Rope ladders connected the Treehouses. Some people walked along them, while others sat at small tables outside the houses, eating at a leisurely pace.
A faint scent of earth and plants hung in the air here, completely different from the dust and rust that permeated the rest of the City of Slaughter.
Ling'er found an empty table beneath one of the Treehouses, and they sat down. A slender woman with a pale complexion came out of the house and looked at them without speaking. Ling
'er pointed to a few dishes on the menu. The woman nodded and went back inside.
A little while later, she brought out two plates of food, two bowls of soup, and several steamed flatbreads.
The vegetables were lightly stir-fried, mixed with several kinds of mushrooms Xiao Yun could not name. The soup contained dried vegetables and beans, and the flatbreads were made from some sort of coarse grain, with a natural sweetness.
Xiao Yun tried a bite of the vegetables first. The flavor was light, with no seasonings overpowering it, and the ingredients retained their original textures.
Ling'er ate quietly, without the hurried manner she had shown the night before. They finished everything on the table and sat for a while longer before getting up to leave.
On the way back, Xiao Yun took no more detours, following the stone road straight toward the Cave Mansion.
New arrivals were still moving through the streets. Some squatted by the roadside to rest, some argued in the alleys, and some used stones to carve marks into the walls.
He paid them no attention and did not linger. As he passed the Protective Array at the entrance to the Cave Mansion, he checked that no one had touched the runes before pushing the door open and entering.