Pillar of Yita

”Miss Daisy, Miss Daisy?”

Ai Xiaoxiao softly called out as she walked into the kitchen, but there was no sign of Lady Cat near the familiar spot by the stove. She glanced around, a puzzled expression appearing on her face, as Miss Daisy would usually come out for a stroll at this time every day.

Tianlan passed by from the outside courtyard and, upon seeing her, couldn’t help but ask, ”What are you doing, Xiaoxiao?”

Ai Xiaoxiao turned her head, ”Have you seen Miss Daisy?”

”Miss Daisy?” Tianlan pondered for a moment, shaking her head, ”I haven’t actually. But don’t worry, she’s so mysterious, she might just appear suddenly.”

Ai Xiaoxiao glanced at the small jar filled with dried fish in her arms, somewhat disappointed, ”Oh.”

Tianlan’s eyes twinkled, and she suddenly said mysteriously, ”Forget about Miss Daisy, come, let me show you something.”

”Eh?”

Ai Xiaoxiao looked a bit caught off guard as Tianlan grabbed her hand.

”Remember the little house the Captain built before? Aren’t you curious about that ’guest’s’ identity?”

”But, but, Miss Atira told us not to disturb it.”

”Yes, but they’re not here right now.”

Ai Xiaoxiao thought for a moment and felt a bit tempted, ”Should we tell Tangtang?”

”No way, Brother Ade’s cousin is no fun at all, too serious.”

”Tangtang would be furious if she heard you say that—”

Tianlan lowered her voice, ”So you better not tell her.”

Ai Xiaoxiao nodded repeatedly. Thus, the two little girls sneakily headed towards the stern.

...

After everything settled, seeing the Dragon’s Claw henchmen fall, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Reed ’thunked’ his Great Shield heavily on the ground, glanced back at the dust-covered Papalarians, a hint of amusement in his silver eyes, ”Parker, your troublemaking skills haven’t changed at all. I remember last time in the Lost Temple of the Traveler’s Swamp, and the time before that, it’s always been like this?”

Parker patted the dust off his body, causing a cloud of dust to rise, ending up coughing uncontrollably himself, ”Cough, cough, cough, last time it wasn’t me, it was Tianlan!”

”I was talking about the Cursed Mark.”

”Ha... cough cough, what’s wrong with a qualified Papalarian having curiosity?”

”But you’re not a Papalarian.”

”Cough cough cough, I’m telling you, Big Cat, you might not understand—this is a Papalarian talent, yes, what I mean is there’s no difference for a Chosen. You know, it’s just like this—”

”Like what?”

”Just... like this.”

Elisa couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Atira sighed, stopping the bickering between the two, ”So what did you actually encounter, Parker?”

”A skeleton, how was I supposed to know its head wasn’t properly on its neck?” Parker turned, pointing to a direction, ”It was right—”

He suddenly widened his eyes and opened his mouth, raising his hands as he looked at that spot, ”—Wait, I swear, it was just here!”

Atira looked at the empty spot and sighed again, ”There’s nothing there, Parker.”

”No, it really should be in this place... a skeleton in a robe, I could even describe what it looked like, the robe seemed almost new—except a bit dirty.”

Parker rushed over in surprise, crouching as if trying to find something under the dust, but there was nothing beneath the dust. He raised his head to look around—Elisa’s torchlight flickered in the darkness—but the underground passage was empty.

He clearly remembered the skeleton should have been there, he even reached to grab the robe, accidentally kicking the skull. Right, the skull, where was it?

Even the skull was gone.

Parker nearly jumped three feet high, wondering what on earth he had kicked before; it was really encountering a ghost. He looked at Atira, a bit bewildered, and stammered, ”You all saw it, that skull...”

It was then Elisa said, ”I did see a skeleton before.”

She pointed in that direction, ”It was lying there, wearing a robe, though a layer of dust covered it, you could still make out the background color was crimson. The robe was intact, no damages, at least from my angle.”

”Yes, yes, yes,” Parker nodded vigorously, ”That’s exactly it.”

”So where did it go?”

”I guess it might have been an undead creature, you know those things, it must have fled while we were in combat—”

Atira sighed, ”Undead creatures don’t flee, especially low-level ones, Parker.”

”What if it was a high-level undead creature?”

”Then why would it run away?”

”Um, alright, Big Cat, you asked a good question... for example, I’m saying—maybe it was a pacifist.”

Reed rolled his eyes.

Elisa laughed too, responding, ”If it had fled, we should have seen it.”

”I didn’t see it.” The big cat put away his shield, replied.

”Actually, neither did I.” Elisa replied with a smile.

”So where did it go?” Atira asked, but no one answered her question. The Elf Girl turned her head, seeing Fang Hong still lost in thought, softly spoke up, ”Ade?”

”Huh?”