ALL NOVEL Chapter 91: Origin Upon a Mountain of Corpses
Ryoma's suggestion was merely a way to facilitate a relationship between Mei and the boy, to ease her discomfort. The boy's true identity remained a mystery. Li Mo deduced this much, but he was more curious about the surgery that required a week of observation.
And how it related to the "brother" in the diary.
He picked up the second diary page.
[I'm unhappy. I've been stuck in the hospital for a year. No playing, no school.]
[At least my brother is here. He always reads quietly. He seems frail, often taken away by doctors.]
[He doesn't like me. He never talks to me.]
[I told Dad. When I returned to my room, my brother was gone. He came back the next morning.]
[He collapsed. Like me, he lost consciousness. The doctors said he has low blood sugar too. He needs to eat breakfast.]
[I shared my breakfast with him. He ate it quickly and told me his name: Li Mo.]
[—2004.8.21]
Li Mo wasn't concerned about the shared name. He focused on the symptoms. Low blood sugar was a flimsy excuse. Ryoma wouldn't keep Mei in the hospital for a year for something so trivial. And the boy's fainting spells… likely a side effect of Mei's Honkai Stigmata, its burden transferred to him.
He picked up the third page.
[It's been a while since I wrote in this diary. It feels… nostalgic.]
[So much has happened in these past years. I almost died so many times, but I always pulled through. I met so many people, made so many friends.]
[Today, Kiana and I visited Nagazora, the place where we first met. It was a dark time. Dad was in prison, I was bullied at Chiba Academy… but then Kiana came into my life.]
[We found my old diaries.]
[Kiana asked me about the brother in the diary. Where is he now?]
[I couldn't answer. After I left the hospital, my brother went with Dad. I asked Dad many times, but he always said my brother was overseas, that he might never return.]
[Humanity will soon overcome the Finality, but Kiana will be alone on the moon… I'll miss her. Will she be alright? Will she still skip breakfast? I have to visit her often.]
[—2017.11.25]
"Nothing useful, just a rehash of the original story. Mei met Kiana, became the Herrscher of Origin, defeated Kevin, helped Kiana become the Herrscher of the End." He was more interested in the anomalies, the traces of Bizarre.
Only one line stood out: Dad said my brother was overseas, that he might never return.
Too many questions. Why send him away? And "might never return"? That implied Ryoma knew where he was, and that he was being held against his will.
Imprisoned.
"Why imprison an ordinary boy? It makes no sense. Even if he wasn't ordinary, why would Ryoma do that?"
"Every action has a purpose, especially for a man like Ryoma. He wouldn't do something meaningless."
"It wasn't for business or social status. There's only one explanation: imprisoning the boy benefited Mei."
A powerful CEO, imprisoning a boy… it was absurd. Unless the boy was not ordinary.
But that wasn't the whole truth. The laptop had promised him the truth, the complete picture, not just cryptic hints.
"One last page. Don't disappoint me."
He raised his gun, ready to fire at the slightest sign of Bizarre activity.
[They lied to me…]
[Everyone lied…!]
[This isn't right! This isn't how it's supposed to be!]
[No… I can change it… I can change the ending!]
The words vanished, replaced by an image.
The Herrscher of Origin, clad in gold armor, her hair flowing, her dress shimmering, impossibly beautiful.
But beneath her feet… a mountain of corpses, a landscape of broken bones and rotting flesh, all bearing his face. The same face, repeated endlessly, filling the streets, the alleys, the buildings… Each corpse marked by a desperate struggle.
"This is the real Mei? Then who is the Mei I know? Human? Or Bizarre?" This image… the moment before she became a Bizarre entity. Something had broken her.
He put down the diary, scanning the cabin. Nothing new, except for the cage.
Two choices:
Leave. Go to the cemetery. Return to the new world.
Enter the cage.
The first option was safer. He could probably survive until eighteen.
But he hadn't learned the connection between the two worlds.
The second option was risky. Something might happen. He might be trapped.
"If I can't find the truth now, there's no reason for the second page to stop me."
"If every Bizarre infestation has a source, it's not the cabin, but the cage."
"It has a power, a meaning, a connection to the new world."
His instincts screamed at him to enter the cage. The second page wanted him to stay in the new world. The world itself had tried to prevent him from reaching the cabin.
He was stronger now, wielding the Herrscher of Reason's power, the Star of Eden, his Bizarre left hand, and his near-immortality.
If he didn't do this now, he might never get another chance.
He stepped into the cage.
The light vanished, plunging the cabin into darkness. Chains rattled, the air growing cold, binding his hands, his feet, his neck. A cage within a cage, a prison he couldn't escape.
He was a trapped beast, his power contained, his freedom lost.