soul stone

In the autumn of 1994, Lyme Harbor, located in the southeast corner of the Aegean mainland, ushered in the bursting of a decade-long financial bubble.A large number of ports are vacant, commercial circles are closed, and unfinished buildings can be seen everywhere like bone spurs in the city.

One of the five-star hotels, which was originally planned to be as high as 80 floors, has been built to No. [-], the fifth floor, with gray load-bearing walls towering into the sky.Joshua carried his travel bag and looked up at the entrance, but he couldn't see the end.He took off the beige soft hat that was the same as the robe, looked up again, and finally saw the end of the building.

"Have you given up halfway... What a pity. However, it happens often."

Putting the hat on his chest, he sighed with emotion, stepped into the building, and the tip of the long umbrella collided with the concrete floor.His footsteps are very light, as if the ground under his feet is not hard concrete, but a calm lake. Wherever he goes, it is like a gust of wind blowing across the water, causing tiny ripples in circles.

Going down the stairs that didn't have time to add guardrails, Joshua slowed down and came to the basement that was supposed to be a supermarket.The space is much wider than the ground, and the length and width can be calculated in kilometers.He looked up and estimated that the distance from the ceiling to the ground was at least five meters.

"It's warm in winter and cool in summer, it's the best bedroom."

While murmuring to himself, he checked around the wall, but found no one.He smiled and shook his head, could it be that he got the meeting place wrong?

Back in the middle of the room, sitting down with legs bent on the cold concrete floor, Joshua pressed the center of his eyes, trying to recall Maggie's message.It should be right, he remembers it very clearly.Well, someone else got it wrong.

Thinking of this, he opened the umbrella, stretched it in the open space beside him, took out a folding beach chair from the bulging travel bag, unfolded it in front of him, turned a ninety-degree angle and leaned against the central pillar, and Then he climbed up and lay down, covered his face with a bonnet, and soon fell asleep.

After an unknown amount of time, footsteps of different rhythms came from the direction of the stairs.Kuroro, who was walking at the front, saw two long bamboo-like legs protruding from behind the pillar in the center of the basement at a glance. The knees were at the end of the beach chair, and the calves were stretched out.He immediately lowered his alert level, explained something to the group members behind him with different expressions, then turned a corner with Xue Ye in his arms, and walked up the stairs leading to the guest room.Paconoda wanted to follow, but after hesitating for a moment, she stayed.

"Joshua!" Maggie walked over first, raised her foot and lightly kicked him on the shoulder.Joshua grunted, turned over and fell back asleep.The hat slid to the floor, revealing a long, thin, pale face.A head of silver hair spread out like flowing water, with high browbones and straight nose, reminiscent of elves in the morning mist.

Nobunaga came over, holding the handle of the knife: "I can't wake him up like this, we have to use violence..."

A cold light flashed, and the samurai sword was stuck in the center of the beach chair pillow, pierced through two layers of canvas, and stuck hard into the concrete floor.In the next second, there was a sizzling sound, and the beach chair split in two.At the same time, Nobunaga felt a gust of wind drifting behind him, transforming into shape.

"Okay, okay, can't I get up? This beach chair is very useful. I wanted to borrow you to sleep for two days. This is great... oh, what a pity." A head taller than Nobunaga The man yawned for a long time, rubbed his sleepy eyes, and disappeared without a trace in the next second.The strong wind from the blade sliced ​​through the afterimage, and Nobunaga bared his teeth and roared:

"Tsk, don't run, I will definitely kill you this time!"

"Oh, the movement is better than before." It was rare that he was not provoked by Nobunaga, and Wo Jin happily scratched his cheek.I just had a battle with the Kuruta tribe, and I released the energy like a beast, and I feel happy.

Franklin watched the battle from a high pile of concrete slabs.Movement is not his strong point, he can barely see afterimages.Feitan and Finks sat at the bottom of the cement pile.Fei Tan narrowed his golden eyes, catching the rapidly fighting figures, and the corners of his mouth under the mask slightly curled up.

"Hey, Feitan, who is faster, this guy or you?" Finks asked indifferently.

"Nonsense, of course it's me."

"Oh - how do you know if you don't try?" Added fuel to the fire.

Franklin, who had been sitting at the back, suddenly said, "Fitan is faster."

Fei Tan, who was about to enter the battle, let out a light snort, and cast a sidelong glance at the browless, meaning to say "Look".

"Joshua's footwork is more accurately described as 'light'. It's not aggressive, it's just an aid to telekinetic ability." Franklin said.

"Hey, you are completely different from Feitan." Finks still did not give up.

At this moment, the two people on the battlefield stopped their movements at the same time, their hands and feet were entangled by invisible threads.The purple-haired girl in a short kimono pushed the two away, ignored Nobunaga's complaints, and looked up at the silver-haired man who was squinting and smiling.

"Why didn't you come to gather? Don't tell me that you got lost again. If you keep doing this, the head of the group will think that my message is not good."

"No, 'Gather on November 11 at the basement of the Trump Tower in the Gill District of Port Lyme.' I didn't get lost this time, and I bought a map of the city!" He took out a thick book from his travel bag. thick booklet.

"..." Maggie couldn't hold back her face.

"Hahahahahaha!" A burst of joyous laughter erupted from the basement.Even Pike, who had been thinking about something, couldn't help but pursed his lips and smiled.Nobunaga burst into tears with laughter:

"It's not November 11th, it's October 10th, you idiot!"

