28: Chapter 28 The Corridor of Memories (Part Two)

Behind the door was a classroom.

It was an Orphanage classroom; Chen Mo recognized it.

The third row by the window was the seat he had occupied for five years.

There were uncleared chalk marks on the blackboard—math formulas whose content he had long forgotten.

But there was someone in the classroom.

A woman stood at the podium, her back to him.

She wore a white shirt and a long black skirt, her hair pinned up, revealing the back of her neck.

Chen Mo recognized that figure.

Teacher Li.

The only person in the Orphanage who had ever been kind to him.

She turned around.

It was the same face—thirty-something, gentle, and always wearing a smile.

"Chen Mo," she said. "You've come."

Pupil of the Sequence scanned—golden lines, dense and active.

It was a Ghost Shadow.

But it was different from the others before.

The way those lines flowed was exactly the same as the lines within his own body.

【Target: E-Class Ghost Shadow "The Forgotten One"】

【Ability: Mimic target's appearance and abilities】

【Current Status: 70% of target's abilities copied】

【Weakness: Incomplete copy, delay in action patterns】

Chen Mo stared at her.

"You are not Teacher Li."

"I am," she said, taking a step forward.

"I am the Teacher Li in your memories."

Chen Mo did not speak.

Teacher Li was indeed the only warm memory he had of the Orphanage.

The other teachers treated them like burdens; only she would give them an extra piece of candy and stay by his bedside when he was sick.

But she was already dead.

Three years after he left the Orphanage, he heard she had fallen seriously ill and, with no one to care for her, died in her own home.

"You remember me," Teacher Li said. "But you rarely think of me."

Chen Mo did not deny it.

It was a fact.

During these days in the Ghost Realm, he rarely thought about the past. Just surviving was hard enough; there was no time for reminiscing.

"Do you know what it feels like to be forgotten?" Teacher Li asked.

Chen Mo shook his head.

"It means slowly disappearing," she said, raising her hand, which was becoming transparent. "First, others forget you, then you forget yourself, and finally, you cease to exist."

Her hand returned to a solid state.

"I don't want to disappear," she said. "So I want to become you."

Chen Mo was taken aback.

"What?"

"Become you, and live for you," Teacher Li smiled, a very gentle smile. "You have so many memories, so many experiences; it's enough for me to live for a very, very long time."

She reached out.

"Give yourself to me, will you?"

Chen Mo looked at her.

That face, that smile—it was exactly the same as in his memories.

But the expression in her eyes was wrong.

Those were not Teacher Li's eyes.

"You are not her," Chen Mo said.

"I am her."

"You are not," Chen Mo said, gripping his cleaver. "She would never say such things."

Teacher Li's smile stiffened.

"Are you sure?"

The surrounding scene suddenly changed.

It wasn't the classroom, but the day he first entered the Orphanage.

Five-year-old him stood at the entrance, holding a ragged duffel bag, looking around blankly.

Teacher Li walked out from inside and squatted in front of him.

"Don't be afraid," she said. "From now on, this is your home."

The little him burst into tears instantly.

The scene changed again.

He had a high fever, lying on a bed in the infirmary.

Teacher Li sat beside him, wiping his sweat with a towel.

"It's okay, you'll be better soon."

The scene changed again.

He was about to leave the Orphanage, and Teacher Li stood at the door to see him off.

"Live well," she said. "No matter what happens, you must live well."

Chen Mo stood where he was, watching those scenes.

Every one of them was real.

Every one of them was the Teacher Li in his memories.

Then those scenes all vanished, and Teacher Li was standing in front of him again.

"Now, do you still not believe it?" she asked.

Chen Mo looked at her.

He looked for a long time.

Then he spoke.

"I believe you are her."

Teacher Li's eyes brightened.

"But I cannot give myself to you."

"Why?"

"Because she told me to live well," Chen Mo said. "Not to live for her, but to live for myself."

He raised his cleaver.

"So, goodbye."

The gentleness on Teacher Li's face vanished.

"You're right," she said. "She truly wouldn't want you to live for her."

She took half a step forward.

"But I have to try."

Her body began to change; her skin turned golden, and her eyes became two black holes.

Those golden lines surged out from within her, wrapping around Chen Mo like tentacles.

Chen Mo activated Infiltrator.

