Foxes from the Same Mountain, So Why Tell Me Ghost Stories?

Gu Mo didn't know whether he was feeling afraid, disgusted, or perhaps... afraid of that disgust.

After all, it was hard to tell—

Was he directly feeling fear, or did the disgust simply make him afraid...

Of course, he had no interest in discussing such a meaningless question. In any case, he absolutely did not want those things touching him. Even though he knew it was all a mental hallucination born of his own imagination, just thinking about those revolting chrysanthemum-shaped mouthparts, all kinds of sticky fluids and slime...

For fuck's sake! So what if it was fake? After getting grossed out like that, he definitely wouldn't be able to eat for days!

Today had already been miserable enough. He hadn't found that restaurant, and he didn't even know whether that was his own fault. Later, he would probably still have to eat some ordinary, unappetizing food... If he couldn't eat anything for days on top of that, was that supposed to kill him...

"I finally understand why most psychiatric patients just keep getting worse..."

Gu Mo gritted his teeth and sprinted forward. The grotesque monsters behind him were vicious and relentless in pursuit. Their roars shook the heart, while swirling black mist and a near-tangible pressure radiated outward, catching up from behind and making his hair stand on end.

By comparison, he could still recognize that this was all delusion and mental disorder, yet he still felt such overwhelming pressure... One could imagine what kind of terrifying nightmare those severely ill people faced when they completely took their imagined thoughts as reality and wholly accepted a distorted worldview.

For them, it was probably like living in a world that was utterly broken and twisted, with real danger everywhere.

And because everything came from their own hearts and imaginations, there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Under increasingly severe mental pressure, they would naturally drive themselves mad bit by bit.

Could I become like that someday too?

"Roar!!"

The growl behind him was close at hand. Gu Mo, whose thoughts had begun to wander, instinctively glanced back and saw a huge, gaping bloody mouth descending upon him. Its chrysanthemum-shaped mouthparts wriggled, revealing densely packed sharp teeth and churning slime...

Fuck!

His face turned slightly green. He was so disgusted that his scalp went numb. Yet his already maxed-out speed miraculously increased several notches. Afterimages seemed to briefly appear beneath his feet as he instantly opened up some distance.

—Just in time for the abyssal maw behind him to bite empty air!

A railing stood ahead. Without looking back or slowing down in the slightest, Gu Mo accelerated into a run-up and leaped. Both hands grabbed the top of the railing, and with one exertion, he flipped over it. Beyond it was the school, but there was no time to think too much. Outside was wide open, and he definitely couldn't evade them in such a broad road race.

His feet landed steadily. A slight bend of his knees completely absorbed the impact. After taking a quick breath, he immediately broke into another sprint! Fortunately, he found that his stamina still seemed plentiful. He did not feel particularly tired and seemed capable of running for a while longer.

Maybe it was because of adrenaline, he thought. It was like playing VR motion-sensing games—when the information one received felt realistic enough, it could deceive the brain to a certain extent and make the body produce stress responses.

Angry, urgent growls still came from behind. The hideous malformed monsters were also close on his heels. Although he had just opened up some distance, they were rapidly closing in again—

The scent of the living made them greedy, violent, and unable to calm down. They desperately wanted to devour anything they could catch...

"Roar—!!"

Several fierce roars suddenly came from ahead. Gu Mo had been running while distractedly keeping an eye on the rear, but the instant he noticed the commotion, he instinctively looked forward—and froze in shock.

Two fierce large dogs, one black and one white, sprang out from nowhere. They were not especially huge, but their fur seemed shrouded in shimmering special effects, gleaming with reflected energy. Their presence was incredibly imposing, not inferior to those vicious deformed monsters in the slightest—perhaps even greater.

However, they did not seem to belong to the same side as those savage monsters. Instead, they were positioned against them. The two dogs shot past Gu Mo like black and white lightning bolts, then pounced behind him, their target clear as both charged headfirst into the pack of monsters!

Like sparks struck from flint and thunder in spring, they moved so fast they were almost invisible, beyond what ordinary human visual reflexes could capture.

Gu Mo could not see exactly what happened either. He only heard successive tearing sounds, followed by black blood spraying everywhere!

The malformed creatures exploded into flying flesh and blood, their limbs torn off and shredded, their bodies ripped apart...

Where the hell did those dogs come from?!

"Get over here!"

A low shout rang out ahead. Gu Mo turned back in surprise and saw that a high-school-aged boy had appeared on the road at some point. He wore a Deep Blue high-collared jacket and Deep Blue wide-legged pants, with short spiky hair. His expression was cold, though tinged with urgency, and he was repeatedly waving Gu Mo over.

Without thinking at all, Gu Mo quickly headed toward him.

He had many questions, but at the moment, that was not important. Even those disgusting Demons and Monsters had appeared behind him, so what did it matter if his disordered imagination conjured up another random person at a time like this?

Rather, while Gu Mo was relieved—at least he no longer had to get intimate with that pack of Monsters and Demons—he was also somewhat curious.

He wanted to see just how bizarre his runaway thoughts would become this time, and how the delusions and imagined scenarios would unfold next... Honestly, it was a very strange thought, one that even gave him the peculiar feeling that his mind had split into two distinct halves.

After all, he was convinced that everything before him was a scene fabricated by his own mind. Yet at the same time, he was curious about how things would develop next because he did not know either... That meant some part of his consciousness subconsciously no longer seemed under his control, which was why he could not stop his thoughts from running wild.

