Chapter 2273: Chapter 2274: The Floating Flower

In the New City Rosewater Pavilion, Rhein’s figure gradually became clear from a blur.

After Ironclad Granny told Rhein about the conversation between Angel and Tree Spirit, Rhein came online immediately, wanting to know exactly what was happening with Angel.

Compared to the carefree Tree Spirit and Ironclad Granny, Rhein worried the most about Angel. After all, Angel was an indispensable focus for the future development plans of the Barbarian Cave. If anything happened to him, many plans could not proceed.

Previously, Rhein also speculated that Angel might have gone to a place with many Elemental Creatures, but Rhein never imagined that there would be Elemental Creatures beyond the Second Level of True Knowledge, let alone the appearance of Half-step Legend Elemental Creatures.

In the presence of such powerful Elemental Creatures, even though Angel himself said he would be fine, it still made Rhein very worried. After all, only by reaching this level can one understand how terrifying it is.

Rhein truly hoped Angel would quickly move away.

However, when Rhein entered the Wilderness of Dreams, Angel had already logged off.

...

Angel did not know that Rhein was looking for him. After leaving the Wilderness of Dreams, he prepared to leave the Vine House and search outside for the floating flower Nami Midori left behind.

Pushing open the vine-entwined door, Angel walked out. What he saw before his eyes was a surging sea of clouds, with vine flowers scattered among them.

Amidst the various flowers, Angel quickly locked on to the floating flower because it was truly eye-catching.

It was a feeble and delicate blue floating flower that looked like it could be torn apart by the cold wind at any moment, swaying lightly with the breeze.

The floating flower floated up and down in the wind, but no matter how the wind blew, big or small, it was never blown away from the Cloud Sea of Flowers, only drifting within a small area.

Angel easily arrived near the floating flower and was about to reach out to touch it.

But at that moment, a strange feeling suddenly arose.

It felt as if someone behind him was secretly watching him, and that lurking gaze made the skin on his back tense up.

Angel quickly turned his head, but saw no creature behind him.

That feeling of being watched disappeared in the instant he turned around.

He glanced around once more but saw no traces of any creature. Only blooming flowers whose petals fell and danced in the wind like snowflakes.

"Again..." Angel frowned. Since leaving the White Cloud Sea, this feeling of being watched had appeared for the third time.

The first two times occurred outside, but now, in the core area of the Green Forest Domain, there was still this feeling of being watched.

One must know that the atmosphere here is extremely intimidating. Who could be observing him in the shadows under such pressure? Or is it as Cubic said before, that it’s actually Nami Midori secretly watching him?

But if it were Nami Midori, why would it secretly watch him? Moreover, he is now on top of the vine tower Nami Midori created; the entire vine tower can serve as Nami Midori’s eyes. Why would it need to secretly spy?

Angel’s expression was uncertain for a long while before he took a deep breath and turned away from the Vine House.

After waiting a few minutes without feeling spied upon, Angel finally stretched out his hand to touch the floating flower.

The moment Angel touched the floating flower, a faint light floated from the petals. These light points, resembling blue fireflies, floated into the air and quickly darted off in a certain direction.

Angel guessed that these light points, like the sparks in the Region of Fire and the swirling sands in the Baya Desert, were a medium for conveying messages.

After about three to five minutes, Angel heard a rustling sound in the wind.

Turning around, he saw a small green snake winding through the sea of clouds, bringing along blooming flowers, eventually halting near Angel.

"Did you need something from me?" Nami Midori’s golden eyes quietly observed Angel.

Angel nodded: "Indeed, there are some things I need your Excellency Nami Midori to clarify for me."

Angel laid out his speculations.

Nami Midori: "You think that the items Mr. Feng left behind might hold clues to breaking through the Spatial Tempest?"

"Yes, if the Spatial Tempest was within Mr. Feng’s expectations, then there must be a solution."

Nami Midori said bluntly: "Your speculation might have some merit. However, I can tell you with certainty that Mr. Feng left no items behind during his stay in the Green Forest Domain."

