The fairyland-like spiritual thin prison, under the swing by the towering ancient tree.

Two young men and women who had been separated for a long time kissed each other heavily, as if they wanted to rub each other into their bodies and merge into an eternal stone sculpture.

Di who was not far away stared at this scene quietly, a trace of emotion flashed in his eyes, and his thoughts returned to the summer more than a year ago.

"Mona and Dean."

"You can't stay together in life, and you will finally be reunited in the Spiritual Prison after death."

……

"Dean, I've been waiting to meet you, I've been waiting for you." Mona's rain-like kiss fell on the man's face, and finally touched the tip of his nose lightly, enjoying the warmth,

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting so long, lonely for so long," Ei's hands around her waist tightened a little more, "I've always missed you, I miss you every day... I've avenged you by sending that Bob hap to hell with my own hands. ”

Mona's eyes flashed with gratitude and admiration when she heard this, "I have long forgotten about hatred, and I only care about you now." Did you get into the University of Arizona? Visited the Walk of Fame in Los Angeles? ”

"I didn't have time." Shadow shook her head regretfully and sighed, "When I have the opportunity in the future, I will fulfill these wishes,"

Shadow asked with concern, "Are you doing well here?" ”

"It's not bad, there is no danger here, there is no need to eat and drink, and there is no worry and sorrow," a trace of numbness flashed in Mona's eyes, and she smiled flatly, "But there are no entertainment facilities such as cinemas and shopping malls, so it's a little boring." By the way, how did you get here, and did you die too? ”

"We used a little special means to get into the Slim Prison, but in the real world we are still alive." Shadow said and turned to the two behind him, "By the way, this is Sheriff Hope, and this is mine... Brother, you can call him Lu..."

Mona's gaze swirls between Shadow and Dean in a slightly confused way, the two faces look similar, but Dean has grown more than a year old, so he is stronger.

"I only met him a while ago, so I haven't told you before." Hearing Dean's urging, Shadow stared into Mona's affectionate eyes and said, "Back to the point, there are other reasons for us to come in this time besides seeing you. The green-eyed goat-man has taken Lou's girlfriend to the Slim Prison, and we want to rescue her, but we can't find the direction, do you know the goat-man's habitat? ”

The word goatman made Mona stunned for a moment, and there was a hint of fear and worry in her eyes, "I heard from other companions that these abnormal things are extremely dangerous, and they can kill ordinary geismans like us at will, so I don't recommend you to send them to the door." ”

"Don't worry, Ms. Mona, we've prepared well in advance." Not far away, Dean waved his hand at an ancient tree beside him, and "Shadow" immediately used his mental power to pull it out of the mud and float in the air in a circle, "Speaking of which, we are professional exorcists. ”

Seeing this, a trace of hesitation flashed in Mona's eyes, and then she looked at the pleading shadow, gritted her teeth and nodded,

"The goat-man habitat is far from here, so I'll take you there."

"Just tell us where we are, and we'll go by ourselves." shadow dissuasion,

"Just met and were going to separate? I want to be with you! Mona coquettishly grabbed Shadow's arm, who nodded in Dean's agreement.

The original three-person team expanded to four, and continued to set off east.

Dean and the three kept asking Mona, the native, more questions,

"After the goat-man captures the pure soul, he does not devour it immediately, but first performs a complex and lengthy assimilation ritual. If you arrive before the ceremony is complete, you will likely save your friend. ”

Dean breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, and temporarily let go of his tense nerves.

"You've only been in this place for a short time, and who knows this information from your mouth?" Shadow question,

"There are spirits who have lived in the prison for a long time, who have lived for a long time, who are experienced, and who like to share knowledge and knowledge."

"We haven't seen a single geist along the way."

"This place is so big that except for the deeply bound spirits who attract each other, everyone else lives alone, and they live very scattered."

"Are there any animals here?" Hope couldn't help but interject,

"The human soul naturally enters the prison of the soul after death... Of course, there are already anomalous and deformed things such as goat-people. ”

"What do you mean by something abnormal, something deformed?" Dean interrupts,

"Unlike the geist, the ancient monsters of the Soul Prison live on the fringes like the goatmen. But in addition to the goatmen, there are also centaurs, bird-bodied banshees, lionmen... They all have one thing in common, the shape is a mixture of man and animal beast. They can easily kill geistes. ”

Dean was an eye-opener,

"And how do you survive under the threat of these anomalous things?"

"The Wandering Soul Council protects everyone," a hint of awe flashed in Mona's eyes, "it is made up of dozens of powerful and ancient councillors, who wield unimaginable magical powers to drive anomalous things out of the middle of the forest as a safe haven for the spirits. ”

"They shelter most of the geists from infestation, enact laws and regulations prohibiting certain crimes, and adjudicate disputes between geists."

Dean nodded again and again, this alternative space has its own set of order like the earth, and there is no doubt that these dozens of councilors must have been powerful superpowers during their lifetimes.

