"Really?!"
"I knew you were hiding something, you little rascal! Bring it on! I can't wait. I'd love to see what kind of answers this kind of supernatural item will give to your questions!"
Kanagawa Yume flipped up into a sitting position with a joyful leap, but the wound from where the bullet had pierced her ankle tore open. The corners of her mouth twitched uncontrollably a few times, and she gave Li Mo an awkward, sheepish smile.
Li Mo's attention wasn't on her at all. His deathly pale face was like a sheet of A4 paper, giving Kanagawa Yume the strange illusion that he had been dead for a long time. His expression was calm, almost gloomy, and his eyes had become even cloudier, completely lacking the focus that human eyes should have.
Li Mo sat down next to Kanagawa Yume with the notebook. The candle flickered slightly but remained stable, though it was still being consumed. If this continued, it was only a matter of time before the candle went out. The room had already judged Li Mo to be a ghost.
"What question are you going to ask? Didn't you say before that this diary doesn't answer just any question? So what kind of questions does it answer?" Kanagawa Yume took out her clipboard and notebook, ready to record everything she was about to see.
Li Mo didn't stop her. It was best for the world to know the truth about the Bizarre, but most people wouldn't believe it because they would never encounter it.
"How to survive."
Li Mo answered concisely, and under Kanagawa Yume's gaze, he opened the notebook to the first page.
"But I was asking what kind of questions the diary answers."
"Everything."
"Then why didn't it answer my first question? Is my taste too weird, and the supernatural item's brain couldn't process it?"
"Because you don't have anything it can take from you yet."
"What do you mean? It takes something from me after it answers?"
"No."
The notebook's exchange wasn't like "Usurpation," "Wishing," or the "Bizarre Cave," which would directly make an exchange. Instead, it made people willingly walk into the future it had laid out, leading them into a death trap according to its predicted outcome. It seemed like nothing was lost, but in reality, much was.
Li Mo didn't say any more to Kanagawa Yume.
"No need to repeat my death. I need to know how to escape the Knocking Ghost's pursuit."
"Before you answer that, answer this first: if I pierce my own eardrums, tear off my ears, and destroy my auditory nerves, what will happen if I lose my human sense of hearing?"
No matter what trap the notebook set, Li Mo could only follow its instructions for now. He had no way to deal with this Knocking Ghost. As long as he was in this haunted manor, the Knocking Ghost was practically invincible. But that didn't mean Li Mo couldn't have his own ideas. He needed to determine what one of the Knocking Ghost's killing rules was.
Beside him, Kanagawa Yume was stunned for two seconds, then turned to look at Li Mo in disbelief.
What kind of ruthless person is this? It's one thing to have a gun, but why is every other word about rivers of blood... Piercing eardrums, tearing off ears, destroying nerves, is that something a normal person can say? There's no medical equipment or antiseptic medicine here. If you're not careful and use too much force, you could easily bleed to death!
[My name is Li Mo. By the time you read this, I will have already died on the fourth floor.]
"Huh? You're dead? Does that mean... you're the real ghost!" Kanagawa Yume panicked, trying to scoot away, but found that her injuries wouldn't let her escape Li Mo's grasp. She could only obediently scoot back.
With a look of utter despair, she said, "This shitty life... Mingyue, oh wait... your name is Li Mo. Tell me, what else do I need to be careful of when I'm with you? Do I need to be careful when I'm reincarnated in my next life? Should I not get too close to you?"
Li Mo replied noncommittally, "Staying away from me is the right choice. Unless it's absolutely necessary, it's best not to approach me." He carried a contamination with him. If a long-lived species came into contact with it, they would very likely turn into a vengeful spirit after dying many years later. For short-lived species, it didn't matter. The contamination wouldn't have spread to their souls by the time they died, so there was no risk of them becoming a vengeful spirit.
"I was just kidding. This diary must be playing word games. It probably means you'll be killed by a ghost on the fourth day." Li Mo had told Kanagawa Yume before that the stairs to the next floor would appear after surviving one night. The fourth floor corresponded to the fourth day.
