If I don't watch my back, a ghost will kill me from behind.
"Tch... This is trouble."
Li Mo's current status was judged by the room to be that of a ghost. He had tried before, but all attempts had failed.
Whether opening or closing the door, Li Mo couldn't do it.
Because he was a ghost, and ghosts could only enter or exit by knocking.
This meant that in ten minutes, at 9 PM, the ghosts wandering Taixu Mountain could march right in, ignoring the room's protection, and kill everyone sleeping inside.
Li Mo had tried using Shigure Kira's hand to close the room door, but the room wasn't stupid. No matter what Li Mo held, it would only repeat the same rule: knock.
Using a living person's hand would turn into knocking with a living person's hand; using a wooden stick would turn into knocking with a wooden stick.
Because he was judged to be a ghost, Li Mo simply couldn't close this door.
"Abandoning them only buys me temporary survival. I have to defend this room."
"The room doesn't have the ability to shield against ghost perception. After 9 PM, any wandering ghost that gets close enough will sense the living people inside."
"What should I do?"
Li Mo was caught in a dilemma. He could certainly protect himself, perhaps by returning to the hiding spot under the chopping block in the slaughterhouse.
With his current strength and understanding of the rules, surviving the night wouldn't be an issue.
But what about afterwards?
If a ghost actively seeking to kill entered the room, the sleeping group would surely die.
At that point, Li Mo would only have one path left: trust Hua inside the wall. She was the only unknown ghost he had encountered tonight, her completeness uncertain.
She was suspected to be the "most complete Bizzare" predicted by the notebook.
"No other choice." Li Mo pulled out the Bizzare Handgun, but the next second, it nearly slipped from his grasp.
The muzzle sparked with blue-violet flames, seemingly drawn to something.
"...This is the first time the Bizzare Handgun has reacted like this. Did something trigger its rule, or did it just sense a ghost?"
Li Mo took a deep breath, confirming his items were still on him.
Especially the Bizzare Coin. Although Li Mo was extremely reluctant to waste it now, it was indispensable for defending the room.
Holding the room meant inevitably attracting more and more ghosts.
Not stopping the ghosts would lead to death; stopping them would attract even more.
Against one or two ghosts, Li Mo could still manage as long as he didn't trigger their rules.
If multiple rules were triggered simultaneously, he could only rely on the Bizzare Coin to escape.
"Meow..."
Here it comes!
Li Mo tensed up. He hadn't expected it so soon; a ghost appeared the moment 9 PM struck, and it was that Cat-Face Granny again.
After the first meow, a dead cat would fall from the sky, landing in front of the target Cat-Face Granny intended to assimilate.
Thud! A horribly mangled black cat appeared before Li Mo, its body split in two, most of its internal organs spilling out, emanating the foul stench of decay.
Li Mo gripped the Bizzare Handgun tighter. He had anticipated this; the Cat-Face Granny that appeared would inevitably target him, the only one with his eyes open.
So, all he needed to do was close his eyes and wait for Cat-Face Granny to leave on her own...
Step... step...
Two sets of footsteps sounded simultaneously, one heavy, one light.
Two Bizzare?
The heavy steps belonged to Cat-Face Granny. Who did the light ones belong to?
"Can't close my eyes. I need to end this fast." Li Mo opened his eyes, glancing down.
It was a Human Skin Ghost. Have the ghosts from the Human Skin Forest started roaming the mountain? Did the Seven Swords of Taixu fail to hold them back...?
"So, they really are completely dead after all."
Not a moment was spared to grieve for the Seven Swords of Taixu. Arriving immediately on the battlefield were—
The Human Skin Ghost, Cat-Face Granny, and Li Mo, currently in his third-death state [meaning on his fourth life].
Li Mo dashed forward with Shunpo [Flash Step]. His marksmanship was terrible, and the Bizzare Handgun itself was very old, causing bullets to drop easily, making accuracy even harder to achieve.
But that wasn't an issue at close range.
BANG! The deafening gunshot and the blue-violet flames illuminating Li Mo instantly made him the most conspicuous prey in the long night.
