Across the wasteland, bottomless pits dotted the ground everywhere, yet I couldn't sense a thing. This was what shocked me the most.
Desire Ghost landed beside me. If she hadn't pointed it out, I wouldn't have noticed anything wrong right away. Even though this was in my Shadow Realm, over a hundred bottomless pits nearly two meters wide had appeared, and I didn't sense a thing.
"Did you sense something?"
"Yeah, Ethan, there's something off. It feels like this area doesn't belong to your Shadow Realm, but is somehow connected from the outside."
I looked around warily and tried to extend my Specter Web into these large pits. To my surprise, they really were bottomless—I had stretched my Specter Web over a hundred meters and still hadn't touched the bottom.
This strange phenomenon probably appeared when I returned to the apartment building. At that time, I was still thinking about strategies for the next battle, letting my Seven Ghost Souls spread out and wait for an opportunity.
Desire Ghost sat at the edge of one of the bottomless pits, kicking her feet. I walked over and crouched in front of her.
"How about I go down and take a look, Ethan?"
I shook my head.
"The situation here is still unknown. Better not go down yet."
"So, Ethan, do you know which ghost soul it was?"
"I have no idea. It happened in a flash, and everyone was pretty far from me at the time."
I scrutinized my ghost souls, feeling something was off. At that moment, Spirit Snake pointed toward the wasteland already shrouded in baleful energy.
"Ethan, we should go take a look."
I nodded and, together with all the ghost souls, passed through the wall of baleful energy and stepped onto the wasteland. Instantly, a chill ran down my spine—holes of all sizes dotted the land.
It made me deeply uncomfortable; from above, the ground looked densely pockmarked.
"Ethan, something’s happening at the apartment building!"
Desire Ghost shouted. We rushed back into the apartment building. Slaughter was still sitting in the gazebo. Then I noticed a large empty patch to the left of the entrance—several cherry trees were missing.
Dazed, I felt the connection to a ghost soul snap again for just an instant. I spun around, staring at my ghost souls.
"Everyone, scatter."