Chapter 122: A Loving Family

23:55, Ding Mo's operation ended in failure; the status of the note's owner could not be determined.

He ultimately decided to retreat into the room and spend the night there.

The night grew deep. Outside the window, in the extreme distance, the neon lights that seemed to belong to another world also dimmed, as if they had all fallen into a deep slumber.

Only Ding Mo remained; he sat by the bed, listlessly playing with a dagger.

In his current situation, he certainly could not fall asleep.

"Hope nothing happens tonight." After muttering this to himself, Ding Mo was suddenly struck by a headache!

"Ugh... here it comes again!"

During this period, or rather ever since he learned the truth about the "Memory Origin," the headaches would occasionally flare up, as if something were locked inside his soul, bumping against the seal, trying to break through.

"..."

After a good while, the pain finally subsided.

By now, Ding Mo's face had turned somewhat pale, and cold sweat had slightly dampened his clothes.

The pain within was difficult to express to outsiders.

Yuan Zi'ang was right; he was truly in a terrible state after recovering his memories.

But he did not regret it, and besides, in the long run, whether it was good or bad remained an unknown. If he could organize his memories and find a way back, then it would certainly be a good thing.

By comparison, this bit of suffering now was nothing.

"Hoo—" Ding Mo just let out a long breath.

At this moment, he suddenly heard a distinct sound of footsteps in the hallway—and the volume was loud; the owner seemed to disdain hiding their own footsteps.

"Has it come?" Ding Mo stared at the doorway.

On the small table by the bedside, the clock had already passed 12:00 midnight.

"..."

The footsteps seemed to pace in the hallway for a while, and then... they seemed to be getting quieter?

Ding Mo listened as the sound grew increasingly faint, estimating in his heart that this "brother" had already walked away, so he quietly went to the peephole to observe.

Through the narrow glass hole, he discovered that the lights in the hallway seemed to have been turned off, and everything had plunged into darkness.

"This 'brother' seems to really like saving electricity..."

Ding Mo had just finished this snarky remark when he suddenly saw a figure drill into the small field of vision within the peephole!

Its physique was short and thin, its movements wretched.

Most importantly, it was the footsteps it had "deliberately" slowed down!

It hadn't left at all; it had only lightened its steps! Ding Mo, discovering this, was startled, and then he saw it stop in front of his door, its starving-ghost-like head turning toward him.

In the darkness, he could vaguely see its rotting face!

"?!!" Ding Mo instinctively took a step back.

The next moment, a "bang" of a door-slamming sound rang out!

Bang, bang, bang! It was like a madman, frantically slamming against the door.

"How did it find me? No... the note was the correct one!" Ding Mo retreated slowly, watching this scene.

He had bet wrong!

At the same time, he seemed to notice something and raised his hand.

The skin of his hand, which had originally been a healthy color, began to turn yellow and wrinkle, as if it had aged a dozen years in an instant!

It was not just his hand; his face was the same, and his body began to slowly change toward a hunched posture!

Even the dim desk lamp by the bedside began to flicker, its light growing increasingly faint; the lampshade grew dull within a few short seconds, and the surface of the surrounding floor and walls rotted and peeled away.

Everything was as if it had "aged" several decades in an instant!

No! If this continues, it's all over!

Ding Mo made a prompt decision, pulled open the room door, and seeing the black shadow that had crashed in due to momentum, he lowered his body and swept his leg.

Fortunately, this Guaishou still had a human shape, and martial arts still had a certain effect on it.

It lost its support on the spot and flew into the room, behind Ding Mo.

Ding Mo took the opportunity to run out.

Arriving in the hallway, Ding Mo glanced into the room—the appearance of the Guaishou was finally illuminated by the flickering lights.

Immediately, that fellow, looking like a shriveled human who had been hiding in a dark, lightless basement for decades, entered Ding Mo's sight.

And because of Ding Mo's move just now, it had fallen hard and was only just standing up now.

"Chala—!" An uncomfortable screeching sound, as if rough rock were grinding against an iron blade, issued from its throat.

