"I used to visit this town back when people still lived here," Huo Linghun explained as they walked the roads between empty buildings and abandoned carts. Not much was falling apart yet but there was debris of all kinds littering the streets. Birds hopped here and there, picking through everything.

Xiao Xin peered with interest at a fallen, cracked statue of a bird much like the ones scampering about. "Why did they leave?" he asked.

"I can only guess," Huo Linghun replied, "but probably because of those." He was pointing at the broken statue.

"They left because of their statues?"

"Because of crows," Huo Linghun said. "This town built statues to appease the crows, because they believed that crows were a sign of impending death."

Xiao Xin gave a worried look to the many crows filling the streets and stepped a little closer to Huo Linghun. "Do... do you believe that too?" he asked.

Huo Linghun gave him a comforting smile and put his arm around his shoulders. "Don't worry, my Xiao Xin. I don't believe that. Crows are scavengers, so of course they show up around the dead- that doesn't mean they bring death." He reached into his sleeve and pulled out a grape, adding, "In fact, they're quite smart."

He held the grape in his palm and a crow noticed it, cawing at them. But it didn't lunge for the grape. Instead it continued picking through the debris until it pulled something out, then flew over to land in front of them. It set a small bead down on the ground and then looked up at them, cawing again.

Huo Linghun bent to pick up the bead, leaving the grape behind in its place. The crow hopped backward at his motion and then forward again to eat the grape after he moved away again.

Xiao Xin was smiling in awe. "It bought the grape from you!" he said.

"That's right," Huo Linghun said. "I told you they were smart."

Suddenly a whole bunch of crows were swarming in front of them and when the flutter of wings died down there was a collection of little objects picked from the streets set in front of them, and a crowd of crows standing behind it, staring at them expectantly.

"I think we're gonna need more grapes..." Huo Linghun said.