26 Lilies in the Dark (2/2)

”come at me...”

This confirmed Xin Fan's guess. The voice was unmistakably his own. Xin Fan slowly got up from his position and sniffed the air. The stench from the previous night was still there. Xin Fan slowly walked around. He seemed to be searching for the source of the smell. More specifically, he was searching for the source of the smell of flowers. Xin Fan slowly trudged along until his foot hit a small indent in the ground. Xin Fan crawled onto all fours and touched around the floor. Through the faint outline in the darkness, he could barely make the object out. It was a hatch. What he felt as he walked was a small handle. Xin Fan put his hands on the handle and lifted them up with full force. The hatch was not surprisingly very heavy. It took him all his body strength to lift it up. He slowly climbed down.

The area was very dark so Xin Fan lit a candle. Almost immediately, the sound of bouncing stopped. He looked around to see rows of pots neatly arranged in a pattern. In each pot was a flower. The flowers were lilies. Each petal was pitch black with only the stem being white. In the center was a gathering of shadows, imposed by the surrounding shadows.

”No wonder.”

Xin Fan recognized the flower. He determined that it was a Shadow Echo Lily. They were a special flower used in many formations. This included the surveillance formation the school used for the fighting room. They grow only in the darkest of environments. They are known to generate illusions based on previous encounters and are a weed in some areas. However judging from the way they are presented, Xin Fan deduced that they are intentionally cultivated by the school.

Huh? Why am I not getting any progress? Didn't I solve the mystery.

Xin Fan reopened up his quest menu.

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Quest 2: Disprove the 4 school mysteries

Progress: 0%

Reward: Boosting Rice Recipes

Deadline: Before Exam

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Xin Fan read the quest over and over again until he finally realized his mistake. It was there the whole time. Disprove. He had to disprove the mystery. Xin Fan sighed. He did not really want to talk to Chang Mo again. However there seemed to be no choice. Xin Fan slowly climbed out of the hatch and Exited the gym. The teachers seemed to have left the meeting. There wasn't any teachers on patrol either. Xin Fan rushed back to the dorm and entered through the window. This time, he did not even need Chilong's help. Surprisingly, Chilong was still fast asleep. Had there been someone on patrol, things may have gone awry.

-

The next day, Xin Fan searched around for Chang Mo. He was still very suspicious about him. Xin Fan narrated all his findings. Of course he omitted the part about him leaving at night. Chang Mo personally confirmed Xin Fan's theory by checking out the gym himself. With daylight on his side, they realized that the hatch was in plain sight. It was literally next to the entrance inside the gym.

”So...All this time...It was just Shadow Echo Lilies.”

Chang Mo gave off a sigh of relief. Although he was partially disappointed, he was relieved that there was no ghosts. It gave him hope that the other three mysteries all had a logical solution.

[ Quest Completion at 25% ]

Xin Fan returned back to his dorm. In the bedroom, Chilong was reading a piece of paper. Looking at the paper made Xin Fan pause a bit.

”Haha...looks like you want a fight.”

Ahh...I forgot to get rid of that.

Xin Fan sighed dejectedly as he followed Chilong to an open field outside the dorm.