Bizarre Honkai, a Wife-Chasing Crematorium

Li Mo had four options:

1. Deal with the room and the Bizzare Entity within.

2. Find food.

3. Follow the little deer's blood trail from earlier and find the source of the food.

4. Warn the others of the danger.

All four were important, and all had to be done before the Bizzare surge.

This meant choosing one often meant sacrificing the others.

Once the Bizzare surge hit, ghosts would roam freely, and Bizzare Entities would fully recover.

The room would become extremely dangerous, difficult to deal with, greatly reducing the success rate of his plan.

As for food, Li Mo could feel it; if he didn't eat soon, he wouldn't die from a Bizzare rule, but from starvation.

Following the blood trail to find the source of the food in the hall carried the same risk. After the Bizzare surge, the area outside the rooms would become incredibly dangerous, with overlapping, intertwined unknown rules, making it impossible for Li Mo to move, let alone investigate.

Warning the others, excluding the martial artists… if he didn't warn them, he might find more fresh human bodies on the dining table tomorrow morning.

By then, Changle's entire group would be wiped out, leaving him completely alone.

That wasn't good news…

Fighting alone in this situation, he could easily trigger instant-death rules, dying repeatedly, eventually having his consciousness corrupted by the Bizzare, becoming a brand-new Bizzare Entity named "Li Mo."

If it really came to that, what would his Bizzare rule be?

Li Mo was curious, but he quickly suppressed the thought. He had to make a decision now.

"Finding food is last on the list. I don't have time to worry about my own body. Eating isn't urgent. Ensuring I survive tonight is more important."

"That leaves warning the others and dealing with the room."

Li Mo assessed the situation rationally. He could clearly feel his thinking slowing down, having to think through each thing multiple times before reaching a reliable conclusion.

"What am I hesitating about? Is there even anything to think about?"

Li Mo shook his head, scoffing at himself. "I've really become slow. Even if I tell them, when the Bizzare surge hits, without a relatively safe haven, they will still die. Whether I warn them or not makes no difference."

"That's why the Seven Swords of Taixu didn't force us all to eat human flesh. They know that for the living, Taixu Mountain is a death trap."

"No matter what you choose, whether you eat or not, sleep or not, stay inside or outside the room, you will still die. Without external intervention or a way to break the situation, no one can survive for three days."

"If I want to survive, the first thing I need to do isn't protect my teammates, but ensure my own survival, find a relatively safe place, at least not somewhere with certain death."

"Deal with the Bizzare Entity in the room immediately, secure a relatively safe area, and eliminate future threats."

Having made up his mind, Li Mo didn't hesitate any longer. He walked straight out of the room.

The room was a larger Bizzare Entity. Even in his thrice-dead state, Li Mo couldn't kill it.

Usurpation wouldn't work either. Using usurpation required Li Mo to pay an equivalent price.

He obviously couldn't afford the price of killing a Bizzare Entity.

Because Bizzare Entities couldn't be killed.

"If a living person wants to survive, they can't let a ghost into the room. The definition of 'ghost' here might be ambiguous."

"Is it referring to ghosts with human consciousness, like the Seven Swords of Taixu, or simply anything with Bizzare properties?"

"As for why ghosts can't enter…"

Li Mo paused, a faint glimmer in his deep eyes.

Combining various hints and clues, the truth was quite clear.

If it was the former, it meant the room, like the main hall, had the ability to shield against ghosts' perception.

If a ghost entered the room, it would see the person inside, and thus, kill the person protected within the room before the room itself could react.

That's why ghosts absolutely couldn't enter the room.

But the room was also a ghost. On this Taixu Mountain, where no one had ever survived, it must also have some kind of killing rule.

Leaning against the walls, spending the night, staying too long, getting injured… these were likely all part of it.

The latter possibility was easier to understand. Preventing ghosts from entering was to prevent a collision of rules between different Bizzare Entities, which could create something even more terrifying and bizarre. A change in rules could cause the room to ignore its previous rules and directly attack the occupant inside.

"The room must 'digest' anything inside, regardless of the target, only focusing on killing anyone or anything that triggers its rules."

