Global Ghost Stories: I'm Investigating Ghosts in My Nightmare!

Chapter 138 The Rules of the Red Room
The black SUV, like a silent behemoth, tore through the thick gray fog and sped along the broken highway.

Outside the car window, the once familiar streets had become strange and eerie. The roadside trees had lost their verdant green, turning a withered gray, as if all their vitality had been instantly drained by some invisible force. The streetlights standing by the roadside still had their bulbs lit, but the light they emitted was no longer a warm yellow, but a bleak gray-white, unable to penetrate the thick fog three meters ahead.

"Something's wrong with this fog."

Lance stared intently at the holographic display on his knee, his fingers flying across the keyboard. The waveform on the screen jittered violently, displaying a chaotic, garbled mess.

"This is not a simple nightmare contamination. This fog is 'erasing' reality. The detectors show that the physical constants of the area we are passing through are undergoing slight shifts. If this erosion continues to expand, the entire city of Linjiang will be wiped off the real map."

An Mu gripped the steering wheel, his gaze grave. The "Iron Wall Kingship" within him sensed the immense and chaotic pressure from the outside world, and the domain was unconsciously making subtle adjustments to counteract this erosion.

"The aftermath of Ye Tiannan's death?"

"No, it's more like the initiation of some larger-scale program."

Bai Yu sat in the passenger seat, clutching the two-in-one "Yu Bing" jade pendant tightly in his hand. The pendant emitted a faint coolness, as if helping him ward off the pervasive gray mist.

"Hei Yan said this is the 'lingering grayness.' Someone used the destruction of the Black Tower to open a rule field that covers the entire city."

Mo Fei sat in the back seat, meticulously inspecting the high-frequency battle axe in his hand. His movements were steady, without his usual impatience. He pushed a new high-energy battery into the battle axe's slot, and only after hearing the crisp "click" did he look up at the window.

“Old Bai, the situation at the Red House might be worse than we thought. Just now, Lanze’s radar swept across the North District, and the energy response there was blank. This ‘blank’ usually means that an independent, closed-loop space has formed there, completely excluding external rules.”

"Blank space is normal."

Bai Yu closed her eyes, the contents of the letter constantly replaying in her mind.

“That’s where I was born, and where all the lies began. Captain Ann, pick up the pace, I sense something approaching us.”

The Bai language's perception was correct.

About two kilometers behind the SUV, in the gray fog, a metallic figure was running wildly across the wilderness. Each step he took left a deep crater in the ground; his speed was astonishing, and he showed no signs of slowing down. His eyes, gleaming with blue light, were fixed on the faint heat emanating from the vehicle ahead.

……

The old city's northern district, the site of a fire.

When the SUV stopped in front of the red three-story building, the whole area was eerily quiet.

There was no wind, no sound; even the air seemed frozen. The charred ruins loomed in and out of the gray mist, like silent tombstones.

The red house stands in the middle of the ruins. Its red brick walls survived the fire, but they are covered with large patches of dark red stains, indistinguishable as dried blood or old rust.

"Mo Fei, be on alert. Lan Ce, set up the signal amplifier. Yue Qi, stay close to me."

Anmu pushed open the car door, his feet rustling as he stepped on the soft ashes.

Mo Fei quickly got out of the car. Instead of rushing directly to the red house, he first set up three sensor radars around the vehicle. Then, holding a battle axe, he leaned against the car door, vigilantly surveying his surroundings. His breathing was steady, and his center of gravity was slightly lowered, ready to deal with any surprise attack from any direction.

Lan Ce took a silver briefcase from the trunk and unfolded it on the ground. As several antennas slowly rose, a weak electromagnetic shield enveloped everyone.

"The rules here are severely disrupted, and the communication distance has been reduced to fifty meters. Once we enter the Red House, we may lose contact."

Lu Yueqi gripped Bai Yu's clothes tightly. Her face was still pale, but her eyes showed a stubbornness.

“I’m fine, Brother Bai Yu. My ‘pardon’ is ready.”

Bai Yu nodded and strode toward the dilapidated wooden door of the red house.

The moment he reached for the doorknob, Hei Yan's voice suddenly became shrill.

