The Knocking Ghost's killing methods were currently unknown, but there were many, and getting close almost guaranteed triggering one.
Without a substitute for death, or some means of suppression, the threat was equivalent to the flesh-and-blood ghost swarm at the foot of Mount Taixuan—something to be avoided at all costs.
The Knocking Ghost's most core and obvious rule was knocking. It would awaken dormant ghosts by knocking to kill the living. This should be its original rule.
Therefore, it was highly likely that the ghosts on the first and second floors were not very versatile; they wouldn't actively circumvent their rules.
Even if they knew someone was under the bed, they would be trapped in a judgment loop or even become dormant due to rule conflicts.
After all, the Ghost Bed was also a ghost. Like the Room Ghost, certain conditions had to be met to enter.
"Is there any other way? I can send a message in the group chat to remind them. At this point, they should believe what you say."
Kanagawa Yume sighed softly and walked over to Li Mo to ask.
In the end, she couldn't let it go. She had Li Mo to lead the way, while the Occult Club had nothing but a treacherous Bloody Newspaper and many dead weights.
The decision-maker was the Occult Club president, and everyone was easily swayed by emotions, making less-than-rational choices.
"They can't use their phones right now. No one will see the message you send in the group chat."
"Also, if my deduction is correct, they should be safe for now. At least, I haven't heard their screams yet."
"Of course, it's also possible that by the time they're found and killed by the ghosts, they won't even have time to cry for help."
Li Mo toyed with the Bizarre pistol. It only had three bullets left. The fourth was slowly forming, and he estimated it would recover to five bullets by tomorrow.
Five bullets, just enough to achieve the Bizarre pistol's maximum suppression effect.
But if the third floor combined the rules of the first and second, then the number of ghosts would definitely not be small. Their completeness was still uncertain, as was Li Mo's most feared aspect: their intelligence.
It was certain that just three dormant Ghost Beds were not enough to guarantee safety. He had to think of more ways to survive.
A strange dream, a ghost's memory—perhaps he could find more useful clues there.
"Sorry, I'm talking too much," Kanagawa Yume said in a small voice, her head lowered.
"..."
Li Mo didn't glance away this time, but turned to face Kanagawa Yume directly.
In fact, from the very beginning, Li Mo's attention had never left her.
Besides the fact that Kanagawa Yume could die for him twice, there were still some things he needed to figure out.
For example, this sixteen-year-old girl possessed all the emotions and behavioral logic of a living person, yet she felt no fear when facing ghosts.
No...
She could feel fear, but it wasn't fear of the ghosts, but fear of her own life ending.
The two seemed similar, but were fundamentally different.
It was like a normal person watching a horror movie. They know the ghost is just a person in disguise, but they still feel scared, even to the point of fainting.
Kanagawa Yume seemed to be able to predict her own death, much like the notebook's premonitions.
She wasn't afraid when she saw a ghost, but she would show fear when she was about to face a deadly danger.
"You don't need to apologize to me. My promise still stands."
Li Mo walked up to Kanagawa Yume and said word by word, "I will repay everything I owe you."
She wouldn't remember, but that didn't mean Li Mo would forget, would ignore it.
If it weren't for Kanagawa Yume helping him withstand the Knocking Ghost's certain-death rule twice, and a series of subsequent assists, he probably still wouldn't understand what the Knocking Ghost was.
Li Mo's easy-going manner made Kanagawa Yume heave a sigh of relief. This guy could clearly dominate everyone with a single sentence, yet he chose to hide in the crowd, waiting for the masses to go with the flow.
There were pros and cons. At least he could see the situation clearly and the usefulness of each person.
While authoritarian suppression could increase cohesion in the short term, it would also blind him, accumulate resentment, and force him to take responsibility for everyone.
It was only something to be done in a crisis.
If he used authoritarian suppression from the start, many truths wouldn't reveal themselves as he wished.