This shot hit the Human Skin Ghost, the netherflame burning it and slowing its movements.
The Bizzare Handgun was ultimately an incomplete Bizzare object; it couldn't even fully suppress a target, let alone burn a ghost into complete inactivity.
Its netherflame could only hinder Bizzare movement, making some Bizzare with incomplete rules even more incomplete.
Li Mo had to handle the rest himself.
His Bizzare left hand (the 'Bizarre Bud' hand) gripped the Human Skin Ghost tightly. Suddenly, a chilling sensation spread from his palm; the Human Skin Ghost was fusing into Li Mo's left hand.
His Bizzare left hand instinctively resisted, temporarily halting the fusion with the Human Skin Ghost.
If it had been his other hand, the Human Skin Ghost would have fully merged within three seconds.
BANG!
Another shot, piercing through Li Mo's left hand to hit the Human Skin Ghost, slowing the fusion.
Slowing didn't mean stopping. No one knew what would happen if the Human Skin Ghost completely merged into Li Mo's skin.
"Is this the Human Skin Ghost's second killing rule...?"
The first was eye contact, the second was fusion.
"Meow..." Before he could think or react, the second meow sounded. Cat-Face Granny's green eyes stared intently at Li Mo.
Li Mo kept his head down, their gazes offset. Besides, Cat-Face Granny was behind him to his left; their eyes couldn't possibly meet.
But suddenly, Li Mo felt as if his head was being forcefully lifted.
"Ugh... What... what is this? A third Bizzare? Where is it?"
Li Mo couldn't see it. The entity on his shoulder manipulated its pale hands, forcibly twisting Li Mo's head one hundred and fifty degrees to meet Cat-Face Granny's eerily glowing green eyes.
Instantly, Li Mo's head was fixed, unable to look away. His body began to wither, and an urge to meow tickled his throat.
Don't meow...
Don't meow...
Don't meow...
Li Mo repeatedly reminded himself. He knew clearly that once he uttered the first meow, there would be no turning back.
The assimilation rule would instantly transform him into a new Cat-Face Granny, hunting those in his memories.
During the assimilation process, Li Mo's body stopped resisting the Human Skin Ghost's fusion. The assimilation rules of the Human Skin Ghost and Cat-Face Granny weren't contradictory; they could coexist.
Both were simultaneously corrupting Li Mo's status as a living human, transforming him into a Cat-Face Granny wearing unfamiliar human skin.
"'My eyes for yours.'" Li Mo held back no longer, immediately using his Bizzare left hand's ability: "Usurpation."
Instantly, Cat-Face Granny lost her Bizzare eyes, while Li Mo's eye sockets became empty, black pits, devoid of eyeballs.
His vision plunged into colorless nothingness.
Cat-Face Granny's assimilation rule was interrupted. Next was the Human Skin Ghost. Relying on instinct, Li Mo fired the Bizzare Handgun several times until the Human Skin Ghost was tattered and incomplete. Only then did he take out his combat knife, enduring immense pain to slice off a large patch of skin from his hand.
He followed up with a brutal beating before throwing it far away.
"The contamination has worsened..." Li Mo muttered. Bizzare powers weren't easy to use.
A few more uses, and this life would be Li Mo's last.
Restarting was also a form of contamination. When the contamination level was low, Li Mo could currently restart three times, reaching a state of four deaths.
But after using Bizzare powers, the contamination deepened. If he forced a restart now, the massive contamination from the restart itself would directly turn Li Mo into a Bizzare entity.
Li Mo navigated by memory, grabbed the blinded Cat-Face Granny, and threw her into the distance with all his might.
The two ghosts were dealt with temporarily, but they would inevitably return, while his own condition worsened with each encounter.
"That probably attracted a lot of ghosts... If my luck is bad, the entire Human Skin Forest might have been drawn over..."
Li Mo's eyeballs regenerated, but they remained murky and dim like a dead man's.
"I need to save three uses of Usurpation. For the Ghost Festival [Zhongyuan Festival] on July 15th, I'll still need Usurpation to deal with the Human Skin Ghosts and the Flesh Ghost. Success rate... maybe ten percent..."