"But ghosts can't be killed, so the rules will collide."

"If I kill the Head Ghost, force it out of its pseudo-dead state, and then place it inside the room…"

"The room will try to devour the Head Ghost, and the Head Ghost will try to devour the room."

"Both are Bizzare Entities, unable to kill each other, only able to restrict each other until the balance is broken."

Yes, Li Mo planned to unlock the Head Ghost's time lock and let it take the brunt of the room's Bizzare attack.

Only then could he stay inside relatively safely, avoiding being surrounded by countless unknown Bizzare Entities during the surge.

With overlapping rules, there would be no hope of survival.

He could trigger an instant-death rule and die on the spot just by glancing at a ghost, stepping in the same place as a ghost, not making a specific sound, or making a sound…

Therefore, Li Mo had to make this bold attempt.

Entering a "safe zone" in a Bizzare incident was like being chased by a cat and hiding in a tiger's den. His only hope was that the tiger was asleep, not hungry.

And Li Mo only had to do one thing: pit the tiger against the wolf.

Shift the tiger's target from himself to an unkillable wolf.

The bloody human head had empty eyes, exposed skull, and rotting flesh. The bloodstains looked fresh, as if they had just appeared.

However, the blood droplets hanging from its nose didn't fall. The bright crimson blood was like a still image, not reflecting any light.

The Head Ghost was locked in the Herrscher of Sentience's time lock. Unless someone killed it, forcing it to restart according to its rules, it would remain in this pseudo-dead state for eternity.

If any normal person saw Li Mo's actions, they would think he was crazy.

In such a precarious, deadly situation, he was releasing another unkillable monster.

If the Head Ghost lost control, devoured more Bizzare Entities, and accumulated more rules, it would be a terrifying nightmare.

Li Mo took out his notebook and flipped to the first page.

It was blank.

The second page was also blank.

He couldn't turn past the third page, but for a fleeting moment, the notebook flipped to a page between the third and fifth pages.

Li Mo was completely unaware of the fourth page's existence.

Like in basic mathematics, people couldn't find a natural number between 3 and 4.

Perhaps it existed, nestled in the gap between 3 and 4, possessing a rule that could never be perceived or remembered. Everything about it would be ignored and forgotten by the world, unable to leave any trace that could be understood or recognized.

This was true "oblivion."

Not only forgetting, but forgetting that you forgot.

Now, the third and fifth pages were like 3 and 4, and Li Mo couldn't perceive the existence of the fourth page.

It wasn't until Li Mo reached the doorway with the Head Ghost that the notebook reacted.

Perhaps under the prolonged bath of crimson moonlight, the boundary between her and herself had become increasingly blurred.

The first page was mostly restored, only faint cracks remaining as evidence of its previous division.

[My name is Li Mo. Three days from now, I will be killed by a Bizzare Entity.]

[My name is "Li Mo." Three days from now, I will kill myself.]

[Xu Shi (7-9 pm), 8:38 pm, I will unlock the Head Ghost's seal and throw it into the room the moment it restarts.]

[8:39 pm, the flame in the brazier will suddenly reignite.]

[8:40 pm, the portrait on the wall will begin to move. The figure will distort, its eyes darkening, a cunning expression appearing on its face.]

[8:41 pm, the figure will show a terrified expression, its face contorted in pain, as the Head Ghost devours the painting, including the figure within. The painting is just a derivative of the room's Bizzare Entity. It will be completely consumed by the Head Ghost in half a minute.]

[The Head Ghost has gained a new ability: Ghost Possession.]

[Trigger conditions: Physical contact with a wall, unconsciousness, nighttime, within its field of vision. Fulfilling all four conditions allows it to possess the target's body, replacing their existence.]

[8:42 pm, the Head Ghost's skin will begin to decay. Viscous, scalding black blood will drip from the room's ceiling.]

[8:43 pm, the Head Ghost will devour the stove, gaining a new ability: Vision in Firelight.]

[Trigger conditions: Using blood as a guide, under the illumination of firelight. Fulfilling these conditions allows it to perceive any person or Bizzare Entity illuminated by the firelight in a way that it can comprehend.]

"..."

