Hide and Seek: The Mad Girl Sees All novel Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Zoe blinked in surprise. “Lyra, what did you just say?”

“I said ghosts. Lyra replied.

“Back in the first round, that red-clad Wraith-I could actually see there was a ghost inside it”

Lyra picked up a piece of braised pork with her chopsticks and dipped it in the sauce.

“But what about this time?” she asked.

“There was nothing at all inside the ice tree,” she said.

Lyra stuffed the braised pork into her mouth, her cheeks puffing out.

“Jane’s tree-the Scrying Orb made it clear that was her,” Lyra said.

“But I looked it over, inside and out-no sign of a soul, no trace of a person, not even a hint of consciousness,” she added.

“It was empty,” Lyra said.

“Just an empty shell, nothing left at all,” she added.

Zoe leaned forward a bit. “Then what about those memories the Scrying Orb showed us? The flag-raising, the salute…”

“Memories and ghosts are two different things,” Lyra said.

“Memories can be etched into objects,” she added.

“It’s like burning a video onto a disc-the disc has the footage, but it’s not a person, Lyra explained.

Zoe was taken aback.

“So you mean the ice tree only kept the memories of who it used to be, but the real soul is gone?” she asked.

Lyra shook her head. “I don’t know.”

She grabbed a piece of candied sweet potato, the sugar stretching out in long threads.

“Or maybe the soul was pulled out and stuffed somewhere else,” she said.

“Or maybe the System split the soul from the body-one part turned into a tree to catch people, the other got locked away somewhere and used as a battery,” she added.

“Or maybe their souls just got away,” she said.

Lyra slowed down her eating. “But there’s one thing I’m sure of.”

“The Dream Butterfly worked,” she said.

Zoe immediately caught on. “The dream made the six ice trees betray their side.”

“Exactly,” Lyra replied.

Lyra held up a finger.

“If there was really nothing inside the ice trees-if they were nothing but monsters made by the System-then the dream

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wouldn’t have done anything to them,” she said.

“The System can’t dream, Lyra said.

Zoe picked up where she left off. “But they stopped and even helped you.”

‘So there must be something inside, Lyra said.

“But I still can’t see what it is,” she added.

“That’s the weirdest part, Lyra said.

Zoe sat across from her, her mind spinning as she tried to make sense of it all. The red-clad Wraith had ghosts inside, but the ice trees didn’t-yet the ice trees still reacted to the dream.

After dinner.

Lyra took a shower and changed into clean clothes.

Zoe was waiting for her in the hallway. “Come on, everyone’s at the Command Center.”

When Lyra arrived, the Command Center was already full of people.

Lana was standing in front of the main screen, holding a printed data report.

Garrett was sitting by the main console, with six windows open on his screen.

Zoe led Lyra in and stood by the door.

“You’re here,” Lana said.

“Take a seat,” she added.

Lyra pulled up a chair and sat down.

“Lana, what are you guys talking about?” Lyra asked.

“Vital Flame, Lana replied.

Lana turned around, and a data summary map of all the safe zones across the country popped up on the screen.

“Your S Tier reward triggered the attribute panel for everyone in Draconia. Now every Draconian can see their own body stats,” she said.

“All the safe zones have already reported their aggregated numbers, Lana added.

Lana traced a line across the screen with her finger.

“The frontline troops have a significantly higher combined average across the three Vital Flame values than civilians in the rear,” she said.

“For civilians, the combined average of the three values is about 22 to 28. For frontline soldiers, it’s 35 to 45, Lana added.

Garrett tapped the keyboard twice, adding more data.

“Chief Advisor, the highest is the 7th Assault Battalion, with a combined three-value average of 51, he said.

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“What about the lowest? Lyra asked.

Garrett flipped through the table.

The elderly residents in Northern Safe Zone Three, with an average of twelve, he replied.

“Any below ten?” Lyra asked.

Garrett paused for a moment.

“Yes, infants under three years old-some only have a Vital Flame of six to eight,” he replied.

“And for long-term coma patients in the ICU, some have a Vital Flame as low as four,” he added.

“Four?” Lyra asked.

“Yes,” Garrett replied.

Ms. Reed spoke up from the corner. “We’ve done some preliminary cross-comparisons.”

“Vital Flame is tied to your physical health, mental state, age, and even what you do for a living,” she explained.

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“Basically, the stronger you are and the more spirit and energy you’ve got, the stronger your three Vital Flame values become,” Ms. Reed added.

“But if you’ve been sick for a long time or your mind’s worn out, your numbers drop,” she said.

Lyra rubbed her chin. “Have you ever tested the borders of the Wraith invasion zones?”

“You mean, have we tried letting people with high Vital Flame see if they can cross over?” Lana asked.

“Yeah. Lyra replied.

“No.” Lana shook her head.

“It’s way too risky. We’re still not familiar with how it works, so we can’t just send people in as test subjects,” she added.

“But there’s one set of data that’s worth paying attention to,” Lana said.

She pulled up a heat map on the screen, with red areas marking the regions already invaded by Wraiths and blue for the safe

zones.

“The people in the first area invaded by Wraiths had a lower average Vital Flame than those in other provinces, and the second area followed,” Lana explained.

“We didn’t have the attribute panel back then, so we had to work backwards from the data we have now,” she added.

Ms. Reed thought for a moment before concluding, “If this theory holds, then the Wraith invasions aren’t random-they pick their spots.”

“Places with low Vital Flame are the first ones they go after,” she added.

The Command Center fell silent for three seconds.

Garrett spoke up quietly, “So, looking at it another way-if our Vital Flame is strong enough, could we actually block the Wraiths from getting into the safe zones?”

“That line of thinking checks out, but we have no clue what ‘high enough’ actually means,” Lana replied.

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