"It's you. It's you!"
Li An completely broke down, screaming in terror. A man's voice shouldn't have sounded so shrill.
Because he recognized those clothes. He recognized this person.
The one he had personally killed, even cutting off an arm to serve as "food" for his daughter who had become a goddess.
"Impossible. How is this possible? Y-You've come for revenge. Wife, wife, let's run. Wi—urk—"
Li An's worldview nearly collapsed. He panicked and shook the woman behind him, trying to pull her along as they fled.
But when the phone's light shone over, the expression on Li An's face froze. His mouth could only emit hoarse gurgling sounds, unable to form any more words.
Because behind him, the woman had collapsed against the wall on the bed, already a corpse.
Her body was stiff and ice-cold. Patches of dark purple livor mortis had spread across her skin, like someone who had been dead for several days. Yet this person had clearly just been speaking moments ago.
What terrified Li An the most was that the woman's eyes were bloodshot, wide open and staring in death.
And on that somewhat delicate face, her mouth had been brutally torn apart by something unknown, the corners grotesquely ripped all the way to her ears, forming a horrifying, bloody grin. Blood flowed from her oral cavity, staining her entire chin.
She was dead.
Li An lost all strength in his body. Even breathing felt strenuous.
The phone slipped from his hand. The light landed face-down against the bed, plunging him once more into darkness filled with despair.
In the darkness, the chill and stench grew heavier. Li An's eyes went lifeless, the corners of his mouth uncontrollably beginning to rise, to tear, all the way to his ears.
Thud.
He too collapsed, silent. On his face was that horrifying grin formed by torn mouth corners.
The rotting female corpse's only eyeball carried a mad hue as it regarded the two corpses on the bed. Her body faded once more, disappearing into the air.
But soon, the female corpse appeared in another household. Over a dozen empty liquor bottles were strewn across the floor. On the sofa lay a single man dead drunk.
This man was the village butcher, also one of those responsible in recent years for making moves against passing travelers.
But at this moment, the corners of his mouth were torn apart by an invisible force. His heart stopped beating. With a ferocious smile, he died peacefully in his drunken dreams—whether this counted as fortune or tragedy was hard to say.
The female corpse vanished into the air once more, reappearing elsewhere to repeat this process.
In this night of despair, the bloody scent in the village gradually grew stronger.
Not everyone was killed by the vengeful ghost in their sleep. Screams would intermittently ring out in the village, but they would quickly cut off.
Some people would go out to check after being startled awake by screams, but before long, a few more corpses would appear on the village's dirt roads.
Normally it took over twenty minutes to descend the mountain, but after running a few steps, Wang Liang worried their descent wouldn't outpace the ghost's killing speed. He immediately integrated the Sadako supernatural into various parts of his body, augmenting his monstrous strength to accelerate down the mountain.
Those villagers could die for all he cared. Just like Zhou Kun said, their deaths would delight the hearts of the people.
But what Wang Liang worried about was what changes would occur in Kuchisake-onna after the villagers were all dead.
Judging from its recent behavior, Kuchisake-onna was clearly engaging in selective killing with definite tendencies. At least at this current stage.
Just now, besides killing Wang Liang—who had forcibly drawn it over using the Ghost Lantern—it had abandoned killing the others, including Zhou Kun who was actively attacking it.
The moment Wang Liang died, Kuchisake-onna immediately left through its ghost domain to kill people in the village, but didn't go kill the hunchbacked old man who was also a villager.
This clearly didn't match the behavior of ordinary vengeful ghosts who simply killed according to their rules. It looked more like revenge with a very strong purpose, and even had priority levels.
This was perhaps one of the special characteristics of a Cinematic Ghost. This arrival location didn't look randomly chosen either.
The Cinematic Ghost that descended here had already formed a deep connection with this place. The key to this was Li Lengmei.
So after slaughtering the village below that had caused Li Lengmei pain and resentment, would Kuchisake-onna undergo unknown changes? And would it leave this place to roam?
Wang Liang didn't know, but neither outcome was something he wanted to see.
"I'll go down first. When the time comes, don't enter the village. Guard this hunchbacked old man outside. If the villagers all die, he might become the final bait," Wang Liang said.
"Alright!" Zhou Kun immediately replied.
