Chapter 533 Psychic Communication
I glanced at the remains of the corpse on the ground, then at the small bowl that had made the declaration, and before she could even make a move, I realized what she was planning to do.
She was probably trying to communicate with the deceased.
According to Luo Shan's records, the divine children who possess the correct alignment of heaven and earth have been ultimate spiritual mediums since the ancient tribal era. They communicate with the spirits of all things in nature, including the spirits of ancient ancestors. In other words, they can converse with the dead.
This explains why Xiaowan was able to gather so much information. In the apocalypse, the number of dead far outweighs the number of living, and the information that can be gleaned from the dead is far greater than what can be obtained from the living. If Xiaowan had the patience, she could easily gather far more information than just statistical data on birth rates and child development in the apocalypse; the information she couldn't obtain through this method would be a minority.
But then I realized something was wrong.
The primary prerequisite for the divine child to communicate with the dead is that the world of the living and the world of the dead must maintain contact. However, after the connection between the two was severed at the end of the Qing Dynasty, communicating with the dead became something that even a great impermanence like Mingzhuo could not accomplish, no matter how hard he tried.
The second major premise is that there must be a "soul to be communicated with." This should be easy to understand; if the person killed not only dies physically but also has their soul destroyed, then there is no way to communicate with the spirit of the dead.
In this apocalyptic world, most humans die at the hands of strange beings, often involving the destruction of their souls. Therefore, even if this apocalyptic world truly is an afterlife, communication with the dead is impossible.
And judging from my perception, these corpses and remains on the ground were not only killed by humans, but also by Blessed monks—after all, at least half of them were the remains of survivors belonging to the Gospel House, and ordinary survivors really couldn't have eliminated them here.
Dying from magic is entirely different from dying from ordinary weapons. Unless the user is a "newbie" like I used to be, magic inherently possesses the power to destroy the soul. When two witchers fight, the loser usually suffers complete annihilation, both body and soul.
These corpses and remains on the ground are this type of debris, that's what my gut feeling tells me.
How is Xiaowan going to communicate with the deceased here? Or is my assumption wrong, and she's not actually trying to communicate with the deceased?
Then, something incredible happened right before my eyes.
Xiao Wan took a deep breath, then stretched out her palm and aimed it at the remains of the corpse on the ground. White light appeared out of thin air in front of her, then coalesced into the shape of a human.
This white light had a strange fluctuation; it didn't seem like magic, but rather like a soul.
I was filled with astonishment and confusion—had the little bowl really summoned the soul of the deceased? How could that be? How could something that didn't even exist be summoned to your presence?
Did she summon something that didn't exist?
Although it might sound like a lame joke, looking at this white light that has coalesced into a human shape, I really feel like I've seen a ghost.
“Communicating with the dead—that’s how I gather 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 humanoid figure underwent further changes, with some areas darkening and others brightening. This contrast between light and shadow highlighted the details, revealing a strong man dressed in tactical clothing.
He had his eyes closed, but after his appearance became lifelike, he slowly opened them and revealed a bewildered expression.
"I...I should be dead..." he murmured in confusion.
“Yes, sir, whose name I don’t know, you are dead,” Xiao Wan said politely. “Who killed you?”
He frowned as if his thoughts had been interrupted, and glanced down at the small bowl.
Just when I thought he was going to ask who Xiaowan was, he answered the question directly: "...It's the Gospel Academy. They discovered that we met with the Tai Sui Army here and secretly provided supplies and intelligence support. Then they sent a force to wipe us out along with the Tai Sui Army."
"The Tai Sui Army..." Xiao Wan glanced at the other corpses and remains on the ground, "Is this part of the remains?"
“Yes.” The strong male’s soul nodded.
His mental state seemed off.
He appeared lucid and articulate, yet he answered every question posed by the stranger, Xiao Wan, almost as if he were sleepwalking. Was he so obedient because Xiao Wan was the summoner?
Considering the information Xiaowan had previously revealed, it seems plausible. Even if Xiaowan could summon the spirits of the dead, there's no reason for a stranger's soul to provide information to her. Given the psychology of survivors in the apocalypse, they might even perceive Xiaowan as a "necromancer" capturing their souls to use them for evil purposes—no, in that case, they might actually become completely subservient?
Next, Xiao Wan got to the core issue.
"Can you tell me where the Tai Sui Army's stronghold is?" she asked.
“I don’t know…” said the strong male’s soul, “but the Tai Sui Army should know.”
Xiao Wan looked again at the corpses and remains of the Tai Sui army, then made a gesture. A white light rose up there, and the light coalesced into yet another soul.
I gradually noticed that Xiao Wan's attitude was somewhat tense, both towards the soul of the strong male and towards this newly appeared soul.
"When the Gospel House forces were eliminating you, they must have tried to capture some of your people alive and extract secret information and clues related to the location of the Tai Sui Army's stronghold, right?" Xiao Wan asked carefully. "Did you tell them?"
The new soul was also male. He seemed to automatically enter the conversational atmosphere, shaking his head and replying, "...No. After realizing that we couldn't fight back or escape, the rest of us committed suicide."
"Then, sir, whose name I do not know, could you tell me the route to the Tai Sui Army's stronghold?" Xiao Wan asked.
Upon hearing this, the soul readily nodded, "Okay..."
He raised his right hand, and white light rose up, transforming into a pattern composed of countless lines. It was a doomsday map similar to the cartographer's map. He had handed over such confidential information without hesitation. In the field of intelligence work, Xiao Wan's ability was practically cheating.
Xiao Wan touched her body, seemingly trying to find her recording tools, but couldn't. I took out the cartographer's diary and a pen and handed them to her. She thanked me quickly and then wrote down the doomsday map on a blank page.
As if just in case, she asked again, "Gentlemen, you must have been dead for quite some time now, and the Tai Sui Army has always been in a state of constant flux. Is this stronghold still operating?"
"As long as you follow the route on this map, you won't miss the time when the outpost is still operating," said the soul that handed over the map.
"I see... Thank you both, you can go back to sleep now." The small bowl was clearly implying that they should leave.
"..."
But they remained unmoved, showing no intention of retreating.
The two white souls simply stood quietly before us, their gazes fixed on the small bowl.
"Inviting a spirit is easy, but sending it away is difficult"—this proverb came to mind. It's a common saying in many rituals involving spirit possession, including the well-known urban legend of the "Ouija board." If the ritual steps are wrong, or simply due to bad luck, the summoned spirit can go out of control, transforming into a terrifying evil spirit that harms the practitioner.
The two white souls before us are not even normal souls, because they should have already been scattered. In other words, those who appear here now are likely not the dead corresponding to the corpses and remains on the ground, but rather other inexplicable and unknown entities that have taken the place of the dead.
I was ready to make my move, but the two white souls didn't even glance at me, staring blankly at the small bowl.
"Don't you have any other questions?" they asked in unison.
(End of this chapter)
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