Huli was a very clever girl. The moment Yu Sheng reminded her, she quickly caught on.
"You felt it too, right?" Yu Sheng asked unhurriedly as he watched Huli blink. "Ominous Wandering Star, Omen Goddess, Ominous Banner, that room at the end of the second floor that occasionally spits things out, and all the other clues that have emerged for various reasons... These clues and pieces of information give me the feeling that..."
Yu Sheng paused, thought it over seriously, then continued cautiously. "It's as if they're conscious. Do you understand? This 'information' related to the Omen Goddess seems to be alive. It's actively drawing closer to us—or more precisely, to Eileen—as if it's drilling out from behind some kind of barrier. And lately, it's been drilling through faster and faster."
He let out a soft breath and looked up at the little doll grinding away at a stone ball in the small square.
"If we put it in more 'conventional' terms, the Omen Goddess is probably 'awakening.' Maybe she's awakening inside Eileen, or maybe some other part of her is waking up somewhere else, and one day she'll come knocking. Either way... with so little information, we'll be at a huge disadvantage."
"But couldn't the investigation itself accelerate the process?" Huli suddenly asked. She tilted her head and thought it over earnestly. "That's how information contamination works. My teacher told me about it before."
"...Your compulsory education is a little too outrageous. That can be part of an elementary school curriculum!?"
"No, it was extracurricular." Huli's ears twitched. "It wasn't on the test."
Yu Sheng: "..."
He waved his hand, ignoring the urge to complain rising in his heart, and continued, "The investigation could indeed accelerate the process, but the current situation is that the Omen Goddess is already