Augmented by his monstrous strength, Wang Liang erupted with speed surpassing human limits as he rapidly ran down the mountain.
He was continuously monitoring the situation in the village. At his speed, he could completely make it before Kuchisake-onna finished slaughtering the village.
He didn't use Alternative Restart to get there because without the Coffin Nail, going there would just be delivering himself to death.
"Sp-spare me. I didn't kill you. It wasn't me who killed you, ah!"
On the village's dirt road, a disheveled man sat collapsed on the ground, frantically shuffling backward on his bottom in terror, retreating in fear as if there was some monster before him that could devour him.
Before him, under the bleak moonlight, a figure staggered out from the darkness beneath a roadside tree.
It was a female corpse with a highly rotted body, missing an arm.
"I-It's Old Zhao, Zhao Laosi, the butcher! He was the one who led the capture back then. I know his house. Don't kill me, I'll take you to his house, ah—urk—"
Before the man could finish speaking, a strange smile was suddenly drawn across his terrified face. The corners of his mouth violently rose and tore, splitting to his ears with a splash, covered in blood.
Thud.
The man's body collapsed, stiff and instantly silent.
After the rotting female corpse killed this villager, her body prepared to fade once more, concealing herself within the ghost domain to head to the next target.
This village had several dozen households. Over half had already been killed by it.
But right then, a clear, ethereal ringing sounded from up ahead. The rotting female corpse's fading motion stopped.
The ghost-attracting effect triggered. The rotting female corpse solidified once more, reappearing in reality.
At the intersection ahead, a man in a black overcoat appeared with an indifferent expression, lightly shaking a rusted copper bell in his hand. Black blood gurgled out beneath his feet.
Pale, ferocious arms reached out one after another from the black blood. Female ghosts invaded reality in this manner, surrounding the indifferent man in the center.
And that wasn't all. Rustling footsteps sounded from every direction along this dirt road.
Pale bare feet stepped on withered grass. More white-clad female ghosts with disheveled black hair carried a bone-chilling cold as they slowly walked out from the weeds on both sides.
Arms hanging at their sides. The veins on the backs of their hands blackened. Eyes occasionally visible through the hair covering their faces were filled with resentment and ferocity.
The white, worn dresses were stained with black ink. The hems of the long skirts dripped black blood, leaving trails of black bloodstains behind them, emanating a chilling aura.
Before and behind the intersection, in the weeds, small paths, and even on the rooftops—derivative Sadakos twisted their bodily joints, walking or crawling out in various postures.
Counting from all directions, there were over fifty of them, completely surrounding this dirt road.
In the center stood the rotting female corpse pulled into reality by the Ghost Lantern.
This was a supernatural siege.
I've written a bit much for the Kuchisake-onna instance. Including today, it's already been seventeen chapters. Tomorrow it'll be captured and harnessed.
Pure newbie writer with insufficient experience. The earlier parts went off track and leaned toward traditional supernatural horror. If you asked me to rewrite now, I could condense chapters 50–55 into one and a half chapters.
The exploration completely didn't need that many chapters. No ghosts, not interesting. Also seems like too much foreshadowing with little effect, drawing controversy.
Quick mark, then directly pass through. After a normal one and a half chapters, then abuse Lightm... oh, abuse the Messenger. Then directly confront Kuchisake-onna. Wouldn't that seem less draggy?
Sigh *orz*.
Besides the satisfaction points from fighting ghosts and gains, I particularly love describing environmental atmosphere, bystanders' expressions and demeanor. Such passages aren't few. I personally especially like using this kind of side emotional value to provide satisfaction points.
Although this makes some people feel it's wordy nonsense, especially for those following along as it's posted. Haha. But... I don't want to give up on this point. There should be people who like this too, right? Isn't horror what we're reading for? Haha.
As for the protagonist failing the first round of confrontation, well, pure invincibility suppressing everything in one wave would also be a bit weird, right? Then it would be another group of people cursing me out *orz*.
Something a reader said yesterday felt very apt: "If a gun appears in a story, it must fire." The same applies to Restart.
Anyway, it's impossible to really let Kuchisake-onna escape. Calm down. Calm down.
Of course, all problems can actually be attributed to one point: too short~
But currently still in recommendations, just reached the third round. I don't know when it'll go premium. Sigh. Curse me if you want. This is the scolding I deserve *orz*.