When Lin Sanjiu frenziedly slashed the human-shaped standee with her vibroblade, Douglas's words echoed in her mind.
"This world is named after a horror story... so, it's probably related to urban legends or something."
The standee, no longer resembling anything human, lay in tatters. Shreds of cardboard floated in the air, remnants of the destroyed standee. Gasping for air, Lin Sanjiu stored her vibroblade with trembling hands.
Her heart raced as she tried to calm herself.
"Look, it turned to shreds without any resistance. There is nothing scary—"
She repeated these words to herself, but she couldn't stay in the store any longer. Avoiding the pile of shredded cardboard, Lin Sanjiu clutched the Science and Technology Frontier magazine, skirted the shelf, and hurried out of the convenience store.
"Could dark matter animate inanimate objects?"
Glancing back at the convenience store, it appeared just as devastated as before, seemingly harmless. Her heart raced again, and the urge to explore vanished. She wanted nothing more than to return to the hotel and started sprinting back.
Though Douglas was neither family nor friend, his presence comforted Lin Sanjiu.
"Douglas!"
The second-floor corridor was as she left it: dark and silent, as if deserted. For some reason, Lin Sanjiu suddenly recalled the thin layer of dust on Douglas's doorknob, making her anxious. She raised her voice, saying, "Douglas, come out!"
A door to her left clicked open, spilling light and the sound of a video game into the corridor, revealing a different scene. Douglas, puzzled, peeked out, "What's up? Did something happen?"
Relieved, Lin Sanjiu laughed at herself.
"So, I knocked on the wrong door. Douglas's room is 205, but I tried 207. No wonder that doorknob was dusty."
"I've found some information. Let's see if we can figure out the rules of this world," Lin Sanjiu said, holding up the magazine. Another magazine fell from her grasp; she hadn't realized she'd grabbed two in her haste to leave the store.
Inside Douglas's room, she laid the magazines on the table and opened them. The first-person shooter game on the TV was paused, the screen frozen on a gun aimed at zombies.
"Haven't you had enough of killing those things in real life? How is this still fun for you?" Lin Sanjiu couldn't grasp Douglas's enjoyment of the game. She pulled up two chairs to the table and sat down with him.
"You don't understand. The game's content is rich, especially the inventory and maps," Douglas replied offhandedly. He glanced at the article Lin Sanjiu showed him, then clicked his tongue.
"Dark matter, or as this article calls it, dark energy, will corrode everything in this world..." He rubbed his chin, his stubble nearly as long as his hair. "This world is Kisaragi Train Station... Do you think dark matter is what we usually refer to as, erm, you know... the paranormal?"
This aligned with Lin Sanjiu's initial speculation, but the idea seemed too far-fetched for her. As an atheist, she found it hard to believe in a cosmic ghost army invading this world.
"They might not have been killed," Douglas mused, seemingly unafraid. "Perhaps everyone here turned into dark matter and drifted into space."
"That's ridiculous!" Lin Sanjiu laughed, her earlier fears fading in the well-lit room's comforting atmosphere. "Have you had any strange experiences?"
Douglas thought for a long time with a half-opened mouth. "I think I dropped something while collecting video games. When I looked back, it was gone. But things like that happen in other worlds too; I don't see it as supernatural." He shrugged. "Apart from that, I just eat, sleep, and hit Dou Dou 1. It's a little boring, but it could be worse."
'His world has the same joke,' Lin Sanjiu said, feeling a connection. She laughed, feeling more at ease. Maybe those Feng Shui concepts she'd heard of had some validity here. Perhaps Douglas, being male with more Yang energy, was less susceptible to dark matter. The Yin-Yang theory was fitting for this explanation.
"Alright, I'll head back to my room to rest and clean up. I'll join you tonight to play Dou Dou," she said, standing and gesturing towards the zombie in the game they nicknamed Dou Dou.
Douglas picked up the game controller. "Okay! Don't forget your magazine. See you later."
