After saying good evening, Ai Cao continued to dismantle the door according to her own height.

As she removed the second large plank and prepared to break off the third, the woman in black finally said, "...I'll open the door for you."

Artemisia said, "No need."

She used force to break the wooden board and threw it on the ground.

Ai Cao didn't bend down, but walked straight through the dilapidated doorway and asked, "Hello?"

The woman in black watched her in silence.

The woman's eyes were terrifying, but Ai Cao was oblivious to it, busy brushing the sawdust off her skirt.

The woman let out a long sigh.

“Call me Pandora,” the woman said. “You can’t stay here any longer. Come with me.”

Artemisia smiled and said, "I am Artemisia." She turned to the side and helped Lillian through the doorway filled with sawdust and wood chips.

“I am Lillian,” Lillian said. “I’m walking with Artemisia.”

“…Two people are more likely to encounter danger.” Pandora frowned. “Anyone else want to leave?”

She was asking the girls who were still in the room the following question.

One of the girls shook her head. The other girls then eagerly followed suit, shaking their heads as well.

Artemisia couldn’t tell for a moment whether Pandora had breathed a sigh of relief.

Pandora asked, "Can you run?" As she asked, she took two steps in place.

Ai Cao suspected that she was worried that the two little girls didn't know what running was.

Despite her hesitation, Ai Cao nodded and said, "Yes."

Lillian nodded as well.

Pandora's lips twitched, revealing a slightly awkward smile. Then she turned her head and glanced back down the corridor she had come from.

Pandora quickly looked away and said calmly, "Follow me, let's go now."

She didn't look at the dilapidated door again, but instead led Ai Cao and Lillian to the other end of the corridor.

Pandora took long strides, and Lillian had to walk quickly to barely keep up with her.

Lillian was a little tired from walking.

She turned to look at the mugwort, but the mugwort, taking advantage of its similar height to Pandora, managed to walk with the air of a leisurely stroll.

Lillian puffed out her cheeks and asked her with a hint of complaint, "Why are you so tall?"

The system chimed in, "Why are you so tall?"

Ai Cao mentally posed a question mark to the system and answered Lillian's question: "Because I eat a lot?"

Lillian frowned, looking completely dissatisfied with her answer.

"Will I grow taller if I eat a lot?" she pressed.

Ai Cao nodded. She smiled and patted Lillian's head: "Eat more and you'll grow taller."

Pandora let out a soft laugh.

Lillian stomped a few steps and caught up with Pandora, looking up at her and asking, "Pandora, why are you so tall too?"

Pandora's smile widened: "I was born taller than my peers."

Lillian lowered her head and began to think about the peers she had met before, comparing her height with theirs.

Pandora had led them to a familiar door. Without hesitation, she pushed it open and lashed out with her whip.

Just as the flowers were beginning to bloom, the enormous flower that was hurtling towards them was shattered into pieces by her whip.

The enormous petals scattered and were then devoured by the other flowers in the flowerbed.

There was no moon or stars in the dark gray sky.

The mugwort said, "Wow!"

Pandora tightened her lips. She glanced warily behind her and whispered, "Time is short, this is the only way."

Ai Cao nodded. She pulled Lillian in front of her: "You lead the way, Lillian stand in the middle, and I'll bring up the rear."

Pandora gave her a deep look and said, "Okay."

There were too many flowers rushing into the garden, and Pandora walked a little slower than before. She frowned and cracked her whip to protect Lillian and... the rearguard behind her.

Ai Cao, huddled in a corner, snapped off a flower branch and asked the system, "Can vampires fake pregnancy?"

The system said, "Vampires are no longer living beings, so they cannot have children."

Ai Cao was speechless: "If even the male lead can't have children, then who else can I let have children?"

The system chuckled: "It will come later, it will come..."

"Could we make him have his period?" Ai Cao glanced at the castle not far away. "Let him bleed a little, so he won't try to chase after Lillian."

The system hesitated for a moment: "He's a vampire now..."

"Just tell him whether he drinks blood or not, and whether he has blood in his body."

The system relented: "Alright then, you try it first and see if you can make him have a stomach bleed..."

Ai Cao grinned and smashed the flower that had just rushed over with a punch, while also using the [Menstrual] skill on the male protagonist.

After she finished dealing with the flowers behind her, she ran a few steps faster and caught up with Lillian ahead.

Pandora's brow furrowed: "Where did you just go?"

Ai Cao shrugged and said, "I just picked a flower."

Her hands were covered in the sap from the flower petals, which stung and itched. Pandora saw her hands and her brows furrowed even more.

“…What does that flower look like?” Pandora asked.

Ai Cao thought for a moment and said, "I can't remember."

She picked so many flowers that she naturally couldn't remember which flower the sap came from.

Pandora frowned. "...Then there's no other way." She turned around and said, "You can't leave on your own for now—I'll take you away from here and then go get the antidote for you."

“The flower is poisonous,” said the mugwort.

She tried to clench her fist. Her hand was still under her control, but she could no longer feel it.

Lillian looked a little uneasy. She glanced at Pandora, then at Artemisia, and whispered, "I'm sorry, I wish I could fight too..."

"It's not your fault," Ai Cao shrugged. "Pandora said she can cure the poison, so we can just go get the antidote later, right?"

Pandora's brow relaxed slightly. She said, "Antidote will suffice."

She glanced back at the path they had come from and said, "There's a disturbance in the castle. Let's hurry while we have the chance."

The rest of the journey was remarkably peaceful. They exited the garden gate without incident and boarded the carriage.

Pandora is still the driver.

Artemisia and Lillian sat in the dark carriage, silently listening to the sounds outside rise and fall.

The curtain was lifted again by the horsewhip.

A new scar was etched on Pandora's brow bone. Blood gushed from the scar, landing on her eyelashes, which she then hastily wiped away, leaving only a blurry bloodstain.

The wound on her brow bone was still bleeding. Thick, semi-dried blood had accumulated on her eyelids, looking rather gruesome.

Pandora smirked and pointed to a church not far away, saying, "We're here."