Before entering the town, the lights Shade had seen through the rain and fog had been scattered streetlamps and the glow of gas lamps shining from a few windows. There were no townspeople visible on the streets this late at night, but if he closed his eyes and listened carefully, he could vaguely sense heartbeats coming from the houses amid the sound of rain.
This meant the town truly was "alive." If Green Lake Town had never declined, then the town on that real island should have been like this.
Though anxious to head deeper into the island to find Megan, Shade still entered a house by the road to see what state the sleeping townspeople were in.
As expected, although they had heartbeats, what Shade truly saw after lifting the blankets were still humanoid unnatural creatures pieced together through alchemy and necromantic techniques. These "townspeople" would not be awakened by his actions, and their bodies were firmly fixed to their beds by roots piercing up from beneath them.
Those roots not only bound the "townspeople"; most of their root tips pierced into places such as wrists and ankles. Looking closely, Shade could see the roots making faint sucking motions as the blood in the townspeople's bodies was gradually absorbed into them.
As for the roots that had to pierce through the 1st Floor ceiling to reach the bedrooms, they all came from the depths beneath the town. They should have the same source as the enormous roots beneath Green Lake Cemetery. When Shade tried to cut off a section with Night Watchman for study, the fine rootlets at their ends actually trembled like insects and oozed red and blue-green pus.
Without lingering long in the townspeople's houses, Shade followed his memory toward the south of town, in the direction