"Alright, you're much more generous than I thought. If you were a little more enthusiastic, you might be more popular with girls."
"That's meaningless to me."
"True. I can just imagine how hard it must be for someone like you. The UN... er, your organization, your boss, must give you long vacations and great benefits, right? Like, a six-month vacation after dealing with one paranormal event, a lavish life of delicacies and beautiful women."
"..."
Seeing Li Mo's momentary silence, Kanagawa Yume thought she had guessed right. She giggled and teased, "If you don't say anything, I'll take it that I'm right. I'm just guessing based on a normal person's logic, but I've also read some novels. I think such a plot is very reasonable. After all, a person with strange abilities who can handle paranormal events, after shouldering such a huge responsibility, is bound to have mental health issues, a twisted mind, and a collapsed sense of reason."
"That's when you need external material satisfaction and spiritual comfort to stabilize yourself."
"It's like middle school students in China. If you make them study for several months straight, they'll definitely have major problems!"
"Do you know what's more terrifying than seeing a ghost?"
"It's the third year of high school for some people in China. Waking up at 5:30, doing homework until midnight, half an hour for lunch break, no going to the bathroom or sleeping on your desk during breaks, no drinking water in class, no bringing snacks to school, deductions and fines for breaking the rules, fifteen minutes for meals, a small test every week, a big test every month, only half a day off a month, all holidays are for extra classes..."
Kanagawa Yume chattered on, endlessly expressing her views and opinions on various matters, while Li Mo stood by, listening patiently.
After listening, his cloudy eyes shifted with a hint of surprise, but quickly returned to their scattered state.
He seemed to have experienced these things too.
"Indeed more difficult than my life," Li Mo commented.
"Right? Good thing I transferred schools early. Bullying in the Japan is severe, but it's always been me bullying others, no one has the right to bully me."
"Because I swear a lot, everyone thinks I'm a delinquent. With a slight move, I'm the pinnacle of this tier~ Ha, haha..."
Clang—
The sound of metal clashing came from outside the door.
Li Mo narrowed his eyes. This trivial, faint sound couldn't be caught by a normal person's ears, but he heard it clearly. It was the sound of chains rubbing together.
The ninth room was sealed with many chains. The Knocking Ghost hadn't approached it.
Either there were no ghosts inside, or there was a ghost inside that the Knocking Ghost couldn't approach.
Coupled with the sudden loosening of the chains, and the Knocking Ghost stopping at the ninth room last night, afraid to approach him and Kanagawa Yume, Li Mo was more inclined to believe the latter.
With his sharp hearing, Li Mo could tell the chains had only loosened, some parts falling to the ground.
The ninth room was still sealed, but the seal had been weakened.
Nothing in a paranormal event happens without reason. An illogical occurrence must have a corresponding reason.
It was related to the seal of the ninth room, and most likely something had happened in the eighth room.
Or...
Li Mo turned his gaze back to Kanagawa Yume, who was rubbing the back of her head, lively and cheerful, laughing.
Was it an illusion?
Li Mo didn't believe that the seal of the ninth room would loosen just because Kanagawa Yume said a few words.
There must be some detail he had overlooked.
"..."
"I think I need to clear up some of your misunderstandings about me, Kanagawa Yume."
It was rare for Li Mo to say Kanagawa Yume's full name, and he seemed particularly serious.
"Misunderstandings? What misunderstandings? Have you seen something even more terrifying?"
Kanagawa Yume looked at Li Mo in confusion. This was the first time Li Mo had initiated a personal conversation.
Li Mo stood there, looking blankly at his hands, then copied Kanagawa Yume's earlier gesture and made a V-sign. His face was a dead poker face, as if he had severe facial paralysis.
"I'm actually very popular with girls."
"Huh?"
Kanagawa Yume's face turned into a cat-like expression of confusion that could be made into a meme. Her mouth was wide open, her eyes showing not a shred of trust.
