"This scorched bed takes up so much space. Why don't we just throw it out? I saw Yume and that guy went back to their bedroom and haven't come out. They're probably scared of running into a ghost and won't be coming out again."
Faced with the member's urging, the president seemed a little impatient, snapping, "Don't argue. Just ask the Bloody Newspaper and we'll know what to do. The me from the future must have encountered this too. It'll give me a hint, so don't worry."
The president placed the Bloody Newspaper on a normal bed and asked with great sincerity, "Future me, please tell me what we should do next. Do I need to move the extra bed out?"
All eyes gathered on the Bloody Newspaper. A scarlet liquid slowly emerged from the pale pages.
[Yugawa Fuwan, I am you from five days in the future, and I am telling you what will happen through this newspaper.]
[You've asked me again. By now, you've confirmed there are no ghosts among the people around you, because the candle in the room shows no signs of flickering or going out.]
[After 8:00 PM, you need to stay away from the hall and keep the doors and windows shut. After 9:00 PM, no one is allowed to enter or leave. No matter what you hear, no matter whose voice you hear calling.]
[Only by staying in the room will you and your classmates have a chance to live.]
[I hope you can all survive the second night. At that time, I will reveal the key to surviving the third floor.]
The Bloody Newspaper stopped revealing content. There was still a lot of blank space, meaning it had said all it had to say.
But regarding the ruined bed Li Mo had moved in, it still gave no explicit instructions, not even mentioning it.
"So what about this bed? The Bloody Newspaper didn't say how to deal with it. Do we just leave it here?"
"We'll have to just leave it. Since the Bloody Newspaper didn't give any hints, it means this thing isn't dangerous. Everyone will have to squeeze together for tonight."
"Hmph, when the third day comes and there are no hints, won't Yume have to come crawling back to us? How can she survive without the hints from the Bloody Newspaper?"
"Are you sure that man won't threaten us with his gun to hand over the Bloody Newspaper?"
"Then we'll all go down together. Without the Bloody Newspaper, we won't survive either. He fired so many shots today, he can't have many bullets left. In the end, no one will get away easy."
A clamor of different opinions and viewpoints arose.
No one noticed the inconsistencies and flaws in the Bloody Newspaper's answer.
"Hey? Everyone, look at the group chat. Yume sent another message."
At these words, everyone quickly took out their phones and opened the group chat.
Even though Yume had betrayed them and sided with a stranger, it seemed she still remembered her classmates when she found a clue and would tell them.
"What does she mean by this? Hide under the ruined bed when we hear knocking?"
"Why hide under the bed? The burning candle in the room means it's safe. It's just extra work."
"Is Yume trying to make a fool of us?"
"Not necessarily. It's probably that man's idea. After all, he was the one who came forward and clarified that he was the one who told the president to blow out the candle on the first day."
"Heh, I don't have a good feeling about him. Since he knew there was a ghost among us, why didn't he advise us to drive her out? If he hadn't told the president to blow out the candle, not so many of us would have died!"
Listening to the members' discussion, the president didn't speak.
For a group to unite, they needed a goal, an enemy, even if it was just an imaginary one.
Besides, what they said was true, they just ignored one thing.
They ignored the trust between people.
In that situation, there was no other choice.
Even though she knew his method was correct, she wouldn't point it out. People are always double-standard.
"Alright, leave the ruined bed here. If we really hear knocking, it won't be too late to hide then."
"I'll try my best to get everyone out of this haunted manor alive and back to our normal lives."
The president made a promise and held out her hand.
Soon, many people around her came forward and placed their hands on top of hers, as if answering a call.
"That's right, we all have to live!"
"With the hints, we can definitely avoid the danger!"
The morale of the Occult Club was high.
---||---
The time was 8:00 PM sharp. Li Mo stood in the second room, his expression cold as he stared at the black fog outside the window. It was endless. Not even his eyes could penetrate it, his vision severely limited.
He hadn't noticed before, but in his current state, Li Mo realized the essence of the black fog. It was a contaminated passageway.
Passageways are generally used to transport goods. It was self-evident what the black fog transported.
But with no evidence, Li Mo didn't dare to jump to conclusions.
His phone was different from those on the market. It couldn't transmit signals in this world, nor did it have a corresponding SIM card slot.
"What are you looking at?"
Kanagawa Yume walked over and followed Li Mo's gaze, but couldn't see anything clearly.
"By the way, what is this black fog? It feels... thicker than yesterday. When the fog first appeared, I could still see a few meters ahead. Now I can't even see my hand in front of my face. My vision is too narrow," Kanagawa Yume asked, puzzled.
Li Mo was silent for a moment, then shook his head. "That's not something you should worry about."
A cold tone, distant words.