The appearance of Ghost Possession wasn't unexpected. There was a reason for the Bizzare portrait in the room.

It was waiting for someone to fall asleep so it could possess and replace them.

The four conditions seemed stringent, but they weren't.

The wooden bed was against the wall. Anyone sleeping on it would inevitably touch the wall, giving the ghost an opportunity.

People usually slept at night, fulfilling the conditions of unconsciousness and nighttime. Moreover, with the portrait hanging on the wall above the bed, the ghost could watch you sleep openly.

It was too easy to fulfill all four conditions.

However, Li Mo wasn't concerned about mere Ghost Possession. He couldn't control this ability yet, and it wasn't particularly useful to him.

It was the simpler Vision in Firelight that intrigued him.

Although it seemed rather useless—under normal circumstances, if something was illuminated by firelight, what need was there for special vision?—there were things… that light couldn't capture.

He could be right in front of you, yet untouchable, intangible.

You could only be watched by Him, completely unaware.

The notebook continued.

[8:44 pm, the room will awaken sixteen minutes early. The black blood dripping from the ceiling will increase, submerging the Head Ghost.]

[8:45 pm, the Head Ghost will begin to devour the black blood…]

[8:46 pm, the Head Ghost will gain a new ability: Blood of Decay.]

[Trigger conditions: Automatically secretes Bizzare-suppressing black blood when consuming. The amount of blood secreted determines the level of suppression.]

"Consuming, just as I thought."

Li Mo's eyes sharpened. His deduction was correct. The room was like a human stomach, a "ghost stomach," so to speak.

The Blood of Decay was like stomach acid, used to corrode human bodies. But since the ghost stomach was a Bizzare Entity, the stomach acid had become Bizzare-suppressing black blood.

The various Bizzare objects in the room were like parts of the ghost stomach, helping it digest anyone who entered.

If someone spent the night in the room, they were dead for sure.

This was the true reason behind the second page's warning about spending the night.

"So, the warning about not letting ghosts into the room probably refers specifically to ghosts with partial human consciousness, like the Seven Swords of Taixu."

"The room is very different from the main hall. The hall can block a ghost's perception, but the room can't. It only provides a relatively safe haven. As long as ghosts don't enter, they can't harm the people inside."

"The hall, combined with the burning grave incense, can also suppress Bizzare Entities, but the room can't. Any ghost that enters will retain all its abilities and rules."

"That's why the Head Ghost could quickly devour three Bizzare Entities and grow stronger. Its abilities and rules weren't suppressed, but were in a complete state."

Li Mo narrowed his eyes, continuing to scan the notebook's contents.

The notebook didn't lie. This meant that if he threw the Head Ghost inside, everything described above would happen.

If the second page had written this, Li Mo would have been relieved, as the second page was even more concerned about his survival than he was.

Any plan it provided would ensure that "Li Mo" lived.

But the first page was different.

Back at St. Freya Academy, trusting the first page had led him into countless death traps. In the end, he had been forced to follow its advice and take an extreme path, borrowing another version of his body to be "reborn."

Although the outcome had been good, with all the Bizzare Entities in that world sealed, Li Mo had gained many unresolved problems.

Like the Herrscher of Sentience who was always following him across time and space…

The first page's intention was definitely not to keep him completely alive.

Therefore, throwing the Head Ghost into the room might be the key step to his death, the start of a path of no return…

"But I have no other choice."

Li Mo clenched his left hand. He couldn't abandon such a viable plan.

If he didn't do this, he might not even survive tonight.

8:44 pm, the room awakening sixteen minutes early, meant the Bizzare surge would occur at 9:00 pm, right after Xu Shi.

Li Mo didn't have much time. He could only gamble.

If the Head Ghost failed to disable the room, he would have to leave immediately.

Li Mo had to admit, he couldn't deal with hundreds or thousands of unknown Bizzare Entities on his own.

The Blood of Decay in the room could suppress Bizzare Entities. If it suppressed his restart ability, he would lose his greatest guarantee, with no chance of turning things around.

[8:47 pm, the Head Ghost's rules will clash with the room's. Both will try to "devour" each other…]