"But can I even survive tonight?"
Li Mo stood guard outside the room, pistol in his right hand, left hand slightly open, silently watching the darkness ahead, waiting for the next wave of attacks.
Dawn was too far away.
Perhaps the sunset he saw while ascending the mountain was the last sunset he would ever admire in this life.
No wonder it was so brilliant, so magnificent.
Li Mo couldn't use his final restart. In his fourth-death state, even doing nothing, he would gradually be contaminated as time passed.
After the fourth death, he wouldn't last until July 15th.
If only he could survive tonight, there was still hope – deal with the source Bizzare, handle the Human Skin Forest during the Zhongyuan Festival, bring back Hua...
Of course, it was merely hope.
But even the faintest glimmer of hope is still hope.
Above was endless darkness, and ahead too. Under the boundless night, three withered, dark figures emerged, heading straight for the room behind Li Mo.
Li Mo didn't retreat. He gripped his knife in his right hand and the gun in his left.
As long as he held a blade, he could press forward without fear.
He had faced desperate situations more than once. Even if he had to die, he would choose the way himself.
Li Mo charged, engaging the three arriving ghosts.
...
...
The night was black as ink. An incense stick's worth of time [approx. 30 min] had passed since 9 PM.
In the distance, the Human Skin Forest rustled ("sha sha") in the quiet night breeze. All was silent, save for the chirping of insects.
But there are exceptions to everything. Within the Human Skin Forest, a lone figure strolled across the desolate, ruined ground.
A ghost lurking in the darkness awakened. A tall, dark figure that had been lying on the ground suddenly stood bolt upright, without bending any joints, as if yanked up by strings.
It stared intently at the presence wandering the Human Skin Forest at night. Its stiff, deathly grey fingers cracked audibly as bones shattered and fingers elongated grotesquely.
The night was silent; the sorceress wandered the woods.
Only occasionally, in the deep shadows, the sleepless leaves above rustled, like trembling, like singing praise.
She walked with steps as light as a cat's, strolling through the boundless darkness, leaving behind a fragrance as intoxicating as rosemary, layering the night with an ethereal, misty charm.
The lantern swaying in her hand seemed like a lost soul trembling in the night. Inside the soul-lantern burned blue-violet netherflame, its faint glow illuminating a lifeless path leading towards the spectral beyond.
The lantern-bearing sorceress hunted in the darkness, a tall spirit flickering in and out of existence beside her.
She slowly approached the distant room. A tall, dark figure turned around, its face cold and twisted. Two different human faces appeared simultaneously on one visage, fighting for dominance.
However, both faces belonged to the dead.
Finally, it stopped heading towards the room and turned towards the woman approaching it eerily.
This was the Portrait Ghost, freed from the restrictions of its portrait. It only needed to reach out and touch the woman before it to turn her into one of its derivatives.
Just like the day before yesterday, when it killed the living person beside it.
Touch the opponent's body, and the rule triggers.
"Good evening, guest."
The sorceress murmured softly, her voice gentle to the extreme.
Before the Portrait Ghost could touch the woman, it was ensnared by a serpent spirit formed of blue-violet netherflame.
Its contemptuous, vertical pupils stared fixedly at the prey beneath it as it ruthlessly dragged the ghost into the dark netherworld, leaving behind flickering, mottled netherflames that landed on the dry grass, threatening to ignite an unending wildfire.
A phenomenon defying the laws of physics occurred: the flames didn't burn the dry grass. Instead, they transformed into wisps of light, spreading continuously towards the room's location.
"So you were here, Mr. Detective. Did you prepare a suitable welcoming gift for me?"
"Hiss~"
The serpent spirit rested on the sorceress's shoulder, letting out a hoarse hiss.
"Indeed, the wind is rather restless tonight. Let's quiet them down a bit."
A wolf spirit materialized, ferocious-looking, facing off against the thousands of human skins behind it.
Above, a hellscape of Bizzare entities fought and tangled; below, the sorceress strolled through her nocturnal garden.
Meanwhile, outside the room, Li Mo sat slumped on the ground, a pool of dead blood at his feet.
