Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva

Tilan and her companions settled down temporarily in Withered Tree Garden, where the local tree artists provided them with a nice place to stay.

The group looked around curiously in the spacious room, experiencing the unique style of the house.

The house was roughly circular, with four floors in total, three above ground and one below. The top floor featured a mushroom-like dome with a crescent-shaped cutout, perfect for sunbathing, enjoying the view, or catching a breeze.

The first floor housed a cozy living room, dining room, and kitchen, while the second floor had bedrooms and a study, and the basement level included a bath and more bedrooms, which seemed to be cooler in summer and warmer in winter compared to above ground.

After assigning bedrooms, everyone gathered in the hall where a dinner provided by the local tree artists had been laid out on the table.

"Not much meat, but plenty of fruits and pastries," Yeyeber said, pressing gently on the light green translucent soft cake before taking a small bite.

"Mildly sweet with a hint of coolness, the texture is good. It could be considered a T5 level food in the outside world," he commented.

"The main dishes are sliced bread, dried meat, and we also have tangor fruit soup, light green sweet soft cake, and fresh fruit pieces," he described.

"Such a lavish dinner is rare; we've almost grown tired of canned food recently." After sitting down, they began to slowly taste and comment on the meal.

Although everyone present came from affluent families, they weren't so pampered that they couldn't eat any lower-grade food; perhaps this was due to the advanced food industry where, even without special effects, the taste usually wasn't too bad.

After quickly satiating their hunger and thirst, they enjoyed the rare opportunity not to sleep in the cramped vehicle as usual, but instead to turn over comfortably in a large bed.

The next day, when Tilan awoke, it was already nine in the morning.

Sitting on the side of the bed, still somewhat drowsy, it was a while before she stood up. Deloris, who was sharing the bed, was still asleep.

After a simple combing of her hair in front of the dressing table, Tilan then returned to the bedside, tapping Deloris's forehead with her finger. Your next chapter is on My Virtual Library Empire

Although there were many rooms in the house, there weren't enough for each of the twelve people to have their own bedroom, so they typically shared in pairs. This was Deloris's first time sharing a bed with someone else. She had chatted a lot with Tilan last night before gradually falling asleep.

A black nightgown covered Deloris's pale body; compared to Tilan, Deloris had fuller curves and during sleep, Tilan's arm would occasionally brush against the softer parts.

It dawned on Tilan that this was the first time she saw Deloris sleeping since she usually napped in the clubroom or on Deloris's lap. It was only because she woke up earlier today that she could observe Deloris's peaceful sleeping face.

Withdrawing her finger, she continued to watch Deloris sleep, noticing her hair falling between her collar and pillow and her body rising and falling gently, still showing no signs of waking. Tilan stood up.

Deciding not to disturb her, she let her sleep. It seemed like last night might have been Deloris's first time staying up late as she usually had a very stable routine.

After getting dressed, Tilan left the room and went downstairs, where several of her companions were already seated in the hall.

"Good morning~" After greeting them, she ate the heated corn sweet porridge and sandwich at the dining table, then took some people to find the local tree artists.

Half an hour later, led by the tree artists, the group arrived at a building beneath a dome of deadwood, where it was cool and faint sounds of machinery could be heard.

"This is our water supply system. The water source for Withered Tree Garden comes from deep underground and cannot be used directly after being drawn; it has to go through a complex process of disinfection and purification before it is suitable for domestic and irrigation use," he explained.

"Because the process is so complex, water is very precious," he said, leading the group into the underground passage.

The passage was adorned with dim lighting, not very bright, but enough to see; it was evident they were conservative with their use of electricity.

Following the winding stairs downward, they soon saw the massive spiral extraction mechanism, but they also noticed something different in the huge sedimentation pool beside it.

"Are those fish?" the girl asked, looking at the shadows swimming inside.

"Yes, they are fish from the underground dark river. Compared with the poisonous rain on the surface, the underground environment is much better, and a few fish species survive. They get pulled up with the water flow," he said.

"These fish serve as a regular protein supplement for us; we also release some fry back into the dark river to maintain its ecological balance," the tree artist added.

After that, they continued along the water pipe to a plantation surrounded by transparent glass. Inside, rows of verdant crops were growing with bright red fruit hanging in the middle. Autonomous robots moved among them, cutting ripe fruits and placing them into baskets nearby.

"The temperature and humidity inside the plantation are controlled to stay within a range suitable for plant growth, making cultivating crops not so difficult," he said, as they walked through the glass-encased plantation, observing the clean and vibrant fruits that gave a gentle sense of satisfaction and gain.

"It feels great; everything looks very good," the girl said, bending over to lift a bright red strawberry, tempted to taste it.

Previously living on a tight budget, she could only afford to buy small boxes of strawberries, just enough to sate her craving.