Chapter 3164: Chapter 3165: Redundancy

In the puzzled eyes of Luigi, Angel strode to the tile where Luigi had been sitting before, and gently tapped the ground with his cane.

A crisp "thud thud" sound suddenly rang out.

Previously, every time the cane struck the wall or the floor, the sound was dull, indicating that it was solid underneath. But this time, the sound was so crisp, suggesting a high probability of a hidden space beneath this tile.

It seems he had overlooked something obvious before.

Angel silently mocked himself but didn’t hesitate. He placed the sharp end of the cane gently at the crack on the edge of the tile and cleverly pried it upwards.

The tile flipped open smoothly, revealing the dark space beneath.

The space wasn’t big, just half a meter square.

Inside the space beneath the tile, there was nothing except a somewhat battered thread-bound notebook.

Angel picked up the thread-bound notebook, and although there were no words on the cover, there was no doubt that this was Shok’s diary.

"Oh, Shok’s notebook is actually here?" Luigi touched his chin and walked forward: "It’s quite well hidden, were you looking for it just now?"

Angel: "Whether it was well hidden is another matter. But the fact that it was kept warm by your sitting on it is true."

Luigi: "..." Is it really that exaggerated?

Watching Angel open the notebook, Luigi moved closer: "You say you have something to do, is it just to read this diary? I heard from others who have read the diary that there isn’t anything special in it."

Angel ignored Luigi’s words and diligently read it page by page.

Each page of the diary wasn’t long.

It makes sense, Shok had the misfortune of falling into the Demonic Ghosts within the Mirror. In the chaos, being able to record a sentence or two would already be commendable, let alone write at length.

In less than five minutes, Angel had finished reading the entire diary.

The general content described what happened to Shok after coming to the Demonic Ghosts within the Mirror. However, from Shok’s narrative, it was clear that the first ten entries were supplemented by Shok after entering the hidden chamber, and were not written at the time, but were a kind of retrospective recording.

There were a total of thirteen journal entries. The first ten recorded Shok’s various experiences after arriving in the Demonic Ghosts within the Mirror. The last three entries were about Shok’s mindset after finding the hidden chamber and confirming that escape was hopeless, as well as some of his last words.

The last three entries didn’t have any special content, and the last words, as Luigi mentioned, focused on this line: "Outside the hidden chamber’s door, I can already hear the laughter of those evil ghosts, and I also heard footsteps... If only one minute could be used as a year, no, even just a month, a day, or even half an hour, I would be willing to give everything for that... He’s coming..."

This sentence reveals the secret of the Ghost House’s creation.

As a result, Baba Ragon, Luigi, and others who had experienced the Ghost House all paid more attention to the last five entries of the diary.

However, after reading the entire diary, Angel was more concerned about the first ten entries.

Before reading Shok’s diary, Angel knew only a rough story: a human named Shok accidentally arrived in the Demonic Ghosts within the Mirror. Facing the endless pursuit by Mirror Ghosts, he accidentally found his way to a dark underground hidden chamber.

This background story appeared to progress swiftly, giving the illusion that Shok found the underground hidden chamber soon after entering the Mirror Domain.

But actually, after reading the diary, it became apparent that the truth wasn’t so simple.

After arriving at the hidden chamber, Shok supplemented ten journal entries, indicating that after falling into the Demonic Ghosts within the Mirror, before he found the hidden chamber, he had endured at least ten days.

Of course, Angel was skeptic whether it was indeed ten days, as the Ghost Phantom couldn’t measure time, and the concept of time could have been twisted and blurred; unless Shok carried a pocket watch-like timing tool.

Currently, it’s unknown if Shok had a timing tool, but since he supplemented ten entries, it’s assumed he indeed experienced ten days.

Imagine, an ordinary person falls into the Demonic Ghosts within the Mirror, faced with looming Mirror Ghosts, how could they survive?

Angel couldn’t think of an answer.

Not to mention ordinary people, even a Transcendent falling into the Demonic Ghosts within the Mirror might not find a way to survive.

Yet Shok, as an ordinary person, survived for ten days in the Demonic Ghosts within the Mirror, which puzzled Angel.

