A curse—not only cursing oneself, but also cursing others—

This journey seemed not particularly long, yet the traces left behind were enough to span Xu Zisheng's entire life.

With absolute clarity, he realized that being the final Cursed Child was no gift from the gods, but rather a demon's hand dragging him faster into hell.

He must control that power himself, he must control those desires himself.

He would dominate the madness, not be dominated by it.

Otherwise, in the end, he would only become this world's most terrifying ghost, an unspeakable existence spanning both the real world and the game world.

Once dominated by the curse, he would cross that line within his heart, becoming a dreadful monster filled with endless malice, living only to kill.

While having slightly more vitality than others in this world, that meant facing hysterical madness and boundless despair alone, all by himself.

A loophole had been exploited—

Gui Yi's hoarse voice seemed to only vaguely reach his ears, but Xu Zisheng couldn't respond, momentarily drowned by endless madness.

He felt as if he were in a chaotic black ocean, attempting to destroy everything before him, even at the cost of annihilation.

He had lost control.

He couldn't die—

But he couldn't stop.

Once dead in this world, he wasn't sure who would awaken again—would it still be himself?

『Embrace that power, then drown in this world—you will die, you will be reborn—』

The sinful murmurs continued incessantly, all the rotten, stinking malice flooding into Xu Zisheng's heart, his eyes filled only with an indelible blood-red hue.

The ghost bound by contract in the Blood Book was only with him due to shared interests—how could it possibly intervene when facing such overwhelming power?

Just pull him back—

If only someone would pull him back—

"Dissipate!—"

That guy, who knows what he was thinking, facing death, clearly trembling with soul-deep fear, yet still reached out his hand.

Then, in an instant, turned to ashes, his soul and consciousness vanishing without a trace.

"Boom—"

Xu Zisheng was sent flying by that power, his internal organs feeling as if they'd all shifted positions at once, crashing heavily against the wall. Spiderweb-like cracks spread densely outwards from where he hit.

"Huff—"

The axe clattered to the ground. Xu Zisheng landed slowly, struggling to stand steady, experiencing brief tinnitus.

"Gui... Yi?..."

He couldn't see clearly, shaking his head, trying hard to clear his muddled mind. His gaze searched for the Black-haired Ghost's figure, but could only vaguely see a blurry pile of flesh and blood fragments nearby, completely unrecognizable from its original form.

So glaringly vivid—

The game notification system chose this moment to pop up and cause trouble.

【Current player 『Gui Yi』 has been eliminated】

He didn't know—he didn't know if the game-protection pod could save Gui Yi's life—

Was it even possible?

Facing that curse attack, he hadn't been confident himself, let alone the other guy?

Most likely, in the real world, the damage the other suffered would be fully reflected on his actual body, leaving him torn apart in the game-protection pod, reduced to mere mincemeat.

Over there, Chen Ze, who had used forbidden power, seemed to suffer backlash contamination. His Horror Value instantly peaked, half his head directly exploding, revealing the winding cerebellum inside.

Horrifyingly, black beetles with pupil-less eyes seemed to be crawling in and out of his brain, which had long been riddled with holes from being eaten away.

"This... this really looks beyond saving."

Xiao Gui'an watched the pile of flesh and blood from the system space, the tragic spectacle making him gasp sharply.

After all, it was a body he'd used for a while—he could almost feel the pain again.

A pile of meat paste—maybe it could still be used as fertilizer if scooped up.

Xu Zisheng half-lowered his head, stumbling as he picked up the axe and walked towards Chen Ze.

"Damn, he's not still thinking of fighting, is he?!" Xiao Gui'an couldn't see Xu Zisheng's expression, nor did he know if the other had regained clarity from that earlier blow.

On the screen, a ghostly figure rapidly extended from the shadows beneath Xu Zisheng's feet, charging towards Chen Ze, who was suffering power backlash.

The contracted ghost that had been silent earlier, seeming as if dead, was now serving Xu Zisheng more eagerly than anyone.

It was another ghost, a master of stealth, a peeker hiding within shadows.

A stagnant pool.

The shadow ghost felt uneasy, not daring to test things recklessly. That terrifyingly crazy Xu guy's current state was still off—calm yet deathly still, like an endless abyss, making one utterly afraid to speculate.

