As night began to fall, the main hall of Stone Marrow Pavilion had been tidied up, leaving only a single chair placed directly in the center.
In the dim light, Huai Shi clutched a candle, feeling as though she were partaking in some kind of cult ritual.
"Is it really okay to do this?"
"Probably?" Raven shrugged indifferently. "I know you want to find clues in the Book of Fate's records about Old Yang. However, I need to remind you: while the idea is good, you might not find anything useful through a conventional reading. After all, the most important thing to him was obviously his wife. Of course, if you want to witness their lovey-dovey moments, then pretend I said nothing..."
Huai Shi sighed. "Just get to the point. Can you stop being so cryptic?"
"I'm just worried you're not mentally prepared," Raven whistled softly. "To find something useful, you'll need to use some... less safe methods. Understand?"
"Taking a risk, right?" Huai Shi sighed again and settled into the chair, preparing herself.
"I won't bore you with all the principles, but you're familiar with mediumship, aren't you?"
"No kidding. Are you suggesting Old Yang should possess me?"
"Something like that." Raven gave an anthropomorphic shrug of 'its shoulders.' "Simply put, you can think of the Book of Fate as the control interface for some important artifact, and what you've been reading so far is merely the index. It's like having a computer and planning some cybercrime. You need to use Old Yang's record as the username and password. Then, you quietly breach the firewall to access a dangerous, banned server and look for Old Yang's own browsing history. The risks involved include being tracked by network monitors and the danger of trojans and viruses being implanted. You get it?"
"Could it kill me?"
"Not likely. Old Yang himself was just an ordinary person. His post-death records are just a bunch of old files that would naturally be overwritten if left unattended."
Raven patted her shoulder. "At worst, it might be a fate worse than death, right?"
"Oh, isn't that just my regular life?" Huai Shi accepted this calmly, even finding a moment to joke about herself. "Let's get on with it then. Hurry up."
"Your determination is very reassuring. Bring out the Book of Fate."
Raven glanced at her and abruptly transformed into a wisp of blue smoke. As the smoke dissipated, it revealed the form of an Event Branch quill. When Huai Shi opened her palm, the Book of Fate, having undergone Source Materialization and now fused with her, appeared in her hand.
The cover opened. Under the quill's manipulation, Huai Shi's countless records from over the years vanished. Then, a hand-drawn, old-fashioned computer login screen materialized.
"Lucky for you I intercepted a good deal of Source Substance back in Old Pond Town. Otherwise, you wouldn't even be able to afford the dial-up fee."
Source Substance equivalent to that of dozens of people flowed from the quill's tip, transforming into black ink. As the quill sketched, the dial-up progress bar slowly began to fill.
"Remember, once you're in, stay in the periphery. Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely do not delve into the inner sanctum! No messing around, no looking where you shouldn't, no careless touching. In short, don't do anything other than what you're supposed to do. Keep the candle in your hand. The instant the flame goes out, return immediately. Understood?" Raven admonished one last time.
The moment Huai Shi nodded, her vision went black. The ink on the book's pages suddenly twisted into a vortex, pulling her inside.
It felt like falling for millennia, yet it also seemed to last only a second.
Huai Shi thought she experienced many things during this process, but as soon as she found her footing in the darkness, she quickly forgot them all.
"Stop looking around! I helped you erase those memories. If you don't want nightmares, don't think about them. You only have three minutes, buddy. Hurry up!" Raven's urging voice snapped her out of her daze.
The candle in her hand was burning rapidly, illuminating her surroundings.
It looked like a dilapidated library. The air was thick with the smell of dust and mildew. In the deathly silence, Huai Shi stood among countless bookshelves, anxiously surveying the area.
In the quiet darkness where even death seemed to be Melting, she was alone. If it weren't for the candlelight, she felt she would have lost her mind.
From afar came a scream, followed by a loud bang. Amidst the roaring, dust rained down from the beams.
