Li Mo's voice grew louder, nearly breaking, tinged with an uncharacteristic sob.
He let go of MEI's wrist with his right hand and slammed his clenched fist into the wall next to her head.
The powerful impact caused the entire house to tremble for a few moments.
Pardofelis, who had come out looking for a snack, was so frightened by the scene that her ears drooped. She quickly turned on the air conditioner and rushed behind Li Mo to calm him down. "Hey, hey, hey! Cool it, Mo-bro, don't be angry, don't be angry, okay? I turned on the AC to help you cool off. Dr. MEI is family, don't accidentally hurt our own!"
Shigure Kira clutched her chest, watching the two of them with worry.
Having spent a long time with them, Shigure Kira knew MEI quite well.
She was the undisputed brain of this household, the leader of Li Mo's team.
Her wisdom and talent were beyond question.
But even so, if it ever came down to choosing sides, Shigure Kira would still stand with Li Mo, right or wrong.
Li Mo's choice was always the right one. That's just how it was!
"So, are you laying your cards on the table with me?" MEI maintained her unruffled calm, but the light in her eyes had grown much sharper.
Li Mo bit his lip, released her, and took two steps back, his expression pleading as he looked at MEI. "I know you must have a reason. MEI, just give me a reasonable explanation to convince me…"
MEI responded coolly, "There is no reason. It's just as you see, just as the notebook told you. I am trying to make the Bizarre last forever, to exist eternally. To have them exist in every time and space—past, present, and future. If you want to stop me, then try to kill me. It's that simple."
"After all, you must have already seen that scene. I don't know how you managed to return to the present from the past—perhaps you went through hell and back—but it doesn't matter to me. My goal is about to be achieved."
"What I do is my freedom. Stopping me is also your freedom. I will not allow you to interfere with my choice, nor will I stop you from killing me."
"So… Li Mo, what will you do now? Will you kill the person you trusted most, or will you endure the sin of me killing everyone?"
"There is no other choice. You can only choose one."
There was no hesitation or justification in MEI's tone; it was more like she was delivering an unalterable verdict. Every word was like a hard shard of ice, stabbing into the flesh of his conscience.
Her eyes held no warmth, only endless indifference and resolve.
At this moment, their relationship had transformed into that of a judge and a sinner.
The judge had sentenced the sinner to death, leaving only two paths before him: resist, or accept.
"Why…?"
"There is no why. I have no need to tell you what I'm doing. Since you already know, I have even less reason to explain."
"Why! Why are you doing this?! I thought of you as my closest family!"
Li Mo gritted his teeth, drew the Demon Blade, Akazome Sakura, and pressed the blade against MEI's neck, not even grazing her skin.
If the blade were to draw a single cut on MEI, its Rule would trigger, instantly consuming and annihilating her.
Even though Li Mo's mind was in turmoil, he still couldn't bring himself to harm the comrade he had once trusted.
It confirmed what a passerby had said when he left long ago: for him, the most painful thing was not losing his own humanity, but seeing those around him meet a tragic end.
MEI looked at the blood-red demon blade, which emanated a terrifying Bizarre aura. Its eyes bulged, staring deathly at her.
Clearly, this was a new and powerful Bizarre item Li Mo had acquired.
Since he hadn't broken her skin to threaten her, the blade's Rule was likely related to flesh and blood as a medium.
MEI raised her hand, placed it on the demon blade, and pushed it away without any real force.
"Family… You thought of me as family, but I have never treated you as family, Li Mo… From the very beginning, I never saw you as family…"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
After MEI spoke, everyone in the house fell silent. No one dared to speak again, and no one offered any words of comfort.
That single sentence had signaled the complete breakdown of their relationship, with no chance of reconciliation.
Clang!
Akazome Sakura fell to the floor with a crisp sound. Li Mo's face instantly turned as pale as paper. His body, as if losing its center of gravity, stumbled back several steps until he was propped up in a corner. He lowered his head and let out a laugh, so quiet it was barely audible.
"Ha… haha…"
"Is this your answer, MEI…? This is your answer…"
Li Mo repeated it over and over again.
"All those times we went through life and death together, what did they even mean…? In your eyes, is there anything more precious than people or things you can use?"
"You have a chance to change all of this," MEI replied softly, giving Li Mo a cold glance before turning to leave.
Her silhouette appeared exceptionally indifferent in the dim light, a clear message to Li Mo: some paths, once taken, offer no return.
Li Mo leaned against the corner, motionless. His trembling eyes stared at the ground, his vision growing increasingly blurry.
He could easily kill the defenseless MEI and prevent this tragedy.
