Kallen opened the coffin lid. It was pitch black inside.
This was something that had been decided a long time ago: to sacrifice her own soul in exchange for the eternal beauty of the world.
Even if there were no longer any pure humans in the world, what maintained the world's operation would only be Impostors.
She had waited for this day for too long.
Kallen heaved a long sigh. Her clear eyes were as blue as the sky, much brighter.
"It's finally over."
Kallen jumped into the coffin, closed the lid for herself, and at the same time closed her eyes, quietly waiting for death to arrive...
...
...
————
————
Rustle, rustle...
The cursed blade independently searched for enemies, swallowing all the ghosts that tried to kill Li Mo.
But Rin had no protective measures, exposed to the sight of countless ghosts in the dead land.
Black-red bloody footprints appeared on the ground, constantly approaching Rin.
Ten meters... five meters... three meters... one meter...
"Ahhh... ughh... ugh..."
In the dead land, Li Mo, with only half of his body left, wriggled his body. His arms, with their skin rubbed off, struggled to support him, bringing his body closer to Rin.
As long as he could crawl to Rin's side, the cursed blade would protect its master, and would kill the ghosts near him, which meant the ghosts near Rin.
Faster... faster...
Li Mo's eyes lost focus, his vision disappeared, and there was nothing but emptiness in front of him.
His consciousness was becoming more and more blurry, but what he had to do was becoming clearer and clearer.
Move forward... at all costs, move forward, crawl to Rin's side, even if it meant dying.
He, who had been cut in half, had already lost hope of survival, but Rin was different.
She was still alive... she was still alive...
As long as he could let her wake up safely...
Li Mo crawled like a worm.
The organs and intestines in his stomach were scattered on the ground. The blood in his body was like a skirt with bright colors, decorating the ground he had crawled over.
The black-red footprints were evenly spaced, but they were much faster than Li Mo, who was crawling with only half a body.
The cold aura gradually disappeared. Li Mo couldn't see where the black-red footprints were, but he couldn't feel the bizarre cold, which could only mean that the ghost had already left him and was preparing to kill Rin.
"No, no..."
Li Mo was like a dying old man, his voice hoarse and indistinct.
She's still alive! She's still alive!
As long as I can get to her side! As long as I can...
Rip!
The sound of flesh being gouged out clearly entered his ears. The rotten hands tore open Rin's chest, about to grab the beating heart.
Hearing was the last sense to disappear before a person died. And this rule wanted him to witness Rin's end before he died.
It's not like this...
Li Mo did not continue to crawl.
It's not like this...
Li Mo grabbed the ground with both hands and desperately pulled his body forward.
It's not like this...
His appearance became familiar and strange.
It's not like this...
The shadow began to twist and shake. Gradually, a new shadow appeared in front of him, not attacked by the cursed blade.
"Save her..."
"Save her..."
"I know... you're here..."
For some reason, Li Mo suddenly had the strength to speak. With all his might, he said these words to the emptiness in front of him.
"Save her... I... I know... you... are here..."
Li Mo slowly raised his right hand and reached out towards the emptiness in front of him.
"..."
"..."
"I'm here."
The same voice answered him. Li Mo squatted down and reached out his eerie left hand to hold his right hand.
The Li Mo from 50,000 years later held the hand of himself from 50,000 years ago.
In an instant, the incomplete body healed rapidly.
Without pausing, Li Mo picked up Crimson-Dyed Sakura, flashed forward, grabbed the rotten ghost hand with his left hand, and stabbed it with the cursed blade in his right hand.
The cursed blade's eyeball became more and more scarlet, even more so than before. As if it had found its true master, the eyeball trembled violently, and the blade let out a faint hum, celebrating, cheering, and going crazy.
"...I see."
"Back then, I used my own blood to irrigate the withered peach orchard to resist the invasion of the ghosts in Yae Village at night."
"But I heard a strange cry for help in the blood peach orchard. There was no bizarre aura, no spatial orientation, and I couldn't even perceive its existence."
"Because that was my memory. The cry for help did not exist in the future reality."
Li Mo turned his head and glanced coldly at Rin, who was wrapped in a cocoon. The dissected chest was gradually healing, which meant that she had now become a Grief Seed. It was just that because she had absorbed too little life force, her recovery was not obvious.
The spiderweb extended in all directions, at an extremely slow speed.
The ghosts touched by the spiderweb did not lose their rules, but the human carriers that the ghosts were parasitic on would cough and become thin, their blood would dry up, their organs would shrink, and that meager life force would be transported to Rin's body through the spiderweb.