Not knowing what had happened, Huai Shi desperately wanted to part the tattered curtains and look outside. But when she peered through a tear in the fabric and saw a pair of ghastly pale eyes staring fixedly at her from beyond the window, she wisely abandoned the idea.
"Two minutes and forty seconds left! How long are you going to dawdle!" Raven scolded. "It's dangerous for me to be keeping watch for you, you know! What do you think that sound was just now? You were almost discovered by a Predator! Move faster!"
Huai Shi dared not delay any longer. She looked down at the candle in her hand. After it merged with Old Yang's fragmented records, the candlelight pointed towards the deepest part of the darkness, guiding her forward.
It seemed there were other things lurking in the darkness; faint noises persisted, but she couldn't see anything in the dim light. Only the sound of dripping water and soft, scraping sounds. It was as if they were waiting for something.
Huai Shi quickened her pace. The sharp creaks of the ancient floorboards underfoot echoed into the depths of the darkness. Only after a long while did she hear Raven's voice. "That's the bookshelf. Third row, second book from the left! Hurry, hurry! Only one minute left!"
Following Raven's directions, Huai Shi found the indicated book among the rows of identical spines.
All the books here seemed indistinguishable; even their spines and covers bore no markings, as if they had been carelessly tossed here, neglected.
However, the moment Huai Shi opened it, she was suddenly seized by a chill, and Death Perception flared again—something had set its sights on her!
With an unearthly scream, the floor, bookshelves, and even the ceiling began to tremble. Tendrils of pitch-blackness stretched out from them like inky water, spreading outward, probing for traces of prey.
By the candlelight, she could barely make out its form, yet she couldn't believe her eyes: it was all hair—strands upon strands converged, twitching and convulsing like snakes! The dry, cold hair greedily groped at everything around. From the darkness came sounds of struggle and shrieks, followed by an unsettling chewing noise.
CRUNCH. CRUNCH. CRUNCH.
Huai Shi swallowed hard and carefully shifted her position. The black hair slithered past her feet like snakes, flowing into the depths of the darkness.
"Are you here to watch Animal World? Ignore that librarian assimilated by Hell; she won't find you before the candle goes out!"
Huai Shi gasped. "What in God's name is this place?"
"Isn't it a bit late to be asking that now?" Raven sounded resigned. "You have fifty seconds."
Not daring to waste any more time, Huai Shi flipped open the cover. By the book's own faint light, she saw pages densely covered in writing. But the writing, it seemed, didn't need to be read; the moment her gaze touched them, they sprang to life, slipping into her consciousness like fleeting shadows.
At first glance, Huai Shi saw Old Yang, that rascal, squatting on a toilet, psyching himself up.
My eyes... Huai Shi instinctively held her breath and quickly flipped past that section.
All the records seemed fragmented, lacking any coherent system. She could only flip through them haphazardly. Most entries were trivial matters, rarely anything substantial, like the time in third grade when Old Yang received a 'little red flower' as a prize and confessed to his art teacher.
Old Yang, you were quite precocious... Huai Shi mused. Seeing only a small stub of candle left, she hurriedly flipped past this section, continuing her search.
Soon, in a hospital room, she saw Old Yang's wife, looking pale, and Old Yang himself sitting beside the bed, looking spirited.
"Honey, don't worry, I've got money now! At the end of the month, we'll transfer to the provincial hospital. I've already found a specialist." He gently covered her slightly pale hand. "In a couple of years, once you're better, you can give me a big, healthy son. A daughter would be fine too; I'd love them all..."
Seeing her smile, Old Yang smiled too, as if he had found salvation.
Huai Shi sadly flipped the page.
But looking further down, the memories became fragmented. A succession of shattered images followed, filled with pain, fear, and unease, until at last, a figure appeared: a mocking smile, straw-yellow hair, and a pair of Red Gloves that Huai Shi would never forget.
"Then, it's settled." As its fingers spread open, they covered Old Yang's face.
