No matter how many reasons she and the people in the chat room had, Li Mo could only offer one sentence.
"Anyone who enters a paranormal incident related to the Bizarre must be prepared to sacrifice everything."
"Whether it's her, me, or you."
Without that resolve, one was doomed to not get far on the path of fighting the Bizarre. It was like a game of rock-paper-scissors where each round was independent, with no tricks or gimmicks. The ghost and the person threw at the same time.
The ghost couldn't lose; the living couldn't win. If the ghost lost, the game continued; if the living person lost, the game was over. And the game itself would continue eternally, until the moment the living person lost and died.
At 7:40 PM, Li Mo stood outside the domain of the ninth room. He only needed to take one step forward to enter the safe zone where the Bizarre couldn't reach. However, for him, this safe zone was the most dangerous place in the entire haunted house. Because he, too, was a ghost, subject to its rules.
In his living state, Li Mo hadn't been able to decipher the secret of this place and the sudden prompts that appeared in his mind. Now, in a state of extreme calm, combining everything he had experienced in the haunted house with all the known information, Li Mo had analyzed its rules.
His transmigration was a soul transmigration, not an accident, but intentional. The prompts in his mind were likely one of the puzzle pieces of the notebook, possessing the ability to foresee the future. The notebook's eagerness to complete itself was probably also due to its desire to break its original rules and provide answers to dangers that were even harder to detect.
The prompts were more than just pure future prediction. Although Li Mo had the ability to defy the choices presented, he couldn't bear the consequences of doing so.
He could completely ignore the notebook's choices and forge his own path, but the prompts in his mind were the only options among several directions. Why so few? Because choosing any of the unlisted options meant losing his future. All paths not shown in the prompts were dead ends.
"You want me to go back there, which means you've seen my complete memories."
"Then why do you think this is the only way I can survive, only to feel immense regret later?"
"I don't think I'll regret it. You seem to have predicted wrong. I can accept my own death, so naturally, I can accept the death of a companion."
Li Mo murmured to the ninth room, his voice calm.
After a long wait, the ninth room still gave no response. Despite this, Li Mo was certain that none of this was a coincidence. Sending a soul to another world was not something a single ghost could accomplish. There was a ghost in that room, and it retained a certain level of consciousness.
"Let me see what you really want me to do."
Li Mo stepped toward the room's entrance once more. This time, the chains on the door remained still.
"Tsk!"
The familiar feeling of being pulled away prevented Li Mo from staying for long. He quickly retreated from the area in front of the ninth room. It was a pain that couldn't be explained by common sense. Besides, the ghost didn't seem to want to answer his questions; otherwise, it would have given him a hint the moment he entered.
Just as Li Mo thought he had failed and was about to leave, an unfamiliar scene flashed in his mind.
In the vision, he was walking down a corridor of infinite width and height, leading Kanagawa Yume and a few surviving ordinary people in one direction. It wasn't forward, as there were no reliable reference points.
The only thing visible were ghosts, walking beside them like a procession, but they didn't attack the living, just moved forward aimlessly. Humans and ghosts, not interfering with each other, each walking toward their own destination...
At the very end, there was only a blurry image. In it, he had safely reached the fifth floor...
"Just like that... so easily?" Li Mo couldn't help but ponder the authenticity of the memory. The first three floors had their own distinct rules, but the fourth floor seemed like child's play—just keep moving forward to pass.
Li Mo recalled the memory fragment. After his rebirth on Mount Taixuan, he could no longer forget memories; he could remember everything he had personally experienced with perfect clarity. But this memory was hazy. No matter how hard he tried to recall it, he couldn't see it clearly.
"Because it's about the future, I can't remember it clearly," Li Mo concluded.
"It's almost 8:00 PM. I have to survive the third floor's night again. It's too late for 'Hide-and-Seek'; the haunted bed is gone. Only 'Red Light, Green Light' remains."
"My reflexes are good enough to handle this game, but when the Knocking Ghost appears, I'll surely die. So why did I see myself reach the fourth floor in my memory?"
