201 The Puppet Tour
Selma Payne’s POV:
Frank didn’t look like the high-spirited leader that we had first met. His hair was now messy, and his wrinkles were deep. He looked like an old man who made a living by scavenging, exuding a heavy air of lethargy.
We didn’t know what kind of blow he had suffered, but when he mentioned his experience in the past ten days, he looked disturbed.
“It was a dangerous journey.” He still looked frightened. “I felt like I was dreaming, a cold, lonely, and dangerous dream. I didn’t know where the end of the dream was until I came back to the safe house.”
He didn’t go into detail, so we couldn’t understand him.
He took another sip of the hot tea, carefully and cherishingly letting the warm tea stay in his mouth for a while.
“I know what I will say next might sound crazy, but please believe everything I’m saying is true.”
He slowly recounted his experience.
“I remember searching for the source of the scream with Linda. We walked for a long time, but with my many years of experience, I could feel that we didn’t go very far, as if we had been walking in circles. I realized something was wrong and wanted to stop with Linda, but I suddenly realized that Linda, tied to me with the rope, had disappeared. I couldn’t control myself; no matter how much I wanted to stop, my legs wouldn’t listen.
“I slowly realized that I was trapped in a certain space. An unknown force was controlling me to walk around in the snow. I’m not a werewolf grandmaster, so I couldn’t tell what it was exactly, but I can confirm that it’s some complicated magic circle or rune.
“I knew I’d fallen into a trap, but I had no choice. After a long time, I stopped. Many pine trees and shrubs suddenly grew around me. They emitted an ominous black mist and formed a huge forest in a few minutes. There was an extremely tall and strong tree among them. I’m guessing that’s the core of this forest.
“After the forest was formed, perhaps I was no longer useful, so the power controlling me let me go. But I still couldn’t escape from that place. The trees could move, and it was like a maze with no exit, trapping me.
“I couldn’t find any trace of Linda, and there was no response even when I called out loudly. The trees forced me back to the starting point – a large open space in front of the giant pine tree. I was exhausted. Even though I knew danger was lurking everywhere, I couldn’t help but stop and rest.
“Just as I let my guard down, the giant pine tree suddenly came to life! Its branches pierced my skin like long needles, and I was tired and sleepy then, so I couldn’t raise my guard and was quickly captured by it. I thought it would kill or eat me, but it didn’t. It just stretched out a few more branches to suck my blood.
“After the branch sucked my blood, it expanded and changed shape. In the end, it looked like me!
“I immediately understood what these damn things were up to, but I couldn’t stop them. Firstly, I had lost a lot of blood and couldn’t move even if I wanted to. Secondly, the giant pine tree had wrapped its roots around me and buried me underground in a few moments.
“I thought I was going to die that I fainted. However, when I opened my eyes again, I was lying in a cold and hard layer of soil. I was woken up by the cold, and the surrounding forest had mysteriously disappeared.”
I had to interrupt him.
“Wait, so you’re still alive after being buried alive for who knows how long?”
“I know it’s hard to believe, but this is true. I don’t know why I did not suffocate. I think it’s either that I was buried shallow or the exposed soil was blown away by the wind and snow. Or the giant pine tree did some transformation to me. When drinking my blood, it might have transferred some unknown substance to me so that I could survive. Many plants in nature habitually rear their prey for fresh food. Although this giant pine tree is an evil creation, perhaps it also imitates nature.
“In short, I immediately left the place after I woke up, but I was seriously injured and tortured by hunger and dehydration. I fell not long after.
“I thought I was going to die, so when I saw a woman in an ancient robe walking toward me, I thought she was the messenger sent by the Moon Goddess.
“But she was not. This woman introduced herself as Mullwica – that’s right, she’s the famous Supreme Witch Mullwica we’re looking for! Of course, I didn’t believe her immediately, but I had no other choice and could only be taken away by her. She led me to a stone house and gave me a blanket, food, and water. I didn’t dare to take any out of caution, so she consumed the food and water first. I was too hungry and thirsty, and I guess I’d been cursed with some mental spell in the pine forest, so much so that my mental guard was down.
“I had some food and water, and then Mullwica said I couldn’t stay there for too long because a powerful demon was sealed there. She would send me down the mountain.”
