"I'm sorry to say, but you probably can't get out. I'm guessing you all came here to explore after seeing some real-time photos and videos posted online. If that's the case, you can go check now. See if any of those accounts that posted the photos and videos have posted any other updates since then. Even a single sentence." Li Mo advised.
Kanagawa Yume immediately opened her phone and went to the supernatural forums. Hundreds of accounts had posted real-time scenes from the haunted manor—photos, videos, even some descriptions. But without exception, the latest post from every single one of these accounts was about the haunted manor.
After that, nothing. It was as if they had vanished from the face of the earth.
The implication was self-evident.
"You should understand now. No one who has gone in has ever come out alive."
"I think a student like you knows very well what it means when someone who posts on the forums every day suddenly stops."
"You've been looking for a while. Have you found a single account that has resumed updating?"
Suddenly, Kanagawa Yume tapped on a post from an account the Occult Club had found earlier.
"This one." She pointed at her phone screen.
The latest post was from yesterday, while the previous one was from half a month ago, both about the haunted manor. However, the older post was a live shot from inside the manor, while the newest one was from outside. The account owner had already left the haunted manor, documenting their journey home.
It was accompanied by some misleading text, something like, The haunted house was terrifying, I'll definitely come back again.
"Doesn't this mean you can get out?" Kanagawa Yume asked.
"Then why did you all come here?" Li Mo stretched out a finger and repeatedly tapped on the user's latest post about leaving the manor.
"You mean...?!"
"Exactly what you're thinking. The one who posted that wasn't human. It was a ghost trying to lure people in. The paranormal influence is spreading; the ghost has left its fixed area and seems to have acquired the consciousness and behaviors of some people."
"Then what should we do? If the ghost gets into the city..."
"You don't need to worry about that. I've already considered it before entering the manor and arranged for my companion to deal with any ghosts that leave. What we need to do is survive and get to the fifth floor. The solution to this paranormal event is there."
"Can't we just climb up?"
"Climb straight up? Even if you're not afraid of dying, I am. Are you trying to die faster? If you don't follow the ritual, even if you climb to the fifth floor, believe me, you won't find anything and will just throw your life away."
"But I saw there were no stairs during the day."
"Survive tonight, and the stairs to the second floor will appear. You don't need to worry about that."
"How do you know so much...?"
"Because I'm a professional. Leave the professional stuff to the professionals."
Li Mo took Kanagawa Yume's phone and started fiddling with it. The battery was at 21%. Without a power bank, it wouldn't last long. He had to use the remaining time to warn the people in the other world. If the gates to the Inner World and the Outer World were connected, and they foolishly opened the door to their room and let the ghost in, Li Mo would be truly grateful—sarcastically, of course.
"What are you doing?"
"Informing your companions. Telling them to stay put in their rooms and not do anything."
"But won't your message be intercepted by the ghost?"
"I've considered that. That's why I used twelve different languages. Your companions will definitely use a translation app when they see it, so no need to worry. And a ghost won't randomly tamper with information outside its established identity. In other words, even if the ghost alters the Japanese and Chinese text, it doesn't matter, because I've deliberately made the content in those languages vague. Even if they're deleted, it won't affect the meaning of the sentence. Seeing so many languages will make your companions realize your situation is very wrong, that there's something wrong with the haunted manor, and they'll be on high alert."
Li Mo sent the combined sentence, edited in twelve languages—"Get into the rooms, now! Don't go out! This house is haunted!"
"Also, I need you to do one more thing."
"What is it?" Kanagawa Yume asked.
Li Mo said calmly, "Tell me everything you did and saw from the moment you entered the haunted manor. That's why I risked my life to save you. I need to find some key information to break this stalemate."
"Okay." Kanagawa Yume readily agreed.
---||---
Meanwhile, the group that had been searching for Kanagawa Yume all over the manor had gathered together. A thick black fog had risen outside, making it impossible to see anything, and it was bone-chillingly cold. The president was the first to return.
"President, President! Yume sent a message!"
"I got it too! She sent it to everyone, private messages, group chat, all of it! What on earth is happening?"
"What is this? She sent this? We haven't learned any of these languages."
"It's okay, I'll use a translation app."
The members of the Occult Club were very confused. If Yume could send messages, why didn't she just come to the main hall to meet them?
