Flowers of the Departed Souls - Chapter 46

A note lay in the living room: “If you can find me, I’ll release them. Hahaha.” It was signed Thanatos.

They searched every corner of the room, but found nothing. Likewise, there was no sign of anyone in the vicinity.

Could this Luo Bozi be the real God of Death? But why did Luo Jialiang build the inn and install surveillance for him, protecting him at every turn, and willingly taking all the blame?

Guangming frowned tightly. “Luo Yifu is also gone. Oh, right, she mentioned to me that her brother is still alive, but she has never met him.”

Luo Xiaofeng nodded. “Yes, she mentioned it to me too, but I’ve never seen Luo Xiaojie. Luo Xiaojie loved strange things since he was a child. My God, I’m sure that the person who locked me in the glass coffin that day must be Luo Xiaojie! There were all sorts of things there. Heaven, I just remembered, that mud doll, that mud doll was something I gave him before! And that book about Liangzhu, I saw it in his room before. Heaven, I should have realized it earlier. The reason he, being inherently cruel, didn’t lay a hand on me was because I’m his older cousin. He couldn’t bear to hurt me. Also, his hand, one was fair and delicate, while the other looked like an old person’s hand. Compared to the other, the old person’s hand looked much faker. Luo Bozi, Luo Bozi must be him! He disguised himself as Luo Bozi, using a human skin mask. It turns out he’s been living among us all this time.”

At the words “human skin mask,” Luo Xiaofeng herself shivered. Then the real Luo Bozi must have died long ago and had his face peeled off. At this thought, Luo Xiaofeng looked at Guangming and Chi Ziming in horror.

“You’re saying he took them somewhere? Can one person take three people?”

Guangming was also thinking about this question. “I think Luo Bozi, that is, Luo Xiaojie, his subordinates must have appeared, or they have been here all along, just lurking in a place we don’t know about.”

“What should we do now?”

Guangming turned to Luo Xiaofeng. “Do you remember how you got to that mysterious place where you were locked in the glass coffin? I suspect that place is their real hideout.”

Luo Xiaofeng thought for a moment. “I came out with my eyes covered. He sent me to the sea, but I’ll try to remember. Let’s go to the seaside.”

Just as they were about to set off, the bell suddenly chimed, “Clang—dong—clang—dong—”

Chi Ziming gasped in shock. “Quick, cover your ears!”

The three rushed out, covering their ears. The bell continued to chime relentlessly, as if it wouldn’t stop until it had them mesmerized, as terrifying as the Sirens’ song. Although they covered their ears, the sound was still very strong. Guangming suddenly thought of a way. If a person’s attention could be diverted from the bell chime, they wouldn’t be swayed.

He took out his counterfeit phone from his pocket. Its loud speaker would usually startle people. He quickly turned the volume to maximum, opening the music player’s MP3. The music inside was put there by Kelou, and he had never heard it. At the time, he had asked Kelou to put some lyrical, suitable-for-night music on it. Kelou had agreed with a wry smile. Now that he opened it, it was furious, hissing heavy metal roars. Kelou’s prank was now almost saving them. The sound immediately drowned out the bell.

Chi Ziming shouted, “Your taste is truly unique! Looks like I’ll have to keep covering my ears!”

Guangming laughed loudly. “This is rock and roll, do you understand?”

This trick actually worked. The bell chime sounded significantly weak and tired, and stopped not long after, as if it too found it meaningless to chime. The three walked to the seaside, listening to the noisy metal music.

Chi Ziming looked at Guangming. “Let’s destroy that bell.”

Guangming nodded. So the three rushed back to the village. Guangming fired several shots at the bell. Finally, the bell stopped moving.

So they returned to the seaside again. This time, they felt much calmer. On the small boat, Luo Xiaofeng began to recall, relying on her subtle sensations. At that time, she felt herself drifting aimlessly on the boat, as if having circled a very large area. However, it was undoubtedly some small island nearby, at least, very close to the sea, because she was put onto the small boat not long after leaving that mysterious place.

There were indeed two small islands in this sea, quite close to Luoyang Village, one to the east and one to the south, but they were very small, small enough that you could see the entire island at a glance, floating on the water like a turtle’s back. They were too small; the possibility of having a hidden basement was too low because construction would be difficult on those rocks connected to the mud. Moreover, during high tide, especially the high tides during full moons, these two islands could easily be submerged by seawater.

