Bizarre Honkai, a Wife-Chasing Crematorium

Li Mo stroked his chin thoughtfully. The Bizzare Entity's manipulation of memory was far beyond his expectations. If no one had mentioned it, he wouldn't even remember forgetting.

Not only forgetting, but forgetting that he forgot.

"Anything else?" Li Mo pressed.

Changle rubbed her sore backside, slowly standing. Seemingly influenced by Li Mo's rationality, her tone became less formal. "Yes… you told me to observe you. After we made eye contact, you went to the door to check on the demons outside and told me to observe everything around you, including any changes in you."

Li Mo nodded. That sounded like him.

"So, what changes happened around me, and to me?"

"There was something on your shoulder…!"

Before Changle could mention the Bizzare woman in the red wedding dress on Li Mo's shoulder, her heart seized, as if gripped by an unseen force. She lost her balance and fell towards the ground.

Her heart pounded rapidly, constricted, its beats gradually weakening, as if held in a blood-soaked hand.

"Changle?!"

Li Mo reacted quickly, catching her before she hit the ground. He examined her closely.

Changle's eyes were unfocused, her consciousness hazy.

Bright red blood trickled from the corner of her lips.

"Internal injuries?"

Li Mo checked her mouth but found no wounds. It was likely damage to her internal organs.

"Changle? Changle?"

Changle struggled to lift her head, her vision blurring. She couldn't hear Mingyue's voice, only seeing that Bizzare woman on his shoulder again.

"Hee…"

A soft, sweet laugh, like wind chimes, echoed in Changle's ears, permeating her fading consciousness.

The beautiful, bright red wedding dress was dazzling.

Changle found it blinding. Her eyes felt like something cold and viscous was wriggling inside them, pulling at her nerves, forcing her to look at the woman in red.

The woman slowly extended her jade-white hands, caressing Changle's smooth face, a faint smile on her lips, her fingers finally stopping at Changle's clear, autumn-water eyes. [Autumn-water eyes (秋水般的眼睛) is a Chinese idiom describing beautiful, clear eyes.]

Her nails dug in, extracting Changle's eyeballs, then placing them back.

Neither Li Mo nor Changle perceived this.

Changle didn't bleed, nor did she feel pain.

But a subtle change had occurred in her eyes.

Changle wasn't dead, not yet.

After replacing Changle's eyes, the woman retreated, returning to her perch on Li Mo's shoulder. Her eyes, hidden beneath the red veil, were diseased and fragmented, rotting.

She sat there, staring at Li Mo with an unsettling mix of obsession and malice.

Her slender hands covered his eyes.

Although this didn't obstruct his vision.

Changle fell into a deep coma, her eyes closed, her consciousness dormant.

"..."

"Did she touch some kind of taboo?"

Li Mo looked at the unconscious Changle, her face contorted in fear, and recalled similar cases.

He hadn't noticed anything unusual during their conversation.

After saying "you," Changle's eyes had dimmed, and she had lost her balance.

She seemed to have triggered some unknown rule, not an instant-death rule, but close.

If she had continued speaking, it might have become one.

What were those last words she was about to say?

What truth was hidden behind that rule?

I…

Li Mo looked behind him, then around the room, finally examining his own body.

He still found nothing.

Just before losing consciousness, Changle had been looking at him. The reason remained unknown.

"It seems I'll have to wait until she wakes up tomorrow to find out what happened."

Li Mo gently placed Changle on the bed, then lifted the bed, moving it away from the wall.

Although the portrait ghost in this room had been devoured by the Head Ghost, it was best to keep a safe distance from the walls.

The reason was simple. Although the portrait ghost in this room was gone, there were others outside. If they could achieve the same effect by touching the walls, then Changle, sleeping against the wall, would be in danger.

Since they were traveling together, Li Mo had to help them, couldn't let them die so easily.

Even death should have meaning.

Li Mo turned and walked to the damaged wooden door. It was rapidly regenerating, the broken wood becoming as good as new, as if recently repaired and freshly painted.

