Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 178: Chapter 178: The Source of the Curse

"At this hour, all the Evil Fallen are in deep slumber, and the two negative attributes I currently have don’t affect my actions. I need to hurry and investigate."

Although Bai Wu hadn’t done nearly enough multiple-choice questions, he already had a general plan in mind.

He gently pushed open the door of Room 403.

The wee hours were the darkest, and the moment he opened the door, Bai Wu could hear footsteps coming from the fifth-floor corridor.

"Security" was heading towards the staircase to the fourth floor. On the other side, at the third-floor staircase, the third-floor "Security" also began moving towards the fourth floor.

It was a coincidence that Bai Wu had chosen to act shortly after four o’clock, a time that should have been ghostly quiet, yet it was also when these similarly nocturnal security guards were on patrol.

He was about to be sandwiched by two grade-eight Evil Fallen security guards.

Glancing towards the source of the footsteps, Bai Wu actually saw a hint.

[Level Eight Mutants. When they were still human, they accepted a job that paid much more than the normal salary—preventing students from escaping at night. Everyone has a conscience; they were somewhat aware of the school’s special dealings, but the problem was that the school paid too much. In addition, it’s best not to fight them in the dormitory area, where they lack Entries but receive overly exaggerated combat bonuses. Nonetheless, you are not incapable of defeating them. The school also possesses "defeat the teacher" items. All teachers and students fear one thing.]

From afar, Bai Wu could not spot any source of light. The old man who used to carry a lantern seemed to have disappeared.

Faced with being attacked from both sides at that moment, Bai Wu didn’t hesitate and immediately jumped off the fourth floor railing.

With the aid of his shoes, he landed without making a sound.

In a few graceful movements, Bai Wu, like an assassin moving through the night, left the dormitory area without alerting the security guards.

The entire campus was eerily ghostlike in the early morning. Bai Wu noticed that on the windows of the student dormitories, on the side facing him, there was a face pasted on every window.

Each face had wide, pitch-black eyes staring directly at him.

These students made no sound; they seemed to have merged with the dormitory, as if the dormitories themselves were a living being, and this being was watching him with many eyes.

Anyone who saw this scene would feel a tingling fear creeping over their scalp.

Bai Wu felt no fear, just pure curiosity.

"So Evil Fallen don’t sleep? Or do they sleep with their eyes open? They’re always stuck to the window watching, but are they watching me or something else?"

"I guess I am the center of attention."

Bai Wu calmly moved away from the dormitory area and started running towards the west campus.

Along the way, he glanced towards the center of the school and saw that the twenty-two people on the playground were still kicking a human head around, the gymnasium’s lights were still on. Lights in the teaching buildings would turn on suddenly in certain rooms, then extinguish after a short time.

Bai Wu noted these rooms where the lights flickered and continued on to the west campus.

Upon nearing the west campus, Bai Wu spotted a Chinese parasol tree with many hanging corpses dangling from its branches.

[In a three-story abandoned building in the west campus resides a cursed source. Before the apocalypse drew near, this curse source garnered massive attention, and its location became known as the "forbidden zone." Many hoped to kill the curse source, deeming her an incarnation of the devil, a messenger from hell, and the collection of all human misery. However, a secret organization declared their intention to study the mysterious origins of her curse.

For this, they offered the school a sum of money too substantial to refuse, and thus the school’s miseries began. The hanged individuals had approached the curse source under the school’s direction, only to have their entire families cleanly wiped out. Consequently, to assert justice, she chose to hang herself in the school’s forbidden zone, hoping her death would avenge her family through public outcry, pfft—what an interesting topic. When a tiger is caged, and a person voluntarily enters the cage, who’s to blame if the person is devoured, the tiger or the individual?]

This school full of strange tales, where even a casual stroll could reveal such a story.

"The story mentioned in the note should have only involved one death, and if someone died, the school should have tried to take the entire body down from the tree, right? Why would they leave her to hang from the southeastern branch?"

There were quite a few mummified corpses hanging from this Chinese parasol tree, dangling from its branches, becoming very light because they lacked any moisture.

With a gust of wind, the bodies would sway in unison.

Bai Wu suddenly thought of a possibility—this tree had been next to a curse for years, which caused it to become Spirit Possessed, with these mummified corpses growing out of the tree like fruits. The Chinese parasol tree had become a hanging corps tree.

Thinking this way, the tree seemed quite formidable.

