Miss Witch, even if we're poor, we can't sell ourselves!

Lenai took Miya's hand and left the teaching building. They turned a corner and walked along the path on the side of the teaching building deeper into the campus.

Miya initially thought that she was going to take her to some secret base or something. After all, someone as mysterious as Lena might just settle down anywhere like a stray cat.

But when the cement road under their feet turned into a gravel road, and the gravel road into a dirt path, and the buildings on both sides were gradually replaced by tall banyan trees, Miya finally realized that they were heading into the back mountain.

"Your school... also has a back mountain?"

Miya couldn't help but ask a question.

Lenai didn't turn around, she just hummed softly, and twirled the lollipop in her mouth.

The path was narrow, just wide enough for two people to walk side by side, but Lena walked in front and Miya followed behind. The path was compacted by footsteps, and the ferns and low shrubs on both sides were trimmed, making it seem less like a completely wild mountain forest.

The path was clearly worn down by repeated footsteps, with several fresh footprints still visible on the surface.

Miya looked up at the end of the path and, through the layers of banyan tree canopies, could vaguely see the spire of a small clock tower. The gray-white stone exterior was edged with a warm gold by the afternoon sun.

Do witches like to build mysterious things in such mysterious places, whether it's a lighthouse with star trails or a cabin in the back mountains of the Moon Forest?

Miya muttered to herself, but her feet didn't stop moving.

She glanced down at her hand, which was being held by Le Nai. The white-haired little witch loosely hooked her fingers, not as if she were forcibly pulling her along, but more as if she was afraid that she would get lost.

When they reached the halfway point of the mountain, Lena suddenly spoke up.

"You have a familiar scent."

Mi Ye paused in his steps.

"What does it taste like?"

Lena didn't stop or turn around. She simply used her free hand to take the lollipop out of her mouth and gently drew a circle in the air.

The white sugar balls glistened in the sunlight, stretching into thin threads.

"I can't explain it."

she says.

"But I smelled it yesterday, and I smelled it again today."

Miya opened her mouth, wanting to ask what it meant, wondering if her scent was inappropriate...

However, at the same moment this thought flashed through her mind, another feeling unexpectedly crashed into her consciousness.

She remembered that feeling, she remembered it all too well.

It was that faint, lingering feeling in the air a few days ago, in that ward on the second floor of the abandoned hospital, before she touched that little white flower.

A mind without a master.

Mi Ye tensed up instantly.

She grabbed Lena's hand and pulled the white-haired little witch half a step behind her, instinctively placing her other hand in front of her.

The sense of life spread out immediately, sweeping over the surrounding bushes, over the banyan tree canopy overhead, and over the flowerbed and every window of the clock tower in front.

The flowers, plants, and trees are all there; a few birds are perched under the eaves of the clock tower; ants are crawling in the cracks of the stone slabs—everything is normal.

There were no hidden magical fluctuations, and no alarming biological reactions.

Only that scent remained, faint yet clear as if someone were whispering in your ear, growing closer and stronger.

This is no coincidence; Lena definitely knows something.

But when Miya turned her head, the kitten in front of her was still looking so cute and innocent.

The white-haired little witch merely glanced back at Mi Ye, her pink eyes showing no panic at being suspected, nor any displeasure at being glared at; she maintained her perpetually sleepy and languid expression.

She pulled her hand out of Mi Ye's palm, turned around and gently patted the back of Mi Ye's hand, then continued walking forward.

"We're almost there."

As Lena spoke, she put the lollipop back into her mouth, her ahoge (cowlick) swayed, and her steps were as light as if she were strolling in her own backyard.

Miya bit her lip, stood there for a while, then took a deep breath and followed.

Although the origin of that aura in the sea of ​​consciousness was unknown, it was not aggressive for the time being. Just like Lan Ye's Snow Fairy Apple, it lay quietly somewhere, waiting to be discovered.

The path splits into two at the foot of the bell tower. The left path leads to a grove of trees behind the bell tower, while the right path is a narrow stone staircase, about a dozen steps, leading to a platform about two stories above the ground.

Lena leaped up the stone steps in two quick steps, with Miya following behind.

Once you reach the top of the steps, a bright and open view suddenly appears before you.

This is a small garden built around the clock tower, roughly the size of a basketball court.

The ground was paved with gray-white stone slabs, with fine moss growing in the cracks and a few wildflowers whose names I didn't know.

The clock tower in the center of the garden is cylindrical, made of gray and white stone, and looks to be three or four stories high. The walls are covered with dark green ivy, which climbs all the way to the arched window at the top of the clock tower and sways gently in the breeze.

The garden was surrounded by a ring of neatly trimmed shrubs, with a few flowering trees scattered in the corners, and a faint fragrance wafting in the air.

In the very center of the garden, directly opposite the clock tower gate, there is a small flower bed.

Mi Ye stopped three steps away from the flower bed.

Only one type of flower was planted in the flower bed, blooming all alone in the very center.

The midday sun refracted from the edge of the bronze bell in the clock tower and fell directly on the flower, illuminating every vein of it and making it appear so red it was almost dripping blood.

Cut autumn vines.

The aura of that sea of ​​consciousness emanated from it.

Mi Ye stared at the autumn vine, her vigilance returning.

She remembered.

Last time in the hospital ward, that little white flower looked so harmless, so quiet, so naturally staying where it shouldn't be.

Then, with a touch, she was pulled into Lan Ye's sea of ​​consciousness.

If it weren't for the black star mark on her body that scared away the shadow wolves, and if she hadn't happened to have learned to read people and discover Lan Ye's true obsession, it would have been questionable whether she could have come out intact that day.

She doesn't want to fall into the same trap twice.

Miya said this to herself in her heart, and then took a step back.

Suddenly, Miya's mind became unable to think of anything.

An overwhelming sense of chaos surged up from the depths of her consciousness, instantly overwhelming all her conscious awareness.

Miya wanted to call out to Lena, but her lips moved but no sound came out. It was as if someone had suddenly taken control of her body, and she could only watch helplessly as she reached out her hand, her fingertips slowly approaching the deep red petal.

Wait a moment.

Wait, wait, wait!

Here we go again!

Then her fingertips touched the petals, which were no different from ordinary bougainvillea petals. But the moment she touched them, a powerful suction force surged from the center of the petals, as if an invisible hand had grabbed her consciousness and pulled her out of her body.

The last thing she saw was the bronze bell atop the clock tower, illuminated by the sunlight, and Lena's clearly panicked eyes, before the whole world went dark.