Free Web NovelChapter 116: Chapter 116: Hellish First Day
Bai Wu eventually passed out.
Before collapsing, he saw a middle-aged man with a fierce expression, holding a chainsaw in his hand.
Then his consciousness sank, and he fell into a comatose state.
Bai Wu remembered a theory from some nonsensical movie.
The three stages of demonic arrival.
The first stage is birth. People targeted by demons will hear some voices, sense the existence of something, and develop a self-suggestion that something filthy might be present.
The second stage is harassment. After the groundwork laid in the first stage, demons begin to play tricks in an attempt to instill fear and ultimately cause a breakdown. During this stage, those with fragile minds suffer greatly in their will.
The third stage, arrival. Once fear corrodes rationality, the demon will harvest the poor soul. They proceed with consciousness invasion or directly kill the target.
This theory also aligns with the logic followed by many horror movies.
What Bai Wu hadn’t expected was... that he would truly experience such a thing.
Since he never felt fear and his will remained in the most sober and rational state, he even felt increasingly excited...
So the first stage’s suggestion failed. The harassment of the second stage made Bai Wu even feel it was absurd.
Therefore, Bai Wu directly entered the third stage.
As he began to explore the cyclical scene, the chainsaw man directly attacked the teenager, aged eighteen or nineteen, with a chainsaw, without observing the "ghostly morals".
If this chainsaw man were a ghost, he must be filled with anger and frustration.
Because he had to knock Bai Wu unconscious with brute force to complete the ritual.
Even before Bai Wu collapsed, he still managed to analyze his attacker.
Before Bai Wu fell unconscious, seeing the chainsaw man, he remained calm, looking at the chainsaw in the man’s hand, originally waiting for a remark to pop up.
The entire process didn’t exceed one second, and according to his usual experience, Prayle’s Eye needed a process of one and a half to three seconds for analysis.
Therefore, the Sequence’s abilities couldn’t manifest in time, and Bai Wu was knocked out.
But in the process of completely losing consciousness and falling, Bai Wu noticed the man’s expensive wristwatch, which showed the time as 10:22 AM, with the hands stopped.
Many thoughts flashed through Bai Wu’s mind:
"A wristwatch of this craftsmanship wouldn’t likely be left uncorrected; there are also no visible signs of damage."
"There are bloodstains on his shoes, and I haven’t been attacked, so where did the bloodstains come from?"
"His expression is fierce, but people living in such a place should have a decent upbringing... Or is it that all ghosts must have such expressions as standard? Then it’s my dad’s calm torment that’s scarier. Perhaps I can assume he’s some ’item’, like a TV, preserving a certain state from seven hundred years ago. Then why does he need to show such an expression?"
"Ah, I’m running out of time... I’m about to pass out."
"Right, why couldn’t I dodge his attack?"
"I’m at least a fourth-grade master, and his movements aren’t fast... Could it be that my Innate Force is also being suppressed?"
"Yes, this might be a third area distinctly different from the High Tower and normal tower exterior?"
"I hope this ghost doesn’t dismember me and will cover me with a blanket. It’s no use, goodnight, chainsaw man."
Bai Wu passed out.
...
...
Three o’clock in the morning.
The ritual completed, the family of three upstairs shed tears. But their emotional fluctuations were entirely different, and not all were of joy.
The most intense emotional fluctuation didn’t come from Mr. Wang or his wife, but from the child they were pretending to be.
Heaven knows how he’s lived through these years?
Every day, submerged in nightmares, day after day, seeing no hope, he played the role of a dead child as the manor demanded, drowned in fear.
He was originally a mercenary, committing all sorts of heinous acts without restraint.
But upon arriving at that damned manor, he was forced to call someone "father" daily and carry out those childish, laughable behaviors. He had to cheer for toys he found utterly uninteresting and act spoiled with a woman around his own age.
If he didn’t do so, his deepest fears would find him, along with things even more terrible than fear itself.
