The crowd in the plaza kept growing, and everyone had just wolfed down a bit of dry flatbread before heading out. If you’re dreaming of steaming noodles or rice, or gulping down tea and soup here, you’re out of luck. The 'restaurants' here only serve slightly more than what regular folks cook at home, but it’s mostly just flatbread. As for tea, sure, they have it—but the price? Ordinary people can’t even dream of affording it!
Old Fang’s family had already given them all their stored water yesterday. Today, he basically emptied out his entire savings just to scrape together a little more. Everyone knew how precious water was, so nobody could bear to drink it—they poured every drop into their long-empty waterskins, saving it for the one they were all waiting for: Lolo.
After an hour or two—
When Ivy Shen came back here again, she was stunned by the sheer mass of people packed into the plaza. She’d seen plenty of houses last night and figured the population was decent, but she never expected that, in daylight, everyone would crowd in like this—so packed you could literally call it 'water-tight.'
“Whoa, why are there so many people?” Nina Xu stared around in disbelief, but then she suddenly noticed: every single person was holding a bowl.
“What are they doing?”
“Probably hoping the heavens send rain,” Ivy answered blandly, her eyes scanning the crowd for their companions. On her way back, she’d seen the locals haul out every vessel that could hold water and leave them by their doors. Clearly, this ritual was a big deal—everyone put out all their empty containers, hoping the sky would see their 'sincere offering' and bless them with rain.
Thinking about it, Ivy couldn’t help but scoff. Who’d have thought even in this snake-people era, folks were still so feudal and superstitious!
“Ivy, there’s way too many people here, and they’re all dressed pretty much the same. How are we supposed to find them?” Nina looked frantically around, but it was just a sea of people—moving, shifting, and none of their group could afford to blow their cover. Finding them in this chaos was next-level impossible.
Seeing this, Ivy’s furrowed brow finally relaxed—she’d already found them. She just knew those guys wouldn’t be sitting around doing nothing!
"Let’s go!" Ivy grabbed Nina and ducked her head, weaving through the sea of people. She’d been searching for ages when she suddenly spotted someone waving a strip of brightly colored cloth—there was only one person who’d wear something that loud: Butterfly Rogue!
"Sixth Brother, you think this trick will work?" Ethan Chu tore a piece off his own robe and waved it gently in his hand.
"What do you want me to do, wave you around instead?"
"If that’s what you want, I don’t mind! Hey, Sixth Brother, can you wave the cloth a little higher? You’re just shaking it by your side—how’s my wife supposed to see it?" Butterfly Rogue rolled his eyes, getting more anxious by the second. His wife had been gone forever—why wasn’t she back yet?
"You trying to get the guards' attention?" Ethan knew Butterfly was worried, but seeing how desperate the locals were for 'divine intervention,' he realized if they got exposed, the crowd’s gossip alone would drown them!
"But..."
"Ethan’s right. We can't draw attention to ourselves!" Adrian Night shot Butterfly Rogue a look, trying to calm him down.
Butterfly Rogue glanced at the group. Everyone looked worried, but they all held it in—right now, it was too dangerous to act rashly.
"Fine!" Butterfly Rogue could only shut up, totally defeated.
"Huh?" Suddenly, the cloth in Ethan’s hand was yanked away. He whipped his head around, ready to fight—then relaxed instantly. "Ivy!"
With that little shout, everyone rushed over. "Ivy, you finally made it back!"
Ivy smiled sheepishly at them. "Sorry for making you worry." She turned to Ethan. "Smart move—thanks for the signal!"
Ethan hadn’t even had time to celebrate when, suddenly, everyone around them dropped to their knees.
"Quick, kneel! The Flame King’s here!" Old Fang yanked them down, warning that anyone who didn’t kneel would be executed!
So they all squatted down. Kneel? Yeah, right—not happening.
Their oversized robes made squatting look exactly like kneeling, so in the middle of the crowd, nobody noticed a thing.
"Long live the Flame King!" The crowd suddenly erupted, voices ringing out.
"You may rise!" A lazy voice floated out, and everyone stood up.
Ivy and the others lifted their heads. Nina froze, her voice trembling: "His eyes—are those gold? Wait... Ivy, isn’t he—" But Ivy squeezed her hand, telling her to hush.
Everyone looked at Nina, then at Ivy, totally confused. Seriously, though—how could the guy on that giant chair have golden eyes? That color freaked them all out, like they’d spotted some super rare species!
Of course, Ivy was the only one unfazed by the man with golden eyes on the stage. She just blinked and shrugged it off—back in the modern world, foreigners had every eye color under the sun. And with colored contacts, you could get gold, blue, purple, green, red—whatever you wanted. So really, what was the big deal?
(End of this section! ^.^ Please click next page to continue reading!)
Still, one thing puzzled her: why was the Flame King just wandering the city without any attendants?
Then Ivy caught sight of two men flanking him—one in red, one in green. No need to guess: those had to be the Fire God and Ice God!
Ahem, ahem—three elderly men with snow-white hair and beards down to their bellies shuffled onto the stage. The first wore all white, looking like some kind of immortal, clutching a dragon-headed staff. The other two wore beige, clearly ranked below the first. Judging by their outfits, they were obviously important. Instantly, the crowd below started shouting, "Spirit Elders! Spirit Elders!"
"Spirit Elders? Who are they?" Caleb Miles actually put away his abacus, crossing his arms and looking genuinely curious.
"They’re the elders in charge of the sacrifices. The one in white is the High Elder, the ones behind him are the Second and Third Elders. Sometimes the Flame King skips the ceremony, so the three elders handle it instead." Old Fang’s eyes went red again as he grabbed Caleb’s hand, choking up. "Never mind... just forget it."
"Huh? What?" Caleb blinked, totally lost at Old Fang’s words.
"Forget it. Don’t risk it anymore. My child... my child can’t be saved." The forty-five-year-old man finally broke down in tears. With the Flame King here, there was no hope left for his child.
Ivy looked at Old Fang, deadly serious. "Remember this: I never make promises lightly. But if I do, I always keep them."
"But... but this time the Flame King and both guardians are here..." By 'guardians,' he meant the Fire God and Ice God. He knew that with all of them present, not even a miracle could save his child. He just couldn’t bear to see Ivy’s group throw their lives away.
From Old Fang’s tears, Ivy could tell what this honest, kind man was thinking. He was worried for them, no doubt about it.
"The ceremony is about to begin. Everyone, pray sincerely to the spirits for rain!" The white-bearded elder raised his dragon-headed staff and spoke with grave authority.
At that moment, the so-called Ice God slipped away. Less than a minute later, he returned carrying a child—just a baby in a little bellyband, wailing from hunger.
"Lolo..." Old Fang’s legs gave out and he collapsed when he saw his child. The family who offered the sacrifice didn’t have to attend the ceremony—no one could bear to watch their own child die.
The Ice God wrinkled his nose in disgust and handed the baby to the High Elder.
The High Elder quickly took the screaming child and lifted him high, shouting, "Kneel and pray for blessings!" Instantly, everyone dropped to their knees, crying out, "Spirits, grant us rain!"