Cocolia sighed, deeply regretting Li Mo's life. If she were forced to step down for some special reason before the children grew up, the other children in Cocolia's Orphanage might still have a chance, but Li Mo, without her support, could only wait for death.
A maid was just a job, not an obligation. A normal person would not adopt a sickly child. I hope that day never comes, but as a captain, who can say for sure? Maybe she would die tomorrow.
"Yes, I'm glad to see you're safe. My military duties are heavy, so I'll leave these children to you, Li Mo. Take good care of them."
With those words, Cocolia lowered her hand from the doorknob, gestured for the children behind her to go to Li Mo, and then turned to leave.
Li Mo let out a sigh of relief, wondering if Shigure Kira had finished tidying up.
"I will take good care of them."
At least no one would die.
After Cocolia left, Li Mo led the children into the hallway of the house. Unlike the haunted house, apart from the fifth floor, the other floors did not have a ninth room. A hallway had only eight rooms.
Li Mo turned around and said to the children behind him, "Currently, besides the rooms on the fifth floor, the rooms on all other floors are unoccupied. However, for ease of management, I will arrange for you, who have just entered the orphanage, to be on the first floor. You can choose any room you like, and after you've chosen, you can move your luggage in yourselves."
"If you can't move it, you can help each other. If that doesn't work, you can ask the maid for help. She'll be down to the first floor soon. I'm not feeling well, so I'll go ahead."
After speaking, Li Mo walked upstairs without looking back. The fifth floor... he had to climb the stairs again, which would be exhausting.
Most of the children obediently did as they were told, choosing their favorite rooms and then moving in. Although they were young, the fact that they had been abandoned made them understand that they couldn't always rely on others to save them.
"Tch! Why should I listen to that guy?"
Sin kicked the wall and rushed after Li Mo. Since Li Mo was walking very slowly, Sin caught up with him at the third-floor landing.
Li Mo narrowed his eyes slightly and asked with a chuckle, "What? Is there anything else you want to say? Sin Mal."
"Come on, just drop the act. Mama Cocolia told us you're as weak as a kitten. I really don't know why she chose you to be the manager of the orphanage. Be smart and announce to everyone that I'm the boss of the orphanage. Let me be the boss. Otherwise, I can't guarantee what unpleasant things will happen next." Sin sneered, revealing her sharp shark-like teeth, the corners of her mouth slightly upturned.
She could tell at a glance that Li Mo was a weakling, not worth worrying about. When she became the boss of the orphanage, and Cocolia was often away, she would be the king of the mountain and could do whatever she wanted! Hahaha...
Li Mo looked at Sin's back with interest and said meaningfully, "Oh, are you threatening me?"
Sin: "Cut the crap. I'll only give you ten seconds. Ten, nine..."
Li Mo suddenly closed his eyes, the corners of his mouth upturned.
"You're quite trustworthy. I didn't expect you to actually count down one by one. To be fair, I'll let you cry ten times."
"Kira, drag her to the first floor, take off her skirt, and spank her in front of everyone until she cries ten times."
"What nonsense are you..."
Before the last word could fall, Sin found her feet leaving the ground, her whole body suspended in the air. Turning her head, she saw a blue-haired girl in a maid outfit lifting her up, staring at her as if she were a toy.
"Understood, little master."
Shigure Kira carried Sin like a chick and walked quickly towards the first floor.
Sin panicked a little, trying to struggle free but finding the other's strength frighteningly large. She couldn't push her away even with all her might. "Wait! I'm Cocolia's daughter too! You're just a maid, you can't treat me like this!"
Unfortunately, words were always pale and powerless.
With a crisp "smack," Sin shut her mouth, her little face flushed red, her body instinctively recoiling from the immense impact.
The other children heard the commotion and rushed to the first-floor hall, only to see Sin being held down on the sofa, her small waist bent, her bottom getting spanked again and again.
"Isn't that Sin... what's happening to her?"
