A New Beginning

[9:09 PM, Li Mo died.]

[9:10 PM, I was reborn into the body of Otto Apocalypse, losing a small part of my memory in exchange for the complete preservation of my personality.]

[My name is Li Mo. When you see this sentence, It has arrived.]

Ghost Kiana reached out, peeling back the tree bark to reveal the Li Mo enveloped within.

But just as she was about to touch him, she pulled her hand back. Li Mo's soul was still impure, entwined and absorbed by a strange black halo.

She could only reverse time once more, until she could see him, pure and complete.

Finally, Ghost Kiana adjusted the time node of this world back to the exact moment Li Mo walked out of the eerie cave and encountered the Impostor.

The Lance of the Void, its tip growing a scarlet eye, instantly pierced through the Impostor before it could react.

Immediately, the Impostor's rule was triggered, and it was reborn into a random person in the primeval forest.

After eliminating all potential threats, Ghost Kiana walked step by step towards Li Mo, who was frozen in time.

Li Mo stood motionless. Although his soul was intact, he strangely showed no reaction or thought.

Ghost Kiana's first-level time freeze did not freeze mental thought processes, but Li Mo, in his state of one death, seemed to have completely given up on survival, standing there like a wooden chicken.

Strangely, his face was covered with a torn page from a journal, and blood-red words filled every blank space.

Ghost Kiana did not possess much intelligence. If she could think normally, she would have realized that this journal page should have been on Li Mo's face a few hours later.

Yet here it was, completely ignoring the laws of time and space, strangely appearing on Li Mo's face.

In the dead silence, the person before her seemed to have sealed himself off, forever plunging into the deep sea, proactively cutting off all his anchors.

"A-Mo..."

Ghost Kiana extended her pale palm and took Li Mo's hand. The dark golden light in her eyes flickered abruptly.

She opened her mouth, revealing four small canine teeth, and bit deeply into Li Mo's palm.

One bite, two bites...

With no one to interrupt, Ghost Kiana smoothly devoured Li Mo's entire arm.

Her mouth was covered in bloodstains and bits of flesh, and a crazed look appeared on her face.

Fresh blood splattered, seeping into the soil to nourish the plants.

Her lower abdomen bulged slightly. Ghost Kiana, like a vampire, bit down on Li Mo's neck. Just as she was about to bite it off and swallow, a hand grabbed her face.

Tentacles and black mist seeped out from between the skin, wrapping around Ghost Kiana. In just two seconds, Ghost Kiana's pupils dimmed, like a completely silent abyss.

The light in the surrounding forest grew increasingly dim. Although it was noon with the sun blazing like fire, the world seemed to be covered by a huge black curtain.

The shadows of the trees cast mottled bloodstains, the sky reflected a blurry ghostly image, and the black mist within her body snickered.

The blood-red words on the journal page quickly faded, and gradually, the page fell from Li Mo's face.

When Li Mo came to his senses, he found himself in a dense black fog.

"Ugh..."

"Did the plan succeed? I'm not dead yet..."

Li Mo extended his right hand; it was intact. His left hand was somewhat mangled but was gradually recovering.

His vision was somewhat restricted; all he could see was a vast black fog.

Li Mo held his breath. His intuition told him that this black fog was very dangerous. After tentatively inhaling a little, he found that he didn't feel much.

"What a strange fog."

Black fog. The last time he saw this kind of fog was in the haunted mansion world. The black fog was one of the Knocking Ghost's rules, a channel for the Bizarre Thing to move.

Wherever the black fog reached, fierce ghosts ran rampant, with no taboos.

"Where am I now? The primeval forest? Or..."

Li Mo fell into thought.

He had originally intended to use Ghost Kiana to kill his Impostor self. After being reborn as an Impostor, it would put Ghost Kiana in an ambiguous state of judgment.

Ghost Kiana would enter a state of judgment—

Was the Li Mo who had been reborn as an Impostor still Li Mo?

This was indeed a gamble. Li Mo was betting that after being reborn or triggering the Impostor's rule, he would not completely belong to himself.

Ghost Kiana only killed the pure Li Mo.

Therefore, Ghost Kiana would reverse time, traveling to a time node before he was reborn as an Impostor, or even before he had triggered the Impostor's rule.

As for whether he could retain his memories, Li Mo wasn't sure before he was reborn.

He just intuitively recognized that this kind of thought and plan was what the first page of the notebook wanted to see, so it was very likely.

