A moment later, the Wanderer crouched down, picked up the Black Stones on the ground, and rearranged them. Then he extended a withered finger and slowly carved something into their surfaces, stroke by stroke. Fine stone chips fell away as new runes gradually covered the old marks.
Only after finishing did he stand and meet their gazes, his ethereal voice seeping out from his bones.
"After the Large Camp fell, the four of us who survived split up."
"We've each been hiding on our own. Our connection to this world is growing stronger, after all. We can only hide separately to reduce that connection and keep the Heretics from tracking us down one by one."
"This is called a Signal Point." He pointed at the pile of black stones at his feet. "We leave marks and symbols at Signal Points and come by from time to time to check them. That's how we stay in touch."
"I was just checking the marks they left, asking whether they were all right." He paused. "Their reply was that they were fine. I also carved a message saying I'd picked you up."
Lu Yuan nodded, but his gaze did not linger on the Wanderer. Instead, it settled on the pile of black stones.
He leaned closer to examine the arrangement of the stones and the runes carved into them, but he still could not make out any linguistic meaning. They looked less like writing than a set of mutually agreed-upon symbols.
The gray-white text in the corner of his vision remained silent, offering no translation.
So that was it.
The last question in Lu Yuan's mind had been answered. When he had lost track of this Wanderer earlier, the carved marks the man had left behind were probably the same sort of thing-not