But he couldn't do it. Yet, he had to.
Li Mo picked up the demon blade from the floor and slowly advanced, step by step.
He came up behind MEI and raised the blade high above his head. His lip was bitten through, but he felt no pain.
MEI didn't resist. She didn't even turn to look at him.
This was a golden opportunity.
The incredibly powerful Li Mo versus the weak and unresisting ordinary consciousness of MEI.
The outcome of the battle was clear at a glance, yet it ended with the stronger one's hesitation, with his defeat.
He couldn't bring himself to harm his former family.
MEI glanced sideways, looking at the now kill-less Li Mo. She pursed her lips, her eyes filled with complex emotions.
But it quickly changed, returning to a state of calm indifference.
"Since you cannot stop me, then try to save more people. That is the only way to slightly alleviate the guilt in your heart. Do not forget, your conscience has already fallen. What you face next is a far more cruel, endless hell."
MEI was not a person of many words, especially to her enemies.
Now that Li Mo stood on the opposite side, she should have just turned and left.
Only Mei understood that there was a hidden meaning in MEI's words.
"People suffer mentally from greed and physically from violence."
"For those with great power and combat instincts, struggle and desire are always an inescapable test."
"You have far surpassed your former weak self, but that doesn't mean your future path will be any easier. On the contrary, the deeper you fall into the abyss, the more you will glimpse the unfathomable darkness."
"We will meet again in the future. That place is a waystation, and also the end."
"Farewell, Li Mo."
The moment she turned, MEI's expression softened.
Only I can protect you…
Only in this way can I protect you…
Just like the "last time."
Ultimately, no matter the timeline, what the world recognized was not empty words, but tangible struggle.
"Li Mo..."
"Mo-bro..."
"..."
Shigure Kira and Pardofelis both came to Li Mo's side. Mei, however, followed after MEI.
No matter what, Mei wanted Li Mo to live. This separation now was for a better reunion in the future.
In an instant, half the people in the house were gone. Li Mo slumped to the floor, his eyes staring blankly at his left hand.
No, it's not over yet.
Li Mo closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I, Li Mo, Wish that the Bizarre thing MEI summoned will fall into dormancy…"
Li Mo was well aware of the price this wish would demand. He might fall into a long dormancy for it—ten thousand years, a hundred thousand, a million…
He didn't know for how long, but as long as his Impostor essence remained, he could awaken at any time in the body of his future self who had made the wish.
This was a way to circumvent the price of the Wish.
However, the expected price did not come.
He hadn't lost consciousness, and the Bizarre within him hadn't fallen dormant. Had Mei borne the price?
But he had clearly made the wish in Li Mo's name. Logically, he should have borne most of the price himself.
Li Mo opened his eyes in confusion. The scene before him left him utterly stunned, staring in disbelief at the colorless world around him.
Everything around him, people and objects alike, had lost their color, growing dimmer and dimmer.
"Kira? Pardo?"
Li Mo reached out to touch them and found their time seemed to be frozen, yet there was no sign of the Bizarre Kiana's presence.
Besides, if it were the Bizarre Kiana who had frozen time, he would have been the first to be targeted, the first one locked down.
"Something's not right. The price… what is the price?!"
Li Mo rushed to the window and pushed it open. The scene outside was the same. To get more accurate data, Li Mo wished for ten minutes of Ghost's Vision and peered across the entire world, discovering a massive dark shadow looming over the Earth.
No, to be precise, it wasn't a shadow. It had no substance and was invisible to the naked eye.
Li Mo could see it only because the Ghost had captured the Bizarre aura and formed an outline.
"What is this? A massive Bizarre entity from… outside the world? How is that possible?"
Li Mo was stunned. He had seen many Bizarre entities, but without exception, they were all confined within the world—that is, within human cognition of people, things, or even physical, philosophical, and behavioral concepts.
But this was the first time he had ever seen such a massive Bizarre entity.
Li Mo's mouth suddenly opened uncontrollably, murmuring words he couldn't understand.
Gradually, these incomprehensible words transformed into the Shenzhou dialect he knew best: "It seems to sleep in chaos still, and will open its eye to gaze upon the stardust of this world—the one who has completed the ritual."
"Who is the one who has completed the ritual?"
"You?"
"Me…"
"What am I saying? No, that's not right. That Bizarre entity is controlling my body."
Li Mo quickly understood the situation. That massive Bizarre entity was the source of the Bizarre infestation in the Eigenworld, and it was the one MEI had intentionally lured.
The incomprehensible words his body spoke at first were just it adapting to his physical form.
