This so-called ’love triangle’ really doesn’t need to exist.
Before Silvanus could even react, Drake had already taken several steps back—at least three meters—wearing an expression of obvious disgust, as if Silvanus were some contagious virus.
Silvanus: "..." Drake ras insufferable.
"You’re the one who spoke without thinking, buddy," Silvanus said, a bit speechless.
Drake waved a hand dismissively. "Alright, alright, just stop talking to me. Leonard seems perfectly willing."
At that, Silvanus couldn’t help glancing toward Leonard, only to see him still standing off to the side, hands and feet twisting together like a shy little wife, the tips of his ears flushed red, lips pressed tightly together—his usual look whenever he was about to speak or feeling embarrassed.
Even though everyone knew perfectly well what he was like, Leonard didn’t seem to care. Nothing could stop him from putting on a show!
Silvanus stopped paying attention to the two of them and instead looked toward Alice, his tone somewhat flat as he explained, "We were just joking."
By now, Alice had picked the pen up from the floor.
Hearing that, her pupils trembled slightly, and she nodded repeatedly. "Of course, of course, hahaha, we know."
[Girl, you know the secret we already know, hahaha.]
[Look at Alice’s face—does she know what she knows anymore?]
[Who told Drake and Silvanus to run their mouths like that?]
[It’s just some friendly banter between guys. Blame it on the outsider’s perspective, alright? If it were two women, would it be the same?]
[Exactly. Silvanus can only belong to me, so stop randomly shipping him with others.]
[Drake, seven times in one night—before heading into the dungeon, he told me to stay home and make his favorite pizza. What would those clueless chickens know?!]
[Wait, so Drake likes pizza?]
"How have you been since yesterday?" Silas suddenly spoke up, breaking the strange atmosphere in the room.
At least he seemed a lot more serious than the others.
Silvanus didn’t think much of it and nodded. "No problem. Early this morning, Lilith suddenly disappeared. It’s probably that she was restrained somehow—it’s not that she wanted to vanish at dawn."
"That’s right. Morning is the time for sunflowers."
While Silas spoke, Silvanus noticed several black, charred marks on his hands, thin enough to expose the faint smell of burning.
And not just him—Cocona was the same.
As if sensing Silvanus’s gaze, Alice spoke with a hint of dejection. "After last night, those marks suddenly appeared on Captain Silas and Captain Cocona, and my ability can’t remove them."
"This is Lilith’s curse." Cocona lifted one of her arms and, with the other, peeled away a bit of the scaly skin. Fresh blood immediately welled out, but she spoke calmly. "It feels like the flames could burst out at any moment."
"So... what do we do next?" Alice asked, sounding a little lost, unsure where to begin.
All their clues seemed to have vanished. They needed to find the monster’s heart, but last night they had already seen Lilith’s chest was empty, without a heart.
Of course. How could a monster’s heart be left somewhere everyone could find it?
And as for the heart of the sunflower field, they had almost pushed that thought to the back of their minds from the start.
More importantly, they couldn’t go all out. No matter where it landed, any reckless attack would trigger an irreversible curse.
They couldn’t afford to act rashly with no idea where the monster’s heart was.
Drake seemed to be also thinking, his brain grinding away—enough to make him visibly irritated and frustrated.
He ruffled his golden hair wildly until it was a complete mess. "Think, think... Ah, screw it! Let’s blow this whole place up!"
Just as Drake finished speaking, a system pop-up suddenly appeared with a notification:
[Lilith wants to go to sleep. She can sense the laziness in her friends. That won’t do—laziness is not a good trait. So, she has decided: if her friends still can’t put her into a deep sleep in two days, she will let them leave!]
"Leave? Hahaha... She wants to let us out of this dungeon?" Cocona said without a hint of hesitation—arguably the only shred of positivity in a sea of negativity.
"She’s impatient," Alice muttered.
"I’m going to try communicating with the sunflower field again," Silas said, then turned and left.
