Guess?
If possible, I'd like to crush your head!
A person's expression of breakdown cannot be controlled.
He felt that right now he was facing a lunatic whose thoughts jumped around randomly, and it was utterly impossible to gauge Naomi's actions using a normal person's train of thought.
Naomi sneered, the bright crimson blood on her face appearing quite terrifying against the flickering candlelight.
"From your eyes, I see powerlessness and anger. Actually, you don't need to be afraid. He will enter your body very gently. Trust me, you'll like that kind of pleasure."
"Once you experience that feeling, you won't be able to leave it."
Madam, would you care to think carefully about what words you're using here?
"Oh! I'm sorry, this makes me look very unladylike, but that feeling really drives people crazy."
Naomi bantered with Joey like a seasoned veteran of the romantic scene.
"Your current appearance makes me feel sick."
After probing with words several times in a row, Joey was certain that Naomi was a foolish and ignorant woman.
Trying to pry information about the evil god out of her mouth was practically impossible. Right now, she was like a schizophrenic lunatic, and much of what she said was contradictory.
Since that was the case, there was no need to keep acting.
Joey slowly stood up, patted the dust off his body, and surveyed Naomi with a pitying gaze.
Oddly enough, he didn't catch even a trace of nervousness on Naomi's face.
She continued drawing symbols with blood all on her own.
"Aren't you afraid I'll kill you? Worshipping an evil god-I have the authority to execute you directly, and the royal family and the churches will even give me a handsome reward." Joey attempted to provoke an emotional reaction from Naomi using intimidation.
No one could remain calm when facing life and death.
The idea was good, but reality was often the opposite. Naomi raised her bloodless face, her scarlet pupils staring at Joey.
At this moment, the pretty dress on Naomi's body had been dyed red.
She stretched out a finger and pointed behind Joey, where a huge painting hung.
Its shape resembled a door, standing quietly in place, uniquely shaped and mysterious.
This door presented a profound black, resembling the universe hiding countless secrets in the night sky, or perhaps containing endless terror within the abyss.
Its surface was covered in complex patterns. These patterns resembled ancient runes, seeming to whisper some secrets that no one could solve.
The top of the door featured a pair of giant eyes, looking like two deep black holes that swallowed all light and warmth. It quietly watched everything around it, emanating a hair-raising chill.
Interchanging gazes with this pair of eyes would cause one to feel a strong sense of fear, as if one's inner self were split open by a cold blade and the soul thoroughly insighted by that pair of eyes.
"He is about to open."
"O Door wandering the starry skies, keeper of death and new life."
Door?
Why is there a door here?
Looking at the pair of eyes on the door, Joey retreated several steps in a row, putting as much distance between himself and it as possible.
Its shape is very similar to the Gate of the Abyss I saw beneath the Sheriff's Office. Are the two connected?
Keeper of death and new life?
Whose divine authority is this?
Every time moments like this arrived, Joey lamented that he hadn't been reincarnated into an aristocratic family; that way, he could have received nine years of compulsory education and wouldn't be completely clueless now whenever he encountered a mystical incident.
Those symbols Naomi had carved on the ground seemed to come to life after this door appeared, wriggling like little tadpoles as they converged in one direction.
Supporting the ground with her hands, she stood up with difficulty, swaying as she also walked toward the door.
Joey stepped back two steps, watching Naomi with intense focus.
Naomi walked to the front of the door, pressed her palms together, and began to devoutly chant the incantation:
"Gate of All Doors, most noble traveler of the starry skies, open the path leading to death for me."
"I swear in the name of the Sun, offering everything to you."
Following a series of fervent prayers, Naomi took off the ring on her hand, placed it on the ground, and pushed it toward the door.
Just like that, a few seconds later, the door that had originally been only a painting actually slowly opened to both sides.
Naomi looked at the opened door panels and stood up excitedly, wanting to rush inside. A powerful force pushed her back, causing her to fall to the ground, and the candle wax instantly ignited the hem of her skirt.
The burning pain on her skin caused Naomi to emit agonizing shrieks. She rolled around on the ground, taking quite a while to put out the flames, though a large portion of the skin on her body was now exposed.
Pitch-black, chaotic, abyss.
Every descriptive word Joey could think of applied to this door.
