Global Ghost Stories: I'm Investigating Ghosts in My Nightmare!

Chapter 163 The Trap of Logic

Inside the black clock tower, time seems to have lost its meaning of flowing.

The hands of the wall clock spun wildly backward, emitting a teeth-grinding screeching sound. Black liquid dripped from the cracks in the wall, gathering on the floor to form twisted, gigantic hands. These hands had no lines, only bottomless blackness, carrying a greedy intent to drag all existence into nothingness.

Chen Mo stood at the end of the red carpet, his black cane lightly tapping the ground. With each tap, a visible black ripple spread across the ground.

"Bai Yu, you're still too stubborn." Chen Mo's voice echoed repeatedly in the empty hall, as if countless versions of him were speaking at the same time. "You think you're protecting humanity's defenses, but in reality, you're just patching up the tattered fig leaf for those high and mighty 'rule-makers'."

Bai Yu remained silent, his right hand gripping the red umbrella tightly, his knuckles turning slightly pale from the excessive force. His right eye throbbed, a signal of the restlessness within the depths of his soul caused by the Black Words. Although the Black Words were dormant, the instinctive repulsion against the pressure of rules of the same level caused Bai Yu's vision to blur.

"Mo Fei, left flank 30 degrees, high frequency full power output!" Bai Yu's voice was as calm as ice.

"Received!" Mo Fei gave a steady, low shout. Instead of charging forward as usual, he swung the two giant battle axes horizontally, and the high-frequency light on the axe blades instantly surged, forming a semi-transparent cutting barrier.

Mo Fei's feet were firmly planted on the red carpet, his muscles bulging, like an unshakeable iron tower. He precisely blocked Lan Ce's path, severing the giant black hands that emerged from the shadows one by one. The severed black liquid fell to the ground, emitting a pungent, burnt smell, but it did not disappear; instead, it attempted to reform.

"Lan Ce, analyze the frequency of the bell tolls and find the logical singularity of this space!" Bai Yu gave the order while taking a step forward.

His steps were light, yet each step landed precisely on the nodes of the black ripples. He held the red umbrella horizontally in front of his chest; its golden light, though faint, was extremely resilient.

Lan Ce crouched in the safe zone behind Mo Fei, his fingers flying across the tablet in a blur. Fine beads of sweat dotted his forehead, and his glasses reflected a dense array of waveform data.

"Bai Yu, something's wrong!" Lan Ce's voice was somewhat urgent, but he still maintained absolute rationality. "The space here isn't supported by Chen Mo; he's an entity simulated by the 'Clock Bell'! This clock tower itself is a huge logical loop; it's trying to read your memories and then materialize your most feared logical adversary!"

"You mean, the Chen Mo in front of you is a reflection of my memories?" Bai Yu's eyes narrowed slightly.

“It’s not just a reflection, it’s a mirror image containing all your logical thinking abilities!” Lanze said swiftly. “It’s using your guilt and thirst for the truth to construct a trap you can’t refuse. If you admit its logic here, your soul will be completely devoured by the clock tower, becoming the new driving force that sustains this space!”

"Understood." Bai Yu's lips curled into a cold smile.

He looked at Chen Mo across from him. The man maintained his elegant posture, the tears streaming from his dark eyes soaking through his suit.

“Mentor, you taught me that all rules have loopholes,” Bai Yu said softly, her voice exceptionally clear in the black tide. “If the person before you is the manifestation of my memories, then you must have missed something.”

Chen Mo tilted his head, his movements stiff and strange: "Oh? What did you miss?"

“You missed something: I never believe the dead can come back to life.”

Before he could finish speaking, Bai Yu suddenly flashed forward. Instead of attacking Chen Mo directly, he slammed the red umbrella heavily onto the red carpet on the ground.

"Rule Analysis: Mirror Reversal!"

Golden light burst forth from the tip of the umbrella, but instead of spreading outwards, it pierced into the ground like a drill. The once-black ground, illuminated by the golden light, surprisingly revealed a transparent texture.

Beneath that transparent floor was another identical clock tower hall.

However, everything in the hall below was white. White carpet, white wall lamps, and a figure in a white lab coat with his back to everyone.