It was as if she were saying, "Don't mess with me, I can tell it's fake at a glance."
"Pfft...!"
After a while, Kanagawa Yume finally couldn't hold it in anymore. She puffed out her cheeks and burst out laughing.
If she weren't worried that laughing out loud would attract the attention of ghosts, Kanagawa Yume would have definitely turned into a small fry and ruthlessly mocked this gloomy, cold, low-EQ poker face.
"Hahaha, alright, alright~ I know you're trying to cheer me up, and you succeeded. That's the most ironic joke I've heard this year."
From the perspective of personality, expression, subjective thoughts, and objective facts, it was absolutely impossible for Li Mo to say such a thing.
But he did. It was very strange. It was completely unimaginable that Li Mo would say such a thing, and with such a serious expression.
Clang clang—
The chains loosened again. Li Mo's gaze towards Kanagawa Yume became even more cautious.
If the first time was a coincidence, then the probability of the second time being a coincidence was no less than the ghosts on the second and third floors having the same rule.
Is she a derivative of a ghost?
Li Mo immediately judged. There was another possibility. For some reason, the ghost of the ninth room had connected with her, even entered her body.
The world was normal, and Kanagawa Yume had a normal life trajectory.
So the most reasonable situations Li Mo could think of were the three previous ones.
Is happiness the trigger?
No, the first time the chains loosened, Kanagawa Yume was not in a happy mood.
After ruling out speech...
"Li Mo, I was just kidding. You're not angry, are you?"
Kanagawa Yume bent over, her head lowered, her eyes cautiously peeking upwards.
"You're overthinking it." Li Mo didn't explain his own state too much.
He felt it was necessary to maintain a certain level of vigilance towards Kanagawa Yume.
But he couldn't just let her be.
"That's good. Just don't get angry and throw me out."
"I wouldn't do that."
"Heehee, I know. I said that on purpose, to see how you'd react. Still nothing. Can't you unlock more expressions for me?"
"Are those your true feelings?"
Li Mo suddenly asked.
"..."
Kanagawa Yume, who had been chattering nonstop, suddenly froze, stunned, and answered with confusion, "What? Of course they are. My words are so direct, how can they be fake?"
Li Mo took out his phone. When the time turned to midnight, the same situation as last night occurred.
"Forget it, I'm not talking anymore. I'm a little sleepy. I'm claiming the chairs. I can only sleep on the chairs without a bed." Kanagawa Yume said, pulling all the chairs together, lying on them, and adjusting her position to prepare for sleep.
Her posture was...
Very unladylike, quite unrestrained. It gave Li Mo the impression that she wasn't sleeping, but stretching out on a beach to sunbathe.
Kanagawa Yume didn't immediately close her eyes, but asked one more question: "Can I sleep now?"
Li Mo nodded and answered, "You can."
After getting Li Mo's reply, Kanagawa Yume quickly closed her eyes. An overwhelming sleepiness completely took over her consciousness, hiding her waking awareness.
"Good night."
"Have a... 'good dream'."
Li Mo murmured to Kanagawa Yume, but it was as if he were speaking to someone else.
With that, Li Mo stood at the door, dividing his attention into two parts.
One part was to observe Kanagawa Yume's state after she fell asleep, the other was to watch the door.
He gripped the Bizarre pistol in his right hand. Kanagawa Yume falling asleep meant he would be in a "Being Alone" state.
Once the world reversed, he had to immediately open the door and move Kanagawa Yume and himself under the ruined bed.
The Ghost Bed, also known as the ruined bed, Li Mo called it the Abandoned Ghost Bed in full.
It was a ghost suppressed by hellfire, and also a Bizarre item.
The ghost would kill those who entered under the bed, while the Bizarre item would hide the presence of the living under the bed.
Li Mo didn't have the ability to separate them, so he could only use the priority of the hellfire suppression, pushing the limit to suppress the ghostly face on the underside of the bed, but the Ghost Bed's rule was also weakened a little.
