absurd deduction game.

Chapter 1115 Memories of Celestial Bodies

A deathly silence filled the room.

Yu Xing slowly turned around, her gaze returning to the rocking chair, staring at the silent and motionless old woman, meeting her eyes.

At the same time, he also began to think about things related to Emily—Rail's wife.

She and her infant son were the only survivors of that night. They underwent memory erasure and purification by the church, and on the surface, they seemed to have miraculously survived the pollution of the blood moon.

But the pervasive stillness and the eerie, thick pollution before them all revealed one fact: the blood moon had never truly left Emily's soul.

How did she manage to keep it from the church?
Yu Xing analyzed the situation calmly.

The aura of the blood moon was of extremely high rank, which he temporarily categorized as "Ancient God" level. How could the Harvest Mother Goddess's purifying power have been completely unaware of the pollution left by such a powerful and indescribable entity? Unless…

Unless Emily at that time was indeed not deeply corrupted.

The Blood Moon's primary target was Riel, who, having been corrupted, killed the three deacons. Emily may have only suffered a severe mental shock and slight contamination, a level that the Church's purification could handle.

So, perhaps the real pollution occurs after purification... and then the connection is re-established.

This speculation is more logical.

Emily's soul may have been marked with some kind of special "mark" that night, becoming a potential coordinate. When the church's protective power withdrew from her, that distant entity followed the mark, casting its gaze upon her once more, like a persistent, insidious disease, slowly and steadily eroding her, transforming her into what she is now.

A living source of pollution, a fragile anchor point that maintains its connection to the existence of terror.

Just as Yu Xing was pondering, the old woman Emily in the rocking chair suddenly stopped rocking.

She spoke in an extremely slow, eerie, and ethereal voice, as if each syllable was rubbing against decaying vocal cords:
"Did you...feel...it...? The...inspiration of the stars..."

Yu Xing's gaze sharpened slightly as he looked at her.

Those gray eyes remained empty, but something seemed to be writhing deep within them.

“He…has already descended…and will not…leave easily…” Emily’s voice was broken, filled with endless pain and a twisted longing, “After Riel died…his fate…fell…on me…I am in so much pain…”

"help me……"

She tremblingly raised a withered, claw-like hand and stretched it out to Yu Xing, her movements stiff and pleading:
“Take me…to the church…please…bishop…can purify…sever…my connection…with the stars…”

Her tone was filled with desperate pleading, like that of a soul truly tormented by pain and seeking redemption.

A perfectly measured look of pity appeared on Yu Xing's face. He sighed softly, as if moved by the tragic scene.

He stepped forward, extended his hand, and said gently, "Madam, don't be afraid, I'll take you to the bishop."

The distance between the two instantly closed.

Yu Xing could clearly see every deep wrinkle on the old woman's face and feel the cold aura emanating from her, a mixture of aging and foreign pollution.

Just as his fingertips were about to touch Emily's hand—

A sudden change occurred!

Emily's greyish-white eyes, as if soaked in blood, instantly transformed into two complete, eerie, blood-red full moons radiating endless madness and a staring intent!
A massive, pure, and malevolent ancient god contamination, far larger than ever before, erupted from her like a burst dam, instantly filling the entire room and piercing Yu Xing's consciousness, who was right next to her!
This attack seemed to have been planned for a long time.

The method used to bewitch the three deacons to "watch" more than 30 years ago was exactly the same, but more direct. He wanted to forcibly drag Yu Xing into the abyss of madness, assimilate him, and make that terrifying night reappear on Yu Xing!
However, almost at the same instant that the blood moon rose in Emily's eyes—or rather, the entity controlling her body—...

"Pfft!"

Several pitch-black, twisted, and entwined branches of nothingness, imbued with the power of the curse of annihilation, shot out from the shadows beneath Yu Xing's feet like the sharpest spears, faster than thought itself, and pierced the old woman Emily's withered chest with unparalleled precision!
There was no blood splattering.

There was only a slight cracking sound, like puncturing rotten leather or breaking a force field that maintained an illusion.

