Not only did the amount of black rain vary between large regions, it also varied within this fractured-land region. The rain was clearly heavier near the low hills.
The centers of those hills all bore signs of having erupted. They were hollow in the middle, and from a distance looked like volcanoes. But up close, it was obvious they were unlike ordinary volcanoes: they weren't mainly made of volcanic rock, but of something resembling soil.
Xu Huo dug up a little with a tool. The low hills weren't as solid as he'd imagined. Their insides were loose, like freshly turned earth. It took little effort to pry up a chunk, and, like the black filaments mixed into the rain, it crumbled with a gentle rub between his fingers.
The so-called "low hills" weren't real hills at all, but huge cones made from piles of these black filaments.
The eruption vents at their centers had not been sealed, however, proving that the black filaments were still being spewed out from below. But they didn't look like ash left behind after a volcanic eruption, nor like the remains of burned plants, and yet they fell from the sky with the rain...
"Looks like there are quite a few hills like this." Xu Huo climbed to the mouth of one and tossed a stone down. No sound came back for a long time.
The fact that no sound reached the surface meant that whatever lay below, it couldn't be good. That put him off going down to investigate.
The fractured earth stretched endlessly in every direction, with no sign of anyone. It made him wonder whether this place had an end at all.
"He seems hungry," Tan Qi suddenly said. "He bit through the pacifier."
"Not possible." Xu Huo set the two babies