After soaking in the wooden tub for about thirty minutes, Aran's light footsteps sounded outside the door again.
She probably thought that since the extrapolators hadn't noticed anything wrong and come out on their own after thirty minutes, it was safe to assume they hadn't received any prompts. When Aran opened the door, her expression held a faint trace of disappointment and numbness.
The steam in the room had already cooled.
She glanced inside and saw five bodies, limp and sprawled or slumped in the wooden tubs, all with their eyes peacefully closed, looking utterly helpless.
"..."
Aran blinked. She wasn't surprised by the result. Turning around, she went to River Witch first and reported, "The bath is over. Just like those four this morning, they fell asleep because having their souls repaired was so comfortable."
That explanation was naturally a lie River Witch had fed her. Aran knew it, but still had to pretend she hadn't noticed and play along.
River Witch had already stood up.
With no need to hide her cloth shoes from outsiders anymore, she stood by the window in her room, hands behind her back, gazing outside.
From this window, one could see a river at the far end in the distance, flowing without pause.
It was Fengtou Town's water source, the foundation on which its people depended for survival, yet it was also a river of disaster that claimed their lives, overflowing with resentment.
She watched it for a while before turning around, full of emotion. "Aran, when I die of exhaustion and everything with Master of Ten Thousand is settled, you'll have to guard the River of Karma. I'll hand the River-Guarding Relic over to you. You must take my place... Cough, cough, cough!"
Aran hurried over and gently patted River Witch's back.