Even he, who had not been touched by the spiderweb, could feel his life force draining away. It wouldn't be long before he was forced into a state of four deaths.
It absorbed life force indiscriminately, and it was still in its initial stage. After the rules were completed, the life force of the entire world probably wouldn't last long.
It was hard to imagine that a city that was full of laughter and traffic one second would be left with tens of thousands of corpses scattered in various parts of the city the next, becoming a dead city.
This was the true rule of the Grief Seed.
The Grief Seed was the grief of ghosts and the tragedy of humans.
But it didn't matter. After Rin woke up, she would make the characteristics of the Grief Seed more intimate.
And now, what he had to do was very simple.
Li Mo held the cursed blade horizontally in front of him and cut his palm.
The black-red blood soaked the blade, and the eyeball was covered with a layer of extreme scarlet.
He flashed again, walked behind a ghost, and split it in two from top to bottom.
The cursed blade's rule was triggered, and in an instant, it swallowed the cut ghost.
"Reckless, rampaging. This is the first time I've handled a supernatural event so easily," Li Mo whispered calmly.
Compared to the ignorant, just-dead self, the current him obviously understood the bizarre rules of Crimson-Dyed Sakura better.
Having inherited all the memories of the previous civilization, he could use the cursed blade without any scruples.
Because... the rule of the cursed blade was to make the host bear the pollution of what it killed.
But he was not the host now, Sakura was. Beichen had let Sakura pick up Crimson-Dyed Sakura, not only to let Sakura rely on the rules of Crimson-Dyed Sakura to be immune to the rebirth of Impostors, but also to create... a host that could temporarily offset the pollution of Crimson-Dyed Sakura.
In the world of Crimson-Dyed Sakura, Sakura was probably gradually bearing the pollution and then being assimilated into a ghost bit by bit.
Only when Sakura had completely fallen into a ghost would the cursed blade transfer the excess pollution to him.
At that time, no matter how many restarts there were, it would be of no use, unless he didn't use the cursed blade after restarting. But that was obviously impossible.
Because he would use the cursed blade only when he was at his wit's end. If he could clear the game without using the cursed blade, then there would be no talk of restarting.
While thinking, Li Mo casually swung Crimson-Dyed Sakura in the air a few times. A highly transparent rotting corpse was disemboweled and dissipated into nothingness.
This time, it was no longer Crimson-Dyed Sakura leading Li Mo, but Li Mo leading Crimson-Dyed Sakura.
The state of three deaths had brought Li Mo's combat instincts to an existence that a living person could not reach.
Any faint flow of aura could be clearly perceived and a countermeasure could be made in time. And there would be no mistakes, just like a permanently effective code. As long as there was no external interference, it would always be the same.
With the deterrence of the cursed blade, the ghosts in this world were no longer a threat. Li Mo turned his attention to the sleeping Rin.
He took the initiative to step forward and drip his own blood onto her chest.
The speed of the wound healing quickened a little, but only a little.
In the state of three deaths, his life force was not non-existent, but it could be said to be better than nothing.
"Use life force to offset the pollution, and thus use Crimson-Dyed Sakura without limit."
"But... what exactly is the ritual? Killing blindly can't solve the bizarre. On the contrary, it might overload Crimson-Dyed Sakura and transfer the pollution to me."
Li Mo pondered the ritual. The sacrifice ritual 50,000 years later was fake. It was just a means to let him return to the past, not the obsession of the bizarre source of this world.
"Kallen Kaslana, the source of the Impostors, the ritual is unknown."
"Rin, the Grief Seed, the ritual is unknown."
"..."
"I suddenly thought of a good solution. As long as the result is the same, the process is not important," Li Mo turned his head and glanced at the devastated Nagazora City. Perhaps everyone who came here did not notice it because of fear and cognitive pollution, but Li Mo would not forget the most important point—
time.
This Nagazora City was the Nagazora City 500 years later. As for why Li Mo could be so sure it was 500 years later...
The bizarre aura surrounding the city could not be faked.
The ghost bus and the bizarre station, along with the appearance of bizarre things all over the city, indicated that civilization was dead, the world was polluted, and there were no more living people.
"It's unrealistic to leave here with brute force. I have to find the ghost bus to go back to the past."
Go back to the past, use the rules of the Grief Seed and the rules of Crimson-Dyed Sakura to offset each other and kill ghosts without limit, until all ghosts are eliminated.