But Kanagawa Yume didn't feel hurt. She knew this guy was just like that. In internet terms, it was a unique flavor you just had to try.
"Do you think the ghosts from the haunted manor will escape into the city?"
"If we all die today, the black fog will recede, and the ghosts won't escape into the city, at least not for several decades. But a hundred years from now, a large number of ghosts will accumulate in the haunted manor, then break through its limits and spread to all corners of the world. And because the loss of control will last for too long, the contamination will continue to deepen. The range of a single ghost's rule might even cover an entire city."
"Take the 'Pretending to be a Ghost' rule, for example. Can you imagine, on a special day like Halloween, how many ordinary people who are completely unaware will die, and how many more ghosts will be created."
"As for 'Being Alone', in a city, almost no one can maintain a state of absolute solitude. Once this rule spreads, I don't need to tell you the consequences."
Li Mo calmly stated the common knowledge about the Bizarre. He had initially been like many ordinary people, fleeing in panic, thinking he could hide in a remote place and be safe, only to get this kind of intelligence.
He had witnessed it with his own eyes. The living people walking peacefully on the city streets exploded from the inside out like fireworks, their flesh and organs splattering on the ground.
The city was the same as before, just with fewer lights and sounds, making it seem particularly desolate and decadent.
A deathly silence enveloped the continent. The lights went out, the people vanished.
In a matter of months, the world became a paradise for ghosts, a hell for the living.
They had already started the ritual. If they died on the second day, the ritual would be interrupted, waiting for the next person to challenge it again.
"That's really like drinking poison to quench thirst. But for many people, living a good life is probably enough. If they knew about this, many people would probably try to stop you from dealing with the haunted manor."
Kanagawa Yume analyzed rationally. Being with Li Mo, her thinking had also changed slightly.
The success rate of dealing with the haunted manor didn't seem high. Once it failed, it meant the end of the world. On the other hand, ignoring it meant at least a peaceful life.
Everyone only lives once. There were plenty of selfish people in the world. Someone would definitely stop him, for all sorts of reasons...
Kanagawa Yume added another question: "What if we survive today?"
Li Mo pointed to the black fog. "It's very likely that if we die on any of the following days, the ritual won't be interrupted. The black fog will spread, the ghosts from the haunted manor will escape, spreading to every corner of the world through the black fog until all the living have disappeared, then invade the next world."
"What? That's so terrifying. How confident are you that you can solve this?"
"I'm not confident. No one dares to say the success rate of solving a paranormal event is 100%. A lot of the time, it's not even 10%."
"...You really dare to say that. So is this world doomed?"
"I don't know. I only know that I won't leave until I've dealt with the haunted manor. You don't have to worry either. I have a companion outside dealing with the spreading ghosts."
"You're really like a 007 workaholic..."
Kanagawa Yume grumbled. But it was precisely because Li Mo poured all his energy into dealing with the Bizarre that he was more keen than others, able to promptly grasp the key to breaking the stalemate.
She was suddenly a little curious about the companion Li Mo mentioned. Could it be someone with a personality as twisted as his?
Male or female?
Probably male. This guy definitely wasn't popular with women.
Kanagawa Yume's mind was racing. Just as the two were chatting, the sound of the floor breaking came from outside the room.
"It's here."
Crack... crack...
The corridor floor splintered. The sound of heavy footsteps echoed from above, exceptionally clear.
Bang! Bang!
Unlike what Li Mo had heard on the first floor last night, the Knocking Ghost only knocked twice.
It was easy to understand. Since he had moved the ghost bed from the first room, there was one less ghost in the first room, so the knocking would be one less.
"Looks like you were right. The Knocking Ghost knocks as many times as there are ghosts in the room."
"There are no more ghosts in our room. It'll probably just skip us, hehe~"
Kanagawa Yume seemed to feel no fear, being very casual, completely disregarding the Knocking Ghost that had almost killed her and Li Mo last night.
Crack...
The sound of the floor being stepped on was exceptionally clear. The Knocking Ghost was right outside the door.
Kanagawa Yume grinned, a smug expression she couldn't hide on her face. She walked to the door, separated from the Knocking Ghost by only a fragile door.
Knowing the ghost's rule made her tone much more arrogant.
"Hmph~ Go on, knock. Why don't you knock? Don't you want to knock?"
"Heehee~ Don't tell me you can't~ Cannon fodder~ Cannon fodder~ Cannon fodder Knocking Ghost~"
With Li Mo behind her, Kanagawa Yume taunted recklessly, pulling down her eyelid with her slender finger, preparing to make a face, but was stopped by Li Mo in time.
"Don't pretend to be a ghost," Li Mo reminded her.
"I almost forgot! Sorry, got a little carried away..."