"Oh, this taste is so nostalgic. Bai Yu, be careful, there's more than just a physical space behind this door."

Bai Yu took a deep breath and suddenly pushed the door open.

"Squeak-"

The jarring sound of the door opening echoed through the deathly silent street.

The world behind the door was not the dilapidated corridor as expected.

What greeted everyone was a bright, clean, and even somewhat cozy nursery lobby.

Sunlight streamed through the clean windows onto the wooden floor, and a faint scent of milk and talcum powder filled the air. Brightly colored paper cutouts adorned the walls, and a few new-looking plush toys were piled in the corner.

"This...this is an illusion?"

Mo Fei stepped into the hall, his battle axe still in his hand. He lightly kicked the floor with his toe; the solid wood felt incredibly real, and he could even hear a crisp echo.

"No, this is a 'backtracking' of the rules."

Lan Ce's face turned extremely ugly as he stared at the data jumping wildly on the terminal.

"The rules here forcibly capture a segment of time from fifteen years ago and solidify it in reality. We are now standing on the ground of fifteen years ago, but the oxygen content and air pressure in the air are the same as now. This kind of temporal and spatial dislocation will produce extremely strong mental pollution."

Bai Yu surveyed the hall.

He saw a bowl of unfinished porridge on a small table, steam still rising from the rim. A small chair next to it lay overturned on the floor, as if its owner had just hurriedly left due to some emergency.

There are no 'people' here.

Anmu walked to the front desk, ran his fingers across the table, and found not a speck of dust.

"Everything is preserved as it was just before the fire. Baiyu, do you remember this place?"

Bai Yu shook her head.

His memory was filled with endless darkness and a cold laboratory table. This warm scene was more foreign to him than hell itself.

"Black Words, analyze the exit of this space."

"Exit? Bai Yu, haven't you realized yet? There's no exit here at all."

Hei Yan appeared behind Bai Yu, his illusory figure standing out awkwardly in the bright sunlight. He elegantly opened the ancient book in his hand and pointed to a page.

"The rule of this house is 'the sacrifice of memories.' To proceed to the next level, you must leave behind a real memory. Of course, this memory will be completely 'eaten' by this space, and you will forget it forever."

"Eat up memories?" Lu Yueqi exclaimed. "What would happen to a person if all their memories were eaten?"

"It will become part of this house."

Hei Yan pointed to a rag doll in the corner.

"See that doll? It might have once been a very talented investigator. Its memories were eaten away, its soul lost its support, and it was ultimately molded into this comical form by the rules."

Mo Fei gripped his battle axe tightly, his eyes sharpening.

"Old Bai, don't listen to this monster. Lan Ce, can't we use physical means to blast open this wall?"

“It’s no use.” Lan Ce shook his head. He had just tried to cut the wall with the high-frequency vibration blade, but the cut would heal instantly. “The matter here is protected by the rules, unless you can destroy the entire core of the rules in one go.”

"I have memories."

Bai Yu suddenly spoke, his voice calm and undisturbed.

“I have many painful memories of the Black Tower. If this house wants to eat, feel free to take it.”

“Baiyu, no!” Anmu refused resolutely. “Memory is the foundation of the soul. If you lose those painful memories, you will also lose the will to fight nightmares. This may be a trap set by the enemy, specifically designed to undermine your spirit.”

"Captain, there's no time."

Bai Yu pointed to a large clock in the center of the hall.

The pendulum is swinging rapidly, but the hour hand is rotating counterclockwise.

“When the clock strikes twelve, the ‘rewind’ here will end, and the fire will reignite. If we don’t leave before then, we will be burned to ashes by that ‘fire of rules’.”

Just then, the wooden door to the hall suddenly made a loud bang.

"Oh!"

The heavy wooden door was smashed open by a tremendous force, crashing into a stone pillar in the hall and shattering into pieces.

Gray mist poured in through the doorway, appearing particularly glaring in the sunlight.

A naked man with metallic skin walked in slowly. The red chip embedded in his heart was emitting a rhythmic red glow with his breathing.

"Experiment Subject 002, target detected."

The man's voice was devoid of any emotion, sounding like electronically synthesized noise.

"Recycling process initiated. Unauthorized personnel to be removed."

"Damn it! Who are you calling an irrelevant person?!"