"There it is!" Lan Ce shouted. "That is the true core of 'Return to Nothingness'! We are currently on the 'surface' of logic; we must break through the mirror to enter the 'deeper'!"

"Mo Fei, break through the barrier!" Bai Yu shouted sharply.

"I've been waiting for you!" Mo Fei roared, his legs suddenly thrusting forward, propelling him more than three meters into the air. The two battle axes in his hands overlapped, their high-frequency energy compressed to the extreme, emitting a dazzling dark purple light.

Mo Fei didn't blindly slash; he focused on the golden dot that Bai Yu had marked with the red umbrella. That was the weak point where the two logical spaces intersected.

"Open it!"

The battle axe slammed heavily onto the mirror.

There was no explosion as expected, only a crisp sound like shattering glass. The massive shockwave shattered the surrounding black liquid into a cloud of mist.

Chen Mo's phantom image twisted violently in the shockwave. He let out a shrill scream, and his body dissipated like torn pieces of paper.

"go!"

Bai Yu pulled Lan Ce up, and together with Mo Fei, they fell into the white space below.

The feeling of weightlessness lasted for less than two seconds.

When the three landed safely, the surrounding scenery had undergone tremendous changes.

Gone was the oppressive black liquid; in its place was an extreme pallor. This white carried no warmth, seemingly drawing one's gaze. The air was filled with the smell of stale paper, and a faint, almost floral fragrance.

In the center of the white space stood a giant bookshelf. Instead of books, the shelf held transparent glass bottles. Floating within each bottle was a beating heart or a piece of writhing nerve tissue.

In front of the bookshelf, the figure in the white lab coat slowly turned around.

This time, he didn't have dark eye sockets or a ferocious face.

He is the real Chen Mo.

Or rather, it is a "spiritual remnant" left behind by Chen Mo in this world.

His face was extremely pale, so pale that you could almost see the veins beneath his skin. His eyes were still deep, but they carried a sorrow that seemed to have seen through the ways of the world.

“Bai Yu, you shouldn’t have come down.” Chen Mo sighed softly, his voice no longer distorted, but filled with the gentleness of an elder.

"Mentor, what exactly is going on?" Bai Yu put away the red umbrella, his breathing was a little rapid, and the continuous use of high-level rules to analyze had put a great burden on his soul.

Mo Fei and Lan Ce stood guard on either side of Bai Yu. Mo Fei's battle axe remained ready to fire, while Lan Ce rapidly scanned the surrounding environment.

“This is the Investigation Bureau’s ‘Shadow Archives’.” Chen Mo pointed to the huge bookshelf behind him. “It’s also where I was forcibly placed after that mission. The bureau claimed to the outside world that I was dead, but in reality, they extracted my consciousness to serve as the administrator of this ‘logical gap’.”

“Stripping away consciousness?” Lance’s face instantly turned ashen. “This violates the Bureau of Investigation’s Code of Ethics! The consciousness of any investigator is protected by law, and involuntary digitization or materialization is prohibited!”

"Law?" Chen Mo chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Lan Ce, when you come into contact with the essence of 'rules,' you'll find that the so-called law is just a placebo for the weak. In the face of those 'fundamentals,' we are all just replaceable parts."

Bai Yu took a few steps forward, staring into Chen Mo's eyes: "So, the paper flowers on Lu Yueqi's body, and the name she carved, were all signals you sent out?"

“No, that’s not me.” Chen Mo shook his head, his expression becoming extremely solemn. “That’s ‘it’. It’s using my identity to try to open the exit of ‘Guixu’ from the outside. Bai Yu, the letter you received wasn’t sent by me either. It was an invitation from the ‘Mountain God’. It chose you and wants you to become its ‘walker’ in the real world.”

"The Walker?" Bai Yu's heart sank.

“Nightmares cannot descend directly into reality; they require a vessel with a powerful soul and compatible rules.” Chen Mo walked up to Bai Yu. Although he was just a phantom, Bai Yu could still feel an invisible pressure. “The Black Word within you is the key to open that door. And you are the only locksmith.”

Just then, the entire white space suddenly began to shake violently.

A crimson liquid began to seep from the ceiling; the color was shockingly red.