"That's a good thing," Li Mo said faintly, as if he didn't care about his own death at all.
"A good thing? Could this thing be lying?"
"No."
"And that's a good thing? If the diary isn't lying, then you'll definitely die on the fourth day. Is that also a good thing? You're a strange person..." From appearing out of nowhere and saving her, to dealing with all sorts of supernatural phenomena in the haunted manor with ease.
He was like he had known the script in advance, a prophet.
Did the diary tell him the script? A thought suddenly popped into Kanagawa Yume's head, but then she thought it was unreasonable. Since Li Mo could so openly let her use the diary and even demonstrate how to use it, it meant he wasn't too dependent on it.
Otherwise, he would have hidden it and used it secretly. That was human nature. Who would be willing to share such a life-saving item? Others would be green with envy.
Kanagawa Yume stroked her delicate chin, thoughtfully humming to herself. She remembered Li Mo saying "just this once," which meant he didn't use the diary often, only at the most critical moments.
The diary's answers were one-sided and not very specific. But repeated use could surely provide a more complete plan. The reason why he didn't do so was clear—it required a price.
She had asked Li Mo before if the diary would take anything from the user, and he had said no. But Li Mo had also specifically mentioned that the diary didn't answer her because she didn't have anything it could take.
I don't get it... Why are things related to the supernatural so complicated...
"Dying on the fourth day means my choices in the next three days will most likely be correct."
"...Thirty-six divided by six, is still six. Okay, okay, your way of thinking is truly different. Dying on the fourth day means you won't die in the first three days, right?"
Li Mo didn't explain further. In fact, he would only die on the fourth day if he acted normally. If he made any wrong judgments or absurd decisions in the first three days, he would still die when he was supposed to.
The notebook wouldn't lie, but the prophecies it stated weren't necessarily a fixed future. It could just be a future that wouldn't change under normal circumstances.
If everything was normal for the first three days, he would definitely die on the fourth day. But on the other hand, if he could make an effective move to break the stalemate, he could change this future. The premise was that this future could be changed. Some futures could, but some couldn't.
[At midnight, just as the sound of the Knocking Ghost's knocking is about to come, I will tear off my own ears, pierce my eardrums, and destroy my auditory nerves, over and over again, until the Knocking Ghost finishes its thirty-two knocks on the eighth room and leaves.]
[At 12:07 AM, the candles in all the rooms of the Outer World will go out. The candle in my room will also go out. The Knocking Ghost will come to the first floor again.]
[At 12:08 AM, Kanagawa Yume will die.]
[At 12:09 AM, Kanagawa Yume will be completely dead.]
[At 12:10 AM, I will die.]
"What the hell? I can die twice?" Kanagawa Yume said angrily, pointing at the crooked English letters on the first page of the notebook.
"That's not important," Li Mo replied calmly. "The point is that the candles in the rooms of the Outer World will all go out. Your companions, they will hear the sound of the ghost knocking from our world. After that, the Knocking Ghost will notice the living people on the first floor, go to them, and the candles will go out accordingly."
"Are there any consequences?"
"Without the candles to suppress the ghosts in the manor and shield the presence of the living, everyone will die. You and I are no exception."
"Then what should we do? Just wait to die? No, if we all die, then the diary's prophecy that you'll die on the fourth day won't hold true."
"Because I won't just sit and wait to die," Li Mo replied calmly, thinking about how to solve the trouble in the other world. The candles in the two worlds were connected. If the candles went out, both the Inner and Outer Worlds would become desolate zones ravaged by Bizarre entities.
After thinking about it, he could only think of one feasible solution, but he couldn't guarantee its success. Use "Usurpation" to fully charge Kanagawa Yume's phone and communicate with the living in the other world.
At first glance, this plan seemed good, but it was full of flaws and ignored human nature. First, everyone would have to completely block their hearing. Not as brutally and thoroughly as Li Mo himself, but at least to the point where they couldn't hear any knocking.
