Chapter 1966: The Mystery of the Ghost Skull 27

Thanks... thank you...

He sat slumped on the ground, Qing Kai panting heavily, his voice so low it was almost inaudible as he thanked Lin An.

Seeing the three Jinniu surrounding Lin An, he knew it was his turn to be isolated.

It's fine.

Hearing Lin An's calm voice, as if he didn't care at all, Qing Kai gave a bitter smile, not wanting to say more, and silently walked away to stand aside.

Still feeling lingering fear, his body trembled uncontrollably.

Just half a minute ago, he thought he was doomed; after that jumping ghost creature appeared, it stared at him from behind. The fear of being so close to death crushed his will, making him feel the despair of his childhood weakness again.

Then, at that moment, Lin An spoke up and saved him; only now did he fully realize that his self-proclaimed identity as a Star-Destroyer was nothing but a joke.

It's actually mutual gaze... the clue was so obvious, I never even thought of it...!

He clenched his fists silently.

Qing Kai looked back with mixed feelings at Lin An, who was being protected by the crowd; the complex emotions in his heart even made him feel a bit sour.

Lin An is now the lifeline in the eyes of Hai Yao and the others; judging from his heaven-defying performance, this War Star Level Lin An is far stronger than them!

Awesome! 77! I've never seen such a fierce War Star like you!

How did you think of that back then? And what do you think we'll encounter next, where we should go?

He lavished praise without restraint; Jinniu looked at Lin An somewhat excitedly, completely ignoring the giant demon's snort, as if mocking him for now trying to flatter.

It doesn't matter.

If Lin An hadn't acted this time, their entire War Star squad would have been wiped out; just the power Lin An unleashed made him realize this kid's strength could almost take on the whole team.

Perhaps he could look down on this kid in the outside world, but here...

This kid is the golden thigh!

The photo, and also the cause of death of the Divine Archer.

However, there are still some logical issues; the conditions for that thing to kill could be two types, and I still can't confirm which.

From now on, I suggest we don't move, just wait for the others to arrive; the second stage might bring big trouble.

Ignoring Jinniu's attitude, with experience from the Stellar Battlefield, Lin An clearly understood that the so-called Star-Destroyer was merely a stronger Fifth Stage.

You are weak, worthless; he treats you like a merciless god, high and mighty.

But if you need something from him, if your life is at risk, these Star-Destroying Levels fear death even more than ordinary people.

Two conditions!? Big trouble? What does that mean?

Isn't our second stage supposed to continue searching for clues and then rely on the camera to dodge that thing's pursuit? Otherwise, this thing...!

Jinniu froze, instinctively looking at the camera in Lin An's hand.

In his view, the camera they risked their lives to retrieve was just like the crucial props in past missions; next, they would rely on this item to keep pushing through levels until they restored cognitive safety and returned. Otherwise, what's the point of taking such a huge risk?

Lin An's words were like pouring cold water on them! Especially regarding the logic of how the Ghost Skull kills, Lin An himself is now uncertain!

After a moment of thought, Lin An nodded and didn't hide anything:

First is the killing logic of that thing.

Closing the eyes is correct, but judging from the Divine Archer's cause of death, it's hard to say whether he died because he made eye contact with the ghost, or the ghost saw a person through its own eye.

The ghost saw a person through its eye? You mean it saw something inside its own eye?

After that awkward sentence, Lin An finished speaking, and the three of them froze; even Qing Kai, far off to the side, couldn't help but look over.

Seeing everyone stunned, Lin An gave a wry smile; in fact, the second logic was also something he had just thought of.

Yes.

But the second logic is a bit complicated; I'll first talk about killing by mutual gaze.

There are two logics for killing by mutual gaze.

1: We can't see the ghost, but as long as we stand with the ghost facing us and our eyes meet, we die! No need to actually see it; just the condition being met is enough!

That's not impossible.

Although mutual gaze requires both parties to see each other, who knows whether we actually 'see' anything?

Just like divination, we may be unaware of unseen presences, but that doesn't mean we haven't received information; often we simply don't know.

2: We need to face the ghost in front of a camera or mirror. We can see the ghost via reflection, and the ghost happens to meet our eyes.

