PFC Chapter 4282 The Dream of Roots
Chapter 4282 The Dream of Roots
Chapter 4282 The Dream of Roots
Shad had assumed Galina would be home tonight, but the Duchess didn't come. Flora, who had gone home with him, stayed at No. 6 St. Teresa Place until 9:30 p.m. before leaving satisfied. She had specially prepared the paints for this painting, and they would be ready by tomorrow; completing the oil painting was only a matter of time.
Will Miss Sylvia come over tonight?
After Shad saw Flora off, Winnie asked Shad a question with a smile. The answer to that question came at 11 p.m., when the lights were off but footsteps suddenly came from the basement.
Sylvia tiptoed upstairs, groped her way through the living room in the dark, and opened the door to the master bedroom. She found the gas lamp by the bed still on, and Shad was leaning against the pillows reading a book.
The young witch breathed a sigh of relief:
"I thought I was disturbing your rest~ No one came tonight, aren't Xiaomia and the dragon egg here with you?"
As she spoke, she closed the door behind her. Xia De put down his book and replied:
"Winnie said you'll most likely be coming over tonight, so she left the dragon egg and Mia in the next room. Do you want to go check on them?"
Sylvia complained softly:
"Shad, you don't think I came here so late just to visit them, do you?"
She pulled Xia De's outstretched hand to the bed, smiled, wrapped her arms around Xia De's neck, and then kissed him fiercely.
Sylvia was quite excited after not seeing them for a week, and even Winnie and Mia in the next room thought she was being a bit noisy. However, Sylvia had her reasons: Flora and Viggo were unaware that she had sneaked over in the middle of the night, and Sylvia clearly didn't plan to wait until morning to go back.
At one in the morning, the tired but content girl reached under the bed to get her clothes, preparing to go home now.
Xia De was very surprised:
"Are you going to abandon me now that you're satisfied, leaving me to spend this cold night alone?"
"What are you talking about? Besides, it's already early summer, and it's not cold at all at night."
She spoke in a coquettish tone, and then explained:
“I can’t let Vigo and Flora know what I did, or I’ll be ridiculed for a whole year. I’m sorry I can’t stay, but I’ll make it up to you with that Margaret outfit later; I have one too.”
Seeing that Sylvia was determined to leave, Shad went to get his own clothes:
"I'll take you back."
"No need, it's so late, don't bother going back and forth. I've set up a teleportation beacon beforehand, so once I get back to the Blue Ink Library, I can just tear open space and return to the small courtyard behind the Fragrant Residence."
"Since it's so close, I should definitely give it to you."
So, wearing his pajamas, Shad took Sylvia to the Blue Ink Library. In the darkness of the library's basement, Sylvia kissed Shad again before reluctantly saying goodbye, her heart filled with apology and regret.
After returning home, Xia De quickly fell into a deep sleep. There were still five hours before he had to get up at 6:30, which was plenty of sleep time for him at the moment.
Consciousness plummeted into endless chaos, and when Shad realized he was dreaming, he understood that he had fallen into another bizarre dream:
"I've already drunk the Dreamless Potion that Danist gave me, is it not working?"
This time, the dream was neither a red sea nor a black body of water. Somewhat bewildered, Xia looked around at the bookshelves and realized that he was in the Blue Ink Library.
"What does this mean?"
He was standing on the first floor of the Blue Ink Library. It was nighttime, and the library was dark, but he could see the dim yellow light of the gas streetlights outside through the windows.
But the library in the dream was different from reality. Several tree roots emerged from under the floor, overturning the originally flat floor. At the same time, the tree roots coiled and entangled the bookshelves in the library, and some tree roots even broke through the walls and extended outside the library.
The tree roots were extremely thick, with a dark brown surface, but their bark was covered with dense, shiny red lines. The red light wasn't particularly noticeable, providing little illumination even in such a dimly lit room.
Xia De reached out and touched the tree roots entwined on the bookshelf next to him. He frowned slightly and then prepared to leave to go outside and take a look.
This was certainly not a normal dream; even if Xia Degang had just returned from the Blue Ink Library, he couldn't possibly dream of such a scene. He didn't cast a spell, but slowly walked around the tree roots blocking his way. Fortunately, the library door wasn't blocked, and after unlocking the inner door, he went directly to the street outside.
