Soul Trigger

Chapter 612 Scarecrow

Why are you suddenly interested in the town's history? Is there... a secret behind it?

Anya Foster's voice betrayed her excitement.

After surviving the underground castle, she was in a state of excitement due to her first encounter with the spiritual event and seeing another side of the world.

But she couldn't share these with others, so she could only stay at home and surf the internet, watching various mysterious urban legends on short video websites.

At this moment, a phone call from Ji Li ignited her curiosity.

"There is indeed a secret. We have school tomorrow, right?"

Anya understood what he meant:
"Then tell me tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow."

Ji Li hung up the phone.

If the spiritual place is located at Yuk High School, then the help of the locals will definitely be needed.

With a town mayor as her father, and Anya, who also attends Yuk High School, would be a good guide, Ji Li didn't refuse her.

Why do you want to find that wheat field?

Clementine, who had been floating to the side, stared intently at Ji Li.

Ji Li glanced at her: "There's nothing to hide from you. There are some of my secrets hidden in that wheat field."

Clementine shrank back:
"As an immortal being, would you hide your secrets in such a small place?"

Ji Li stepped forward, and as she dodged, grabbed her chin and pulled her closer:

"Now that you know I'm an immortal, your service attitude is rather lacking. For example, could you at least tell me where you were wandering around just now?"

Clementine dared not move and spoke the truth:

“I want to go back to the seminary one more time; the children I used to take care of are there…”

There are two schools in the town: Yuk High School and a seminary.

The biggest difference between the two is that the latter is not only a church school, but also a welfare institution.

The town was under the jurisdiction of the Ludwig family, who were not religious.

Most of the students in this church school do not come from normal families; many are directly recruited from welfare institutions.

In order to advance to higher education, senior students in the school need to participate in social practice, so they go directly to the seminary's welfare home to help out.

"Have you seen it?"

"I didn't see it... Today is the priest's funeral."

"You know that's not what I'm asking." Ji Li pinched her cheek, his gaze mocking:

"How could someone as useless as your teacher possibly influence the Crimson Ritual? There are others behind you."

So here's the question: did you actually go to find the secret society behind you, or did you become possessed by the nanny and genuinely want to see the children you're taking care of?

Clementine's eyes flickered:
"you……"

"Whether it's you or the organization behind you, you're just a small dessert to me. You're not that important."

I have no interest in coercing or bribing you, because you are not that valuable.

You said you wanted to go to the Tower of Babel. Whether what you said is true or not, if you want to achieve your goal, you'd better not lie to me.

If everything goes well, I can point you to a clear path to regain your human form.

But before that, you'd better have at least a basic level of trust in me.

"……I see."

Clementine's neck throbbed:

"The seminary is very clean. Apart from Father Kelton, there are no other Awakened Ones. There is indeed a secret society behind him that you mentioned, but apart from the name 'Scarecrow,' I don't know the specifics."

Most of the time, he would go out alone without telling us…

"Besides these, are there any other Awakened Ones in town?"

"As far as I know, no... I absolutely did not lie!"

Scarecrow...sounds like some obscure, low-level group.

Ji Li looked at Clementine, about to speak, when a horn sounded behind him. Administrator Chuck drove by in his pickup truck, staring at Ji Li with a strange look.

"Child, what are you doing?"

Ji Li released Clementine, whom they couldn't see, and reached his hand across her cheek to touch the windowpane of the building behind them.
"I saw a bug."

He wiped his hands:
"Speaking of which, could you give me a ride? The sun is really strong, and I don't want to be in the sun."

"Ha, so what kind of bugs are you playing with here? Get in the car."

Ji Li glanced at Clementine, opened the car door, and got in.

"I'll walk you home?"

Ji Li said, "No, I'm going to school..."

He stopped abruptly and gripped his wrist.

Clementine, who had slipped through the car door, also sensed something and noticed the glowing spiritual circuits on his wrist.

Pulitzer?

"Take me home."

Ji Li changed his itinerary.

After returning home, watching Chuck's pickup truck disappear into the distance, Ji Li led Clementine back to the cross.

"What happened?"

“Someone has touched the spiritual circuits I left in the underground castle.”

Clementine shifted uncomfortably:

"I don't want to go back to the cross..."

Then Ji Li's hand appeared on her shoulder:
"Then get ready."

The next moment, her spiritual energy collapsed, and everything before her eyes suddenly changed color, turning into a hazy mist. She had already been pulled by Ji Li into the world of reflections, and her pupils shrank sharply—a passage without a passage?!
According to the basic theory of the three dimensions, unless one has special spiritual core abilities, entering this place requires a mirror as a medium.

The immortals... do they possess such power?
In the mist-shrouded town of Red Maple, the surrounding scenery rapidly receded into the distance. Clementine suppressed the shock in his heart, feeling a sense of powerlessness and growing unease.

