"How was your harvest?" Mo Fan asked, looking at the returning group.
"Teacher, I found…" Cao Qinqin immediately started to speak when she heard Mo Fan's question.
However, she was stopped by Mo Fan.
Seeing this, although Cao Qinqin was puzzled, she quietly closed her mouth.
"No, the water is all normal, and it's flowing towards Tongxiang County; there are no signs of it being intercepted."
"Yes, everything is very normal."
"…"
The others all said.
"Did you go closer to look?" Mo Fan asked.
"No, the source of the water often has demons drinking from it; we didn't dare to go too close," Bai Hongfei said.
"So, you didn't realize that there are no reflections in this water at all, did you?" As soon as Mo Fan said this, everyone was stunned!
They had felt that something was off earlier, but they weren't sure what it was. Now, as soon as Mo Fan spoke, they finally had a sudden realization.
It was the reflections!
"Cao Qinqin observed carefully; I'll give you an extra point," Mo Fan continued.
Hearing this, the others were speechless!
But they couldn't do anything about it. Because they really hadn't noticed that there were no reflections in the water at all!
Mu Ningxue, however, asked, "Why is there no reflection in the water here?"
"There's a demon at work," Mo Fan said. "Then, Teacher, what should we do next?" Bai Hongfei asked.
The first mission ending so carelessly made him unwilling.
"Let's talk about it tonight. We've been here for so long, and the other party hasn't appeared, so there won't be any results during the day," Mo Fan said, then called everyone to go back and rest.
Bai Hongfei looked hesitant; he actually wanted to understand more. Unfortunately, Mo Fan had no intention of saying anything more and left directly.
The night was quiet, without any chirping of insects or birds. The starlight scattered across the black sky was the only light in this mountain forest, preventing it from appearing completely desolate.
"I must find out the reason! I don't want to miss out on the excellent graduation badge again; how could I face the Bai family then?!" Bai Hongfei muttered to himself while searching.
He pushed aside the tall grass and slowly walked towards Qingyi Lake.
Qingyi Lake was still as peaceful and beautiful as ever. Surrounded by mountains, the lake looked even more like a giant emerald jade. Bai Hongfei gazed at the lake, and an indescribable strangeness suddenly welled up in his heart.
However, he didn't retreat. He mustered his courage and took a step forward.
Walking directly to the lakeside, Bai Hongfei cautiously poked his head out, wanting to see what was going on with the water.
Just then, Bai Hongfei suddenly realized something. He looked further into the distance and then suddenly noticed that the calm surface of the lake had no starlight at all?
The lake water was so calm, yet it couldn't reflect the dense and dazzling stars in the night sky. Dark and ink-green, this beautiful night lake sent a chill through Bai Hongfei!
"Pitter-patter~~ Pitter-patter~~~ Pitter-patter pitter-patter~~~!!"
On the lake surface, soft things were gently flapping, fanning out a pleasant scent.
"Pitter-patter~~ Pitter-patter pitter-patter pitter-patter!!!"
Suddenly, more dense flapping sounds came out. Bai Hongfei found that the entire lake surface had countless thin, light wings. When these wings flapped at the same time, it was as if they were creating layer after layer of ripples across the entire lake surface. Under the starlight, they even carried a faint glow…
"Pitter-patter pitter-patter pitter-patter!!!!"
Before Bai Hongfei could react, large sections of the lake surface flew up, just like a thin, cyan kasaya being swept into the sky by the wind, and this cyan kasaya had just been covering the entire lake surface!
Bai Hongfei stared blankly. He saw countless cyan wings, saw those small and delicate lives, and saw them forming a cloud veil in the sky, making the starlight hazy, dreamlike and illusory! "What are you doing here?" Suddenly, a soft voice came from behind Bai Hongfei.
Bai Hongfei was startled and quickly turned around, only to find a gentle woman in a retro Tang dress standing behind him. Her body was slightly leaning forward, two strands of hair hanging by her cheeks, falling all the way to her full chest.
She wore a faint smile, and a pair of bright, pure eyes, even in the night, looked at Bai Hongfei with curiosity, seemingly with a hint of playfulness.
"You… you scared me. Miss, what are you doing running out here in the middle of the night? It's very dangerous here." Bai Hongfei greatly sighed in relief when he saw it was a woman.
"You haven't answered my question yet," the woman said.
"I'm a Pearl Academy student, here for a graduation mission," Bai Hongfei said truthfully.
"Then why are you alone?" the woman continued to ask.
"I… I want to make a contribution," Bai Hongfei said, embarrassed.
"Have you found anything?" The woman walked to the side, still wearing that gentle and beautiful smile.
"Did you see those things that flew into the sky just now… They looked a bit like butterflies, but it's my first time seeing so many butterflies, enough to cover the entire lake. By the way, you don't seem to be a Mage, do you? If you're not a Mage and you run outside the safe zone, it could be fatal. Are you lost?" Bai Hongfei asked.
"Hmm, I seem to be lost. I was gathering herbs… Is this already outside the safe zone?" The woman thought for a while and replied.
"Of course! Oh my goodness, it's a good thing you met me, otherwise you would have been dragged into a mountain cave and eaten by a demon! Come on, I'll take you back. Where do you live?" Bai Hongfei said.
"Why? Are you very powerful?" The woman didn't seem scared at all.
"Me? To tell you the truth, I'm a High-Level Mage," Bai Hongfei replied.
"Oh, oh, that's very powerful. Actually, you don't have to worry about me. I've lived in this area since I was little. The mountains, forests, and lakes—I'm very familiar with everything here and know how to avoid those demons," the woman said.
"That's still not okay. I'll take you back. Where do you live?" Bai Hongfei said.
"Then you're not doing your graduation mission anymore?" the woman asked with a smile.
"If anything happened to you, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Besides, I've already seen those things just now. I'll tell my mentor later and let the government come and deal with them; this matter will basically be resolved. By the way, did you see those things? They were butterflies, right?" Bai Hongfei said.
The smile on the woman's face gradually lost its warmth. She gazed at Bai Hongfei, her tone completely different as she said, "Have you ever seen butterflies that appear at night?"
"Huh? That seems right… By the way, what are butterflies that appear at night called?" Bai Hongfei said.
"Moths," the girl uttered the word.
"Right, right, right, those must be moths. If I hadn't seen them with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe that so many moths would be living here. I also don't know how much damage they will cause," Bai Hongfei said.
As Bai Hongfei spoke, he was also thinking about the moths.
It is said that moths are very similar to locusts; both are disaster-type creatures that leave nothing but barren land in their wake. It just so happens that it's now the season for these things to breed in large numbers. Not long ago, I heard that there was a plague of demon locusts in the west. This is the east, so there aren't many demon locusts, but there are countless moths.