Chapter 254: 24: Running Crow
Soul Crow followed the car to the hospital. Instead of following Talia eagerly, he found a treetop and looked at the slightly empty hospital.

The hospital has nice greenery, and the buildings are not far apart. There are also courtyards where you can see some patients walking around.

During the induction, the soul lamp was taken all the way to a room on the third floor and then became fixed. That location should be Phaedra's ward.

Spreading its wings, the Soul Crow found the nearest window, landed on the edge of the window, and looked at the situation inside.

It can be seen that there are three patients in the ward. Talia is sitting next to one of the beds, peeling an orange and saying something softly and gently.

Phaedra was lying on the hospital bed, receiving an IV drip. Her face was extremely pale, and her little hands were quietly clenching a corner of the quilt. The sparse hair on her head had all fallen out.

The window was not closed, but the Soul Crow did not rush in directly. After determining the location, it turned and left, flew to the nearest tree, stood on the branch, and silently waited for the sun to set.

It could vaguely see that there were only a few unconscious souls wandering around in the hospital. They should be local soul crows, that is, the parents of the little soul crow who were more diligent in collecting them.

Looking at it this way, it was actually a little scared, afraid that Phaedra would soon become like those godless souls and lose everything in the world.

As a soul crow, it knows all too well the fragility of humans. Familiarizing itself with the location of hospitals so as to collect souls easily is the first lesson for every incoming soul crow.

Although the highest heaven is the eternal destination of all living things, for most human beings, being alive is probably the best. After all, no one has seen the souls of the deceased, and no one knows what kind of life they live in heaven, or whether it is really as happy as everyone says.

The Soul Crow suddenly became aware.

What was I thinking just now? I actually doubted my creator.

He quickly shook his head to drive away this terrible thought, and turned to look at the sky.

It could sense that another Soul Crow was approaching.

"Is it the Inspector?"

The soul crow that flew over had a tuft of white feathers on its tail, so let's call it the White Soul Crow.

The White Soul Crow saw through the Soul Crow's identity and asked after landing on a branch not far away.

"Yes, I might stay here for a while." Soul Crow did not explain much.

The White Soul Crow nodded: "I heard the child mention that there was an inspector who came to recover from his injuries recently."

"Yes, it's me."

"It didn't give you any trouble?"

"It took care of me a lot. It's a very good and responsible soul crow."

"Haha, I didn't expect that it, which doesn't want to do its job all day, would receive such praise from the inspector." The White Soul Crow laughed a few times, "If you need help, you can summon me through the soul lamp."

"Thank you." Soul Crow agreed.

The White Soul Crow gestured with its claws a few times, summoning the Soul Lamp, and circled over the hospital with the lamp in hand. The Soul Crow could see that the souls that were spinning in place seemed to be floating towards the Soul Lamp uncontrollably and were slowly sucked into it.

The sun sets and night falls.

It was not until late at night, when the lights in the ward had been turned off and most people had fallen asleep, that the puppet-like Soul Crow slowly moved its body.

At this time, the windows and doors of the ward were closed, but this did not pose a problem for the clever Soul Crow, because it had long discovered that there was an exhaust fan in the ward. It could still squeeze in if it squeezed, but it was a little dirty.

I quietly slipped into the ward, and heard the sound of deep sleeping breathing. I shook the dust off my wings. Talia was sleeping on the folding bed, and Phaedra was also asleep.

And the bag was on the table nearby.

Gliding down, minimizing the flapping of its wings, it landed precisely on the bag. It stopped for a while, observing that the two people did not react, then it quietly opened the button and soon saw the soul lamp that had been separated from it for a long time.

He picked up the soul lamp, and the faint blue light inside flickered gently.

It instilled words into the soul lamp with some hesitation, but it didn't know whether the other party could hear it or understand it.

[Are you conscious? If so, dodge.]

The blue light stopped flashing, and after a while, it flashed slowly once, and then again.

Soul Crow is a little confused, so this is either yes or no.

【Have you figured it out? If so, please flash. 】

This time, the soul lamp really only flashed once.

Soul Crow was silent for a moment.

[Are you Phaedra's father? ]

The soul lamp flashed again.

Sure enough, it was Soul Crow’s worst guess.

