Chapter 4237: Dream of Roots

Xia De had thought Galina would be at home tonight, but the Duchess did not come over. As for Flora, who had returned home with him, she stayed at 6 St. Derand Square until 9:30 PM before leaving satisfied. The pigments she had specially prepared for this painting would be ready tomorrow, and completing the oil painting was only a matter of time.

"Will Miss Sylvia be coming tonight?"

After seeing Flora off, Wenny asked Xia De with a smile. The answer to this question came at 11:00 PM. The house had already gone dark, but footsteps suddenly sounded from the basement.

Sylvia crept upstairs, felt her way through the living room in the dark, and opened the bedroom door, only to find the gas lamp by the bed still lit, with Xia De reading a book against the pillows.

The young witch breathed a sigh of relief:

"I was afraid I would disturb your rest~ Everyone else didn't come tonight, right? Are Little Mia and the dragon egg not with you?"

She said as she closed the bedroom door behind her. Xia De put down his book and replied:

"Wenny said you would most likely come tonight, so she kept the dragon egg and Little Mia in the room next door. Do you want to go see them?"

Sylvia complained softly:

"Xia De, you don't think I came so late just to see them, do you?"

She took Xia De's outstretched hand and pulled him onto the bed, smiling as she wrapped her arms around Xia De's neck, then kissed him fiercely.

Having not seen each other for a week, Sylvia was a bit excited, to the point that even Wenny and Little Mia in the next room felt she was a bit noisy. However, Sylvia had her reasons; Viga and Flora didn't know she had snuck over, and Sylvia clearly didn't intend to wait until morning to go back.

At 1:00 AM, the exhausted but satisfied girl actually reached her arm under the bed to grab her clothes, intending to go back now.

Xia De was very surprised:

"You're satisfied, so you're going to abandon me and let me spend this cold night alone?"

"What are you saying? And it's already early summer now; it's not cold at all at night."

She said in a coquettish tone, then explained:

"I can't let Viga and Flora know what I've done, or I'll be teased for a whole year. Sorry I can't stay. I'll make it up to you later... I have that outfit of Margaret's, too."

Seeing Sylvia was determined to leave, Xia De went to get his own clothes:

"I'll see you back."

"No need. It's so late, you shouldn't have to go back and forth. I set up a teleportation beacon in advance. Once I get back to the Blue Ink Library, I can tear through space and return to the small courtyard behind the Fragrant Mansion."

"Since it's so close, I should see you back even more."

So, Xia De, wearing his pajamas, saw Sylvia to the Blue Ink Library. In the darkness of the library basement, Sylvia kissed Xia De again before reluctantly saying goodbye, her heart full of regret and longing.

Xia De, who returned home, soon fell into a deep sleep. With five hours left before he had to wake up at 6:30 AM, this was a quite sufficient amount of sleep for him now.

His consciousness fell into the infinite chaos. When Xia De realized he was dreaming, he understood that he had fallen into another strange dream:

"I already drank the dreamless potion Danister gave me. Is this potion not working?"

This time, the dream was neither the red sea nor the black waters. A confused Xia De looked at the bookshelves around him and realized he was in the Blue Ink Library.

"What does this mean?"

At this moment, he was standing on the first floor of the Blue Ink Library. It was night, and the library lights were off, but he could see the yellow gas streetlights outside through the windows.

But the library in the dream was a bit different from reality. Several tree roots protruded from under the floorboards, overturning the originally flat floor, and then coiled around the bookshelves. Some roots even broke through the walls and extended outside the library.

Those roots were extremely thick, their surfaces dark brown, but covered with dense, glowing red lines. That red light wasn't particularly conspicuous and couldn't provide much illumination even in such a dim room.

Xia De touched the roots wrapped around the bookshelf beside him, frowned slightly, and prepared to leave to see what was happening outside.

This was, of course, not a normal dream. Even though Xia De had just come from the Blue Ink Library, it was impossible for him to dream of such a scene. He didn't cast any spells but slowly bypassed the blocking roots. Fortunately, the internal door lock of the library hadn't been blocked, so he opened it and stepped out onto the street.

Just as Xia De had thought, roots with glowing red lines wrapped around every building within his line of sight. Roots extended from the houses along the street and from beneath the road, but they weren't as dense as they were indoors.

Although the street was partially blocked, carriages could still pass; it was more like the ancient city had acquired many strange decorations.