The others, with nothing else to do, gradually followed after him.
"I’m not going," Silvanus said quietly.
No one paid him much mind, simply continuing on their way.
Only then did Silvanus step outside.
Even though he had expected it, when his eyes fell on the current state of the sunflower field, he couldn’t help but furrow his brow slightly.
The sunflowers stood over four meters tall, massive and radiant as though they meant to block out the entire sky, drinking in every ray of sunlight.
Given a little more time, they might grow even larger, enough to completely cover the candy house nestled in this beautiful valley.
Looking at the towering rows before him, it was almost surprising that Silas’s group had still managed to find their way to the clearing.
Then again, perhaps it wasn’t so surprising—after all, they were elites among elites. They might fail to find any clues because of the dungeon’s difficulty, but their strength was undeniable.
Silvanus thought this as his gaze shifted toward two fluffy figures approaching him.
Bunny and Meow still wore mournful expressions, tears streaming down their cheeks as if they would never stop.
They shuffled closer to Silvanus, their hats still perched in place. They were fond of the gifts he had given them.
Just then, Meow’s nose twitched, and he spoke in surprise. "I smell something foul on you, mew!"
"That’s right, a smell we don’t like... sob sob sob," Bunny added.
Silvanus chuckled. "What did Lilith do to you two?"
Meow and Bunny shook their heads frantically, tears falling even faster—like a string of pearls breaking and scattering to the ground.
Suddenly, they lunged forward, each grabbing one of Silvanus’s hands, their grip surprisingly strong as they pulled him to his feet. Crying all the while, they said, "Don’t be afraid! We won’t let Lilith hurt you, mew!"
"That’s right, don’t stay with Lilith, sob sob sob... Come with us instead! Lilith is scary, sob sob sob."
Silvanus’s brows drooped at that, his expression tinged with sadness and worry. "Is Lilith really that frightening? Will she kill me? Last night, I told you I liked Meow and Bunny."
Upon hearing this, Meow and Bunny’s ears shot upright, their sleek fur bristling—slightly prickly to the touch.
"Come with us, mew! Don’t stay near this house anymore, mew!"
Meow shouted, then quickly tugged Silvanus’s hand, pulling him into the sunflower field. Bunny held tightly to his other hand. The wind caught their tears, sending a few drops onto Silvanus’s cheek, where they rolled down like cold diamonds.
"What exactly is he trying to do?"
Outside the dungeon, at the central dungeon monitoring station, one of the observers couldn’t help but voice the question, eyes turning toward Layla.
Layla pushed up her glasses, looking a bit worn out.
She wasn’t the only one—everyone here was the same. However, as the team leader, Layla had to expend even more energy than the rest.
It was no surprise. They had been processing information from two consecutive dungeons without a single break in between, the relentless pace nearly enough to kill a person.
Right now, all they could hope was that this dungeon would be cleared smoothly. If not... they might not be able to hold out much longer.
Everyone who had entered this dungeon was an elite among elites.
Alice might not be on the same level as the three captains and Leonard in terms of strength, but her abilities were unique—instrumental in this kind of environment.
As for Silvanus, his string of actions had truly left people baffled, and it was impossible to read what he was thinking.
Notably, he didn’t interact with the others, and the others didn’t seem to feel the need to interact with him either. This was Silvanus’s first time entering a dungeon, and he wasn’t even an esper. Naturally, people would instinctively try to protect him.
Yet Silvanus remained perplexing—almost secretive—and entering the dungeon hadn’t changed that.
"Don’t worry. With Drake and Leonard there, Prophet and Nerio are bound to show up." Frank’s voice suddenly cut in.
Layla glanced at Frank, taking in his haggard appearance and bloodshot eyes. She couldn’t help but caution him, "Whatever it is you’re doing, stop while you still can."
"This project has been approved by the chairman and the government, Layla. One day, humanity won’t need gods anymore. Just wait and see—you don’t need to feel bad about not being part of it." Frank smiled as he spoke.