May 10, Year X023, 21:03, Dormitory Building area.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap...
With Wei Liang on his back, Lin Yi kept running along the smooth, waterlogged road. Wei Shan, who had originally been clearing the way ahead, had slowed somewhat and moved behind them.
The two sprinted through the rain. Ignoring the great splashes beneath their feet, they almost looked like lightness-art masters performing the Iron Legs Water-Skimming technique.
"Dormitory Building-063," "Dormitory Building-064," "Dormitory Building-065"...
Lin Yi rushed past Streetlamp Pole after Streetlamp Pole without stopping, continuing toward the Dormitory Building at the end of the route in the direction of the increasing pole numbers.
Behind Lin Yi, Grinning Angels crawled out of his shadow one after another like undead creatures. Their limbs moved in bizarre ways, flickering like an animation dropping frames. With each flicker, they shifted from one pose to another.
Once they had crawled completely out of his shadow, however, they stopped moving like puppets in some occult puppet show. Instead, they covered their faces with both hands, assuming the "opening stance" unique to them.
Wind and rain battered the sculptures. After remaining motionless for a while, the Grinning Angel sculptures slowly turned insubstantial. Then they floated gently upward and drifted in the direction Lin Yi had fled, like plastic bags blown by the wind.
Rustle, rustle, rustle... rustle, rustle, rustle...
In this wind and rain, nothing should have dared compete with the Grinning Angels for food, yet something that did had actually appeared!
The Alien Angel, the Forest of the Dead's Steles, had arrived, late but not absent!
Within the Wooded Belt, the Forest of the Dead's Steles rapidly writhed forward. Countless faces scraped madly along the ground, while the others began chanting wave after wave of occult sounds.
The sounds seemed distant one moment