The Bizzare Handgun's bullets were regenerating; not a single round remained in the magazine.
Li Mo's body was also rapidly decaying, becoming increasingly like a corpse.
His heart had stopped beating, he had no pulse, his eyes were lifeless, and his entire being radiated a chilling aura.
Li Mo touched his own body – stiff, cold, like a corpse dead for several days.
The relentless waves of Bizzare had forced him to retaliate with Bizzare powers, and each use worsened his condition.
The first wave had two ghosts, the second three, the third five, the fourth eight...
Li Mo had lost count of how many waves he had repelled. He only knew he was dying.
There was at least half an hour between the first and second waves, less than ten minutes between the second and third, and merely three minutes between the third and fourth.
Li Mo took out his phone, silent for a moment, feeling the urge to leave some last words.
After his death, this world would turn into a living hell, and soon all living humans would perish.
Perhaps someone from another world would notice, arrange for people to come and try to handle it...
Although Li Mo held no real hope for that, but... what if?
What if that person came to Taixu Mountain? What if they picked up his phone? What if they happened to meet Mei?
But before Li Mo could leave a single word, another wave of attacks arrived. Dense shadows emerged from the woods.
Li Mo raised the Bizzare Handgun. The bullets were still regenerating, none left.
His Bizzare left hand trembled violently; he couldn't use Usurpation many more times.
The contamination was too severe. Li Mo no longer had the chance for a fourth restart.
And dawn was still very far away.
"Is this... the end?"
Li Mo pulled a coin from his pocket. After being contaminated by the Bizzare, it carried Pardofelis's rule: Those who see it must pick it up; those who pick up gold must pocket it. [A rule compelling obsessive acquisition].
For Bizzare entities, as long as the rule on the coin persisted, they would be continuously drawn to it.
This bought Li Mo a chance to breathe.
But so what? How long could the coin stall them? Half an hour? An hour?
This time, it had attracted over twenty ghosts. The time it could buy was drastically reduced.
However, it was enough time to leave last words.
"They say people see their life flash before their eyes before death. I don't seem to see anything."
"Probably because... I don't want to die yet."
Li Mo tossed the coin, landing it precisely one hundred meters behind the group of twenty-odd ghosts.
It was best to land the coin within a hundred meters behind the ghosts, forcing them to turn back. By the time the rule on the coin faded and the ghosts walked back, it would take a little more time.
Though not much, it was better than nothing.
Taking advantage of the moment the ghosts were distracted by the Bizzare Coin, Li Mo entered the room, quietly looking at the unconscious Shigure Kira and Saori Tsuruyo.
Then he glanced at Changle.
He couldn't leave himself, but he could gamble on sending someone to the entrance of the Bizzare cave.
Whether they could leave the cave and return to their own world depended entirely on their own abilities.
Changle wasn't on Li Mo's list, for a simple reason.
She was constrained by the traditional ideological education of a feudal dynasty, tamed into a princess with a glamorous exterior but no independent thought.
Her mind was set on meeting the Immortal and seeking blessings; she wouldn't listen to reason.
To her, the imperial decree and the king's command were paramount, even if it meant sacrificing herself.
It wasn't her fault. The limitations and narrow-mindedness of the era couldn't solely be blamed on the individuals within it.
Even Li Mo himself, hadn't he once been limited by his own time?
The so-called change of dynasties inherently follows an invisible, intangible cycle. It truly exists and is difficult to alter by human will.
No immortal blessing could change the course of a dynasty.
She might understand this logic, but she wouldn't acknowledge it, let alone accept it.
"You're not inherently bad. If you were in the modern era, you'd probably be a well-educated, grateful, and good girl."
"But I can't let you go. Because you might very well be a ghost. Besides, in that Bizzare cave, ordinary people can't get out."
"Once you stray from the original path, you'll be caught by countless ghosts who died unjustly in the cave, becoming one of them, never finding release, trapped forever in unending, lightless darkness."
"In that environment, over time, anyone would go mad, myself included. Unable to live, unable to die."
"At that point, death itself might be the greatest luxury."
Li Mo walked past Changle, then approached Shigure Kira and Saori Tsuruyo. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke slowly.