The Ghost Bed was in a dormant state. In the room, it would be consumed by the burning candle, and by tomorrow, it would very likely lose its hiding effect.
Therefore, Li Mo didn't move the Ghost Bed to his own room, but placed it by the corridor closest to him.
This was a gamble, with his last margin of error as the stake, betting that he wouldn't be caught by a ghost while "alone" and could get Kanagawa Yume and himself under the Ghost Bed in time.
There was another unknown danger, which was Kanagawa Yume waking up with another personality. Her identity was not that of a living person, but a ghost suspected of having self-awareness.
Li Mo didn't know her rules, but at the time, he wasn't killed by the ghost-turned-Kanagawa Yume.
He had even heard a voice of love...
It was a good thing there was no moonlight in the corridor, or his coordinates might have been exposed.
The purpose of placing the Ghost Bed in the eighth room, besides ensuring more living people survived, was that Li Mo needed to verify the authenticity of the dream Kanagawa Yume spoke of.
He wouldn't blindly trust any abrupt clues. Unless absolutely necessary, all intelligence had to be confirmed.
It was just like basic mathematical reasoning. Every step had to be able to withstand scrutiny to move on to the next.
Now, the practicality of the Ghost Bed had been confirmed. The ghosts on the second floor couldn't easily kill the people under the bed.
About three hours had passed, and he still hadn't heard any more screams.
Perhaps everyone had been killed instantly, or perhaps the people under the Ghost Bed were still alive.
Li Mo was inclined to believe the latter.
Because there had been screams before, probably from the people under the other bed who had escaped and were killed by the thirty-two ghosts in the room before they could do so.
So the living people in the eighth room had a moment to struggle before they were killed.
There was no response at the moment, which meant they were still safe.
As he thought, a strange sense of unease welled up in his heart. Li Mo's peripheral vision caught Kanagawa Yume's sleeping posture changing.
From unrestrained at the beginning, she had become timid, like a frightened small animal, curled up and trembling.
Li Mo stretched out the hand holding the thermometer and placed it on her cheek. The thermometer dropped below zero and was still falling.
She should be waking up soon.
"Keep dreaming. No one will disturb you tonight."
Her dream might reveal clues for Li Mo to survive the third and even fourth day.
Even though the notebook had confidently predicted that he would die on the fourth day.
Until the last moment, no one knew where the turning point to change the future was.
Li Mo picked up Kanagawa Yume and pulled open the door. The candle in the room flickered, but that was irrelevant.
"A shadow? You're really persistent. Remember this?"
Li Mo showed the Bizarre pistol.
Instantly, the hair tie that had been lurking at the door, preparing to deliver a fatal blow to Li Mo, quickly shot out from the shadow. A few strands of black hair tangled together, fleeing in a panic.
"Even after being completely dismembered, you still retain simple intelligence..."
Li Mo didn't waste too much energy on this ghost, let alone waste a bullet.
He knew his purpose very well.
Li Mo held Kanagawa Yume and quickly rushed to the location of the Ghost Bed in his memory. At this moment, a bone-chilling cold came from above, behind, and in front of him. Even Li Mo, who was not sensitive to temperature, could clearly feel the eerie chill.
Li Mo remembered playing a computer game before, called Sweet Home.
There was a female ghost in it. To avoid the female ghost, you could hide in a closet.
But if you hid in the closet in front of the female ghost, the ghost would open the closet and carve a sufficiently "harmonious" picture with a scalpel.
He wondered if he would suffer the same fate if he hid under the bed in front of so many ghosts on the second floor now.
Li Mo didn't hesitate. While running, he controlled his strength, first throwing Kanagawa Yume out like a bowling ball. She slid on the ground for a while and stopped perfectly under the Ghost Bed.
Then Li Mo himself performed a slide, but due to excessive force, he couldn't stop perfectly under the Ghost Bed.
