The late autumn night wind carried withered leaves and made the window lattice of Bobby clang. The dim light of the old table lamp in the living room made the shadows of the four people distorted.
Dean sat slumped on the edge of the sofa, with his elbows on his knees and his fingers deeply embedded in his hair, his knuckles turning white from exertion.
He had just come out of the truth about Truth Curse, and the bloodstains all over his body and heart had not yet scabbed over. Then he turned around and bumped into an even sharper fact - his younger brother, Sam, with a large piece of his soul missing.
It's not that Lucifer is possessing me, it's not that Shapeshifter is pretending to be, it's that when Hell crawled back, the softest and hottest part was left in the darkness forever.
Sam was leaning against the fireplace opposite. The injury on his face had been simply treated, and the gauze was oozing a little red. He lowered his eyes and unconsciously rubbed the frayed areas of his cuffs with his fingers, his expression as calm as if he was listening to someone else's story.
It was as if the force with which Dean punched him in the face with red eyes, and Veritas's "empty shell" were just wind blowing past his ears, unable to make any waves.
Bobby stood at the door of the kitchen, holding a whiskey glass with rough fingers, with water droplets on the wall. He looked at Dean, who was pale, and then at Sam, who was expressionless, and sighed heavily, with a little sadness on his stubble.
He has lived for most of his life and has seen too many miserable situations where souls are missing, but when it was the turn of these two children, it still hurt as if their flesh was being cut with a dull knife.
Bai Haorui stood by the window, with his back to everyone, and his figure was as straight as a pine tree.
The hem of the black jacket hangs near the knees, and the lavender Lotus Seal between the eyebrows is hidden in the shadows. Only when the breathing rises and falls, a faint purple light flashes.
"But..." Dean spoke in a muffled voice, his voice hoarse like sandpaper rubbing against wood, "He still remembers me, remembers everything in the past, even the time I stole my father's car and was beaten when I was a child... How can he have no soul?"
He suddenly raised his head, his eyes were red, and he looked straight at Bai Haorui's back, as if grasping the last life-saving straw. "Haorui, did you see it wrong? Could it be that Hell's trauma was not healed? Is it a sequelae?"
Bai Haorui slowly turned around, the light fell on his face, his eyebrows were cold, but there was an imperceptible depression in his eyes. During the battle in the cemetery, he tried hard to get his soul damaged to push Dean out, but failed to hold Sam.
This year of seclusion and hard training was partly to break through the realm, and partly to hold back the guilt. At this moment, when I looked at Dean with pleading eyes, my heart sank slightly, but when I spoke, my voice was as steady as a mountain. "It's not that I have no soul, it's that my soul is incomplete."
He walked to the table, tapped his fingertips lightly on the table, leaving a very faint golden afterimage, and slowly disassembled it according to the Daoist words. "Daoists say that humans have three souls and seven souls. The heavenly soul controls the divinity and returns to heaven; the earth soul controls the life root and returns to the earth; the human soul controls the physical body and remains in the body. The seven souls govern happiness, anger, sorrow, fear, love, evil, and desire respectively, and support the seven emotions and six desires of the human being."
He paused, his eyes fell on Sam, and his tone was as calm as if he was reading a medical record. "Your current situation is that both the heavenly soul and the earthly soul are locked in the core cage of Lucifer. I only brought back the human soul. So the memory, skills, and logic are all there, just like normal people. But most of the seven souls were lost along with the heavenly soul and the earthly soul. The emotions that should have existed, such as empathy, guilt, soft-heartedness, and fear, were as light as if they were separated by a film."
Dean was stunned when he heard it, and kept his mouth open for a long time without making a sound. He had always heard Bobby talk about soul before, and thought it was just a ball of Qi, either there or not, and he never thought that it could be broken into half.
But when I think about it carefully, I feel that every sentence is correct - Sam still remembers everything, but he no longer feels pain, no longer weak, and can watch ordinary people die without changing their expressions.
"Then... can we still count him?" Dean's voice was extremely hoarse, "There is only an empty shell left in front of his face, remembering his things..."
"Forget it." Bai Haorui said firmly, "The human soul is also him, and the memory is also him. It's just incomplete. It's like a knife, the edge is still there, but the handle is gone. It can be used, but it is not smooth and it is easy to hurt yourself."
Sam, who was standing next to him, suddenly twitched the corner of his mouth and showed a slight smile, a little self-deprecating and a little indifferent. "I don't think it's a big deal. Isn't it just that I don't have so many emotions? If I can hunt, investigate cases, and take action, that's all."
"Shut up!" Dean turned around and shouted at him, his voice breaking, "Is this okay? You can't even feel that something is wrong with you?"
Sam raised his eyebrows and did not refute or get angry. He just looked at Dean calmly, as if looking at an unreasonable child.