The wind outside had died down. The silence was unnerving.

Li Mo pondered their departure.

The four ghosts outside seemed to have forgotten about the living inside, similar to how he forgot about Changle.

They had forgotten about the living beings in the room.

This meant the forgetting rule on Taixu Mountain wasn't limited to humans; it could also affect ghosts.

Based on all the known cases so far, there had only been forgetting, not memory alteration, but a few examples weren't enough to conclude that memory couldn't be modified.

"Speaking of which…"

Li Mo's cold gaze returned to the unconscious Changle.

"It seems… only I am forgetting."

"I've been wondering about this. Changle never mentioned anyone else forgetting, including herself."

"I should have emphasized this information, and she had no reason to hide it."

"Yet, only I am forgetting, as if I'm the only anomaly, but I know I'm human."

"I can easily trigger rules and pay the price, but the others have never forgotten anything. So who is the problem?"

Li Mo took out a Bizzare Coin, revealing a corner of it.

Changle on the bed and the assassins on the ground didn't react.

From all appearances, both Changle and the assassins were human, not bound by Bizzare rules. Yet, Li Mo felt a sense of unease.

Why could a group of ordinary people resist the forgetting rule, while he, always cautious, was frequently affected?

What was the difference between him and them?

The Seven Swords of Taixu were confirmed to be human skin ghosts.

What about Taixu Mountain itself?

"In any case, we've narrowly escaped disaster tonight, but I've lost one chance to make a mistake."

"Tomorrow, I'll carefully interact with the Seven Swords of Taixu and see if I can gather any information."

"For example… about the 'me' in this world."

Li Mo reattached the Bizzare Handgun to his waist and put away the Bizzare Coin, keeping it hidden.

After the second restart, he didn't need to eat much. He could skip the ghost banquet tomorrow as well.

But how long could they last?

They didn't have many rations. Martial artists weren't cultivators; they couldn't survive without food.

If they succumbed to hunger and ate the ghost banquet, they would be dragged to the slaughterhouse at night, their bodies crushed, dismembered, their skins peeled off.

Starvation or being killed, either way, it was death.

Eating bark or grass roots wasn't an option. Every plant on Taixu Mountain was a rotting corpse, invisible to normal people.

Not only were they disgusting to look at, but eating them would probably be no different from the ghost banquet.

In that case, it was better to eat the ghost banquet and at least enjoy the taste.

Li Mo fell silent.

If he wanted Changle and the assassins to survive, he had to find food for the living.

Did he need to descend the mountain?

He would consider that tomorrow.

Having finally secured a relatively safe night, Li Mo wouldn't actively seek out danger by descending the mountain in the dead of night.

"My shoulders are sore."

Li Mo shrugged. Standing for so long had taken its toll. He pulled over a chair and sat down.

Everyone was asleep. He was the only one keeping watch tonight.

He stared at the wooden door, the only entrance to the ghost stomach's esophagus.

Li Mo remained in the same position, watching the door, until dawn.

Completely unaware of the burning, crazed gaze fixed on him from above.

The first rays of sunlight pierced through the gaps in the mountain peaks, painting the earth in a warm, golden hue. The faint light gradually intensified, filling the morning air with the scent of flowers.

"…I shouldn't be seeing this."

Li Mo frowned. He saw a beautiful, serene natural landscape, a picturesque scene that filled him with a sense of peace and tranquility.

This didn't make sense. Taixu Mountain should have been the hellscape he saw yesterday.

But now, he couldn't see the piles of bones, the horrifying human skin trees, or the blood-soaked streams…

This meant he was already contaminated, experiencing severe hallucinations.

Towering mountains, lush trees, winding streams.

"Fake, it's all fake," Li Mo muttered, shaking his head, reminding himself repeatedly.

He abruptly pushed open the wooden door and walked out, trying to catch a glimpse of the true, Bizzare landscape, but he found nothing.

