Kanagawa Yume giggled, looking like a small fry. Considering Li Mo's pride, she took the initiative to hold his right hand. The moment they touched, her whole body couldn't help but tremble. This guy's hand was way too cold! Kanagawa Yume shivered, feeling like she was touching a block of ice from the far north.
Li Mo couldn't understand what Kanagawa Yume found so funny, nor did he want to explain much. Holding hands? Judging by human moral and ethical standards, he had obviously touched and even crossed more moral red lines before. Holding hands was a trivial matter that wasn't even worth mentioning.
But Li Mo didn't say it out loud. The result was what mattered; the process was not important, and other people's opinions and evaluations were even less so. He didn't need to explain, nor did he want to.
"Thump... thump... thump..." The heavy footsteps on the roof stopped abruptly, followed by a crisp, faint knocking sound. The Knocking Ghost had already started knocking, awakening the ghosts in the rooms.
Under these circumstances, there was only one way to survive the second day: find a way to control the ghosts in the rooms and throw them out. As long as they weren't alone and the candles in the rooms remained lit, the living inside would be safe.
So the most suitable room for the living to survive was the second room, not the eighth room revealed by the Bloody Newspaper. The Bloody Newspaper deliberately let the members of the Occult Club enter the eighth room, probably... to kill them and seize their wisdom, just like the Human-Spider.
It was just that the Human-Spider could do it itself, while the Bloody Newspaper, like the notebook, could only induce the living to walk into their carefully arranged traps through enticement and other methods.
Of course, it was also possible that he was overthinking it. Maybe the eighth room had some secrets that were key to survival.
If not, then the thirty-two ghosts in the eighth room, no matter how incomplete, were something even he, in his state closest to becoming a Bizarre entity, wouldn't dare to approach, let alone a group of unsuspecting ordinary people.
"Emmm..." Kanagawa Yume curiously observed Li Mo, whose gaze was focused on the source of the sound above. His cloudy eyeballs moved slowly with the footsteps, and the muscles on his face were as still as a frozen corpse.
Layers of frost as thin as cicada wings appeared on his skin, and the bone-chilling cold spread, making the corners of Kanagawa Yume's mouth twitch uncontrollably a few times.
Kanagawa Yume knew that Li Mo was processing some information, so she was sensible enough not to interrupt his thoughts. As an unsociable delinquent girl, she actually knew how to behave. When to speak and liven up the atmosphere with a joke, and when to remain silent and say nothing.
"Hiss..." But it was really cold... Kanagawa Yume wanted to shake his hand off several times, but she didn't want to embarrass him. She had just made a grand statement, after all.
But suddenly, she saw Li Mo raise his left hand, then lower it. Instantly, the right hand she was holding was no longer bone-chillingly cold, at least not physically. Strangely, a thick layer of white frost had formed on the surface of Li Mo's left arm, and his skin was swollen and purple from the cold.
"It's time to go. I don't want to hear you go back on your word halfway through." Li Mo said very calmly to Kanagawa Yume. Was it a request? But there was no commanding tone. Was it a plea? But there was not the slightest hint of begging.
Kanagawa Yume was very puzzled. How could someone communicate with others without any body language or subconscious movements?
People who claimed not to care about the outside world's opinions, as long as they were human, couldn't completely escape human instincts. But Li Mo seemed to have escaped this human rule, he was very cold.
Is this the kind of specialist sent by the Japanese government, or perhaps the United Nations, to deal with supernatural events?
Hmm, this world really has a lot of things that ordinary people don't know about. Kanagawa Yume carefully memorized Li Mo's every word and action, as well as his speaking style and facial expressions.
After confirming their safety, she would write it down in her notebook. This was rare material.
"Don't worry, I hate pig teammates the most when I'm gaming, especially those noobs in CS who don't know they're noobs and won't stop until I show them my rank screenshot. Well, it's not like there aren't some spineless people who are just stubborn. They'd probably be sent to the crematorium after dying suddenly one day, and their mouths would still be hard after half an hour of burning."
Kanagawa Yume teased, and took the initiative to open the door of the room, showing no fear at all. She put her weight on Li Mo, and after using his support, she was even half a body ahead of him, as if she were the one escorting him to survival. Her hopping posture was a bit comical, like a newborn cygnet, waddling from side to side.
"It's here." Li Mo looked back and saw the tall, dark figure appear outside the corridor, slowly walking towards him and Kanagawa Yume. This ghost, which seemed to be of extremely high completeness, was actually just the boss of the second floor. How terrifying would the ghosts on the floors above be?
This thought flashed through Li Mo's mind and quickly expanded half a second later.
"Kanagawa, don't leave this haunted manor within five days. I won't send you away."