Ding Mo did not look again and turned to flee.

This Guaishou's movements were not fast, and Ding Mo was not worried about being caught; rather, the terrifying "Aging" Curse on its body was truly impossible to resist.

"Chala—!"

Ignoring the screeching behind him, Ding Mo had only run two steps when he passed the room where Xiao Junfeng had been just moments ago.

The room door was actually left slightly ajar!

This... Ding Mo suddenly stopped his steps.

He had a bold idea!

The chasing sound behind him grew closer, and Ding Mo no longer hesitated; he kicked the room door open!

Looking at the scene inside the room, Ding Mo was just about to shout, "Xiao Junfeng, your brother has come to play with you," when he discovered,

Xiao Junfeng was wearing a white pair of pajamas, lying on the floor with his eyes tightly shut.

There was a bloody, mangled hole in his stomach, and bloody footprints extended from his body to the doorway.

Looking at the size of these footprints, the skin on Ding Mo's face suddenly began to age once again.

He turned his head and looked toward the approaching "Guaishou".

His footprints seemed to be exactly the same as the bloody footprints!

"..." Ding Mo remained silent, then turned and fled.

Your brother's temper is really bad; he killed you as soon as he came up...

The chase between the man and the Guaishou was still playing out.

At the same time, that group of men in black from the daytime broke into this villa.

But what they saw was different from what Ding Mo saw.

The leader of the men in black held a pistol, kicked a rusty soda can at his feet, and pressed his earpiece to report:

"Sir, we have entered Villa No. 31 at night; there is nothing unusual inside."

"Did you see that person from the daytime?" At home, a man was brushing his teeth, preparing for bed.

If Ding Mo were here, he would discover that he was Lu Tianxu.

"No," the black-clad leader replied, "That guy who appeared out of thin air, just like those people before, has disappeared."

"I understand. Remain on standby. If there is any anomaly, report it immediately!" Lu Tianxu said while lying on the bed.

This building was actually one of the anomalous items discovered by the Processing Bureau. Based on a few experiments and explorations, the Processing Bureau found that the villa possessed extremely severe Cognitive Pollution and Mental Distortion traits, and it could not be directly processed.

That was why the Processing Bureau bought this house and dispatched security personnel to guard the vicinity, preventing people from getting close.

But they never expected that someone would actually appear inside out of thin air today.

This was very likely an important omen that its danger level was rising; they had to be careful, cautious, and keep a close watch.

Ding Mo hid and ran between the corridors and rooms.

Stopping and going, he was also taking the time to analyze the strange patterns of this villa.

Every thing and every strange event had its own pattern; this was the truth that the Terror Mission had taught him.

"Now I can confirm that the content on the note is true."

"In other words, its owner is most likely the previous guest. Is he still alive? If he escaped from here, how did he do it?"

As his thoughts raced, Ding Mo, hiding in a cupboard, looked at a wrinkle creeping onto the back of his hand and understood that it had found him again.

He had no choice but to open the cupboard door and rush out.

Looking at the incoming Guaishou, Ding Mo used a Time Stop combined with dagger maneuvers to hack it into pieces, then fled at high speed.

During this process, a few more wrinkles appeared on his face.

Along with that, his speed also slowed down a bit.

This was not the first time he had done this; physical damage was also ineffective against this Guaishou, and it could only delay its footsteps for a moment.

Ding Mo did not want to "die" here, betting that his own strange patterns could break through the villa's blockade.

He could only continue searching for other ways to break it.

And right now, he had just thought of a method!

That was: resurrect Xiao Junfeng!

Actually, calling it resurrection was a stretch, but Ding Mo deduced that this guy had not died at all. Just think about it: if he had died just like that, then when the previous guest stayed over, he would have already died completely because of the "birth of the brother,"

and it would be impossible for him to receive him during the day.

And according to Xiao Junfeng's words—the two brothers often quarreled—it could be deduced that once the two met, they would surely be able to stir up the waters!