Chapter 2682: Man, Cat, and Fish

At the bottom of the lake, the water, which looked clear from above, was completely pitch black beneath the surface. Xia De, who had jumped into the water without any protective measures, felt a slight sense of fatigue and drowsiness almost immediately. The lake water under the starlight was surprisingly warm, making him think of amniotic fluid for some reason. Fortunately, it was only this level of drowsiness, which he could fully endure.

He had already memorized Flora's location, so he did not release his perception to explore what else might be at the bottom of the lake, focusing instead on swimming toward the witch.

The further down he went, the more obvious the drowsiness became. When he finally took hold of Flora's somewhat cold hand again, he could barely keep his eyes open.

He tugged on the chain at his waist to notify Yin Yi Yi Lu Na on the shore that he had successfully reached the witch. A moment later, the chain was pulled upward, and Yin Yi Yi Lu Na gave a "received" response.

Xia De, in a state of underwater breathing, exhaled a stream of bubbles. He tugged gently and found that he indeed could not move Flora, so he gently touched Flora's sleeping face, closed his eyes, and pressed his forehead against hers.

The dream began once more.

Xia De, who had been semi-floating in the water, felt as if he had been weighed down, slowly sinking toward the bottom of the lake until he was pressed against the witch as if embracing her.

At this moment, the battle on the lake shore had already begun, but the dim water below remained calm.

Just seconds later, shadows suddenly swam over the people at the bottom of the lake. Ten seconds later, fair arms that seemed to glow in the water appeared from behind Xia De, wrapping around his neck. The head of the "Mermaid," whose beauty was astonishing, appeared beside his ear, while the part of her body below the head was completely obscured in the vast shadows behind her.

She did not dare to place her head directly on Xia De's shoulder. That stunning face looked around, and only then did her red lips whisper softly in Xia De's ear, while the part below her head remained invisible in the vast shadows.

"Are you not going to appear to stop me?"

No one gave her a response, and thus, in that pair of purple eyes similar to Luweiya's, a cruel and insane look appeared—one that Luweiya would absolutely never show:

"Even he can feel the malice in my probing this time. Do you trust me so much? So confident, to let me appear by his side?"

The whispers in the underwater world could only be heard by the ear pressed against those red lips, but still, no response appeared; after all, Xia De had already gone into the dream:

"The very end is coming. So, do you believe that even I will help the one you have chosen?"

She said it gently, but the emotion in her eyes was no longer human at all. The insane, bizarre, and greedy look represented her essence. After the final question, she let out a soft laugh underwater:

"Is this because you, too, trust me too much like he does, or is it that you don't believe I would truly dare to strike at him?"

She opened her mouth to bite Xia De's neck, but behind those two rows of white teeth was not a soft oral cavity, but dense, tiny teeth.

Yet, she ultimately did not bite Xia De's neck, because at the last moment, as she embraced Xia De's neck and looked up, she saw a new figure appear in the water.

What "Desire" saw were purple eyes, which were also one of the sources of her current image. She had only known of Luweiya Anate's existence in the past; this could be considered their first close-range contact.

But the moment the two pairs of purple eyes met, it was the evil entity originating from the most ancient era that retreated.

Most of her body was hidden in the darkness at the bottom of the lake, and the smile on her beautiful face had already vanished.

The long-haired diviner, holding the 【Staff of Yggdrasil】, looked at her expressionlessly from above in the water, her long staff and eyes glowing faintly in the water. Even just by being watched, "Desire" felt a pressure she hadn't faced in a long time. That indifference, the calmness born of absolute insanity, the look in her eyes born from having witnessed the most terrifying and desperate things, and that power...

She stuck out her long, slender tongue, licking her chin and the tip of her nose:

"I knew it. The girl he could set his sights on is indeed extraordinary. But, what are you?"

Long-haired Luweiya pointed the tip of her staff at her, but the "Mermaid" embracing Xia De laughed instead:

"If you could truly manifest, instead of just being a shadow as you are now, I would have likely retreated long ago. But you are only a phantom, and he is in my hands."

She embraced Xia De's neck more tightly and was about to continue whispering in his ear when she suddenly noticed that, at some point, a glowing cat had stood on top of Xia De's head and was looking at her.

"Meow!"

Amber eyes and the tip of its tail ignited with golden flames. The cat was not angry; it just grabbed Xia De's hair with its claws and looked at the "fish" that was very close to it. The orange patterns on the cat's body emitted a faint golden luster, while the white patterns contained the light of the "Moonfire" bestowed by Xia De.