The president picked up her phone and, using a translation app, translated the obscure sentence. It was a simple message: "Get into the rooms, now! Don't go out! This house is haunted!"
"President, I translated it. Yume says this place is haunted? Is she playing a prank?"
"I think so. It must be a prank. She's deliberately hiding to scare us."
"But... Yume might be playful, but would she really be so inconsiderate of the bigger picture? And we really can't find her..."
"President, what do you think?"
"..."
The president was silent for a moment. It was true, Yume was mischievous and impulsive, but she wasn't one to cause trouble for no reason. Besides, everyone was having fun, so there was no need for such a stunt.
Could this place really be haunted? How was that possible?
"Let's do as Yume says for now. There are twenty-two of us now. Let's not spread out too much. Groups of four, five groups in total. The two left over will come with me into the second room. The rest of you can team up and decide for yourselves."
"Contact me in the group chat if anything happens. Don't call. There must be a reason why Yume didn't call us or even mention calling."
"Don't leave the rooms tonight. We'll figure everything out in the morning..." The president was getting nervous. She had a bad feeling in her gut.
Following the president's instructions, everyone went into their respective rooms. The president's room, the second one, had six people.
The time was now 10:05 PM—
"What?! That spider was your companion?"
Li Mo was shocked, a look of panic flashing across his face before he quickly regained his composure. He couldn't afford to be hasty. Calm down, calm down...
"What's wrong? Is there a problem? She was just eaten by a ghost, and the ghost put on her skin, right?" Kanagawa Yume asked, not yet realizing the severity of the situation. But when she saw Li Mo's expression, her heart skipped a beat. She sensed something bad was about to happen.
"The situation is very bad. It's not about the human-spider outside. As long as we're in the room, it can't get to us."
"But why did she turn into a ghost? Because she pretended to be one. Pretending to be a ghost, in the end, you really become one."
"I told you before, ghosts can't be killed. They strictly follow their rules. But certain rules are also a form of a ghost's existence. When a living person does a specific thing in a specific area at a specific time, they have to bear the corresponding rule."
"In other words, the rule on the first floor is 'Pretending to be a Ghost'. Once a living person pretends to be a ghost, they will turn into one under special conditions."
Li Mo's face was grim. He stared intently at the steady flame of the candle, gripping the Bizarre coin tightly in his hand, ready to toss it at any moment. He even had a vague premonition that the candle would go out in the next second, and he would die inexplicably in the dark.
The special condition, obviously, was not easy to trigger. Otherwise, the person who had pretended to be a ghost would have turned into one long ago. But if she hadn't turned into a ghost yet, that was even more terrifying, because she could enter the rooms and blow out the candles...
Kanagawa Yume was still a bit confused. "But according to what you said, there were two people pretending to be ghosts during the day. So we should have encountered two identical ghosts."
"That's what I'm most worried about. If she had turned into a ghost, she should be in the same world as us, following the same rules as the human-spider outside, and we would have run into her. But we didn't, which means she's with your companions... and could turn into a ghost at any moment."
"How is that possible?!" Kanagawa Yume exclaimed.
"Nothing is impossible. From the details you told me just now, I deduce that the second rule on the first floor is 'Being Alone'. Once a living person is alone, they will be pulled into another world, the Inner World."
"Like you and me. You were separated from the president to look for people at 7:59 PM. 8:00 PM is a special point in time. It doesn't matter if you're alone before this time, but once it's past 8:00 PM, anyone who is alone will be transported to this world."
"That's also why you could see dust on the cleaned floor. Your president must have found someone immediately after you separated, thus avoiding being alone."
"And you, you were alone before 8:00 PM, so you came to the Inner World, couldn't find anyone, and ran into a ghost."
"As for me, I entered the Inner World the moment I stepped into the manor, which is why I could see the ghost in the black fog."
Li Mo analyzed quickly, not missing a single detail. Kanagawa Yume listened intently, but the more she heard, the more terrifying it all seemed. That meant the ghost in the Outer World could at any moment...
Kanagawa Yume shook her head. "If you need to satisfy both the 'Pretending to be a Ghost' and 'Being Alone' rules to become a ghost, then the president's side has nothing to fear. There are twenty-four of us. Excluding me and the member who became a ghost, there are still twenty-two. And with your warning just now, the president would never let anyone be alone again. You can rest assured on that."