"Did something happen to the Knocking Ghost, or will it simply not kill me tonight?" Li Mo quickly reasoned. Although he didn't know what had happened in the haunted house while he was in another world, he had no other choice. His only faint hope rested on some unknown change in the Knocking Ghost.
Li Mo held the communicator he had taken from Shigure Kira. After they parted on Mount Taixuan, Shigure Kira had given him the corresponding other half.
It was a device with only ten minutes of communication time, but it could force a connection across many rules. Very precious, but unfortunately, there was only one pair. Once used, it was gone.
His own communicator was probably taken by Kanagawa Yume, while Shigure Kira's had fallen into his hands. Fate was truly fickle.
He took out his phone; the time showed 7:49 PM. Eleven minutes left. Li Mo returned to the main hall and walked back to Shigure Kira's body. There were faint bloodstains on her pale lips, a stark, vivid red. She had welcomed her own death with a beautiful, tragic smile. Her time was frozen. Without external interference, she would probably remain in this state forever. Until Bizarre Kiana hatched. At that point, Shigure Kira would be truly, finally dead.
On the sofa, Li Mo noticed the streamer pointing her phone camera at him, her fingers tapping lightly on the screen. She was probably chatting with her viewers about ghosts. Li Mo knew why the streamer was angry, but so what? Had he done something wrong?
Li Mo asked himself. He had dealt with the Bizarre without reservation, even putting his own life on the line. No one had the right to judge him, to criticize him. Because he was the one who was truly bleeding. The loss of a companion was not a rare event. No matter how much the person involved couldn't accept it, in the end, they could only let go and face reality. Not all endings were as beautiful and perfect as fairy tales.
"..."
In a daze, Li Mo suddenly remembered his conversation with Cecilia. Knowing a story is a tragedy, would you still want to keep reading? At the time, Li Mo's answer was that he could accept it, and was willing to. He had done it. He had calmly accepted Shigure Kira's death, with no intention of saving her. Perhaps he could have, but the price was too high. He might die, the Bizarre would spread out of control, and everyone would die.
In this desperate, oppressive world where one wrong choice could kill everyone, Li Mo couldn't be an idealist, even if his Bizarre heart burned with a fiery passion. His second answer had expressed his dissatisfaction with a tragic ending. He would tear up the original plot of the story, reshape it into what he wanted, and rewrite the ending himself. That's what he had once told Cecilia. But he had broken his promise. He hadn't done it. Not because he couldn't, but because he didn't dare, he couldn't.
"..."
His murky eyes grew hazy, as if shrouded in a gray fog, misted over by some unknown vapor.
Life, death...
Ideals, reality...
Beauty, tragedy...
Thought, rules...
Freedom, slavery...
The world was truly absurd, like a magnificent stage play where everyone played different roles, with masterful or clumsy acting, all to better fit the "script." To answer "fate's expectations." People wore masks, bound by shackles, living heavy, undignified lives. Those who lose their freedom are slaves, and those who gain freedom are also slaves. From the very beginning, everyone was destined to be a slave, because no one ever had a choice.
Weighing the pros and cons of reality, they chose the most cost-effective options from a seemingly endless array of answers, and finally made a final judgment based on personal character and circumstances. The only choice that could be made was the one and only: the "script," "fate's expectation."
Everyone was like this. The brilliant Mei, the high and mighty gods, the mediocre mortals... without exception, everyone was entangled in this spiderweb of fate. No matter how much they struggled, they were only a few strands of silk less entangled than the second before.
"..."
Just like himself. Just like the prompts of fate he encountered. Countless paths lay before him, but only a few were visible, and only one was walkable. He couldn't save Shigure Kira, because saving her would release Bizarre Kiana, and he would surely die. If he died, the ritual in the haunted house would spin completely out of control, and the Bizarre would spread. The agreement would be broken, and with Mei's personality, she would directly wash her hands of it and leave. He couldn't afford to lose. Every choice required too much thought, too much to bear. It seemed like he was always making choices, but in reality, Li Mo never had a choice, because a choice made after weighing the pros and cons is not a choice. He was just picking the most advantageous option based on the situation.