In this situation, the more time wasted, the easier it was to die.
Li Mo manually applied the brakes. The five fingers of his right hand dug into the ground, forcibly increasing the acceleration.
Finally, he stopped precisely under the Ghost Bed.
Success.
Li Mo and Kanagawa Yume were hiding under the Ghost Bed, but things didn't seem to end there.
As Li Mo had thought before, if you hide under the bed in front of a ghost, the ghost will definitely react.
Soon, a blurry, indistinct outline stopped in front of the Ghost Bed. For a moment, the silent corridor was filled with all kinds of sounds, becoming a bit noisy.
Li Mo tightly gripped the Bizarre pistol, aimed it at his own head, and stared intently at Kanagawa Yume.
Kanagawa Yume could die for him twice, but facing such a large number of Bizarre entities, twice was just a drop in the bucket.
He didn't have the capital to fight such a large number of ghosts. Therefore, as long as Kanagawa Yume turned into a skeleton, into a pool of blood, Li Mo had to immediately shoot himself without the slightest hesitation.
Otherwise, if he was controlled by a special ghost, he wouldn't be able to use the restart either.
Seeing more and more shadows gathering in front of the bed, Li Mo's expression became slightly grim.
Did I bet wrong?
Was it the wrong judgment to trade my last chance of error for a strange dream?
No...
I won.
Li Mo's eyes were icy, indifferent. Beside him, Kanagawa Yume was still intact, a beautiful jade-like beauty.
Indeed, a game is just a game, it can't be compared to reality.
The ghosts in the game were just slightly more powerful mental patients. If the designers hadn't denied them health bars, those ghosts would definitely know what kind of insane things Shenzhou players would do when they were bored enough.
The Bizarre is an existence that strictly follows rules. Perhaps the ghosts on the second floor possessed a certain degree of intelligence, but they still couldn't circumvent the rules, their actions were singular.
Under normal circumstances, if a normal person got close to too many ghosts, they would die instantly.
But that didn't happen. The Ghost Bed had the effect of isolating the rules of the inner and outer worlds.
The ghosts knew the living were here, but their killing methods were ineffective because the killing rules were isolated.
Not canceled, but isolated.
To cancel, you need a quantity greater than the other party, but to isolate, you only need rule restraint.
Obviously, the ghosts on the second floor couldn't understand why they couldn't kill the living and had entered a crashed state.
The killing rule couldn't be triggered, the killing method couldn't be used, but they knew the living were inside so they wouldn't leave, repeatedly judging, judging, judging...
Li Mo roughly guessed that the situation in the eighth room was probably the same as his.
Hiding under the bed, surrounded by a large group of ghosts.
The effect of the Ghost Bed was much better than Li Mo had expected.
But the next second, Li Mo's lucky mindset was shattered.
Crack... crack...
The familiar sound clearly entered Li Mo's ears. It was the sound of wooden planks cracking.
Heavy footsteps, approaching bit by bit. Li Mo turned to look.
He saw a familiar figure—
The Knocking Ghost.
"..."
"?"
Li Mo was very confused. He had clearly waited until the Knocking Ghost had left for a long time, not even hearing its footsteps, before carrying out this step of the plan.
Why did the Knocking Ghost return?
Unlike all the other ghosts, the Knocking Ghost didn't stop at the bed, let alone enter a crashed state. It constantly circled the Ghost Bed.
Its tall body bent down and gently knocked on the Ghost Bed.
For a moment, all the crashed ghosts began to imitate the Knocking Ghost's behavior, circling the Ghost Bed. Some even climbed onto the Ghost Bed.
The Ghost Bed began to collapse under the weight.
The underside of the bed was almost touching Li Mo's body.
Once the underside of the bed came into contact with his body, it was very likely to awaken the dormant Ghost Bed.
Unstoppable footsteps, constantly knocking, ghosts with distorted behavior patterns, a collapsing bed base...