[Replica Activation, Day Five • Afternoon]
In the dense forest, the sky was sliced into pale blue satin by the branches, with the faint sunlight spilling through the gaps.
A girl dressed in homespun cloth, her head wrapped in a kerchief, approached the stream flowing through the forest, holding her laundry basin.
She had an ordinary face, marked by the chilblains common among the working folk. She was Sha La of a nearby small tribe, and laundry was one of her tasks.
But at that moment, she noticed something off about the stream; it seemed as though strands of red were flowing down from upstream.
She ran toward the source and saw a figure collapsed by the edge of the stream. The person was wrapped in a pitch-black robe, part of which was already stained red with blood that was drifting downstream.