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

Chapter 152 The Anchor of Tears

In the ruins, dust rose and fell silently under the dim emergency lights.

Bai Yu knelt amidst the pile of rubble, the touch on his palms cold and damp. The silver smiley face button was now continuously oozing a bright silver liquid. This liquid dripped through his fingers, landing on the gray-black concrete fragments, producing a crisp, metallic sound.

These are not ordinary tears.

Bai Yu's right eye flickered with purple light. In his vision, these silver liquids were actually countless tiny, fragmented lines of logic. They were pulsating, wailing, trying to convey some kind of information that had been forcibly erased.

"Old Bai, get up first."

Mo Fei's calm voice rang in his ears. Unlike usual, he didn't impatiently ask what had happened. Instead, he held the high-frequency battle axe upside down, guarding Bai Yu warily. His gaze, sharp as a hawk, swept across the dark corners around them. He could sense that although the nightmare dimension created by that madman Shen Qing had collapsed, the oppressive feeling remaining in the air had only intensified.

Bai Yu took a deep breath and clenched the button tightly. The biting coldness rushed from his palm to his brain, instantly clearing his mind, which had been somewhat muddled by grief.

"Where's the captain?" Bai Yu asked in a hoarse voice.

“Here.” Lan Ce crouched a short distance away, having already connected An Mu to a portable life support system. An Mu was pale, his breathing weak, and although the silver markings on his skin had faded somewhat, they still resembled chains, tightly binding his life force. “The captain’s condition is very strange. Although Shen Qing’s rules have disappeared, these markings seem to have merged with his original nightmare, ‘Iron Wall Royal Authority.’ I cannot forcibly separate them, otherwise I would tear his soul apart as well.”

Bai Yu walked to An Mu's side, looking at this man who had once been as reliable as a mountain. He slowly reached out his hand, and the silver liquid flowing from the button stained An Mu's skin.

A miracle happened.

Upon contact with the liquid, the silver patterns receded on their own, as if they had received some higher-level command. An Mu's breathing instantly became much more even.

"This thing... can suppress that kind of rule erosion?" Lan Ce pushed up his glasses in surprise, and the detector in his hand emitted a rapid beeping sound.

“No, it’s not suppressing, it’s ‘recognizing its master’.” Bai Yu looked at the button in her hand, her eyes cold. “My father left this to me not just to save my life. It’s the core of all of Shen Qing’s experiments, and the only proof to unlock that ‘Source of Truth’.”

Just then, the microcomputer on Lance's wrist suddenly lit up with a red light.

"Warning! A large amount of high-energy reaction has been detected, rapidly approaching from the elevator entrance on the third basement level!" Lan Ce's face instantly turned extremely grim. "It's not the bureau's rescue team. This energy frequency has undergone special encryption processing; it's... the 'Purger'."

Mo Fei's pupils suddenly contracted.

The "Purgers" are an extremely secretive unit within the Bureau of Investigation. They report directly to the Supreme Council and never participate in Nightmare investigations; they are only responsible for "handling" "destabilizing factors" that could potentially trigger large-scale social unrest. In the Bureau's unspoken rules, encountering a Purger means you've been placed on the death list.

"Shen Qing's matter is still undetermined, so what right do they have to send Qingling here?" Mo Fei gripped the axe handle tightly, his tone icy.

“Because we saw something we shouldn’t have seen.” Bai Yu calmly stood up and put the button into his pocket. “Shen Qing’s death is not the end for some people, but trouble. They need a perfect closed loop, and we survivors are the biggest variable.”

"Should we retreat?" Mo Fei asked Bai Yu.

“There’s no way out.” Bai Yu glanced at the unconscious An Mu. “The elevator is the only exit. Since they dared to come, they must have already blocked all the space jump points. Lan Ce, can you hack into this floor’s defense system?”

“It will take three minutes.” Lan Ce’s fingers had already turned into a blur. “I’m trying to reassemble the remaining fragments of rules in the archives to create a temporary logical fog. But this can only buy time; the other side has a rule neutralizer.”

"Three minutes, that's enough."

Bai Yu turned around, facing the pitch-black corridor. His right eye shone brightly with purple light, and the figure of Hei Yan appeared and disappeared behind him, while the nameless ancient book was frantically turning its pages.

"Mo Fei, hold off An and Lan Ce. Leave the rest to me."

"Old Bai, your soul now..." Mo Fei said with some concern.

"I'm fine." Bai Yu's voice was flat and without any fluctuation. "Hei Yan also wants to see what these high and mighty 'Purgers' actually look like."

From the depths of the corridor came the sound of synchronized footsteps.