There were still twenty-one people in the Outer World now, and it was hard to guarantee that everyone could do it. Information would always be misinterpreted as it spread.
Second, even if everyone could do the above, the problem was, would they be willing, or rather, would they have the judgment to believe his warning? Kanagawa Yume's phone had just run out of battery and turned off, and the people in the Occult Club knew this. If Kanagawa Yume suddenly became active in the group chat again, saying her phone was charged, how many people would believe her?
If it were Li Mo himself, he wouldn't believe that the person on the other end of the line was the real person. If there was a chance to charge the phone, she wouldn't have let it die and lose contact.
Li Mo dismissed this idea and continued to wait for the notebook to give him a plan.
[My name is Li Mo. By the time you read this, I will have already died on the fourth day.]
[At midnight, when the first and second days were transitioning, I heard the knocking. But I didn't do anything about it. Instead, I waited patiently and listened carefully to the knocking, remembering how many times it knocked on each room. I judged that the knocking was not a killing method, but a way to awaken the ghosts in the rooms. The number of times the Knocking Ghost knocked on a door corresponded to the number of ghosts in that room.]
[Based on this judgment, there are three ghosts in the first room, one ghost in the second room, four ghosts in the third room... thirty-two ghosts in the eighth room, and no ghosts in the ninth room.]
[After the Knocking Ghost's thirty-two knocks on the eighth room, I will immediately open the door, hold Kanagawa Yume's left hand with my right, close the door after leaving, and go to the corridor...]
[At 12:07 AM, I will see a tall, dark figure appear outside the corridor, constantly approaching me.]
[At 12:08 AM, I will hold Kanagawa Yume's hand and quickly walk to the end of the corridor, to the door of the ninth room.]
[At 12:09 AM, I will let Kanagawa Yume fall asleep.]
[At 12:10 AM, the Knocking Ghost will stand motionless in front of me and Kanagawa Yume.]
[At 1:00 AM, the Knocking Ghost will still maintain its previous behavior, unchanged.]
[At 2:00 AM, I will be watching the Knocking Ghost's every move. Fortunately, it still has no reaction. I will try to see what this ghost looks like, but besides a large, dark figure, I will see nothing. The Bizarre pistol has little effect on it. It is a relatively complete ghost. If I'm not mistaken, each floor has a ghost that can continuously complete itself.]
[The first floor has the Human-Spider with a hair tie as its true form. The second floor has a tall, dark figure with an unknown true form. The former seizes the consciousness and wisdom of the living, while the latter seizes the completeness of ghosts.]
[At 7:00 AM, the Knocking Ghost will move. It will face me and Kanagawa Yume and slowly retreat step by step.]
[At 8:00 AM, the Knocking Ghost will leave. Kanagawa Yume will still be asleep. I will have survived.]
"..." Li Mo stared at the content above and fell into deep thought. For once, he couldn't see what the notebook wanted him to do from the words. Did the notebook think he would die no matter what with insufficient information, so it simply pointed out a way to live?
"Emmm... I say, you're not just using the diary as an excuse to take advantage of me, are you?"
"Why do I have to hold your hand? What does that have to do with fighting ghosts? You have to explain it clearly. I, Kanagawa Yume, am as pure as jade. The last person who tried to take advantage of me ended up in the ICU for half a day." With that, Kanagawa Yume flexed her arms, which were not muscular, but rather thin and somewhat malnourished.
"I promise you one condition. After this is over, I will satisfy whatever you want."
Kanagawa Yume was stunned and shouted in a panic, "You can't be serious!"
"I am serious." Li Mo, having lost most of his emotions, no longer knew what tact was. He just needed the other party to agree. If they didn't, he would force them to. There were many ways, but if possible, he wanted to resolve it peacefully with the person involved.
"You..." Kanagawa Yume dragged out the word.
"You're too foolish, hahaha! You've probably never even held a girl's hand, have you? How pitiful. It's just holding hands, is it that serious? Fine, fine, consider it repayment for you saving me. As long as you don't cross the line and show some restraint, it's fine~~ I think you're actually a pretty good person."