Editing Dantalian no Shoka:Volume2 Chapter2 (section)

===4===



Reaching into his pocket to find his lighter wasn’t difficult, the difficult part was burning the ropes that bound him without burning himself.

“Move faster, you dimwit. If we don’t chase after him quickly it will be too late.”

“Too late? Hot! What is too late, Dalian?”

“Huey used his hands tied behind his back to hold the lighter, as he gritted his teeth and asked Dalian. And the black clothed girl didn’t bother hiding her annoyance.

“Do I still need to say it? Idiot. Of course it’s the “Queen of the Night”.”

“What is going on? Didn’t you say the Phantom Book “Queen of the Night” did not exist?”

“I’m not talking about Phantom Books.”

Dalian sighed deeply.

At this moment, there was a scream in the distance again, this time it was also from the direction of the backyard. But the person who had screamed had changed. This time it was the red haired man screaming, and after that there was the sound of a gunshot.

“What is it?”

Huey finally burned through the rope, asking as he rubbed his freed wrists.

“It’s from the direction of the greenhouse? Is there anyone else besides us?”

Dalian did not answer his question, after Huey untied her, she bowed her head down dispiritedly…

“The two of them were… How can this be. This way…”

“What on earth happened, Dalian? What is it that you’re saying is too late?”

“We’ll talk about it later, Huey. Let’s chase after them first.”

“Oh, alright.”

Huey gently breathed in deeply, and chased after Dalian who had made a move first.

The red haired man’s screams were held longer than expected, but now it was quiet. Losing the disturbance of the two robbers, the villa returned to its usual silence. Although the room was still messy, but it was already messy enough in the first place, so no one was too particular about this.

The door to the corridor leading to the backyard was open.

There were signs of people making their way through the extension of weeds, it could be confirmed that it was left by the duo, reaching the greenhouse.

The slightly dirty glass of the greenhouse had a mild glow because of the reflected moon rays.

There was nothing moving seen in the backyard.

Dalian headed towards the greenhouse unhesitatingly. Huey followed her quietly. After opening the door to the greenhouse, moist air came into contact with their skin in an instant.

After entering the greenhouse, Dalian suddenly stopped. Huey bent and reached out to pick a piece of metal shining dully at her feet.

“A gun?”

The piece of metal was an automatic made overseas, it was the same model as the one the red haired man had been holding. It seemed that it hadn’t been long since it was fired, there was a strong smell of gunpowder left on it.

But, the man who should have been holding this gun was nowhere in sight. 

Not only the red haired man, even if companion too.

“What on earth happened?”

Huey felt an evil feeling from behind him, he started to examine his surroundings.

Although he couldn’t tell what had changed, but the scene in the greenhouse now gave a strong disjointed feeling, it was a completely different feeling than when he had come in the evening. It was as if the tree branches had changed its shape, and the flowers had moved.

Perhaps it was because those two had messed up the greenhouse.

Speaking of which, the floor of the greenhouse seemed to have signs of a violent struggle. But, who were those two struggling with?

“Dalian, wait here.”

Seeing Dalian was about to walk into the depths of the greenhouse, Huey quickly stopped her. Perhaps there were other invaders hidden nearby, he had to be more cautious.

“There’s no need.”

Dalian replied mildly, walking forward again.

She was heading to the depths of the greenhouse, where the cactus that she had watered in the evening was. After seeing what was in the depths of the dark greenhouse, Huey’s voice was stuck in his throat.

“That is?!”

A book appeared in front of them, an old book with a faded-coloured cover.

Its cover was of a colour that resembled leather, and it had pale white pages. There were words never seen before neatly printed on the pages, the book was as large as an encyclopaedia.

In the deepest corner of the greenhouse, in the light green darkness caused by the leaves of the plants, a book was suspended there.

“A book? Is that the “Queen of the Night”… But, why is it here?”

A strong fragrance like ripe fruits drifted over. As if attracted by this smell, Huey stepped forward shakily, reaching to the book floating in the darkness. Dalian stopped him there.

“Wait, Huey.”