Da da da.

Each sound felt like a blow to the heart. As the footsteps drew closer, a strange distortion appeared in the air. It was as if some high-tech equipment was forcibly stripping away the colors of the surroundings, turning everything into a monotonous gray and white.

Three figures clad in fully enclosed silver armor appeared on the horizon. They carried no heavy weapons, only a semi-transparent longsword. White arcs of electricity crackled along the blade—a "Soul Shock Blade" specifically designed to target those who had entered the dream world.

"Target confirmed: Member of Nightmare Investigation Bureau Team One."

The voice of the foremost clearer was mechanical, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.

"Status: Deeply contaminated. In accordance with Article 17 of the Supreme Security Guidelines, conduct on-site cleanup. Eradication commenced."

Before the words were even finished, the three eliminaters vanished instantly.

That's extreme speed, but also a subtle rewriting of space.

Bai Yu snorted coldly and made a sweeping motion in the air with his right hand.

"Rule Analysis: Kinetic Energy Deprivation!"

hum-

The three cleaners, who had been moving at high speed, suddenly slowed to an extreme degree, as if they had sunk into a viscous swamp. The ground beneath their feet cracked open instantly, and countless black threads emerged from the fissures, wrapping around their armor.

“Black Words, record their logic,” Bai Yu murmured to himself.

"Heh, Yu'er, the construction of these little toys is truly interesting. They've stuffed souls into a pile of scrap metal; it's the most clumsy form of art." Hei Yan let out a disdainful laugh, but his hands moved swiftly. The ancient book shot out three beams of purple light, piercing directly into the Cleanser's mask.

"Warning! Interference from higher-level rules has been encountered. Neutralization mode activated."

A blinding white light erupted from the Cleansers' bodies, and the jet-black threads snapped under its glow. They swung their longswords fiercely, unleashing three crescent-shaped sword energies powerful enough to tear apart souls.

Mo Fei moved.

Instead of engaging in direct combat, he precisely threw two disruptive grenades, then crossed his two axes in front of him.

"High-frequency barrier!"

boom!
The sword energy struck the barrier, sparking a shower of blue sparks. Mo Fei grunted, his feet carving two deep furrows in the ground, but he held Lan Ce and An Mu behind him tightly, not retreating a single step.

"Old Bai, these guys' weapons can ignore physical defense!" Mo Fei shouted.

"I know."

Bai Yu's gaze grew increasingly cold. He could sense that these three Eliminators were not merely machines; a familiar rhythm pulsed at their core. It was… a subsystem of the "Iron Wall Monarchy."

The source of power for these Purgers is actually the Nightmare Origin stripped from the captains of each generation!

This discovery instantly ignited Bai Yu's anger.

"Lan Ce, are you done yet?"

"The last ten seconds! I found an interesting vulnerability in their system, left by Shen Qing!" Lan Ce's voice was tinged with excitement. "Shen Qing's private key is hidden in the identification codes of these purgers!"

Bai Yu flashed and appeared directly in front of one of the Cleaners. He didn't use a weapon, but instead extended his right hand, which was covered in silver liquid, and pressed it directly against the other's chest.

"Permissions reset".

Bai Yu uttered four words in a low voice.

The silver liquid flowing from the button seeped into the Cleanser's armor instantly, running down his palm.

The Cleanser, who was about to swing his sword, froze instantly. A dense burst of sparks and crackling sounds emanated from inside the armor, and the originally white arcs of electricity instantly turned an eerie silver.

"Error...Permissions...Conflict..."

The mechanical sounds of the cleaners became chaotic and noisy.

"Now!" Lan Ce slammed down the Enter key.

The emergency lights on the entire floor went out instantly, then turned a blinding crimson. At that moment, Lan Ce completely detonated the remaining fragments of rules in the archives, filling the entire corridor with countless illusions and logical fallacies.

Taking advantage of the moment when the other two Eliminators were in a state of confusion, Bai Yu formed a hand seal.

"Black Words, send them to where they belong." "Yes, my master."

Hei Yan's figure became fully visible, and a terrifying suction force erupted from the location of his empty heart. A pitch-black vortex opened in the center of the corridor, swallowing the three Eliminators without any resistance.

This is not annihilation, but rather banishing them to the crevices of a deep nightmare.

"Huh...huh..."

Bai Yu collapsed to the ground, blood trickling down his cheek from his right eye. This forced reset of permissions had placed an astonishing strain on him.

"Old Bai!" Mo Fei rushed over and handed over a high-concentration mental stabilizer.