Angel was stunned to hear this because, in his imagination, Feng left a hidden room and a large batch of paintings for the gentle wind Uranos in the White Cloud Village, a unique ice circle for Frost Iser in the Malaya Ice Mountain. By this logic, shouldn’t he also leave something for Nami Midori?

This was different from what he thought.

When Angel showed a bewildered expression, Nami Midori added: "What I said before was too absolute; Mr. Feng did leave something behind."

Angel’s eyes lit up, looking at Nami Midori expectantly.

"However, what he left, you’ve already seen, is the painting in the Vine House and the knowledge imparted to me. Besides these, there’s nothing else."

Angel had previously examined the painting in the Vine House carefully. Aside from being a medium for teleporting to the void, there was nothing unusual about it.

As for the knowledge imparted to Nami Midori... if Nami Midori knew how to traverse the void, it probably wouldn’t deliberately hide it.

So, in conclusion, it’s still a dead end.

Nami Midori: "If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving now."

After saying these words, Nami Midori was about to turn and leave.

However, Angel stopped it: "Your Excellency Nami Midori, the Lost Forest is within your domain. You should be able to sense what happens in the Lost Forest, right?"

Nami Midori: "Generally speaking, unless there is a massive energy fluctuation or an aura that draws my attention, I won’t notice. I don’t usually sense what’s happening in the Lost Forest."

Angel: "But can you sense any unusual fluctuations?"

Nami Midori: "That depends on what kind of unusual fluctuations."

Under Nami Midori’s gaze, Angel recounted the incidents of being watched.

After listening to Angel’s account, Nami Midori did not respond immediately. Instead, it gracefully swung its snake body, gliding past Angel to the vicinity of the floating flower.

"Come back." Accompanied by the scattering petals, the floating flower slowly descended from mid-air at Nami Midori’s call, finally landing atop her head.

It was like a crown of flowers, rooted at the crown of her skull.

After Nami Midori donned the floating flower crown, she fell into a long silence, as if she was sensing something.

Minutes later, Nami Midori returned to her senses and gently flicked her tail, sending a dark blue petal into Angel’s hand.

Meanwhile, a scene unfolded in Angel’s mind: the moment he stepped out of the Vine House, approached the floating flower, sensed being watched, and then abruptly turned his head.

"Is this the scene you’re referring to when you said you felt watched?" Nami Midori asked.

Angel nodded, "That’s right. Does the floating flower have recording capabilities?"

Nami Midori nodded and then fell into contemplation.

While Nami Midori was pondering, Angel’s mind was also in turmoil. Nami Midori openly told Angel that the floating flower had the ability to record past images, which once again reduced Angel’s suspicion towards her.

Since the floating flower could record images, Nami Midori had no reason to secretly surveil him.

Most importantly, Angel had experienced this feeling of being watched several times now; previously, once at Gentle Wave Sea and once in an unnamed place. Both locations were quite a distance from the Green Forest Domain, and both Leaf Groot and the later Parry Mountains encounters clearly stated that Nami Midori hadn’t left the Lost Forest.

Under these circumstances, even as a half-step Legend, Nami Midori would find it difficult to place her eyes thousands, even tens of thousands of miles away.

Moreover, Angel couldn’t fathom what reason Nami Midori would have to watch him.

If it truly had been Nami Midori, the first two instances of surveillance might still make some sense, but he was already in the Lost Forest, so using such methods now seemed quite odd.

Therefore, Angel believed that the observer hidden in the shadows was unlikely to be Nami Midori.

Having ruled out Nami Midori’s suspicion, Angel began to anticipate Nami Midori’s contemplation. He also wanted to know what answer Nami Midori would give. Could she discover the hidden observer?

Minutes later, Nami Midori slowly lifted her head. "I haven’t sensed anyone watching you through the floating flower."

"Ah?"

Seeing Angel’s puzzled expression, Nami Midori explained, "The floating flower is actually one of my abilities, an extension of my senses. You can think of it as containing all my senses, including touch, smell, vision, and perception."

"I can sense through the floating flower to experience what it has gone through and even immerse myself in those experiences."

