They found Number Nine in a wooden cabin deep in a forest. He could no longer maintain human form and had become a gray, hazy mass of mist that seemed liable to scatter at any moment.
The forest soil was soaked through. It looked as though heavy rain had just passed, and a single careless step would leave one's foot stuck in mud.
Many trees had fallen, some uprooted completely.
Rain still fell from the sky, neither heavy nor light.
The place looked like a ruined grave.
You Ye opened a black umbrella and held it over Luo Qiu, shielding him from the rain.
The two of them entered the cabin. Luo Qiu looked at the mist before him. It seemed to be trying desperately to gather, but like silt already dispersed in water, it had lost its cohesion.
"His power and even his stamina are almost completely depleted. What is he doing?"
She knew this was the state of a Black Soul Envoy. It was like a lamp that had burned through its oil—though even if a Black Soul Envoy died, he could still return through his life lamp.
Luo Qiu raised a map from the ground. It was beneath the mass of mist. The map was open, and a red marker appeared on it.
The marker moved. Every movement was made at Luo Qiu's instruction.
As he thought, the mist that had struggled to gather slowly began to condense... The Boss's will had inadvertently given the Black Soul Envoy—who should have scattered, leaving only his life lamp sealed within the Ark—a chance to reunite.
Rain fell through the already-broken roof. The chill was intense. A single glance made anyone yearn for a furnace or a pile of firewood from the bottom of their heart.
It did not take