Li Mo gave advance notice of the precautions.
This was a very obvious measure.
In his field of vision, MEI was waiting for someone, which meant that there were more than three people who had escaped before. But they had encountered an accident halfway, and MEI had made the decision to split up, which meant that the ghost could only lock on to one or two people at a time, and would not move on to the next target before killing the locked target.
There were too many ways the corpses on the ground had died. It was impossible to judge what the ghost's killing rule was. Was the trigger condition difficult? What was the effect after triggering?
Li Mo was not afraid.
From a realistic point of view.
His consciousness was protected by the Doom Ghost. The completeness of the Doom Ghost was very high, and it could leave a considerable amount of reaction time. Even if it was only a moment, it was enough for him to lock on to that ghost and kill it with Crimson-Dyed Sakura.
His body in the state of three deaths did not belong to the human category. Even if his heart stopped and his head was broken, rules like "death upon opening the door" could not kill him. His injuries would heal quickly, and he could still move before healing.
In addition, Crimson-Dyed Sakura itself had swallowed a very high amount of pollution. It was almost impossible for a single ghost's rule to counter Crimson-Dyed Sakura.
Even if he died by accident, there was still a last chance to restart. However, the probability of that happening was very small.
Therefore, he had the capital to charge forward recklessly.
Li Mo led Rin and rushed to a secret passage. In the process of moving forward, they ran into a group of people. The woman at the head, upon seeing Li Mo, excitedly ran in front of him and shouted, "Save us! Save us! There's a ghost here! I'm a staff member, my name is..."
Before the woman could finish, Li Mo's blade had already cut her neck.
The woman's head fell to the ground without any hindrance, with a "thud."
"Ahhhhh! Murder... murder! Don't kill us!"
The few people behind them screamed loudly. The eyeball on the Crimson-Dyed Sakura blade trembled for a moment.
Li Mo did not hesitate. He went forward and killed all the screamers.
He left the last one, a little girl who had not spoken from beginning to end and was following at the back of the crowd.
Li Mo glanced at her coldly, then turned sideways indifferently, "The ghosts behind are all dead. You can go back now."
"Tha-thank you..."
The little girl thanked him with a tremor. The next second, she turned and ran back without looking back, for fear that Li Mo, this god of death, would go back on his word and chop off her head.
"Continue forward."
Li Mo said to Rin.
But Rin was very puzzled. Looking at the corpses of these living people on the ground, she asked with a questioning tone, "Why did you kill them? I can feel the abundant life force on them. They are our companions. Maybe they were just shouting because they were scared and panicked."
Li Mo turned back, his expression unchanged, still as gloomy as ever, "Do you think I killed them because they offended me?"
"I don't know, but from the facts, it's very similar. They seem to have died very innocently, very worthless."
"If you have experienced enough, you will understand why I did this. People who are truly defeated by fear and despair will not look forward to a suddenly appearing... ghost-like guy. They will only treat you as a plague god, a fierce ghost, as a more terrifying despair. In this dark and narrow passage, my appearance is not much different from a ghost."
"But, maybe they thought they had found a life-saving straw? Just like a drowning person, they would panic and grab everything they could."
"There is also this situation, but it's definitely not a request upon meeting. Alright, this topic ends here. I don't want to waste any more energy on it."
Li Mo tightly grasped Crimson-Dyed Sakura, and while moving forward, he maintained a high degree of attention to his surroundings.
Even with three layers of insurance, he absolutely could not be careless. The correct choice was to get rid of any danger immediately after discovering it, and eliminate the problem forever.
At this moment, any ghost that was let go because of a distraction would bring an unbearable price to the people outside. Although... this city had already become a dead city, a ghost city.
When he saw these people just now, Crimson-Dyed Sakura had not moved, and its eyeball had not cast its gaze on them.
But when they made their request, the eyeball had trembled.
A ghost was a ghost, it would not fail. Even if it just moved a little, it could prove that it had smelled the aura of its own kind. It was just that Impostors were more special, and they had disguised their true nature as ghosts very well. Crimson-Dyed Sakura had not continued to go crazy.