This was compromise.
"..."
How long would this road go on before it reached its end? How long until the finale... Was death the final destination? Or was what came after death the final destination? Or perhaps... even after death, there was no final destination, no destination at all. What did he have to do to end all tragedies, to truly kill the primordial Bizarre...
"Heh heh..." A sinister and stiff laugh escaped Li Mo's lips, chilling to the bone. It was like the whisper of a demon, the echo of the deepest hell. Humans are a collection of contradictions. No matter the era, no matter the person.
The streamer saw this and instantly scrambled back several steps, curling up and pointing her phone camera at Li Mo.
AntisocialWidowYukiOnna: WTF, this guy is terrifying. Not only does he look like a ghost, but he acts like one too. What normal person would laugh looking at their lover's corpse?
CatHorde: I seriously question his mental state. How twisted must his psyche be...
TrulyWorthyOfShadow-sama: Heh, good, his level of chuuni is on par with mine.
BuildingMaterialsKing: This guy is not right. Streamer, stay away from him. Didn't you notice that when he laughed, his facial muscles didn't move? Not only that, but his eyes and expression haven't changed at all since the beginning. He might be a ghost!
Editor-in-ChiefYae: The person above has a point. He even brought someone back from the dead. It's hard to imagine what other horrors exist in this haunted house. The paranormal forums have been shut down, but the officials haven't clarified that it's a rumor. Many videos online have been deleted. The haunted house probably has real ghosts. Streamer, be careful yourself. You might... you might really die here.
Reading these comments, the streamer's heart went cold. The paranormal forums were shut down, and the officials hadn't directly called it a rumor.
What did that mean? If she hadn't experienced it herself, the streamer would have known at a glance that news like this about a haunted house was a rumor, just for clicks, and would have decisively filled that in as the reason for the shutdown. But the officials hadn't done that.
There was only one reason: they had indeed found something. The random deletion of videos online was probably just to reduce public panic. After all, if the haunted house story was confirmed, it would create a strong sense of crisis among the public, and social order would collapse to some extent.
But why hadn't anyone come to deal with it! The streamer cursed inwardly. But what she didn't know was that the officials had already sent many people, but they had all died and become the ghosts that looked for people.
"Huh? Where's my stream?"
Just as the streamer snapped out of her indignation, she found her stream screen was black. There were only a few large words on it: "Your stream has violated the platform's relevant regulations and is suspected of illegal activities. It has been temporarily banned. For details, please contact..."
For the streamer, this was like adding frost to snow. She had been relying on the chat to muster up the courage to face this. Without the support of the netizens, just her alone with this strange man...
7:50 PM.
The communicator in Li Mo's hand vibrated, emitting a shrill sound. Li Mo answered the call, not rushing to speak, but waiting quietly for the person on the other end.
Kanagawa Yume: "Hello, this is Kanagawa Yume."
Li Mo: "This is Li Mo."
Kanagawa Yume: "...?!"
Li Mo: "A problem?"
Kanagawa Yume: "Li Mo?? You're Li Mo? You're alive? You're not dead?"
On the call, Kanagawa Yume asked three questions in a row, her tone urgent, every word revealing joy and suspicion. The communicator could only last for ten minutes, and ten minutes later would be exactly 8:00 PM, the time when the Bizarre reawakened.
Li Mo: "Where are you now?"
Kanagawa Yume: "Fourth floor. I took the diary, the handgun, the thermometer, and the communicator from your body. I went to the fourth floor with the survivors."
"We've been walking here for a long, long time without reaching an end. There are many ghosts following us... many, more than you can imagine... countless, anyway."
"To break the stalemate, we chose one person to walk in the same direction as the ghosts. We waited a long time, but she never came back. So we could only walk in the opposite direction of the ghosts, but we still haven't seen an end."
Kanagawa Yume had matured a lot, quickly explaining the general experience and key points. The notebook's prophecy had come true.
[At 7:50 PM, I activated the communicator.]
