The Knocking Ghost didn't follow its previous pattern and left the haunted house early.
However, the other ghosts didn't retreat. They continued to pour into the house unabated.
Something unexpected happened. With every step the Knocking Ghost took, the shadow beneath its feet spread out, swallowing all the surrounding ghosts. In an instant, the ghosts wandering toward the hallway from the main hall were all devoured, and the Knocking Ghost's figure became even more bloated.
Crunch... crunch...
Its pace was slow, as if its feet were bound by heavy chains, each step requiring immense effort.
Soon, the Knocking Ghost disappeared from Shigure Kira's sight, completely outside the haunted house.
Shigure Kira was in disbelief but didn't try to lock the Knocking Ghost again. An indescribable distortion had already begun to form in her body. If she continued to use this power, the dormant ghost within her could overwhelm her consciousness at any moment.
No, she could already feel the changes happening to her.
Without much hesitation, Shigure Kira returned to the room and lay on the sofa, her breathing faint. Her face was ashen-white. She closed her eyes, trying to calm the turmoil within.
At the same time, she pondered what had just happened.
The time-freezing ability had indeed hit the Knocking Ghost; there was no doubt about that. But the moment it was frozen, it had escaped the locked state and rewound its own time.
Just how many different rules did this ghost possess?
Shigure Kira couldn't probe the Knocking Ghost's secrets. Li Mo hadn't mentioned it, which meant he didn't know either. During his own encounter with the ghost, he hadn't discovered any special time-space related rules.
The essence of the lock was to freeze all states and information within a segment of time, and it was instantaneous. Once triggered, there was no room to react. Unless one could predict it in advance and escape the time lock through some special means.
"White Flower, are you okay? Your face... you don't look well."
The streamer approached the sofa but didn't get too close to Shigure Kira. Kira's appearance right now was truly terrifying. Her hair was growing wildly, her long, frost-like silver locks falling to the ground like willow catkins, a chaotic mess. Her skin was visibly paling, taking on an extremely unhealthy pallor, like a cold corpse.
"I'm fine. The danger is temporarily gone, but you still can't sleep."
"Yeah, I know. Are... are you really okay?"
"Not really, but I'll hold on. It's not time to fall yet..."
Shigure Kira clutched her forehead. She had made a miscalculation; she shouldn't have gotten so entangled with the Knocking Ghost.
Meanwhile, the Knocking Ghost stood at the manor's main gate and glanced back over its shoulder. Its deep, dark gaze pierced through the dense layers of black fog, reaching the second room on the second floor.
Its dry lips moved, muttering in a low whisper, but no one knew what it was trying to say. Having lost human cognition, the words it struggled to form were an incomprehensible jumble.
After uttering the chaotic, unintelligible words, the Knocking Ghost forlornly slipped into the black fog, heading toward an unknown distance.
"Ngh...!"
Shigure Kira's mind was in turmoil, threatening to shatter her consciousness and reduce her to a state of blind foolishness. Polarized emotions filled her mind, trying to drive out her normal feelings. But if that happened, the last trace of "Shigure Kira's" existence in this world would probably vanish completely...
"I see..."
By now, Shigure Kira understood most of what was going on. For instance, Li Mo had paid a certain price, using a special method to steal this ghost's time-space power, and then reversed his own time.
In reality, she had died long ago, in the auditorium of St. Freya High School. Li Mo had used his power to rewind her time, allowing her to be reborn. That was why when she first told him her name, he had replied, "You've already told me."
Another example: she was about to die, and the reason was simple. She was going to use the same method to save Li Mo, to reverse his time and return him to the moment before his death. This was the safest and most effective way. Of course, all of this was predicated on Li Mo already being dead. But even if he were safe, she wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer.
What a pity... There were still so many things she wanted to do...
Shigure Kira took out her phone. There were messages from Cecilia, a few voice recordings. Cecilia had sent them before she left this world.
"White Flower, is that your friend? Why doesn't your phone have a signal?" the streamer asked, moving closer and trying to distract Shigure Kira with conversation to ease her pain.
"I suppose so. Someone I'm very close to..." Shigure Kira replied calmly, struggling to prop herself up into a sitting position on the sofa. As for the signal issue... she had neither the mind nor the energy to explain. Her head was a mess.
"Aren't you going to listen? I'm a little curious," the streamer said, pointing at the red dots on Shigure Kira's phone screen, all unread voice messages. In truth, the streamer wasn't curious at all. She just saw how haggard Shigure Kira looked, so weak she seemed on the verge of death.
"If you want to listen, go ahead..." Shigure Kira handed the phone to the streamer. She could barely keep her eyes open.
The streamer immediately pressed play on an unread message and turned the volume to maximum, hoping to jolt Shigure Kira awake.
The recording wasn't addressed to Shigure Kira, but was a conversation between two people.
"Is there someone you like?"
"Yes."
"Is she here?"
"Yes."
"Are you married?"
"I want to get married, but I'm waiting, waiting for her to complete her mission."
