Bizarre Honkai, a Wife-Chasing Crematorium

While little Chiyo was eating, Li Mo walked alone to the peach orchard that had been damaged by the rat swarm.

He wasn't sure how many peach trees he needed to revive to withstand the next bizarre event, but it was clear that by restoring this peach orchard, he would very likely drop directly into a state of three deaths.

His vitality had been continuously drained since he arrived in Yae Village, even though he hadn't used much bizarre power.

This was the case for everyone in this village. Even though their appearances seemed normal, their internal organs and souls had long since decayed.

The children were fine, but for the middle-aged outsiders, the age of their internal organs was probably already approaching sixty or seventy.

Grandma Chiyo, who rarely interacted with the villagers, was also just a step away from death.

It was fortunate that she had come to the village with her husband in her middle age, not in her youth.

"Even if I do nothing, the amount of pollution in my body will increase within three days, causing me to enter a state of three deaths."

"But restoring this peach orchard can buy more chances of survival at night. After avoiding the bizarre invasion, I am forced to suffer pollution."

"What's more..."

Li Mo glanced at his fair, flawless left hand, as delicate as a snowflake, slightly pinkish. The sunlight reflected on it, adding a golden filter to his rosy skin.

In the state of three deaths, "Usurp" was unlocked.

Realize the things that exist in memory, and pay the equivalent price in the Bizarre's perception.

It could greatly increase convenience.

"There's nothing to hesitate about."

Li Mo cut open his right wrist and let the black-red blood fall onto the decayed and broken peach trees.

Something that defied the laws of nature happened. The blood was absorbed by the long-dead peach trees at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The rotten wood was rejuvenated. Tender green sprouts poked out their heads, followed by a surge in the growth of the trunks.

A few seconds later, the wound on his wrist healed. Li Mo walked to the next peach tree and cut it open again, using his own blood to nourish these long-dead peach trees.

Over and over, again and again.

Ten minutes passed quickly.

The peach orchard began to recover. Before the peach orchard had completely restored its own rules, Li Mo walked out of this area and came to the door of the house.

Although this peach orchard couldn't stop him in his state of three deaths, leaving would require a certain price.

He didn't have many more chances for error. The remaining rationality had to be preserved, otherwise he wouldn't even be able to use "Usurp."

As soon as he returned to the door, Li Mo noticed Grandma Chiyo looking at him, holding a bowl of cold noodles in her hand.

"Ghost exorcist, are you... alright?" Grandma Chiyo asked hesitantly.

Li Mo's pupils were already dilated. To the naked eye, he looked like a person who had been dead for a long time.

Grandma Chiyo had survived in the era of war. Most people of this era had seen the appearance of dead people with their own eyes.

Grayish skin, dilated and unfocused eyes, large areas of spreading livor mortis, and a cold, motionless body.

Li Mo met all of the above conditions.

The only difference was that he seemed to be still alive and able to move.

Like a resurrected zombie.

The Fantasy Ghost's rule was suppressed. Li Mo glanced over with dead eyes, without answering.

"Thank you."

Grandma Chiyo bowed her thanks.

Li Mo knew what she was thanking him for, because he had never focused all his attention on the peach orchard.

The other party had personally watched him restore the peach orchard, and coupled with the experience of feeding others with his own body that night, Grandma Chiyo should have already had a guess.

A guess about his current identity.

A ghost exorcist?

A ghost exorcist was a human, and humans could not possess these strange abilities like ghosts.

In her eyes, Li Mo was a ghost with human consciousness.

Or rather, Li Mo was originally a ghost, temporarily suppressing the ghost's instincts with his will.

Li Mo didn't care about this.

"The festival will be held soon. Don't expect me to intervene in the festival. Also, keep an eye on little Chiyo. Even if she is not the sacrifice this time, she is still the primary candidate for the shrine to choose a sacrifice."

With that, Li Mo turned and went upstairs, back to his room.

It was time to consult an old friend for advice.

Watching Li Mo leave, Grandma Chiyo was relieved. She looked up at the lush peach orchard, which was even more luxuriant than when her old man had first built it.

Compared to its ability to obstruct dirty things back then, it was only stronger, not weaker.

In comparison, the threshold she had repaired herself was very simple. Limited by materials and time, this was the limit of what she could do.

Peach wood was considered rare in the entire outsider community.

Due to the soil and water, it was very difficult for a peach tree to grow up in Yae Village.

Grandma Chiyo returned to the main hall and sat down next to little Chiyo.

"Chiyo, do you have any plans for the future?"

"Mmm... I don't know. Probably like Mom. Although Mom and Dad have become very strange, they said that the outside world is a hundred times more terrifying than here. Chiyo has never seen the outside world, so I'm not sure if what Mom and Dad said is right..."

This village had always been strange. Everyone knew it.

But no one dared to leave, and no one could leave.

Grandma Chiyo had also thought about it. If someone really took little Chiyo out of here, how would she face the bloody and cruel world?

A flower in a greenhouse, coming to a desolate land where the hungry were everywhere. The people there were no different from animals, even more primitive. Not even a piece of tree bark or a blade of grass was spared.