People's greatest fears come from the unknown. After discovering that the incidents were related to dark matter, she didn't feel as tense as before. She took out her key and opened the door to her room. Upon entering, her gaze met the Teru Teru Bozu's black eyes.
"I forgot you were guarding this place," she whispered, turning on the lights. The room was unchanged. Feeling cold and grimy, she longed for a hot shower. Since the chicken fried rice incident, she'd been hugging her jacket closely. She entered the bathroom and turned on the shower, testing the water; it was steaming hot, quickly filling the room with steam.
Lin Sanjiu had not seen any taps since she bathed in the large pool at the Garden of Eden's sponsor's place. Momentarily forgetting this world's creepy strangeness, she felt grateful. She found a toothbrush and towel but, upon seeing the bathroom mirror, gasped.
"I'll just cover it with a blanket," Lin Sanjiu said. Though she hadn't experienced it firsthand, she had heard many ghost stories. "Mirrors seem to be inauspicious."
After covering the mirror, the space indeed felt much safer. Lin Sanjiu removed her boots, which landed with a heavy thud on the floor. Next, she needed to undress. This wasn't worth mentioning—if she could remove the cotton-padded jacket.
Despite having unzipped it, the jacket wouldn't come off; it felt as though it weighed a ton. When Lin Sanjiu attempted to pull it away, it seemed to constrict, squeezing her tightly. Her face turned purple, and she almost thought she heard her ribcage cracking.
As hot water continued to pour from the shower, the steam thickened. Enveloped in the mist, Lin Sanjiu became a struggling figure on the floor.
"What... what's wrong?" Mrs. Manas's anxious voice echoed in her mind. Lin Sanjiu needed every ounce of her strength just to breathe, so she couldn't respond. The jacket seemed to harbor a malicious intent, determined to suffocate her. Yet, Lin Sanjiu wasn't intimidated by this overt assault. Despite her discomfort, her mind remained clear. She activated [No coincidence. No story], placing one hand on the jacket's exterior and the other inside. Then, she activated [Mosaic Censorship].
Thanks to [No coincidence. No story], which slightly improved her luck, she did not blast her abdomen into pieces, just the flowery cotton-padded jacket.
Once it was destroyed, the jacket lost its hold and slid off, revealing the singlet beneath. Lin Sanjiu collapsed, gasping for air. The warm steam seemed to make breathing even more difficult.
'Even though I don't know what you're doing, and I know you mean no harm,' Lin Sanjiu protested inwardly, 'you should leave me with at least a bit of Higher Consciousness! I might need it to survive!'
Mrs. Manas, having understood the situation through Lin Sanjiu's mindscape and recognizing her fault, didn't mention Lin Sanjiu's disrespect. She responded with a vague acknowledgment, indicating her agreement with Lin Sanjiu.
After a while, Mrs. Manas said almost ingratiatingly, "Well, you can use your Higher Consciousness to resist many types of attacks... It might be useful here. Shall I teach you this method now?"
Lin Sanjiu scoffed and didn't reply, taking advantage of this opportunity to vent her anger.
After being nearly suffocated to death in the bathroom, she lost the mood to bathe. She looked at the jacket on the floor and sat silently for some time. Suddenly, she realized something and quickly ran over to knock on the door of Room 207.
Hearing the knocks, Douglas went to open the door. He was astonished when he saw Lin Sanjiu standing with her hair and face wet.
"Wait, slow down. You mean, your jacket attacked you?" He was still holding his game controller, his face in disbelief.
"The scraps of cloth are still on the floor of the bathroom. You can go see if you don't believe me," Lin Sanjiu replied stiffly.
"I don't mean—"
"Anyway, I thought of something," Lin Sanjiu interjected; she wasn't in the mood to listen. "The article did mention that all matter would be corroded by black energy, right? This means that everything we are in contact with is dark matter. If your conjecture is right, doesn't it mean that everything here is dangerous? Just like my jacket!"