An icy sensation poured into Old Yang's very marrow.
What followed were continuous nightmares and dazes. More and more fragments of memory emerged. It was as if Old Yang were drunk; he maintained his daily life, but increasingly, he devolved into a walking dead, often unaware of what he was doing.
"Huai Shi, are you going to make it? Twenty seconds left!" Raven urged.
"Almost, almost!" Huai Shi, seeing the candle nearly burnt out, frantically flipped onward. Fragments, fragments, more fragments: delivering meals to the hospital, making bank transfers, calling to press for final payments, and then, receiving a phone call...
"The Tachibana Group's welcome party is short a cellist, right? Leave it to me... You've met that kid Huai Shi, haven't you? His skills are solid, right? Yeah, right, consider it done."
After ending the call, Old Yang smugly crossed his legs. He hung up, pulled out a notebook to jot down the essentials, and sent Huai Shi a text message: 'That kid will jump for joy when he finds out.'
Only, while writing down the address, his expression suddenly stiffened.
The address he sent was entirely different from the one he had just noted.
Then, he dialed an unknown number, reporting robotically, "Courier number 4 in position."
"Good. Come to me," a hoarse laugh rasped from the phone.
Old Yang stood up and picked up his keys.
In that instant, a gust of wind swept through, and the candlelight wavered. The last gleam flickered precariously.
A strand of black hair silently entwined around Huai Shi's ankle, bringing an icy touch, as if her ankle were frozen solid. It crept upwards, probing...
In an instant, half of Huai Shi's body went numb.
"Damn it, how can the waves of the Sea of Silver reach this far... Huai Shi, come back, immediately!" Raven's angry voice came through. "You're ensnared!"
"Almost there, so close! I've nearly found it..." Huai Shi had no time to respond. She flipped the book's pages faster, but the countless strands of hair extended with increasing speed, evading the candlelight. They grew behind her, spreading, twining around her limbs, tighter and tighter.
Meanwhile, Old Yang was driving, heading east along the main road, then turning left onto Coastal Great Avenue... Huai Shi scanned even faster, hearing the distant sound of the ocean tide.
The black hair wound around her neck and tightened. She couldn't breathe.
The candle flame quivered, its last sliver of light about to be extinguished.
Old Yang had parked. He exited the underground parking lot, his movements agonizingly slow to Huai Shi. He turned left, went up, climbing the stairs.
Huai Shi felt her vertebrae groaning. The hair slithered upwards, across her face, about to burrow into her eyes, nose, and mouth.
Death Perception struck her, like being plunged into a frigid sea, chilling her gradually from the inside out.
In that moment, she saw Old Yang push open a door.
In the darkness beyond the door, a familiar face was revealed.
Just at that moment, the candle went out.
Darkness surged like a fountain, engulfing her.
In the final instant, an invisible force tugged at her, pulling her upward. She burst through the pitch-black mist as if on a reverse rollercoaster, speeding upward. But then, a strand of black hair drifted up, coiling around her ankle like a rope, yanking her down.
"Off with you!" Huai Shi used her last ounce of strength. An invisible axe chopped down, severing the dark hair.
In the moment she lost consciousness, she only heard an angry scream echoing through the darkness.
When she opened her eyes once more, she was back in the familiar living room. She bent over, violently vomiting the last bit of food from her stomach, Raven's scolding ringing in her ears.
"Are you out of your mind?! You were so close! Just a little bit more, and you would have been assimilated by that place! Left to keep company with those monstrous things in the Level 27 Hell forever!"
She glared at Huai Shi. "That thing has remembered you! Don't even think about going back there again until you break through to the Fifth Stage and become Coronated!"
"I found it..." Huai Shi gasped desperately, saliva and tears streaming down her face, yet her eyes shone with a terrifying brightness, like high beams on a highway through Hell.
"I found him..."
She murmured hoarsely, "I found him!"