Is this what plunges ghosts into the abyss?
Anna carefully analyzed the sensation. Perhaps it was because her power had never depended on killing, or perhaps because of a more important attachnt she held in her heart, but it failed to pull her into the abyss born of satisfaction.
Anna was unshakable in this conviction.
The old man's body had begun to cool. Even if she did nothing, it would be as cold as the walls in two or three hours.
What would Lu Li do?
Anna wondered.
A mont later, a floor slab in the basent lifted. An invisible hand dug a crude grave in the damp earth, lowered the old man into it, and covered him with soil.
Robbie Rudnev, who had spent his entire life beside printing presses, was now buried beneath them.
When she was finished, Anna suppressed the discomfort of her newly lost sensations and silently resud printing the leaflets.
An unfolded newspaper was about eighteen inches wide, or even larger. After printing a leaflet the size of two palms, there was still plenty of empty space.
Anna then carved the printing plate twice more in the empty sections, so that each newspaper sheet now held three identical fragnts.
When the stack of leaflets grew tall enough, Anna's invisible blade sliced through it, tripling the quantity in an instant.
Anna didn't count how many she printed, but after an hour, the leaflets occupied nearly half the basent.
That was enough.
Gathering all the leaflets and the unopened bucket of paint, Anna ascended to a height of several hundred ters above Belfast.
She flew over the city center, closer to the southern district, and began scattering the leaflets.
Rare snowflakes began to swirl over the gloomy city of Belfast.
But these were larger and more conspicuous than snow.
After circling for a while, Anna had scattered tens of thousands of leaflets. She then headed toward Oak Street and poured the remaining paint onto the cobblestones, creating a huge black arrow pointing toward the Oak Grove.
Once she was done, Anna didn't fly away. Instead, she concealed herself in the business district, watching intently.
The leaflets hadn't scattered too densely—half of them settled on rooftops, and many were soaked in puddles, but that didn't matter.
A thin hand snaked out of a pipe, snatched a newspaper stuck to it, and vanished back into the darkness.
A branch stretched up from a sewer grate, plucking a damp newspaper.
A leaflet stuck to a shop window passed silently through the glass and floated into the unlit depths beyond.
On the roof of a small wooden house, a bloody eye grew beneath a newspaper.
A little girl humming a tune wandered down the street, bent down, and picked up a newspaper that now bore the tiny print of her shoe.
The plan had worked.
They were reading the leaflets.
Unless they were cowards, they couldn't possibly pass up the chance to deal with those "daring" heretics.
Anna vanished without a trace, flickering between the In-Between and reality, erasing any possible trail.
Ten minutes later, Anna returned to the cliff and imdiately sensed an unusual atmosphere.
Although it was now difficult to find a place safer than the cliff, aside from the Lennon Archipelago, its proximity to the ruins of Belfast, the influence of the black sun over the deep sea, and the fact that everyone except Lu Li was already dying, made the cliff a place where laughter was rarely heard.
There was no laughter now, either, but everyone seed calr and more joyful.
Jimmy, with his monstrous body, lay on the loose soil where crops once grew, breathing in the sea breeze. Remi softly humd a lody as she examined Anna's leaves. Only Adamfiya sat by the hut door, crying quietly, but her face held more joy than sorrow.
Remi was the first to notice Anna's return and, as if guessing her confusion, explained, "Your beloved has beco the richest man in the world. Do you have any good news?"
She didn't tell Anna what had happened—that was for Lu Li to do.
Anna seed to be swayed by the general mood, her coldness lting slightly. "Tens of thousands of leaflets have been scattered across half of Belfast."
"A brilliant plan and execution," Remi couldn't help but repeat her praise. "This will not only foil those fellows' plans to take over Belfast but also reduce the number of anomalies. But be careful of revenge from the evil god behind the heretics."
However, this ti it wasn't a manuscript, so tracing it back to the source would be difficult.
"What is Lu Li doing?"
"He seems to be asuring the cave," Remi replied, slightly surprised that Anna was asking her instead of just going inside.
Anna was worried Lu Li would find out about Robbie Rudnev, even though there was no way he could know.
The rich emotions bestowed by her recent possession of a body had not yet completely faded. With a sense of trepidation, Anna entered the cave. Lu Li was not asuring the cave. He was sitting in a chair by the fireplace, silently flipping through a book by the light of the fire and an oil lamp.
For so reason, Anna suddenly felt the urge to sneak up behind Lu Li and cover his eyes. And so she did.
"Guess who?" an ethereal white palm covered Lu Li's eyes. Thanks to the power enveloping her ghostly form, it didn't pass through his eyes and head as it once would have.
"Jimmy," Lu Li guessed calmly.
"Hmm?" Jimmy, who was leaning against his monstrous twin on the loose soil, turned in confusion, feeling as if soone had called his na.
"You guessed wrong," Anna said softly, removing her hands, her expression softening.
Lu Li closed the book he had just started reading, "The Voice of Grief," and turned to Anna. "So, how did it go?"
Anna repeated what she had told Remi and then asked, "Remi and the others are so happy, and they said you've beco the richest man. What happened?"
For a fleeting mont, Anna thought, "Lu Li beca the richest because I am his most precious treasure," but that clearly didn't fit his character.
"Deep Sea Stone is very expensive, and the Ghost Prison now belongs to us," Lu Li explained, telling Anna what had transpired on the cliff in her absence.
"No wonder Adamfiya is crying."
Her longing for her husband, coupled with the unexpected news, had sent her emotions spiraling out of control.
As for the problem with the "Door"... they could only hope a solution would be found.
There were three hours left until dark. From ti to ti, Lu Li would step out of the cave and peer through his binoculars at the other side of Belfast. But it was too far away to see anything.
As night fell, Jimmy, his sister, Adamfiya, Amper, and the children returned to the cave to protect Lu Li in case so foolish anomaly lost its way and wandered into the Oak Grove.
It was a sha the Deep Sea Stone wouldn't arrive until tomorrow; otherwise, they would all feel much more at ease.
The quiet night lasted only a few hours. At ten o'clock, a horrifying wail of many voices suddenly erupted over Sugard Mountain.
The wailing sotis sounded distant, then seed to be right outside the cave. The sounds shifted, and at one point, echoed right at the entrance to the shelter, in front of Jimmy and Amper.
The children, terrified, threw themselves into Amper's arms. Jimmy hid behind his monstrous twin, and Lu Li was already reaching for The Atonent.
Suddenly, Anna's aura spread out, enveloping the shelter and the cave. The wailing echoed within the cave, then gradually faded and never ca so close again.
It wasn't until midnight that the crying finally ceased, and silence fell outside.
The residents of the Oak Grove didn't sleep a wink all night.
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