The Knocking Ghost consumed all the ghosts that tried to get near Li Mo and Kanagawa Yume. Its body grew even larger, nearly filling the entire corridor.
Li Mo returned to Kanagawa Yume's side. The battle between the hellfire and the restraining rule was nearing its end.
He had to get Kanagawa Yume into the domain of the ninth room before the Knocking Ghost's rules changed.
The Knocking Ghost wasn't targeting him now, but that didn't mean it wouldn't kill him once it had dealt with the others.
"Li Mo, I can move," Kanagawa Yume immediately called out the moment she regained her mobility.
Without hesitation, they both walked into the domain of the ninth room, their backs against the far wall as they collapsed to the floor.
"Are we safe?" Kanagawa Yume asked, half-convinced.
"..."
"..."
"Li Mo?"
Kanagawa Yume's attention had been on the Knocking Ghost, but when she got no response from Li Mo, she turned to find him unconscious, having fainted.
"How could this happen?"
Kanagawa Yume felt a flicker of panic. Li Mo's sudden collapse had caught her completely off guard.
This was a situation even Li Mo himself probably hadn't anticipated. Otherwise, he would have instructed her on what to do next before they went in.
As they entered the domain of the ninth room, the ghosts on the third floor suddenly turned and returned to the main hall, wandering aimlessly like snowflakes in the rain.
The Knocking Ghost, however, walked to the edge of the ninth room's doorway and replicated its behavior from the first night, silently watching them.
It did nothing, its pupils deep and dark, like a bottomless well.
Its massive body seemed swollen with water, as if it could burst at any moment.
Kanagawa Yume pressed her lips together, not falling asleep as she had before.
She tried her best to stay awake, because as long as she was conscious, the ghosts on the third floor did not treat her and Li Mo as enemies, and the Knocking Ghost remained still.
If she fell asleep, she might break the delicate balance of the rules.
After a few days with Li Mo, Kanagawa Yume understood what to do and when. She absolutely could not make a mistake.
One wrong step, and it would be hell.
And it was true. In the timeline where Kanagawa Yume had died, her triggering of the "Sleeping" rule had caused Li Mo to become "alone," ultimately leading to his restart.
If she were to fall asleep with Li Mo now, the Knocking Ghost could devour them both.
And then, complete its final rule.
Kanagawa Yume held Li Mo to her chest, her other free hand supporting his back.
After adjusting her position, she reversed roles with Li Mo from the first night. Now she was the night watch, watching over Li Mo as he slept.
The night was long. Kanagawa Yume took out the notebook from her pocket and began to write and draw in it, recording everything she had seen and heard these past few days.
All sorts of paranormal phenomena, bizarre ghosts, a mansion that science couldn't explain.
She didn't know if she would survive, but if she did, this story might have a better ending.
She stayed awake all night. By the time morning came, the dawn was breaking.
A faint warm light illuminated the gloomy, strange manor. Though it was shrouded in black fog, only a few thousandths of the light could penetrate.
The Knocking Ghost turned and left, walking to the staircase and disappearing from the haunted manor in some unknown way.
It should be gone.
The ghosts on the third floor hadn't found any living people. As eight in the morning approached, they crawled back into their boxes.
Only Li Mo remained in a deep sleep, unable to be woken no matter how Kanagawa Yume called.
Back in the main hall, the remaining ten members of the Occult Club gathered together to discuss.
"Yume, you two... how are you feeling?"
"Last night we saw a lot of ghosts running towards you. Are you okay?"
Kanagawa Yume's eyes were fixed on Li Mo as she answered perfunctorily, "We're fine. Last night, he and I hid in an area the ghosts couldn't enter."
It was impolite to answer someone's question without looking at them.
But no one cared about that right now.
"What's wrong with him now? Why hasn't he woken up yet?"
"I don't know."
Kanagawa Yume didn't reveal any more information, but she had a vague guess.
Li Mo had told her that he had many ghosts inside him.
If ghosts couldn't enter that area, what would happen to Li Mo, who had many ghosts inside him, when he entered?