Inside the opened door panels was a dark abyss.
Naomi carried a ceramic jar, walking unsteadily toward the big door. Perhaps due to her physical weakness, the jar almost slipped from her hands several times.
That also caused the contents inside to spill out-viscous red chunks, the product of congealed blood.
"I implore the gaze of the Death God."
"I implore the summons of the soul."
"I implore the favor of the Gate of All Doors."
"Gate of the Abyss from the starry skies, please open the path leading to death for me."
"Traveler wandering the starry skies, please convey my affection."
"Return! Erich Jeff."
Joey couldn't help thinking of the soul-calling old folks talked about in his past life; the two were very similar.
He observed closely from the side, missing not a single detail.
This was his second time coming into contact with ritual magic. The first time was at the Carson Silver Mine when Keen summoned an evil god, an event that allowed him to advance to Sequence 9 Luck-Master.
As for wandering spirits-in his past life and this life alike-he had never seen one.
What does a post-mortem soul look like?
Could it be that kind of transparent light-refracting body?
At this moment, the candlelight in the basement began to sway, growing large and small by turns, yet there was no wind here.
Following that, the candles fell over one by one, wax scattered all over the ground, and the flames instantly flared up.
If he hadn't been unable to find an exit, Joey would have run away long ago.
Thinking of this, a depressed expression crossed his face.
The basement was very small, with all the space combined totaling only about ten square meters. The main point was that this place actually had no door, no exit.
He truly had no idea how Naomi had brought him here.
"Erich Jeff, return! Return!"
Naomi chanted the prayer over and over again.
Abruptly, a faint gust of wind swept out from the hollow door panels, and the burning flames instantly extinguished. The only remaining light came from the gas lamp on the wall.
After another moment, the extinguished candles reignited.
Naomi turned her head joyfully, gazing affectionately at Joey.
If you search by book title and can't find it, you can try searching by author; maybe it just changed its name!
Hiss~
After seeing her face clearly, Joey sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.
Previously, Naomi's left and right faces presented two expressions, like two different faces pieced together. Now, she was a complete face-a man's face.
Had the summoning succeeded?
If the summoned soul descended upon Naomi, then what role was I playing?
Joey's face was full of bewilderment as he carefully recalled those few brief seconds when the candlelight went out.
It really seemed like something had darted out from the door, lingered around his body for a circle, and then vanished.
"Erich, are you still blaming me? No, I really loved you too much to do those things to you."
She thinks I'm the already-resurrected Erich Jeff?
Joey was in no rush to reply, instead walking toward the door.
Strangely enough, as he approached, an eye abruptly protruded from the door frame.
The eyeball rolled around frantically; it was a manifestation of pleasure and excitement.
This feeling was very similar to the Gate of the Abyss he had encountered earlier in the basement of the Sheriff's Office.
Could the Gate of All Doors be the Sealed Artifact 0-09?
"Are you Naomi right now?" Joey asked vigilantly. "Or should I call you Erich Jeff?"
"What are you talking about? Of course I'm Naomi." Naomi's defensive words came to a mechanical halt, and then she roared hysterically, "You're not him! You're not Jeff, you're Joey!"
"Why? Why didn't you resurrect? You all lied to me, why did you all lie to me?"
"This has nothing to do with me. You'll have to find the person who taught you this method." Joey spread his hands helplessly.
"Damned Necromancer Sect, they lied to me." With a ferocious expression, Naomi overturned the ritual table and its offerings.
Joey really wanted to say: Big Sis, why don't you go outside and cause trouble for the sect, and let an innocent person like me go.
In truth, his attention had constantly been fixed on Naomi's face-that male face.
The resurrection ritual might have already succeeded, except that the descending entity seemed to have ended up in Naomi's body.
Necromancer Sect, I really am inextricably entangled with you people!
He hadn't expected this matter to have ties to the sect at all. In fact, what Joey didn't know was that the situation he was currently encountering was happening in different districts all across Senegal.
The words coming out of Naomi's mouth completely differed from the expression presented on her face.
It was much like how she was roaring in anger, yet the expression on her face was one of pleasure and excitement.
Should I escape Above the Gray Fog?
Or should I kill Naomi right now?
