Chapter 163: Soul Drifting |
"Ah—!" A sharp scream echoed through the air.
The voice of help suddenly became unbearable, and "Help me!" turned into an unconscious screech.
The pressure on his eardrums was so intense that Saul quickly stepped back a few paces.
The sudden shout abruptly ceased at that moment.
Saul looked up and realized that Lady Yura's face had disappeared, but he noticed something even more baffling.
His body had collapsed in front of him with a thud.
He looked down at his chest, and sure enough, the Soul Calling Lamp lit up again.
His soul had been forcefully ejected from his body by Lady Yura's scream.
Saul couldn’t help but rub his forehead. "So, how incompatible are my body and soul right now? I can’t even walk without falling, and a shout makes my soul slip out."
The image of the disfigured face he saw in the mirror earlier still haunted Saul.
"This situation is seriously affecting my daily life. I need to resolve this as soon as possible."
As for how to resolve it?
Saul glanced at the diary on his left shoulder. "Looks like I'll be relying on you again for a while."
The last time his soul left his body, Saul hadn’t figured out how far he could drift before he needed to return. He simply traced a circle around himself and returned to his body.
So this time, he decided to use the bathroom as his range, planning to walk a smaller circle.
As soon as Saul took a step, he immediately felt a pull from his body.
It turned out that in order to return to his body, he didn’t need to find the furthest distance. He just needed to complete the steps outlined in the erosion diagram.
However, after just two steps, Saul stopped, and the pull vanished.
"Maybe I can find a closer distance, the nearest distance."
Saul moved closer to his body, nearly touching it, and then tilted his body, trying to walk back in just two steps.
But this time, the pull from his fingertips didn’t appear.
"No good, could it be the distance is too close?"
Since he was in the relatively safe dorm, Saul started experimenting slowly, trying again and again.
Only by understanding his body’s situation could he avoid being caught off guard when real danger came.
He took a step back, and each time he retreated, he turned his body and started walking in a clockwise direction. If something felt wrong, he stopped and moved further away.
After a few steps, Saul was less than two meters away from his body.
This time, when he followed the erosion diagram’s movement again, he could feel the connection between himself and his body.
One, two, three, four, five—just as he was about to take the sixth step and return to his body, Saul hesitated.
"It's still early. Maybe I don’t need to rush back," Saul thought. "This is West Tower, the dorm area, so it’s relatively safe. I can still look for the furthest distance my soul can drift."
Starting from his body, Saul traced the invisible boundary of the arc, trying to find the maximum distance he could drift this time.
After just a few steps, he realized that the circle had expanded again.
"If this keeps up, maybe one day the circle will touch some forbidden area. Even if my soul doesn’t go that far, the field contamination could still harm me."
Lost in thought, Saul walked out of his dorm and into the next room.
There was no one living here. A single candle on the desk flickered, casting a dim light.
The room was empty, the atmosphere cold, like a quiet tomb with no human presence.
Saul continued walking, and as he turned into the hallway, he entered the next dorm.
The candlelight in this room shone brightly, and there was someone living here.
Saul stood in the corner of the dorm, looking up.
The layout was identical to his own dorm. There was barely any furniture, and even books and experimental supplies were scarce. It was as cold as a prison cell.
Across from Saul, there was a large bed, and a girl was curled up in the corner of the bed, her face streaked with tears, her body shaking with sobs.
It was Angela!
Saul hadn’t paid attention to when she advanced to Second Rank, nor did he know she lived right next door to him.
Suddenly, Angela looked up and whispered sharply, "Leave!"
Saul froze. Could Angela see him?
Before he could test further, Angela continued crying, "Get out of my body, you demon!"
After shouting, she buried her head in her knees and sobbed.
However, Angela’s left hand lifted, gently brushing through her hair, as though someone were standing beside her, comforting her sadness.
"Angela doesn’t see me, but is she experiencing a split personality, or is she being haunted by a spirit?"
Saul wasn’t interested in delving into Angela's secrets, nor did he intend to help her resolve her problems.
Eyes, arms, soul... Saul had his own problems to deal with!
He continued walking, leaving the dorm and heading down the hallway.
It was eerily quiet now, with no one in sight.
Suddenly, a grayish shadow appeared at the end of the hallway, moving quickly toward him.
It was running, but as the shadow got closer, Saul realized it wasn’t a solid figure at all, just a shadow without a body.
As the shadow passed by, Saul noticed it was a two-dimensional plane.
The gray figure sped past him and then suddenly stopped, its head swaying back and forth as if searching for something.
Seeing this, Saul quickly retreated into the dorm.
He counted silently to himself, then stepped back into the hallway.
This time, the hallway was empty, and the gray shadow was gone.
"Sure enough, while most people can’t see me in my soul form, some anomalies can sense my presence. Even in the West Tower, I need to be careful."
Although he had only explored a few dozen meters, Saul could roughly determine the extent of his current range based on the curvature of the circle.
He walked back to the bathroom, ready to return to his body, but once again, he hesitated at the last moment.
"Strange…" Saul rubbed his chin. "I’m in soul form and can pass through walls, but why am I still being supported by the floor?"
Saul stamped his foot, trying to push it downward, only to be astonished when his foot sank into the floor.
"So I’m not actually standing on the ground; I’m standing in the air."
With this realization, Saul lifted one foot and made a motion as if climbing stairs, stepping up one invisible step at a time, until his head emerged from the thirteenth floor's ground.
"This floating motion is a bit awkward. I guess I haven’t fully mastered the essence of soul movement yet."
Saul’s head turned as his body followed, emerging from the floor.
This room looked familiar.
"Isn’t this Senior Kongsha’s room?"
Since Saul delivered heads to her a few times, Kongsha had started requesting more frequent outside missions.
Saul rarely saw her, so the head delivery transaction had naturally ceased.
At that moment, the light in the room was bright, and the sound of water flowing from the bathroom could be heard.
"Kongsha’s back? Taking a bath?"
Kongsha had a very enticing figure.
As a teenage boy, Saul couldn’t help but imagine the scene in the bathroom when he heard the sound of running water.
"That image must be beautiful... just can't look up. Kongsha is a tough one, and she didn’t hesitate to ruin such a beautiful face."
Saul shook his head, trying to dispel these distracting thoughts.
He looked up at the ceiling and, realizing he was close to the fourteenth floor, muttered to the journal, "Should I go up and take a look?"
(End of Chapter)