Five seconds of invisibility was enough for him to get behind her.

The moment he vanished, those tentacles changed direction and accurately pursued him.

【The Forgotten One ability activated: Copy Invisibility】

【Current invisibility ineffective】

Chen Mo retreated rapidly while slashing at the nearest tentacle with his blade.

The tentacle was severed, but more surged over.

He dodged while thinking.

Copying ability.

She copied 70% of his abilities, including invisibility.

But copies always have flaws.

What flaw?

Delay.

The weakness seen by Pupil of the Sequence... there is a delay in action patterns.

Chen Mo stopped and stood in place.

The tentacles instantly wrapped around him.

Teacher Li's face leaned in, inches away.

"Have you given up?"

Chen Mo looked at her.

"No."

Three seconds later, the tentacles suddenly loosened.

A look of confusion appeared on Teacher Li's face.

"What's going on?"

Chen Mo did not explain.

He wouldn't tell her that his Prediction ability could see three seconds into the future.

In those three seconds, he had seen the scene of the tentacles tightening and him being devoured.

But he hadn't moved because that was only a Prediction, not an inevitability.

In the real three seconds, those tentacles would have a 0.5-second pause due to the delay.

Now.

He swung the cleaver, aiming for her neck.

Teacher Li tried to dodge, but she was 0.5 seconds too slow.

The blade cut in.

Golden threads surged out, pouring into Chen Mo's body.

Her body was disintegrating, but that face was still looking at him.

"You... have really grown up."

Chen Mo did not speak.

"Live well," her last words were. "For me, and for yourself."

Then she vanished.

【Killed E-Class Ghost Shadow "The Forgotten One"】

【Obtained: sequence fragment × 8】

【Current fragments: 168】

【Obtained special reward: Self-Cognition + 10】

【Self-Cognition: Ability to resist mental contamination and copy-type attacks increased】

Chen Mo stood in place, gasping for air.

The tentacles disappeared, and the classroom disappeared too.

He was standing in that corridor again.

But this time, there was only one door at the end of the corridor.

The third door.

Behind the door was the last Ghost Shadow.

Chen Mo looked down at his hand.

The hand was trembling slightly.

Not because of fatigue, but because of those scenes just now.

Teacher Li.

All those years, she was the only person who had been kind to him.

Now, he had killed her with his own hands.

That feeling was truly terrible.

Chen Mo took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

Then he walked toward that door.

The door opened automatically.

Behind the door was a void.

Chen Mo walked in.

In the void, a voice rang out.

"You have finally come."

Chen Mo looked around, but could see nothing.

"I have been waiting for you," the voice said. "Waiting for a very, very long time."

"Who are you?"

The voice laughed.

"I am you."

Chen Mo froze.

"The you that you fear the most."

In the void, a figure began to coalesce.

A person exactly like him.

Exhausted, desperate, and deeply weary.

"Do you know what I want to do?" that "him" asked.

Chen Mo shook his head.

"I want to stop."

"You are too tired. From the first day of Ghost Night until now, you have been running, killing, and surviving, but what is the point of living?"

Chen Mo did not speak.

"Stop," that "him" reached out a hand. "Stop with me."

Chen Mo looked at that hand.

It was exactly the same as his own hand.

Even the fingerprints were the same.

He closed his eyes.

Then he opened them.

"No."

That "him" froze.

"Why?"

"Because stopping means death," Chen Mo said. "And you don't want to die."

That "him"'s expression changed.

"How do you know?"

"Because you are me," Chen Mo said. "I know myself best."

He raised his cleaver.

"You are only a part of me, not the whole. And a part can never represent the whole."

That "him" laughed.

"You're right," he said.

"I am only a part of you. But remember—I will always be here."

He vanished.

The void vanished too.

Chen Mo stood in the corridor.

【Killed E-Class Ghost Shadow "Self-Doubt"】

【Obtained: sequence fragment × 8】

【Current fragments: 176】

【Memory Corridor trial completed】

【Rating: Perfect】

【Obtained: Nightwalker complete Legacy】

【Abilities upgrading...】

Chen Mo leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

Three Ghost Shadows.

All dead.

He was still alive.

The rest was just waiting for the ability upgrade to complete.

Then, leave this place.

Continue to live.