The look in his eyes was so unfamiliar that Dean felt a throbbing pain in his heart. He turned away and wiped his eyes hard.
Bobby couldn't stand it any longer. He put the wine glass on the table and made a muffled sound, "Okay, okay, can arguing solve the problem? The key now is how to get it back! Haorui, do you have any idea?"
Bai Haorui shook his head and gently rubbed a Five Emperor Coins with his fingertips. The copper coin turned into a circle of pale golden shadow between his fingers. "It's difficult. The core cage of Lucifer is the deepest part of Hell, the soul. Being locked inside, forcing a break is like giving away food. And..." He paused, his eyes darkened, "Being able to fish out a human soul from inside, with complete memories, is a power that ordinary demons cannot do. Even the ordinary Hell Grand Duke cannot do this."
"You mean..." Dean's heart skipped a beat, and a terrible guess came up, "Is it Crowley?"
"Inseparable." Bai Haorui nodded, "Samuel·Campbell's family was resurrected collectively, and they all carried the aura of Hell's contract, which is a bit similar to Crowley. Sam's matter must be related to him."
Dean stood up suddenly, the legs of the chair scraping against the floor making a harsh sound, "Then what are you waiting for? Go find him! Get your soul back!"
"Calm down." Bai Haorui raised his eyes and glanced at him, his tone was calm but with undeniable strength, "Crowley has just sat on the throne of the king of Hell, and his hands and eyes are astute. We don't have chips in hand, so coming to the door is equivalent to giving away our lives. Find Samuel first, he is the middleman, he must know the inside story."
Dean's chest rose and fell violently, and after taking several deep breaths, he suppressed the urge to rush out to find Crowley desperately.
He knew that Bai Haorui was right, but he was just impatient - if he delayed for one more day, Sam's soul would suffer for one more day.
"I'm going to call Castiel." Dean took out the phone, his fingers shaking a little, "He is an angel, there is always a way, right? He was able to pull me back from Hell last time..."
Bai Haorui didn't speak, but raised his hand slightly, flicked a little light golden source power on his fingertips, and created a circle of tiny ripples in space out of thin air.
He didn't explain, just stood quietly.
Dean thought he was going to cast a spell, but just as he was about to ask, he heard a "buzz" sound, and the air suddenly sank, as if it was being held by an invisible hand.
A flash of white light flashed, and Castiel appeared in the center of the living room wearing a beige windbreaker. The afterimage of his wings had not yet dissipated, and there was a look of exhaustion on his face.
He first glanced at Bai Haorui, with a trace of helplessness flashing in his eyes - it was the same thing he called out last time.
Then he turned to Dean and frowned. "You called me?"
Dean was stunned for a moment, looked at his phone, and then at Bai Haorui.
He didn't even say a prayer just now, and Bai Haorui came with a raised hand? The gap in the lineup is too big.
But he didn't have the intention to dwell on this, and immediately rushed forward, speaking as fast as a machine gun, "Cass, look at Sam! His soul is not right, Haorui said his soul is incomplete, can you..."
Before Castiel could finish speaking, his eyes had already fallen on Sam. He frowned even more tightly, took a step forward, and raised his hand to press Sam's forehead.
A faint white light emerged from his palm and penetrated along the center of Sam's eyebrows.
Sam frowned slightly, but did not hide, letting the angel's power sweep through his soul.
After a few seconds, Castiel suddenly withdrew his hand, his face looking as ugly as frost.
"How's it going?" Dean immediately leaned forward, his heart in his throat.
"Indeed... the soul is incomplete." Castiel's voice was low and a little unbelievable, "The main soul was locked in the core cage of Lucifer, and only a secondary soul came back to support the body. I have never seen this kind of situation... Conventional resurrection is simply impossible, it is equivalent to tearing the soul in half."
"Then fight him back!" Dean grabbed his arm with such force that his knuckles turned white, "You were able to save me last time, you can do it this time too!"
"Dean, no." Castiel shook his head, his eyes full of exhaustion, "I saved you because you were only trapped in the upper level of Hell. But The main soul of Sam is in the core cage, locked together with Lucifer and Michael. That place is the heart of Hell. It is difficult to get close to it, let alone saving people."
He paused, his tone a little helpless. "And now Heaven is in a civil war, and Raphael people are seizing power everywhere. I can't get away, and I can't mobilize my troops."
"When we fight, we know how to fight!" Dean threw his arm away suddenly, and his anger suddenly rose, "My brother has become an empty shell! Is your ruin Heaven more important than human life?"
Castiel opened his mouth and wanted to refute, but no words came out.
Sam jumped Hell to stop Apocalypse, but Heaven himself became a mess first, and no one cared about this victim.
He turned his face away, his eyes a little evasive. "I will try my best to check... I will let you know as soon as I have any news."