Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 521 Saeki's House: Locked Door to the Underworld

The door is functional, and the house is breathing.

A cat meows three times, and the way home is shorter.

—From *The Secret Records of the Flower Garden: The Underworld Chapter*

The red police lights spun low in the air, their halos gliding along the wall in circles.

The underground passage was damp and narrow, and the surface coating had been etched with a grayish-white layer by acid.

Even through the steel door, you could hear the heavy breathing of the pumps deep inside the main laboratory.

Xiao Jinyan raised his hand and lightly hooked his index finger.

The blue and white sword arc suddenly shot out, like a flying knife, severing the vengeful spirit blocking its path at the waist.

The dark shadow rolled twice on the floor, then silently dispersed into a pool of cold light.

He whistled: "Next."

Xiao Lianyin glanced at the seal at the end of the corridor, her fox tail trailing around her ankle as she smiled lazily: "Looks simple. Don't dawdle again."

hum.

A wrinkle appeared in the air, as if a transparent cloth had been pinched in the middle.

Spatial ripples exploded ahead, and a cultivator stepped down from the "crevice," the talisman on his shoulder still smoking.

He looked up, glanced at the two of them, and said in a flat tone, "Delivered."

He turned to the side, reached out and pushed, and the ripples rolled up again.

Two female Onmyoji were "thrown" into the corridor. Dressed in black and white kimonos and adorned with talismans and bells, they landed and immediately regained their footing.

Without pausing for a moment, the cultivator gave the two a slight bow, then turned and stepped back into the fold—the person was gone.

The air closed, as if nothing had happened.

The visitors exchanged glances.

One of them flicked her skirt and ran straight toward the main laboratory, moving as fast as if she were erasing a panel from a painting.

Xiao Jinyan flicked his finger, and the flying sword pierced the air, aiming straight for his ankle—

"retreat."

The female Onmyoji who remained put her two fingers together and flicked out a white talisman.

The golden patterns on the talisman lit up, like a tiny air nail, forcefully "pinning" the flying sword back into the air. The sword's spine trembled, and its scales scattered.

"Be careful what you say." Xiao Lianyin kicked off with her foxfire, leaving a trail of blue flames in her wake, and in the blink of an eye, she was around the corner.

"This is yours—get it done quickly, I don't like waiting for people in hell."

She didn't turn around, but her voice echoed in the wind. She vanished instantly into the shadows around the bend.

Only two people remained in the corridor.

The female Onmyoji opposite lowered her head and tucked a tuft of wet, black hair behind her ear.

She raised her hand—long, slender fingers, fingertips white as ice, nails jet black.

Her voice was very soft, as if she was afraid of waking something:
"Please keep your voice down, guest."

She looked up, her pupils grayish-white, like looking at someone from underwater.

"Mother is at home."

"Please allow me, Hanakain Yomi, to escort the guest home."

"Meow."

The first meow came from the ventilation shaft; it was very soft.

"Meow--"

The second sound is drawn out, as if it's circling around behind a door.

"Meow--"

The third sound suddenly stopped.

The air conditioner fuzzed up and "climbed" up the wall.

The red light of the police lights was gradually swallowed up, as if someone had ruthlessly extinguished it from behind.

Xiao Jinyan gripped the sword hilt tightly, pressed the tip of his tongue against his palate, and his smile faded slightly: "...Alright, let's begin."

The black mist spread from Ye Mi's palm, like some kind of disease under the skin spreading into the air.

The ground trembled slightly, and the light bulbs in the corridor flickered.

The world has been turned upside down.

The entire structure of the research tower was silently rewritten.

The walls cracked, the steel bars melted, and turned into yellowed wooden pillars.

Tatami mats were laid down from the ceiling, and paper doors grew out from the ground.

The corridor stretches endlessly and then turns back, like a throat that chews people up.

"Welcome home." Ye Mi sighed softly, her voice coming through the layers of paper doors, like the wind whispering into one's ear.

As soon as Xiao Jinyan moved his foot, the tatami mat beside him bulged up.

