Bizarre Honkai, a Wife-Chasing Crematorium

The streets were so silent you could only hear the wind moaning softly in the corners.

Li Mo caught the faint sound of whimpers and sighs. Without hesitation, he turned and slashed his blade into the empty space behind him.

In the dim corners his eyes could reach, faint figures flickered in and out of view. They were of all shapes and sizes, not quite human, clinging to walls or floating in the air. They roamed the dead of night, searching for something... or someone.

Without a doubt, they were hunting the living.

And this... this was Nagazora City. The place where his family lived.

Li Mo's heart sank. A chilling fear he shouldn't have been capable of feeling coiled around it like a cold serpent.

The eye on Akazome Sakura quivered frantically, its unprecedented trembling indicating the sheer number of specters nearby.

"The corruption... it's spreading..." Li Mo muttered, his voice cold. Ignoring the specters swarming around him, he sprinted straight for home.

This was the first time he had felt such overwhelming panic while in his Third Death State.

Under Li Mo's control, Akazome Sakura (more accurate with this) cut down several specters that tried to ambush him in just a few moments.

Those specters attacked any living person indiscriminately. The moment you entered their line of sight, their murderous rule was triggered, and you were locked on.

This was the very reason he hadn't dared to approach the specter-infested village back on Mount Taixuan.

When the number of specters reaches a critical mass and they gather together, a living person has almost no chance of survival. Their murderous rules complement and reinforce one another.

Just stepping into their territory would get you targeted. In the ensuing panic, you would trigger more rules and be locked on by even more specters.

However, based on a quick observation, the rules of the specter swarms in Nagazora City seemed to be somewhat repetitive.

"Master Mo..."

Inside the world of the cursed blade, Sakura, who had just been resting, took up Sakura Fubuki (this too) once more. The moment the specters appeared before her, the blade's cherry-pink hue turned a stark crimson, and Sakura's own blue eyes turned blood-red along with it.

Unwelcome guests had once again invaded her cold and deathly silent world.

"For your sake, I have waited. For your sake, I will fight until I am no more."

Biting her lip, Sakura whispered the words and charged forward, blade in hand, to battle the specters.

In reality, Li Mo was tearing through the streets. But he hadn't completely lost his mind to the sudden turn of events. He did his best to avoid any illuminated areas, held his breath, and closed his eyes, running like a madman in a shambling, corpse-like manner.

Even so, he couldn't evade every attack. Thankfully, with Akazome Sakura in hand, he only needed to touch a specter with it to temporarily neutralize the threat.

"Tsk."

The endless specters were a huge problem. The Corruption on his body was building up to dangerous levels. If this kept up, he would soon be forced into his Fourth Death State.

But without a "death and restart," even if his Corruption level was high enough, Li Mo wouldn't have the combat power of the Fourth Death State.

He would only be piloting a Fourth-Death-level corrupted body with his Third Death abilities.

Sprinting at full speed, Li Mo soon arrived at the base of his apartment building. There wasn't a single specter in sight.

"How did it come to this... Elysia can eliminate Corruption, Pardofelis has her temporary Bizarre combat form, the Bizarre Mei can grant wishes, and then there's Dr. MEI's intellect. We even have a pile of sealed Bizarre items at home for emergencies. Even if specters appeared, there's no way Nagazora City should have ended up like this."

"What in the world happened...?"

The sudden spread of the supernatural corruption left Li Mo bewildered. His mind was racing with thoughts of his companions, wondering if they were okay, completely forgetting that in any paranormal incident, one must handle things with absolute calm.

He was capable of it, but that sliver of humanity he'd regained tied him to his last bonds in this world. Whenever a familiar face flashed through his memory, his extreme rationality would waver, causing him to overlook certain things.

"Thud... thud..."

"Thud... thud..."

"Thud... thud..."

Li Mo ascended the stairs cautiously, but his pace quickened despite himself. Even as he tried to control his actions, he couldn't suppress the turmoil in his heart.

The stairwell was unlit, pitch black. The air was thick with the stench of rot and the heavy, metallic smell of blood.

His clouded pupils dilated, and his cold, stiff body began to tremble.

Even now, Li Mo refused to believe it.

Impossible. It can't be. This is absurd.

How could something like that happen...

Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible...

After all... Dr. MEI was in this house.