The meaning of what he just said was:
It seems to still be slumbering, about to open its eyes to peer at this planet's—the one who has completed the ritual.
Who is the one who has completed the ritual?
You?
"It's me," Li Mo said involuntarily. After speaking, he snapped back to his senses. For that brief moment, his body had once again been out of his brain's control.
No, his brain had been altered. His consciousness was changed for an instant without any resistance.
"Wait…"
Li Mo realized the gravity of the situation. The Misfortune Ghost, which protected his consciousness, had gone dormant the moment his body went out of control…
Yes, it hadn't uttered a single word. It was even more decisive than when facing the Bizarre Kiana.
This meant… the Bizarre entity above the Earth was even more terrifying than the Bizarre Kiana.
"I have to go back to the past and see what happened. It must have fallen into dormancy because of my 'Wish,' and the price seems to be the world fading and freezing."
"Although I don't know why the price of the 'Wish' is like this, the good news is that I'm still conscious. As long as I go back to before I made the 'Wish' and make a more specific wish, I might be able to completely resolve this crisis."
For example, he could change the price to another kind of price.
He could alter the process of the Bizarre's judgment.
"I, Li Mo, Wi—"
THUMP!!
His heart suddenly pounded violently. Li Mo's body lost control and collapsed. When he came to, he found himself endlessly falling in a deep sea…
"Urgh!"
Darkness, cold, silence, the unknown, terror…
The water pressure grew heavier as he sank deeper, as if it wanted to crush every inch of his skin, every bone in his body.
Li Mo subconsciously tried to use his Impostor's Bizarre ability to rewind to the past, but after many attempts, he failed.
In this ever-darkening deep sea, his Bizarre abilities and Rules were all suppressed.
"Mmph! Mmph!"
"Cough…!"
Seawater constantly flooded his nose and throat. Li Mo's limbs flailed helplessly in the water, trying to swim upwards.
His strong physique gave him stamina and skill surpassing that of a world champion, but as time passed, Li Mo found that the surrounding water pressure and light showed no improvement. Despite swimming desperately upwards, he seemed to be continuously falling.
Finally, his strength depleted, Li Mo's limbs grew stiff. He could no longer swim up.
"Urgh…"
His body was crushed by the water pressure, then repaired, then crushed again, and repaired again.
The Bizarre recovery ability wasn't working; it too was suppressed. But the seawater itself was like a primordial recovery force, granting Li Mo a new life again and again.
Despite this, Li Mo still couldn't swim back to the surface.
Like a "drowning man," he watched himself fall eternally into the abyss…
No… I can't close my eyes…
I absolutely cannot… die here…
The will to survive forced Li Mo to wake from the chaos time and time again, even if what awaited him upon waking was endless pain and despair.
In this deep sea, where no hope or light could be seen, even the most resilient consciousness would crumble. It had nothing to do with willpower or identity.
Li Mo didn't know how long he had been falling. Maybe it had only been a few minutes, or maybe years had passed.
His concept of time grew increasingly blurry, gradually losing all boundaries.
Eternity and an instant were separated by only a thin barrier. With a light touch, one would completely merge into the deep sea, indistinguishable from it.
It was as if this was the reason Bizarre entities couldn't perceive the flow of time.
All around was a thick darkness that even light could not penetrate. Beneath the surface, the familiar black fog once again spread, covering the seawater in an incomprehensible way.
"I know your true name."
"........."
Who's speaking?
Li Mo's blurry vision strained to see, but there was no one beside him, only silence and darkness.
It was a darkness that even a ghost could not see through.
After the first sentence, Li Mo couldn't hear the subsequent words clearly.
After another unknown amount of time, Li Mo saw an outline. The moment he looked at it, his consciousness instantly twisted.
Not human, not ghost, not thing, not existence…
His mind plunged into chaos, as if this was the state a ghost entered after falling into dormancy.
His mind was in turmoil, as if he had fallen into an endless realm of nothingness. What was reflected in his eyes was not the form of anything in this world.
His soul became a boundless sea of mist, every thought like a lost ship, drifting blindly in the waves, unable to find its way home.
The line between memory and reality blurred. Warm, everyday memories intertwined and overlapped with horrific scenes…
Madness and chaos invaded from an unknown void, filling every segment of time.
Li Mo's memory was like his recent self, constantly falling, falling, falling in the deep sea…
Until he could see neither light nor shadow.
As if his soul had closed its eyes, he fell silent at the bottom of the deep sea.
However, the faint light of his soul, which should have been eroded by the seawater, was being held in the arms of a girl in a clean white shirt.
Contamination is inevitable. It will not dissipate. The only way to avoid it is to transfer it…