Falling into a coma was probably a relatively good outcome.
"Yume! He... he's not breathing! His heart isn't beating either..."
"Senior Mingyue... is dead?"
Li Mo's body had become stiff and cold. Livor mortis appeared on his arms and neck, his skin losing its color, leaving only a deathly ashen gray.
His chest didn't rise and fall, his heart had stopped, his breathing had disappeared.
All signs pointed to one thing: Li Mo's physiological functions had completely ceased. He was a dead man.
Kanagawa Yume froze for a moment, then slowly walked to Li Mo's side, tentatively placing her hand under his nose.
She felt no air flow.
Unconvinced, Kanagawa Yume lowered her head, pressing her ear to Li Mo's right chest, trying to hear a faint heartbeat.
But that heart was like it had been frozen, completely still.
"..."
How can this be...
How could he die...
Die...
At this moment, this body was like a corpse that had been dead for a long time. It had already begun to rot, emitting a foul stench.
Only one slender arm, white as jade, purer than snow, was like a work of art painstakingly crafted by an artist, flawless.
A woman's arm, attached to a rotting male corpse, looked utterly out of place.
The members of the Occult Club fell into a long silence.
There were still two floors left. Without Li Mo's guidance, they had no idea how to survive the nights to come.
Like the second and third nights, if not for Li Mo's advance planning, they would have probably died a miserable, unexplained death by now.
"What... what do we do now?"
Someone asked, but no one answered.
The question was simple, but answering it required greater courage and魄力.
"Look, Senior Mingyue's hand!"
Someone in the crowd shouted. Everyone's gaze quickly focused on Li Mo's left hand. It was disappearing at a visible rate.
Soon, Li Mo's corpse was missing an arm.
If one were to dissect the corpse, they would find some other things missing, such as: the heart.
No one would want to do that. Li Mo had done so much for them; no one was willing to bear that guilt.
Kanagawa Yume had the thought, because she knew Li Mo had many ghosts inside him. If ghosts could be controlled by Li Mo, then she might be able to obtain them too.
It was just that she didn't know the process of mastering them or the price she would have to pay.
It was certainly not something an ordinary person like her could afford.
So, there was only one way to survive.
"The notebook."
Kanagawa Yume's eyes narrowed. She reached into Li Mo's clothes and took out the mysterious notebook.
Seeing that the notebook was something from Li Mo, the president immediately asked, "Yume, is this...?"
Kanagawa Yume's expression was grave, her face serious. "A notebook. It's used the same way as the Bloody Newspaper. You can ask it questions, and it will give a reasonable answer."
Everyone's hearts lifted at this. What they lacked now was a way to survive.
But after a moment of joy, their hearts grew heavy again.
Because the Bloody Newspaper would lie, and it had almost gotten them all killed. Was the notebook really trustworthy?
If it was so useful, why hadn't Li Mo used it?
"Yume, stop keeping us in suspense. If it were really that useful, Senior Mingyue would have used it long ago. There's no need to hide it."
"The notebook you're holding is probably just as likely to lie as the Bloody Newspaper."
The president analyzed rationally, and the others nodded in agreement.
But Kanagawa Yume refuted her view: "No, the notebook doesn't lie. He... Mingyue told me so himself. And it doesn't require any price. The notebook has the answer to everything."
"Then why...?"
It doesn't lie, requires no price, and can answer any question.
Isn't that omniscience?
And if it's omniscient, isn't it omnipotent?
If it was so useful, then why did Li Mo still die last night?
Seeing everyone's confusion, Kanagawa Yume placed the notebook on the Ghost Bed, spread her hands, and motioned for everyone to open it, while saying:
"Because the notebook doesn't answer just any question. It only answers meaningful questions, or questions from people it deems valuable."
Kanagawa Yume wasn't very clear on the logic of its use, but that's what Li Mo had said.
"I'll go first!"
A lucky club member stepped forward.
On the first night, she had dutifully stayed with the group, not "pretending to be a ghost" or "being alone."
On the second night, she hid under the Ghost Bed Li Mo had sent over and escaped another disaster.