That's also possible!

Think about it: you all actually saw the reflected ghost face through the camera. According to light refraction, at that moment you counted as making eye contact with the ghost. It's just the angle was different, not aligned like the Divine Archer's.

He paused for a moment, Lin An's expression grew solemn:

If it's the first logic, we're constantly in danger of death! Even if the ghost has disappeared, it's likely still around us; just turning our heads could easily put us eye-to-eye with it!

As his words fell, Qing Kai, who had been eavesdropping on Lin An's talk, felt his heart jolt; his whole body seemed to freeze, his face turning deathly pale!

Damn it! After Lin An said that, he suddenly felt he was going to die again!

Just like Qing Kai, the originally relaxed Jinniu trio now went rigid, not daring to move, their eyes wide and fixed on Lin An, afraid to look elsewhere!

Holy shit! 77! Don't scare me! If that's really the case, do we have to keep our eyes closed?

Seeing Jinniu panic and hurriedly close his eyes, Lin An's expression stalled.

Hmm... actually not needed. I haven't finished yet...

Being too tense also limits the ghost.

Don't you forget? The ghost can't see us, so it trying to find an angle to make eye contact is also difficult. It followed us all the way, even jumping ahead into the room to wait for us. This shows it has some perception of us, but it likely can't locate our eyes.

It's very likely because it has no eyes, so it can't find ours either.

As he said this, Lin An himself froze; for no reason, an extremely bizarre, absurd thought flashed through his mind.

Before Lin An could grasp it, that thought vanished without a trace, impossible to catch again.

Exactly! That's how it is! When I went in to help you, I could clearly feel it looking at me! That thing should be like us with our eyes closed—it can only find people by feeling.

The reaction was still fairly quick.

Jinniu let out a big sigh after speaking, while Hai Yao beside him was sweating on his forehead—good buddy, just a moment ago his mindset was almost blown apart by Lin An's words!

Yes! Think about it carefully, the logic of ghosts killing people really isn't that simple!

"That 77, according to what you said, the first logic should be the simplest. As long as you're not unlucky enough to make eye contact with it, nothing will happen. Of course, you should also try to avoid seeing mirrors and cameras."

"Compared to the first logic, this second logic..."

Jumo interjected suddenly, and as he spoke he couldn't help furrowing his brow.

Damn it.

What a convoluted logic, for a moment he couldn't figure out what the second logic was actually saying.

"Pretty much, in the first logic our risk is lowest. I suspect the camera can photograph ghosts, and it can also be used as a reflector. When a ghost appears nearby there's a chill; as long as we keep using the camera to probe the path and find its position, theoretically nothing will happen."

"As for the second point..."

Lin An likewise furrowed his brow, speaking word by word:

"The second logic simply put.. that ghosts killing people requires the ghost to be aware that it can see humans. It's not yet proficient, or it's still hard to understand."

After a slight pause, Lin An saw everyone's brows tightly furrowed, so he bluntly voiced the idea he'd thought of.

"I don't know if your civilization has any congenitally blind individuals."

"In our civilization, congenitally blind people who regain sight later still cannot truly "see" things."

"Through disuse, their brains lack the visual neural structure, just like a developmental deficiency, unable to convert the seen image into a visual picture."

"Just like lacking cognition, such groups often need a long time to learn to use their eyes, to rebuild the brain structure."

"In short, we don't know what ghosts are, so we can't see them! And ghosts are the same!"

"Cognition determines everything!"

As his words fell, Jinniu's eyes flashed, and he instantly understood Lin An's meaning.

"I get it! You're saying that thing has completed its eyes, but it still can't see us! Yet in the camera it can see itself, so it can see us through its own eyes!"

"Because it can comprehend its own existence, it can also comprehend that something has appeared in its eyes!"

Double, no, triple logic nesting!

After Jinniu finished speaking, he took a deep breath, only to feel his scalp tingling again.

Seeing that Jinniu and the others could understand his meaning, Lin An simply nodded:

"That's right."

"Just like what you felt earlier."

"Ghosts find us through perception, not eyes. So they can only realize that eyes can see things by virtue of us being able to see them, and from that realize they too can use eyes to see people."