Kanagawa Yume put her hand down, her expression still cheerful. Compared to the first day, the second night was much more relaxed after knowing the information in advance.
But Li Mo's gaze never left the door. He had a bad feeling.
No, to be precise, it wasn't a feeling, but a judgment.
The Knocking Ghost had been lingering at the door for too long... long enough that Li Mo had to suspect if the Knocking Ghost had entered a judgment state.
When it knocked on the first room, it didn't stay for more than ten seconds, before or after.
But in front of the second room's door, the Knocking Ghost had already stayed for a minute. Kanagawa Yume had even completed a full set of taunts.
"It really isn't knocking. Boring." Kanagawa Yume was about to say something else teasing when her peripheral vision suddenly caught something small flying towards her. She subconsciously turned around, ready to slap it with both hands.
"Catch!" Li Mo shouted louder than ever before.
Kanagawa Yume looked closely and saw that the small thing flying towards her was Li Mo's Bizarre pistol. She immediately rushed forward and caught it with both hands.
"Don't let the candle go out!"
Li Mo's sudden order confused Kanagawa Yume.
The next second, Bang!
A knock sounded, and the candle in the room instantly went out.
In an instant, Kanagawa Yume didn't even have time to figure out what was happening.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
Kanagawa Yume asked urgently, but there was no reply from Li Mo.
She knew Li Mo was right behind her. He couldn't have not heard her.
Creak...
In a panic, Kanagawa Yume suddenly heard the sound of a door opening...
The door was opened?!
The Knocking Ghost was coming in?
Kanagawa Yume bit her lip and raised the Bizarre pistol with both hands, not aiming at the Knocking Ghost at the door, but at the vast darkness.
There was no time for her to take out her phone for light. She felt the aura of death enveloping her.
At the last moment, the only thing in Kanagawa Yume's mind was Li Mo's abrupt reminder—"Don't let the candle go out."
With her superb marksmanship and extraordinary memory, Kanagawa Yume pulled the trigger. The bullet flew out of the chamber, accurately grazing the candle's wick.
The hellfire instantly lit the candle, and the room was bright again.
"Phew..."
Kanagawa Yume could already feel the cold sweat on her back. When she looked up, she witnessed a scene she would never forget.
The Knocking Ghost was less than half a meter in front of her, staring at her strangely and grotesquely.
The candle in the corridor outside had gone out, but for some unknown reason, the Knocking Ghost hadn't entered the room.
No, it was about to enter, but it didn't succeed.
Kanagawa Yume felt a wave of fear. If she had hesitated for another moment, the Knocking Ghost would have come in.
Kanagawa Yume immediately closed the door, shutting the Knocking Ghost outside.
The candle in the room was not affected by the Knocking Ghost. It must be because the Knocking Ghost hadn't entered the room yet. If it had, the candle in the room would probably go out instantly too.
But...
Why did the candle in the room suddenly go out just now?
Could it be...
Kanagawa Yume immediately turned around and looked at Li Mo behind her.
She only caught a glimpse of a waterfall of long hair spreading across the floor, white as snow, untainted by dust.
Outside the transparent window, the black fog was faintly pierced by a bright moonlight, shining on Li Mo.
"Li Mo?"
Kanagawa Yume asked tentatively.
"Shoot... left hand..."
Li Mo lowered his head, weakly uttering two words.
Kanagawa Yume didn't approach Li Mo. She wasn't sure if his current state would threaten her. For a fragile marksman, maintaining a safe distance and staying alive was the only way to deal damage.
Of course, all of this was based on the premise that Kanagawa Yume's marksmanship was good.
She aimed the Bizarre pistol at Li Mo's left hand and fired without hesitation. The bullet entered Li Mo's left hand.
The blue-purple hellfire surged, almost engulfing Li Mo's entire body, showing no signs of dissipating.
"Are you... alright? Do you need me to help you put out the fire?" Kanagawa Yume asked worriedly.
"No need. You can't put out this fire. I'm much better now..."
Li Mo's voice was very weak, not as strong and sharp, as decisive and resolute as before.
"What exactly happened just now? I called you but got no response."
"...The ghost inside me revived."
Li Mo calmly stated the fact.
"Revived? Wait, the knocking can awaken dormant ghosts. You mean..."
"As you think. You should be glad you fired so decisively. If you had been a step slower and didn't light the candle, let alone the Knocking Ghost coming in and you dying, you wouldn't have escaped death after the ghost inside me revived either."
"But..."
"I know you have a lot of questions. There are indeed many ghosts inside me. The knocking woke them up."
Li Mo stood up with difficulty, letting the hellfire burn his body.
Under the candlelight, the hellfire quickly faded. The burning candle was also helping to suppress the ghosts inside Li Mo. Soon, Li Mo regained control of his body and his complete consciousness.