He had long been forced to use the notebook for some unavoidable reason, killing himself and becoming Otto.

"Memories..." Li Mo gradually accepted his pre-death memories.

When he first came to this world, it wasn't as Otto Apocalypse.

It was in his own body, walking out of the eerie cave.

He saw a lush forest, vaster than any he had seen in the Divine Land. The biodiversity here was extremely rich, more like the Amazon rainforest.

Then he ran into someone. His intuition told him that the other person was a ghost.

How could a living person suddenly appear in a primeval forest?

The uncoordinated limb movements and stiff, eerie smile—even if the thermometer didn't give a warning, Li Mo only hesitated for a moment before pulling out his anomalous pistol and firing.

And then... the Misfortune Ghost's rule was triggered, and his consciousness was about to dissipate.

Li Mo judged that it was because he had killed the ghost he saw. That ghost's rule was likely to possess the body of the person who killed it.

He tried to Restart, but after restarting, the Misfortune Ghost was still spewing its sharp, mean-spirited curses.

With no way out, he used the notebook and got a way to survive from there.

"..."

"I see." Li Mo had an epiphany. "So I'm now returning to the past with my complete memories."

"So whether the Void Archives can recognize my tone of voice now is the key factor in determining whether the plan was successful."

But it seemed... there was an unexpected turn of events?

"That's not right. If that were the case, after being brought back to a safe time by Ghost Kiana, I should be facing her directly..."

Li Mo looked around. Not only was there no sign of Ghost Kiana, but there was also a black fog that he had never seen in his memory.

Which time and space did Ghost Kiana send him to?

"I remember that after I walked out of the eerie cave, I saw a primeval forest, and then I walked for about ten minutes and ran into that Impostor."

Li Mo recalled carefully. He needed to find Otto and Kallen first.

At least get that book first; it might be very useful.

"What I can be sure of for now is that little Otto is a normal person. And Kallen is also normal tonight, otherwise I wouldn't have survived until the next day when I was reborn into Otto's body."

"But is this still the primeval forest from my memory?"

The black fog was pervasive. Li Mo still didn't know that for a living person, it was impossible to see the road, no different from being blind.

Opening or closing his eyes was the same. Even if he looked up, he couldn't see a single ray of sunlight.

If it weren't for the "rustle, rustle" sound of the wind blowing through the treetops in his ears, and the ability to touch the trees in the forest, anyone else would have probably thought they had gone blind.

"I'm still in the primeval forest, but some changes I don't know about have happened, causing the forest to be filled with black fog."

"But this black fog doesn't affect my vision. Why? I'm only in a state of one death now, so my eyes should be about the same as a living person's."

"Or does the black fog not actually affect a living person's vision? Nor does it affect their physical condition?"

Li Mo wasn't sure. Anyway, he would know what was going on when he saw Kallen and Otto.

Without hesitation, Li Mo went to the place where he had met Otto in his memory and waited in ambush.

He jumped onto a large tree, overlooking the path Otto would have to take.

The primeval forest was too big. He might not be able to find the current Kallen and Otto.

In his memory, Otto would come out at night to look for wild fruits to eat. He just needed to wait patiently.

He absolutely could not be seen by an Impostor like last time.

Li Mo was now certain that being targeted by an Impostor in the primeval forest was basically a death sentence. You couldn't kill it, and you would be constantly pursued.

Perhaps while sleeping under a tree, an Impostor would be standing on a branch not far above, eerily gazing at the sleeping person below.

Li Mo first took out the thermometer. He thought for a moment and finally placed it on the ground where he could see it. This way, he could detect the appearance of a ghost at the first moment.

There were not only Impostors in this world, but also ghosts, so his decisions had to be more comprehensive.

MEI was right. The anomalous pistol was easy to become dependent on. It was only a last resort for counterattacks.

Apart from these, Li Mo also chose a position for himself at a medium-high level.

Too high would be conspicuous. If an Impostor stood in an open area or looked through the gaps in the leaves, it could see him at a glance from a high place.

Too low would make it difficult to avoid its gaze when it got close, so a medium-high level was the best choice.

It could both conceal his figure and provide a larger field of vision.

Li Mo took out his phone. It was still afternoon. There was still a long time until 9:00 PM.

Impostors would actively hunt humans after 9:00 PM. Li Mo had roughly figured out how they located humans.