“It’s here.” Chen Mo looked up, a hint of despair in his voice. “It’s much faster than I expected. The ‘anchor point’ inside Lu Yueqi’s body has been activated, and it’s watching this place through her eyes.”

……

Meanwhile, at the Bureau of Investigation's resettlement site.

Captain Anmu was standing in the corridor, where a thick layer of red silk had been laid out beneath his feet.

These red ribbons, as if alive, kept climbing upwards, trying to cover all the surveillance cameras and lighting fixtures.

"Captain, the outer defense line has fallen!" An investigator, his face covered in blood, rushed over. "Those paper figures... they're endless! Every time you kill one, it splits into two!"

An Mu's face was ashen, and one of his hands was tightly gripping the hilt of the knife at his waist.

"Retreat to the door of Lu Yueqi's ward and establish the second line of defense of 'Iron Wall Royal Authority'."

"But Captain, your health..."

"That's an order!" An Mu shouted sternly.

He strode to Lu Yueqi's hospital room.

Inside the ward, Lu Yueqi had stopped convulsing. She sat quietly on the bed, draped in the bright red wedding dress that had appeared out of nowhere.

Her eyes had turned completely blood red, with no pupils, only two burning flames.

She looked at An Mu outside the door, a desolate and eerie smile appearing on her lips.

"Uncle An, Brother Baiyu... he's not coming back."

An Mu's pupils constricted sharply: "Yue Qi, wake up! That's not you!"

“This is me.” Lu Yueqi stood up, her red wedding dress leaving a long trail on the ground. “I am the bride, and he is the groom. This is the destined ending.”

She raised her hand and tapped it lightly with her fingertips.

boom!
The walls of the ward collapsed instantly, turning into countless flying red paper scraps.

An Mu roared, and his golden domain instantly expanded, forcefully keeping the scraps of paper three feet away.

But he could sense that his domain was being rapidly corrupted by some extremely ancient and evil force.

"Bai Yu... if you don't come out soon, I'm really going to die here." An Mu gritted his teeth, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

……

Guixu, the Shadow Archives. Bai Yu, looking at the red liquid seeping from above, suddenly turned to Chen Mo: "Mentor, tell us how to get out of here! And how to save Lu Yueqi?"

“You can’t save her.” Chen Mo’s voice became ethereal, and his figure was fading rapidly. “She is already part of the ‘Mountain God.’ Unless you can find the source of the ‘rules’ and rewrite her destiny.”

Where is the source?

“In your memory, Bai Yu,” Chen Mo pointed to Bai Yu’s right eye, “Hei Yan has recorded the entire truth of that year. Go and awaken him, even if the price is the complete shattering of your soul. Only he knows who the real ‘Mountain God’ truly is.”

"tutor!"

Bai Yu reached out to grab Chen Mo, but only grasped at nothingness.

Chen Mo's figure disappeared completely, replaced by the sound of glass bottles shattering throughout the room.

The suspended heart and nerve tissue fell to the ground and quickly melted into black mucus.

"Old Bai, look!" Mo Fei pointed behind the bookshelf.

There appeared a huge bronze door, carved with countless wailing souls.

And from the crack in the door, red threads were constantly emerging.

“That’s the exit, and also the only battlefield.” Lan Ce analyzed the data rapidly. “Bai Yu, Captain An Mu’s energy fluctuations are dropping rapidly; he can’t hold on much longer!”

Bai Yu closed her eyes and remained silent for less than a second.

When he opened his eyes again, a strange purple hue flashed in his once clear eyes.

He forcibly tore open the seal deep within his soul, attempting to awaken the sleeping demon.

"Hei Yan... wake up," Bai Yu murmured to herself. "Someone's trying to steal your artwork. Are you just going to stand by and watch?"

boom--

An unimaginably vast and chilling aura erupted from Bai Yu's body.

Mo Fei and Lan Ce were so shocked by this aura that they had to retreat repeatedly, their faces showing expressions of horror.

Bai Yu's right eye suddenly opened, and the bandage that had been wrapped around it snapped instantly.

That eye had no whites, only a deep, swirling nebula.

"Oh dear... what a messy reunion."

An elegant, haughty voice with a hint of mockery echoed in Bai Yu's mind.

Hei Yan woke up.

