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As they turned away, the quiet guy glanced over his shoulder at the house, straight at the window. Under the cover of the hood, a pair of eyes narrowed.

Once the two figures disappeared, Evan finally let out the breath he was holding, afraid breathing a little too loudly would attract their attention again.

They weren’t human. Their aura was unreadable. His intuition was telling him that keeping away from those figures would be best.

When he turned, Delos was quietly frowning at the ground.

Evan tapped his shoulder. “Hey, you good?”

Delos looked up, eyes red. His chin quivered. “I’m sorry.”

Woah.

Slightly alarmed, Evan reared back. “Uh—what? Why are you apologizing? Wait...are youcrying?”

Delos looked away, using his dirty sleeves to wipe at his tearing eyes. “No.”

Evan was thoroughly dumbfounded and confused. After all, how often did a grown man unscrew his tear ducts in front of another grown man?

However, Evan wasn’t the best person to seek comfort from in such situations. It was awkward and uncomfortable, and he was more than certain he’d just make the person cry even harder if he said anything. After pondering over his words for a moment, Evan stared at the blood on his hands, then glanced back at Delos.

Was he perhaps apologizing because Evan got hurt while saving him? But crying would be a little too—

Actually, no. Considering Delos’s personality, it was possible he was traumatized looking at Evan’s bloody state.

Softening his tone, Evan nudged Delos with his elbow, not wanting to smear blood on his already soiled white clothes.

“Hey, it wasn’t your fault. Stop apologizing.”

Delos sniffled but didn’t look up. After a long pause and several more sniffles, he said, “Have you seen those people before?”

It took Evan a moment to realize he was talking about those two mysterious figures in hoodies. He glanced outside thewindow. “I haven’t. Though, I recognize the incense they were carrying. I’ve used them myself several times before.”

It was oak wood incense.

Something not really popular in temples or shrines. Because oak wood incense was primarily burnt to summon spirits. No matter how weak or strong, resentful or lost, every soul within a fifty-meter radius would follow the scent of the incense. The older the oak wood, the stronger its spirit-invoking powers.

Evan’s brows furrowed. “They did not have an aura, nor any traces of spiritual energy on them.”

Black clothes, no aura, wandering in the night with an incense to lure spirits… Something clicked in his head.

“Grim reapers,” Evan said, turning to Delos for confirmation. “They were grim reapers.”

Delos wiped his running nose on his dirty sleeve. “They’re patrolling the area before the Reaping Moon.”

“But don’t they harvest soulsonthe Reaping Moon? That’s two nights away. Why do they need to patrol now?”

“Some spirits tend to be harder to deal with than others,” Delos said. “The reapers seek out and eradicate such souls before they cause havoc on the Reaping Moon.”

That made sense. If some resentful spirits stirred up trouble, the other weaker spirits would use that commotion as a distraction to escape from the grim reapers. And their traces were so faint that hunting them down would be another headache to deal with.

“Then what about that three-eyed beast?” Evan asked, shivering involuntarily when he recalled its size. “It didn’t attack us. Instead it went for the Hellguard’s throat. Was that the reaper’s pet?”

Delos’s look of distress cracked, and he chuckled. “It certainly was a pet. But not of the reapers, I’m afraid.”

Before he could explain further, a few voices echoed outside the house again, not so far away. On guard, Evan quickly peeked outside the window through a hole in the curtain, and his eyes widened when he saw the familiar faces. With a huff of relief, he grabbed Delos and ran out of the abandoned house.

Three pairs of eyes snapped in his direction.