Naomi's violent coughing fit disrupted Joey's chaotic thoughts. Her condition seemed very serious, and the things she coughed up were even mixed with blood clots.
With a solemn expression, Joey looked at her and asked tentatively:
"Naomi, are you alright?"
He couldn't determine whether the person currently controlling this body was still Naomi.
Joey's abrupt voice seemed to wake Naomi up. She turned her head and said in a deep, sonorous voice:
"Why won't you let me go?"
Her words left Joey feeling baffled. Just who was it refusing to let go of whom?
Immediately, he probed tentatively: "Erich Jeff?"
Naomi stared at Joey in surprise: "Who are you? How do you know me?"
Sure enough, the person inside this body right now was not "Naomi."
"I'm your wife's neighbor, currently renting her house. Naomi is a kind-hearted lady, and I imagine she was bewitched by 'certain' existences, leading her to conduct a ritual right now. She is the one who summoned your soul back." Joey organized the sequence of events as best as he could, expressing his goodwill to "this person."
However, after hearing Joey's words, "Naomi" plunged into madness.
She shrieked and roared, dropping to her knees to plead in a tone bordering on entreaty: "Let me go, I beg you, let me go."
This development wasn't right, was it?
Shouldn't he be very happy about coming back from the dead?
He had anticipated many scenarios: Erich Jeff shouting with excitement, singing praises of his newfound lease on life, and offering a compliment on the miraculous nature of life.
He never expected him to be in this kind of state.
There were simply too many things he couldn't figure out, and his mind felt like a complete mess.
At this moment, the deranged "Naomi" suddenly picked up a short blade from the ground and made as if to stab it into her own chest.
This sudden turn of events caught Joey off guard. With a leap, he delivered a kick, sending "Naomi's" already frail body flying quite a distance away.
"Naomi" stared over in bewilderment; he seemed very puzzled as to why this person would stop him from committing suicide.
"Um, Mr. Erich"-he mentally added Madam-"I'd like to know what kind of matter drove you to have the thought of committing suicide?"
Seeing that the other party ignored him, Joey changed the subject and asked tentatively, "Don't you want to see Naomi?"
At the mention of this name, his spirit seemed to suffer a heavy stimulus, and he frantically battered his own head, trying to block his ears.
"No, no, no! I don't want to see that devil!"
Devil?
Aren't you guys an enviable couple?
In Naomi's story, they were unquestionably an enviable couple deeply in love, crossing the boundaries of worldly social classes.
"Do you know? She's a lunatic. She locked me in a cage..."
From "his" mouth, Joey heard another version of the love story.
In that story, Naomi turned into a woman who meticulously plotted to use her body to climb social ladders.
Using her body as a bargaining chip, she carefully planned step by step to make her prey fall into the trap.
At the story's end, Naomi exercised an almost deranged degree of control over everything about Erich. He wasn't even allowed to look at other women, and to restrict Erich, she cut off his feet and locked him in a cage.
Erich Jeff had committed suicide, choosing to end his own life amidst Naomi's borderline-perverted love.
Two perspectives, two stories.
One was a poor girl meeting her destined true love.
The other was a wealthy young master falling into a predator's snare.
Though he didn't want to admit it, he had to say that when it came to telling stories, Naomi was rather skilled, at least allowing him to hear a complete romance.
In Erich Jeff's story, the only things mixed in were insults and hatred.
"Trust me, Naomi is a lunatic. You'd better stay away from her if you don't want to become the next me."
Wait? Please, what do you mean by that? It sounds as though I have something going on with your wife.
With an innocent expression, Joey said, "Mr. Erich, I'm just an ordinary person and have nothing to do with Naomi. Her figure is nice, but I prefer fair skin."
He might as well have bluntly stated that he wasn't blind.
Actually, in Senegal, the definition of beauty and ugliness was very vague. Often, it didn't rely on appearance and skin color, but rather on status.
Status could frequently determine a person's beauty, ugliness, and level of popularity.
For two silver coins, you could enjoy a fair-skinned, beautiful woman. Women in Senegal-no, perhaps one should say that regardless of gender, people in Senegal were worthless; their value was merely that of a blood bank with slightly better purity.
If you feel this book is good, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you won't fail to find it next time!