"It's still like divination; it doesn't know what divination (eyes) is. But seeing us use divination (eyes), it learns to do that, learns to use eyes to find us!"

"In that case..."

After Lin An finished speaking, he also felt it was extremely thorny, always sensing that behind this logic lay an unsettling secret.

(There's still a problem..)

(The logic always seems off... is it that ghosts don't know they have eyes, or that they simply lack eyes, or that once they become aware of having eyes they gain eyes? Just like learning, they could also complete their cognition!?)

Deathly silence.

In the brief silence, Jinniu and the others exchanged glances, realizing the gravity of the problem.

As Lin An said, if the second logic holds, it could even nest any two points of the first-layer logic.

When combined, the existing logic structure amounts to a full nine layers!

"So..."

"77, if the second holds, what would it become?"

Lacking spiritual support, Hai Yao gave a wry laugh and simply stopped thinking.

He couldn't figure it out, he really couldn't. He hadn't really dealt with Special Events before; if Star-Destroying level strength were still present, he could rely on brute-force verification, but now...

Lin An turned his head at the sound, looking at the wryly smiling Hai Yao, hesitating slightly:

"If the second holds, and the worst-case scenario holds."

"That would mean it only needs to stand behind the camera and see itself; even if it stands behind us, we don't need to see it, nor make eye contact, and it can kill unconditionally!"

As his words fell, everyone's faces darkened at once. The Jumo beside them couldn't help wanting to curse:

"How could this be!?"

"77!?"

"Then why does it still run? Wouldn't it be fine to just follow us? If the second logic holds, the difficulty would be..."

"Because ghosts might also complete their cognition; it has already 'grown' eyes, but still doesn't know how to use them."

Lin An gave a wry laugh, knowing the Jumo and the others couldn't accept this.

"We can complete our understanding of it, and the ghost can naturally do the same through us. This is likely the true difficulty of the mission. The more we know, the more it knows."

"Moreover, once it appears again, to track its whereabouts we'll have to use the camera. If it's the first logic, fine—we just avoid it. But if it's the second logic, each camera use is a gamble with our lives; it could at any moment stand behind us, waiting for the camera to capture its own eyes."

"Of course, all this is merely my speculation; it might not be true."

After Lin An finished speaking, he silently clenched his fists; in fact, he still had a bit of logic he couldn't work out, and he'd rather not figure it out.

(As the Jumo said, if the second logic holds, why would the ghost 'flee'!? Is it to give us a breather, or for some other reason?)

(And...)

Lin An instinctively lowered his head to look at the camera in his hand.

Perhaps they're all minor issues; they can work them out through testing, gradually.

But there's one thing Lin An just can't figure out, no matter what.

(Was the photo really taken by that ghost just now? If so, why would it throw away the camera!? Or perhaps...)

(There is a second ghost...)

(Right beside us!?)

Lin An slowly closed his eyes; from the moment he entered this mission, he felt an indescribable pressure that constantly lingered in his heart.

It's as if the truth of the mission is terrifying beyond the limits of human comprehension!

"77, according to you, we just stay here, then set the building on fire to act as a signal tower? What about the clues? Don't we need to find more clues!?"

Standing at the base of the hundred-meter skyscraper, Hai Yao instinctively looked up at this super skyscraper that was still relatively well-preserved.

Although I can understand why Lin An is doing this, just staying here like this still feels somewhat wrong. If it were before, he would surely scoff at Lin An's suggestion, but now... even Qing Kai didn't object.

"No need."

"The system has clearly indicated entering the next stage, and hasn't given any information points. The city is so big, it's hard for us to find anything else."

"Therefore we can boldly judge that the system believes we have gathered all the information! Except that a lot of the information is in other people's hands!"

"As long as we regroup and piece things together, we should be able to meet the minimum cognition."

Looking up at the top of the building, Lin An's eyes flickered as he directly stated his judgment:

"Not only that, whatever we encountered, other teams likely encountered similar things. Combining the death time from the previous mission, this mission's duration isn't long! This can corroborate my judgment!"

"If nothing unexpected happens, the real difficulty lies in how we regroup the remaining people and find them before they die!"