Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

Deep fear and great confusion poured over you like a basin of ink, cold, sticky and dark. You began to feel a chill on your back and a numbness on your scalp, and then your mind began to run wild, you began to have wild thoughts, and you began to involuntarily ignore the imminent danger.

Those slender ghosts are still rushing towards you like waves, waving their slender limbs, and they may assimilate you into one of them at any time.

- Although you have never witnessed the process of those Diesel people being transformed into slender ghosts, and you have no evidence to support this conjecture, you still stubbornly believe it.

No, it’s not so much that you think so, but rather that it is more like some kind of “common sense” to you.

But is common sense right?

You can't help but think of the heliocentric theory, which was common sense a few decades ago. Now this common sense has been overturned and swept into the dustbin of history.

Your thoughts are still wandering aimlessly. You are still in danger and could lose your life at any time. You know you shouldn't think too much at this time, but you can't help but think about it. This feeling is so weird, so weird that it's like...

It’s like your body is running wildly for your life, but at this moment two hands grab your head and force you to look back.

Thus the body and the mind parted ways.

Until a strange yet familiar voice sounded in my ears:

"Professor, what are you still standing there for? Let's go!"

You suddenly wake up, more sober than ever before.

The two hands that were holding your head loosened, or you could say your body surrendered to your head again, so after a moment of slight tremor, you looked down at the person who advised you to hurry up and leave Diesel.

He follows right behind you.

His name is Lawrence, he is your student, and he has been with you for more than ten years. Although you are old now, you can no longer remember when he became your disciple, or what specific scientific research results he has completed with you...

But you know that he is your most valued disciple. You even thought that if you can return to the White Pagoda safely this time, you will teach him everything you have learned in your life.

"Lawrence is my disciple." This is common sense to you, just like "Slender Man is transformed from Diesel." These two pieces of knowledge originally lay in the ocean of your subconscious mind and cannot be desecrated, denied or changed.

But now, a newer piece of knowledge that is more important than these two has quietly appeared in your subconscious ocean -

"You have seen the truth."

The wish you made came true, in a way you didn't want to accept.

You instinctively want to vomit, you lower your head with a dull expression, and find that you don't know when, your body has been covered with dark red blood.

You suddenly realize that many tall and thin ghosts have died under your cane sword.

You once thought it was strange that those thin and long ghosts that seemed to have lost their physical bodies would feel pain when their chests were pierced, and they would scream and wail, and their wounds would spurt blood just like humans...

It turns out that their blood is also bright red and has temperature.

But now you just feel dizzy, you subconsciously hold your forehead with your blood-stained hand, and almost fall to the ground.

Your dear disciple Lawrence hurriedly supported you and asked you with a concerned expression:

"Professor, are you okay?"

You were silent for a moment, shaking your head at him to indicate that you were fine.

How could you be in trouble? You are now more normal than before.

So you even gave Lawrence a small smile.

"How close are we to the border between Diesel and Victoria?" you ask.

Lawrence left you when he heard that, stood on tiptoe and looked into the distance, then quickly returned to your side and replied:

"It's not far, Professor. If we just hold on a little longer, we can leave Diesel."

You hummed, turned your head, looked at the slender ghosts that you had temporarily left behind, and sighed softly:

"They are almost catching up."

Lawrence heard this and said to you anxiously:

"But you can't just give up like this. We are so close. As long as we can leave Diesel, as long as we can reach the border between Diesel and Victoria..."

When he said this, you suddenly raised your hand to interrupt him.

"Lawrence," you stared at him, your expression becoming serious, "Do you remember what the last rule in our White Tower Investigator's Manual is?"

Lawrence didn't answer.

As it happens, you didn't intend to get an answer from him, so you just slowly stood up with your hands on his shoulders, and whispered to him:

"Let's go, let's keep going forward, let's..."

You paused, remembering the thought that had been driving you forward like clockwork since some unknown time, and so, like a snail parasitized by the diploid trematode, you came to the tallest leaf in the grass, waiting to be preyed upon by birds.

You look into Lawrence's eyes - if, that empty face really had eyes.

Then, you smiled and slowly uttered the thought that had been deeply rooted in your mind:

"Let's leave Diesel now."

Lawrence was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

There is no doubt that both he and you agree with this proposal.

So you set out again.

The wounds on your body gradually healed in the process, and your physique became stronger as you got closer to the border between Diesel and Victoria, even becoming as strong as the legendary hero.

The slender figures can no longer cause you any harm, and even with Lawrence as a burden, you can still move briskly.

The border is getting closer and closer, and the thought in your mind urging you to leave Diesel is getting louder and louder. You can feel that every piece of flesh and blood and every bone in your body seems to be cheering, as if leaving Diesel is a great honor and reward for them.

Finally, you finally stand in front of the border.