"That's exactly what I'm afraid of. Look at the group chat messages. Your companions said they've already entered the rooms, four to a group, five groups in total. The two left over are in your president's room, the second one."
"She may not look like a ghost, still maintaining human thoughts, habits, and behaviors, but in essence, she is a ghost. Letting a ghost into the room will affect the candle. Once the candle goes out, no one in the room will be left alive..."
"What?! How can this be?" Kanagawa Yume bit her lip, a look of disbelief on her face. There were two people pretending to be ghosts during the day. One of them had never been alone and had entered a room with the living.
"Mingyue, you have a way, right?"
"I do, but I need your cooperation. Give me some information so your president will do exactly as I say. Quickly." Li Mo's speaking rate had noticeably increased, his tone urgent. He immediately opened the group chat and quickly edited a message.
Time was of the essence. He didn't know how long the candle in the room would last, but it definitely wouldn't be long. Ghosts were immortal, but Bizarre items had their limits. Once the rules they upheld dissipated, a total wipeout would only take a moment.
Li Mo used Kanagawa Yume's identity in the group chat, frantically pinging everyone.
Kanagawa Yume: @All Members Which f*cking room is the person who pretended to be a ghost during the day in?!
President: @Kanagawa Yume She's in the second room with me. What's wrong? Yume, what happened?
Member A: @Kanagawa Yume Why are you asking that? And where are you, Yume? We've searched the entire first floor of the manor and can't find you. Don't tell me you went home?
Member B: @Kanagawa Yume You said this house is haunted. Where? Have you seen it? Come on, send us a photo or video, or else we won't believe you!
Member C: @Kanagawa Yume Yume, is she with you right now? The one who pretended to be a ghost during the day. There are only twenty-two of us here.
Li Mo had no time to deal with the other members' teasing. As for whether she was with them, she was—right outside the corridor. Li Mo could hear her crawling and chewing. As for why he was swearing, Kanagawa Yume had told him that including swear words in every sentence would prove it was her.
Just as Li Mo was about to send another message, his phone gave a low battery warning. Only 10% left.
"Tsk, do you have a power bank?"
"No, the power bank is in the other world. How could I have one here?"
"Then we have to solve this quickly."
"Can't you just send a photo? Take a picture of me, it might be more convincing."
"Do you want the ghost to know where we are? Photos carry a certain kind of coordinate information that can be detected. Chatting is the safest way." Li Mo said with a look of contempt. Kanagawa Yume pouted, "Well, I didn't know..."
Dismissing the low battery warning, Li Mo quickly tapped on the phone screen. He started a private chat with the president.
Kanagawa Yume: President, kick her out. She's not f*cking human. If you let her stay in the room, everyone will die. Don't be an idiot.
In her room, the president looked back at the perfectly normal member behind her and fell into deep thought, not replying.
"You seem a little agitated?" Kanagawa Yume noticed beads of sweat on Li Mo's forehead. "Are you worried about the ghost killing people?"
"Worried my ass. I'm pissed off at your president. Not replying for so long, not even taking a stance. She deserves to die."
Li Mo said it, but his fingers didn't stop tapping on the screen. The phone's battery was now at 8%. But Kanagawa Yume was using an Android, which made Li Mo even more anxious. His own phone had plenty of battery, but no signal in this world. It was useless. Once the phone died, it would be too late.
Kanagawa Yume: I know this is all very sudden, but I have a way to prove that thing isn't human.
Kanagawa Yume: You blockhead President, you can privately message the people in the other rooms. Ask them if the candle on the wall in their room is the only one that's flickering, on the verge of going out.
In the Outer World, the president hesitated for a moment, then looked again at the perfectly normal member who had pretended to be a ghost. She was still happily chatting with the other students around her, the topics of conversation were fashionable—clearly the thoughts of a living person. In contrast, the Kanagawa Yume in the private chat was very anxious, her swearing style had even changed quite a bit.
Following Kanagawa Yume's last message, she asked around. It turned out that the candle in their room really was the only one that was flickering, on the verge of going out. But... to kick out her own classmate, a member of the Occult Club, just for that? It felt like deliberate exclusion, too hurtful!
President: You're right, but the reason isn't strong enough. Yume, stop joking around. Where are you? Come out and meet everyone. Why are you talking so much nonsense today?
President: She's our classmate. We shouldn't treat her like this. Are you just saying this because you're angry that she pretended to be a ghost and scared everyone earlier?