"You don't belong to this world. I'm not sure if you can even leave here."
"The best time to traverse the Bizzare cave is 7 AM. It's too early now, you might lose many things..."
"But staying here means certain death."
"I will take you out of here. From now on, just focus on being Valkyries. Don't get involved with anything related to the Bizzare..."
Just as Li Mo prepared to lift Shigure Kira, a sudden BANG sounded from behind him.
Li Mo whipped around. If his contamination weren't so severe, he would certainly show an expression of surprise right now.
The door had been closed.
Who closed it?
Wait...
Without the Head Ghost suppressing the Ghost Stomach, it probably wouldn't be long before the Ghost Stomach awakened. At that time, everyone inside the room would still face certain death.
Furthermore, there were over twenty ghosts gathered outside. Once the rule on the Bizzare Coin faded, they would reach the room door, and the room wouldn't be able to stop them.
Li Mo walked to the corner of the wall, attempting to punch through it. But he was classified as a ghost and couldn't attack the wall.
He had lost the concept of breaking a wall, just as a person cannot imagine a color they have never seen, even if that color truly exists.
To leave, he had to go through the main door.
"Need to find the Head Ghost again. As for the ghosts outside... just have to hope they don't all come at once."
"If fewer than eight ghosts knock, the room can withstand it."
Li Mo began searching every corner of the room. The Head Ghost had gone dormant, its Bizzare aura undetectable. He could only use the most tedious method: hunched over, head down, searching every nook and cranny.
"Hello, excuse me... Are you looking for this?"
An incongruous female voice spoke from in front of Li Mo. He looked up and saw her hand holding a dormant head.
"..."
Li Mo looked up further, finding the woman's face obscured by burning blue-violet flames.
Only her wine-red eyes shone with a mysterious glimmer, like a vast, silent sea, drawing one irresistibly into their depths.
"Apologies, I seem to have been rather abrupt. Please forgive my rudeness. As compensation, I picked up a peculiar coin on the way. Perhaps you'll like it."
The woman extended her hand, palm open. There lay the Bizzare Coin Li Mo had just thrown.
Li Mo's mind felt shrouded in a thick fog, unable to discern the woman's true nature.
Human? Or Bizzare?
The question didn't seem hard to answer.
To be able to bypass the numerous ghosts outside, suddenly appear before Li Mo, and maintain such an elegant and intellectual posture – the possibility of her being human was already nil.
Not to mention the flames burning on her face.
But her voluntarily handing over the Bizzare Coin conflicted with Li Mo's established knowledge.
Because a ghost would never willingly relinquish the Bizzare Coin. Even the coin's owner, Pardo, could only bear to part with it while retaining her humanity.
Unless the rule on the Bizzare Coin had faded.
A ghost possessing humanity...
Li Mo stood up, reached out, and took the Bizzare Coin from the woman's palm.
Hm?
The rule on the Bizzare Coin was still active?
Li Mo was baffled. The Bizzare Coin's rule definitely existed, yet he hadn't felt the urge to snatch it just now. And this unknown... fire-faced woman? She could hand the Bizzare Coin to him without any intention of taking it back.
If the coin's rule had been suppressed earlier, now that it was in Li Mo's hand, he could clearly sense the rule's presence, and the Bizzare aura was very strong.
So, the fire-faced woman before him was human?
Was this a joke? What normal person could chat casually with their face covered in flames?
"Long time no see. You seem to have changed quite a bit."
The woman initiated conversation, but Li Mo, out of professional habit, remained silent, his mind racing to figure out her origins.
The most complete Bizzare? Possessing complete humanity?
How was that possible? The more complete the rule, the more severe the contamination, and the more twisted the humanity should be.
Just as the universe only increases in entropy, moving from order to disorder.
"I'm a little hurt... Are you not speaking to me because you think conversation will trigger a death rule?"
"Please rest assured. If I wanted to kill you, Mr. Detective, you wouldn't even be able to restart."
"Hmm... perhaps that sounds a bit condescending. But the current you probably doesn't care much for such pleasantries anymore."