Shok was confirmed to be ordinary because, in the first ten diary entries, Shok often repeated searching for food and water. A Transcendent wouldn’t care about food in such a situation.

To summarize, the content of the first ten diary entries was roughly: "I was almost discovered, fortunately I wasn’t noticed, run run run, this thing seems edible, keep running, found a building, there’s something to drink, ah! There’s a ghost inside, keep running."

These records were tedious and highly repetitive, lacking any peculiarity. It’s normal for Baba Ragon and others to overlook them.

But Angel found them quite awkward.

He had a constant suspicion that those Mirror Ghosts were "blind."

Clearly, Shok was an ordinary person, how did those Mirror Ghosts manage to ignore him? Not completely ignore, as Mirror Ghosts would grab Shok upon seeing him, yet Shok always managed to escape successfully.

This was truly puzzling.

Countless popular novels have similar records; even the bravest warriors seem powerless and unable to resist or escape in the face of Extraordinary Power.

Angel agreed with this.

Shok was brave and bold, but ultimately, he was an ordinary person. How did he repeatedly escape the pursuit of Mirror Ghosts?

Angel turned to look at Luigi: "Have you ever thought that Shok’s repeated escapes from the Mirror Ghosts are actually quite remarkable?"

Luigi nodded: "I’ve thought about it, but there’s nothing special about it... Shok’s last words could even generate a semi-mysterious object, suggesting he’s not that ordinary."

"Perhaps he had some extraordinary trait?"

Luigi meant that although they knew Shok was an ordinary person, ordinary people might possess some unique strengths. Like special talents recorded in popular novels, perhaps Shok had a talent for evading the Mirror Ghosts?

Or, Shok might have a time-sensing delay talent, allowing him to avoid the Mirror Ghosts’ pursuit repeatedly.

Angel: "If he really had any special talent, he would’ve been able to escape the last time as well, how could he have resigned himself to death?"

Luigi: "You’re right, but perhaps his talent was exhausted?"

Angel shook his head, thinking Luigi’s perspective leaned towards being "self-assumed"; once an answer is set inside, thoughts tend to align towards that answer.

While Angel himself was not entirely unbiased, he firmly believed Shok was just an ordinary person, without any special talent.

If Shok did have any talent to evade Mirror Ghosts, Angel personally believed he would have recorded it in his last diary entry. Since he didn’t write it, it suggests there wasn’t any.

Of course, this lacks solid evidence. The specific situation remains unclear to anyone.

But from Angel’s viewpoint, Shok’s behavior presented no oddities; the peculiar ones were the Mirror Ghosts.

He vaguely guessed, perhaps the Mirror Ghosts never intended to kill Shok from the start, otherwise Shok couldn’t have shaken off the Mirror Ghosts again and again and even found enough food and drink to sustain life.

But if the Mirror Ghosts aren’t trying to kill Shawk, what’s their objective?

——To force Shawk to go to a certain place.

This is a speculation Angel made after deep thought.

Perhaps it wasn’t Shawk who discovered the secret chamber, but the Mirror Ghosts who compelled Shawk to come to this chamber.

As for why they wanted to force Shawk into this chamber? Angel doesn’t know, but he has a whimsical, unfounded idea.

Simply put, it’s baseless conjecture...

Shawk coming into the secret chamber might have formed a kind of ritual.

And Shawk dying in the chamber could be a form of sacrificial death, a sacrifice for the success of the ceremony.

The host of this ceremony is most likely Shawk’s diary entry’s last footstep’s owner, the "he" from "he’s coming."

The other Mirror Ghosts spared Shawk; only this "he" killed Shawk.

In Angel’s view, this "he" is the mastermind of everything, urging the Mirror Ghosts to spare Shawk while forcing Shawk to enter the secret chamber.

So, if there really is a ceremony inside, the person hosting this ceremony must be the last "he" from the diary.

However, Angel can’t even imagine what the purpose of the ceremony is.

Could it be a ceremony that might create a "mysterious object"?

Or perhaps a special kind of ceremony, but the ceremony failed, and the residual energy led to the birth of Shawk’s ghost house?