"Is that so..." Joshua closed his eyes, as if thinking.Maggie went around behind her and kicked him to the ground.No one knew better than her where this guy was thinking, he was clearly just about to fall asleep.

Joshua, who got up from the dust pile, scratched his hair tangled with cement dust with a smile, and suddenly opened his violet eyes, looking in the direction where the leader left.

"The person in the arms of the leader... who is it?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone was shocked.

"How do you know?" Margie asked.He obviously slept with his back to everyone just now, and didn't wake up until the leader left.How did he know that the leader was holding someone?

Joshua walked smoothly back to the central column, rummaged in the travel bag, threw away the things that Nobunaga chopped down, zipped it up, carried the bag that was one-third lighter, and walked towards the guest room.

"It was the wind, the wind told me."

Watching Joshua's back leave, Maggie commented: "Crazy."

The other group members either nodded, responded, or remained silent, expressing their approval in different ways.

Waking up in the snowy night.

At the first glance, I saw the bare ceiling with plaster falling down, and at the second, I saw a young man with his legs crossed and holding a book sitting beside the bed.The young man raised his eyes from the book, and his eyes met.

"It's been a week."

She blinked, as if she hadn't recovered yet.She tried to sit up, but found she couldn't move.No tactile sensation, not even felt when sleeping on a hard plank bed.Villar's voice sounded like sandalwood.Is this reality, or a dream?

"Want something to eat?"

She opened her mouth.No sound.

The black-haired young man looked at her with a surprised expression.He reached under the quilt and took her hand.

"You're as cold as ice," he said.Not only that, if you use "Ning" to observe, you will find that there is no trace of "Qi" in Xue Ye's whole body.Ordinary people will have "Qi" flow out of the body, if she does not use "Jue" deliberately, from the perspective of life energy, it is no different from a dead person.

The right hand that has been holding it has somewhat recovered its temperature.Suddenly, Xue Ye poked out her right hand from under the quilt, with the palm facing up and five fingers bent.

"Give me back my things..."

Kuroro chuckled softly, his eyes were as clear and curious as when he was a child.

"I thought you couldn't talk anymore."

Before the words fell, there was a thud, and the arm dropped. The girl stopped talking and narrowed her eyes tiredly.

"I can't find that earring."

Xue Ye lay quietly, even the expression on his face seemed to be frozen.Closing her eyes, she gasped for breath, her face was covered with cold sweat, like a patient with a high fever.

Without warning, a red light shot out from under the white sheet like an arrow off the string.Kuroro jumped a few steps, was forced to the wall, and then moved left with a tap of his foot.Xue Ye's face rushed forward, Kuroro froze for a moment.

In the next second, he fell to the ground, with the red sash for a kimono wrapped around his neck.The girl riding on his waist deftly moved her thin five fingers around his neck.

"You're lying." Tears welled up from his thick eyelashes and dripped onto Kuroro's white shirt.She smiled, slipped her left hand into his waist, undid the belt buckle with a click, and broke off the square thick metal block.Fumbled around the six sides of the metal block, there were no visible switches.Xue Ye squinted, bit the metal block with her teeth, and took out a dagger from Kuroro's trouser pocket.Aim the tip of the knife at the lower end of the metal box and make a sharp stroke, and the lid of the box splits soundlessly in two, landing on the white lily pattern on the hem of the kimono.Kuroro's eyes reflected a faint purple awn, which was grabbed by a trembling little hand.

Like a sudden loss of strength, Xue Ye fell on Kuroro with a thud, completely unconscious.The left hand clenched tightly as if forced by an external force, and stuck to his chest as if guarding something.

"...want to eat 'pork snails'."

The voice is like the ripples caused by the maple leaves falling into the clear spring, fleeting.Kuroro exhaled lightly, unable to tell whether it was a relief or a sigh, or nothing at all.

In the minute just now, she had tried her best.Just like when she was a child, she valued that stone more than her life.She seemed to really have a connection with that stone.However, according to his investigation so far, there has never been an instance of "the dead are not dead" in the Oyagi family.Why are you so desperate for an unfounded legend?

He carried Xue Ye back to the bed and covered her with the quilt.Even with her pale face, she was very pretty and the type to go out and get into trouble.He pinched her right hand, and his palm became even colder.

After staying by the bed for a while, Kuroro got up and went out.A harmless smiling face waited outside, and the amethyst-like eyes glanced at the room as if nothing.

"Ah, leader. Want to go out? It's raining outside. Do you want to bring an umbrella? It can be used in rain or shine and is also a beach umbrella. Since you are the leader, you don't need to thank you." He moved the black stick in his hand forward.

Kurolo closed the door and asked, "Joshua, are you free now?"

"No, I'm too busy." The tall, silver-haired man yawned, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Get me ten boxes of 'porpoise snails', the sooner the better."

"'Porcelain conch'...that's a delicacy only found in the North Pole." Joshua smiled softly, "This lady has really good taste."

Ten days later, the comatose Xue Ye woke up again, sat cross-legged in the center of the basement, ate up ten boxes of porpoise conch in one day with suction, and the temporary base was filled with empty shells similar to snails.The group members who witnessed this grand occasion felt an inexplicable chill at the same time, but also had an inexplicable intimacy towards her.

Kuroro, who couldn't stand the fishy smell of the sea, announced his move on the No. 11 day.

"This time you won." He said quietly.

Hearing this, the girl leaning against the wall and looking at the scenery turned her head and raised a dazzling smile like a jewel.