"Gah—ya—"

That wasn't the sound of a door opening; it was the sound of bones breaking.

The ceiling was cracked, and black hair hung down from the crack.

One strand, two strands, and finally thousands upon thousands, like seaweed in a trench.

Every strand of hair was wriggling, stretching, and splitting, like a tongue covered in fine teeth.

"Mother of Resentment, Gayako," Yomi whispered.

The face slowly emerged from the ceiling—

His face was expressionless, and the corners of his mouth were torn to behind his ears, revealing an anatomically incongruous smile.

Her neck rotated 180 degrees, making a wet, cold "click" sound.

The paper door on the wall slid open by itself.

It was a photograph—a Japanese policewoman retreating in fear in a dimly lit room, her back against the door.

Her breath hitched, her eyes rolled back, and ice water came out of her mouth.

Auditory hallucinations, visual hallucinations, body temperature plummeting to zero, reversed breathing, and heartbeat—

She screamed as a "resentful mother's hand" dragged her under the tatami mat.

The door closed. The world fell silent.

“She is the ninth,” Ye Mi said softly. “The tenth is you.”

Xiao Jinyan pushed off the ground with one foot and slid sideways along the wall, his body as swift as a shadow.

Voidwalker, Shadow Walker.

He emerged from the shadow of another door, flicked three gray talismans with his backhand, and pinned the black hair that had fallen from the ceiling to the wall.

“Not bad.” Ye Mi’s voice echoed from every corner, “but he can’t escape his home.”

The ground made a low creaking sound.

A pale little hand reached out from the seam of the tatami mat, and another peeked out from behind the paper door.

"Meow--"

The cat's meow was drawn out and echoed throughout the space.

Then a dozen or so tiny "Heroic Shadows" peeked out from the cracks in the doors, their eyes vacant and their smiles eerie.

Every time a handsome young man gets close to the paper door, a door will gently open or close.

Behind the door were a dead woman, an infant submerged in water, and a wardrobe suspended in mid-air.

All the doors "breathe" at the same time.

"Seventy-two seconds," Ye Mi said gently. "Child, let's go home together."

Xiao Jinyan's hand slipped, and her ankle was grabbed by a cold hand.

He looked down and saw a naked child crawling out of the tatami mat, his own reflection in the child's dark eyes.

The smile slowly widened, revealing a toothless mouth.

"open!"

Xiao Jinyan drew his sword and slashed down.

The blade cuts—no blood.

Junxiong was split in two, but new hands and feet grew from the broken ends, gripping even tighter.

The cold air crept up his leg bones to his chest, and he could feel his breathing becoming sluggish.

He gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath, "Damn it... I really shouldn't have replaced the Sword Domain of Slaying Karma with the Reflection Monarch. Now this damn lanternfish is completely useless."

The tatami mat's textured surface writhed and wrapped around his ankle.

The ceiling seemed to be pressing lower and lower, the paper door was moving forward, and the light began to flow backward—

The shadow no longer falls to the ground, but "crawls" towards the light source.

Ye Mi's voice came from all directions: "The more you struggle, the more you resent your mother's love. Resistance only makes the road home shorter."

"Your room—"

Xiao Jinyan raised his head, cold sweat sliding down the edge of his mask.

"It's noisy."

He stepped onto the ground and instantly teleported into the void—his entire body "disappeared" into the wall and vanished without a trace.

The next second, Kayako on the ceiling suddenly swooped down, her mouth agape at an impossible angle, and a loud "Gah-ya!" shook the corridor.

Her black hair surged like a tide, rushing towards the wall, only to grasp at nothing.

Xiao Jinyan fell out from the other wall, the bloodstains on his shoulder gleaming coldly.

As soon as his foot touched the ground, a "hand" reached out from under the tatami mat and grabbed his ankle.

This time, the force was even greater, as if the weight of the entire house was pressing down on that one hand.

The air froze, and the hands of the clock ticked back.

Xiao Jinyan exhaled a breath of white air, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

"Too deceiving."

Ye Mi stood outside the door, her sleeves trailing to the ground, her expression as if she were in a dream.