The answer was obvious. Little Chiyo would be torn apart and treated with extreme cruelty.

Therefore, if little Chiyo really had a chance to leave this place, she had to find a strong person who could take care of her.

Unfortunately, this world was full of lies and deception. Trust was useless.

How could one find a person who was responsible, powerful, and willing to take on a burden?

No, perhaps there was one right now.

Although he was strange, at least he had a clear bottom line.

Although he looked inhuman, many times, humans were more terrifying than ghosts.

"The outside world is very scary," Grandma Chiyo said seriously to little Chiyo.

"Mmm... then Chiyo will just stay in the village, live with Grandma. When Chiyo grows up, she can take care of Grandma."

Little Chiyo swallowed the food in her mouth and answered with a grin.

A little grease remained on the corner of her mouth. Realizing it, she wiped it with her sleeve.

She was completely unaware that she would not live to see that day.

Happiness and peace came at a price.

There was no free gift in the world.

Grandma Chiyo smiled wryly, walked back to her room, and took out a bronze-colored object from the cupboard.

Unlike an ordinary mirror, the colors of the image were not vivid.

Grandma Chiyo looked at herself in the mirror. She was infinitely close to black and white, like a posthumous portrait.

Holding the bronze-colored mirror, Grandma Chiyo walked out of the room and placed it on the table.

"This mirror is so beautiful! Was it left by Grandpa?" Little Chiyo came to the mirror excitedly.

The carved patterns on it attracted little Chiyo's attention.

Grandpa had left many fun and strange things that always made little Chiyo's eyes light up.

Because these things were brought in from the outside world, they were particularly novel.

The workmanship and style were impossible to replicate in Yae Village.

"Huh? Grandma, is this mirror broken? Why can't I see myself?"

"Hmm?" Grandma Chiyo's heart skipped a beat. She came up behind Chiyo.

The mirror only showed one image—

that of herself in black and white.

Little Chiyo did not appear in it.

Grandma Chiyo thought for a moment, then a satisfied smile appeared on her face.

This mirror had a special ability: it could predict a person's future. And the future... could not be changed. One could only minimize the loss as much as possible.

Her old man used to gamble with this mirror. Before each bet, he would first look at the mirror.

If the him in the mirror was smiling happily, it meant he could raise the bet.

If the him in the mirror was sad and crying, it meant he should give up the hand as soon as possible and not blindly invest anymore.

Relying on this mirror, her old man had made a fortune.

Once, when the mirror reflected him as extremely sad and angry, with a hint of relief, he had promptly quit and left the casino.

Unfortunately, he was later robbed by bandits and lost most of his family's property, leaving only these feng shui props that had accompanied him for half his life.

According to her old man, these things were also inherited from his ancestors. There was a very outrageous claim—

they came from fifty thousand years ago.

But no elder dared to confirm this. After all, a mirror and an omamori, no matter what, could not have survived the wear and tear of time intact. They should have been tattered long ago.

The form in which the mirror presented the future was not uniform. This was a good thing for the current situation.

Because the mirror reflected the layout and decoration of the room, as well as herself in black and white.

Only little Chiyo's figure was missing.

This meant that it was very likely that little Chiyo would successfully escape from Yae Village in the future!

At the thought of this, Grandma Chiyo smiled happily and placed her hand on little Chiyo's head, rubbing it.

"Chiyo... keep this mirror well. Don't let big brother know. When he takes you out of the village one day in the future, just stick to him. No matter what he says, even if he leaves you behind, don't give up chasing."

Grandma Chiyo said earnestly.

Based on Grandma Chiyo's judgment of Li Mo's character.

Even if he left Yae Village, Li Mo would only abandon little Chiyo on the surface. In reality, he wouldn't go far, but would quietly watch little Chiyo's every move from the shadows, protecting her when necessary.

He was the kind of person who was easily moved by purity.

So it was very likely that he would take little Chiyo with him.

Now the festival didn't care for her old bones, but little Chiyo was the perfect sacrifice in their eyes. Li Mo's reminder confirmed this view.

She could die here, but at least her granddaughter had to escape her tragic fate.

Little Chiyo was puzzled, "But why leave the village? Isn't the outside world very dangerous?"

Grandma Chiyo: "Your future should not be buried here. With him, you can see a wider world. Didn't you always want to see what the outside world looks like?"

Little Chiyo thought for a while, "I really want to, but won't Grandma come with me? If Chiyo leaves, won't Grandma be too lonely at home... Mom and Dad haven't been back to see Grandma for a long time. Chiyo doesn't want everyone to drift further and further apart..."

Little Chiyo rarely showed a lonely expression.

Why couldn't everyone be more considerate of each other's feelings?

Why did a family have to be separated?

Why did they have to leave the village?

Grandma Chiyo didn't explain, but just as before, she gently combed little Chiyo's hair with her hand and said the words that adults often used:

"You'll know these things when you grow up."

"From now on, listen to big brother. Do whatever he asks you to do, and don't disobey him in anything. Don't be angry with him. Be a good and obedient child."

Grandma Chiyo patiently guided her.

Li Mo was not a good person, but he was not that bad either.

At least he was much better than those who were insincere and hypocritical.