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Irene. Irene Adler."
"No need to be overly puzzled, you have no memory of this name..."
The woman smiled radiantly, brimming with mirth. Apart from the face consumed by netherflame, the rest of her body appeared completely normal.
Healthy skin tone, a full and graceful figure, well-proportioned and long legs.
She wore a blue-black dress, somewhat resembling a European evening gown, covering her entire body. It featured retro-style lace, hollowed-out patterns, and distorted designs, dyed with tear-stain-like gradient colors.
Li Mo found her vaguely familiar, but his mind held no related memories.
"Where did the flames on your face come from?" Li Mo asked.
If she truly was the one predicted by the notebook, the most complete Bizzare he had ever encountered, then resisting her would be utterly fantastical.
She was Bizzare, seemingly able to ignore all Bizzare rules, possessed complete humanity, and could communicate.
He just didn't know who she was, where she came from, or what she wanted with him.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
A dense barrage of knocking sounded at the door. Shadows flickered outside; a quick glance showed six ghosts knocking, with a horde of countless more behind them.
Just as Li Mo stood up to fight, Irene stopped him.
"It seems a bit noisy outside."
"Mr. Detective, please wait here a moment."
"Our conversation cannot have any conscious third parties present."
As soon as she finished speaking, Irene leaned down and crawled towards Li Mo, who was sitting on the bed. Soon, she was on top of him, one rounded, slender leg pressed between his thighs, her body leaning forward, forehead touching forehead.
"What do you think you're— Mmph!"
Irene then wrapped her arms around Li Mo's neck, burying his face in her chest.
Li Mo's vision was obscured by the soft, warm cleavage. He raised his left hand to counterattack.
Something unexpected happened.
His Bizzare powers were completely suppressed. His Bizzare left hand fell dormant, and the chilling aura in his mind vanished.
Completely, utterly, he couldn't exert any strength. Almost all Bizzare abilities throughout his body went dormant, leaving only a sliver of Bizzare power to sustain his life – a trivial amount she seemed to have deliberately preserved.
Irene's eyes were no longer gentle, turning cold instead, speaking in a language Li Mo couldn't understand.
[You... cheating cat.]
A massive scythe suddenly appeared. In a single clash, the entity on his shoulder was reduced to half a body.
Bizzare entities cannot be killed; its body began to regenerate.
But during the regeneration, the three soul spirits – Wolf, Snake, and Owl – descended upon it, tearing at its thin Daoist robe, devouring its pale skin and cold flesh.
A soul-lantern materialized above Irene's head. As the soul spirits consumed the entity, its essence didn't return to its damaged body but was drawn into the lantern.
Soon, the entity was devoured completely by the soul spirits. The soul-lantern pulsed with a blinding crimson light.
The red light slammed against the inside of the lantern, violent emotions nearly filling it to bursting.
Irene nodded with a smile, got off Li Mo, and carried the soul-lantern to the room's main door.
As Li Mo watched, she, a ghost, pushed open the room door.
"?"
Why could she push open the room door?
Isn't she a ghost?
Li Mo had never encountered this situation. Even if she embodied hundreds or thousands of Bizzare entities, she shouldn't be able to open the door like a normal person.
It wasn't about the number of Bizzare entities, but about fundamental nature. Unless she possessed a rule that forced doors open, or... a rule that ignored rules.
Otherwise, no matter how numerous the Bizzare, they would only destroy the door by knocking, not push it open.
Before Li Mo could ask, Irene glanced back with a smile, then closed her eyes and spoke softly: "Legend tells that long ago, if sailors lost their way at sea, they could find their way home by the strong scent of rosemary. But if the rosemary on the wind itself has lost its way, where will it lead the ships upon the sea? To the promised land full of hope, or to the bottomless abyss that devours all?"
Before she finished speaking, humanoid soul-figures formed of blue-violet flames crawled out of the ground, recklessly throwing themselves at the crowd of ghosts trying to enter the room.
Instantly, the ghosts were suppressed, unable to take a step, trapped within a raging sea of fire.
Li Mo's pupils couldn't help but constrict. He could feel it – this was the netherflame from his Bizzare Handgun.