It vaguely remembered that it seemed to have passed by a field of purple flowers, the kind that Phaedra loved the most, and then saw a wandering soul in the middle of the field, and collected it. Now it seems that Phaedra's father met with some unknown accident there.
No, it seemed to have sensed that there were extraordinary beings lurking there. Could it be them who did it?
【I can't let you out.】

To be precise, the Soul Crows do not have this authority. They can use soul lamps to collect souls, use the soul lamps' own functions to transfer them, or communicate with nearby fellow crows, but they cannot release the souls inside, and this should also be considered a dereliction of duty.

If sensed by the Wise Crow or the Supreme, one might even end up dead.

just
"Dad. Phaedra. Scared"

Phaedra made unclear sobbing sounds in her sleep, and tears slowly fell from her closed eyes.

The Soul Crow was spinning around restlessly, feeling that he needed to do something at this moment, even if the cost was heavy.

[When the soul lamp absorbs the soul, the channel should be open. As for whether it can come out, it depends on your ability. ]

The soul lamp flickered in response.

The Soul Crow said no more. It flew to the ceiling of the ward with the Soul Lamp in its hand and quietly turned it on.

The blue light inside gradually increased in brightness, revealing a ripple-like light path, as if this place was immersed in the sea.

The soul lamp began to shake slightly, as if something inside was trying to break free.

But the soul lamp’s job is to collect souls, so how could it let the soul escape from it?

But the obsession of that soul is indeed very deep, and it has the momentum to rush out and be scared to death.

The swinging amplitude of the soul lamp gradually increased, and then - it suddenly stopped and slowly ceased.

The blue light slowly faded away and calm returned to normal.

【are you still there?】

The soul lamp did not respond. It seemed that the soul, like the other souls, had completely lost its self-consciousness.

"Certainly not."

Just as the Soul Crow sighed, three faint lights appeared from the Soul Lamp, like three fireflies, swaying and falling on the foreheads of Phaedra, Talia and the Soul Crow respectively.

Phaedra's body stiffened as if she was having a nightmare, then slowly relaxed and her tears stopped.

Talia's brows, which were furrowed even in her sleep, finally relaxed and she revealed a faint smile, as if she was having a sweet dream.

And Soul Crow's mind flashed some fragments about the place, a camera, and a lavender specimen frame.

"You want me to bring these back?" Soul Crow roughly guessed what the other party was thinking.

It just doesn't get a response anymore.

"That place is quite far away." The crow looked at its wings. It probably couldn't fly there by force. It would probably have to rely on human transportation.

"Mr. Crow."

Soul Crow put away the Soul Lamp and was about to leave when he heard Phaedra's low call. He thought she was awake, but when he looked over, he found she was still talking in her sleep.

After landing on the bed frame and looking at Phaedra quietly for a while, the Soul Crow discovered that the painting of three people and one crow that she had painted had been put into a frame at some point and taken to the hospital and placed on the cabinet where it had just landed.

Soul Crow's gaze gradually became firm. He pulled Fedra's quilt up a little, then crawled out of the ward and flew away.

On the hospital bed opposite, a little boy opened his eyes, tiptoed to the bedside, and looked curiously into the distance.

"Oh my god, we just came here to travel and this happened."

"Dad, shall we go back now?"

"Now that we are here, these disturbances should not affect the entire city."

Marseille.

A family of three from Hetali travelling to Gaul had the misfortune to run directly into an immigration demonstration.

They drove carefully through the messy driveway and headed towards the hotel. The children in the car leaned on the windows curiously, listening to the leader shouting from the roof of a car.

Although he didn't understand.

"Everyone, everyone! Be quiet. I know many of you are pinning your hopes on Olivier, but we can see that he has not fulfilled his promises over the years. Even Abdul, who should be on our side, watched our compatriots being arrested in Bacheng. This is a betrayal! They are birds of a feather! They are not worthy of our trust at all! They will only use those rounds of empty shouting to exchange for our support so that he can continue to stand in a high position and cooperate with the capitalists to continue to exploit us!"

"This is unreasonable! We need fair treatment, a commitment from the authorities with a deadline for preparation, and an explanation as to why our good child should be framed as a murderer!"