"Isn't Sin very strong? Did she talk back to Brother Li Mo?"
The children chattered amongst themselves.
"You dare hit me? You actually dare hit me? I'm going to tell Mama Cocolia! I'm going to report you and kick you out of this house!"
"Ngh! It hurts, it hurts..."
"What did Li Mo give you? I can give it to you too! Stop hitting me, stop hitting me. I can give you more if I become the boss of the orphanage!"
At first, Sin was quite stubborn, but after a few slaps, she lost all her tough attitude.
"Waaah, waaaah!"
"No, don't look! No one is allowed to look!"
"Wuwu... I was wrong, don't hit me, I really know I was wrong! Stop, please stop!"
In full view of everyone, Sin collapsed on the sofa like a pile of mud, her eyes vacant, her body limp.
"You must listen to little master Li Mo, understand?" Shigure Kira put her skirt back on for her. Ten cries, no more, no less. She turned and walked upstairs.
Li Mo was lying on a chair, breathing in the fresh air from the window.
"How was it?"
"Done. Her whole body, including her mouth, has softened up."
"Alright, send her some food later. I'll play the bad cop, you play the good cop. I suspect after getting your help, she'll think you're a good person and try to win you over to her side."
"Pfft, you're even plotting against a child?"
Shigure Kira snuggled up to Li Mo, reaching out to pinch his round, chubby cheeks. The baby-like, supple, and moist skin felt strangely comfortable to knead.
"What do you mean, 'even plotting against a child'? Am I not a child now? Being plotted against by a peer just means I'm not capable! When I was her age, I was already... (bragging on and on)" Li Mo said righteously.
"...Pah, pah, pah, so thick-skinned."
Shigure Kira walked to the window, closed it, and then pulled the curtains halfway. She saw that the tip of Li Mo's nose was a little red, probably from being exposed to the cold air for too long.
After closing the window, Shigure Kira turned on the heater. This amount of money was nothing to her. It was just a matter of staying up late to work overtime or taking on commissions from Schicksal. Although she had retired, her actual combat effectiveness hadn't declined much. Coupled with decades of combat experience from her memories, she would only be stronger.
"The weather is getting cold. Be sure to keep warm."
"Yeah."
"Li Mo."
"I'm here, just say what you need to say."
Li Mo leaned back leisurely in his chair, his legs crossed, gazing at the setting sun in the western sky. The molten gold afterglow passed through the glass, casting a golden shimmer on his tender face.
Shigure Kira walked behind Li Mo, placed her hands on his shoulders, and gently massaged them.
Leisurely time, warm afterglow, the person he wanted to see and had already seen. This was perhaps the longest vacation Li Mo had ever enjoyed.
In the room with only the two of them, Shigure Kira murmured in a low voice:
"Do you think... maybe... our world will never have any Bizarre appear? This beautiful and peaceful life... can it continue forever?"
"Even in the future, the haunted house won't appear. The orphanage will have more and more children, and we'll have to work hard to run our own business to support them."
"And then... when you grow up, we'll have our own children... just like before."
Mentioning children, Shigure Kira's eyes couldn't help but dim. Li Mo hadn't mentioned it for so many years. This was the first time she had brought it up.
In her disappointment, a small, warm hand covered hers, stroking it gently, occasionally poking it firmly.
Shigure Kira shook her head, chuckled wryly, and thought she shouldn't have started this topic. She understood that Li Mo also felt very guilty, otherwise he wouldn't have made such a sacrifice, abandoning everything to go to the Soul-Ferrying Passage on the fourth floor to save the soul of the deceased "Shigure Kira."
"Li Mo, if it's really as I say, and no Bizarre appears in this world."
"Are you willing to... live a peaceful life with me?"
Shigure Kira's hands stopped moving. The cool evening breeze, like a mischievous child, slipped in through the crack in the window, lifting strands of ice-blue hair by her fragrant shoulders. The room was like a frozen photograph, paused at a certain moment.