[The communicator's effective time is only ten minutes. In these ten minutes, I answered the questions of the person on the other end truthfully.]
This was the future the notebook had predicted, a perfect match. But Kanagawa Yume had never expected the person who answered the call to be Li Mo. His body was right there on the third floor... He wasn't dead... That's great.
Since the first part of the prophecy had come true, the rest was likely to happen as well.
[At 8:00 PM, the Soul Ferrying Passage will begin to operate.]
[At 8:01 PM, the Soul Ferrying Passage will stop operating.]
[At 8:01 PM, all existence in the haunted house will have its time flow stopped, entering a special state—"Eternal Death."]
[At 8:01 PM...]
[...]
[...]
Li Mo: "Anything else... special."
Kanagawa Yume: "Special? Yes, but not really that special."
"It's just that the ghosts walking in the opposite direction next to us are always the same faces. They all mutter a few words or simple phrases."
"Some are names, some are specific symbols, like 'game,' 'money,' 'an idol's name,' things like that. I suspect these ghosts aren't complete; they're all ghost souls, I guess you could say."
"But just a little while ago, we saw a very strange ghost."
"She was probably dead, no different from the other ghosts, but her clothes and appearance were a bit special, so I took a closer look."
Li Mo's figure stiffened, his pupils dilating and constricting. "What... did she say."
Kanagawa Yume: "Hold on, let me think carefully."
"Right, the thousands of ghosts all said only one thing, but she said two things, and both of them caught my attention."
Kanagawa Yume hesitated for a few seconds. A moment later, words that made Li Mo's soul tremble came through the communicator.
"Child, and... your name."
After hearing this, Li Mo's lips parted slightly, his eyes staring blankly at Shigure Kira. He approached her, his eyes vacant, and reached out to touch her lower abdomen.
"..."
After a brief touch, Li Mo finally confirmed a fact. Shigure Kira was pregnant.
Kanagawa Yume: "Li Mo? Are you listening? Li Mo? Li Mo!?"
Not getting a response for a long time, Kanagawa Yume panicked, repeatedly calling Li Mo's name through the communicator.
Clang!
The communicator in Li Mo's hand fell to the ground. Kanagawa Yume's calls continued to sound from it, but Li Mo never picked it up. Because it was no longer important.
"Ugh!"
Li Mo knelt on the ground, his head splitting with a pain a thousand, ten thousand times more intense than the soul-tearing agony in the ninth room. His face contorted in a ferocious grimace. He jammed his fingers into his head, cold blood gushing from the wounds.
Heal, tear, heal, tear again... over and over, but this pain was nothing compared to the redefinition of his soul.
Scarlet blood seeped from Li Mo's eyes, dripping onto the ground in large drops. His eardrums ruptured, blood flowing from all seven orifices.
"Kill... ghosts...!" Bizarre words escaped Li Mo's mouth uncontrollably, as if not of his own volition.
"Exterminate... the Bizarre...!"
"Spread... rejected...!"
He mutilated himself in an almost unrestrainedly cruel manner, kneading his head into a pulp, but the undying nature of the Bizarre quickly restored it, in an seemingly endless cycle. The ground was already piled with shattered skull fragments, indistinct chunks of flesh, crimson blood, and thick brain matter... This was by no means driven by anger. It was a confrontation between rules and humanity.
From the day Li Mo got the notebook, he had constantly teetered on the edge of life and death. Walking on the path to the underworld, completing rituals, dealing with the Bizarre, delaying corruption, preventing its spread. At first, it was very, very tiring.
Fatigue, weariness, annoyance, fear... many negative emotions flooded his mind, making it impossible for Li Mo to continue. He was just an ordinary person, why did he have to be a savior? Why did he have to silently endure despair and oppression?
Li Mo knew very well that if he continued, he would surely die, die in some paranormal incident, unknown to anyone, a silent, miserable death. But whenever a paranormal incident showed signs of spreading, he would always be the first on the scene, dealing with the Bizarre in time.
Every time, it was a brush with death. Li Mo didn't know why he did it. Perhaps it was his inner hero complex, his belief in a better world, or maybe...