Gaul, a few years ago, the joint efforts of Abdul and Olivier brought the conflict between immigrants and locals to a historic low, and unity became the most popular word for a while.

Unfortunately, their deep-seated conflicts have not been resolved at all: one side wants more rights, while the other side cannot tolerate having their rights eroded.

The conflict inevitably broke out again and intensified. Protest marches took place in several major cities, a large number of looting and smashing incidents occurred, and the detention cells were overcrowded.

Of course, these things are not very important to them from Hetali. The most important thing now is to hope that the hotel is still in operation, consumption will not soar, and tourist attractions will remain open.

Finally, they arrived at the hotel with great difficulty and at least had a place to stay.

"Come and move the stuff. I can't move so much by myself. Really, you have to bring so much luggage when traveling. WTF!"

The complaining father was frightened by a dark shadow rushing towards him the moment he opened the trunk and almost fell to the ground.

When he looked up in shock and saw that the receding figure was probably a bird, he patted his chest with lingering fear and began to curse.

"What the hell! Luckily it's not a bug, I thought your snacks had raised a flying American cockroach that big!!"

The man's roar was carried away by the wind and could not reach the ears of the Soul Crow.

After several days and several rounds of transfers, it finally approached that place.

Now I just hope that the car is still there, especially the things in it.

The specimen was made from the most beautiful lavender flower that Phaedra's father found along the way, and the camera captured many of the lavender fields that he promised. The most crucial of them was the last video. The purple flower fields undulated, swaying gently in the breeze, full of layers, covering the entire lens.

After flying for a long time, the Soul Crow's wings became a little stiff. Although most of the distance was covered by friction during these days of continuous running, it still flew a lot. Normally, this would be nothing, but for the Soul Crow with injuries on its wings, it was not an easy task.

But fortunately, the destination is approaching, right in front of us is the flower field.

At this moment, it is more or less willing to admit that purple is indeed quite beautiful.

However, the black color of Soul Crow is more noble.

Flying towards the only building near the flower field, it could see some obvious blockades and sensed a trace of residual supernatural aura.

After hovering in the sky for a while, it began to look for the buildings most likely to have cars parked.

“That’s it.”

Soon, it found the garage and saw the SUV.

He took out the soul lamp, activated the teleportation, and entered the car in an instant.

According to the memory left by Phaedra's father, it found the camera and specimen frame without any surprise.

Then it got a bit difficult.

The weight of these two things combined is not light, it would be too much for a soul crow.

Because the memories left behind did not specify what the memory card was, Soul Crow did not really know that he only needed to take the memory card with him. He thought the camera was integrated and that was the only way to take it back.

With the camera hung on its body and its claws grasping the specimen frame, it seemed to be able to fly, but it could not fly far and had to find a way to rub against a car.

After thinking about it, it decided to ask the local crows for help.

The Soul Crow was transferred to a kilometer away using the Soul Lamp, and was almost dragged down by the things on its body.

It had to flap its wings hard to fly, and it was extremely tiring.

Landing on a tree, the Soul Crow communicates with nearby local crows through the Soul Lantern, asking for help.

Soon, it received a reply that came immediately.

The relationship between the soul crows is so simple, those who can help will definitely help, there are almost no conflicts, and the superior-subordinate relationship is not very obvious. The soul crows respect the wisdom of the wise crow and thus recognize the inspectors appointed by it, not because the wise crow has a high status, so they obey.

The Soul Crow didn't have to wait long before the local crow came over. This Soul Crow had a special hairstyle on its head.

"Bonjour~ Is this inspector in any trouble?"

"I want to go to Greece, but I have a lot of things to bring with me and need the help of human tools. Do you have any recommendations?" Soul Crow asked directly.

The local crow looked at the things next to the soul crow and tilted its head.

"I seem to have seen this place somewhere before."

"Oh! I get it, follow me!"

The local crow helped pick up the specimen frame, the soul crow took the camera, and the two crows flew towards Marseille.

"This direction is close to the sea, right?"

"Believe me, that place leads directly to the Greece you mentioned!"

Soon, Soul Crow knew what he was talking about.

A very large boat.

Humans seem to call it a cruise ship.

(End of this chapter)