She had never encountered an immortal; the most powerful being she had ever met was the mad disciple who had raised her with bloodshed.

What Ji Li just said was the truth, but to the young and sensitive Clementine, it sounded like a devil's coercion.

After going to church and attempting suicide due to the rules, she calmed down and is now increasingly fearful.

Betrayed by the beloved priest, after waking up, he became a resting place object, and was arbitrarily held and ordered around. If he resisted, he would die, but he could not die. He could only be a slave and was bound by the cross.

Like an ant being pinched by fingers, you could be torn apart in the next moment, with no free will or room for resistance...

"Concentrate, your spiritual energy is disordered."

The sudden words made Clementine shudder, her body stiffening, and she shook her head violently.

"……it is good."

Even the fluctuations in spiritual energy are completely monitored!

Clementine looked at the cross wrapped around Ji Li's wrist, which was very close to hers.

Suddenly, a thought popped into my mind:

I should have taken this opportunity to ambush him, grabbed the cross, and escaped...

But just as the thought crossed her mind, she met Ji Li's gaze:

"Trying to backstab me?"

That thought vanished instantly, and Clementine shook her head repeatedly, the nun's veil whistling in the strong wind.

Ji Li glanced at his wrist, put the inverted cross back into his dragon ring, and gradually slowed down until he stopped.

"arrive."

At this moment, in the deepest part of the underground castle within the jungle mansion, a middle-aged man dressed in black is searching around.

He had curly hair, sparse stubble, and wore a patched smock.
"No trace left, not even the spiritual aura has completely dissipated... Could it be that the patrolling knights have already been here?"

He quickly dismissed this possibility:

"No, it shouldn't be. These knights usually get involved through the town mayor's or police station's systems; it's impossible for them to do it silently."

"In other words, Kelton really got himself into trouble... What an idiot."

But just in case, let's give it a try...

After standing still for a moment, he closed his eyes and recited in a strange tone:

"Under the stones where the red leaves lie."

We buried the truth where roots won't pry.
Oak binds the tongue, ivy seals the eye—

What sleeps in Maple Town shall never die……

The words echoed in the church, pulsating with spiritual energy, but eventually dissipated.

This made him sigh deeply.

"Not here, this place is just an accident caused by outsiders..."

He withdrew his spiritual essence and hurriedly left the underground church.

A few breaths later, the figure of [Sir Death] appeared from behind the church pillar:

"You know him?"

"He's the cemetery keeper in town... He's actually an Awakened One?" Clementine's pale face showed some surprise:
"Is he the person the teacher used to meet with all the time...?"

Ji Li took a step:

"Follow."

Ji Li secretly followed the tomb keeper out of the underground castle. The keeper found a clear puddle nearby and jumped into it, entering the world of reflections. He seemed to be an experienced person.

Ji Li naturally followed closely behind, tracking them all the way.

Because of the unique spiritual environment of White Island, the safety level of the Reflection World far exceeds that of Sinra or even Shulong. Apart from the thick fog and the strange noises around, there is no evil spirit at all.

Perhaps that's why the awakened ones on White Island prefer to travel through the Reflection World?

What was he reciting just now?

Clementine said:
"It's a nursery rhyme from the town. I've never heard of it before, but the children at the orphanage like to sing it..."

Ji Li memorized the nursery rhyme, and soon he discovered that the direction the other party was heading was somewhat unexpected.

As he followed the other person back to the present world, he saw a manor-like building in the distance:
Yuk Museum Center High School.

Although most town schools have facilities that are no worse than those of city schools, and are even larger in scale due to the vastness of the land and the sparse population.

But this school is indeed a bit too beautiful.

Clementine explained this by saying:
"The new Yuk High School was formed by merging and renovating the town museum. It also has an old campus right next to it."

"So the wheat field used to be in the old campus?"

Ji Li watched as the gravedigger walked towards the old campus, his eyes narrowing.

The buildings in the old campus are older and lack the strong cultural atmosphere of the current Yuk School. Some buildings are still in use.

The gravedigger then slipped into the indoor basketball court of the old campus and began reciting nursery rhymes again in the empty space.

After he finished reading it, he went to several other places and read it again in each place.

Finally, he finished reciting the nursery rhyme in a classroom and let out a long sigh of relief:

"Still no good... It seems that the underground castle has nothing to do with 'Avalon' at all, it's something else. We need to keep searching..."

He pulled a sharp piece of beast bone from his pocket. As the energy within the bone vibrated, a wisp of spiritual energy spread outwards, seemingly touching something in an instant.

This made his eyes widen:
"who……"

A cane whistled through the air and struck the back of his head, causing the gravedigger to fall to the ground with a thud.

(End of this chapter)