But Li Mo would not tell Rin this. This was a rare opportunity for growth.
It was also an opportunity for Rin to convince herself.
When a person suddenly had to do a sinful thing, she would feel extremely guilty and sinful. But if she saw the people around her also doing it, she would not feel so bad when she did it again.
Humans were such creatures. Their actions always needed a reasonable reason.
Because everyone else did it, so it was reasonable for me to do it...
Beichen had been planning for the balance of Crimson-Dyed Sakura's rules for so many years. Li Mo had no reason not to use Crimson-Dyed Sakura to achieve his goal as soon as possible.
Since he couldn't find the ritual of the ghosts, then he would kill all the ghosts.
This was the most perfect plan.
Before catching up with MEI, Li Mo casually killed all the ghosts he encountered on the road.
Soon, he found MEI.
In just an instant, he blocked the path of the three of them.
Seeing the suddenly appearing Li Mo and Rin, the "Poisonous Cocoon" members subconsciously aimed their weapons at the blood-stained Li Mo, their bodies tense, as if they could burst out like a cannonball at any time and fight to the death with Li Mo.
"One of us," MEI said to the people around her, waving her hand and signaling them to put down their weapons.
Then she said to Li Mo, "You're late. Too many people have died."
Li Mo turned around and acted as a guide, "It's not late. You're not dead, so it's not late. Where are we going now? I'll scout the way."
MEI took out her phone, operated it for a moment, and then threw it to Li Mo, "Go to the branch of the Fire Moth. The map is on it. I've already planned the route. First, go to the airport in the next city. Even if this city hasn't fallen, I can't rest assured to entrust my life to the facilities after the spread of the bizarre."
"Alright."
Li Mo answered concisely. The two were like good friends who had known each other for a long time, even though it was their first meeting.
MEI recognized the sword in Li Mo's hand. The cursed blade, Crimson-Dyed Sakura, was Beichen's weapon. Now that it was in Li Mo's hand, it could only mean...
Although she had known this fact for a long time, when the Fire Moth had been invaded by ghosts, when she had seen the fireworks in the night sky...
It was just that she still felt more or less emotional in her heart.
After all, she had been friends with her for many years.
Her thoughts returned to reality. MEI didn't know why Li Mo could use the cursed blade without limit. Even Beichen would fall into a short period of dullness after killing a ghost.
That was the human consciousness fighting against the rules of a ghost.
Forget it. The result was good. The process could only be explored when she had time.
"..."
"..."
After a night, the few of them successfully arrived at the branch of the Fire Moth. After confirming the information, MEI returned to her original position and began to deal with the Honkai and the ghosts.
Li Mo logically became the king of the "Poisonous Cocoon," and then...
...
"You want me to kill all the ghosts except for the Impostors. Why?"
In the late-night research lab, MEI and Li Mo sat opposite each other, looking at each other.
MEI proposed a plan that seemed extremely absurd to Li Mo: to eliminate all the ghosts except for the Impostors, and let humanity fight against the Honkai until the last Herrscher born from the Honkai destroyed civilization.
This was clearly contrary to Li Mo's original intention.
The fundamental purpose of his coming to this world was to stop the spread of pollution.
"The reason is very simple. Unless you can replace the Honkai and destroy humanity as a whole, you will never be able to kill the Impostors."
"You and I, who know the inside story, can naturally easily distinguish the Impostors in the crowd, but what about after that? Can we distinguish those who are preparing to be reborn? Obviously not."
"Li Mo, you have to know that a person's social circle is not very large. Since the Impostors have inherited everything from their corresponding hosts, they will naturally not do anything too out of line. But even so, how many people does a person talk to in a year, and those people will talk to more people. The rules of the Impostors are destined for them to make some reasonable requests that the other party is not likely to refuse."
"This is the case for one year, let alone for Impostors who have been disguised for several years, or even decades. Impostors can appear at various points in time. In a sense, everyone in this world will become an Impostor without exception."
"This means that if you want to get serious, you will have to kill everyone in the entire civilization, including me."
MEI sat opposite Li Mo, her voice slightly low.
Under the bright lights of the research lab, MEI's eyes were particularly bright, reflecting Li Mo's gloomy and dark face.