Feeling a tug on the bottom of his shirt, Huey turned around in surprise.

Dalian looked at the book floating in the darkness, saying mildly.

“It’s too late.”

“Late?”

As Huey started to frown, something flapped past him.

Huey involuntarily looked over, then made a low sound.

It was a page of the book, a white page had been blown away by the wind, dancing in the air.

Then another page, another page… No one was touching it, but the book itself was coming apart, the pages dancing like petals in the air.

“This isn’t a book, Huey.”

Finally, Dalian spoke expressionlessly.

And Huey still frowned.

“Not a book? But, what is…”

“The “Queen of the Night”, is this plant’s name.”

As Dalian spoke, she caught a page fluttering in the wind.

“The “Queen of the Night” blooms every thirteen years, and the flower withers in one night.”

“A flower… with the appearance of a book? Then the lines on the petals are words?”

Looking at the page Dalian handed over, Huey couldn’t help but feel surprised. There were beautiful words neatly arranged on this page, and this thin material looked exactly like paper, did feel like a plant.

“So Grandfather brought it back for this…”

Huey shook his head a little disappointedly. At last he knew why his book-crazy grandfather would specially get this plant, and he knew why Dalian would water it for no reason.

If this was a rarely seen, '''plant that was able to bloom a book''', then that would be understood. If he kept a momento of a plant that could bloom books, then it was another remarkable collection item. But—

“I can understand this, but where are the two robbers? What was it with those screams?”

“The “Queen of the Night” is a plant that lives in the desolate land of the Dark Continent <sup>Africa</sup>.”

Dalian ignored Huey’s question, continuing to speak mildly.

“There isn’t a good environment for it to survive in, the land is poor, and water and nutrients aren’t sufficient… So the plants that grow there, many of them can move to replenish its insufficient nutrients.”

“Replenish their nutrients?”

“Do you know of carnivorous plants, Huey?”

Hearing Dalian’s words, Huey’s expression tensed in an instant.

Carnivorous plants were a term for special plants that had changes to its leaves and cillia, evoluting to be able to catch insects. It was said that most plants living on infertile land with insufficient nutrients were of this category.

But, to maintain the large body of the “Queen of the Night”, even if small organisms like insects were devoured, it was still unable to satisfy its demand for nutrients. So it had to evolve to attract larger, more intelligent beings—

“Dalian… Don’t tell me they…”

“A flower that has the appearance of a book, exists to attract humans as prey. Only to effectively catch the humans who come to the Dark Continent <sup>Africa</sup> due to curiousity and reputation…”

As Dalian spoke, she reached out her right hand.

Huey followed the direction of her finger, and was completely speechless. He finally knew why he felt that disjointed feeling in the greenhouse. 

The bottom of the trunk had swelled greatly, becoming an unrestricted bulb. And the interior of the translucent truck was filled with digestive fluids, the '''prey''' that were nutrients were in there.

The two men originally robbers, but as of now they had been strangled by the vines of the carnivorous plant—

“The “Queen of the Night” blooms every thirteen years. And after it catches its food, it will wither because its purpose has been achieved…”

Dalian said with a slightly regretful voice.

“According to a theory, the words written on the petals are the memories of humans who had been devoured. I originally thought that I could finally read it this time…”

“There’s thirteen years to the '''next flowering of the book'''…”

Huey looked into the distance and sighed.

“I feel sorry for the two robbers, although they deserved it…”

“I wouldn’t sympathise them…”

Dalian said determinedly with an intolerant tone. Then her following words didn’t seem to be addressed to anyone, only simply muttering to herself:

“This is what they deserve. Who told them to damage the things I like.”

Huey looked at Dalian in slight surprise, then understood.

“The thing that you like is referring to that book you hadn’t finished reading? You actually liked it so much…”

The black clothed girl silently raised her head to look at Huey—

“Hmph…”

Then after she for huffed angrily for some reason, then she quickly left the greenhouse without looking back. Faced with this girl whose moods changed easily like flipping the pages of a book, Huey sighed helplessly.

He who chased after the girl, still had a patch of blood on his temple that wasn’t completely dried yet.







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