Having said that, to help Angel understand, Nami Midori flicked her tail again, and the dark blue petal in Angel’s hand turned into countless light points that eventually enveloped Angel.

Amidst the light points, Angel felt as if he had returned to ten minutes ago.

However, the perspective had changed.

His current perspective was that of the floating flower suspended in mid-air.

Through the floating flower’s perspective, Angel could clearly see the Vine House being pushed open, "Angel" coming out from the Vine House, and finally stopping in front of the floating flower...

The entire process, not just the images, but also the direction of the wind’s flow in the air, the sound of "Angel"’s robes being blown, and the faint floral fragrance in the air, were all perfectly recreated. Moreover, due to the floating flower’s unique ability, certain sensory experiences were enhanced, especially perception capacity, which was stronger than Angel’s own and allowed him to perceive more information.

This was not like a memory replay; it was more like the fully immersive perceptual virtual technology that Jon once mentioned still being developed on Earth.

Angel retraced the series of events from the floating flower’s perspective once more.

However, as Nami Midori stated, when the "Angel" in the memory suddenly turned his head to search for the hidden observer, there was no anomaly in the floating flower’s perception.

The wind speed was unchanged, the floral scent in the air remained uninterrupted, everything seemed perfectly normal.

The only anomaly, on the contrary, was "Angel" himself. Like someone with paranoia, suddenly turning around and looking back and forth, from the floating flower’s perspective, "Angel" seemed genuinely abnormal.

After experiencing the floating flower’s journey, the light points around Angel gradually dissipated.

Nami Midori reappeared in front of him, "Do you understand now? In my perception, I haven’t detected anything abnormal."

"Are you certain that you were indeed being watched?"

If it were before, being doubted by Nami Midori would have irritated Angel. But after experiencing the floating flower’s perspective, he somewhat understood Nami Midori; at that time, "he" did appear quite strange to outsiders.

"I don’t need to lie. I indeed felt someone watching me from the shadows," Angel said. "And this isn’t the first time it’s happened."

Initially, due to suspecting Nami Midori as the observer, Angel hadn’t mentioned the first two incidents. Now that he had ruled out Nami Midori’s suspicion, Angel recounted his prior experiences of being watched.

After hearing Angel’s narrative, Nami Midori also felt puzzled, "Besides you and that bird, have any other Elemental Creatures felt watched?"

Angel nodded, "Toby only felt watched the second time. Just now, it didn’t feel anything unusual."

Nami Midori: "Could it be some sort of evil eye curse?"

Nami Midori once heard Mr. Feng talk about some undead abilities and among them was the evil eye curse. In some horror stories, this curse is described as making someone feel occasionally watched from the shadows. This feeling of being secretly observed builds up over time, potentially driving humans to insanity.

"I have some tools to resist and detect negative states on myself, and I’m sure I haven’t encountered any curses. Besides, the evil eye curse doesn’t work on me."

The evil eye curse is a low-level undead power, incapable of causing direct harm. Even if an ordinary person were afflicted by it, as long as they had a strong mind, it wouldn’t affect them much.

Much less Angel.

"If it’s not a curse, and the observer is targeting only you and your bird... Toby." Nami Midori said, "Could it be some special visual ability, sensed only by those being observed?"

"The purpose of surveillance is for the observer to go unnoticed. But if you both can sense their gaze, there’s no point in using surveillance, is there?"

Angel said, "Based on our analysis of the observer, it’s incredibly fast, has a strong ability to conceal. Could it be a powerful or specially skilled Elemental Creature?"

Nami Midori directly shook her head. "It won’t be an Elemental Creature. If there were such an existence among Elemental Creatures, it wouldn’t slip past me."

"Moreover, according to your description, the observer already appeared at the center of the Lost Forest. Previously, I was in closed-door cultivation, and my perception of the outside world was diminished. But now, I’m not in seclusion. If any unusual and unfamiliar elemental energy appears in the Lost Forest, I can easily sense it."

"I can clearly tell you that since you entered the Lost Forest, no other unfamiliar elemental energy has appeared within it."

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