Chapter 721: Death-Announcing Crows

"Caw! Caw!"

Hearing the piercing crow cry above, Li Ang instinctively looked up—but instead of the familiar blue sky and white clouds, he saw only a vast, hollow, lifeless gray.

A pale sun, devoid of warmth, hung like the dying eyes of an old man above a sky choked with pitch-black clouds, silently watching the turbulent, murky river below.

Above this murky, noisy river, a path woven from countless ancient bones—pale white tinged with faint yellow—carried mournful souls wailing and weeping, winding deep into the silent, profound reaches of the Death Realm.

"This is the Death Realm—the place everyone goes after death."

After watching Li Ang emerge from the crocodile's mouth, carrying Emma and gazing in awe at the Death Realm, the Red-haired Inspector observed the three of them and said:

"Once you've come out of this crocodile's mouth, your physical body has entered the Death Realm. Soon, some crows will fly over—don't attack them. Just stand still and do nothing."

"Ah, okay!"

Nodding slightly in confusion, Li Ang remembered Emma, still unconscious on his back, and quickly asked:

"Inspector, Senior Emma is badly injured…"

"Don't worry, she's not in serious danger."

Glancing at Emma's soul, faintly shimmering with emerald hues, the Red-haired Inspector exhaled softly:

"The Goddess of Wealth struck hard, but Emma's soul is incredibly resilient. With a little rest, she'll be fine. Only parts of her body turned to jade pose a problem… What about you? How do you feel?"

"I'm fine."

Hearing the Inspector's words, Li Ang shook his head slightly, then unconsciously reached up and touched the two small patches of baldness on his scalp.

Though he'd suffered many wounds in this mission, he'd already healed them all with the 【Infected Blood Band】. Only these two small patches of hair lost when his horns grew back couldn't be restored by the 【Infected Blood Band】—so if anything, this was his only remaining injury.

…

"Inspector, he's fine, but I'm not—I've got a big problem!"

As Li Ang touched his hair, a head suddenly rose from deep within the crocodile's mouth. The lazy youth lying on the Crocodile God's tongue groaned with misery:

"I've lost most of my bones—I can only move my neck and my ass. Can you…?"

"That's called an injury?"

Glancing at Tang Mu, the Red-haired Inspector waved dismissively:

"You've already set up your Return Ritual, right? Just resurrect once—problem solved."

"I could… but it hurts a lot…"

"Pfft, it's just a slit throat. Don't be such a baby!"

After brushing off the lazy youth, the Red-haired Inspector took back the strands of hair tied around the Crocodile God's neck, walked behind Li Ang, lowered Emma from his back, and lifted her into her arms, then urged:

"Come on, don't linger in the crocodile's mouth—move outside!"

"Oh…"

Following the Red-haired Inspector's instruction, Li Ang stepped out of the Crocodile God's mouth—before he could even ask why she'd brought him to the Death Realm, a cacophony of shrill crow cries erupted again.

Unlike the sparse cries earlier, this time the cawing was dense and chaotic. Li Ang looked up and saw nearly six or seven hundred red-eyed crows flying toward them—not heading toward the depths of the Death Realm like before, but circling above the three of them.

"These birds are called Death-Announcing Crows—pets of one of the Death Realm's rulers. Whenever a new soul arrives, they take flight from their roosts, eyes open, flying straight to the deepest part of the Death Realm to announce the birth of the dead." After briefly explaining the crows' meaning, the Red-haired Inspector added with deeper intent:

"But if a living person enters the Death Realm with their physical body intact, their Death-Announcing Crow won't fly inward—it will find them directly, circle endlessly above their head, or even land on their shoulder."

"That doesn't make sense."

Looking up at the circling red-eyed crows, Li Ang frowned:

"We're only three people—four if you count Tom, still inside. But there are nearly seven hundred crows up there!"

"Precisely six hundred and sixty-six."

Glancing at Emma in her arms and confirming she remained unconscious, the Red-haired Inspector whispered:

"You've probably heard about Emma's origins. Her clan launched a coup to overthrow the current royal family, but someone betrayed them. Everyone except Emma was executed—right outside the Jewel Blossom Estate. The blood stained the redwood tree crimson."

Her immortality was born in that massacre.

Six hundred members of her clan were killed, granting her six hundred extra lives. To kill her permanently, you must slay her six hundred and sixty-six times within a single day.

In inheriting their lives, she also inherited their Death-Announcing Crows. All these crows above us? They're here for her."

"…"

So that's how it was…

After hearing Emma's past, Li Ang fell into a brief silence. Though he'd suspected something similar about her immortality, hearing such a bloody truth still stunned him.

While Li Ang remained silent, the Red-haired Inspector studied him carefully—over and over, from head to toe—making him feel uneasy. He finally asked:

"Why are you staring at me like that? Is there something on me?"

"No. I'm staring because there's nothing on you."

The Red-haired Inspector looked at him meaningfully and asked:

"Li Ang, where's your Death-Announcing Crow?"

"???"

Startled by the question, Li Ang replied in confusion:

"Aren't those crows circling above us? Isn't one of them mine?"

"I just said—all these crows above us are for Emma. Neither yours nor mine are among them."

Fixing his eyes with intense focus, the Red-haired Inspector slowed her speech, speaking seriously:

"When my Li Ang value reached sixty, and my rank equaled that of a true god, my Death-Announcing Crow lost its ability to sense my death—it flew into the Death Realm's depths with its eyes closed."

"But your Li Ang value is only around six—you haven't escaped the Death-Announcing Crow's death-sensing ability. So your crow should still be waiting at the entrance of the Death Realm."

"…"

"Li Ang, can you tell me—why, despite your physical body entering the Death Realm, has your Death-Announcing Crow never come to you?"

(End of Chapter)