Li Mo's steps grew more frantic until he threw caution to the wind, raised his cursed blade, and broke into a full sprint.

He prayed that his worst fears wouldn't come to pass.

Just as Li Mo was about to push open the door to his home, a piercing sound tore through the air, nearly shattering his eardrums.

In his Third Death State, his body instinctively tried to dodge. When he realized the attack was unavoidable, he immediately brought the cursed blade up to protect his head.

SQUELCH!!

Li Mo's neck was sliced clean through. Black blood gushed from the wound.

His body didn't fall. Li Mo quickly picked up his shattered head from the floor, placed it back on his neck, and the severed flesh rapidly reconnected, restoring him to his original state.

For the current Li Mo, even being blown to pieces wouldn't kill him. The problem was that regenerating his body increased his Corruption, and once that reached a certain threshold, he would turn into an Ghost.

His regenerative ability wasn't limitless like a Ghost's—not unless he completely purged his human consciousness.

"Dammit..."

Li Mo was on high alert. He activated his Ghost's vision, trying to find the enemy hidden in the darkness.

Just now... he hadn't been able to react at all.

This was terrifying. His attacker wasn't human, not a Valkyrie, not any living thing. It was an incredibly powerful Ghost—so powerful that even in his Third Death State, he couldn't react or resist.

If not for his Bizarre instincts and the high level of Corruption from his cursed blade helping him block that unavoidable attack, he would have been killed instantly.

Li Mo looked down. Blood was weeping from the eye on his cursed blade. Akazome Sakura had blocked the attack's 'rule' for him, leaving only the physical damage to affect his body.

"Show yourself," Li Mo called out calmly into the darkness.

It was only then that Li Mo finally understood why there were Ghosts in every corner of Nagazora City, yet not a single one near his apartment building. A far more powerful aberration was lurking here.

Hearing Li Mo's voice, a massive dark figure emerged from the void, letting out a low snarl.

"Rrrroooaaar..."

Its blood-red eyes glowed with an eerie light in the darkness.

Upon seeing the enemy, Li Mo uttered its name in disbelief. "Can..."

Its fur had become coarse and matted, its once soft beige color now a murky gray mottled with black spots, like signs of corrosion. Its body seemed to have been stretched and expanded, towering several meters high.

A foul stench emanated from its bloated form—a smell Li Mo recognized as a body that had been rotting for months.

"ROAR!!"

Before Li Mo could process it, Can lunged, swiping its claws violently through the empty air in front of him.

"The heart..."

Even though Can's claws hadn't touched him, Li Mo still held his cursed blade over his heart. In the next instant, a horizontal line was sliced through him at heart-level, and his body fell to the ground in two pieces.

"Ngh!"

Li Mo immediately reconnected his severed body; he couldn't afford to be incapacitated. The cursed blade could block Can's 'rule'-based attacks, but he still had to endure the physical damage himself. The key was to block with the blade in the right spot.

After readying his combat stance, Li Mo didn't focus all his attention on the Bizarre Can before him.

The real danger was—

Khorne Pardofelis.

And she hadn't appeared yet.

Since Can had already lost control, Pardofelis had likely also become an aberration—the complete Khorne Pardo.

"This is as bad as it gets..."

Li Mo knew exactly what a Khorne-corrupted Pardofelis meant. She was an existence he stood absolutely no chance against right now.

If she judged you to be weaker than her, you would lose all your abilities and be trampled and slaughtered at her whim.

There was no room for resistance...

To get past, I have to defeat the Bizarre Can. I can't hesitate any longer...

A ruthless look entered Li Mo's eyes. He hid his left hand behind his back.

"「Usurp」!"

The moment he spoke, Li Mo's spatial position shifted. He appeared inside Can's body, tightly gripping his cursed blade as he slashed wildly.

"GRAAAAH!!"

But something unexpected happened. The cursed blade didn't devour Can.

However, after being struck, Can let out one last roar before falling into a state of dormancy.

SPLAT!

A large amount of black blood spewed from Li Mo's mouth. It poured from his eyes, ears, and nose as well.

Using 「Usurp」 to change his spatial position had rearranged his internal organs. But that was nothing, well within acceptable limits.

Cursed blade in hand, Li Mo pushed forward and finally reached his front door.