Through human memories, they would find areas within the person's cognitive range.

For example, a mischievous Impostor child would hide inside a bed, and a patrolling Kaslana warrior would stand under a tree or on a hill.

"The trees are also within the cognitive range, but a normal person probably wouldn't think of someone standing on the top of a tree tens of meters high."

He remembered that he had run into Otto at 8:23 PM.

After waiting for a long time, the time on his phone reached 8:23 PM, but he still hadn't seen any sign of Otto.

"I'll wait another half an hour."

At 8:53 PM, Li Mo still hadn't found him.

Li Mo realized something was wrong. "Did the sudden appearance of the black fog make Otto change his mind about going out to collect wild fruits?"

"Never mind. They must leave the area under the tree before 9:00. That's where the Impostors hunt."

Li Mo moved between the trees and soon found the tree from before.

But under the tree, only Kallen was leaning against it alone, constantly reaching out her hand to feel in front of her, feeling the warmth.

In front of her was a burning bonfire.

In Li Mo's eyes, his vision was very clear, especially this intensely burning bonfire.

"I was wrong. I originally thought this bonfire was a safe zone for the living, like the main hall or guest rooms. But in reality, it was just not the Impostors' hunting time yet."

"When the time came, Kallen and I were both asleep. It's very likely that Kallen was killed and reborn as an Impostor during this time."

"This bonfire is just an ordinary bonfire."

Li Mo stood on the tree and muttered to himself.

The next second, he jumped down from the tree. His bones broke, and his foot bones shattered.

But it didn't matter. Li Mo stayed still for half a minute, and his body had almost recovered before he actively walked forward.

Just as Kallen's hand was about to reach into the bonfire, Li Mo grabbed her wrist.

"Otto? It's you, you're back!"

"It's so dark here. I was a little scared by myself. I can't see anything..."

Kallen's answer was filled with both fear and excitement.

Li Mo could only guess that the return of her companion had made her feel relieved.

She didn't make a request...

And she didn't open that book...

Li Mo glanced at the book Kallen was holding. It was the same as the last time he had seen it.

Otto hadn't returned, but it was already 8:55. In five minutes, the Impostors would start hunting humans.

Listening to Kallen, the black fog would block a living person's vision, but it couldn't block his.

Otto was clearly lost in the primeval forest. Even if he wasn't killed by poisonous snakes or wild beasts, he would soon be found by an Impostor.

There wasn't much time left to escape now. He had to make a choice immediately.

Li Mo hesitated for a moment, then cleared his throat and imitated Otto's voice from his memory.

"Kallen, I'll take you away from here."

With that, Li Mo carried Kallen on his back, picked up Otto's backpack, and quickly fled the illuminated area of the bonfire.

On the way, Kallen asked, "Leave here? Where are we going?"

"To a safe place," Li Mo replied.

This was a lie. There was no safe place in the primeval forest.

So-called safety was an area that could be avoided after becoming familiar with the rules.

"Otto, can you see the road? Why do I feel like you're running so fast? And... when did you get so tall? But you're still very thin."

Kallen asked while touching him.

Li Mo just casually replied, "You're sleepy, Kallen. You're hallucinating. Go to sleep for a while. The black fog will disperse when you wake up."

"Mhm, we'll set off again when the fog clears!"

After saying this, Kallen lowered her little head and rested it on Li Mo's back.

In fact, Li Mo could have just ignored her, but fate had already come to collect the chips it had previously gifted him.

The cave was no good... the mountain cave was no good...

Under a tree was even worse.

After much thought, Li Mo could only take Kallen up a tree.

In addition, Li Mo took off his own clothes and wrapped them around Kallen, carefully adjusting her sleeping position so that she could sleep peacefully against the tree trunk.

A child's body couldn't withstand the sudden drop in temperature at night in the primeval forest.

Until midnight—

"Otto, I'm hungry..."

Kallen gently tugged at Li Mo's sleeve and called out softly.

"I'll get you something to eat."

Li Mo opened the backpack and glanced inside. There was indeed not much food.

With Kallen's appetite, even if Otto only ate one biscuit, it wouldn't last long.

He was a Kallen-con to begin with. Otto would definitely have given all the food to Kallen. No wonder he had to go out and collect food himself; he must have been starving.

Looking at the boundless black fog, Li Mo fell into deep thought.

"Forget it."

"I'll take good care of her. You can rest assured."