He realized he was contaminated, severely.

But when had it happened?

If this continued, he might actually believe that Taixu Mountain was this beautiful paradise.

"Are you awake, young master? Would you like some breakfast?"

A light female voice came from behind him. Li Mo quickly turned, lowering his gaze.

He hadn't noticed anyone there.

Glancing at her clothes and her partially visible face, Li Mo recognized her as Qin Suyi.

"What is it?" Li Mo's voice was cold.

Qin Suyi frowned slightly, then forced a smile.

"Can't I just chat with you, young master?"

"..."

Li Mo remained silent, ignoring her.

He wasn't sure whether the Qin Suyi before him was driven by human consciousness or Bizzare rules.

If it was the former, he could try to converse with her, gather information about Taixu Mountain's downfall.

If it was the latter, any casual conversation would expose him as a living being, inviting an attack.

Therefore, saying less, or nothing at all, was the best approach.

"...You're just like before, so quiet. Do you dislike me that much?" Qin Suyi asked, a hint of resentment in her voice.

Seeing Li Mo's continued silence, Qin Suyi sighed heavily, her voice filled with helplessness. She asked tentatively, "Or is it because… you're still angry… about Sushang…"

"..."

Li Mo's brain short-circuited.

What was this woman talking about?

He tried to analyze her words but couldn't make sense of them. Their surface meaning was simple enough.

She knew him, similar to what the human skin effigies had said in the slaughterhouse last night.

She had done something to wrong him, something related to Li Sushang.

Li Sushang?

He had never met this person.

"I know, it was my fault. I broke our promise…"

"But I couldn't wait any longer. After you left, everyone went their separate ways. The Seven Swords of Taixu didn't want to reunite, and Master shut herself away."

"So… I didn't wait."

"It took my wedding banquet to bring everyone back together."

Qin Suyi hugged herself, her head lowered, her hair obscuring her face.

"I don't understand what you mean," Li Mo replied calmly. "You've got the wrong person."

As soon as he spoke, Qin Suyi grabbed her hair and pulled, her sharp nails scratching her soft face.

She then looked up, staring intently at Li Mo, forcing a creepy smile.

"I see…"

"No, I haven't got the wrong person."

"Big Brother Mingyue, we're all dead."

"The town at the foot of Taixu Mountain… you need to…"

Suddenly, Qin Suyi's eyes widened. A woman who shouldn't be there appeared in her vision. Panicked and terrified, Qin Suyi tried to flee.

Before she could finish, a violent gust of Bizzare wind swept through the area. Li Mo raised his arm to shield his eyes.

When the wind subsided, Qin Suyi was gone.

Only a pile of dirt remained where she had stood, not even bones.

Li Mo repeated the words, "The town at the foot of Taixu Mountain…"

This was the message Qin Suyi had left before dying. It could be a trap, or a clue.

Qin Suyi seemed to have been waiting for him since early morning, and she had seemed more human than when he encountered her yesterday.

She retained some of her memories from when she was alive and had tried to tell him something, but she had triggered a death rule.

After realizing her death, the Bizzare power sustaining her vanished, and her illusory life ended.

But only by realizing their death could they access more memories from their previous lives, briefly escaping the Bizzare's control.

"I can't tell if Qin Suyi's last words were a genuine clue. If they were, then there's no need for me to stay on Taixu Mountain."

"The Heavenly Path… in my current state, I could make a round trip in less than half a day."

"However, if there's a town at the foot of the mountain, Changle should have seen it. I'll ask her first."

Li Mo didn't rush to investigate. He had entered the Heavenly Path through the Bizzare cave, bypassing the foot of the mountain.

Therefore, he knew nothing about the town. Asking someone would be a safer approach.

He didn't want to make any careless mistakes.

Li Mo returned to the room, walking to the bed, ready to wake Changle.

"It's time to wake up."

He pinched her nose and covered her mouth with his other hand. Unable to breathe, the feeling of suffocation would quickly rouse her.