Mo Fei cursed angrily, and his body shot out like a cannonball.

Instead of recklessly slashing directly, he drew his battle axe in a strange arc the instant he got close to his opponent, using the shockwave from the back of the axe to strike 002's knee joint hard.

"clang!"

A deafening metallic clang rang out.

Number 002 remained completely still, while Mo Fei was forced back three steps by the immense recoil.

"This hardness...it's not from a carbon-based organism!"

Mo Fei shook his numb arm, his expression becoming even more serious.

An Mu instantly appeared in front of Mo Fei, and the golden "Iron Wall Royal Authority" domain fully opened.

"Mo Fei, assist me. Lan Ce, find the weakness!"

"Scanning!"

Lanze pointed the terminal at 002, and rows of complex energy readings quickly appeared on the screen.

"His body is covered by a layer of high-frequency oscillating nano-armor, which can deflect 90% of physical attacks. His weakness is the chip in his heart! That's his logic core!"

Number 002 did not give them more time to discuss.

He suddenly raised his hand, and a round hole appeared in his palm, from which a high-energy plasma beam shot out instantly.

"boom!"

The plasma beam struck Anmu's domain, creating a violent ripple. Anmu groaned, his feet carving two deep furrows into the wooden floor.

"Bai Yu! Go to the next floor! We'll take care of this!"

Anmu shouted without turning his head.

Bai Yu looked at his comrades who were fighting hard, and then at the clock that was rapidly reversing.

He knew that staying would only be a burden to everyone. Only by finding the core of the Red House could this all be put to an end.

"Black Words, let's begin."

Bai Yu walked to a mirror at the end of the hall.

The mirror didn't reflect his face, but rather a swirling black vortex.

He closed his eyes, extracted the darkest image of the "Black Tower Laboratory" from his mind, and slowly pushed it towards the mirror.

That was the first time he was forcibly injected with the essence of nightmares. The cold needle, the helpless screams, and Su Jianguo's indifferent face.

The moment this memory touched the mirror, the mirror let out a piercing scream.

The sunlight in the hall went out instantly.

The once cozy nursery was turned into a charred ruin in a second.

The mirror shattered, revealing a deep staircase leading underground.

"Brother Bai Yu!" Lu Yueqi exclaimed in surprise. She noticed that Bai Yu's eyes had become somewhat empty at that moment, as if he had lost some important fragment of his soul.

"I am fine."

Bai Yu shook his head vigorously, forcibly suppressing the dizziness caused by the loss of his soul.

"Yueqi, let's go!"

The two rushed up the stairs.

Behind them, the battle inside the hall had reached a fever pitch.

Mo Fei used the tomahawk's jet propulsion to move at high speed in the confined space, constantly disrupting No. 002's vision. An Mu, on the other hand, used the "Royal Authority" domain to tightly restrict the opponent's movement range.

"Target loss detected, priority adjustment."

Number 002's eyes changed from blue to a dangerous crimson.

"Large-scale cleanup mode activated."

The metallic skin on his body began to peel up like scales, and countless tiny micro-missiles emerged from the gaps.

"Holy crap! This thing is a mobile arsenal!"

Mo Fei cursed loudly, but he did not back down. Instead, he slammed his battle axe into the floor, his muscles bulging.

"Old Lan, hide behind me!"

……

basement one.

The air here was even colder, and kerosene lamps hung on the walls, their light flickering.

On both sides of the corridor are locked iron doors, each with a small observation window.

Bai Yu walked ahead, the jade pendant in his hand emitting an increasingly bright light, guiding him towards the end of the corridor.

"Brother Baiyu, did you... really forget that memory just now?"

Lu Yueqi asked in a low voice.

"Can not remember."

Bai Yu's tone was calm, but that calmness was heartbreaking.

"I only know that I once stayed at the Black Tower, but what exactly happened, the details... are all blurry now. It's like watching someone else's movie, and now I've burned that cassette tape."

The two walked to the end of the corridor, where a huge lead door blocked their way.

A line of text was engraved on the lead door:

The truth must not be sought.

Bai Yu reached out and pressed his hand on the lead door.

This time, he doesn't need to sacrifice his memories.

