The notebook seemed more than willing to assist Li Mo now, with its blood-red handwriting appearing almost instantly.
[My name is Li Mo. If you're reading this, I am dying—or perhaps I've already died, and is about to be reborn.]
[It's 7:03 p.m., and every anomaly in the academy has awakened."
[In the auditorium, death has already descended. Kira is burning her blood and honkai energy to stop the advance of the Head Ghosts, but it's a futile effort.]
"The second funeral Incense has been swallowed by the child possessed by the Head Ghosts, and it has been completely extinguished."
"Everyone is fighting to squeeze into the Black Coffin, pushing and shoving one another, plunging the auditorium into chaos."
"My body is also being consumed by the anomalies. Even under the protection of the Black Coffin, I will still succumb to this invasion."
"Without the suppression of the funeral incense, all the ghosts in the academy are no longer dormant."
"At 7:12 p.m., everyone outside the Black Coffin will die."
"I desperately channel the anomalous power to fight against the Head Ghost targeting me. Slowly, my heart stops beating… my blood runs dry… my body becomes a shriveled, stiff corpse, covered in decay and crawling with maggots…"
"At 7:31 p.m. tomorrow night, I died."
"I need a way to survive, not more wasted words," Li Mo muttered, gripping the notebook tightly, his frustration almost compelling him to tear it apart.
Yet, the notebook did offer a crucial piece of information: using all his anomalous power to fight against the Head Ghost would buy him a day.
That was his current limit.
"My name is Li Mo. By the time you read this, I have survived."
"Huh?"
The first line had changed. This meant the notebook had found a path to survival.
Li Mo focused intently on the blood-red text appearing on the notebook's opening page.
"At 7:05 p.m., anomalies in St. Freya Academy fully awaken. The Head Ghost begins moving towards the auditorium."
"At 7:07 p.m., I remove the Black Coffin's clothes, drawing all the Head Ghosts towards myself."
"At 7:09 p.m., I hold a coin in my palm, exposing just a sliver to the sight of the Head Ghosts. This activates the anomalous rule tied to the coin: the ghosts stop targeting my head and instead devour the hand holding the coin. My hand regenerates continuously, creating a dynamic equilibrium."
"At 7:11 p.m., the anomalous rule of the coin fades, and the Head Ghosts resume targeting my head."
"At 7:11 p.m., I use 'her' behind me to repeatedly 'kill' the Head Ghosts in the hallway. Though they are shattered into pieces, they cannot die and remain temporarily incapacitated."
"At 7:30 p.m., I begin the preparations for the third day's ritual."
"At 7:31 p.m., the third-day ritual is completed successfully, silencing nearly all the anomalies in the academy."
"My name is Li Mo. By 7 a.m. tomorrow, I am alive."
Li Mo closed the notebook. He had made up his mind.
The plan was feasible, but it concealed a deeper, more terrifying trap.
For instance: "Her."
"Let's begin immediately."
Time was short, and Li Mo wasted no more seconds. He stripped off his coat, revealing a muscular torso marred by grotesque corpse spots that reeked of decay.
Most horrifying was his spine, which resembled a tentacle bursting from his back, pulling at his neck as if to twist it unnaturally.
With a gun in hand, Li Mo fired a bullet into his spine, forcing it into temporary submission.
The classrooms were filled with headless corpses, the Head Ghosts' preferred targets. However, the Valkyrie's corpse in the auditorium was far more enticing, allowing Li Mo to remain relatively unbothered for now.
But once he removed the Black Coffin's clothes, his nearly perfect body became the ultimate target for the ghosts.
In the auditorium, Kira knelt exhausted in front of the Black Coffin, panting heavily.
Her honkai energy was almost depleted, but the endless stream of heads continued to fill the auditorium.
Those who could fit into the Black Coffin had already done so, leaving a few helpless souls behind, awaiting their deaths.
"It's over… If only I had acted more decisively, I wouldn't have caused this slaughter," Kira muttered with guilt.
She laid down her greatsword, her delicate face smeared with blood.
Without the suppression of the Funeral Incense, the heads stormed the auditorium, devouring many, and soon turned towards the defenseless Shigure Kira.
Her overexertion in repelling the heads left her unable to stand.
She felt a pang of nostalgia but couldn't recall what she was longing for.
Then, without warning, every head, regardless of age or gender, rotated half a turn.
In unison, they charged out of the auditorium towards the classrooms.
Kira froze in disbelief, watching the scene unfold.
A figure appeared in her mind, dispelling her confusion.
He would never let anyone down.
A faint smile of relief spread across her lips as her tense nerves relaxed.
"Thank you. I've always called you a gloomy man, but you're as reliable as ever," she whispered, leaning weakly against the Black Coffin as her eyes gently closed.
For a brief moment, she felt warmth, reminiscent of Lady Cecilia.
But the violet patterns crawling up her scarlet neck betrayed her condition. A vicious bite wound gushed warm blood that flowed down her arm to the floor.
"Goodbye…"
She had fallen unconscious, her body growing colder from the blood loss. Even as a Valkyrie, she was not immune.
After all, she was human—not an abnormal one like Li Mo.
In the classrooms, hundreds of heads crowded the hallways, bouncing and rolling, causing the building to shudder faintly.
"Hee hee! This time you'll definitely die! You're dead for sure!"
The eerie broadcast in Li Mo's mind resumed, its glee unmistakable.
Li Mo had no idea how this anomaly made its judgments, but its track record wasn't exactly reliable.
In fact, its declarations were starting to seem like a twisted kind of good luck charm. Whenever it cursed him, he managed to survive.
"If anything, your curses are a blessing. Every time you're silent, I'm in danger. But when you speak up, I always pull through," Li Mo retorted coldly.
"Say more. I enjoy hearing it."
"Go on, curse me again."
His face was expressionless, but his sarcasm was unmistakable.
"…"
For once, the broadcast fell silent.
Li Mo smirked. "Seems like you've learned your place. But you've already said I'll die once, so I'm confident I'll survive this time."
With that, Li Mo raised his gaze to meet the incoming swarm of bloodied heads.
Their features were unrecognizable, their faces stripped of flesh. Exposed skulls and empty sockets stared back at him, their deformed shapes dripping with brain matter and blood, creating grotesque figures no longer resembling anything human.
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