Whatever the reason, surviving death time and time again made Li Mo gradually mature, more determined than ever. Since the Bizarre must not spread, he would just fill that gap. Until he died. He was willing to use his life to realize his ideals.
Not just talk about it: "To fight for all that is beautiful in the world." This was his state of mind when he took on the responsibility of the Seven Swords of Taixuan on Mount Taixuan.
Because he had witnessed it with his own eyes.
A kind mother sat by the window, knitting a warm, thick sweater for her son who was studying hard away from home. Her calloused, dark fingers were pierced with dozens of small holes by the needle, fresh blood seeping from the wounds, but she never stopped.
She foolishly picked up an old bowl and drank the thin porridge inside in one gulp.
An armored general led his soldiers to fight bravely, repelling the enemy and defending the country. Even with several large crossbow bolts piercing his chest, dying on his horse, he still shouted "Forward!", waving the banner that symbolized the army's will.
After the Bizarre descended, the mother collapsed by the window, the half-knitted sweater scattered on the floor. The general, with red eyes, swung his sword at his own men, slaughtering his own soldiers.
Such stories, such changes. This was not the beautiful world Li Mo envisioned. He couldn't accept it, nor did he approve of it. But what good was not approving? The people who were supposed to die would still die. The destined tragedy still existed. What could not approving, not accepting, change?
So Li Mo constantly wrestled with the Bizarre, dealing with paranormal incidents, thinking he was living up to his beliefs.
However—
When ideals and reality collide.
When beauty and tragedy reach their end.
When thought and rules diverge.
When you begin to doubt yourself, completely denying everything you've done.
When something important that you can't let go of forms an irreconcilable, irreversible conflict with the beliefs you practice.
"Please use absolute reason to suppress those emotions that shouldn't be there."
Mei had once warned Li Mo so, that in a paranormal incident, he must not act on impulse. Li Mo had listened, and most of the time, he didn't need this reminder.
After dying so many times, his emotions had become numb, and he naturally became rational, focused only on dealing with the Bizarre. But that was before Li Mo's emotions had collapsed.
The souls walking in the endless Soul Ferrying Passage on the fourth floor were all dead souls. Shigure Kira appeared there, muttering his name and the name of their unborn child until her death... She had walked so quietly, step by step, without a sound, toward her own end. She had swallowed all her grievances and sorrows.
Shigure Kira didn't want to distract him, so she had hidden the truth.
How could a Valkyrie's appetite be so small? It was because Shigure Kira had no appetite. Why did she get so angry when he teased her about gaining weight? Because Shigure Kira had really "gained weight" and was desperate to hide the fact.
Why did she take his casual joke seriously, deliberately acting like a spoiled kitten, responding to his expectations? Because Shigure Kira was treating their relationship with a true heart.
And so many other details...
Li Mo had countless opportunities to know the truth, countless opportunities to see her heart. But he hadn't. He was like a dull piece of deadwood, feeling the changing of the seasons, the warmth of winter and the coolness of summer, but giving not a single response.
Until the seasons no longer changed, time no longer flowed, and the years died in a cry of sorrow. Only then did the deadwood burst into life, sprouting new shoots. But it was all too late, too late, too late.
Missed opportunities, mistakes made, no matter how much you regret, you can't make up for them. You can only spend the rest of your life in remorse and self-blame, trying to deny your past to console yourself, to deceive yourself.
So... this was the so-called "choice of immense regret" in the fate prompt. "My name is Li Mo. When you see this, I have made a choice that I regret immensely." So that's how it was... that's how it was...
"Get out of my body!"
"I said, get out of my body!"
Li Mo's voice trembled. He crushed his own skull with his left hand. "Usurp" triggered, attempting to seize the source of his guilt: his deep-seated "belief." Li Mo couldn't know it was a rule, so "Usurp" had no effect.
The rule still kept Li Mo absolutely rational, urging him to get through the third night peacefully, go to the fourth floor as seen in his memory, and safely reach the fifth floor to complete the ritual.
