Chapter 74: Divination Hut
The small performance room was not very crowded, and Hexia sat in the back row, watching the puppet's movements on stage. Accompanied by narration and dubbing, she gradually entered a fantastical and distant world.
The Third Era is a distant age from now, yet it is not unfamiliar to people today, thanks to various games, plays, and appearances in film and television. Compared to the avoided Fifth Epoch and the peaceful and prosperous Fourth Epoch, the Third Era is undoubtedly much more exciting.
Slowly, the performance on stage came to an end. Lastly, the Puppeteer backstage and the voice acting students came out to bow to everyone. Although there were only seven or eight people in the audience, the applause was still enthusiastic.
It was evident that people enjoyed this type of performance, even though it wasn't as lavish as those immersive movies.
After getting up, Hexia and her companions walked to the front of the stage, freshly curious as they observed the exquisitely crafted puppets, occasionally asking the students some questions.
"Did you make the puppets yourselves?" Mel asked first.
"Yes, but some were completed with the help and assistance of teachers and seniors." A student replied kindly, probably still carrying the contentment and joy from just performing.
"Must it be very expensive? I see the craftsmanship is quite complex; it must take a lot of effort." Yilin was curious about another aspect.
"It does consume a lot of effort and time, but it is all worth it."
All worth it, huh? That phrase unintentionally floated through Hexia's mind before dispersing.
"Do many people watch it? Although I really like it, I'm still worried about you not having enough audience, making it hard for you to sustain it in the future." Another student asked.
"It's somewhat niche, but there is still a portion of people who like it."
"That's good."
Subsequently, everyone slowly dispersed, and Hexia left with Yilin and the others, but just before exiting the performance room, she looked back one last time. The students were kneeling in front of their puppets, carefully inspecting and caring for them as if they were treasured possessions.
Upon leaving the venue, it was already night, and Hexia and her companions decided to look for a temporary capsule hotel nearby to rest.
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Since this was the venue for the 'Frozen Green Festival', several large honeycomb capsule hotels had been temporarily set up to accommodate students, as relying solely on hotels would not be sufficient.
After a simple wash, Hexia and her companions ate something outside, then returned to sleep.
As a place frequented by students, several patrolling security robots were equipped around the capsule hotel, making it relatively safe and well-lit.
After crawling into the round capsule, a person could sit up inside, possibly because the students were all of smaller stature.
At night, lying in bed, Hexia slowly drifted off to sleep and had a very long dream. It was from when she was very young, invited to play at a classmate's house. However, everything in the dream felt eerily strange to her.
Although she had indeed experienced similar scenes, the ones in her dream had an unfamiliar and eerie quality, as if she were watching a completely different life experienced by another self. She couldn't remember the classmate's name, and because of her height as a child, she could only see their parents' lower halves. The parents' voices sounded especially strange, instilling an inexplicable fear, and throughout, she dared not look up and never saw their faces.
Afterward, she was invited by the classmate to play games, which somewhat eased the mood. The last memory in the dream was of a block of building blocks at the classmate's house that she seemed to have seen in her childhood, giving her a very familiar feeling. Suddenly startled, she woke up.
Propping herself up on her forehead, Hexia sat up halfway, leaning against the side of the capsule. She turned on the warm yellow light inside, slowly calming down.
What's been happening lately? Always feeling restless, Hexia leaned inside the capsule, taking deep breaths to steady her emotions.
Perhaps she had been overthinking things, Hexia shook her head.
She didn't dare sleep anymore, fearing she would have the same nightmare. So she put on her coat, crawled out of the capsule, and decided to take a walk.
The time was already past 2 a.m. Outside, although well-lit, only a few students were chatting sporadically, and occasionally someone would come out to use the bathroom.
Entering the washroom nearby, she washed her face and looked at herself in the mirror. There was no significant change from her usual appearance. Then she closed her eyes, slowly reopened them, and the girl in the mirror's eyes turned a deep blue, and her long hair was pitch black.
No, it shouldn't be my sister's interference, Hexia felt silently in her heart, not detecting any trace of Temisia.
The sisters were born twins, and although it was very possible for her sister to resurrect herself in Hexia's body, this feeling was mutual; the other couldn't deceive her.
If it was not Temisia's influence, then why was it? After all, this was a world of Transcendents, and it was not strange for secret techniques to interfere with dreams and memories.
After washing her face, Hexia walked out of the room to the outside.
Located not far from Huilong Temple, the place was halfway up the mountain, with a large and spacious stone cave entrance leading to a tunnel, surrounded by a forest. Below wound a serpentine road leading to sparsely lit buildings dotting the opposite mountainside.
In the north, despite the winter season and the mountains providing some warmth, the outside temperature at night was only about 3-4 degrees Celsius.