Bai Wu’s figure passed the Chinese parasol tree as he arrived outside the perimeter of the school’s prohibited zone.

Not far ahead of him stood an old-style low-rise building, starkly different from the other educational buildings. This building had only three floors, with three classrooms on each floor. Encircled by red tape barriers outside, it warned students to keep their distance.

The black mist was invisible in the early morning, but Bai Wu, with his Enhanced Vision, could clearly see the darker entities within the darkness.

He saw a strange energy in the shape of a hemisphere enveloping the entire prohibited zone.

As he regarded that energy, a note once again popped up in Bai Wu’s eyes. freёweɓnovel.com

"The so-called source of the curse is merely the effect of two Sequences. Under the influence of Talent Sequence 666 Kiss of Satan and Talent Sequence 777 Wheel of Sorrows and Joys, she became a being capable of absorbing others’ fates. But this source of the curse is not simple; her Sequence has advanced.

Being in a Bond state with advancement has made her an uncontrollable vortex of fortune. In extreme despair and self-reproach, she transformed into a Semi-Evil Fallen form, a uniquely special state that only a very few can achieve. Her Sequence did not disappear; it even obtained an exceptionally terrifying Mutation Entry—Calamity of Misfortune."

Bai Wu paused in his steps.

Reading the note in his eyes, he thought of Qin Lin. Qin Lin had once been manipulated this way, absorbing others’ fates, leading to multiple collapses in the white areas’ mines.

Kiss of Satan and Wheel of Sorrows and Joys, if they triggered a bond, were in fact an invisible weapon of mass destruction.

But what truly concerned Bai Wu was the form of this curse source—the Semi-Evil Fallen.

What kind of state was that? A perfect state where one could use both Sequences and Mutation Entries?

There was also the matter of Sequence advancement, something Bai Wu was deeply interested in.

He hadn’t yet grasped the key to Sequence advancement, and after returning from the casino investigation, Bai Wu had also inquired with the captain about the secrets of Sequence advancement.

But Wu Jiu didn’t know; he said he had advanced his Extreme Shadow somewhat cluelessly.

After hesitating for a while, Bai Wu eventually decided to take the risk and explore the low-rise building.

"From the information given by my eyes, it seems that no one dares to mess with her in this school. She is the beginning of all misfortunes. That phrase seems to hint to me that all the supernatural phenomena of the school actually relate to this person."

"Although approaching this curse source might lead to a bloody disaster, since no one dares to mess with her, perhaps these strange black energies could intimidate certain Evil Fallen."

As Bai Wu made up his mind and was about to step forward, suddenly a small black shadow darted out from the grass within the taped-off area.

Thanks to his Enhanced Vision, Bai Wu could see this little thing clearly—a black cat.

This cat was peculiar; its pitch-black fur looked as though it was burning, as if it were a flow of black Flame. frёeωebɳovel.com

The Black Cat looked at Bai Wu warily but didn’t arch its back as if seeing an enemy. Bai Wu squatted down and said:

"You don’t want me to come in?"

Cats, of course, couldn’t answer the question. However, Bai Wu proceeded as if the cat could understand him, continuing:

"I’m Bai Wu, and since you can’t talk and are covered in black, I’ll call you Hei Wu."

The black cat thought Bai Wu was very strange and, besides, it didn’t like that name.

Bai Wu wasn’t in a hurry. He observed the black cat, and information appeared in his eyes.

[Level Four Mutant, Rare Mutation Entry: Burning Body, Calamity Absorption, Evil Thought Smell.

As the sole friend of the "Cursed Woman," when people were unable to rid her, they directed their fury towards her pet. Human behavior is quite curious; seemingly inflicting pain on others brings them joy. When the black cat, amidst roaring flames, released a scorched smell and wails of despair, under the weight of sheer hopelessness, it became an Evil Fallen. Thus a school legend was born—the black cat that could not be burned.]

Bai Wu seemed to witness that cruel scene:

"Don’t be nervous, Hei Wu, I mean no harm; I just want to meet your master. If she’s not available, I would like to see her surroundings."

The black cat tilted its head, unable to comprehend this human’s thoughts. It possessed the ability to smell evil thoughts, detecting the sinister intentions and desires of humans.

This human had none of those, cleaner than most people from seven hundred years ago.

This surprised the black cat, for it had been a long time since it had seen such a pure human in this city.

Bai Wu’s first impression of the cat wasn’t bad.