His consciousness was still his own, tormented every single night. No matter what he did, he would enter into nightmares again and again, seeing all kinds of horrifying monsters.
The only difference was that if he played his part better, the torment would be less severe, and less of what belonged to him would slip away.
He thought he had already gone mad. Maybe if he had gone mad, there would be no fear, no terror.
Indeed, he had gone mad, yet he was constantly surrounded by fear and pain. As a mercenary, his recognition of reality began to collapse gradually.
Sometimes, he even felt that he truly was a child.
Just a few minutes earlier, the "handover ceremony" had finally come to an end.
He stood up, tears streaming down his face. Crying and laughing, he was simultaneously sad and joyous, fearful and furious.
No matter what he did, he wouldn’t feel that intense pain, nor would he suddenly become confused about what was happening in front of him.
Confusion and dissonance were the most honest reflections of his expression at that moment.
Then he remembered the man and woman he had called father and mother for so many years, and he finally didn’t have to endure them anymore! ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Although everyone was a victim, he couldn’t accept it. Why should he be the one to play this child? Why?
Everyone was in the manor, so why did he suffer the most?
The kitchen was on the first floor.
But he didn’t dare to open the door; opening doors and windows were often taboo in this manor.
He waited patiently. Death didn’t scare him at all, for there was little left for him to lose.
...
...
The next day.
At six o’clock, the sky was still a dark blue. Bai Wu, Yin Shuang, and Lin Wurou were all in a deep sleep.
At six forty, there came a commotion, and a woman’s piercing scream was very ear-piercing.
The dogs outside didn’t bark; Bai Wu was woken up by the woman’s screams.
"This sound... What happened, an accident?"
Bai Wu slowly got up, intending to get dressed and go take a look, but as he subconsciously reached for the blue uniform of the Investigation Corps... he suddenly felt a rush of memories being inserted.
"Daddy would never wear such clothes, you’re not being serious!"
A voice drifted through Bai Wu’s mind, followed by a stabbing pain throughout his body. At the same time, Bai Wu suddenly felt alienated from the blue uniform of the Investigation Corps.
Fortunately, it wasn’t long before Bai Wu remembered that it was the combat uniform of the Investigation Corps.
He frowned:
"This is bad. If my actions severely contravene what my father would do, my body would experience extreme pain feedback, and at the same time... my memories would be forcibly altered? But such alterations should be temporary."
"This could explain why Mr. Wang refuses to say certain things. Perhaps speaking... would trigger some sort of backlash. If there’s too much backlash, perhaps the tampering with the memories would become permanent?"
Bai Wu could imagine that if one didn’t act in a certain way, the body might erase part of the memory. The logic of the brain would become confused, and then, ultimately, due to the intrusion of new memories, one would become someone else.
"Rules are indeed the most formidable enemies, to some extent, Evil Fallen is also a product of rules, so the most terrifying enemy, is this area itself?"
"The other party didn’t restrict my thoughts, which seems to indicate that thinking does not equate to committing a crime..."
This took Bai Wu by surprise; the rules of this area actually seemed to align with the spirit of criminal law.
In criminal law, no matter how malevolent a person’s thoughts are, as long as they do not carry out any criminal action, they are innocent.
"But I probably can’t signal the captain... Oh no, I hope the captain is alright. He’s not dumb; he should quickly realize what the problem is, and based on the proportion of free time for the three identities, the father identity should have some freedom. But Lin Wurou..."
Bai Wu genuinely feared that Lin Wurou might accidentally clash head-on with the rules and then cause permanent memory overwrite.
Screams rang out again, forcing Bai Wu to temporarily abandon the thought of checking on Lin Wurou.
He felt something was happening in the villa.
He dressed in the father’s clothes and prepared to get up and take a look.
At this time, both Lin Wurou and Yin Shuang had woken up, but they were immediately forced to fall back asleep.
The voice echoing in Lin Wurou’s mind was—"I don’t want to get up! I refuse to get out of bed! I don’t want to!"