On the third night, her luck was not good, but not bad either.
After the third Ghost Bed she was hiding under was flipped over, she was forced to play "Red Light, Green Light" with the ghosts at Li Mo's reminder.
During the gap when the ghosts weren't moving, she made the most correct choice of her life and hid under the first bed.
The other two, one hid in a box, the other ran towards the corridor. Both died, in extremely gruesome ways.
But good luck wouldn't always be on her side, because good luck wouldn't always be on a fool's side.
She hoped her luck could help her get out of this haunted place alive...
The person opened the notebook to the first page.
She asked, "I want to know how to survive the fourth and fifth floors."
[...]
After a long time, the notebook gave no reply.
So the member rephrased, "What should I be careful of if I want to survive tomorrow?"
[...]
The notebook still gave no reply.
It was obvious that the notebook considered her a person of no value, or that the question she asked was meaningless to it.
"Next," the president urged.
Everyone looked at each other, at a loss.
To make better use of the notebook, Kanagawa Yume, based on her two experiences with it, reminded everyone:
"The question needs to be more specific. If even a specific question doesn't get an answer, the notebook probably thinks the person is of no value and won't answer."
After she said this, still no one came forward to ask. Some were worried about some kind of delayed price, others hadn't thought of a question yet.
"I will."
The president stepped forward, also to the first page of the notebook.
Taking a deep breath, the president's expression was solemn as she asked in a clear, formal voice:
"When is the safest time for us to go up to the fourth floor?"
The question was quite specific. The notebook would only need to answer with a few numbers.
And the question wasn't difficult. If the notebook wasn't willing to answer even this question, it could only mean the president was not within the notebook's consideration.
[...]
No miracle happened. Even though the question had been refined to this degree, the notebook still had no intention of answering.
"..."
The atmosphere was a little strange. Everyone lowered their heads, their spirits low.
They couldn't think of a more specific question.
Then, they could only go one by one, trying to find someone among the ten who was more suited to the notebook's use.
However, no one emerged.
The notebook refused to answer any of their questions.
"Yume, is this notebook really useful? We've asked everything we can think of: how to survive, the types of ghosts, safe times, safe areas, the origin of the haunted manor... We even asked about our future other halves like you did before, but it still didn't answer a single word. Aren't its requirements a little too harsh?"
"Is the notebook broken?"
For two hours, the ten members of the Occult Club had gathered together, asking almost every question they could think of.
Not a single one got any reaction from the notebook.
"I'll try." Kanagawa Yume pursed her lips, her eyes lowered, a faint light in her pupils as she stared at the corpse for a long time.
Kanagawa Yume remembered the process of Li Mo letting her use the notebook.
The first time, she had cheerfully asked, "Oh, mysterious notebook, please answer me, is my future other half male or female..."
The notebook didn't answer.
The second time, her question got an answer. The question was: "Where does my future other half come from..."
At that time, three lines of Chinese text had appeared on it.
[My name is Kanagawa Yume.]
[The person who will accompany me for the rest of my life is from outside this world. He is already dead. I personally witnessed his death.]
[If I die with him, is that one more dead person, or one less?]
"What's wrong, Yume? Why aren't you asking?"
"Nothing..." Kanagawa Yume paused, her gaze shifting from Li Mo's corpse to the notebook. "I just remembered something very important."
She had mentioned that Li Mo was a specialist from the United Nations, but Li Mo had never admitted it.
In fact, Kanagawa Yume had always held great suspicion about Li Mo's identity.
Especially after Li Mo told her that the incident at the haunted manor would either be dealt with immediately, or it would erupt in a few decades and become impossible to deal with.
For such a matter of global survival, the UN had only sent two people... and only Li Mo was dealing with the most important core incident...
If Li Mo came here, he must have relevant intelligence. The UN would surely seal off the area to prevent ghosts from killing people and evolving.
No matter how you analyzed it from any angle or logic, it couldn't convince Kanagawa Yume.
So there was only one truth. This world didn't have any professional personnel to deal with paranormal events.
He was special. He was the person from outside this world that the notebook had predicted.