"Is it worth it? You might have to wait a long time. Many times, our kind... the path she walks doesn't care about the people around her. If you're just an ordinary person, what you need to give, what you need to wait for, what you need to endure... is far more than you imagine..."
"Then I'll just do my best to catch up."
"I know, I've always known, and I'm very clear about how much I need to sacrifice. But I'm willing to give, and waiting is not enough. I hope she can see me when she turns around, see me right behind her. Whenever she wants to rest, she can find me behind her and find support."
"I promise she can freely pursue her ideals and mission."
"Watching her grow step by step, ascending to a dazzling stage, this bit of endurance and waiting is nothing."
"I have always firmly believed that everything in the world has a price, and the price of happiness must also have mutual sacrifice."
"If your ending was destined to be a tragedy from the very beginning, like a story, when you know the end of the story is a tragedy, would you still choose to read it?"
"Our story just has to be deep enough, it doesn't have to be the most perfect."
It was a confession... In the recording, the young man's answers were incredibly frank and sincere, addressing every question head-on. Who was he confessing to?
"Little Shigure, you'll never succeed if you keep hiding in the back! Go on, Cecilia is here to support you! Be brave and respond!"
"This is the first thing I'm doing for you as your new captain. Don't disappoint my expectations, okay~"
Cecilia's encouraging words played from the phone.
Shigure Kira trembled as she stood up, walked over to the streamer, and snatched the phone back.
"Wh-White Flower?" the streamer stammered, taken aback.
Shigure Kira kept her head down, her long eyelashes fluttering. She didn't say a word.
The room fell into a long silence. The streamer didn't dare to break it. Her goal was achieved, anyway. Shigure Kira's condition had improved a lot. At least her expression was no longer so miserable; a glimmer of anticipation had returned to her eyes.
"Get yourself together. We're going to the third floor first thing tomorrow."
"Oh, okay! But what do we have to do on the third floor to avoid being targeted by ghosts?" the streamer asked. Shigure Kira had always told her what to watch out for on the next floor.
"Someone will tell you what to do when we get there. Trust him unconditionally."
"And what about you?"
"I don't know. But it doesn't matter."
"..."
The next morning, Shigure Kira led the streamer out of the second room and straight to the stairwell. The stairs to the third floor had appeared. Without any hesitation, Shigure Kira walked ahead, heading up. She clutched the nearly dead phone tightly in her hand, her gaze resolute.
As soon as they reached the third-floor landing, Shigure Kira suddenly dashed forward without warning, running to a corpse and freezing beside it.
She moved with urgency, approaching him. Like looking at the sun, she didn't dare to gaze for too long, but also like the sun, even without looking, she could still see him. Her focused gaze finally stopped wavering.
Even though the sun's light was blinding, she knew this pain was the very light she had been desperately seeking.
"White Flower? Did you find something?" The streamer approached with her phone, jumping in fright the moment she saw the body.
"Wh-why is there a body here? Wait... White Flower, you..."
The streamer's eyes widened in disbelief as she watched Shigure Kira embrace the corpse. Her eyes curved into a smile, and a radiant expression she had never seen before bloomed on her face. It was as if she had seen the person she loved most, her deepest wish fulfilled. Her smile was pure, like a crystal palace, utterly unstained.
"I'm so happy to see you..."
"I'm so happy to see you..."
A faint, dark-gold light flickered at her fingertips. The hands of fate began to turn backward. She didn't want to wait, couldn't bear to wait any longer.
The corpse began to restore itself at a visible rate. Gradually, Li Mo's original appearance re-emerged. The rotting skin sloughed off like mud, and the dried blood began to flow anew... although Li Mo's eyes remained closed, his consciousness yet to return.
Time on Li Mo's body was continuously reversed, back to the point of his sudden death on the third night.
In contrast, Shigure Kira's ice-blue hair, which Li Mo had praised when they first met, was now completely devoid of its azure hue.
"Li Mo, I'm so happy to see you... I can finally offer you my everything."
"You will live... live on... for years, decades, centuries... By then, will you still remember me? Remember Shigure Kira?"
"It's okay even if you forget."
"Perhaps... I came into this world just for this moment."
"Li Mo, I'm so happy I met you."
A withered flower that would never become a butterfly hung from a branch. Yet, with its dull, wooden heart, it still felt the changing of the seasons. The world of humans is simple. Once you become aware of the absurd, even without contracting the plague, you gain a sickness of the heart. A body besieged, a heart in despair.
Shigure Kira leaned down, her pale, cold lips pressing against equally cold ones.
The final offering was a kiss of death, devoid of warmth.
The last trace of clarity in her eyes gradually faded. Shigure Kira's pupils lost focus completely, and she collapsed onto Li Mo's body as her consciousness dissipated. To prevent the ghost inside her from emerging after her death, Shigure Kira had locked her own death, preventing the ghost from reawakening immediately.
Their roles had been reversed. A corpse was revived, and a living person became a corpse, devoid of sorrow and joy.
"..."