Stubborn as ever, Lin Wurou insisted on getting up, but soon, his sleeping and waking habits were forever changed.
His eyes vacant, he mumbled dreamlike murmurs:
"I don’t want to get up, I’ll sleep until Mom comes to wake me up."
Lin Wurou fell asleep.
Meanwhile, Yin Shuang also wanted to get up because of the screaming, but similarly, she heard a voice:
"Mommy won’t get up at this time."
Fearing the pain, Yin Shuang realized the problem after two attempts.
She could only lie quietly in bed, close her eyes, and pretend to be sound asleep.
Upon opening the door, Bai Wu smelled a stench of blood.
He realized something was terribly wrong; there were traces of blood in the stairwell from dragging a body.
Bai Wu immediately ran upstairs, following the bloodstains, he arrived at the mistress’s room.
The door was wide open.
Although he hadn’t yet seen what happened inside the room,
Bai Wu already knew what was going on inside.
"Dad wouldn’t allow such behavior. Dad has to stop him!"
Bai Wu knew he didn’t want to see the contents inside, not out of fear, but because it felt anticlimactic.
He had originally thought that the arrival of him and his companions was akin to rescuing two families and he saw the hope of escaping this place in Mr. Wang’s expression.
He had hoped to observe whether their bodies, which had ceased aging due to the manor’s rules, would react in some way after leaving the manor.
But now he couldn’t see anything.
"Mom, why aren’t you saying anything? Please scold me."
This "baby," after years of torment, had long since gone mad, broken down. It was only an even greater terror than madness and collapse that kept him playing the role of a baby.
Now, that terror had suddenly disappeared.
Instead, he became frenzied under the unbearable weight of freedom.
The moment Bai Wu saw the gruesome scene, and with the voice in his mind as a reminder, he knew he needed to deal with this pitiful "baby."
But just as the thought arose, the opportunity was gone.
The "baby" had committed suicide.
As Bai Wu watched this scene unfold, he began to force himself to do something.
He feared that he couldn’t resist profiling the scene and then accidentally put himself in the baby’s shoes.
Heaven knows what kind of torment a forty-year-old adult must have endured to end up this way?
This is no shelter; this is true hell.
...
...
Seven o’clock.
After Yin Shuang got up, she endured the pain that came with incorrect behaviors and began to wash up and put on makeup according to the voices in her head. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Then she went downstairs to make breakfast.
But she didn’t go upstairs.
"Dad is handling it, Mom will go make the food first."
The pain didn’t subside, and Yin Shuang had no choice but to force herself to cook as if she hadn’t seen any traces of blood.
There seemed to be no smell of blood in the air either.
She had never cooked before, even saying that yesterday was the first time she had seen Pre-Tower Era food outside of textbook illustrations.
This breakfast was destined to be filled with pain.
For each mistake in the process, Yin Shuang had to pay with the pain of a soul being pricked.
She didn’t even dare to cry; she had to maintain a smile.
To live like this for years... what kind of torture was that?
She probably guessed then that she had become a "substitute."
Yin Shuang had never felt such fear and dread before.
Will I be trapped here forever?
Can I only leave when others come here?
Do I have to endure this pain every day from now on?
How are the captain and the others doing now?
What should I do?
The scene was meant to be heartwarming, a housewife preparing breakfast with a smile, but Yin Shuang was experiencing an unprecedented level of pain and uncertainty.
Fortunately, at that moment, the neighbor arrived.
This was an unwritten rule; the first family to arrive here, after mastering the rules and survival skills, had to help the second family adapt.
The second family would help the third, the third the fourth... and the sixth family would help the first.
Humans are fragile yet strong; they are adept at adapting and willing to make all sorts of compromises to survive.
Yet, Yin Shuang still felt utterly hopeless.
The wife who came in would teach her how to make the food, and like her, she could smell the blood in the house...
They could only appear calm and gentle, as if the years were peacefully passing by.
Internally, their souls began to fray bit by bit.