The jade pendant automatically embedded itself into a groove on the door.

"Rumble--"

The lead door slowly opened.

The scene behind the door left Bai Yu completely stunned.

It was a huge archive room, with thousands of transparent jars neatly arranged on the shelves.

Each jar contains a brain.

In the center of the archives sat a girl in a white dress.

She was facing away from the door, holding a golden quill pen in her hand, writing something in a thick book.

Hearing the door open, the girl slowly turned her head.

Her face was exactly the same as the blurry "mother" in Bai Yu's memory.

"You've finally arrived, Number 001."

The girl gave a sweet smile, but her eyes were pure silver, devoid of any emotion.

"Or should I call you...brother?"

Bai Yu was struck dumb.

The black voice inside him suddenly let out a terrified scream.

"No! She's not Su Wan! She's the embodiment of 'Truth'! Bai Yu, run! This isn't the Red House at all, it's the womb of a 'rule trap'!"

However, it's too late.

The girl gently drew a line with the quill pen in her hand.

The ground beneath Bai Yu's feet instantly turned into a viscous liquid, and countless pale hands reached out from the liquid, gripping his ankles tightly.

"Now that you're back, leave your name."

The girl said softly.

"In this world, only the dead deserve to have real names."

……

In the hall.

"boom--!"

The enormous explosion nearly shattered the entire red house.

An Mu's domain was finally shattered by the bombardment of countless miniature missiles. He spat out a mouthful of blood, knelt on the ground, and his face was ashen.

Mo Fei was covered in wounds, and the blade of his battle axe had several chips. He stood in front of Lan Ce, panting heavily, but his eyes remained fierce.

"Target locked, clear phase two."

Number 002 emerged unscathed from the smoke and dust; his right arm had transformed into a massive metal blade, with blue light swirling around its edge.

Just as he was about to deliver the fatal blow, his movements suddenly froze.

"Warning... Core rule change detected."

Number 002's voice became intermittent.

“Red house…sovereignty transfer…new master…Bai language.”

On the walls of the hall, the dark red stains suddenly began to flow, transforming into lines of distorted text.

The charred ruins began to grow rapidly, with countless red threads emerging from beneath the floor, instantly binding No. 002 into a giant red cocoon.

"What's going on?" Mo Fei was stunned.

An Mu looked up at the ceiling, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes.

"He succeeded... but he also completely lost himself."

……

basement one.

Bai Yu stood in that viscous liquid, half of his body already pulled underground.

But he did not show any fear.

The jade pendant in his hand was emitting an unprecedentedly strong light.

"My name is not something you can take away."

Bai Yu looked at the girl in front of him with an extreme indifference in his eyes.

“Black Words, give me all your ‘greed’.”

"You're crazy! You'll completely break down!"

"Give me!"

Bai Yu let out a roar.

The black feathered robe behind him reappeared, but this time, it was stained with a glaring crimson.

That was the price he paid for burning his soul.

The black feathers transformed into a giant hand, piercing straight through the girl's chest.

The girl's smile froze.

She looked down at the hand, a hint of confusion flashing in her silver eyes.

"Brother...you're still...so fierce..."

The girl's body transformed into countless silver specks of light and vanished.

The archive room, which was originally filled with jars, collapsed, revealing something hidden deep inside.

It was a rusty iron key, lying quietly on a stone platform.

Bai Yu broke free from the liquid's restraints, staggered to the stone platform, and grabbed the key.

The moment he touched the key, a memory sealed away for twenty years flooded into his mind like a tidal wave.

"So...that's it..."

Bai Yu closed her eyes, and two lines of clear tears slid down her cheeks.

He finally learned his true identity.

And I finally learned that the truth of this world is a thousand times more terrifying than the nightmare.

……

Outside Linjiang City.

The man in the gray trench coat stopped in his tracks. He looked at the red pillar of light rising above the red house in the distance, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

"We've got the keys."

He pushed up his glasses, a hint of anticipation in his eyes.

"Next, let's see if this 'container' can actually open the gate to hell."

The gray fog in the sky began to churn violently.

A huge, blurry outline emerged from behind the clouds.

That was an eye.

An eye that looks down on all living beings, filled with indifference and mockery.

(End of this chapter)