Only when Li Mo slowly stood up, walked to the window, opened it, and propped his hands on it, gazing into the distance, did time begin to tick by like the second hand of a clock.
Sensibility made him indulge in the beautiful and peaceful daily life; rationality made him wary of the Bizarre and terror of the future. Both were not wrong, they were symbols of different extremes.
To fall, or to resist?
Either erupt in silence, or perish in silence.
Erupting doesn't necessarily lead to victory. In the end, not only might you not enjoy the gospel you deserve, but you might also carry countless heavy burdens and die with unwillingness and regret.
Falling will definitely lead to destruction. The ending is nihilistic, meaningless. But in the process of heading toward destruction, you have truly enjoyed the sweetness of honey and tasted the wonderful flavor of nectar.
"I'm thinking... I'm thinking... whether I am a complete version of myself."
"Kira, if you want an answer, I can answer without hesitation: I am willing."
"A person's life is as short as a firefly's, so limited. Why should I abandon so many beautiful things to welcome a destined tragedy? Leisurely time is in the present, a warm house is right in front of me, the person I like is by my side... If I can't even protect the happiness and family that are right in front of me, what's the point of saving others?"
"Instead of dying in a paranormal incident, I'd rather enjoy decades of life with you. I'd have no regrets even if I died."
"But... but... I know this kind of thinking is definitely not what 'Li Mo' would choose. 'Li Mo' yearns for beauty and is willing to fall, but he would never be as negative and hedonistic as I am."
Li Mo looked at Shigure Kira and raised a thought-provoking question: "Kira, do you think I'm a complete me?"
Shigure Kira was slightly stunned and replied, "Yes, I believe you are you. Although it's very different from the gloomy guy state when we first met, that's also because the Bizarre is too oppressive, making people who are deeply involved in it become as desperate and pained as they are."
"Maybe this carefree appearance is your true self."
Li Mo shook his head, "Perhaps I really am me, but I feel like I'm missing something. It's inside me, existing, continuing, but I can't wake it up."
"I might have triggered some rule in the haunted house long ago that I've never discovered..."
"Forget it, never mind that. It's past six, let's go make dinner first. The sky should be completely dark by eight. Then you can accompany me on my rounds..."
————
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In the Prime World, Li Mo returned to the small house with the unconscious Hua, Elysia, Pardofelis, and MEI.
"Aren't you going to explain yourself to me?"
MEI stared at the indifferent Li Mo and asked coldly.
Li Mo: "There's no need. You'll know what happened when they wake up."
MEI: "Bizarre Kiana was summoned, wasn't she? But you came back unharmed."
Li Mo: "She couldn't kill me. I dealt with her before she could lock all my time, so naturally, I could leave."
MEI caught the details in Li Mo's speech. But she needed to verify some facts. Although MEI knew nothing about what had happened in the haunted house, she still sensed a strange aura.
MEI: "You are a ghost now."
Li Mo: "This state is more suitable for dealing with the Bizarre. Alright, I have no intention of exchanging any more pleasantries with you. Organize all the information about the Bizarre in the Prime World. When I come back, I'll eliminate them all, one by one..."
"I have absolute rationality, and the immortality of a ghost. Only the me now can realize that impossible ideal."
MEI: "..."
MEI was sure that Li Mo had not died, had not been eaten by a ghost, and had not been assimilated. Because she was still alive. What she was bound to was not Li Mo's life, but his origin.
Li Mo had experienced a moment of death, and in that moment, to prevent the disaster that would be brought about by his own twisting into a Bizarre, Li Mo would inevitably summon Bizarre Kiana. Ghosts cannot be killed, he was right about that.
But the problem was, why didn't Bizarre Kiana attack immediately? There was only one answer: she was in a state of judgment.
When Li Mo and Bizarre Kiana confronted each other, Bizarre Kiana couldn't determine if the Li Mo in front of her was the real one, so she fell into a long state of judgment, giving Li Mo time to counter.