Her voice, soft and gentle, seemed to come from a grave, coming through the wall.

"Marked by Junxiong for seventy-two seconds,"

She exhaled softly, "You will become part of Saeki's House."

The light bulbs in the corridor turned on and off, and the wooden doors closed by themselves one by one.

She murmured, not as if explaining, but as if "reciting scriptures":
"Inside the house, Gayako and Toshio are immortal."

The harsher the beating, the more intense the resentment.

The house will suck away hope.

Rumination turns into despair.

Then, you'll rot.

The bloody handprint on the wall slowly spread, turning into bloodstains like vines.

The blood spread along the corridor, seeped into the cracks of the paper doors, and coalesced into a gigantic human face. It was smiling, much like Ye Mi's lips.

"My mother didn't dare look at me. My father only praised my sister for being gentle."

I spoke, and they turned away. Even the cats were afraid of me.

Her voice was flat and monotone, as if she were reciting someone's last words.

He liked his older sister. He liked the way she tied her hair up.

I smiled and did as she said—then invited him over in her name.

Xiao Jinyan's sword left a long trail on the floor, his palms sweaty.

He could hear soft crawling sounds coming from the roof.

That night, his parents, his sister, and he...

They were all lying on the tatami mats.

They called my name.

I told them—I am the daughter of Huakaiyuan, and I need to learn how to love.

She reached out her hand, her palm slowly closing, and the crying in the air froze.

"Kayako and Toshio ate their fill."

Ye Mi turned her head, her eyes reflecting the house covered in blood.

"I also ate a lot that night."

The tatami mat at the end of the corridor cracked open, revealing an eye.

She chuckled softly, her tone almost a gentle sigh:

"They are finally equal; they are all children of the same mother."

The blood mist climbed up the crack in the ground, like someone breathing.

Yomi raised her slender, long fingers, as if to sign her name on the artwork:
"Soon, you will have new companions."

Misunderstanding couples are the most precious collectibles.

Her smile flickered in the dim light.

The next second, she looked up, her lips slightly parted—

"Junxiong, take the guests home."

From the depths of darkness, the cat's cries rang out once more.

The tatami mat trembled slightly.

Immediately afterwards, blood seeped from the floor, walls, and roof beams, bulging up as if breathing.

Blood seeped from the wood grain, then was pulled back and flowed into the air.

Ye Mi slowly opened her arms, her voice as soft as a hypnotic:

"The child a mother loves most... is the child who has died."

Star Calamity, Flesh Puppet Master, Saeki-ya's Tragic Couple, Activated.

The vengeful spirits began to revive.

A cold, wet hand reached out from a crack in the ceiling;
In the attic, a few strands of hair fell down first, followed by the entire face sliding down the beam;

The tatami mat was flipped open, revealing the swollen instep;
Behind the door frame, a tuft of hair soaked in blood clung to a wooden pillar.

They moved at the same time.

Four "special puppets" crawled into the room first.

The female corpse was wearing a tattered kimono, with the embroidery on her chest torn off;
A ring was still hanging from the corner of the male corpse's mouth;
Another female corpse's eyeballs were entangled in black hair and slowly rotated;
The youngest body was wearing a school uniform, and there was still a slight smile on his face.

Their bodies were flowing, like mud being re-kneaded.

Their smell was metallic, musty, and had a pungent disinfectant odor.

It turns out that death, after being disinfected, can become a ritual.

“Home is growing up,” Ye Mi whispered, her eyes suddenly shining.

She lifted her fingertips, and all the blood puppets rose to their feet, as if being pulled by strings.

Her parents, sister, and lover—her "family"—are closing in on Jin Yan.

A single word spoken in cahoots with a retreat caused the entire wall to move.

He leaped backward, and the Void Shadow technique was activated once again.

The space beneath my feet cracked open, and my body slid into the shadows like a piece of paper.

But the next second, he found himself "falling" out of another wall.

“The space has been eaten,” he whispered.

The shadow is shrinking, and the distance it can travel is getting shorter and shorter.

