The days of the safe house, as if the slow release button had been pressed, seemed to sink into a sticky and silent mire.
Chen Mo strictly abides by Lin Wenyuan's instructions, like a moss growing in a dark corner, minimizing his sense of existence. He used canned food and bottled water to maintain his life, scrubbed his body with limited water, and spent most of his time curled up in that narrow corner, closing his eyes, or doing boring physical recovery training-push-ups, squats, stretching, and moving slowly to avoid making any noise that might attract attention.
He doesn't dare to fall asleep easily, even if he does, he is in a very shallow state and may wake up at any time. Darkness and silence are his best cover, but they have also become hotbeds of inner fear and suspicion. Every time there is an abnormal noise downstairs (he can feel the vibration of the floor), every time the wind blows the gap in the worn curtains, he will instantly tighten his nerves and involuntarily touch the light dagger hidden beside him.
After the purification of ancient mirror fragments, the wound on the back healed faster than expected, and the gray-black erosion trace has subsided, leaving only a scar with a slightly darker color, and occasionally there was a slight itching. But Chen Mo knew that the real trouble was not on the surface of the body.
The abnormality of the left ear is increasing at an alarming rate.
The initial tingling sensation has turned into a continuous and subtle tingling and burning, as if the root of the ear nail is merging and growing deeper with his bones and nerves. He didn't dare to use any tools to spy on the inside of the ear canal, but just touching the auricle with his fingers, he could feel the induration under the skin, like calcified tissue, and like some kind of ... crystal spreading under the skin.
What scares him even more is that his perception of "logical echo" shows signs of getting out of control.
At first, it was only an occasional "auditory hallucination"-in absolute silence, he would "listen" to some meaningless and broken syllables or noises, just like the radio was tuned in the wrong frequency. But gradually, these "auditory hallucinations" began to have a faint emotional color: sometimes deep sadness, sometimes sharp fear, and sometimes chaotic gibberish.
At first, he thought that the safe house itself carried too many memories of negative emotions (after all, Lin Wenyuan chose this place as a safe house, which may also have its special history), but when he concentrated on "listening", he found that the sources of these echoes were erratic, sometimes from the wall, sometimes from the floor, and sometimes even ... as if from the depths of his own body, from the earrings that were deeply integrated with him.
Ear stud is no longer just passively receiving external information, but it seems to play or amplify something actively and uncontrollably-perhaps it is the chaotic logic fragments it has absorbed and stored in the long years, or it is an over-sensitive response to the weak "concepts" emitted by the surrounding environment (including Chen Mo itself).
This makes Chen Mo's spirit always in a tense and disturbed state, making it difficult to really relax and rest. Headaches have become the norm, and it is difficult to concentrate for a long time.
He knows that this is a clear signal of deepening erosion. Su Yat-sen's warnings of "structural abnormality" and "out of control of perception" are being fulfilled one by one in him. All this is probably related to his high-intensity use ability in the salon, and a series of events such as being eroded by shadow forces and forcibly purifying with ancient mirror fragments. Every contact and confrontation with the "conceptual" forces is accelerating the transformation of his relics.
He needs a "relic stabilization device" or other means of suppression. But at the moment, he is isolated, and even the channels for obtaining information are almost cut off. Sue yat sen villa to the old com has been turned off, he dare not easily boot, afraid of being reverse tracking. There is no news from Lin Wenyuan, and the agreed contact information has not been started.
Time passes slowly in anxiety and confrontation with self-variation. Chen Mo began to record the changes of his symptoms, and tried to control and guide the perception of earrings with willpower, just as Su Yat-sen trained him. But it's a hundred times more difficult than training in a safe environment, because he can't screen out the chaotic "background noise" that comes from himself.
Late at night on the third day, the situation changed.
In a shallow sleep, Chen Mo was suddenly awakened by a strong echo of sadness and despair like a tsunami! This emotion was so strong and real that it flooded his consciousness in an instant, making him almost suffocated and tears poured out uncontrollably.
The source of the echo ... is not the outside world, not the earrings, but the piece he keeps close to his body-"blood marrow stone"!
Since Lin Wenyuan's villa came back, he kept this stone carefully and didn't touch it again. But at the moment, under the absolute silence of the safe house and the disorder of its own perception, this stone seems to have been "activated" and began to actively radiate the strong negative emotions contained inside it!
Chen Mo struggled to sit up, trembling hands pulled out the velvet cloth bag from the inner bag. Even through the cloth, the surging sense of sadness and despair is still clearly discernible, and it seems to resonate with the variation of his left ear stud! The burning sensation of the earrings has intensified, and those chaotic "auditory hallucinations" have begun to be mixed with clear voices like countless people crying, pleading and desperate shouting!
Blood marrow stone is affecting him! In other words, his own unstable state has aroused the internal power of the "blood marrow stone"!
Chen Mo immediately realized the danger. Lin Wenyuan said that this thing can slightly affect people's emotions and judgments. However, in the current situation of deepening erosion and cognitive disorder, its influence may be magnified a hundred times, and may even lead to mental breakdown!
He must get rid of it at once, or at least isolate it!
He struggled with the whining and tumbling negative emotions in his mind, stumbled up and found an idle small sealed stainless steel medicine box in the medical bag. He stuffed the "blood marrow stone" into the medicine box together with the velvet bag, covered it tightly, and then wrapped it with the tape he found.
