice asked.

“We, we don't really...”

“Aaah... Aaah!”

The one-eyed man was about to deny it when a blood-curdling shriek suddenly echoed out. He hurriedly looked in the direction of the sound.

At one of the tables, the long-haired man who had been wearing a mask suddenly went wild. He flipped his table over, and his mask flew off in his violent thrashing, revealing the eerie, dark-patterned scales beneath!

On those scales, bizarre black flesh buds were writhing frantically. They tore free from the surface of his skin and crawled rapidly toward the black-haired girl sitting in front of him!

The girl seemed paralyzed with fear, staring blankly ahead without moving a muscle.

Just as the flesh buds were about to crawl onto her, eerie crimson plants erupted from the ground, instantly binding the flesh buds tightly. The plants began to secrete a thick, oddly smelling sap, gradually corroding the flesh buds until nothing was left of them.

The sap dripped onto the tavern floor, leaving corrosive pits behind.

Inside the pits, bizarre worms were writhing...