Inside a red, three-story house in Backlund's Cherwood Borough.
Fors lay lazily on a lounge chair, enjoying the warmth from the nearby fireplace. To her right was a small round table with a round-bellied fountain pen, several blank sheets of paper, and a glass of dark red wine.
In the adjacent living room, the creak of a door suddenly sounded, followed by the heavier thud of boots on the wooden floor, and then the clang of the door closing.
The rustle of changing shoes and clothes lasted for a while, and then relaxed footsteps quickly approached the fireplace in the dining room.
Xio, a little over one and a half meters tall with a somewhat baby-faced cheek, quickly walked to the fireplace.
Her gaze lingered for a moment on the small round table to Fors's right, a hint of helplessness flashing in her eyes, before she spoke:
"Fors, didn't you say you've had a lot of inspiration lately? It's been most of the day, and you haven't written a single word yet?"
"Uh, inspiration doesn't just run away, I'll write it later."
Fors was momentarily stunned, then gave an awkward chuckle as she explained.
"You said the same thing yesterday," Xio reminded her helplessly.
"It's all this fireplace's fault, it's too warm..."
Before Fors could finish speaking, her inspiration was suddenly stirred. She turned her head to look at a silver mirror Xio held in her hand.
"What is this?" she asked, a little confused.
"It's from a commission I took earlier. Some young masters and ladies who enjoy mysticism performed a ritual haphazardly and attracted a Wraith. This is an item left over from that ritual. I saw it had some spirituality, so I brought it back."
Xio explained simply. She also noticed the spiritual fluctuation that had appeared on the mirror just now, and hesitated whether to throw it away immediately.
The silver mirror reflected the blurry firelight of the fireplace, and the flickering crimson in the mirror distorted into Loen words, constantly floating:
"I am a poor Ghost, betrayed by my husband, suspected by my children, and despised by my relatives. I committed suicide because I could not bear such a life."
"No one grieved for me, and no one shed tears for me. I didn't even have a decent funeral. I suddenly regret it; I never truly lived for myself once in my life."
"Kind person who found this mirror, could you offer me a bouquet of fresh flowers, a blessing, and a gold pound? I will transform into a Night Scented Stock and pray for you in the sea of flowers in the Tenebrous Heaven."
Fors didn't know what expression to use to face the words on the mirror. She stared blankly at Xio and said:
"This? Should we... throw it away? Or..."
Xio frowned, her eyes filled with deep confusion as she said:
"I haven't sensed any aura or influence related to evil, chaos, or madness. If it were a Wraith or a Phantom, I couldn't possibly not feel it."
"What if it's a harmless Ghost?"
Fors mused, speaking. For some reason, she vaguely felt that the mirror truly contained a pitiful Ghost, and she couldn't help but feel sympathy for it.
"I don't know either."
Xio paused, suppressing the faint sympathy rising in her heart, and said rationally:
"But do you really believe its words? Even if what it says is true, would the residual spirit of someone who committed suicide after such experiences truly be harmless?"
Fors had already automatically assumed the thing in the mirror was the Ghost of a pitiful lady. She inevitably felt some empathy for the other party, and said with a hesitant voice:
"But she only asked for a bouquet of fresh flowers, a blessing, and a gold pound?"
"Uh, a gold pound? Why would a Ghost want a gold pound? Is this some new type of scam?"
Fors suddenly froze. As a not-so-wealthy novelist, the mention of a gold pound brought back some of her own thoughts.
Xio shook her head and said:
"I don't know. If it's a scam, it shouldn't just be for one gold pound. Of course, it doesn't rule out someone deliberately using special mystical items to accumulate wealth."
"Perhaps she was just too poor during her lifetime, so she developed this obsession after death."
Fors nodded gently, once again lost in her own imagination. She had already envisioned a middle-aged woman tormented by life.
Xio paused, looking at Fors with some disbelief and said:
"You didn't actually believe her, did you?"
"I think we need to take this mirror to the Church of the Earth Mother and have a priest Purify it."
"The Church of the Earth Mother's priests will Purify you along with it, or lock you up in the church's basement, never to see the sun again."
Fors sat up from the lounge chair and reminded Xio grumpily.
"Of course I wouldn't take it myself. Don't you have a way to interfere with divination and spiritual intuition now? Just find someone you don't know to do it."
Xio explained her plan.
"But what if everything she said is true?" Fors still said with some hesitation.
"Why don't you do a divination first?" Xio reminded her.
Fors then realized, and she chuckled dryly twice, saying:
"I was so busy discussing it with you."
As she spoke, she got up and went to her room, took out a crystal ball the size of a baby's fist, and began to perform a divination on the silver mirror that had suddenly displayed writing.
A moment later, the brilliant galaxy in her eyes faded, and the light in the crystal ball on the table quickly disappeared.
She turned her head to look at Xio, who had been watching her, and nodded slightly:
"I didn't divine any malice from it towards us, nor did I find any danger."
Xio was silent for a moment, seemingly caught in a dilemma.
Fors hesitated for a moment before suggesting:
"How about we try sending her a bouquet of fresh flowers? It's just an ordinary bouquet, even if something goes wrong, it won't affect us much."
Xio and Fors exchanged glances, then turned their heads to look at the silver mirror she had placed on the small round table beside her, falling into thought for a moment.
West Balam, Paz River Valley.
Leyton, accompanied by Crow Anu, walked upstream along the river in the center of the Paz River Valley. His figure occasionally blurred, then became clear again, having instantly moved a considerable distance forward.
Crow Anu, circling in the air, vigorously flapped its wings. It surveyed the river below while accelerating its flight.
When Leyton's figure disappeared and reappeared again, it flapped its wings twice and landed directly on Leyton's shoulder:
"Boss, why are we investigating upstream along the river?"
"If all those puppets enter this river, then the river water here should be corrupted with something, more or less."
As he spoke, faint specks of light flickered in his eyes, as if containing a galaxy. Under the vision of the Eyes of Mystery Prying, everything around him was clearly reflected.
Crow Anu's eyes were deep and dark, like the gaze of the dead. It occasionally surveyed the river.
"There's nothing special about this river except for a few more dead spirits and Nature Spirits."
Crow Anu muttered softly, then flapped its wings and flew into the air again.
Leyton's figure suddenly blurred, then became clear again, and he was already two hundred meters away.
He gazed leisurely into the distance, his voice a low, puzzled whisper:
"The people here don't have an awareness of environmental protection. This river has been affected by the surrounding plantations and factories, accumulating a lot of toxins and garbage."
"But this is all within the normal range, and the creatures in the river show no signs of mutation. What was that Classical Alchemist constantly controlling puppets to sink into the river for?"
"Perhaps the Church of the Earth Mother's people can guess. No one understands the Planter pathway better than them."
As he muttered to himself, his figure suddenly became transparent, transforming into a human form composed of starlight. As he took steps, specks of starlight surged and shot into the sky, carrying Crow Anu's figure and sweeping towards the upper reaches of the Paz River Valley.