Li Mo raised a hand, which trembled in mid-air. Time was running out. Without further hesitation, he destroyed the door.

The scene before him made Li Mo's heart stop. When he finally breathed again, his clouded eyes trembled like dead leaves in the rain.

He kept rubbing his eyes—a meaningless gesture for an Bizarre being. He wanted to believe the sight before him was just a trick of his vision.

But Bizarre thing don't have tricks of vision.

"MEI... MEI..."

Devastated, Li Mo staggered forward, collapsing just before he reached the pile of shredded flesh and limbs that was once "MEI."

"How... is this possible... No... no... this is a hallucination... This world is fake... How could MEI die... It's impossible..."

Li Mo reached out with a trembling hand and cupped the minced flesh from the floor.

He had sooner doubted the reality of the world itself than believe that Dr. MEI could truly die.

Gradually, the familiar clothing on the tattered limbs and the physiological features confirmed that the mangled corpse belonged to her—the omnipotent Dr. MEI, who could face any situation with calm and find a solution with absolute rationality.

She was... an existence even Li Mo could only look up to in awe.

Her imagination, her logical thinking, her strategic perspective—they were all in a league of their own, far beyond his own.

She was a true genius, the only leader who could guide humanity out of despair.

If there was anyone who could lead humanity to completely eradicate the supernatural corruption, it had to be Dr. MEI.

An indescribable chill filled the room.

Each breath felt heavy and cold, as if coated in frost.

"MEI... MEI..." Li Mo cried out in a daze, his pained moans echoing in the room but unable to break through the shackles of despair. His hands trembling, he instinctively reached out to touch the once familiar, warm body, but all he could grasp now was a pile of rotten meat and blood vessels.

The cold touch in his hands gradually brought Li Mo back to his senses.

His survival instinct forced him to stand up again, but this time, the body that once felt so light now felt unbearably heavy.

The night was like thick ink pressing down on the city, swallowing even the starlight without a trace.

Li Mo gripped his cursed blade, picked up a pair of broken, black-framed glasses from the puddle of gore, and shattered the window, leaping from the upper floor.

His clouded eyes grew dimmer as his Ghost's vision spread out, first scanning the entire city.

As expected, there were no living people in Nagazora City.

His vision then expanded 360 degrees outward from Nagazora. A suffocating feeling washed over him. In all the cities near Nagazora, there was almost no sign of life.

Fortunately, hundreds of kilometers away, he detected a familiar aura. Under the protection of that aura, the area teemed with life, and all nearby Ghosts had fallen dormant.

"I have to get out of here. I need to get to that safe place."

Li Mo suppressed the turmoil in his heart. Before leaving, he glanced back at the shattered window, as if he could see through the walls to the scene inside.

The next moment, he shot off, landing on the roof and racing from rooftop to rooftop at incredible speed, heading toward the location he had sensed.

Ghosts often retain some habits from when they were alive.

Generally speaking, far fewer people are accustomed to life on the rooftops than walking on the streets.

And it was true. As Li Mo sprinted across the rooftops, he encountered far fewer Ghosts than he had on the streets below. Furthermore, most of the Ghosts shared a strange characteristic.

They killed on sight, which didn't align with their normal patterns of manifestation.

Unless...

"They've all been assimilated by the same rule."

No sooner had Li Mo reached this conclusion than his vision began to plummet.

BOOM!!

After a loud crash, Li Mo found himself having fallen from the building, his body torn to pieces, his brains and organs splattered on the ground.

"..."

"..."

Before his body could fully reconnect, another attack with no discernible source struck him. This time, it targeted not his body, but his consciousness.

"You're going to die! You're going to—"

"..."

Just two seconds later, the curse of the misfortune Ghost abruptly stopped, falling silent.

Li Mo's thoughts raced. He finally identified his attacker, even though she had never shown herself.

"Pardofelis!"

The misfortune Ghost had nullified one attack, giving Li Mo time to reassemble his body. He stood up again, nerves taut, scanning his surroundings for the Bizarre Pardofelis.

But it was useless. No matter how he expanded his senses, he couldn't locate Khorne Pardofelis.

She, on the other hand, could kill him at any moment, without even giving him time to react and block with his cursed blade.

Because there was no way to dodge an attack from Khorne Pardofelis. You could only take it head-on.