"What you said sounds logical... but I have a different perspective."
"What?"
"Look, I've lived here for more than a month, yet I haven't experienced anything weird, let alone life-threatening. If everything could attack me, how would I still be alive now? Hey, I am not doubting you, but if we explain this based on superstition, it would make perfect sense."
He found a dry towel and handed it to Lin Sanjiu to wipe her face, continuing, "The owner of the cotton-padded jacket must have already passed away; in any ghost story, that would mean that the jacket is haunted. If you run around wearing a dead person's clothes, do you think you will be fine?!"
This was the first time Lin Sanjiu thought about this. After pausing, she found that what he said made sense. In the past, she wasn't interested in such stories, so she wasn't familiar with the line of logic in such supernatural tales. She suddenly remembered the pair of old-fashioned cloth shoes and smiled bitterly. She held the towel tightly in her hands. "I guess the owner of every clothing in this world is dead... Do you want me to freeze to death?"
There wasn't a single clothing store in this tourist area's street.
Douglas didn't seem to think that it was a problem. He smiled and replied, "There weren't just electronic stores on Electronic Street, where I went to, but also many eateries and clothes stores. Maybe try there."
"Do I have to take the train?"
"I usually take the train there, but you could walk; it's not too far." Douglas, well-acquainted with the area, sketched a quick map for her, saying, "I'm at a crucial point in my game right now, so I can't join you. But do bring back some video games."
Lin Sanjiu had calmed down quite a bit by then. She nodded, accepting the map. Since Douglas had never encountered what she had been through, his nonchalance was expected. Still, Lin Sanjiu knew the seriousness of her situation. She thanked him and promptly departed.
A normal person would need at least two hours to complete the journey on foot, but a posthuman could make the trip in under 20 minutes. Along the way, she did not waste her time, learning to use Higher Consciousness for defense and its various applications. Putting it simply, a normal person's thoughts are merely thoughts. However, a user of Higher Consciousness could gather numerous Higher Consciousness imbued thoughts to materialize a mental projection or create an internal barrier, among other possibilities. There was a saying that achieving the peak of Higher Consciousness allowed one to fulfill any of their wishes, much like a wish in a Lunar New Year greeting.
However, with Lin Sanjiu's current ability, she couldn't even protect herself from the cold, so she had no choice but to look for a clothes store. The electronic street was not long but packed with many different shops and stalls. It had been a very lively place before the apocalypse. Lin Sanjiu finally found a clothes store after covering half the street. She found a thick woolen overcoat and a down jacket. Following Mrs. Manas's suggestion, she even converted two long johns into cards.
"Now, I should get some video games for Douglas."
Lin Sanjiu pushed open the doors to the largest electronics store and paused, staring ahead blankly. "Weren't you... back in the hotel playing video games? How did you get here before me?"
The man behind the shelves turned his head at the sound of the door opening—it was Douglas.
"After you left, I cleared the stage. That crappy game had a strong start but a weak finish." Douglas rubbed his head and appeared slightly embarrassed. "Knowing that you would be here, I decided to come over to have a look... Did I scare you?"
"Oh, not really." Lin Sanjiu felt safer with a companion by her side and laughed. "Well, now you can choose your games."
Douglas chuckled, adding, "Other worlds don't even have working electricity; I can finally satisfy my gaming addiction here." Then, he occupied himself once again by searching through the various games.
"The last video game I played was during my university years," Lin Sanjiu said, feeling slightly out of place among the various game-filled racks. The store was vast and sold a wide range of video games, gaming consoles, headsets, DVDs, and related merchandise.
Since she didn't have much to do, she looked around casually. She had only walked briefly when she heard Mrs. Manas call her from her mindscape, her voice sounding a little shaky, "S-Student Lin."
Lin Sanjiu tensed up. She was about to question Mrs. Manas when Douglas looked up from a shelf far from her. He peered at her doubtfully and asked, "Did you hear that? I think I heard a voice calling a student."