Before it became an Evil Fallen, the cat had protected a girl who brought misfortune; after its transformation, it continued to do so.

This reminded him of Jing.

"You can choose to speak human and tell me not to come in, or I’ll take it as your agreement."

The cat, of course, couldn’t speak human; question marks appeared over its little head. Bai Wu was merely looking for an excuse to enter.

In the end, the black cat didn’t stop him; the human’s strength surpassed many of the school’s monsters, and it couldn’t block his path.

Most importantly, it couldn’t smell any malevolence.

Even after crossing the boundary, the black cat began to lead the way.

It ran ahead of Bai Wu, occasionally looking back at him. If cats could wear human expressions, it would probably be showing off its and its master’s abode with pride.

As he became enveloped in the black energy, Bai Wu felt a strange rule-evolving power seeping into his body.

Without a doubt, this black energy could bring unimaginable misfortune.

But after careful consideration, Bai Wu felt he didn’t need to worry too much because the High Tower could even block Legendary Tier Entries. As long as he returned to the High Tower, the black substance would undoubtedly dissipate.

And as long as he absorbed enough black substance, the scale of misfortune he would exchange for it wouldn’t be insignificant.

Minor troubles such as tripping while walking, getting a toothache from cold water, choking on food, rolling off the bed while sleeping, stepping on a banana peel, having a gun misfire, were less likely to occur.

If merely getting close meant the death of one’s entire family... for him to intentionally get close and earnestly embrace it, it wouldn’t make sense if it didn’t result in a meteor destroying the earth.

Once she returned to the High Tower, all the misfortune would be purged, so Bai Wu didn’t care about the calamity anymore.

It’s like the difference between owing a bank a thousand dollars and owing a bank a hundred billion.

In the first floor of the low building, there were only three empty classrooms, and at the end of the corridor was the washroom.

The second floor had one classroom converted into a library, filled with many tattered books. Next to the library was a vacant room, with only one table and three small stools.

This was the dining area, where two of the stools were comparatively clean, and although the third one had no dust, it was slightly less shiny than the other two.

[Not everyone feared the curse, and a few pitied the Cursed Woman, occasionally witnessing her gaze out the window towards the sky, as lonely as a cat overlooking the world from a balcony. They wanted to alleviate her solitude, to become her friends. A touching story indeed, because most of them met untimely deaths, which only made the source of the curse loathe herself more.]

Bai Wu could imagine the pain the mistress of this low building had to endure.

Chang Yuan, described in the notes, had a fierce and menacing face and was ostracized by many. But as he grew up and entered society, as the people around him matured, this judgmental attitude gradually faded, until it vanished.

But it was different for the Cursed Woman.

She could never get close to anyone and was forever unable to hold conversations with others.

Everyone who approached her would die, or even suffer fates worse than death.

For such a person to simply exist required immense courage, as the whole world harbored hatred towards her.

For that reason, Bai Wu suddenly took an interest in the source of the curse.

He proceeded to the third floor.

The three classrooms on the third floor were modified differently: one became a bedroom, one was used for writing and drawing, and the last remained unchanged—a regular classroom.

Bai Wu entered the second room, where the Cursed Woman usually wrote and drew. This place usually held many clues. His footsteps were even lighter than those of the cat as he quickly arrived at where the Cursed Woman used to write.

On the table were palm-sized sticky notes. There were also extremely abstract sketches that at first glance were indecipherable.

The sketches were purely chaotic lines, tangled and trackless.

Bai Wu examined the drawings and could make no sense of them, so he picked up a sticky note at random from the pile and began to flip through it.

Meanwhile, in the adjacent room, a certain being suddenly opened her eyes.

She abruptly sat up, her waist-length hair partially covering her face, and her white dress along with her pale complexion made her look like a corpse laying in a morgue.

She was beautiful to look at, but for seven hundred years, to everyone she resembled a cursed ghost from a Japanese horror tale.

In that moment, all of the black substance enveloping the building seemed to take on a life of its own, shaping into terrifying monsters.

The enormous black beasts had ferocious expressions and fierce eyes, enough to frighten anyone who witnessed them.

Unperturbed, Bai Wu, with the help of his Enhanced Vision, saw this happen.

But he pretended not to have seen anything and chose to continue browsing through the sticky notes.

[All the memories are hidden in these, just like the file bag of Little Pitiful you’ve seen before. These misfortunate sticky notes have a similar effect. In the immersive memories, can you find the biggest deception of this school?]