Becoming Their Guiding Spirit

# Chapter 52: A soul party in the middle of the night? ”Ahem...”

”I have an announcement to make....”

Another uneventful and cold night. The group sat around a campfire, eating military MREs and chatting. For example, they told Ceobe about all the delicious food in the city, making her eyes go wide and her mouth water.

When Franka stood up, all eyes turned to her.

”Something very bad has happened...”

”We’re almost out of food...”

The others didn’t react much.

However.

To Ceobe, who was munching on a compressed biscuit, this sentence was like a bolt from the blue. Her bright, watery eyes grew wide.

”Mmm~!!!”

Following the direction Miss Podenco had given them, the group headed north into the northern forest. They initially thought it wouldn’t be far, but they walked for three days before finally reaching the legendary cave just as night was falling today. The entrance to the cave was massive; a person standing beneath it looked like an ant. From within the cave, a wide, river-like stream flowed out continuously. The water wasn’t clear, even appearing somewhat black. This must be the origin of the [River of Death].

The inside of the cave was pitch black. Even standing outside with a flashlight that could illuminate a great distance, they couldn’t see the situation inside. When the light beam entered the cave, the ’monsters’ hidden in the darkness would swallow the light. The night suppressed the light, making it impossible to see inside the cave.

It was somewhat terrifying. If ordinary people were here, they wouldn’t even dare to get close to look, let alone enter the cave.

To avoid any accidents, the group decided not to venture deep into the cave to investigate at night, but to wait until the next day to descend.

Furthermore.

They had originally planned to resupply in the village, but because of the mysterious monsters, many of the immature crops in Podenco’s settlement had withered. They were having trouble feeding themselves, so there was no surplus to provide for the group.

This commission had been really unlucky.

First, the vehicle broke down, forcing them to sleep in the cold every night. Then, their food ran out, and they had no idea where to find more. They had walked through this huge forest for so many days without seeing a single beast; otherwise, they could have gone hunting.

Running out of food was a big problem.

As the saying goes, miss one meal and you’ll be starving.

As a professional explorer, Magallan knew very well the importance of food during an expedition. Food not only kept the body physically strong but also helped maintain mental focus, preventing hunger from interfering with their ability to handle other emergencies.

Now here was the problem.

The cave was right in front of them. It would be a shame to give up halfway. Their car would have been wrecked for nothing, and... they certainly wouldn’t be able to get back that high commission fee. A huge loss...

But if they continued deeper.

If they got trapped inside the cave due to some accident, their meager rations wouldn’t last long. The situation inside a cave is always unknown. Magallan had explored countless caves and had been trapped inside many times despite being perfectly clear-headed. It seemed these caves had some kind of mysterious force that interfered with one’s memory. You’d remember the way in, but when you tried to return, you’d find that the route in your memory didn’t lead out. In short, it was very strange.

Magallan was in a dilemma.

As expected.

When you’re unlucky, you’re really unlucky.

”How much is left? How many days can we eat?”

”About... six days...”

After saying this, Franka glanced at Ceobe, who was staring at her with pleading eyes, and hesitated for a moment. She changed ”six days” to ”two days”...

Although Ceobe didn’t seem very bright, she understood the current difficulty. Knowing that she ate a lot, she quickly raised her hand.

”Ceobe... Ceobe can eat a little less each meal...”

The group couldn’t bear to let this cute child go hungry, but at a critical moment, they had no choice. At most, they would take Ceobe back to Columbia for a big feast after the mission was completed.

”Since Ceobe has said so, we’ll have to trouble you. In that case, we should have five days’ worth of rations left...”

”Five days...”

Magallan stroked her chin, thinking seriously.

Five days’ worth wasn’t a lot, but it was barely acceptable. If they ate a little less each meal, or had two meals a day, they could probably add another two or three days to the expected five. If they ate one meal a day, they could add a few more. Thinking about it this way, it didn’t seem so bad after all.

Oh ho~ A capitalist would be proud.

”How about this: tomorrow morning, we’ll go deep into the cave. We’ll see how it goes and explore as quickly as possible. Four days later, no matter what happens, the expedition will be immediately terminated, and this commission will be over.”

”Deal~”

Ending early was definitely a good thing. After all, no one wanted to live in such a harsh environment for a whole month. During the days of travel, apart from the penguin girl with her built-in heating and Ceobe who was naturally adapted to this extreme environment, the others hadn’t had a single peaceful night’s sleep. It was just too cold.

Especially their feet, they were freezing cold. Waking up felt as if their feet had disappeared, completely numb. Every night when they went to sleep, they would fantasize about how great it would be to have a hand warmer or a hot water bottle. At critical times, black stockings provided no warmth at all...

How they envied Jessica...

At least they had Lucas Reeve.

Occasionally, when Jessica was too cold to sleep, she would let Lucas Reeve take over her body to endure the cold for her, while her own soul slept comfortably...

Late at night.

Since they were preparing to go deep into the cave tomorrow, everyone went to bed early to rest and recuperate. Plus, with Ceobe sleeping in the tent, there was no need to worry about danger. Even if there was danger, with Ceobe’s alertness, she would probably wake up at the first sign of it.

The group’s tent was pitched in a corner against the rock wall not far from the cave.

There were no insect chirps, no sound of the wind. They hadn’t seen many wild animals from the beginning, especially after going deeper, even insects had become rare.

Everything was too quiet, eerily so.

In his sleep.

A very strange feeling roused Lucas Reeve from his dreams.

Lucas Reeve quietly floated out of Jessica’s necklace. Ceobe, who had been sleeping in a corner of the tent, immediately opened her eyes and wagged her tail at the floating Lucas Reeve after sensing his distinct aura.

”Shh~”

Lucas Reeve motioned for Ceobe to be quiet, and Ceobe nodded obediently.

Lucas Reeve smiled faintly, patting Ceobe on the head, then quietly poked his head out of the tent.

Just one glance, and the scene before him made Lucas Reeve suck in a sharp breath.

Swarms of translucent souls were following the stream into the cave. These souls had no intelligence; their eyes were empty, their expressions numb. They had only one goal: the cave...

The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons?

This was the first thought that came to Lucas Reeve’s mind.

Wait, no.

From a human perspective, this is called the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.

But from his perspective as a ghost, this should be considered a collective late-night party.

However...

This cave was truly extraordinary...

Could it be, as the rumors say, the final resting place of the dead?

But Lucas Reeve himself knew very well; when it came to death, Lucas Reeve was the foremost authority.

The so-called soul simply doesn’t exist for ordinary people.

It’s not that souls don’t exist, but that a soul cannot be sustained as a separate entity after a person dies. The folklore about souls being reincarnated after death, or going to heaven or hell, simply doesn’t exist.

When a person’s physical body dies, their soul will also dissipate with the fading of their physical life force. There is no such thing as the soul coming out to wander and chat after the body dies, as he did, unless that person’s soul is so strong that it does not perish even after the body’s death.

So...

What exactly was inside the cave? This made Lucas Reeve all the more curious. It seemed he would have to redefine this other world...

Originally, in Columbia, Lucas Reeve had thought this world was the same as Earth.

However, after coming to Bolívar.

One supernatural phenomenon after another made Lucas Reeve feel for the first time that this world was far from being as simple as he had imagined....