After all this, put the sealed medicine box into the bottom of the backpack and stay away from the body. That strong emotional echo was finally isolated and weakened to an almost imperceptible level.
Chen Mo collapsed on the ground, sweating like a collapse. The burning pain of the earrings and the noise in my mind have gradually subsided, but the residual sadness still lingers.
"Even the derivative of a low-level relic is almost uncontrollable ..." Chen Mo felt a deep weakness and anxiety. The erosion is deepening, but his control over his own ability is weakening. If this goes on, let alone investigating Zhou Wenyuan and saving his sister, he may collapse first, or be completely assimilated into something inhuman by earrings.
He has to do something. You can't just sit back and wait.
An idea gradually became clear in his mind-ancient mirror fragments.
It purifies the shadow erosion behind him, seems to have some unique connection with him, and it also contains powerful "conceptual" power. Can you ... use it to counter or balance the erosion of [whispering earrings]?
This idea is very dangerous. Fragments of ancient mirrors are the core relics of "faceless women", which are strange and uncontrollable. Using them to resist the erosion of another relic is tantamount to inviting wolves into the room, and may even cause worse consequences.
But Chen Mo has no better choice. Sue yat sen villa can't contact, the association can't go back, and Lin Wenyuan can't believe it all. He must use all the resources at hand to gain time and vitality for himself.
He took out the lead box again and opened it. A few pieces of ancient mirror lay quietly inside, glowing with cold light in the dark. He stretched out his finger and carefully touched the edge of the largest fragment.
The cold touch came, accompanied by some vague and broken images-the theater of the Republic of China, the woman in front of the mirror, endless darkness and despair. But unlike before, this time, Chen Mo felt that there seemed to be a faint affinity related to his own blood inside the debris, and ... a little restlessness after being agitated by the emotion of "blood marrow stone".
He tried to concentrate and slowly "close" his consciousness to the debris, as he did when purifying the wound before. Not to "eavesdrop", but to "feel" and try to establish deeper and two-way communication.
At first, the debris only trembled slightly, giving off a resistant and cold echo. However, as Chen Mo continues to convey his desire for survival, his concern for his sister and his firm will to try to control his own destiny (these emotions are amplified and conveyed through some connection of earrings), the resistance of debris seems to have weakened.
A strange and indescribable feeling is established between Chen Mo and the debris. He seemed to "see" the chaotic, sad and mirror-like logic inside the debris, and the debris seemed to "feel" the struggle and unyielding in the depths of his soul.
No words, no specific agreement. But in this mysterious "communication", Chen Mo felt that the constant burning pain and erosion in his left ear seemed to be ... shared by a part of the past?
It's like two forces have formed a delicate balance in his body-the erosion force of the ear nail tries to go deep, while the force of the ancient mirror fragment is like a shield or an anchor point, attracting, dispersing and even transforming some erosion forces?
Chen Mo was not sure whether this was a real relief or an illusion before the collapse. However, his headache did ease a little, and the burning pain of the earrings became tolerable. Those chaotic "auditory hallucinations" also temporarily ebbed and became vague background sounds in the distance.
Effective! At least temporarily!
A glimmer of hope rose in Chen Mo's heart, but more vigilance. He knows that this balance is extremely fragile, and the power of introducing ancient mirror fragments is undoubtedly another more unstable bomb buried in his body. The ancient mirror fragment is willing to "help" now, perhaps because it also needs a "host" to resist its own dissipation, or because it has some unknown attraction or confrontation relationship with the power of earrings.
Once this fragile balance is broken, the consequences are unimaginable.
But for now, he needs this temporary respite.
For the next two days, Chen Mo carefully maintained this dangerous balance. He spends several hours every day, concentrating on "communicating" with ancient mirror fragments, consolidating that weak connection and guiding it to share the erosion pressure of earrings. At the same time, he also continued to try to control his own perception, trying to distinguish between what is the real external echo and what is the "noise" made by earrings or debris.
His state is good and bad. Sometimes you can get a few hours of relative clarity and peace; Sometimes it will be knocked down by sudden chaotic echoes or severe headaches. The crystallization induration around the left ear seems to have stopped spreading rapidly, but there is no sign of abating.
The body recovers slowly in the safe house, but the spirit walks hard on the tightrope.
Until the fifth day in the evening, has been silent old com, suddenly in Chen Mo close-fitting pocket, there was a very slight, but there is a certain rhythm of vibration!
It's Su yat sen villa! The agreed emergency contact signal!
Chen Mo spirit a flap, immediately took out a com, boot. A very short message with multiple encryption is displayed on the screen:
"Safe. The light rain is stable. Check the' other shore' warehouse' Pier 3' and warehouse B7. Suspected to be a' ghost eye' experimental field. The danger is extremely high. Don't trespass. Observe first. The new identity information is in the old place (you know). Take care. "
The information is automatically destroyed after ten seconds of display.
Chen Mo tightly hold com, cold metal shell there was a trace of warmth.
Su yat sen villa is fine! Chen Yu is also safe! Moreover, she found a new clue-the storage point of "the other side gallery" may be the place where "Ghost Eye" Yu Pei conducted "experiments"!
A new mission has come. Although he is unstable and the road ahead is dangerous, he can't hide any longer.
He looked at the backpack sealed with "blood marrow stone" in the corner, and touched the ancient mirror fragments and earrings in his arms.
The break is over.
It's time to step into that darkness again.