She glanced at the bronze-colored mirror.

"When he is annoyed and hesitant, just give him this mirror. He will know how to use it."

"Mhm." Little Chiyo nodded and kept her grandmother's words in her heart.

At that time, neither of them knew that the future would end in a dramatic reversal.

People often interpreted bizarre objects with human cognition, not knowing that the underlying logic of most bizarre objects was only slightly related to human cognition.

More importantly, it was the appearance of the original's former habits after being twisted.

On the second floor, in the room.

Li Mo wore the bizarre omamori and took out the notebook.

With "Usurp," he could deviate from the notebook's predictions to a large extent, although he couldn't completely avoid them.

The notebook would dig pits, but the user could choose not to believe it.

So the notebook would inevitably throw out a bombshell that the user could not ignore or refuse.

This was a key point.

The notebook would not lie.

If it wanted to make Li Mo unable to ignore or refuse, it would inevitably be something related to solving the source of the Bizarre.

He just needed to pay attention to whether the notebook was digging a pit in this matter.

In fact, Li Mo still couldn't be sure that each page of the notebook had only one rule.

Because it had never said that its own rules were those. All the rules were Li Mo's own guesses, which the notebook had actively exposed.

Assuming that the rules of the second and third pages... of the notebook were all decoys to confuse him.

When he completely trusted these pages, and the notebook threw out an answer that was true but also a deadly trap, he would probably die without knowing why.

"Most bizarre objects are twisted products of reality."

"One situation is being in a long process of pollution and being twisted step by step."

"The other is being twisted by a specific, excessive amount of pollution at a specific time."

"Which one are you?"

Li Mo asked.

The notebook did not answer, lying quietly on the table.

"I'm very curious who created you. When you were an ordinary notebook, who used you?"

"And then, under what circumstances, what pollution did you suffer, to make you become such a bizarre thing."

Unfortunately, the notebook didn't seem to want to answer this question.

It had its own intelligence, that was absolutely true, but this intelligence always gave Li Mo a sense of déjà vu.

It was as if he were playing a game against himself.

The notebook was very much like a Bizarre version of himself, setting two traps, one obvious and one lurking in the invisible future.

No matter which path the user took, it was within expectations.

He hoped this guess was wrong, Li Mo thought.

If the notebook was truly omniscient and omnipotent, then as a mortal.

Whether it was himself or MEI, the notebook would be an unbeatable enemy.

Omniscience is omnipotence.

That was the "ultimate" that MEI had mentioned.

"So far, I have encountered many bizarre objects and ghosts that can predict, peek into the future, and give hints."

"But most of them are incomplete. I believe you are too. You can't achieve the 'ultimate' yet."

"Ghosts will instinctively complete themselves. I have been trying my best to avoid you coming into contact with other similar bizarre objects. I really want to know if this is also within your expectations."

"Or... is the very act of me dealing with the source of the Bizarre a step for you to complete your own rules?"

[...]

Li Mo thought and thought, but couldn't figure it out.

Things like the human head ghost, the ghost stomach, and the fantasy ghost, they supplemented their own rules and increased the number of rules by devouring.

Things like the cat-faced old woman and the ghost sheep, they extended their own rules and increased the degree of rules by assimilation.

Things like the mirror ghost, the dead man's shoes, and the portrait, they enhanced their own rules and increased the strength of rules by killing.

The methods were different, but they were all forms of completion.

Just like Fantasy MEI could eat consciousness-type ghosts to complete herself.

But the notebook, Li Mo was sure that he had not given it any chance to eat any ghosts. As for assimilation and killing, he had never seen it.

But its usage permissions were becoming more and more open.

From the first page at the beginning, to the second and third pages later...

All signs indicated that its completeness was constantly rising, but through what means did the notebook complete its own rules?

Eating? Killing? Assimilating?

Not these three. What other ways could it complete itself?

Based on the timing of the notebook's permission opening, Li Mo could only judge that it was inseparable from the Bizarre sources related to his alternate versions.

Every time he returned to reality from a memory or an experience, the notebook would have one more page to use.

If that was really the case, then dealing with the notebook would be an unsolvable problem.

Because the Bizarre source could not be ignored, but dealing with it would make the notebook more and more complete, until it became the "ultimate," able to do whatever it wanted.

Absolute freedom, absolute truth.

"It's a pity that I can't prove it now. I hope this guess is wrong."

"Alright, let's get down to business. Tell me, what will happen in the next festival."

The notebook turned to the seventh page, which made Li Mo very concerned.

Because the notebook had never turned to the seventh page before. What did this mean? Was his guess correct?

Everything was based on the end of Seele Vollerei's ritual, or...

the "opening" of the Bizarre source's ritual in this world.

[My name is Li Mo. I am standing below the altar, staring at the sky.]

[A few strands of spider web hang from the sky, connected to a huge cocoon. It seems only I can see it.]

[The festival begins. I watch helplessly as Chiyo's parents are sent to the altar, their heads easily cut off by the cursed blade, Crimson-Dyed Sakura.]

[The moment the sacrifices die, the cocoon in the sky shakes continuously, as if something inside is about to come out.]