Chapter 1 Imprint

A small knife carved from black bone lightly cuts across the rough bark, leaving inconspicuous lines on these lush, towering trees, then smears blood on them, infusing them with the power of spirit and blood. Each marking is smeared with blood three times, repeating this process...

Richard followed his memory, performing the operation of engraving the marks, using the bone knife in his hand to leave runes symbolizing the power of the Abyss on the trunks of trees in the forest, and smearing his blood on the runes. Then he raised his head and looked at Dumont, who was doing the same thing not far away.

He walked over, as if to greet him.

"The individual power of these marks is very weak," Dumont said casually when he saw Richard approaching, "but as long as there are enough of them, they will have enough influence on Sylandis."

"Not enough... far from enough..." Richard mumbled vaguely, his fingers unconsciously twirling the bone knife in his hand.

"The influence of these marks alone is indeed not enough, but once the process begins, it will accelerate. When Sylandis 'remembers' that day, it will be time to pick the fruit," Dumont laughed, seemingly full of confidence in the future. "Those 'missionaries' are unreliable, but at least this time, the information they provided has come in handy."

Richard didn't speak, but slowly raised his head, gazing fixedly at the big tree where Dumont had just left a mark, as if admiring the scenery. He looked so intently that Dumont also subconsciously raised his head, looking at the canopy above with suspicion.

"What are you looking at? Is there anything up there..."

Li Meme suddenly raised his arm, in a posture and angle that a human joint could never achieve—almost breaking his left arm into eight pieces, allowing his hand to bypass Richard's blind spot and stab the bone knife fiercely into the former's chest.

But the large knife used to perform the ritual cannot kill people; this strike only pierced the flesh.

He suddenly stopped.

Sylandis glanced at the girl, seeming to want to say something, but just as he was about to speak, a breeze suddenly blew across the Ashlands. In the dust that suddenly rose, he and Nina simultaneously saw a vague shadow flashing past not far ahead.

"... Cotton?" Richard repeated the inexplicable word blankly and unconsciously, "What nonsense are you talking about..."

"I saw it," Sylandis said before Nina could finish, his expression becoming somewhat serious, "It looks like an elf."

However, Li Fan'na nodded very seriously: "Yes, help him. His body is empty. I want to help him fill it with cotton, which will make him better."

"No problem, but we need to plan a bit. People without cotton are not rational. They may not know the importance of cotton—just like you just did. We need to carefully consider their attitude..."

Meme raised her head, looking at Li Fan'na standing opposite her with a somewhat subtle expression. He still remembered that his relationship with her was not very good, especially recently. Although it couldn't be said that there was much animosity, occasional friction did occur.

...

"This is even harder to walk than the forest outside," Nina couldn't help but mutter, "At least there are paths trodden by wild animals in the forest... Here, you can sink into the ashes everywhere with one foot."

The land covered with ashes and slag crunched underfoot, and always gave the illusion of sinking at any moment. The collapsed and broken branches and wreckage were intertwined, more obstructive than the bushes and vines in the forest.

Labi went hunting.

She supported herself on a charred branch next to her, took off her right shoe, and poured it out vigorously, pouring out several pieces of gravel and slag.

"Help you?" Richard was stunned. He looked at Li Fan'na opposite him as if he were looking at a madman, but at the same time, huge confusion emerged in his heart—because the ritual knife could not kill people, and the other party's sudden attack had only scratched him at best. This made him not know how to react for a while, only one thing was certain: Li Fan'na's state was not right!

After hesitating for a long time, Richard finally said awkwardly: "You are still quite nice."

"If Meme were here, she would have rushed straight in," Nina muttered, the thought of "brute force opening the way" emerging in her mind, "Those obstructing wreckage can't stop her punch."

"Yes, everyone needs cotton..." Richard was still a little unaccustomed to this new self. His expression was a little awkward when he spoke, but he strongly agreed with Li Fan'na's suggestion, "We can start with Shariel's group first—he is a hardworking liar."

He would never have thought that this guy would do such a thing to him.

"Yes, Labi also thinks they need to plan a bit..."

"The collapsed canopy is blocking the road to the Moris trunk... That's indeed a bit of a problem." Sylandis frowned, looking at the jagged, scorched white branches in the distance.

After hesitating slightly, Meme pulled open his collar and saw the small wound healing. Between the wriggling, contracting flesh, cotton was seeping into his body little by little.

He subconsciously scratched the itchy spot, then ignored the clearly abnormal Li Fan'na opposite him and looked down at his wound.

It was for this reason that he had asked her to be with him when he decided to act in groups—because he didn't want Li Meme to have any "small actions" out of his sight.

"Like the residents of Light Wind Harbor."

The blood had stopped flowing. On the clothes stained with some blood, one could vaguely see white flocculent matter—the flocculent matter was gradually increasing, as if... it was transformed from blood.

"We should also help other people," Li Fan'na said sincerely, "Everyone's body is empty, and we all need cotton."

Li Fan'na and Meme raised their heads in unison and looked at the misty path in the forest, then stepped out and walked towards the depths of this misty dream.

He felt like the place on his chest where he had just been stabbed was a little itchy.

While speaking, she lifted her foot from the ashes and slag, the dirty shoes making her frown.

The entangled Doom Bird and Abyssal Hound gradually stopped fighting. The dull and ignorant demons did not understand what hatred and anger were; the emotions and cognition of the symbiotes determined their behavior—as the bone wings gradually retracted, the two demons returned to their respective masters.

A sharp pain suddenly came from his chest. This sudden and inexplicable attack left Richard's mind blank for a moment, but he immediately reacted, slapping Li Fan'na's arm away and pressing down on the injured area with one hand while his body flashed back.

"Are you crazy?!" Richard widened his eyes, looking in shock at Li Fan'na, who was standing not far away with no expression on his face. "Are you trying to kill me?!"

Nina was stunned for a moment, then suddenly turned her head: "Mr. Sylandis, did you see that side just now..."

She was hesitating, not daring to draw a conclusion for a moment, but Sylandis nodded slightly—

"Dumont doesn't just have brute force," Sylandis couldn't help but say when he heard this, as a senior who had known Meme for a long time, "and even if it were me, I'm afraid I would also..."

"Actually, I can also..." Nina muttered softly.

That kind of slight itching quickly turned into a strange feeling that could not be ignored, as if something was growing there, wriggling there.

Nina and Sylandis walked with difficulty between the vast ruins, and after a while, they were still only active in its peripheral area.

"It doesn't look like 'Shirleen'..." Nina said uncertainly, "The dress looks like... looks like..."

"Then let's go." "Let's go." "Let's go."

It looked like a... elf standing blankly in the wind?

Pitch-black chains instantly appeared, and a hideous Abyssal Hound appeared behind Richard, but before the hound could react, the Doom Bird on Li Fan'na's shoulder swooped down, a pair of giant bone wings extending and deforming like shackles, instantly covering the hound's body. With the creaking, struggling, colliding, and friction of bones, the two demons were entangled together, and it was difficult to tell who was winning for a while.

After a moment, he shook his head: "Okay, not necessarily, maybe you really can."

"Moreover, I feel like we've just been circling around the edge of this scorched earth," she added, "Can we really find a way to enter the center of the wreckage like this?"

Faced with such a pile of "broken branches and fallen leaves," it was not realistic to open the way with brute force. The only way was to detour, various detours, or to risk drilling into the gaps between the branches, looking for the paths that had not been completely blocked by ashes.

He stopped halfway through his words, as if something was wrong.

Li Fan'na smiled, and in that instant, the insignificant rift between him and Richard was eliminated—@#￥% repaired the brotherly feelings between him and his compatriots.