After listening to Angel’s account, Nami Midori did not respond immediately. Instead, it gracefully swung its snake body, gliding past Angel to the vicinity of the floating flower.
"Come back." Accompanied by the scattering petals, the floating flower slowly descended from mid-air at Nami Midori’s call, finally landing atop her head.
It was like a crown of flowers, rooted at the crown of her skull.
After Nami Midori donned the floating flower crown, she fell into a long silence, as if she was sensing something.
Minutes later, Nami Midori returned to her senses and gently flicked her tail, sending a dark blue petal into Angel’s hand.
Meanwhile, a scene unfolded in Angel’s mind: the moment he stepped out of the Vine House, approached the floating flower, sensed being watched, and then abruptly turned his head.
"Is this the scene you’re referring to when you said you felt watched?" Nami Midori asked.
Angel nodded, "That’s right. Does the floating flower have recording capabilities?"
Nami Midori nodded and then fell into contemplation.
While Nami Midori was pondering, Angel’s mind was also in turmoil. Nami Midori openly told Angel that the floating flower had the ability to record past images, which once again reduced Angel’s suspicion towards her.
Since the floating flower could record images, Nami Midori had no reason to secretly surveil him.
Most importantly, Angel had experienced this feeling of being watched several times now; previously, once at Gentle Wave Sea and once in an unnamed place. Both locations were quite a distance from the Green Forest Domain, and both Leaf Groot and the later Parry Mountains encounters clearly stated that Nami Midori hadn’t left the Lost Forest.
Under these circumstances, even as a half-step Legend, Nami Midori would find it difficult to place her eyes thousands, even tens of thousands of miles away.
Moreover, Angel couldn’t fathom what reason Nami Midori would have to watch him.
If it truly had been Nami Midori, the first two instances of surveillance might still make some sense, but he was already in the Lost Forest, so using such methods now seemed quite odd.
Therefore, Angel believed that the observer hidden in the shadows was unlikely to be Nami Midori.
Having ruled out Nami Midori’s suspicion, Angel began to anticipate Nami Midori’s contemplation. He also wanted to know what answer Nami Midori would give. Could she discover the hidden observer?
Minutes later, Nami Midori slowly lifted her head. "I haven’t sensed anyone watching you through the floating flower."
"Ah?"
Seeing Angel’s puzzled expression, Nami Midori explained, "The floating flower is actually one of my abilities, an extension of my senses. You can think of it as containing all my senses, including touch, smell, vision, and perception."
"I can sense through the floating flower to experience what it has gone through and even immerse myself in those experiences."
Having said that, to help Angel understand, Nami Midori flicked her tail again, and the dark blue petal in Angel’s hand turned into countless light points that eventually enveloped Angel.
Amidst the light points, Angel felt as if he had returned to ten minutes ago.
However, the perspective had changed.
His current perspective was that of the floating flower suspended in mid-air.
Through the floating flower’s perspective, Angel could clearly see the Vine House being pushed open, "Angel" coming out from the Vine House, and finally stopping in front of the floating flower...
The entire process, not just the images, but also the direction of the wind’s flow in the air, the sound of "Angel"’s robes being blown, and the faint floral fragrance in the air, were all perfectly recreated. Moreover, due to the floating flower’s unique ability, certain sensory experiences were enhanced, especially perception capacity, which was stronger than Angel’s own and allowed him to perceive more information.
This was not like a memory replay; it was more like the fully immersive perceptual virtual technology that Jon once mentioned still being developed on Earth.
Angel retraced the series of events from the floating flower’s perspective once more.
However, as Nami Midori stated, when the "Angel" in the memory suddenly turned his head to search for the hidden observer, there was no anomaly in the floating flower’s perception.
The wind speed was unchanged, the floral scent in the air remained uninterrupted, everything seemed perfectly normal.
The only anomaly, on the contrary, was "Angel" himself. Like someone with paranoia, suddenly turning around and looking back and forth, from the floating flower’s perspective, "Angel" seemed genuinely abnormal.
After experiencing the floating flower’s journey, the light points around Angel gradually dissipated.
Nami Midori reappeared in front of him, "Do you understand now? In my perception, I haven’t detected anything abnormal."
"Are you certain that you were indeed being watched?"
If it were before, being doubted by Nami Midori would have irritated Angel. But after experiencing the floating flower’s perspective, he somewhat understood Nami Midori; at that time, "he" did appear quite strange to outsiders.
"I don’t need to lie. I indeed felt someone watching me from the shadows," Angel said. "And this isn’t the first time it’s happened."
Initially, due to suspecting Nami Midori as the observer, Angel hadn’t mentioned the first two incidents. Now that he had ruled out Nami Midori’s suspicion, Angel recounted his prior experiences of being watched.
After hearing Angel’s narrative, Nami Midori also felt puzzled, "Besides you and that bird, have any other Elemental Creatures felt watched?"
Angel nodded, "Toby only felt watched the second time. Just now, it didn’t feel anything unusual."
Nami Midori: "Could it be some sort of evil eye curse?"
Nami Midori once heard Mr. Feng talk about some undead abilities and among them was the evil eye curse. In some horror stories, this curse is described as making someone feel occasionally watched from the shadows. This feeling of being secretly observed builds up over time, potentially driving humans to insanity.
"I have some tools to resist and detect negative states on myself, and I’m sure I haven’t encountered any curses. Besides, the evil eye curse doesn’t work on me."
The evil eye curse is a low-level undead power, incapable of causing direct harm. Even if an ordinary person were afflicted by it, as long as they had a strong mind, it wouldn’t affect them much.
Much less Angel.
"If it’s not a curse, and the observer is targeting only you and your bird... Toby." Nami Midori said, "Could it be some special visual ability, sensed only by those being observed?"
"The purpose of surveillance is for the observer to go unnoticed. But if you both can sense their gaze, there’s no point in using surveillance, is there?"
Angel said, "Based on our analysis of the observer, it’s incredibly fast, has a strong ability to conceal. Could it be a powerful or specially skilled Elemental Creature?"
Nami Midori directly shook her head. "It won’t be an Elemental Creature. If there were such an existence among Elemental Creatures, it wouldn’t slip past me."
"Moreover, according to your description, the observer already appeared at the center of the Lost Forest. Previously, I was in closed-door cultivation, and my perception of the outside world was diminished. But now, I’m not in seclusion. If any unusual and unfamiliar elemental energy appears in the Lost Forest, I can easily sense it."
"I can clearly tell you that since you entered the Lost Forest, no other unfamiliar elemental energy has appeared within it."