After three months of stalled progress, the deconstruction finally advanced. That last one percent of the progress bar was rapidly shrinking.

  When she placed the seventh small square, Luo Wei's nose grew hot. Warm liquid trickled from her nostrils.

  Her left hand grabbed a handkerchief to cover her nose while her right hand picked up the eighth square without hesitation.

  The instant she placed it, her temples erupted with needle-like pain. A red mist covered her vision, and her ears filled with buzzing.

  While she could still see, Luo Wei quickly placed the last square, completing the missing corner of the academy's magic array.

  "BOOM—"

  An explosion thundered in her mind. Layer upon layer of intricate patterns spun and expanded before her suddenly darkened vision, piercing through her body like a massive chisel drilling into her sharply aching brain, rampaging through her mental world.

  In the last second before losing consciousness, Luo Wei saw her terrifying blood-covered face in the mirror.

  "Bleeding from seven orifices" couldn't describe her state. Every pore on her body was seeping blood. Crimson liquid soaked through her dress, flowing down her hem onto the floor, blooming into a blood-red dahlia on the carpet.

  The girl in the chair withered instantly like a flower drained of moisture under the scorching sun. Her nutrients flowed back to the roots, spreading outward, while her light body floated in the pool of blood, gradually desiccating.

  Time passed second by second. The blood on the carpet oxidized and turned black. The blood beads on the girl's skin began to congeal and dry.

  Finally, in the mirror, the blood-covered girl slowly opened her bloodshot black eyes. Two bloody tears slid down her cheeks.

  "Hiss~"

  Luo Wei raised her arm in pain, supporting her dizzy head, and looked up at the mirror.

  Everything was blurry. She blinked, squeezing the blood from her eyes, finally seeing herself clearly.

  Kind of scary. The blood that had seeped from her face had dried into a shell. How long had she been unconscious?

  Luo Wei touched her face, watching the blood scabs fall like bean curd dregs. She fell silent for a moment.

  She felt like a mummy that had been dead for thousands of years, so dried out she was shedding skin flakes.

  That mental image was pretty horrifying. Luo Wei shook her head, dispelling the mummy fantasy, and looked down at the nine-grid magic array on the table, now perfectly assembled.

  The massive magic runes in her mental world overlapped with the complex patterns on the table. Though one glance still made her dizzy, the magic array had pushed her mental threshold higher. With more practice, this discomfort would gradually disappear.

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  Her magic was depleted for today, but the results weren't bad. Tomorrow when her magic recovered, she could try drawing the long-distance teleportation array.

  Luo Wei put the nine squares into her ring, picked up the stack of unused handkerchiefs, walked around the room, poured water from the vase onto them, dampened the cloths, and patiently wiped the blood scabs from her face in front of the mirror.

  She used up the entire stack and still wasn't clean. With no other choice, she found a robe in the wardrobe, put it on, covered her hair—now hardened into clumps by dried blood—with a hood, pushed open the bedroom door, and walked weakly to the stairs.

  "Chris!" Luo Wei gripped the railing and called downstairs.

  Hearing her voice, Chris ran quickly to the bottom of the stairs. "Yes, Master. What do you need?"

  "Prepare hot water and pick a basket of rose petals. I need a bath."

  "Yes, Master!"

  Watching Chris leave, Luo Wei couldn't hold on anymore. She slid down against the railing, gasping for a while before struggling to climb up and supporting herself against the wall back to her bedroom.

  Half an hour later, the male servants brought hot water to the bathroom next to the master bedroom, pouring it into the large oval wooden tub.

  Luo Wei refused Chris's close attendance, ordering her to wait outside while she struggled into the water herself to wash off the blood.

  The dried scabs softened and fell away in the hot water. By the time she finished, the water had turned a suspicious dark red.

  Steam rose. The air filled with a heavy smell of blood.

  Luo Wei stood up from the water, stepped down the short wooden ladder, dried herself with a cloth, and quickly changed into clean clothes.

  Looking back at the tub of dirty bloody water, she paused, dumped the basket of rose petals in, threw her dirty clothes in to soak, fished them out and hung them on the tub, then walked to the window and pushed it open.

  Only after the hot air in the room had dissipated did she go to the door and open it, telling Chris, "Alright, have someone clean this up."

  Chris bowed to let her pass.

  Luo Wei took two steps out, then turned back. "I'm going to the Mulberry Garden. If Troy comes back tonight, have him find me there."

  Chris: "Yes, Master."

  ...

  Another half hour later, Luo Wei arrived at the Mulberry Garden by carriage.

  Yves stopped the carriage in front of the estate villa. Luo Wei lifted her skirt and stepped down, entering this building she'd designed herself with its strong industrial aesthetic.

  The villa had been completed half a month ago, with Troy personally supervising construction. Though the exposed brick walls and abundant metal framework made it look unremarkable at first glance, careful observation revealed a unique artistic atmosphere—rough, austere, mysterious, like a beast with its skeleton exposed.

  Luo Wei hadn't designed it in industrial style because she liked it, but because this style eliminated many details, making construction much faster than other architectural styles.

  The hard construction was now complete, only lacking soft furnishings. Actually, soft furnishings weren't necessary—she wouldn't be living here anyway.

  The main purpose of building this villa was to have a place to rest and handle business when she came to the Mulberry Garden.

  And of course, to hide certain secrets.

  Below the villa was a 180-square-meter basement. Troy had dug this out following her orders, secretly coming with his griffin every night for two months straight.

  Even the workers who built the villa didn't know this basement existed. Luo Wei planned to inscribe the teleportation array to the Misty Plains here.

  Star Luo Residence had too many eyes and was in the city center. Drawing a large magic array would cause magical fluctuations that could be discovered.

  Setting the teleportation array here was much safer. The dark elves could teleport through here in the future to help transport goods between the two locations.

  Luo Wei carried an oil lamp and pushed open the hidden door concealed in the false wall, descending into the cold, dry basement.

  The only drawback was the stuffy air. With no ventilation, she felt short of breath after standing for a while. She couldn't stay long.

  Once the teleportation array was inscribed, it would be fine. Each time the teleportation channel opened, fresh air from the Misty Plains would fill this place. Today she was just scouting, confirming this location was still secure.

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