However, they still went to the two islands. The island to the east was mostly reefs and rocks, with some trees growing in the crevices. The surrounding rocks were very sharp. Forget people trying to get on it; even monkeys would find it difficult. They circled the island and decided to give up. They went to the other small island, the one to the south, which was relatively larger and had denser vegetation. New green sprouts dotted the branches, making them suddenly feel that spring had actually arrived.

They walked around the small island and returned to their original spot. Across from them was Luoyang Village. This was their first time looking at Luoyang Village like calm observers. Guangming began to speak: “I think, if they really came to this small island, we should have caught up, or at least seen them, but there’s no trace. And, when the three of us were together in that room, it was only five or six minutes, right? They disappeared, and then we ran directly here. They were several people, not just one or two, so their speed shouldn’t have been that fast. We should have caught up.”

“You mean they might still be in the village?” Chi Ziming looked at him.

At this moment, they all noticed Luo Xiaofeng’s eyes staring directly at a certain direction in Luoyang Village across the water. “I remember, I made a very big turn on the boat then. Normally, if going to this island, it shouldn’t have made such a big turn, because from there to here is a straight, diagonal distance.”

“It seems he deliberately misled you, put you on the sea, made you circle, and then left by another boat.”

Guangming pointed to the far right side of Luoyang Village. “What’s that place?”

Luo Xiaofeng thought for a moment. “That should be Illusion Cliff.”

Upon hearing these two words, they seemed to simultaneously think of something. Chi Ziming said, “At that time, when I was rescuing those police officers, when I looked down from Illusion Cliff, I think I saw boats, but they were covered by protruding cliff edges, so I couldn’t see clearly looking down.”

Luo Xiaofeng also recalled the sound of the tide flowing back, and the whistling wind, seabirds. Yes, the sound of seabirds. At the border of Bird Slope and Illusion Cliff, there were often seabirds. They always liked to shuttle along the edges, as if that was how they found endless mysterious excitement. Luo Xiaofeng nodded fiercely. “I’m sure their hideout is beneath that Illusion Cliff. No wonder they can hide so mysteriously. No one truly dares to go there. Let’s go to the other side immediately.”

“It seems the biggest secret of Illusion Cliff is not causing mental disorientation, but rather concealing unspeakable secrets. It’s very likely an important base. So, they artificially created radiation devices or other things that cause hallucinations, so no one would dare to enter. No more talk, let’s get on the boat.”

As they had just steadied themselves on the boat, and Guangming had secured the oars, when they had rowed about ten meters from the shore, Chi Ziming suddenly gasped loudly, “Departed Soul Flowers!”

These three words startled them all. They had all witnessed that terrifying power, capable of killing a living person. Chi Ziming suddenly remembered the dream he had before coming here; it could also dissolve corpses. No, this was too terrifying, but it was just a dream.

The Departed Soul Flowers, at some unknown time, had silently emerged from beneath the water in the distance and were rapidly spreading towards them. In a short while, the river surface was a crimson expanse. Guangming drew his gun and fired a few shots at them, but the bullets had no effect. Chi Ziming shouted, “Quick, row back to the island!”

Guangming quickly turned the boat. At this moment, he was drenched in cold sweat. Chi Ziming grabbed an oar, and the two of them, working together, rowed straight towards the shore. Luo Xiaofeng watched the Departed Soul Flowers coming straight towards them, her heart racing with anxiety, but she couldn’t do anything, only watch. As she saw the flowers climbing onto the boat, a wave of desperate sadness surged through her heart.

At this moment, Chi Ziming grabbed her hand. “Run!” By now, they were in the shallow water. The three jumped off the boat and ran. When they reached the shore, they looked back and saw that the boat had been swallowed by the endlessly emerging Departed Soul Flowers, and the entire sea surface was an infinitely red sea of flowers. Heaven, this is truly similar to the scene in my dream!

Chi Ziming stared dumbfounded, while Guangming and Luo Xiaofeng stood equally stunned. This scene was truly beautiful, a beauty only seen in Miyazaki’s fairy tales: a clear blue sky, white clouds, and beneath it, a thick layer of continuously emerging, dazzlingly red, delicate flowers.

But for Chi Ziming, there was no beauty left in this scene. He had already seen such a scene in his dream. Most importantly, he saw that the flowers had already climbed onto the beach. Heaven, it’s too crazy, too terrifying! He shouted, “Run! Don’t just stand there!”

Guangming and Luo Xiaofeng only then came to their senses. It turned out this catastrophe was far from over, and it was following them closely like a devil.