"I'm fine." Bai Yu pushed away the medicine and pointed at An Mu. "Take the captain and let's go. Lan Ce, have you found the exit?"

“Found it. There’s a sewage pipe behind the archives that Shen Qing modified without permission, which leads directly to the Linjiang River outside the city.” Lan Ce slung the complicated equipment over his shoulder. “But it’s one-way. Once we get out, we’ll never be able to get back to the Investigation Bureau.”

“This is no longer our home.” Bai Yu glanced back at the ruins, her eyes filled with a resolute look. “From now on, we are… traitors.”

The three men carried the unconscious Anmu on their backs and quickly disappeared into the dark pipes.

Less than a minute after they left, a man in a black trench coat slowly emerged from the shadows at the end of the corridor.

He looked at the empty corridor, a playful smile playing on his lips.

"How interesting. They actually used Shen Qing's residual authority to kill the Eliminator."

The man bent down and picked up a drop of still-dry silvery liquid from the ground. He held it to his nose and smelled it, a look of rapture on his face.

“Old man, the successor you’ve chosen is much more interesting than you were back then.”

He turned around and said softly to the air, "Pass down the order to cancel the full-scale pursuit of Team One. Give them some time to find the 'Original Rule.' After all, without their guidance, we won't find the 'Source of Truth' either."

"Yes, my lord."

A chorus of responses filled the air, followed by deathly silence.

……

Linjiang City, suburbs.

The icy river water lapped against the rocks on the bank.

Bai Yu and the other two dragged their exhausted bodies out of that sticky, disgusting pipe.

The night sky was clear and bright, and the distant city lights shone brilliantly, appearing so peaceful and beautiful. But who could have imagined that, in the shadows of this city, a conspiracy powerful enough to overturn the world was quietly taking shape?

Mo Fei settled An Mu in a dry patch of grass, and Lan Ce immediately began to re-establish the monitoring point.

"Old Bai, where do we go next?" Mo Fei looked at Bai Yu, his eyes filled with confusion. They had lost the support of the Investigation Bureau, lost supplies, and were even wanted criminals throughout the city.

Bai Yu didn't speak; he took the button out of his pocket.

Under the moonlight, the smiling face on the button looked somewhat forlorn.

“Go to a place.” Bai Yu looked at the silver liquid flowing from the button, which slowly gathered on the ground and eventually pointed to the west. “My father left a coordinate in the button.”

"where?"

"Linjiang City First Mental Hospital," Bai Yu said in a low voice.

Lan Ce's hand trembled slightly.

"Wasn't that place... abandoned because of a fire ten years ago?"

“Shen Qing’s file mentions that place.” Bai Yu raised her head, her eyes deep. “That’s where the ‘Replacement Plan’ was first launched, and also where my father last appeared as a ‘human’.”

"Moreover, I suspect that the 'original rule' was locked in the basement of that hospital."

Bai Yu gripped the button tightly, feeling the rhythm emanating from it.

"Let's go. We must get there before dawn."

The three disappeared into the vast night.

Behind them, the liquid that had dripped from the silver button solidified into a small pattern on the riverbank stone.

That was a balance scale.

At one end lies a beating heart, and at the other end lies a void of darkness.

……

Linjiang City, headquarters of the Investigation Bureau.

In the top-floor office, an elderly man stands in front of a huge floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the entire city.

Behind him stood several trembling senior executives.

"The cleanup failed?" The old man's voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable authority.

"Yes... it seems that the White Language team has acquired some kind of high-level authority, and the three Eliminators have lost contact." A supervisor replied, sweating profusely.

"Access rights..." The old man turned around, revealing a wrinkled yet extremely dignified face. "It seems that Bai Jianguo, that stubborn old man, has ultimately left that thing to his son."

"Chief, so what should we do now..."

"Ignore them," the old man waved his hand. "Let them make a scene. That thing under the hospital isn't something you can solve with just a little authority. Shen Qing, that good-for-nothing, has been researching it for twenty years and still hasn't figured it out. What can Bai Yu do?"

He walked to the table and picked up a yellowed photograph. The photograph showed him and Bai Jianguo when they were young.

"Jianguo, do you think you've won?"

The old man suddenly tore the photo into pieces.

"This world, in the end, belongs to 'truth'."

……

At the same time, Bai Yu, who was on her way, suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Mo Fei asked anxiously.

Bai Yu didn't speak; he touched his chest.

There, the button suddenly became incredibly hot.

A weak voice echoed intermittently in his mind.

"Yu'er...don't...trust...your eyes..."

That was my father's voice!
Bai Yu's eyes instantly reddened, but he bit his lip tightly, not letting himself make a sound.