"Understood."
Kira sighed helplessly as she set down her backpack, walked to the wall, clenched her fist, and gathered her energy. Blue and white specks of light coalesced on the back of her hand, forming the shadowy outline of a gauntlet.
A sharp crack split the air, followed by the rumble of a collapsing wall.
One punch from an S-Class Valkyrie could demolish more than a wall; even concrete ground would be left with a massive crater.
Li Mo didn't hesitate as he stepped through the wreckage, carefully observing the broadcasting room.
The male corpse of Aikiri was missing.
"Possessed by another head ghost?" Li Mo speculated.
He spotted snack wrappers scattered on the ground. Though partially consumed, the food hadn't yet spoiled. Someone had been here recently.
It was evident that a ghost had lured survivors to the broadcasting room last night. Yet something unexpected must have occurred, forcing the ghost to release them.
Or perhaps, those who left weren't entirely human anymore.
"What did you find?" Kira approached him.
Without hiding anything, Li Mo replied straightforwardly, "This is bad. Someone was here last night. Only a ghost would lead people to this room. It knows the auditorium is safe and wants to trap survivors here. However, some mishap occurred, and it released them. But now, they may not be the same people who walked in. They might be something else entirely."
He continued grimly, "If I'm right, the head ghost's intelligence grows as it possesses more people. It's likely that it found a way to infiltrate the auditorium safely."
Kira clenched her fists, understanding the weight of Li Mo's words.
Had it not been for his strict instructions to keep new survivors at a distance—especially from the black coffin—the situation inside the auditorium could have already spiraled into chaos.
By nightfall, with the anomaly resurgence, survival would be impossible.
"What's our next move?"
"It's too soon to return. We need to prepare thoroughly before heading back. I must investigate here for more clues. This is crucial."
Both understood that returning prematurely would only invite disaster. As long as the survivors in the auditorium adhered strictly to Li Mo's instructions, there was still hope. But all it took was one mistake...
In anomalous incidents, it wasn't the struggle on the ghost that was most dangerous—it was the incompetent allies.
Li Mo walked over to the broadcasting equipment, spotting a blood-stained ID card on the floor. Picking it up, he noticed a severed male thumb nearby. The thumb bore teeth marks, as if it had been bitten off deliberately.
"This must be Aikiri's thumb," he murmured, recalling the male corpse from the previous night.
Head ghosts only targeted heads, not fingers. The severed thumb indicated that Aikiri had been resisting, leaving behind a clue. But what was he trying to convey?
"For someone to endure such pain and bite off on their own thumb—it must be significant," Li Mo pondered. "The thumb's position suggests he was pointing towards…"
Li Mo followed the direction of the thumb. It was aimed at the wall Kira had destroyed earlier.
But Aikiri couldn't have known Kira would punch through that wall. He must have seen something in the ghost's memory, leaving this clue to indicate where the ghost planned to go.
His gaze trailed the path: directly towards the auditorium.
The situation he had feared most was unfolding. A cunning ghost had infiltrated the group and was preparing to sabotage them from within.
"What did you find?" Kira asked, noticing his grave expression.
Li Mo turned to her and replied, "Kira, remember what I said earlier? If you can't do it, let me handle it."
Her face turned pale. She understood his meaning but hesitated, caught in a conflict of principles.
The Valkyrie's duty was to protect humanity, while Li Mo's task was to resolve the anomaly. The best solution to the current predicament was to kill every new survivor in the auditorium—leaving no one alive.
But killing innocent people to prevent potential risks? That was a line she struggled to cross.
The broadcasting room fell into a heavy silence.
"I'll drive them out," Kira finally said, choosing a middle ground.
Li Mo didn't press further, shifting his attention back to the broadcasting equipment.
Aikiri had told him to destroy it to prevent ghosts from luring more people. However, the equipment remained intact—microphones, wiring, all untouched.
Bloodstains suggested Aikiri had attempted to destroy it but had stopped midway. Why?
Li Mo's eyes narrowed as he noticed five twisted letters etched into the controller: Thred.
"…I don't recognize this word," Li Mo admitted, feeling frustrated. Despite his proficiency in foreign languages, this one stumped him.
"Shigure Kira, come over and take a look at what this word means."
Li Mo, with no sense of embarrassment, directly called for Shigure Kira.
Her full name? Shigure Kira paused for a moment, but then walked over.
"I thought you knew everything. Well anyways, Let me see what this word is."
"…"
Kira looked around, puzzled, unable to find this word anywhere in her knowledge.
"Uh, I've never seen it. A word written in blood... what's going on here?"
Kira turned to Li Mo, asking in confusion.
Li Mo carefully examined the word and reached only two conclusions.
After his departure, Aikiri had indeed been affected by the ghost, but still retained some sense of self-awareness. He must have known that the broadcast equipment needed to be destroyed, which is why he left the mark behind.
But what had happened that made him change his mind, leaving behind such an unclear clue?
Did he know Li Mo would come back? Or was it simply left for the next person who would unravel the mystery?
Or perhaps... this was a clue left by the ghost, to confuse and mislead, wasting precious time.
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