MEI looked up and saw Li Mo breaking through the wall, moving in a straight line with the Bizarre Cave and his location as two points, regardless of what was in between. He spoke logically, in Li Mo's style, but his actions were too extreme.
"Split personality? Or is Li Mo in two different states, separated by a rule?" MEI pondered this question.
"Completely rational and completely emotional? But that's impossible." MEI immediately dismissed the thought in her mind.
"Rationality and emotionality can be converted into each other. It seems absolutely rational, but in reality, there is also an emotional basis, just that part is very, very small, so small that it can be almost ignored."
"But it's undeniable that it exists. No matter how rational a person is, they will also have emotions."
"It's impossible to completely separate them while retaining a complete personality. If rationality and emotionality are completely separated, it means the destruction of the personality."
"He claims to be absolutely rational? As long as certain conditions are met, the two can be converted and awakened at any time."
"If he wasn't Li Mo, Bizarre Kiana would have attacked long ago, and would never have fallen into a state of judgment. If he was the complete Li Mo, Bizarre Kiana wouldn't have fallen into a state of judgment either. Only a flawed loophole is the stuttering point for a program's search."
"Flawed..."
MEI adjusted her black-rimmed glasses, immediately opened her computer, and pulled out the files of all the paranormal incidents that had emerged in the Prime World. They were all she had left. Not many, but enough.
The theory was there, next was practice.
MEI glanced at her unconscious companions. Li Mo had been relatively restrained in his actions. It was probably his extreme rationality telling him they were still useful.
"Why can't a single one of them give me some peace of mind?"
"If I were gone... what would you all do?"
MEI let out a long sigh. Her cold breath turned into a puff of white mist and dissipated in the air, as if it had never been there.
————
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At 7:59 PM, Shigure Kira helped Li Mo to the first floor. The lights on the first floor were already out, and the children had all returned to their rooms.
"Damn it, I have to install an elevator within this year! Just in my room, with direct access to the floors below. I can't take it anymore, climbing the stairs every day is too tiring." Li Mo complained, panting heavily.
He walked to the first room, raised his hand, and knocked lightly on the door. The door was quickly opened. Li Mo looked in and saw three children in the first room, seemingly playing some game on the bed.
"Don't play too late, get some rest. Wake up at eight o'clock tomorrow morning for breakfast." Li Mo suppressed his anger, smiled warmly, looking like a friendly older brother next door.
"Okay, Brother Li Mo, you should also rest early."
"Alright."
After a brief exchange, Li Mo closed the door, only to be met with Shigure Kira's joke: "You're quite considerate of the children's feelings."
Li Mo: "Should I have a stern face? Please, I'm still very young, you know."
Shigure Kira: "Alright, alright, little master is the youngest~"
"By the way, have you noticed..."
Li Mo: "Noticed what?"
Shigure Kira: "Your knocking sound is quite similar to the Knocking Ghost's. Are you doing it on purpose?"
Li Mo: "...If you don't like it, I can change this habit."
Shigure Kira: "Then forget it. You just need to follow your own habits. I don't want you to suddenly burst in and see me changing clothes one day."
"And didn't you say you feel incomplete? Then just live your life completely according to your own way. That way, you'll become more complete, right?"
Li Mo: "I..."
Shigure Kira: "Is there anything else you want to say?"
Li Mo: "Nothing."
Shigure Kira: "No, no, no, you must be thinking about lewd things, you little pervert! You want to peek at me changing clothes! See how I teach you a lesson!"
Shigure Kira placed her hands on Li Mo's temples and pressed lightly. Feeling it wasn't enough, she bit his face.
Li Mo: "Ew, your saliva is on my face, it's disgusting."
Shigure Kira: "Hmph, I'm nineteen this year. You should be happy, you little rascal."
Li Mo: "Another nickname."
Shigure Kira: "Bleh, bleh, bleh..."