"Huh? Why? Didn't you just say you'd send me and my classmates out of the haunted manor at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning?" Kanagawa Yume was puzzled by Li Mo's sudden change of mind, but after spending half a day with him, her intuition told her that Li Mo was not the kind of person who made decisions on a whim. His judgment must be based on something.
"I'm afraid the black fog won't disappear. It means the outside world will be in eternal night."
"Is there a problem with that?"
"This is the active time for the ghosts in the haunted manor. There are some things I can't explain to you clearly. You just need to know that inside the haunted manor, we are in danger, but there is at least a glimmer of hope because the ghosts are all in a suppressed state. If we leave the haunted manor, the ghosts will not be suppressed and can easily trigger their own rules to kill the living."
The Knocking Ghost, which could withstand five shots from the Bizarre pistol, must have a high level of completeness and possess numerous rules.
Yet, it hadn't triggered any rules when he turned around, nor had it shown any signs of attack when he made a sound, breathed, stood in the dark, or even made eye contact with it. This was clearly unreasonable.
The notebook's description and Li Mo's personal experience gave him a key piece of information: the Knocking Ghost could not be confronted head-on. It did have many rules and abilities, and a head-on confrontation was certain death, even if he died again.
But it could only kill him under one condition, which was the "Being Alone" rule on the first floor.
So, the rules on each floor, while seeming to want to kill the living, were actually protecting them. It was full of contradictions, yet it made sense. This reminded Li Mo of the auditorium at St. Freya High School.
For the living, the rule of "death upon opening the door" was almost unavoidable, because to complete the ritual and escape the ghost's attack, they had to enter the auditorium.
But the auditorium had no main door, or rather, the main door had been deliberately destroyed, so the living could easily enter and exit without triggering the rule. The Head Ghost couldn't perceive the existence of the auditorium, so it didn't matter if there was a door or not.
The layout of the haunted manor was the same. If the handiwork of the St. Freya High School auditorium was untraceable, then the owner of the haunted manor should have some related information.
Who is the owner of the haunted manor? Someone who knows about the Bizarre? Or... a parallel world version of me?
"What are you spacing out for? It's almost caught up!" Kanagawa Yume tugged on the dazed Li Mo. After coming to his senses, Li Mo nodded and held Kanagawa Yume's hand to support her injured self as they walked towards the end of the corridor.
As the notebook had predicted, at 12:08 AM, he and Kanagawa Yume reached the end of the corridor, at the door of the ninth room. The door of the ninth room was sealed with layers of cold chains.
If the owner of the haunted manor had really left a way out for the living as Li Mo had guessed, then there must be a reason for sealing the ninth room.
According to the Knocking Ghost's behavior, there were no ghosts in the ninth room, because it didn't knock on the door of the ninth room. Of course, it was also possible that there were no ghosts in the ninth room on the second floor, which didn't mean there weren't any on the first floor.
Li Mo wasn't so reckless as to open it. Even if he had to, he would wait until daytime when most of the ghosts in the manor were dormant.
He would open it when he was about to die. Li Mo made a secret decision in his heart.
"Go to sleep. According to the plan given by the notebook, you should be sleeping now." Li Mo and Kanagawa Yume held hands.
He had used "Usurpation" earlier to modify the temperature of his right hand's surface, and the price was that he had to experience the feeling of his left hand falling into an ice cave of tens of degrees below zero. Li Mo wouldn't show any expression, but he could still feel the pain.
But in his rational state, he rarely used human gains and losses to measure judgments and decisions.
"How can I sleep? It's freezing here, and there's no pillow. You can't expect me to sleep on this cold floor, can you? With my habits, I'll probably wake up in half an hour." Kanagawa Yume wasn't exaggerating. She often slept in class, so she knew her own situation very well.
Without a blanket, sleeping on a cold, hard surface, like leaning against a wall or resting her head on a desk, she would wake up naturally in about half an hour, around the time class ended. It had become a habit.
Kanagawa Yume answered truthfully, not wanting to mess up the diary's prophecy with her bad habits. What if she woke up halfway through and made the Knocking Ghost move? Wouldn't that be the end?
"It's fine." Li Mo quickly took off his coat and wrapped it around Kanagawa Yume. He sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, and held her in his arms. Halfway through, he used "Usurpation" again to change the surface temperature and softness of his entire body. In an instant, Li Mo became like a walking furnace, providing a constant source of warmth.
"Lean on me and sleep."
"You won't catch a cold." Li Mo's tone was flat, his voice cold.
Kanagawa Yume was stunned for two seconds, then pouted and did as Li Mo said without a word. It was very warm, not cold at all. Whether it was the coat covering her whole body or the warm, soft body behind her, they both provided a comfortable sleeping environment for Kanagawa Yume.