Li Mo carried Rin on his back and walked through three consecutive abandoned stations according to the rules of getting on the bus in reality. He finally stopped at the last station.
Just as he sat down, the chair collapsed and shattered into a pile of wood chips.
The bus stations in Nagazora City did not have a sense of modern technology. The Far East's government was short of funds at that time and had no time to repair the bus stations.
Waiting for the bus, standing was also fine.
Li Mo stood up from the ground, his face grim as he looked straight ahead, occasionally using Crimson-Dyed Sakura to cut down a few ghosts.
The concept of time was very vague. Li Mo didn't know how long he had waited.
Until the dim yellow light shone on him again, and the sound of a car horn rang in his ears.
A tattered bus slowly drove over. The passengers on the bus were still gloomy, floating on the roof, staring at him with a strange expression.
Li Mo got on the bus with his blade, without saying a word.
Without any extra movements, after half a minute, only Li Mo and Rin were left sitting in the last row, and the driver who was responsible for driving and had no killing rules.
Compared to triggering the rules and then counterattacking, Li Mo was more willing to nip the hidden danger in the bud.
The ghost bus slowly drove on. When passing by a station, Li Mo turned his head to look. The outside of the window was still desolate and dead silent, with no sign of life.
His intuition told Li Mo that even if he pressed the button now, he would still be in this time and space after getting off the bus, unable to return.
Li Mo glanced at the still sleeping Rin. Her body had recovered as before, but her consciousness was not yet clear.
Li Mo placed his left hand on her forehead.
"'Usurpation'," Li Mo said softly. A basin full of cold water appeared and was poured from top to bottom.
Rin, who had been doused with cold water, instantly opened her eyes and sat up straight, her chest heaving violently.
"I... I'm not dead? Huh? Brother, why are you..."
After waking up, Rin saw that she was sitting on Li Mo's lap. She couldn't help but show a surprised expression and immediately looked around.
"Ghost bus? I'm not..."
"Ugh!"
Rin pressed her temples with her hand. Her consciousness had just recovered and she hadn't had time to sort out her thoughts. Realizing that she had spoken on the ghost bus, she immediately closed her mouth.
"The ghosts on the bus have all been killed by me. You can speak," Li Mo said calmly.
At this time, Rin had not yet realized Li Mo's abnormality. Her attention was still focused on the scenery outside the window, which was as desolate and dilapidated as before she had fainted.
She looked back at the car and found that it was no different from an ordinary car, complete and well-equipped.
"Brother, we can't sit in the last row. We can only see the true face of the ghost bus from the second to last row! And then when we get to the station that connects to reality, we can't press the button. We have to answer the driver's words to get off."
With that, Rin stood up, wanting to take Li Mo's hand and walk towards the second to last row.
But the moment their hands touched, Rin subconsciously pulled back.
Cold...
Li Mo's hand was as stiff and cold as a block of ice, without a trace of warmth, like a corpse with rigor mortis.
"Brother, what's wrong with your hand..."
Rin turned her head to look, but Li Mo's pale face gave her a scare.
His turbid eyes, pale skin, the slight corpse spots showing on his clothes, and his dead silent expression.
"Brother... you..."
Li Mo did not answer, but stood up from the last row and walked towards the second to last row.
As he passed by, Rin instinctively moved aside to make way.
Li Mo sat down by the window. Seeing that Rin had not reacted for a long time, he finally spoke, "Sit here."
Rin: "...Okay, okay."
Rin sat down next to Li Mo meekly. It was only then that she realized that the coldness she felt was not from the air conditioner above her head, but from the person beside her.
The ghost bus passed through one bizarre station after another. The two of them did not say another word throughout the journey.
For Li Mo, an explanation was unnecessary.
When it was time to use Rin, he would use her. She had no reason to refuse. After all, purifying the pollution was related to Sakura's life.
As for Rin, the Li Mo at this moment had become incomparably strange.
Rin could only tightly grasp the hem of her skirt, sitting restlessly, occasionally lifting her peripheral vision to carefully observe Li Mo's appearance.
Fortunately—Li Mo didn't pay any attention to her at all. So much so that even if she turned her head to stare at him, Li Mo was too lazy to bother.
Sadly—Li Mo didn't want to bother with her at all. Rin was sure that the other party had definitely noticed her small movements, but there was no reaction.
Was this really the Li Mo who bickered with her every day and was lively and cheerful in front of his classmates and teachers?
The him now... was even colder than a ghost.
At least a ghost would still see a living person as a target of attack, peeping in the darkness...