Just as Shad had expected, tree roots with glowing red lines entwined around all the buildings in sight. The roots extended from the houses along the street and from beneath the street, but not as densely as they were indoors.
Although the streets were partially blocked, carriages could still travel, which was more like the addition of many strange decorations to this ancient city.
When Shad jumped onto the library roof and looked further into the distance, he indeed saw that almost the entire city was entangled in tree roots. However, as far as he could see, it was obvious that the density of tree roots was higher downhill than uphill.
The Blue Ink Library is located in the Lower Town, very close to the Upper Town. When Shad looked higher up the hill where Fragrant House and Candlekeep Library were situated, Fragrant House was already touched by tree roots, but there were almost no traces of tree roots visible on the outer walls of Candlekeep Library—at least not from this angle.
She asked gently:
Can you feel it?
"Yes, the essence of the tree roots is a curse rooted in dreams, and those red lights are life force. The feeling this curse gives me is almost exactly the same as the curse on the narcolepsy patients I encountered this morning at the Gray Rock Pass Wounded Soldiers Hospital."
Standing on the rooftop, I couldn't feel the wind. Although the city lights were on, there was no sound. Arcadia wouldn't be this quiet at night; in my dreams, the city was utterly desolate.
She then reminded him:
You've overlooked one thing.
"Yes, there's also a problem with the three moons in the sky."
Shad looked up. The black night sky held no starlight; the three moons—red, yellow, and silver—were all full, a phase that occurred only a few times a year. They looked like moons, but Shad knew even before he looked up that they were definitely not.
Less than two seconds later, Shad looked away from the night sky, because while he was gazing at the "moon," he felt himself being gazed upon.
"That's not the moon; those three things look more like eyes."
Her laughter was soft, which meant she agreed.
Shad then looked down the mountain, where the root system was denser, suggesting the roots had likely spread from that direction, and the source of the curse might be there:
"This dream must be the real cause of the 'sleeping disorder' in the Arcadia region, right?"
He remained expressionless.
"But I'm sleeping at home right now, I'm not in Arcadia."
Therefore, this dream is not determined by your location, but by your past activity near the source of the curse.
"But why did this dream come to me?"
Xia De thought to himself, and then found the answer for himself:
"Could it be because I've been having all sorts of strange dreams lately? My dreams are inherently very unpredictable, aren't they?"
【Yes. 】
"So, can I leave here and wake up from my sleep?"
Shad asked again, and "she" continued to answer:
[Yes, but if you don't want this dream to become aware of your special existence, don't 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 Sea of Origin awaits your arrival; simply reach the area in the dream where a large body of water appears.
If you contemplate death, the Moon will guide you to the Dream of the Beach.
[Your unique Silver Moon Dream is with you. Travel to the border of this cursed dream, and after crossing the area least affected by the curse, you will be able to return to that wilderness.]
"Even when I'm asleep, I'm still so busy; there are so many dreams waiting for me."
Shad breathed a sigh of relief and decided to go to the center of this cursed dream, hoping that this trip might solve the problem. So he leaped from the roof of the library, transforming into a swarm of red butterflies and flying towards the outer city.
The density of tree roots was indeed greater closer to the foot of the mountain. However, before Shad had completely left the lower city, he reverted to human form and stopped on the roof of an apartment building.
"The sense of being stared at has become stronger."
He glanced up at the three moons overhead and realized that because his soul was too powerful, although this prevented him from being deceived by the dream, it also made the dream more likely to notice him.
Continuing forward without knowing the truth behind this dream may lead to unexpected changes in the dream.
Besides sensing the curse, Shad could also perceive whispering elements within the dream. This was someone else's territory, and after a moment's consideration, he decided there was no need to rush forward. He could either wait for news from the church or seek help from a doctor later.
However, this does not mean that Xia De is about to leave the dream. As long as he does not enter the outer city of the dream city where the root density is higher, his activities in the dream will not have a significant impact on the dream.
So Shad searched the lower and upper city districts where he could be active. He went to the church in the dream city, hoping to encounter the church's team that had been sent into the dream. Unfortunately, although the exterior of the church existed in the dream, its interior space did not exist at all, making it impossible to enter. The church's team was nowhere to be found.
However, after a careful search, Shad discovered that there were other people in the dream besides himself.
Those were victims of narcolepsy.