Li Mo slowly opened his eyes, feeling a weight on his chest.
"Shigure Kira..."
Recognizing the person collapsed on his chest, he stood up, cradling her in his arms. He was about to call out her name when he noticed something wrong. Her hair didn't fall naturally. It was stiff, as if coated in a hardening agent, suspended in a fixed position.
She locked her own time-space, and with great force. Li Mo concluded instantly.
Combined with the bewitching scarlet hue she couldn't hide in her eyes, and a cascade of white hair, it was clear. She had used Bizarre Kiana's power, allowing the corruption to cling to her, causing her true consciousness to be slowly eroded away.
She was dead.
"..."
At that moment, the streamer, holding her phone, approached Li Mo with the recording from her livestream. Although this man was a complete stranger and incredibly unnerving, not seeming like a living person, the streamer trusted Shigure Kira. To survive, she had to listen to him unconditionally.
"Your name is Li Mo?"
"Yes." Li Mo's cold voice made the streamer's throat tighten, a chill creeping into her heart.
"She's..."
"Dead."
"Dead?" The streamer bit her lip, unable to believe it. It wasn't until she stepped forward and confirmed that Shigure Kira was indeed not breathing that she came to her senses, bit her lip again, and said to Li Mo in an emphatic tone, "She died to save you! I was streaming just now, look at the recording..."
The streamer was about to play the recording but was cut off by Li Mo.
"No need. That's not important." Li Mo turned away, not even bothering to glance at the recording that had already started playing.
His cold indifference ignited a flame of anger in the streamer. She roared at Li Mo, "She died for you! How can you say that!"
Instantly, the comments in the chat also erupted, condemning Li Mo's actions.
Li Mo took the Imaginary communicator from Shigure Kira's body and began to study it, completely ignoring the streamer's outburst.
The streamer gritted her teeth. Shigure Kira was her savior. She couldn't accept her savior's feelings being trampled on like this while she stood by and did nothing. For whatever reason, the enraged streamer turned her phone's volume to maximum.
Instantly, Shigure Kira's humble and sincere confession, spoken in her final moments, echoed through the hall, repeating over and over. Simple words, a pure heart, straightforward, with no artifice. She hadn't dared to reveal her feelings, so she had spoken so reservedly.
But she knew she was dying. If she didn't say some things, she would never have the chance. That was why she had made such a restrained yet heartfelt confession.
She had only... because of her own insecurity, changed "I love you" to "I'm so happy I met you." That was all.
But Li Mo was like a wooden doll. He showed no sign of turning back. Not only did he feel no guilt, he was even rummaging through Shigure Kira's corpse for something.
"The notebook is gone, the Bizarre handgun is gone, the thermometer is gone too... Did Kanagawa take all the Bizarre items?"
"Only a communicator, unused. Maybe I can contact Kanagawa through this."
Li Mo murmured to himself, his face expressionless. He seemed to be hiding something, throwing himself into thought and analysis to numb himself to a fact he could see just by turning around.
Was it self-deception, or burying his head in the sand?
Not important... none of it is important...
Until a hoarse roar came from behind him: "She saved you! Li Mo!"
Li Mo's body suddenly stiffened. The streamer's expression softened, thinking her shout had awakened the numb man.
But to her surprise, when Li Mo turned around, his face was still grim, dead, and full of a contemptuous indifference to life.
"So what?"
Li Mo closed in on the streamer, his dark face making her feel suffocated. Instinctively, she took two steps back. An invisible pressure kept her silent, as if she were facing not a person, but a ghost that could kill at any moment.
"She should have told you. If you want to live, you follow me and do as you're told."
"But in my opinion, you have no value that would make me want to protect you. I could abandon you at any time."
"She willingly died for me. What does that have to do with you, or anyone else?"
"This was something she and I agreed on. When you make a choice, you bear the consequences. Regret is the most useless act of cowardice."
Li Mo's words were devoid of any inflection, as if he were a machine, stiffly and coldly reciting lines.
The current situation was actually a pretty good outcome. Bizarre Kiana hadn't descended, and he had been revived.
But... was it really over just like that?
Li Mo glanced sideways, his gaze quietly falling on the still form of Shigure Kira. A slight smile still hung on her lips, as if she had thought of something happy before she died.
"..."
To die without pain was the dream of so many people trapped in paranormal incidents. For someone tainted by corruption, an early death was a welcome, almost unattainable release.
Li Mo walked to the stairwell. The stairs to the next floor had not appeared. Looking around, he found that the haunted bed had long since vanished. This was probably related to the restoration of the haunted house. So, did he have to survive the "Hide-and-Seek" and "Red Light, Green Light" games again tonight?
"I'm stuck in a loop. I can't survive the third night alone. I need someone to help me deal with the Knocking Ghost."
Li Mo glanced at the streamer and shook his head. She was out of the question. An ordinary person, at best, could only help him avoid triggering the "Being Alone" rule.
Time ticked by. The third floor remained quiet. Other than the slight noise from the streamer's livestream, there were no other sounds.