Night drops its blanket over the Hagen Dala Desert, where, honestly, everything is suspiciously dangerous if you don’t have some serious protection. Still, right smack in the middle of all that, there’s this mysterious kingdom—like, who puts a country here?
Right now, as the moon climbs over Flame Valley, the whole land just zonks out. Everyone’s out cold—except the poor guards stuck on night shift.
The whole kingdom is basically breathing in sync. Seriously, how long has it been since anyone got a good night’s sleep? Since their hearts weren’t about to leap out of their chests? Since their water jars were actually full? Since they felt this nice and cool? It’s been forever! So tonight, everyone’s sleeping like a rock.
But while everyone’s snoring away, there’s this tiny shadow zipping around every corner of the mysterious palace—like a ninja hamster on caffeine.
"Uh, Your Majesty, should we, like, follow her?" In the main bedroom, Fire God leans in, glancing nervously at Xiska Mon sprawled out on the bed.
"No need," Xiska Mon replies coolly, not even blinking.
"But... but what if she, uh..." Fire God fidgets, totally lost for words.
"What if what? What if she finds them? What if she escapes?" Xiska Mon arches a brow, picking up the thread. "Honestly, I kinda want to see if she’s got the chops to pull it off." He smirks, lips quirking. "No matter what, she’ll be back before sunrise, guaranteed. Go on, impress me—let’s see what you’ve got." His golden eyes gleam with curiosity as he stares out the window. He’s got what she wants, so she’s not running off. But even if you lock her up, you can’t lock down her heart. So why not let her play? He’s dying to see how she’ll get there!
Fire God just nods and shuts up, his eyes drifting to the window. That stone trapdoor in the main hall? Totally unbreakable. Even if you’re crazy strong, it’s not budging. Sure, there’s a hidden mechanism—but it’s so sneaky that even they couldn’t find it after forever. Can she really crack it?
All of a sudden, Fire God gets nosy—seriously, is this girl a goddess or what?!
Ivy Shen slips out of her room and flashes a sly grin. Not a single guard in sight—yeah, that guy totally cleared the way on purpose, didn’t he?
What’s he plotting now? Is this some kind of test run for me or what?
Or maybe... is he just testing me for fun?
Heh, whatever! Even if there’s a dragon’s den up ahead, I’m charging straight in. You guys—just wait for me, okay? Wait for me!
Fueled by sheer stubbornness, Ivy Shen zooms toward the main hall. If they fell from here, there’s gotta be a secret mechanism!
In no time, Ivy Shen lands at the main hall, right where her crew vanished.
She’d been leading earlier, so she totally missed how everyone dropped—someone must’ve triggered the trap at that exact second. Otherwise, no way that mess just happened out of nowhere.
But seriously, where’s the actual trigger hiding?
Ivy Shen spins around, then peeks left and right, frowning hard. What kind of setup is this, huh?
This place is stuffed with decorations and sand-made doodads. With so much clutter, how is anyone supposed to check them all?