He did not fully reveal himself, but his overwhelming aura instantly suppressed the surrounding red threads, rendering them immobile.

“Baiyu, my friend, you always like to surprise me at the most crucial moments.” Heiyan’s voice was full of an artist’s languor. “Since you want to see a grand performance, then I will grant your wish.”

Bai Yu felt a scorching force climbing up his spine, as if his soul were being burned in a raging fire, but this pain also brought him an unprecedented clarity.

"Hei Yan, stop talking nonsense." Bai Yu's voice became somewhat overlapping, as if two wills were resonating. "Take us out and kill that 'mountain god'."

“Kill? No, no, no, that’s what barbarians do.” Hei Yan chuckled. “We’ll analyze it, collect it, and then turn it into the finest specimen on our bookshelves.”

Bai Yu raised the red umbrella, and the originally golden ribs now emitted a strange dark light.

He took a step forward, and the void cracked open beneath his feet.

"Mo Fei, Lan Ce, stay close to me."

Bai Yu led the way and rushed through the bronze gate.

……

In the real world, at the resettlement site.

Anmu's territory has shrunk to less than a meter.

His face was ashen, and his arms trembled violently from the strain.

Lu Yueqi—or rather, the monster in a wedding dress—had already walked up to him.

She extended her pale finger and gently touched Anmu's brow.

Goodbye, Uncle An.

Just as the red thread was about to pierce Anmu's head.

A bolt of dark lightning struck down from the void, hitting Lu Yueqi precisely.

boom!
The entire building shook violently.

The red silk ribbon turned to ashes in an instant amidst the thunder.

"Who told you the groom was late?"

A cold, indifferent voice, carrying an air of absolute authority, echoed in the corridor.

An Mu suddenly looked up and saw Bai Yu and the other two slowly walking out of the void.

At this moment, Bai Yu's right eye was flashing with an eerie light, and the red umbrella in his hand was radiating a chilling aura.

He stood atop the ruins, his gaze sharp as lightning, piercing Lu Yueqi.

“Bai… Yu…” Lu Yueqi’s voice revealed a hint of fear.

“I gave you a chance.” Bai Yu approached step by step, the red silk beneath his feet automatically receding with each step. “But you chose the most foolish way to provoke me.”

He raised his left hand, his five fingers making a grasping motion.

"Rule Analysis: Strip!"

The red flames within Lu Yueqi's body let out a scream, frantically trying to escape.

But under the gaze of Bai Yu's eerie right eye, all struggles were in vain.

The red phantom was forcibly pulled out, and Bai Yu opened his right hand in the process, and the phantom of the nameless ancient book flashed and disappeared in his palm.

"Included".

The red phantom let out a desperate roar, then transformed into a stream of light and entered Bai Yu's body.

Lu Yueqi's body went limp, and she collapsed directly into An Mu's arms.

The surrounding red silk, paper figures, and suona music all vanished without a trace at that moment.

Sunlight once again pierced through the broken wall and shone on everyone.

"Is it over?" Mo Fei gasped for breath, plopping down on the ground, his battle axe clattering to the ground beside him.

Lan Ce leaned against the wall, adjusted his glasses, and looked at Bai Yu's back with a complex expression in his eyes.

Bai Yu stood still, his right eye gradually regaining its clarity, and his previously violent aura quickly subsided.

But he did not show any joy of victory.

He looked at his left hand, where a strange black rune was faintly visible.

"Bai Yu, are you alright?" An Mu asked with concern as he helped Lu Yueqi up.

"I'm fine, Captain." Bai Yu turned her head, her face still pale, but her eyes became unusually firm. "But this matter... has only just begun."

He looked out the window.

Although the sun was shining brightly, in his field of vision, a magnificent yet blurry phantom was slowly rising on the distant horizon.

That was the real "mountain god".

What he had just recorded was merely a trivial thought projected by the other party.

"Heiyan, did you see that?" Baiyu asked softly in her heart.

“I saw it.” Hei Yan’s voice carried a hint of excitement. “It’s…what a perfect work of art. Bai Yu, I can’t wait to take it apart.”

Bai Yu gripped the red umbrella tightly.

My vacation is over.

The real war is only just beginning.

(End of this chapter)