Lin Mo had already treated this nightmare world as an infinitely realistic horror game.
Moreover, it was an 'expert' level game where you couldn't load a save file after dying.
However, the reason why Lin Mo was called 'God Lin' by gamers like Mao Mao Hen Dan Da was that he could speed-run any horror survival game in one life.
When it came to analytical skills, Lin Mo had his unique strengths.
The number 404 itself wasn't special, but what it could represent was diverse.
It could be a password, an address, or the name of a person or an item - all were possibilities.
The nightmare occurred within two communities, and what communities had the most of were houses. So, Lin Mo initially thought it was a room number.
The clue given by the Spirit of the Pen must be crucial, it should be explored.
As for why not hide and survive, but instead risk his life? Lin Mo could find at least a dozen reasons for this, the most important being that he knew very well that in any horror game, if you only stayed in a safe zone to survive, you would never be able to escape from this horror.
Although the Spirit of the Pen had gone quiet, Lin Mo felt that an evil spirit wouldn't be so easily eliminated.
He didn't even rule out the possibility that it had been 'acting' before.
So Lin Mo decided to carry the pencil with him.
Wherever he went, he would take it.
Besides this, Lin Mo started searching around the room.
There were many books in the room, looking normal on the outside, but when opened, the text inside was chaotic and incoherent, or just blank white pages, which looked quite creepy.
Lin Mo had no taboos. He put these books back exactly as they were, then opened the drawers.
Eventually, Lin Mo found two valuable items.
A blood-stained diary, and a cartoon pencil sharpener.
The pencil sharpener could be put to use immediately. Inserting the pencil tip into the cartoon bear's mouth and turning the small handle at the back would sharpen the pencil.
After sharpening, Lin Mo put the pencil away.
Then Lin Mo opened the blood-stained diary.
The moment he opened it, Lin Mo felt the pale ghost shadow behind him take a step back.
"It's actually afraid of this?"
This discovery startled Lin Mo.
Unable to turn around, Lin Mo couldn't see the expression of the pale ghost shadow, but he guessed that its face must be full of apprehension at this moment.
Previously, even the Spirit of the Pen evil spirit was suppressed by the pale ghost shadow, and the human-faced spider similarly didn't dare to provoke it. Among the nightmare monsters, Lin Mo considered the pale ghost shadow to be of no low rank.
Something that could make even the pale ghost shadow retreat a step in fear, this diary must be extraordinary.
Lin Mo immediately began to pay more attention to the diary in his hand.
He opened it carefully to take a closer look.
The first line on the first page of the diary immediately caught Lin Mo's attention.
"This is my secret!"
The handwriting wasn't that of the Spirit of the Pen. Lin Mo guessed it was written by the girl he had discovered earlier.
The one who strangled herself.
Was this her diary?
If so, it shouldn't have anything special, so why would it make the pale ghost shadow wary?
Lin Mo eagerly turned to the second page, where a large block of text met his eyes.
Then, Lin Mo began to read carefully.
The first half of the diary was fairly normal, describing the ordinary daily life of an ordinary girl. The girl's name was Hu Lingling. Her family background was average, but she had a friend from an extremely well-off family.
The diary didn't write out the full name of this friend, only using the character 'Chu' as a substitute.
It should be a girl surnamed Chu.
Even from just the side descriptions, Lin Mo could see that Hu Lingling's friend, Chu, was the kind of gentle and kind girl.
But between the lines, Hu Lingling was very jealous of this friend.
She envied the other's beauty and kindness, envied her many talents, envied her better family background than her own.
Even in the diary, Hu Lingling began to use vicious words to curse this good friend 'Chu' out of jealousy.
Interestingly, between the lines, Hu Lingling constantly showed her own fears. She was afraid that in the future, 'Chu' would no longer be friends with an ordinary girl like her. She was afraid that 'Chu' would take away everything around her.
"This woman's jealousy is too strong?"
Lin Mo shook his head.
Turning to the next page, Lin Mo's eyes lit up.
This page recorded something more important.
Hu Lingling heard that the Spirit of the Pen game was fun, so she dragged 'Chu' to play together. According to the diary's content, this was the beginning of a tragedy.
'Chu' was very timid, but couldn't refuse her good friend, so she could only accompany her to play.
This kind and naive girl had no idea that this so-called game was a carefully planned trap by her 'good friend', with the purpose of scaring her.
Hu Lingling had a boy she liked at school. The cliché was that the boy liked 'Chu'.
So Hu Lingling wanted that boy to see 'Chu' in an embarrassing and flustered state after being scared.
No one expected an accident to happen. 'Chu' was indeed frightened, but what happened during the process is unknown. In the end, she lost her footing and fell down the stairs, dying.
A flower that hadn't had the chance to truly bloom, thus withered.
The diary wrote to this point, and Lin Mo was surprised to find that there wasn't the slightest hint of guilt in the words.
"Since that day, I've been able to dream about her every night, she's simply a lingering ghost..."
"Was I wrong? No, I wasn't wrong. It's not like I pushed her down the stairs, it was her own carelessness, what does it have to do with me?"
Hu Lingling's coldness and the evil in human nature were fully displayed at this moment.
Even Lin Mo frowned as he read it.
But the real fascinating part was just beginning.
The text that followed was clearly not Hu Lingling's handwriting, but changed to a completely different font, a bright red font that looked as if it had been written with blood.
Lin Mo recognized it as the handwriting of the Spirit of the Pen.
"I wander in pain and fear, without end..."
What followed was a diary-like record, which, surprisingly, narrated the experiences after death.
Many parts were not smooth to read, as if the writer was in some kind of frenzy and confusion at the time. In some places, the word 'hate' was written repeatedly, each character carrying extreme resentment.
Some entire pages were filled with the character for 'death' in various sizes.
It was as if each word was a curse, and anyone who saw these words would immediately encounter misfortune, or be driven completely mad by the fear and insanity contained within.
Lin Mo couldn't feel 'fear', but the malevolence in it still made him feel intensely uncomfortable for a moment.
He immediately closed the diary and shut his eyes, waiting for a moment to recover.
"No wonder even the pale ghost shadow is wary of this thing. It's fortunate that I can't feel fear, otherwise, under the impact of both fear and hatred, I might immediately become insane, or turn into a walking corpse."
It's not surprising for the Spirit of the Pen. She was tricked by her best friend, and after death, she saw this diary. It's too normal to have hatred and murderous intent in her heart.
No wonder she wanted to kill people as soon as she appeared.
The resentment was too strong.
Lin Mo opened it again, carefully skipping over the pages filled with the characters for 'hate' and 'death'.
At the last place where text was written, Lin Mo saw this line:
"I felt reality... this world is awakening."
"I felt the taste of fear, sweet and delicious... it opened the door for me..."
"I can take revenge now..."
There was nothing written after that in the diary, it seemed only about half had been used.
But through the content above, Lin Mo saw many things.
Without a doubt, the Spirit of the Pen evil spirit he had encountered earlier was 'Chu'.
The girl strangled on the ground was Hu Lingling.
Lin Mo sighed. This Hu Lingling could be said to have brought it upon herself.
Not focusing on her, Lin Mo turned his attention back to the diary. The key point here was the last sentence 'I felt reality', 'This world is awakening'.
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