And when Xia De jumped onto the roof of the library and looked further away, he saw that almost the entire city was wrapped in roots. However, looking at it, it was clear that the density of the roots in the direction of the foot of the mountain was higher than in the parts on the mountain.

The Blue Ink Library was located in the Lower City, very close to the Upper City. When Xia De looked toward the higher mountain where the Fragrant Mansion and the Candle Keep Library were located, the Fragrant Mansion had already been touched by the roots, but almost no roots could be seen on the outer walls of the Candle Keep Library—at least not from this angle.

"She" asked gently:

【Can you feel it?】

"Yes, the essence of the roots is a curse rooted in the dream, and those glowing red lines are life force. The feeling this curse gives me is almost identical to the curse on the sleeping sickness patients I encountered at the Grey Rock Pass military hospital this morning."

Standing on the roof, he couldn't feel any wind. Although the city was lit, there was no sound. The Arcadia City of the night wouldn't be this quiet; this city in the dream was in absolute silence.

"She" reminded him:

【You have overlooked one thing.】

"Yes, the three moons in the sky are also problematic."

Xia De looked up. There were no traces of starlight in the black night sky. The red, yellow, and silver moons were all in the full moon phase; such a moon phase wouldn't appear more than a few times a year. They looked like moons, but Xia De knew for certain before he even looked up that they absolutely were not moons.

Xia De looked away from the night sky in less than two seconds because he felt he was being watched while staring at the "moons."

"Those aren't moons; those three things are more like... eyes."

"She" laughed softly, which meant agreement.

Xia De then continued to look toward the foot of the mountain. The density of the roots was greater there, so the source of the curse was likely there.

"This dream should be the real reason for the 'sleeping sickness' in the Arcadia region, right?"

He said with a blank expression:

"But I'm sleeping at home right now, and I'm not in Arcadia City."

【Therefore, this dream is not determined by your location, but because you have been active near the source of the curse.】

"But why would this dream find me?"

Xia De thought to himself, then found the answer:

"It wouldn't be because I've been having all sorts of strange dreams lately, and my own dreams are very unstable, would it?"

【Yes.】

"Then, can I leave here and wake up from my sleep?"

Xia De asked again, and "She" continued to answer:

【You can, but if you don't want this dream to notice your special existence, do not wake up directly from here. You need to take a detour.】

Xia De understood what "She" meant:

"Go to another dream first, and then wake up?"

【The dream of the Origin Sea is always waiting for your arrival; you only need to reach an area in the dream where a large body of water appears;】

【If your heart leans toward death, the Underworld Moon will guide you to the road of the Dream of the Underworld Beach;】

【Your own unique Dream of the Silver Moon is with you. Cross the area where the curse has the least influence, and you will be able to return to that wilderness.】

"I'm so busy even when I'm asleep; there are so many dreams waiting for me."

Xia De let out a long breath and decided to go to the center of this cursed dream to take a look. Perhaps he could solve the problem in one trip. So, he leaped from the roof of the library, transformed into a swarm of red butterflies, and flew toward the Outer City.

The density of the roots was indeed greater as he approached the foot of the mountain, but before he had completely left the Lower City, he reverted to human form and stopped on the roof of an apartment building:

"The feeling of being watched has intensified."

He glanced up at the three moons overhead, realizing that because his own soul was too powerful, although this prevented him from being deceived by this dream, it also made it easier for the dream to notice him.

Without knowing the truth of this dream, continuing to move forward would likely cause the dream to undergo changes he couldn't anticipate.

Besides being able to feel the curse, Xia De could also perceive whispers from this dream. This was someone else's home turf. After thinking for a moment, he decided there was no need to continue forward rashly. Whether waiting for the church's news or asking the doctor for help would be fine later.

However, this didn't mean Xia De had to leave the dream now. As long as he didn't enter the Outer City where the roots were denser, his activities in the dream wouldn't have too much of an impact on it.

So, Xia De searched the Lower City and Upper City where he could be active in the dream. He went to the church in the dream city, hoping to encounter the team sent by the church into the dream, but unfortunately, although the exterior of the church existed in the dream, its interior space didn't exist at all, making it impossible to enter, and the church's team was nowhere to be found.

However, after a careful search, Xia De discovered other people in this dream besides himself.

They were the victims of the sleeping sickness.