In any case, after reading the diary, Angel’s confusion only increased.

Angel shared his speculation with Luigi, who, after listening, didn’t immediately refute but rather curiously asked, "Why exactly do you lean towards thinking about ceremonies?"

Angel: "Because I haven’t understood why there’s a step involving searching for a safe house. In my view, this step is unnecessary. In Transcendent studies, any apparently meaningless yet indispensable redundant step is likely related to rituals."

Luigi previously didn’t know that the true reason behind Angel’s suspicion was the ’search for a safe house’ step, initially thinking Angel was purely picking a quarrel.

Now that he’s heard Angel’s reasoning, Luigi also finds it odd. Indeed, this safe house search step seems rather unnecessary, doesn’t it?

Angel: "If the search for a safe house is considered a preliminary step for some ceremony, then it makes sense."

Luigi pondered for a moment and said, "The ceremony you speculated about, whether true or not, has already passed. Shawk is dead, and the ghost house has become a secret treasure."

"Since the ghost house is already a secret treasure, considering the ceremony again seems unnecessary, doesn’t it?"

Angel looked at Luigi: "Indeed, if Shawk is dead and the ceremony has ended, it’s indeed unnecessary to ponder further. But what if... the ceremony hasn’t ended?"

"Now, if the search for a safe house is indeed a step in the ceremony, might it indicate that this ceremony hasn’t truly concluded?"

Luigi furrowed his brows: "If the ceremony hasn’t ended, what do you think it could be?"

Angel spread his hands: "I don’t know either. My guess is that this ceremony might have more steps, and the safe house search is one of them, while others haven’t yet appeared... If the ritual can truly be completed, perhaps the ghost house will undergo new transformations?"

New transformations? Luigi squinted: "Are you implying that if the ceremony is completed, the ghost house will evolve from an ordinary secret treasure into a genuine mysterious object?"

Angel: "I don’t know; that might be one possibility, but there are other possibilities too."

"Other possibilities?" Luigi asked in confusion.

Angel shrugged: "For instance, summoning a Great Demon God named Luigi, wreaking havoc among humans or something..."

Luigi: "..."

Angel jested while putting the diary back under the floor tile.

"I don’t have much knowledge of Ritual Studies, but Ritual Studies is primarily used for guiding Deities’ descent." Angel: "None of this is really important; it doesn’t concern us anyway..."

Angel was eager to research purely out of a curiosity that lasted three days.

Luigi: "Just when my interest was piqued, you suddenly stop. This kind of behavior..."

Angel: "Playing with fire?"

Luigi: "???"

Angel: "I give you sixty points for lacking that devilish charm."

With Luigi’s bewildered expression, Angel walked to the cellar’s doorway.

The entrance was still bathed in rainbow light, indicating its close connection with the Power of Time.

Now that Luigi has mastered "Black Sheep Confession Song," it’s time to leave. And the method of departure is simple; according to Luigi, just touch this light membrane resembling flowing light to leave.

Angel reached out his hand, touching the light membrane.

An invisible mysterious rhythm immediately surrounded Angel.

Without needing Angel to perceive, he instantly felt enlightened: Just by shifting his thoughts, he could leave the ghost house.

This was indeed consistent with Luigi’s explanation.

However, what intrigued Angel more was that the mysterious rhythm also conveyed another message: Besides using his mind to exit the ghost house, he could also choose to go to the outside staircase, returning to the original flat land.

Angel shared this discovery with Luigi.

Luigi: "That’s quite normal... It’s always been this way."

Even though Luigi hadn’t entered the ghost house before, he had heard of this from others’ accounts. Through the light membrane, one can choose to exit the ghost house or exit the safe house.

To him, it seemed normal.

But Angel said, "Redundant choices, are they really normal?"

"Redundant..." Luigi seemed to realize something: "You mean, this might also be a step of some ceremony?"

Angel: "How would I know? But, when you go out, you could mention this to Baba Ragon; perhaps he can figure something out."

With that said, Angel didn’t waste more words and directly chose to "leave the ghost house."

As his thoughts shifted, Angel’s figure promptly disappeared inside the cellar.

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