It could only emerge from the shadows swiftly and accurately, then slash fiercely at Chen Ze's stomach. Using the opening, its hand immediately mistified, reaching inside to rummage around.

In an instant, along with several intestines, it pulled out a small silver safety lock, clutching it in hand.

Got it, retreat immediately!

"That's... mine—" Chen Ze was now at his most wretched—arm broken, half his brain exposed, intestines mixed with blood dangling from his stomach, nearly touching the ground.

"Swish swish—" The shadow ghost immediately vanished without a trace, diving back into Xu Zisheng's shadow, without a ripple.

Xu Zisheng half-knelt before Gui Yi's unrecognizable corpse, his fingertips stopping just before touching it, trembling slightly.

Such scenes of flesh and blood flying everywhere were commonplace in the horror game world, utterly normal occurrences.

But this time, it was because of him.

They'd only been together a short while, right? That's why he was an idiot—

Xu Zisheng had always wanted to live—he craved survival more than anyone.

Gui Yi had pulled him back.

His hands cupped the flesh and blood, but it kept slipping through his fingers.

Calm down, calm down—maybe there's still hope?

Could he still be saved?

Gui Yi was half-ghost—maybe that unspeakable power couldn't completely kill him?

Under this world's rules, could he still hope to save him?

Yes, yes—try, he had to try.

Xu Zisheng's mind still echoed with countless wails and roars, rage and killing intent, and endless regret that nearly burst his heart.

The Blood Book slowly materialized before Xu Zisheng, pages turning without wind, flipping forward with difficulty, passing page after page of blankness.

It seemed with Xu Zisheng's current ability, this was all he could manage.

His figure swayed, but he didn't fall. At his feet, a circular circuit matching the pattern on the Blood Book's page appeared, something boiling within, making the whole world faintly rumble.

Gui Yi's corpse and flesh were enveloped by that power, gradually lifting upwards.

Then they flew into the Blood Book's eleventh page. The originally grayed-out page recording Gui Yi rapidly dissolved, his information beginning to appear on the night-like page.

Finally, a faint light returned to Xu Zisheng's eyes, no longer like stagnant water.

"I signed the origin contract without your consent—hope you're not too angry, Gui Yi..."

Ghost abilities varied widely. Once he survived longer in this world, he'd eventually find a resurrection ability.

If the contract succeeded, maybe Gui Yi was still alive. He needed to clear this instance quickly and find him—

"Origin contract?" Watching the events on screen, Xiao Gui'an slightly raised an eyebrow. "That's what you meant by 'seat,' System?"

The System didn't answer. Xiao Gui'an guessed he was right—the distinctiveness of the book's first twelve pages was obvious to anyone.

Only those twelve pages differed from the others, probably related to Xu Zisheng's greatest reliance—the immensely powerful beings bound to his fate, serving him.

For an external role-playing NPC like himself to occupy one didn't seem right.

Xiao Gui'an didn't think his superficially powerful self deserved a spot. For someone like Xu Zisheng, born as the world's child, bearing the world's operation, every fated being he was meant to contract was probably already waiting somewhere.

His sudden appearance had disrupted everything—wouldn't this affect Xu Zisheng's future development? Xiao Gui'an felt unusually irritated.

"What then, System? Can you remove me from that book?" Watching Xu Zisheng on screen, Xiao Gui'an suddenly realized that beneath the so-called 'protagonist halo' overlay, the other was also a flesh-and-blood person.

Even more sentimental and loyal than he'd imagined.

Not just a few lightly skipped lines of text, not the protagonist under his pen, but a 'companion' he'd interacted with.

Xiao Gui'an 'tsk'ed—for the first time, he felt sorry towards someone. What he least wanted was for Xu Zisheng to also consider his acted 【Gui Yi】 as a friend.

The System sighed gloomily, 【No way—that was his own choice. We don't have the right to change it, and mustn't let him detect our presence—】

【Oh, can't say more—he's here. Find a way to handle it.

Dear 『Writer』, good luck—he's knocking on your door—】

"Knock knock knock—"

On the sixth floor of the second Residential Building, orderly, polite knocking sounded at the Writer's door.

Outside, Xu Zisheng's eyes were calm yet profound as he raised his hand to knock.