The three ran frantically. They didn’t know where to escape. The dense layers of withered grass and newly grown small grass, the trees, tree after tree—there was no hiding place for them anywhere. And the seemingly chaotic rocks offered no suitable cave entrance for them to hide in.

This flower, rather than being a plant, was more appropriately an animal. It could writhe, it could secrete a highly digestive mucus, like the sea lilies at the bottom of the ocean. They looked like beautiful lilies, but in fact, they were marine echinoderms. Moreover, they had a long history; sea lilies can be traced back to the early Ordovician period, approximately 480 million years ago. Although the Departed Soul Flower has no recorded history and cannot even be classified as a plant or animal, or what type of plant or animal, it is clearly a mutated organism. However, cellular analysis shows it also has a history of hundreds of millions of years.

Chi Ziming’s mind was constantly flashing with this information as he ran. He was thinking about how to avoid or destroy this terrifying thing. Was there truly no other way besides running? Or would they just be consumed by it?

When they climbed to the highest peak and looked around, the flowers in the sea were no longer visible. Now, the small island beneath their feet was covered with blood-red Departed Soul Flowers. Such a scene was too terrifying.

What to do? What to do?

Luo Xiaofeng sighed deeply. “It seems we can’t escape now. We’ll soon become their food.”

Seeing the Departed Soul Flowers surge up like a flood, Guangming and Chi Ziming grew anxious. They picked up nearby rocks and rolled them down. This crude method worked temporarily; some flowers were indeed smashed into a “bloody” mess and recoiled. However, there were too few rocks and too many flowers. Soon, all the movable rocks nearby were pushed down, but there were still many Departed Soul Flowers writhing below, surging forward relentlessly. Before long, they would climb up again.

Luo Xiaofeng sighed to the heavens again. “My only hope now is for an airplane to appear in the sky and save us from this desperate situation…”

Her words were not yet finished, her mouth not yet closed, when her eyes stared straight at the sky. She saw many birds appear on the distant horizon, flying towards them. When she could identify what kind of birds they were, she screamed and almost fainted.

Carrion vultures, deserving to be cut into a thousand pieces.

Guangming also collapsed, landing squarely on the ground. “It’s over. It seems fate truly intends for me to die, and I have no choice but to die.” Yes, with carrion vultures attacking from above, and terrifying Departed Soul Flowers below with their eager mouths, everyone felt despair now.

There were more than a dozen carrion vultures, and each one was exceptionally large, circling overhead, a dense black mass, simply obscuring the sky and earth. Guangming held his gun, but he no longer had the inclination to fire bullets. Even if he killed them, the Departed Soul Flowers would quickly climb up.

However, they merely circled above, not attacking them. One of them released its claws, dropping a bundle of something. For a moment, they all thought it was going to drop bombs, but there was no movement. Meanwhile, the Departed Soul Flowers were about to surround them. Luo Xiaofeng said nothing, picked up the bundle of paper, and saw a few crooked words written on it: “My dear great-niece, grab the big birds’ feet; they will take you out.”

She screamed, “They’ve come to save us! Quick, grab their feet, one with each hand!” She desperately waved at the carrion vultures. It was the first time she found them so endearing. This was their only way out. Not being endearing, not desperately trying to curry favor, wasn’t an option anymore. The Departed Soul Flowers were already climbing onto her feet. At this moment, the vultures flew over unhesitatingly. Luo Xiaofeng grabbed one, and another vulture came closer. She freed one hand and grabbed the other. This way, the two vultures could easily carry her into the sky. Meanwhile, Guangming and Chi Ziming each grabbed one as well. However, Chi Ziming’s foot was already entangled by the Departed Soul Flowers. He freed one hand and, with decisive action, took off that shoe. The shoe and the flower fell into the sea of flowers.

Then, each person holding two vultures, these vultures looked as if they had undergone rigorous training. Their intelligence was truly high; they cooperated very steadily, one supporting the other while carrying a person. They were carried into the sky by the vultures, their hearts still very nervous, afraid of being dropped by them. Guangming, however, felt ashamed remembering how he had once harmed them. If they knew he had harmed their relatives or companions, he wondered if they would tear him in half, or simply drop him, smashing him into a meat patty, with not a single intact bone.

Looking back at the entire small island swallowed by the Departed Soul Flowers, they were truly shaken, but they knew that their perilous journey was far from over. Swaying beneath the vultures, they were truly afraid of accidentally falling and didn’t know where they would be taken.