Drowsiness clung to her mind like a thick fog.
It was so cold…
Where did her blanket go?
As her consciousness flickered toward clarity, she felt the coarse texture of gravel beneath her. Her bare feet were exposed to the freezing air; she curled her slender toes, but unfortunately, these “snow-white snails” had no shell to retreat into.
Where is my bearskin blanket…
Wang Yue forced her eyelids open, feeling as though they were weighed down by lead. Above her was a jagged, rough stone ceiling.
Stunned, she looked down at her pajamas, then slowly lifted her head. Her gaze followed the cavern floor to its end, where a deep, hallucinatory Blue Lake shimmered.
Wang Yue’s mind was instantly ensnared, as if she were being pulled into an infinitely spinning vortex.
“Ah—!”
With a violent jolt, she let out a terrified scream. Tearing herself away from the delirium, she shoved off the ground with both hands and scrambled backward, desperate to get as far away from the Blue Lake as possible.
Wang Yue sprinted through the subterranean fissures until she reached her secret chamber, then scrambled back to the surface. She fled toward the dormitory like a woman hunted by a wild beast, her breath only hitching into a steady rhythm once she reached the safety of her room.
Only then did she realize her nightgown was drenched in sweat. It clung to her body, cold and damp; she could have wrung enough water out of it to fill a glass.
“This is not good at all…”
Wang Yue’s greatest fear was this unimaginable terror hailing from an unknown dimension. Being summoned before an Outer God in the middle of a sweet dream was a hundred times more horrific than any nightmare.
Ever since she had enrolled in the Witch Academy, she had been desperately absorbing knowledge.
However, the more she learned, the more she felt the mediocrity and insignificance of humanity. A profound sense of powerlessness welled up from the depths of her heart.
Take recent events, for example: she wanted to increase her strength, but she couldn’t merge a Rule Construct into her body like the Iron-Flow Giant Stag could. Nor could she leap across the chasm between the ‘Absolute Severance’ and ‘Stainless’ realms.
Even though she had only taken a small step on the path of a Witch, she already felt a strong sense that she was no longer quite human. A brain capable of multi-threaded control over Crow Sentinels—processing a stream of information from hundreds of different viewpoints simultaneously—was already vastly different from that of a normal person.
In the bathroom.
Icy mountain water cascaded down her porcelain-white body, washing away the sweat and grime.
After the wash, her skin became exceptionally delicate.
The flesh tightened in response to the cold, resembling a hard-boiled egg being peeled in cold water—the “egg white” becoming firm and elastic.
She pressed her hands against the wall, her eyes staring blankly at nothing. With a vacant expression, she muttered to herself, “What was I dreaming about? Why did I go underground? Dreams are a manifestation of the subconscious… Is it possible my subconscious wants to get closer to the Blue Lake? Or is the Blue Lake calling me? This is terrifying…”
This instance of sleepwalking instilled a powerful sense of crisis in Wang Yue.
The Blue Lake was no ordinary sinkhole.
True deep-blue sea holes and underground caverns usually harbored unique ecosystems and mysteriously magnificent scenery. One might traverse dozens of kilometers of winding Sewers to find a hidden paradise.
She would have been very interested in exploring that kind of sinkhole.
But the Blue Lake wasn’t made of real water. It was a stoma on Lhouctoug’s body. If she accidentally slipped and fell, she might plummet into a dark abyss where even her consciousness could no longer maintain its form. Even Taboo Names might not be enough to fish her back out.
Furthermore, if she took a “dip” in a place like that, it was doubtful she would remain in human form. She would likely end up like a breaded pork cutlet tossed into a deep fryer—crunchy and unrecognizable by the time she was pulled out.
Wang Yue subjected herself to the torture of the freezing water, the needles of pain on her skin helping her regain her focus. She was trying to calm herself, to break free from this lack of mental control.
Thinking back, this wasn’t the first time.
The last time it happened was on the eve of the Witch’s Tea Party. She had excavated the underground tunnel, reached the Blue Lake, and learned the academy’s secrets. Abnormalities had started appearing after her return.
She hadn’t expected that to be the end, but rather the beginning!
Wang Yue was not an indecisive person. She left a note for her roommate and fled the school under the cover of night.
She was getting out of here.
One day later…
Wang Yue stood before the Blue Lake once more. Her expression was dull, and she was clutching a lizard in her hand.
“Wait… how did I get back here?”