—Wasn't that exactly where the feeling of splitting came from?

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

The cool, aloof boy in Deep Blue swiftly looked Gu Mo up and down, asking in a suspicious tone. The Special Grade Cursed Object was too important. This person was obviously not a student at this high school, and suddenly appearing here at night naturally made him suspicious.

"Me?" Gu Mo blinked, then answered with complete sincerity, "I was just hungry at night and came out to get a late-night snack."

Everything about his words carried the air of someone who was merely passing through.

There was nothing wrong with that. That was exactly what had happened.

"A late-night snack?"

The high school boy's brows shot up. This entire area belonged to the school. It was not exactly in the middle of nowhere, but there really was no commercial street around here either... And this person claimed he had come here for a late-night snack?

"Can't I pass through here?" Gu Mo shrugged and spread his hands.

"..."

"..."

The high school boy frowned tightly. He carefully studied the expression on Gu Mo's face, feeling that something was off. It was not that one could not go out for a late-night snack, nor that one could not pass through here, but coming out at this particular time and specifically passing through this place did make him somewhat suspicious.

And more importantly, the other person clearly looked like an ordinary person without any Cursed Energy. There was no trace of cursed technique power or aura on him at all, but... how was this the behavior of an ordinary person?

After escaping danger, he had calmed down immediately. His speed was obviously abnormal, his expression was far too composed, his tone was too confident, and he was not even flushed or out of breath...

From his expressions to his movements, he was practically covered in suspicious details!

Because one had to understand that ordinary people generally could not see Cursed Spirits. This also often meant that once they were drawn into such special incidents, they would be utterly shocked and terrified, unable to accept it. After all, their worldview would be shattered, their sanity battered until it teetered on the brink, and they would be left completely numb...

But what about this person before him?

Although he had immediately turned and run when facing the Cursed Spirits just now, he truly did not seem very terrified or desperate. How could an ordinary person caught up in such a special incident possibly appear this genuinely calm? No matter how thick-skinned someone was, it should not be this outrageous.

The only possible explanation was that this was not his first time facing Cursed Spirits. Then he was very likely someone from the Jujutsu World himself... If that was the case, then insisting on pretending to be an ordinary person while appearing here at this time—wasn't that suspicious enough?

At that moment, the commotion on the other side had already stopped.

The two fierce dogs had cleanly resolved the problem. In just a few swift moves, they tore those Cursed Spirits to pieces, and the entire process had taken less than ten seconds.

His fists clenched slightly. The high school boy turned to look toward the teaching building not far away and decisively made his choice. In a low voice, he said, "It's too dangerous here. Follow me!"

The Special Grade Cursed Object was still inside the building. If this dragged on, something might go wrong. He had no time to bicker with the other person, and carefully questioning him was unrealistic, so he might as well be direct—wasn't this person pretending to be an ordinary person? Then he would treat him as one. With this place being so dangerous, it was better for him to follow along.

On the surface, he was protecting him. In reality, he could keep this person nearby and watch him at all times, preventing him from doing anything underhanded where he could not see.

As for whether there was any danger...

The thought flashed through his mind before the black-clad high school boy dismissed it. His teacher was definitely nearby anyway.

"Oh, sure..."

Gu Mo nodded readily. Anything was fine, since he had already given up... Ah, no, since he had already decided to lie flat.

But Gu Mo agreed so quickly that even the high school boy, who had been staring at him with a sharp gaze, paused in surprise. He had expected the other person to make all sorts of excuses and refuse, so such straightforward cooperation was beyond his expectations and left him momentarily at a loss.

After a brief second of silence, he gritted his teeth, turned, and sprinted toward the teaching building. "Follow me!"

Gu Mo followed right behind him, feeling slightly strained. The other person was indeed rather fast, but the teaching building was not far away and the distance was short, so it was not too taxing. He stayed close behind him, studying the mysterious cold-faced youth as he curiously asked,

"By the way, what's your name, man?"

"...Fushiguro Megumi."

The cold-faced youth was silent for a moment before answering.

Fushi? That was a rather uncommon surname. Gu Mo watched as the text above the cold-faced youth's head changed from a question mark into a more specific display—

"Fushiguro Megumi (97%)."

He tugged at the corner of his mouth and tried hard to recall whether he had encountered any related information recently.

People said, "What you think about in the day, you dream about at night." There was also the saying, "People cannot imagine things they have never seen." Simply put, those sayings revealed the nature of human imagination. They also showed that imagination required logic. Whether it was one's imagination running wild, divergent thinking, or seemingly nonsensical dreams...

More often than not, it was because one had encountered relevant information beforehand, leaving some impression deep within the subconscious without realizing it.

But he truly could not remember for the moment. After thinking about it, Gu Mo asked again, "What were those things just now? It's my first time seeing something like that."

"..."

"..."

Only now did he remember to pretend he knew nothing? Wasn't that a little late? And wasn't this acting far too clumsy...? Fushiguro Megumi grumbled inwardly. This person was clearly calm to an absurd degree, yet insisted on pretending to be an ordinary person seeing strange things for the first time.

Taking a deep breath, he said in a low voice, "Those are Cursed Spirits, creatures formed when the Cursed Energy emitted by ordinary people gathers together. You can think of them as curses made from humanity's overflowing negative emotions..."