[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-solflare-the-painter-s-secret":3,"chapter-solflare-the-painter-s-secret-solflare-the-painter-s-secret-chapter-157":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Solflare: The Painter's Secret",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1322985,1757,"Chapter 157: Wet Footprints","solflare-the-painter-s-secret-chapter-157",157,"\u003Cp>Tiny fiery sparks flew ahead. A man wearing a long grey robe stood there, grinning. On his head, he wore a torn crown that was tight on his skull.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Dad!\" Leon screamed heavily as he saw the blue eyes of the man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He dashed forward, ready to hug the person. But the further he moved, the more the distance between them stretched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Wait for me, Dad!\" Leon stretched his right arm. He managed to grab the flowing tip of the robe the person wore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in a flash, it turned into smoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the motes flew in the air, the smoke fogging the side cleared as the man swung his robe. A sharp light pierced Leon’s chest the moment the man shifted his gaze to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It’s time you’ve got to push harder.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was the only word the man stated, then vanished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before he completely turned invisible, Leon caught a glimpse of the red cloth wrapped around the handle of the gold sword at the man’s back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, as his gaze locked on the tip of the sword’s handle, his chest began to ache.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He jerked upright on the bed, gasping heavily for air as though he had been drowning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Outside his window, the two fig tree leaves moved from the window’s stool and continued their leap in the air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What did I dream of?\" he brushed his palms on his sweaty face, then slowly calmed his breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At his side, Lily turned, increasing her grip on the blue-black cloth. \"I have missed you, Dad.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She murmured in her sleep, then giggled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Silence fell over the room the moment her giggle faded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leon stared at her for a long moment, his pulse spiking, refusing to slow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If Lily had seen him too, then this wasn’t just a dream,\" he said in a soft voice, locking his gaze on her smiling face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as his gaze dropped to the floor, his lungs paused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wet footprints marked the ground beside the bed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hesitated, his legs hovering above the ground. He shifted his gaze from the wet ground to Lily’s face, then back to the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The bedsheet is in the same style I wrapped it around her,\" he squeezed his gaze at the size of the footprints, then glanced at Lily once more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked once at Lily, still sleeping, then back at the prints.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stepped on the ground, then began following the prints. They led away from the bed in a crooked trail, glistening faintly in the dim morning light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He traced them to the bathroom door, which was already open. Leon slowed, entering through the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Wait.\" He turned and looked at the door once more. \"Didn’t I close the door before sleeping?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He frowned, his eyes drifting from the door’s handle to the frame itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Maybe I opened it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The door swung shut behind him as he reached the mirror.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What is that?\" he squinted at the bone stuck inside the mirror. He reached toward the object lodged in the mirror and pulled it free. \"A bone?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turned it once in his hand, his frown deepening. Then, when he looked back at the mirror, he froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The hole that had been left behind was already closing, the surface sealing itself as though nothing had pierced it at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This isn’t normal.\" He stumbled two steps back. Soft thuds echoed at his side as he increased his grip on the bone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when he turned, no one was standing there. His fingers twitched, blood spilling out of the tip of his middle finger as the bone moved on its own.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fuck!\" Leon hurled the bones at the mirror. It struck the glass once, then stayed there. Hovering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leon swallowed hard, his eyes focusing on it for more details.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beyond the walls of the Storm mansion, the city was already coming apart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Panic spread like wildfire through dry grass. Footsteps pounded the streets, engines roared in haste, and screams tore through the air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the middle of the street, two vehicles collided.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Metal screamed, glass burst, and flames climbed fast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the first vehicle, a four-year-old girl was still alive, tears dripping from her slowly reddening eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She tried freeing herself, but the windshield that had struck her lower hip didn’t allow her to turn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Blood stretched down the vehicle and mixed with the diesel, turning it reddish.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the fire personnel of Bastion City arrived at the scene, they folded their hands over their lips.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two of the men in hydrated suits dashed forward toward the vehicle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They pulled out those they could. But by the time they reached the girl, the heat had already worsened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Theo stood still beside the burning vehicle when the little girl spoke. \"Leave me and save Diago.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There is no way we can save her, Theo,\" Nicho stated, then gave a long, grieving sigh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We’ve gotta try.\" Theo held onto the handle of the car’s door, helplessly trying to force it open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Look!\" Nicho pointed a trembling finger at the black eyes of the girl. \"Man, I’m sorry to say this. The girl is already dead.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Theo slowly pushed his hands forward. His eyes automatically closed when the girl’s head slipped from his hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the other team members joined them, Theo stood there, shaking. The girl’s final words echoed in his head over and over again. \"Leave me and save Diago.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leaning by the side of the fire truck, tears fell from Theo’s eyes as he shifted glances from the doll to the now-quenched vehicle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two men closed in with him, then placed a hand on his shoulder. \"You did all you could, man.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They tapped on his skin, then went toward the ambulance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Theo slowly walked toward the stretcher on which the corpse of the girl was being carried. \"I’m sorry.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He whispered, then placed the doll beside the girl’s side. He watched the medics carry the girl away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He sat in the fire truck with his face buried in his palms while the city groaned around him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The chaos wasn’t just at Bastion City, nor at Thule at large. Other countries were also facing their own.\u003C\u002Fp>",1030,"2026-06-05T19:15:29.583Z",1,"novelbin.me","73fb7980f1183600430fc9f2937ee237639d9149836824fd6a988814d8725f06","solflare-the-painter-s-secret-chapter-158","solflare-the-painter-s-secret-chapter-156",272,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsolflare-the-painter-s-secret-cover.jpg"]