The same source of power?
However, unlike the negligible hindering ability of his handgun, the flames summoned by Irene's soul-figures burned incredibly fiercely, overwhelmingly powerful.
The ghosts ignited by the netherflame stopped moving, lost their rules for a short time, and fell into inactivity.
Hinder, Suppress, Silence – undoubtedly, the last effect was the best and the hardest to achieve.
To make a ghost fall into silence, there were typically two scenarios:
First: Two rules of comparable completeness clash, causing both to fall silent simultaneously.
Second: A rule of extremely high completeness directly overrides an incomplete rule. The Bizzare loses its rule and falls silent, with the duration of recovery depending on the depth of the silence.
It was a sight Li Mo had never witnessed before: both sea and fire.
Mysterious flowers bloomed between the fire and the sea, emitting an alluring fragrance that intoxicated the senses.
Li Mo shook his head to clear it.
His gaze towards Irene became even more wary; even the residual aura carried some kind of rule.
At this moment, Li Mo determined that Irene was the Bizzare predicted by the notebook.
"..."
So Hua inside the temple wall wasn't the Bizzare from the prediction at all!
If he had chosen to trust the future back then, instead of trusting himself, perhaps he would have...
Thinking this, Li Mo's gaze turned colder, feeling an impulse to bury the notebook right now.
It hadn't lied, exactly. If he listened to Irene, surviving wouldn't be an issue.
But the notebook had dug a very tempting trap for him.
When feeling helpless, people are vulnerable.
A drowning person easily grabs for a rope thrown into the water.
But whether it's a lifeline or a deadly python, who can say?
Irene was too strong, so strong that Li Mo couldn't even muster the desire to resist.
With a mere gesture, she suppressed all the restless Human Skin Ghosts—no, she forced them all into silence.
Based on the current depth of their silence, they probably wouldn't wake up for several days.
"Alright, the third parties have been dealt with. On this lonely night, doesn't Mr. Detective plan to do something?"
Irene remained elegant. Even with flames covering her entire face, her mysterious and unique aura couldn't be hidden.
Li Mo sat up straight. Lacking the will to resist didn't mean he felt fear.
He didn't deny the "Mr. Detective" identity, because she clearly acted out of consideration for this identity. If he discarded it, he might end up like the Human Skin Ghosts outside in the next second – silenced.
No, the Human Skin Ghosts were silenced; he would be killed.
Besides, Irene had said from the start that if she wanted to kill him, she wouldn't need to worry about his restarts, because he wouldn't be able to activate them.
Li Mo decided to ask two general questions. When facing the unknown, one must gauge the opponent's origins and rules.
If communication was possible, use conversation tactics to gradually extract information, starting broad and slowly narrowing down.
Li Mo: "Who are you, and why did you come here?"
Irene: "Can't I just have wanted to see you?"
Li Mo: "?"
Irene: "[<(￣▽￣)/♥~]"
This answer was meaningless. Anyone could use such evasiveness to hide their true purpose.
Li Mo couldn't tell if she was telling the truth, as he couldn't see her micro-expressions through the flames.
Li Mo: "Let me rephrase. Why did you save me?"
Irene: "Because if you died, I wouldn't be able to see you anymore."
Li Mo: "..."
Irene: "[o(￣︶￣)o]"
My ardent admirer?
Li Mo searched his conscience. He had no interest in ghosts, nor had he ever done anything inappropriate...
...
Ghost Kiana doesn't count.
...
Ghost Mei doesn't count either.
Now, Li Mo searched his conscience again. He hadn't done anything inappropriate towards ghosts.
He needed to think carefully about what to ask, couldn't let her brush him off so easily.
While Li Mo was still struggling with how to phrase his question, Irene's lips parted slightly. A patch of netherflame on her face seemed to dissipate, revealing flawless, exquisite skin underneath.
Irene: "The source Bizzare of Taixu Mountain is within the Human Skin Forest. You just need to hold out until Zhongyuan in mid-July, find the real Him [祂] among the countless human skins. With your skills, you can naturally resolve this paranormal incident completely, including the source Bizzare."