He drew his sword with a backhand and slashed forward. The sword energy swept past the shadow of the resentful mother, and Gayako was suspended upside down in mid-air.

The black hair was cut open by the sword energy, but it immediately grew back, as if it were sucking blood.

Ye Mi laughed: "If I cut her down, she'll be even hungrier."

He retreated cautiously. Four blood puppets, their bodies contorted, squeezed in from all directions.

A heartbeat could be heard from under the tatami mats, someone was breathing heavily behind the wall, and blood was dripping from the ceiling.

He could feel the air tightening, the space swallowing him like a stomach.

"The shadow is short."

He tried to teleport into the void again, but crashed into an invisible "wall".
He was thrown off and crashed heavily to the ground.

The four blood puppets were already close in; the older sister, her sleeves stained with blood, bent down.

Her fingers touched his face.

“Your mother will love you.” She had no lips, only two rows of teeth.

Ye Mi watched this scene, her eyes burning with intense resentment.

She stretched out her hands as if to embrace: "Our family is becoming more and more complete."

She was smiling, a gentle smile, like a woman who had finally found a home.

The whole house echoed her laughter.

The cursed house is expanding.

The tatami mats have a spiral pattern, and the walls collapse inward.

He looked up cautiously, and only a narrow slit let in the light.

"Damn it, I don't want to spend the rest of my life in this disgusting house." Cold sweat poured down his back.

My heart was beating so fast it sounded like someone was knocking on the door.

"Child," Ye Mi said softly, her voice so gentle it was almost tender.
"go home."

At that moment, even the air seemed to solidify into the mother's womb.

Jin Yan finally realized—

This house is not a trap.

This room belongs to her alone.

The air began to condense.

Xiao Jinyan stood in the center of the tatami mat, while the surrounding walls were being moved inward.

"Click—click—" The paper door's track made a clicking sound.

The gap in the door was gradually narrowing, the light was squeezed into thin needles, and finally even the needles broke.

The gaps in the tatami mats bulge out, like living things breathing.

The ceiling slowly sank, and the lantern's rope dangled down, touching his hair.

That's not rope, it's hair.

The air became thick, and with each breath, the cold air felt like liquid being poured into his throat.

His ankle was grabbed—it was Junxiong.

The child looked up, his ashen face less than three inches away from him.

He smiled, but the corners of his mouth kept splitting open.

Jin Yan drew his sword, intending to vanish into the shadows, but found that the shadows could not move.

It's not space that's locked, but time.

"He's clinging to my time..."

With each step, my body felt heavier.

The shadow was stretched into thin threads on the ground, like some kind of gnawed colloid.

He lifts his foot, and his shadow lifts his foot too; he puts it down, but his shadow doesn't put it down.

He was still moving, but it felt like the world had stopped moving.

Outside, Yomi watched quietly as the wooden door of Saeki's house closed.

The crimson runes on the roof swirled in her palm; her expression was calm, even somewhat benevolent.

“Every child should have a bed,” she whispered.

Her gaze was through the door, seemingly looking into the room.

The wooden door clicked shut—leaving only a crack in the door.

Inside the room, Junxiong released Jinyan's foot, climbed onto the ceiling, and lay on the beam.

"Meow--"

The third meow rang out, short and sharp.

"Seventy-two seconds have passed."

Yomi's voice seemed to come from the roof, or perhaps it crawled out from inside her ear.

"Go home, child."

Be careful what you say and look up.

At that moment, the ceiling light bulb shattered, and thousands of black hairs poured down from the crack.

He saw himself in that layer of light—

A different kind of reflection flashed deep within the pupil.

Like a mirror.

A world like a reflection.

But he didn't move.

He simply took a deep breath, lowered his longsword, and trembled slightly on his shoulder.

The door clicked shut, closing halfway.

The world has also closed up in half.

The house grows taller, the mirror shines brighter;
The mother is laughing, the son is crying.

If I don't die tonight, someone will surely break down the door.

—A Side Note on the Gate of the Underworld

(End of this chapter)