The residents of the small town had clearly also prepared to join the ranks of the scavengers — or rather, that was precisely why they had settled here in the first place.
At the same time, they were decidedly unfriendly toward the outsiders in the inn, casting cold, glancing looks their way from time to time, evidently treating them as prey as well.
Compared to the townspeople, who far outnumbered them, the adventurers and mercenaries — few in number and lacking any real cohesion — gripped their machetes and long swords tighter and huddled together.
Even though they all knew the townsfolk meant them no goodwill, these fellow outsiders still gave them more comfort than the sea of hostile faces beyond the inn's walls.
Fortunately, before the Spirit Tide began, the two groups merely glared at each other without escalating into any real confrontation.
It was at that moment that a strange wave of fluctuation rippled outward, sending a chill through everyone's bodies.
As for Leilin and the other wizards, the sensation was far more pronounced.
"It's starting…" Leilin gazed up at the moon, which now wore a faint halo of light.
Through the Chip's detection, he could see that a frigid, yin-type energy was surging rapidly in the surrounding air. Even this small patch of land above the town was enveloped by a boundary barrier resembling a domain.
"A Morning Star Domain? No — its essence is still a step below that. At best, it's a pseudo-domain produced by Third-rank Wizards!"
The moment this barrier manifested, Leilin's pupils contracted slightly — then he relaxed.
"Th-there it comes…" At that moment, a trembling voice rose, quivering with either excitement or fear.
Leilin looked toward the crowd and saw numerous streams of light, like shooting stars, converging into a brilliant river that flowed slowly past the outskirts of the town.
Each beam of light trailed luminous tassels across the sky, and with Leilin's keen eyesight, he could clearly make out the objects within.
A yellow leather shoe, its laces dangling loosely to one side, the toe polished to a brilliant shine. On either side, a pair of small, milky-white wings carried the shoe through the air.
Behind the shoe came a black walking stick, apparently carved from some kind of vine, with wings beneath its handle as well, carrying it aloft.
"What… what are these things…" Leilin's expression turned peculiar.
After that, he watched ragdolls, worn-out tables and chairs, display counters, flower vases, and other objects drift past.
"A grand collection of junk?" he muttered, somewhat speechless, but he still ordered the Chip to record the scene along with all the energy fluctuation monitoring data.
Once this river of discarded remnants had passed, Leilin could no longer keep a smile on his face.
Because behind the stream of light, a white line had appeared, flickering in and out of visibility, gradually drawing closer.
As it neared, he could see it was composed of countless blank-faced figures with long black hair, all dressed in plain white garments, drifting slowly along in the wake of the light.
Perhaps "walking" was not the right word, because beneath their feet hovered clouds of mist, and their entire bodies seemed to glide forward through the void.
Clack! Clack! The sound of teeth chattering rang out. The adventurers and mercenaries near Leilin had heard of this phenomenon before, but they were still terrified — their legs trembled, and even their jaws shook too hard to keep their teeth from clattering.
By contrast, the townspeople appeared to have experienced this before. Though their faces were still deathly pale, they managed to hold themselves together and keep from making a spectacle.
A dense mass of silhouettes converged into a vast torrent, surging past the edge of the town.
Leilin stood at the side, the Chip frantically recording data, while his expression grew solemn: "This many spirits… Something extremely significant must have happened nearby in the past, and it was almost certainly related to high-energy radiation…"
In fact, many of the anomalous phenomena across the Central Continent were caused by battles between high-level wizards or radiation contamination. These effects could persist for tens of thousands of years without fading, and instead continued expanding outward, encroaching on territory that had originally belonged to humanity.
As such, the study and prevention of this type of contamination remained a major research priority for many powerful factions.
The white phantoms — their faces belonging to men and women, old and young alike — were all expressionless, their long hair hanging loose, even covering their eyes, as they crept slowly in a single direction.
This eerie spectacle was enough to make even Leilin's scalp tingle.
The soul was already something fundamentally strange and subjective. If he wanted to learn more, he had no choice but to keep watching.
"Hm?"
Just then, the old wizard and his grandchild, whom Leilin had been observing with his spiritual power, also made a new move.
After seeing the vast tide of spirits, the old wizard's face clearly lit up with excitement. He pulled a yellowed notebook from inside his robe and compared it furiously with what he was seeing, then slipped quietly out of the town.
The other Second-rank wizards exchanged glances, each moving to occupy a different corner, and began pulling materials from their robes to set up some kind of arrangement.