After wiping off the crusted blood from half her body with a damp towel, Alice fell asleep on Thalia’s bed.

  It must be said that this was one of the rare moments when Alice managed to sleep deeply and also one of the few painful dreams she could remember.

  In that dark and silent environment, as if wrapped in oppressive shadows, the only thing the girl could see was a reddish leaf furiously dancing in the wind.

  In the dream, she walked barefoot over sharp thorns like a wandering soul without direction. The stabbing pain came and went with every step, but she didn’t stop. Even exhausted, her body kept moving forward into the deepening night.

  The dark, lightless dream felt as real as reality itself. And the endless pain didn’t stop either.

  When the girl finally woke from the dream, her body drenched in sweat, the midday light was already streaming through the thin curtains and illuminating the clean white sheets. Panting from the nightmare, Alice forced herself to quickly regain clarity of thought.

  It had been truly impactful. She didn’t know exactly what the dream meant, but she was certain that before that overly long night, the only dream that had left such a deep impression on her was the one she had when she received Nisha, at the age of five.

  In that dream, vivid as if it had happened yesterday even after so many years, little and innocent Alice found Nisha, asleep like a sapphire, in the depths of an endlessly blue ocean. And the next morning, she saw a mischievous little ghost almost destroy all the fragile glass objects in the room.

  At that time, even though Alice was scared and didn’t know what to do when she saw the wardrobe in total disarray, she could still feel a deep, genuine joy welling up in her heart.

  But sadly, after today’s dream, all that remained inside her was a painful emptiness. And when she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a completely unfamiliar room.

  She was in Thalia’s bedroom. The cheap metal desk was covered in cute cat stickers, the clean shelf displayed a full collection of Magical Girl Ifa manga, two garlic sprout plants were thriving on the window ledge, and the wooden floor was meticulously clean.

  As cozy as it was, that place wasn’t her home.

  “Nisha, do you think we can really escape the Empire’s hunt? What if Thalia ends up suffering because of us? Now I’m a penniless fugitive… I’ll need her help, but… if I can avoid it, I really don’t want to drag her into this.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  While muttering those words to the little ghost who, of course, couldn’t give a clear answer, Alice got up and left the blankets. Without a reply, she soon felt the biting winter chill creeping in again.

  But unlike her old “pampered rich girl” posture, now the small girl merely furrowed her brow slightly before braving the harsh winter cold and leaving the warmth of the blankets.

  After all, in that moment, more important than lamenting the pain of simply “getting out of bed,” she was clearly more concerned about what came next and the state of her injury.

  Muscle ruptures that severe don’t heal with just a bit of painkiller. From the little medical knowledge Alice had learned from her father, large open wounds needed to be cleaned and stitched by a professional. Otherwise, they could compromise muscle mobility in the future.

  But being an eleven-year-old girl hunted by the entire Imperial Army, where could she go to find a doctor?

  “Anyway, I’d better change the bandages first. Even if it hurts, now’s the time to tough it out.”

  Shaking her head in frustration, letting her golden hair fall freely down her back, Alice, heart tight with worry, began to undo the bandages wrapped around her shoulder, layer by layer.

  And the moment she removed the last strip of gauze, faintly stained red, a small gasp of surprise echoed in the silent room.

  Undoubtedly, it was Alice who had gasped. But the reason for her surprise wasn’t that the injury had worsened, it was...

  “This… this can’t be an illusion… the wound healed this much in just one night?”

  Looking at her shoulder, where only a light scratch remained, Alice could hardly believe that was her own arm.

  The night before, she could still see the shoulder bone through the torn muscle. And now? How much time had passed? That horrific wound had receded into something that looked like a small knife cut.

  With such an unbelievable healing speed, it was likely that in less than an hour the “serious” wound would be completely gone.

  “Nisha… is this also your power? This is amazing… now I don’t need to worry about finding a doctor.”

  Normal human beings definitely don’t heal that fast, and Alice was sure she didn’t have any kind of special regenerative constitution. Thinking back, since the night before, the little ghost had stayed in a “spectral” state over her shoulder it wasn’t hard to imagine that the extraordinary healing came from Nisha’s power.

  Apparently, despite the lack of details in Dr. Elock’s notes, the “Entropists” still held many secrets.

  Float~ float~

  As if proudly showing off, the little ghost twirled twice in the air. He also seemed happy with Alice’s surprise. At that moment, he looked like a soap bubble joyfully swimming through the air, light and radiant.

  Of course, after flying cheerfully around Alice for a few moments, the devoted little ghost returned to his intangible state and settled back onto her shoulder to continue helping with the healing.

  He didn’t know how to comfort a wounded heart, but he thought that at the very least, he could help ease the physical pain.

  And for Nisha, that was enough. His only concern at that moment was helping his “little mistress” recover.

  But for Alice, the healing of the serious injury was only the beginning of an uncertain journey. Once the brief moment of relief passed, she still had to use her mind to plan her next move.

  And right now, the most urgent problem before her was...

  Where had Thalia gone?