Li Mo remembered the content in the storybook. It was a story about a primitive man who had run into an Impostor...
If just agreeing to a request was considered assimilation, then it would spread from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred. The descendants, unless they were orphans, would inevitably agree to their parents' requests more or less during their growth. Even if they were orphans, as long as they lived in a place with people, they would inevitably agree to requests. This was the most basic exchange of benefits.
From the moment the first Impostor learned to speak, this world was irreversibly heading towards... a predetermined ending full of hypocrisy.
"You should have thought of it too. As time goes on, the pollution accumulates, and the living people who were originally just preparing to be reborn will become Impostors. The number of Impostors in the future will only increase. Until one day, there are no more living people in the whole world. From the beginning, we had no other choice but to let it develop."
MEI said calmly. Every word was like a sharp sword, cutting off one after another the flames of hope.
Li Mo did not feel discouraged, nor did he raise any questions. Instead, he affirmed with certainty, "What do you want to do? You've told me so much. If it's you, you should already have a plan in mind. You know what I want to do. As long as the result is to stop the spread of the bizarre, I don't mind following your plan."
"You seem to know me very well, giving me a feeling that... we have been together for a long time."
"That's not important."
"Indeed, it's not important. What's important is how to solve the problem. Since you know me so well, I won't hide it. I need you to eliminate all the ghosts except for the Impostors as quickly as possible, and to erase the memories of those who know about it by any means necessary. In addition, I will also assist you in your work and completely block any news related to ghosts."
MEI stood up, climbed onto the table, leaned in front of Li Mo, took a deep breath, gently stretched out her two hands, as if she were holding an extremely precious treasure, and carefully held Li Mo's cold and stiff head, staring straight at him.
Her deep purple eyes were filled with complex emotions.
But this complexity was fleeting. She would not let some groundless, dream-like memories interfere with her judgment.
"After doing these things, I will erase all the data related to ghosts, and then connect the Void Archives to the database to store all the knowledge of civilization."
"When the death knell of civilization rings, it will be sent to another place where it can grow safely with a child who has never come into contact with an Impostor, to continue the next civilization..."
Li Mo raised a question, "Then how do we deal with the Impostors? Even if all the humans in this civilization die, the source of the Impostors will not disappear. As long as it is alive, the people of later generations will have no chance of survival."
MEI did not answer, but just quietly looked at Li Mo, trying to get the answer from his turbid eyes.
"The source of the Impostors knows you."
"Her name is Kallen Kaslana, from 50,000 years later, from the Kaslana family after the revival of civilization."
Facing MEI's question, Li Mo was very frank and told Kallen's identity truthfully.
A highly efficient dialogue was the two's favorite way of communication.
Li Mo didn't need to explain why he knew, because when MEI asked a question, she already had the answer in her heart.
Just like when he was dealing with supernatural events, he just needed some definitive evidence to prove the answer in his heart.
MEI took out her phone and played back the video that had been prepared a long time ago, "I checked the surveillance footage from the roadside. She got off the ghost bus, went to a coffin shop, and took the black coffin inside. She found a place and buried herself."
"Why did she do that?"
"Because she knew she would die. If I'm not mistaken, you... have already died once, and then you were 'projected' to the present from the future."
Li Mo was stunned for two seconds, repeatedly savoring the word "projection" in MEI's mouth.
Li Mo knew very well that MEI's choice of words had always been precise and well-considered. Since she said "projection," it meant that she had found some clue that had led her to make such a definition.
Projection...
He did have this ability.
So far, he had never used it.
The risk was too great.
Projection could certainly solve an urgent need, but death still had a chance of resurrection. After projection, there was absolutely no possibility of coming back.
Therefore, even if he was forced to commit suicide, Li Mo would absolutely not use this ability.
Back then, the notebook had proposed a plan to project himself into a Bizarre Kiana, which Li Mo had directly rejected.
Projection was equivalent to converting one's own concept into another concept... Once the projection's object realized that it was not itself, Li Mo would die directly, because the bizarre would directly become him, so theoretically there was no chance of restarting.