"Can I ask the members of the Spirit Council for help?"

"Your business involves the fringe of the Goatmen, which is not under the control of the Councillors," Mona said, "and you are not dead in reality but have entered the Prison of the Soul, which is considered an accidental intruder, and if you are discovered by the Councillors, there is a good chance that you will stay forever." ”

Stay forever?

Dean and Hope exchanged a wary look and immediately changed the subject,

"The Spirit Prison doesn't need to eat and drink, so can the geist live in it all the time, and there is no lifespan limit?"

"I've heard that the eldest of the councillors has survived for more than a thousand years, like a god."

Mona said,

"Heaven is a place of happiness with God, hell is a place of eternal torture and separation from God, and the prison is a neutral country, and the soul is still blessed, so once the soul enters the prison, it will not grow up or grow old, but it will be injured and disappear... We stay in the perfect state we were in before we came in, never get sick, and any memories are clearly visible. This is the state of blessed eternal joy and infinite wisdom. ”

Eternal joy, infinite wisdom?

Dean suddenly felt familiar.

But he imagined again that in this kind of empty, backward and monotonous forest, immortality is tantamount to a disaster.

"So if the geist is tired of staying in the Soul Prison and doesn't want to stay any longer, can he leave?"

A hint of hesitation and yearning flashed on Mona's cheerful face, and she nodded,

"There's a new place to go, but there's a bit of risk."

Dean hadn't had time to ask specifically.

Their journey came to a transit point.

……

Not far away, a petite figure in a white dress and a shawl with long brown hair appeared in the mist-shrouded woodland.

Hope shrunk his shoulders as if he had been stung by a bee, and when he saw clearly the delicate and emaciated little face, his beard trembled, and a touch of incredible excitement appeared on his face that had been through the vicissitudes of life.

"Sarah!"

"Daddy!"

With an exclamation, Sheriff Jim Hope sped towards the little girl.

Dean was dumbfounded, he had never seen a fat sheriff so fast, like a gust of wind.

Finally, the father and daughter, who had been separated for several years, were reunited in this ancient forest.

The sheriff fell to his knees, Sarah wrapped her little hands around his neck, and her long hair fell on his shoulders,

Seeing this, Shadow felt something, and hugged Mona into his arms vigorously.

Dean watched from behind with a hint of relief,

"Woo... Jim, I miss you so much! They all said that you would come, as long as I waited for dozens or hundreds of years, I could wait for you and my mother... Whining... You're finally here, you've found me! ”

"Sarah, my daughter, you haven't changed at all over the years." Hope incoherently wiped the tears from the girl's face, and turned her body to check it repeatedly, for fear of seeing any scars, "Are you doing well here, is someone bullying you?" ”

"No, everyone is very friendly, welcoming, and they all like me." Sarah spun around in front of the sheriff like a happy bird, and innocently grabbed a handful of long hair, "Look, my hair has grown, and I don't need treatment, medicine, it doesn't hurt at all, and I'm happy every day." ”

Hearing this, Hope's nose was sour and his eyes were red, "I'm sorry, it was Daddy's incompetence... I couldn't save you, otherwise our family would still be reunited in New York. ”

"Don't cry, Jim... Aren't I fine now," Sarah said, taking Hope's head in her arms and gently patting him on the back of the head to comfort him.

……

After a long time, Hope, who finished talking about the old one, took Sarah's hand and walked up to Dean and solemnly promised,

"Man, I owe you an adult please, no matter what you do in the future, as long as you say a word."

"Help me get Catherine back first." Dean glanced at little Sarah again, pretended to reach into his arms and took out a little lion doll from the fantasy space and handed it over, Sarah hugged the doll in surprise and gave Dean a sweet smile,

Hope gritted her teeth and looked at Mona again, "Lady Mona, can I take Sarah back to the real world to be with her mother?" ”

Mona shook her head,

"Don't mess around, the Soul Prison is the realm of the soul. Sarah, on the other hand, is dead in reality and has no body, and she will be quickly repatriated when she gets there, and the worst thing is that unpredictable mutations may occur, leading to a series of terrible consequences. ”

"There's no other way?" Hope looked at her daughter lovingly, and asked reluctantly, "Can't I take Sarah back?" ”

Mona shook her head apologetically.

Hope closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and put her daughter on her shoulder, "I want to walk with her a little longer for the rest of the road." ”

The eastward march swelled to five men.

The crowd asked Mona more questions,

"How do you calculate time in the Prison of Souls?"

Mona looked at a strange tree with a bare exterior but a straight branch not far ahead, "Every hour that passed, the branches of the clock tree would swing thirty degrees clockwise. ”

Dean nodded, "That's really convenient, does time pass here at the same speed as Earth?" ”

"I don't know this, I haven't heard of it, I can't answer it."

……

Dean looked at Sarah and asked,

"Mentally underdeveloped children who are younger than Sarah, even babies with little self-awareness, whose souls come in and live alone in the heart like you? And never grow up? ”

What a terrible punishment.