"..."
Li Mo really wanted to hit someone right now. He could understand that as a president, she didn't want to kick out or exclude anyone, but desperate times called for desperate measures. When it came to reason and logic, sometimes gender really affected one's judgment.
If it were a man, he would have done it first and dealt with the consequences later, at worst apologizing and saying, "Sorry, bro."
The battery suddenly dropped to 2%, which meant Li Mo had only one last chance to convince the president to kick out the seemingly normal ghost.
"Sorry, the president is like that, she tends to be indecisive at times like this..." Kanagawa Yume was also fuming as she watched from the side. From a god's-eye view, the president's actions were undoubtedly endangering everyone in the room, including them.
"She won't shed a tear until she sees the coffin."
Li Mo steeled himself. Since she insisted on evidence, he would give her evidence.
Kanagawa Yume: Okay, I have one last method.
Kanagawa Yume: My phone is about to die. After I tell you this method, I won't be able to reply to you anymore. Remember that anyone who contacts you after this is not me.
Kanagawa Yume: Take out a lighter, walk to the candle, and blow it out...
Kanagawa Yume: Have everyone stand in front of you. Make her lie on the bed and cover her completely with a blanket. Then... you'll know if what I said is true. After you know the truth, use the lighter to relight the candle. While the ghost is suppressed by the candlelight, throw it out and block the door tightly. This is the only way...
"Wait, blow out the candle, you...?!" Kanagawa Yume instantly realized something. She remembered Li Mo saying that the candle was used to suppress the ghost and shield people from its sight.
"Yes, someone will die. Maybe more than one." Li Mo said coldly. He took out the Bizarre pistol and walked to the door.
"But there's no better way. I need to make that ghost lie on the bed, completely covered by a blanket. Everyone else needs to stay away from it. This is to trigger the 'Being Alone' rule. Since it has already triggered the 'Pretending to be a Ghost' rule, without the suppression of the candle, the ghost will reveal its true form."
"When the screams of your classmates ring out, your president will know that everything I said was true. She will light the candle, and then use its suppressive effect to drive the ghost out."
"..."
"What? You think I'm wrong?"
"I've done my best to warn them, but you saw how they answered me."
"I have no obligation to save any of you. If you die, you die. I don't have to take any responsibility. Even so, I still want to save all of you because you helped me, so I'm willing to protect you. But that doesn't mean I'll sacrifice everything just to protect you."
Kanagawa Yume: "I have no objection, but... I can probably imagine what the president will say to you when you meet her later."
"What will she say to me? Heh, something like 'Why did you have to sacrifice our lives? Those were several lives!'?"
Kanagawa Yume nodded and said helplessly, "Yes."
She didn't really care what Li Mo did, but the dead classmates and their families wouldn't let him off so easily. But when the time came, she would probably help Li Mo bear the responsibility, as a way of repaying his kindness. At worst, she would just transfer schools again and go back to China.
"I am indeed a little angry," Li Mo calmed down, slowly exhaling a breath of air.
"It doesn't matter for me, because I'm not afraid of death. But my companion, who has no obligation, is willing to follow me, to deal with these disgusting, bizarre things, to lose her freedom, only to be dragged down and even blamed by the people she's protecting."
"I can't accept that kind of ending. I can be blamed, but my companion can't. Whoever wants to harm her, I'll kill them. It's that simple."
"Your companion shouldn't die, so should my companion and I die?"
"Forget it, there's no point in talking anymore. What's done is done. Let's deal with the matter at hand first, and then consider what comes after."
"Hide in the back. Your president is in the same room as us. When she blows out the candle in the Outer World, the candle in our room will most likely go out too. I will do my best to hold off the ghost outside. No... not just do my best, I will give it my all."
Li Mo didn't back down. He was always like this.
When there was a problem, he solved it, instead of wallowing in self-pity and blaming others. Kanagawa Yume's leg had been pierced by the upgraded bullet, limiting her movement. Plus, she was just an ordinary person with no combat ability, and she couldn't escape. So, it was up to him to hold the line.
And Li Mo couldn't just guard inside the room. He had to go out into the corridor to prevent the ghost from entering. If he just stayed inside the room, some ghosts would inevitably slip through. But if he held the corridor, all the ghosts would see him as the primary target, and the room would be safe.
Risk and reward, they were always like a couple in a passionate love affair... inseparable.