It was just... Kanagawa Yume glanced at Li Mo behind her. His exposed collarbone and the surrounding skin were covered with a layer of frost that looked chilling to the bone. Even though his body was constantly radiating heat, his skin had turned from ashen gray to purplish-red, a direct representation of the color of frozen flesh.
"Usurpation" was a flawed part of "Wishing," but one thing was the same: both were very fair. It was just that "Usurpation" could only take things that existed in memory and was subject to certain restrictions; while "Wishing," as long as the person could afford the price, could grant any wish.
Even bringing the dead back to life was not impossible, but bringing the dead back to life was not as simple as a life for a life, and no one could do it. Reviving with the power of the Bizarre... was very difficult.
Dead is dead. The person who is revived may not be the same person as before.
"Mmm..." Kanagawa Yume let out a faint grunt and adjusted her position. For some reason, she didn't feel tired or weary at all. In fact, she wanted to observe the person behind her more.
But a sudden wave of sleepiness enveloped her consciousness, like a fog, obscuring all her senses. Gradually, her vision returned to darkness, and she could no longer hear the slightest sound.
No... there was still a sound... it was... the wails of countless people. Her body began to dissolve, turning into a pool of blood. The blood condensed, turning into a damp, scarlet white rose. Cold, pain, and polarized emotions clung to her like maggots on a bone. Blood dripped from her body.
She was in a filthy, chaotic pool, surrounded by pale-faced people, their feet off the ground, their faces ferocious. They all raised their hands and pointed at her with their withered, shrunken index fingers.
Step by step, they constantly approached her.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
"I'm sorry..." In her sleep, Kanagawa Yume's face uncontrollably showed a terrified expression. She trembled all over, looking very pained.
Li Mo pondered for a long time, quietly watching Kanagawa Yume's dream-like words. She was having a nightmare, in this haunted manor. It wasn't strange to have a nightmare. For an ordinary person, it was normal to have a nightmare after experiencing all sorts of bizarre things.
The problem was that this was a haunted manor. The speed at which Kanagawa Yume fell asleep was clearly unreasonable, as if... something in the dream had forcibly pulled her in.
Instinct made Li Mo become alert, and some conjectures that needed to be verified appeared in his mind.
Suddenly, the Knocking Ghost moved. Instantly, Li Mo's attention was fully focused on the tall, dark figure in front of him. Once the Knocking Ghost was no longer suppressed, only death awaited Li Mo. Li Mo subconsciously squeezed Kanagawa Yume's hand, and the Knocking Ghost fell silent again, like a crashed machine, motionless.
He watched the Knocking Ghost's every move, and just as the notebook had predicted, it still had no reaction. Even though Li Mo tried his best to see what this ghost looked like, he saw nothing but a large, dark figure. It was as if the shadow was its true form.
But Li Mo didn't give up. The notebook only said he couldn't see what was hidden under the Knocking Ghost's tall body, not that he couldn't see the shadow at its feet. The sconce outside the ninth room was still burning. This time, Li Mo saw the Knocking Ghost's shadow at its feet.
"Huh?"
"The shadow of a living person." Whether it was due to the sconce or his own perspective, in Li Mo's eyes, the Knocking Ghost's shadow was not as tall and imposing as in reality. It was the size of an ordinary person, not fat, but rather thin, as if malnourished.
It was hard to imagine that the shadow of a three-meter-tall, two-meter-wide Knocking Ghost, illuminated by light, would be so small, only a thin figure over one meter tall. It seemed that besides the human skeleton, there was only a layer of skin.
"..."
"This ghost actually has a complete shadow?" Li Mo suddenly realized something and looked up at the Knocking Ghost again. After thinking for a long time, he still suppressed his curiosity and didn't test it. Now was not the time to investigate the Knocking Ghost's origin.
He wasn't a seagull, and he didn't have a chance to escape. If the test failed and the Knocking Ghost revived, he would surely die. As long as he and Kanagawa Yume's hands were separated, or if he left the door of the ninth room, he would die on the spot, with no room to fight back, no chance of reprieve.
"I'm sorry..." The weak female voice sounded again. Li Mo noticed that the amplitude of Kanagawa Yume's body's shaking was getting bigger and bigger. It was no longer as simple as fear.
"Something's wrong." Li Mo used his free hand to pull open Kanagawa Yume's collar and found a scarlet handprint on her neck where it connected to her collarbone.
"There's more." On her back, arms, waist, calves... there were also bloody handprints that shouldn't be there.
"She's encountering a ghost in her dream. Is this what the 'Sleeping' rule is about? Once a living person falls asleep, they will encounter a ghost in their dream."