The old woman's pleading and pained expression froze instantly, then peeled away and vanished like a faded oil painting.

The two terrifying blood moons in her eyes flickered violently for a moment, then their light quickly dimmed.

Within that seemingly aged body, no vibrant life force surged forth; instead, it exuded a more intense, primal coldness and deathly stillness belonging to the distant cosmos.

The pity on Yu Xing's face had vanished without a trace, replaced by a calm smile that seemed to know everything and carried a hint of mockery.

He tilted his head slightly, looking at the old woman who was frozen in place by the twig, and said softly, "This bait... isn't very good, 'Emily'."

He paused, then corrected him with a playful tone:
"No. Perhaps I should call you... Riel?"

"The astronomer who has been completely devoured by 'enlightenment'... all that's left of you is 'madness' and 'connection.' Is it this power that allows you to eke out a living by clinging to your wife's already hollowed-out body?"

Emily's body trembled slightly as the branch pierced through her. For the first time, a trace of genuine astonishment appeared in her blood-moon eyes, which were about to go out.

Then, Emily suddenly laughed.

The smile appeared on a face so aged it resembled a desiccated corpse, and it looked incredibly eerie. The corners of her mouth stretched upwards in an unnatural arc, revealing gray gums and a few loose teeth, and the wrinkles on her face were stretched into twisted ravines.

The laughter vibrated the air, turning into a hoarse, rattling sound, like rusty gears being forced to turn.

She, or rather, some indefinable entity that occupied and merged with this body, had her blood-moon eyes, which were about to be completely extinguished, filled with astonishment replaced by a fascinating, inhuman curiosity.

“Interesting…” Emily’s voice became even more mixed, sometimes like an old woman’s hoarseness, sometimes like a man’s deep lingering resonance, and sometimes mixed with a kind of hollow echo like the starry sky, “How…did you…know?”

Yu Xing's branches still firmly pierced through her chest, drawing upon the dwindling, alienated "life force." He analyzed in a calm tone:
"Based on my understanding of the Church's modus operandi, after that incident thirty years ago, there was absolutely no way that anything in this house related to Riel's research—whether it was notes, star charts, or the telescope that served as the key medium—would have been left behind. They even wanted to completely purify and cover up your memories... even Emily's and the child's memories, all to sever all ties with that 'blood moon' and prevent the contamination from spreading."

He waved the black notebook in his hand: "But this notebook bears the distinct mark of Riel's soul, and can even guide the reader to experience the night of the Blood Moon. It cannot be fake; it must have been written by Riel."

“Therefore,” Yu Xing concluded, “the only explanation is that this notebook was rewritten and deliberately placed here after the church confirmed that the incident was ‘over’ and lowered its guard.”

Emily listened quietly as her body, pierced by branches, withered and shrank at a visible rate, her skin tightly wrapped around her bones, but she seemed indifferent, as if this body was already an insignificant vessel.

Yu Xing continued to state his speculation, his voice clearly audible in the deathly silent Blood Moon room:

“I suspect the initial purification was successful. Emily and her child did indeed forget the horror of that night and enjoyed a period of peace, which may have been short or long, until the church’s continued attention was completely dispelled.”

“And ‘you’—” Yu Xing’s gaze swept across the room, finally landing on the dusty mirror, “You are the corruption of the Blood Moon, and the ‘Rui’ who was also ‘enlightened’ and transformed. ‘You’ have actually been lurking all along, perhaps hiding in this mirror.”

"After all, you said that the mirror is a passageway."

“When the gaze of the Mother Goddess of Harvest was no longer focused on this place, ‘you’ reappeared. At first, it may have been the remnant consciousness of ‘Ryle’ pretending to be that harmless, wife-loving astronomer, slowly bewitching and corrupting Emily’s mind with tenderness and lies, eroding her will.”

"As the influence deepened, 'you' began to truly take over this body. The fanatical astronomer, the timid wife, and that indescribable celestial being... the three were thoroughly stirred and merged within this mortal shell, until finally... they became indistinguishable."