"No," a hint of longing flashed in Mona's eyes, "when these young and underdeveloped souls arrive, the councillors will personally open the way for them and send them into the 'door'. ”

"What the hell is the 'door'?"

"It is the end of the past and the beginning of the future. Some of the spirits yearn for it, others fear it. But if you want to get close to the door, you have to be tested. ”

The end of the past, the beginning of the future.

Dean vaguely caught an inspiration, a little incredulous, "What test?" ”

Mona looked to the horizon, "This door is on the edge, near the goat-people's habitat, and they tear apart any wandering spirits that come close. ”

……

The five of them kept walking along the glade.

Shadow and Mona walk hand in hand, Hope in the middle, carrying her daughter on her back.

Dean's Palace.

Referring to the branches of the clock tree, they walked for at least four days,

I met some wandering spirits along the way, including children, teenagers, and the elderly.

Most of them stood alone in a daze, and a small part gathered together in twos and threes to sing, recite poems, and have story meetings... There are even couples who use leaves and moss as a blanket and make out in broad daylight.

In addition, their dressing styles span a wide range, including ancient soldiers in blue cotton armor, old gentlemen in tuxedos and civilized staffs, noblewomen in satin silk velvet long skirts, straight men in suits, and dynamic girls in bright short skirts... It's as if people spanning hundreds of years have come together in one time and space.

But without exception, they are relaxed, laid-back, and friendly.

There is no competition for subsistence materials, no job requirements, and their task in the Spiritual Prison is to try to have fun and do something interesting every day.

But Dean felt it was torture.

In addition, after walking for so many days, Dean found that the forest in front of him had never changed, and the sky of the Spiritual Prison was always shrouded in milky white mist, and the brightness had been in a state of cloudy twilight.

The group of five did not feel thirsty, hungry, or tired at all, and this unprecedented and extremely wonderful experience even gave Dean a thought in his mind - they were now in a long dream, the so-called Soul Prison, the Soul Forest, everything here was just a realistic illusion.

He couldn't tell.

……

But at some point, Dean paused.

A red chain appeared in the air before his eyes, winding into the border of the forest, the scent of tracking bullets on the goatman he had been waiting for.

"Mona, are we almost at the border?"

Mona lifted her cowboy hat and looked at the clock tree, with a hint of solemnity in her eyes, "There is still half a day." ”

"It's time to get ready." Dean looked at the sheriff, "Sarah got it to stop. ”

"Child, wait for me here," Hope squatted down and reluctantly touched her daughter's little face with her beard.

"Where are you going, Jim," Sarah grabbed his hand pitifully, tears glistening in her big eyes, "please, don't leave me alone." ”

"I have something I have to do." Hope put his forehead against the sobbing girl to comfort, "But I'll be back to see you soon, I promise you." ”

"You stay, too, with Sarah." Shadow hugged his haunting girlfriend tightly,

"No, I'll go in with you." Mona's eyes flashed with a fiery glow, "I'm going to go over the goat-man habitat and see that door, this is my greatest wish since I came to the Soul Prison." ”

"It's too dangerous." Shadow rebuttal,

"I'm not scared at all by your side." Mona just smiled softly.

Shadow reluctantly asks Dean for instructions.

Dean nodded.

"Mona, tell me, how much do you know about the goatmen, and how many goatmen are there at the border?"

"I don't know the specifics, but according to my old-timers, it usually lives alone in its respective territories." Mona mused, "Let's be careful, it's unlikely we'll be able to lure two goat-people at once." ”

Dean was relieved to hear this, and consulted the goatman about his weaknesses, and Mona's answer was the same as that of Owen.

The goatmen are most afraid of fire, and Dean has tested it on the road, and the air in the Prison can ignite trees and leaves everywhere.

In addition, after entering the Spirit Thin Prison, everyone's originally illusory bodies also became solidified, no different from entities, they could no longer be deformed and atomized, and they would also be affected by bullets.

Conventional weapons are also lethal.

Dean took out an MP5 equipped with an incendiary bomb from Fantasy Space and handed it to Hope, and handed another M1911A1 pistol with 7 incendiary rounds to Mona.

"Wait, what kind of magic did you become, where did you get the gun?" Hope strapped the MP5 to his body, and craned his neck to look into Dean's ordinary trench coat,

"Don't ask," Dean handed over a lighter and a small barrel of gasoline to another man.

Mona lit the lighter, looking at the small swinging flames, a great horror appeared on her face, it was a warning from the soul.

Flames shouldn't be in the Hell!

"Your first goal is to protect yourselves and save Catherine as best you can." Dean examines TAC-50 and reminds, "If the bullet penetrates the goatman's body directly and can't do any damage, then shoot the trees next to the goatman and cause flames..."

……

After a long discussion.

Heavily armed Dean, Shadow, Hope, and Mona stepped over a dead tree lying on the ground, followed the tracking mark, and walked to the edge of the woods.

(End of chapter)