From the end of the world

Chapter 533: Psychic Unknown
I took one look at the remains of the body on the ground, then at the small bowl that made the declaration. Before she could make any move, I realized what she was going to do.

She was probably trying to communicate with the dead.

According to Luo Shan's information, the Son of God, who possesses the right position of heaven and earth, has been the ultimate medium since the ancient tribal period. The objects of their communication are the spirits of all things in nature, including the spirits of ancient ancestors. In other words, they can communicate with the dead.

This also explains why Xiaowan was able to collect so much intelligence. In the apocalyptic era, the number of dead people is much greater than the number of living people, and the things that can be learned from the dead are definitely much more than those learned from the living. As long as Xiaowan has the patience, let alone statistics on the birth rate and growth case data of the apocalyptic era, the intelligence that cannot be learned by this method is only a small number.

But on second thought, I realized something was wrong.

The first prerequisite for the Son of God to communicate with the dead is that the world of the living and the world after death still maintain contact. When the two were disconnected at the end of the Qing Dynasty, communicating with the dead became something that even a great impermanence like Mingzhuo could not do no matter how hard he tried.

The second premise is that there must be a "soul to be communicated with". This should be very easy to understand. If the person who was killed not only died physically, but also his soul was destroyed, then there would be no such thing as communicating with the spirit of the dead.

In the apocalypse, most people died at the hands of monsters, and this kind of death often involves the destruction of the soul. Therefore, even if this apocalypse is really the afterlife, there is no way to communicate with the dead here.

And judging from my perception, these corpses on the ground were not only killed by humans, but also by blessed monks - after all, at least half of them are the corpses of the survivors team belonging to the Gospel Institute, and ordinary survivors really have no way to eliminate them here.

Death by mana is different from death by ordinary swords and guns. Unless the user is a "rookie" like me in the past, mana basically has the power to kill the soul. When two demon hunters fight, the loser usually ends up being annihilated.

My intuition tells me that the remains of corpses on the ground are of this type.

How is Xiaowan going to communicate with the dead here? Or is my guess wrong and she is not trying to communicate with the dead?
Then, something incredible happened in front of me.

Xiaowan took a deep breath, then stretched out her hand and pointed it at the remains of the body on the ground. A white light appeared out of thin air in front of her, and then gathered into the shape of a person.

This white light has a strange fluctuation, it doesn't seem like magic power, but rather like a soul.

I couldn't help but feel stunned and bewildered - did Xiaowan really summon the soul of the dead? How is it possible? How can I summon something that doesn't exist to my presence?
She summoned something that didn't exist?

Although it may sound like a joke, but looking at this white light that has gathered into a human shape, I really feel like I've seen a ghost.

"Communicating with the dead - this is how I collect intelligence." Xiaowan explained with a strange expression.

"Hmm..." For a moment I didn't know whether to say it was expected or unexpected.

The white light figure changed further, becoming darker in some places and brighter in others. The contrast between light and dark outlined the details, revealing a strong man in tactical clothing.

He had his eyes closed at first, but after his appearance became lifelike, he slowly opened his eyes and revealed a dazed expression.

"I...should be dead..." he muttered in confusion.

"Yes, Mr. Unknown's name, you are dead." Xiaowan said politely, "Who killed you?"

He frowned as if his thoughts were interrupted, and looked down at the small bowl.

Just when I thought he was going to ask who Xiaowan was, he answered the question directly: "…It was the Gospel Institute. They found out that we were meeting with the Tai Sui Army here and secretly provided us with supplies and intelligence support. Then they sent out a force to eliminate us and the Tai Sui Army together."

"The Tai Sui Army..." Xiao Wan glanced at the other remains of the corpses on the ground, "Is it this part of the remains?"

"Yes." The strong male soul nodded. His mental state seemed to be a little off.

He seemed to be conscious and articulate, but in fact he answered all the questions of Xiaowan, a stranger, like a sleepwalker. Was he so obedient because Xiaowan was the summoner?
Combined with the information Xiaowan revealed before, it seems to make sense. Even if Xiaowan can summon the dead, the souls of strangers don't need to provide information to Xiaowan. From the perspective of the survivors of the apocalypse, they might think that Xiaowan is a "necromancer" who captures their souls and wants to use them for evil purposes - no, in that case, they might become obedient?

Then, Xiaowan got to the core of the issue.

"Can you tell me where the Tai Sui Army's base is?" she asked.

"I don't know..." said the strong male soul, "but the Tai Sui Army should know."

Xiao Wan looked at the remains of the Tai Sui army again, and then made a gesture. A white light rose up there again, and the light gathered into another soul.

I slowly noticed that Xiaowan's attitude towards both the strong male soul and this newly emerged soul was a little tense.

"When the Gospel Academy's team was trying to eliminate you, they must have tried to capture your people alive and torture them for secret information and clues related to the location of the Tai Sui Army's base, right?" Xiao Wan asked carefully, "Did you tell them?"

The new soul was also a man. He seemed to have automatically entered the atmosphere of the conversation and shook his head and replied, "...No. After confirming that we were unable to fight or escape, the rest of us committed suicide."

"Well, sir whose name I don't know, can you tell me the route to the Tai Sui Army's base?" Xiaowan said.

Hearing this, the soul nodded happily, "Okay..."

He raised his right hand, and white light rose up, turning into a pattern composed of countless lines. This was a doomsday map similar to the cartographer's map. He handed over such secret information without hesitation. In the field of intelligence work, Xiaowan's ability was simply cheating.

Xiaowan touched her body, as if trying to find a recording tool, but couldn't find one. I took out the cartographer's diary and a fountain pen and handed them to her. She thanked me quickly and wrote down the doomsday map on a blank page.

As if to be on the safe side, she asked again, "Gentlemen, you should have been dead for a long time, and the Tai Sui Army has been in a state of displacement. Is this base still in operation now?"

“As long as you follow the route on this map, you won’t miss the time when the base is still in operation.” said the soul who handed over the map.

"I see... Thank you both, you can go back to sleep." Xiaowan was obviously hinting that they should leave.

"..."

But they remained indifferent and had no intention of retreating.

The two white souls just stood quietly in front of us, their eyes fixed on Xiaowan.

It is easier to invite a spirit than to send it away - this proverb came to my mind. There are related sayings in many rituals involving the descent of spirits, including the well-known urban legend "Pen Fairy". If the steps of the ritual are wrong, or if it is just bad luck, the descended soul will lose control and turn into a terrifying evil spirit, causing harm to the practitioner himself.

The two white souls in front of him were not even normal souls, because they had already been scattered. In other words, they who appeared here now were probably not the dead corresponding to the remains of the corpses on the ground, but other unknown things that replaced the identities of the dead and appeared for no apparent reason.

I was ready to attack, but the two white souls didn't even look at me, staring at the small bowl expressionlessly.

"No more questions?" they asked in unison.

(End of this chapter)