You know, go a little further and you'll leave Diesel and reach the land of steel and steam.

Lawrence is looking at you with earnest eyes, and your soul and body are begging you, as if as long as you cross that invisible and intangible line, you can get true freedom and liberation.

"Quick! Quick! Get away from Diesel! Isn't this what you've always wanted to do?!"

It's as if someone whispered this in your ear.

But you shook your head.

"Do not."

you say.

Then, facing the stunned Lawrence, you lowered your head, gave him your usual gentle smile, and taught him the first and last lesson like a real teacher.

"Remember?" you asked him, "Just now I asked you what the last rule of our White Tower Investigator's Manual was?"

Lawrence, who had shed his human form and turned back into a lanky ghost once again, tilted his head towards you in confusion.

As it should, it doesn't understand what you are saying.

You had expected this, but even though it didn't understand, you still patiently told it:

"It's more of a contingency plan than a rule - in the worst case scenario, when all other options are exhausted, the investigators can choose... or, in other words, must implement the contingency plan."

"In order to prevent the situation from getting worse and to prevent the unknown disaster from spreading through the investigator himself, the investigator should make his own judgment on whether to implement the final plan."

Your voice is slow, but your movements are light and fast.

Even the tall and thin ghost named Lawrence did not immediately notice your action. In fact, it was not until you thrust your cane sword into its chest that it suddenly realized what was happening. It then stared at you with eyes filled with a mixture of rage and resentment.

Can the cane sword kill the real Slender Man?

Honestly, you don't know.

You don't even know if Lawrence really exists, you even suspect it's just an illusion, an illusion that drives you away from Diesel.

There is something in your mind that is trying to drive you away from Diesel in every possible way. It distorts your perception and modifies your memory in an attempt to hide the truth.

But thank you for that wishing well.

You made your wish come true, you...

You, "see" the truth.

So you pulled out the cane sword from the chest of Lawrence, who was gradually weakening and seemed to be about to die, and you held the sword blade, which was still sharp and bright, like a mirror, across your face.

In that narrow mirror, you finally see what you look like now—

Faceless, thin, strange and eerie.

It turns out that the ones who turned into the Slender Man were never the Diesel people you killed, but you as an investigator.

You have long been polluted, your body has long been hollowed out, and your spirit is crumbling.

So you want to leave Diesel because the thing in your head seems to be eager to spread the pollution.

Even now, it is still clamoring, still bewitching you, and even because it has sensed your resistance, it has decided to completely hollow out your body and devour your remaining bit of consciousness.

But you smiled.

Then, speaking to the dead Lawrence, as if speaking to yourself, you said:

"The investigator's final plan is actually very simple, which is..."

You calmly turned the blade of your cane sword upside down, pointed it at your heart, and stabbed it with all your strength.

Then you remember what the venerable Lady, the Lord of the White Tower, once said to you, the Investigators:

"That is - you can at least choose to die as a human being."

[To be continued]

-

40. Things I Forgot

The traceback spell ends here.

Charles opened his eyes again.

When Lacier saw him wake up, she stopped supplying magic power to the tracing spell and went over to ask:

"How's it going? Did the tracing spell work?"

Charles did not answer her immediately, but turned his head and stared at Crazy John silently.

Crazy John didn't seem to understand why Ciel was staring at him like this just after waking up from the tracing spell, so he asked half-jokingly:

"What do you mean? Sir Brave, did you find out through the tracing spell that I was the murderer of that old investigator?"

Upon hearing this, Lacie turned to look at Crazy John, but she did not have any doubts about him.

After all, being able to say such words to his face shows that he is fearless.

If he really was the murderer of the old investigator, how could he face her and Charles so calmly?

The result was just as she had guessed. Facing Crazy John's joke, Charles was silent for a moment, shook his head and said:

"Nothing, I was just wondering why you found this cane near the emperor's throne..."

He paused, his voice lowered, and continued:

"It shouldn't be there."

"Oh?" Crazy John became interested. "You mean, you got some crucial information through the tracing spell?"

In response to his question, Charles nodded quite honestly.

"Yes," Charles told Crazy John, "I did get some crucial information through the tracing spell, but I can't share this information with you. The specific reason is..."

Crazy John waved his hand and said with a smile:

"Since it's inconvenient for you to tell me, I won't ask."

After saying this, he picked up the old felt hat on the table with high emotional intelligence, put it on, pulled out the chair, stood up, bowed to the witch and the hero, and then left:

"It's getting late. I gained a lot from talking with you two tonight. I need to digest it carefully, so I will go back first."

He even smiled and made a slightly playful joke to the two of them:

"After all... I still have to continue planning the eleventh assassination attempt on Your Majesty."

After saying this, he turned around and left the tavern without waiting for the two to try to stop him.