In a dream, Bizarre items can't be brought in. And if the ghost can control the dream, then the living are like cornered beasts, and after being toyed with, only death awaits them.
"Even I might be no different from an ordinary person in a dream."
"But in my current state, I won't feel tired even if I don't sleep for a few months. Unless I fall asleep by triggering a rule, I would never encounter this situation."
"But I still need to think of a countermeasure." The night was long. Now that there was no immediate danger, Li Mo had enough time to think about how to deal with the known crisis.
He wouldn't be arrogant and think that he would definitely not fall asleep. No one could guarantee that. To survive, he had to think carefully.
"Should I wake her up?" Li Mo hesitated for a moment.
"Now is not the time." Li Mo remembered very clearly the prophecy given by the notebook: [At 8:00 AM, the Knocking Ghost will leave. Kanagawa Yume will still be asleep. I will have survived.]
Kanagawa Yume falling asleep was very likely a part of the Knocking Ghost's crash, and it couldn't be easily broken. At 8:00 AM, the bizarre phenomenon should end, and he would survive.
"But the notebook didn't say she would also survive, so I have to do something."
"Whether it's based on a rational return of favor or a rational quest for answers."
"I have to figure out why she can die for me twice, and... why the 'Sleeping' rule, which is supposed to be on the second floor, appeared on her on the first floor."
Li Mo began to think about how to save Kanagawa Yume after 8 o'clock. The first choice was definitely to use external stimuli, to stimulate her to wake up through shouting and pain.
If that didn't work, he could only ask the notebook. Li Mo didn't dare to use "Usurpation" to take back a person's consciousness, because that might directly erase his own consciousness.
"What on earth did you see in your dream?" Li Mo murmured, staring at the handprints that were constantly appearing on Kanagawa Yume's body. Soon, even her delicate face had bloody handprints on it. No, not just handprints.
"Real blood, and wounds." Li Mo used his left hand to touch the shocking scratches on Kanagawa Yume's face. It was as if a beast had brutally embedded its claws into her cheek without any regard, then fiercely swiped downwards, instantly mangling the flesh inside. He could even vaguely see the white bone exposed.
"No recovery... it shouldn't be. From her previous actions, she has some secrets I don't know about."
"I judged her to be a ghost, or a ghost in her body."
"But if it's as I imagined, the wound should be healing rapidly at this moment." Li Mo watched for a long time, but still saw no signs of healing. Instead, the scratches on her face became deeper and deeper. Soon, Kanagawa Yume was completely unrecognizable, her entire body a tangled mess of flesh and blood like mud.
"The ghost in the dream has started killing. The damage received in the dream will be completely reflected on the physical body in reality, and healing is ineffective?" Li Mo thought of this. To verify it, he quickly took off Kanagawa Yume's black and white high-top shoes and found that the wound on her ankle was still there.
So she didn't have the ability to heal from the beginning, and there was no way to confirm whether the ghost's killing in the dream had the rule of ignoring healing.
"Let's not worry about that for now. She can't die yet." Li Mo stretched out his left hand and immediately used "Usurpation" to restore Kanagawa Yume's body to the intact state he remembered from a few hours ago, and also healed the wound on her ankle.
The price was that Li Mo's entire body began to rot, and a severe pain spread from his head to his heels, from his skin outside to his organs inside. Tearing, gnawing, trampling, squeezing... it was as if countless cold hands were brutally torturing his body in the most violent and vicious way.
"Is this what she felt in her dream?" Li Mo was expressionless, calmly staring at his constantly twisting and damaged body. In his thrice-dead state, his healing ability was extremely strong.
These injuries would not be fatal. It didn't even matter if his head was shot with a Gatling gun. But a shot to the head from the Bizarre pistol was still a one-shot kill.
So Li Mo would try to save one bullet for himself. This was his last chance to actively restart. And he had to shoot his head, not his heart. If his heart was shot, his consciousness would not dissipate, but if his head was pierced, his consciousness would instantly return to nothingness and he would restart immediately.
It did follow the general principle of FPS games where a headshot does more damage than a heart shot.
"Here it comes again." Kanagawa Yume's body continued to be damaged. Li Mo didn't immediately use "Usurpation" to repair her body. He only used "Usurpation" when her injuries were too severe and she was about to die.
For every bit of Bizarre power from the Sprout he used, he had to bear an extra bit of pollution. If he used it without restraint, he would lose his third chance to restart.
It was like a resurrection skill in a game that required MP to cast. Other skills also consumed MP, but there was only so much MP. After consuming too much MP on other skills, there would be no more mana to use the resurrection skill.
The amount of pollution suffered from using "Usurpation" was directly proportional to the magnitude of the usurped target.