Emotion plunged Li Mo into self-blame and madness, making him want to compensate for this feeling at all costs. Between the extreme rules and extreme emotions, Li Mo broke down. He constantly destroyed himself, and each time his body healed, the corruption increased.
"Li Mo!! Li Mo!! What's happening over there!?"
"Are you okay!? Hello? Hello? Can you hear me? Damn it!! This damn communicator!!"
The communicator's battery died, cutting off the connection. But before it did, Kanagawa Yume heard the screams and roars from Li Mo's side, and some sounds of seemingly cruel self-harm. The streamer was even more terrified, huddled in a corner, motionless, biting her hand, completely consumed by fear.
Finally, at the stroke of eight o'clock, Li Mo, with his extreme emotions suppressing the rules, in order to save Shigure Kira, first killed Shigure Kira. And he also killed himself...
————
"!"
In the Prime World, Mei suddenly froze.
She quickly ran back to her room, took out a newly made paper doll from a drawer, let out her heart's blood, and dripped it onto the paper doll's eyes. Then, without a moment's hesitation, she burst into Elysia's room.
Elysia was kneeling on top of Mei, the two facing each other, the atmosphere charged. Pardofelis was biting the bedsheets, lying next to them with a look of utter despair.
"Hey, hey, hey? Is Mei here for a night raid? Do you want to join my paradise? If it's Mei, I'd be more than happy to~"
Mei's face was extremely pale. She didn't have much time.
"Get dressed immediately. Take Mei and Pardofelis and find Li Mo, right now."
Mei's tone was extremely urgent, her speaking speed more than twice as fast as usual. At the same time, her flesh began to wither, her body collapsing at a visible rate. Before long, Mei would likely become a piece of dry, shriveled human skin.
"Huh? What happened to Bro Mo? Wait, Dr. Mei, you're..."
"Now is not the time to talk about this. Fifteen minutes. I can hold on for fifteen minutes at most. If you can't find Li Mo within fifteen minutes, I will die." Mei spoke of her own death without a care, only emphasizing her tone when she mentioned Li Mo.
After hearing this, even the usually laid-back Elysia became serious. She grabbed Mei and Pardofelis and rushed toward the Bizarre Cave. Before leaving, Mei added a word of caution: "Ely, if necessary, abandon your suppression of Pardofelis. Mei, you know what to do."
Mei was stunned for a moment, then understood Mei's meaning. Bizarre Mei would not descend unless she killed herself.
Soon, the three disappeared from the small house, leaving Mei alone, collapsed on the ground. Her legs had already turned into thin sheets of paper, unable to walk. Everything has a price. The price for delaying Li Mo's reawakening was a gamble with her life on the line.
Before her consciousness blurred, a rare, bitter smile appeared on Mei's pale face, revealing her essence once again—
"You are the reason I continue to live. I am the support for your fragile humanity..."
Mei closed her eyes.
Bizarre Mei, Bizarre Pardofelis, the Divine Maiden, and the possibly reawakening Bizarre Hua. "Wishing," "Khorne," "Divinity," "Forgetting and Passing"... so many top-tier rules.
They could easily deal with any single Bizarre. But Mei wasn't too confident. The most deeply corrupted was Hua. Mei had only been corrupted for a few hundred years, Pardofelis for only a few short years.
But for the source Bizarre to have killed a fully armed Li Mo so many times, the corruption it carried was definitely not small. Plus a Bizarre Kiana who had been twisted for at least a million years, with equally top-tier rules...
The odds of dealing with Bizarre Kiana alone were one in ten.
And in that one-in-ten chance, the "Divinity" rule accounted for ninety percent of the credit. If the source Bizarre and Bizarre Kiana joined forces, the odds were zero.
They could only pray that the source Bizarre and Bizarre Kiana would fight each other. That way, they would have about a fifty percent chance. But even if they succeeded in bringing Li Mo back, many irreversible things would happen.
The Bizarre in the parallel world would lose control and begin to spread. The ghosts in the Prime World would reawaken...
Fate and reality were just that unfair.