Looking into Emily's complex and indescribable eyes, Yu Xing made a final judgment: "Judging from the fact that this room still retains the layout where Riel worked, as well as the contents of the notes, what dominates after the fusion is still Riel's thirst for knowledge and that twisted obsession with 'Starry Sky Inspiration'."

“But Emily is ultimately just an ordinary human being.” Yu Xing stated in a cold tone, “Her body could not withstand the existence of this status for long, so she aged rapidly, and it is even possible that this body had already truly died many years ago.”

"What is active now is nothing more than a wisp of spiritual remnant forcibly maintained by 'you', simulating the illusion of life, a puppet controlled by you."

“And this ‘existence’ you created after merging,” Yu Xing’s fingertips brushed across the cover of the notebook in her hand, then tossed it aside like trash, “used this zombie-like body to rewrite the Star Gazing Notes.”

“You are waiting, waiting for the next ‘investigator’ like those three deacons or like me to come to your door. This time, you can no longer ‘luxuriously’ just display your power and create terror as you did back then, because you need a new, healthier ‘container’ to hold this consciousness of fusion and continue to serve as the anchor point connecting you with that world.”

"Am I right?" Yu Xing slightly curled the corners of her lips. "Mr. Riel?"

"Crunch... crunch..."

Emily's withered body emitted teeth-grinding sounds, as if rotten wood was being forcibly supported and twisted by an invisible force.

She stared at Yu Xing, falling into a long silence. The two blood moons in her eyes were no longer simple luminous objects, but rather, like real celestial bodies, they emitted an even more eerie and profound red light, and began to slowly rotate on their own axis!
If you look closely, you can even vaguely see the cratered shadows on the surface of the "moon," like craters and lunar maria!
Her voice became more complex and majestic, a mixture of a man's deep voice, an old woman's hoarseness, and a more hollow, inhuman echo of the starry sky, like a triple, eerie chant:
"Since you... guessed it... why... haven't you run away?"

She slowly, defying the laws of physics, stood up from the rocking chair.

The dark branches that pierced her chest, under the intense red light of the blood moon, seemed to be temporarily suppressed and repelled by some higher power, becoming dim and ethereal, no longer able to effectively bind or absorb her.

The hunched old woman's body now exuded a heavy, oppressive aura, like a mountain, slowly and steadily approaching Yu Xing.

With each step, the floor groaned under the strain, and the pollution concentration in the air rose exponentially, becoming as viscous as a liquid in a frenzy.

The hybrid seemed to need no answer from Yu Xing; it continued its declaration on its own, its voice carrying an inhuman certainty of complete control:

"Of course...you...have nowhere to escape..."

"The moon...has been watching...you..."

"Even if you want to escape, from this day forward... wherever the moonlight reaches... will be your... prison..."

"You will... become a servant of the stars... forever... gazing up at that mysterious and magnificent... night sky..."

As it approached and made its declaration, an indescribable, massive pollution, as if an entire distant celestial body were directly crushing down, mixed with the substantial energy projected from the blood moon illusion outside the window, pressed down on Yu Xing like a tsunami!

This is no longer a spiritual seduction or erosion, but rather a more fundamental overlay and assimilation at the level of rules, aiming to completely rewrite the essence of his existence, imprint him with the mark of the starry sky, and make him a new carrier and anchor.

[Side quest triggered: You have discovered and encountered the memories of the Blood Moon - a celestial body!]

This monster is extremely dangerous; please handle it with extreme caution!

The scene inside the room was completely distorted; the walls seemed to melt, and the furniture turned into abstract shadows. Only the blood moon and the approaching "Emily" were the real focus.

An indescribable terror descends upon this place, threatening to devour those who dare to pry into its secrets.

However, in this seemingly hopeless situation, where the prey had already been captured by the ancient gods—

Yu Xing, who seemed to be overwhelmed by immense pressure and unable to move, suddenly burst out laughing.

“Finally…” Yu Xing’s voice rang out calmly, piercing through the maddening whispers of pollution, “It can calculate my contribution points now.”