Actually, he and Kanagawa Yume were almost certain to die just now.
He had been awakened by the knocking, both the ghost in his body and the hidden Bizarre consciousness in his soul.
Originally, he would have immediately turned into a Bizarre entity, with no chance of buffering.
A ghost's consciousness and a human's consciousness would fight, there was a period of confrontation.
But the Knocking Ghost's knocking rule directly skipped this process, directly letting the ghost's consciousness replace the human's consciousness.
Therefore, in that instant, Li Mo had fallen into a state of silence. Thanks to the Misfortune Ghost lurking in his sea of consciousness, which let out a sharp, ear-piercing curse, his consciousness was preserved for a moment.
Consciousness against consciousness, rule against rule.
That was what gave Kanagawa Yume time to fire.
"This time it was my mistake. You did well."
Li Mo said to Kanagawa Yume, his words still cold, without a hint of warmth.
Kanagawa Yume didn't press him about the fact that he had a ghost inside him. Since Li Mo didn't bring it up, he naturally didn't want to talk about it, so there was no need for her to ask.
"The Knocking Ghost waited outside the door for a long time, it was making a judgment. In the end, it judged me as a ghost and knocked once."
"The Knocking Ghost will enter the room after the candle in the room goes out. This is not very reasonable... I didn't hear it enter the room after knocking last night. This is worth noting."
His body had not yet healed, but Li Mo was already analyzing the details of the thrilling scene.
Kanagawa Yume glanced down at the white hair on the floor. "By the way, aren't you going to deal with your hair first?"
Li Mo was stunned for a second. He noticed the pile of snow-white long hair on the floor, then silently walked to the window. A ray of moonlight was shining right where he had been standing.
It can even penetrate the black fog?
Li Mo stacked the bedside tables, blocking the window and the moonlight.
"This will do. No need to deal with it."
"But... we might be in a little trouble tomorrow. I've lost some of the ghost's power. Be careful, I might not be able to provide timely backup."
The Sprout left hand was dormant, and Li Mo had lost "Usurpation." The suppression of the hellfire would linger for a while, and "Usurpation" couldn't be used during this time.
The Bizarre pistol had three bullets left. The third floor would definitely be more dangerous. Three bullets were far from enough, but there was no better way.
From the moment they entered the haunted manor, they could only go forward, there was no turning back.
"At least we're still alive tonight," Kanagawa Yume comforted him, proactively walking over to Li Mo and touching his chest and arm. "It's colder than before. Can't you make it a little warmer?"
"Not now."
"Alright... if you feel cold, I can take off my coat and give it to you."
"I'm not sensitive to temperature changes. You can just wear it yourself."
Li Mo's answer gave Kanagawa Yume a definite answer in her heart. His body suddenly becoming warm before was probably the ability of the ghost inside him.
Crack... crack...
The Knocking Ghost left the door and walked towards the third room.
Then the fourth, the fifth... Finally, the Knocking Ghost stood in front of the eighth room's door and slowly raised its rotten, withered arm.
---||---
Prime World, Rented Cottage.
"I found you!"
"..."
"Found who? Was I... talking in my sleep just now?"
Kiana, startled awake from her bed, found her right hand inexplicably outstretched, which was very strange. She seemed to have had a dream where she saw that idiot named "Li Mo".
"No, no, no!"
"How could I dream about him? I used to dream only about Mei!"
Kiana shook her head vigorously, her loose hair becoming even messier and longer.
Kiana pulled the blanket over her head, wanting to dream again to prove her single-minded devotion to Mei, but her heart was restless, with no sleepiness at all.
She opened her phone and saw it was 1:00 AM, still early before school.
"Aahhh! I can't sleep. Nothing good ever comes from waking up in the middle of the night. Forget it, I'll just play games. If I get sleepy during the day, I can go to Mei's dorm to sleep."
"Yep, that's the plan! I'll wash my face first."
Kiana threw off the thin blanket, revealing her flawless, jade-like, milky-white skin. Her face was flushed, her pretty face frosty as she pouted.
The strap of her bra hung loosely by her delicate collarbone. Her clothes drooped like a touched mimosa.
She wasn't wearing shoes, her bare feet padding on the floor as she swayed towards the bathroom.
Turning on the faucet, Kiana cupped a handful of water and splashed it on her face.
"Hah... much more awake now."
Kiana's face relaxed into a happy expression as she turned and walked towards the living room. She was going to have a night of thrilling competitive gaming! The feeling of being chased by the King of Hell when you're not fully awake was just too captivating~
"..."
The Kiana in the mirror had a deathly still face. She stretched out her right hand and touched the mirror's surface, her scarlet eyes as bewitching and splendid as a pool of crimson blood.
She stared intently at Kiana.
Until Kiana left the bathroom.