Li Mo: "How do you know?"
Irene: "Yes, how do I know?"
"How long has it been? I don't quite remember. When I was young, I told sailors about to embark not to go, because I saw their future – torn apart by storms, buried at sea."
Li Mo: "Did it happen?"
Irene: "I don't know. I only know they never returned."
"Many people cursed me for being unlucky, for cursing them before their voyage. They called me a witch, the murderer who killed them."
Li Mo: "And then? Did you stop interfering in others' lives? Even with your ability to foresee the future."
Irene: "Not entirely."
"Afterwards, I continued to tell many people about their impending deaths. No one believed me. In the end, they all died, just as I had seen."
"Once, I predicted the deaths of a family. They seemed quite famous. The day after their deaths, I was captured, tied to a cross, and executed as a witch in public view."
"However, I wasn't worried at all, because I hadn't seen my own death."
"Someone rescued me. He cleared my name and urged me never to tell others their future again."
Li Mo: "Did you listen?"
Irene: "Halfway."
Li Mo: "Why didn't you listen to him? You could have been caught and executed again for predicting futures. No one can protect another person forever."
Irene: "I couldn't not tell him. Because I saw it – he would die because of me."
Li Mo: "...My condolences."
Irene: "Pfft... Although hearing that from you is a bit strange, it's also quite interesting."
"Alright, back to the matter at hand. Allow me to introduce myself again: My name is Irene Adler."
"As you can see, I will guide you towards an unknown future. You will survive."
Li Mo: "Didn't you stop making predictions?"
Irene: "If it concerns someone related to me, and I'm in a good mood, I still do it occasionally."
"The optimal time has passed now, but it's not a major issue."
"Do as the notebook says, and you'll be fine."
Li Mo: "I find you suspicious. If finding Him in the Human Skin Forest on July 15th ends this farce, why don't you just tell me who it is?"
Irene: "From a factual standpoint, I probably should tell you His true identity."
"You would have originally asked that notebook of yours. But compared to my words, isn't it far more cunning? Even if it pointed out who He is, would you truly be certain that the 'He' the notebook speaks of and the 'He' I speak of are the same entity? No, you wouldn't believe it. No one understands you better than I do. You only trust yourself."
Li Mo: "..."
Irene: "Still pondering my abilities and rules? Mr. Detective is as cautious as ever... How about this? You do something for me, and the next time we meet, I'll tell you all my abilities and rules?"
Li Mo: "What is it?"
It was extremely rare for a Bizzare entity to proactively propose a deal with a living person.
Especially since Irene could clearly force Li Mo to do anything, yet she still offered a fair trade.
Irene tossed Li Mo a rosemary flower, smiling enchantingly.
"Kiss it, then keep it by your side at all times until July 15th has passed. Of course, you can choose to throw it away, but you won't, because you need it."
"After all, even I cannot save Mr. Detective after death. Dead is truly dead. Apart from the complete [Her], no one can retrieve a fallen soul from the netherworld."
"Alright, I should be leaving now. As a parting gift, let me give you a little something."
Irene once again moved forward, climbing onto Li Mo's body, but she didn't make any further moves this time.
Instead, she took Li Mo's old Bizzare Handgun. Her long, slender, beautiful fingers glowed with a faint pink luster.
The Bizzare Handgun seemed coated in a layer of olive oil, becoming bright and shiny. Its form changed from an ancient firearm, more akin to a flintlock, into a modern handgun.
Only now did it truly deserve the name 'handgun'.
"Mr. Detective, the next time we meet, don't forget my name, otherwise..."
"You'll be in quite a bit of 'pain', you know~."
Before her words faded, the Irene on Li Mo's body dissipated into countless sparks of fire, vanishing within the room.
Only the residual warmth on his skin and the rich floral fragrance filling the room proved she had been there.
The Head Ghost was placed back in its original spot, unchanged.
After Irene left, the chilling aura in his mind returned, and his Bizzare left hand gradually recovered.
Li Mo looked at the brand new, upgraded Bizzare Handgun in his hand, then at the open door of the room. A bold yet feasible idea suddenly surfaced in his mind.