The most beautiful human face looked at the most beautiful cat. After the man, cat, and fish in the water were silent for a moment, bubbles were exhaled from the woman's head, and she nimbly released Xia De's neck:

"So you are here too. Just now, I was wondering why a cat could..."

She nodded with a smile:

"Since that is the case, I think I understand. This is indeed a sound plan, but I don't know if he can make it to the end...

As long as he completes this debt collection, I will help him until the end of the world. Actually, this is not bad. Harvesting his soul all at once, and watching him offer those performances of desire and greed—it's actually about the same.

Not bad, isn't it? Yes, not bad at all. A tragic song of desire, the struggle of human nature, a hero walking the path to despair, and..."

Her eyes widened, taking in the sleeping man, the glaring cat, and the cold, purple-eyed girl all into her field of vision:

"Are you really going to be so cruel to him?"

She murmured softly, gradually retreating until she truly vanished into the lake. In the water, the phantom of long-haired Luweiya had quietly disappeared, while the cat continued to grab Xia De's hair, then curled its body up and fell into a deep sleep on top of his head.

"Meow~"

A small string of bubbles was exhaled from the cat's mouth. Just as Xia De did not know that Little Mia, who hated water, could swim, he also did not know that this cat could even breathe underwater.

Past dreams always started with a sense of falling, but this time, it was like a space-time jump, starting directly.

The night was deep. Xia De, having regained his senses, found himself standing in the woods by the lake, only there was no longer the thick fog that had been there when he left. Only then did he have time to ponder that what he had just seen was actually the "God of Mist." He was certain that this Old God, who was very kind to him, had departed in the Fifth Era, and just now...

"Was it because the blessing the God gave me in the desert was activated that I woke up from the mist?"

He was not very clear about the ratio of time change between the dream and reality, so he did not stay in the woods for too long and turned back to the lake shore. This dream was so real that even though Xia De entered in a conscious state this time, he could not detect the illusion here, other than not being able to see the moon in the night sky.

Returning to the wooden house, the gray-black-haired girl on the bed they shared was indeed still sleeping. Starlight shone from outside the window onto her profile, giving the witch, who usually looked capable, a somewhat cute and naive expression at this moment.

Xia De subconsciously smiled, then quickly patted his face to prevent himself from sinking into this moment of happiness again.

"Wake up, wake up~"

Xia De stood by the bed and called out softly. The sleepy girl opened her eyes, but seeing that it was still night outside the window, she lazily turned to the side and ignored Xia De:

"It's not dawn yet. Let me sleep a little longer. I know we have to fix the roof tomorrow, but wake me up to make breakfast when it's dawn."

So she was turned over again by Xia De pressing on her shoulders. Seeing that she still didn't want to open her eyes, Xia De pulled off the quilt covering her.

"Ah~"

The witch in her nightgown let out a cry and sat up quite reluctantly:

"Really, Xia De, what are you doing? Don't tell me you want to wake me up to look at the stars now."

"We have to go. Not to look at the stars or hunt, but to leave here."

Xia De took her hand, and the witch asked suspiciously:

"Leave? Isn't this our home? Where are we going?"

"Do you still remember Miss Bell? Charlotte Bell."

Xia De stared into her golden eyes and asked. Flora subconsciously said:

"Of course I remember. She is my apprentice and assistant, the most outstanding one I have chosen..."

She pursed her lips and frowned, clearly realizing something was wrong:

"Come to think of it, haven't I seen Charlotte for a long time?"

"Do you still remember your identity? What do you belong to?"

"The Council... haven't I attended the Council meetings for a long time?"

"Then do you still remember Miss Jia Lin Na?"

"Of course I remember. Isn't she your lover in Tobesk?"

As these words slipped out, Flora Winslett froze as if struck by a giant hammer. Xia De knew she was about to wake up and was waiting for her to recover on her own, but he didn't expect to see two lines of clear tears streaming down the witch's fair cheeks.

She sat on the bed, looking up at Xia De with teary, blank eyes:

"I... this lake, Vesta City, Tobesk, autumn to winter, our house, this home... so, our current life, everything here is... fake? No, I don't believe it. All of this, us, you and me, this home, all of this..."

"Listen, even if all of this is fake, I am definitely real."

Xia De hugged her directly:

"It's time to wake up, Flora. We really have slept for too long." ===== CHAPTER 2683 =====