Chapter 233: The Town Where Memories Are Forbidden

Chapter 233: The Town Where Memories Are Forbidden

Inhale—exhale—

Inhale... exhale...

Wave after wave of cold, blood-tinged breath slowly sprayed across Lena's face.

She never opened her eyes. In a daze, her breathing gradually became erratic, seemingly synchronizing with the thing that stood quietly at the head of the bed, its face pressed close to hers.

And it was still getting closer.

Gradually, a layer of soft, textured skin draped down, gently touching the tip of Lena's nose, then tracing her brow, brushing against her eyelashes, and enveloping her prominent cheekbones... until it covered her entire face.

But Lena only felt stifled; she could still breathe.

Because this thin layer of skin was also breathing, allowing Lena to follow its rhythm, enduring the rush of blood scent with each inhale and exhale, inhale and exhale...

Amidst the increasingly pungent stench, she flared her nostrils, desperately drawing in air.

At this point, Lena no longer felt anxious or hesitant; her heart, which had been pounding heavily in her chest, calmed down.

She realized that this skin covering her face most likely lacked the ability to harm her directly!

All of its actions seemed to be a form of intimidation—aimed at making Lena's rationality evaporate in the depths of fear, forcing her into a panic, and ultimately driving her to flee the room, breaking the hotel rules.

If human skin had any offensive power, it wouldn't persist in using psychological pressure.

This psychological terror might have started from the moment the staff told Lena that "the stamp would only be available the next day."

The Human Skin Factory was subtly undermining Lena's sense of security, insidiously suggesting that once she felt the touch of human skin, her environment was no longer safe and she needed to escape.

But the hotel had clearly informed all guests:

"The room is absolutely safe"!

After sorting out her thoughts, Lena finally felt at ease, and the fist hidden under the blanket gradually relaxed.

In the caress and embrace of the human skin, she felt drowsy and actually fell asleep again.

This time, there were no haunting flute sounds in Lena’s sleep; she slept soundly until morning.

When she woke up, the air she breathed into her lungs felt particularly fresh and clear, but the familiar cool sensation against her cheek—

Turning her head, she saw a blood-red piece of human skin, smooth on the outside with only faint skin textures; inside, it was covered with a layer of soft, fine red blood vessels, as if the skin and flesh had not completely separated.

This entire skin lay quietly beside Lena, occupying the other half of the pillow and bed, its blood vessels and surface gently rising and falling as if breathing, almost making Lena mistake it for a stranger lying next to her.

Lena stared at it expressionlessly for a while, thinking about last night’s frustrating experience, which made her feel a bit angry.

She wanted to cut it to pieces.

This thought instantly surfaced in Lena’s mind, causing her movements to suddenly pause as she got out of bed. Her brain flickered like a TV with poor reception, intermittently displaying some images in black and white static.

Yes, she could cut this skin to pieces... She should have a pair of scissors.

—She had an exceptionally sharp and effective pair of scissors that could cut through both tangible and intangible objects.

Amidst the intermittent thoughts, Lena felt her right hand grasp something cold and hard, a metallic object.

Lena looked down and saw a familiar silver scissors reflected in her eyes of the same color, and as if by fate, more "threads" seemed to float in the air, ready for her to cut.

"Snip."

Before her mind could start working, Lena instinctively raised the scissors and cut a crimson thread connecting human skin to the factory’s scenic spot.

The slow breaths of the human skin instantly stopped, and it fell limply onto the bed, turning into a truly lifeless and thoughtless piece of skin.

With wide, curious eyes, Lena played with the silver scissors, finding them increasingly comfortable to handle. The scissors felt like an extension of her body, the two thin blades obediently spinning into flowers at her fingertips.

Her subconscious told her that this was a natural ability she could fully trust.

Having grown accustomed to the scissors, Lena lifted her head and looked towards the door of the room, her expression thoughtful.

Through the door, she could see several faint "threads" trembling—

It seemed someone was waiting for her outside the door.

...

Rat Eye waited all night, but the short man did not return, nor did he find any trace of him.

This was not normal.

Anxiously gnawing his fingernails until they were uneven, Rat Eye, based on his understanding of the short man, judged that leaving without a word was not something such a timid and indecisive person would do. After a major upheaval, this fearful companion should have clung to the last lifeline, carefully following all his arrangements.

But the short man did not come back.

What had gone wrong?

Was it the "Snake's" daily routine of hunting only once that had been disrupted, or had he fallen prey to some other lurking danger?

Whatever the case, Rat Eye could no longer afford to wait.

By seizing the stamped ticket from the newcomer, he could leave this accursed place with all his supplies before the day was out!

He would be the last one standing!

Driven by an urgent desire to escape, Rat Eye didn't sleep at all last night. He had already lingered here for half a month, and the flute music was alarmingly close. He feared that the "music" might take him away at a critical moment.

Barely waiting until the first light of dawn, Rat Eye followed the railway tracks of the small train, passing several scenic spots along the way.

He didn't know exactly where Lina was, but he guessed her journey couldn't be more than halfway. Starting from Spot Two and moving downward, carefully searching for signs of recent human activity, he was certain to pinpoint the newcomer's location.

Soon, he stopped in front of a scenic spot and looked up to read its name—“Crown Hotel.”

Rat Eye smiled silently.

If his guess was correct, the newcomer would likely choose to stay here overnight.

By eliminating the keys left at the hotel reception, Rat Eye learned that Lina was staying in room 444. He waited early at the door, ready to ambush her.

He didn't necessarily have to kill her; he just needed to collect seven stamps...

As the door before him slowly opened, Rat Eye almost saw a ray of hope as bright as the morning light.

"Bang!"

But in the next instant, that light vanished without a trace.

The moment he fell straight down, Rat Eyes hadn’t yet realized what had happened. A few seconds later, the fiery pain from the back of his head where it hit the ground finally brought him back to consciousness.

Rat Eyes discovered in terror that he couldn’t move at all!

It was as if his connection to his limbs had been severed, or as if he had completely lost the concept of having “limbs,” leaving him powerless and sprawled on the ground, instantly stripped of any ability to resist.

“You, you are...”

Rat Eyes' gaze fell on the scissors in Lena’s hand, and his eyes widened in horror. His voice rasped, “You’re the Grand Bishop of the Fate Church—the ‘Sewer’!”

Fate Church?

For a moment, Lena’s eyes showed confusion.

She found it hard to describe the impact those four words had on her, like feet finally touching solid ground after hanging in mid-air, filling the hollow corner of her heart with a long-lost sense of peace.

This feeling...

People call it “faith.”

Lena wondered, did she count as a somewhat famous figure in the Fate Church before she lost her memory?

Even her name seemed to be closely tied to the church, so much so that anyone who recognized her would immediately think of her faith and allegiance... This realization gave Lena an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.

Lena curled her lips, trying not to appear too proud, and attempted to steer the conversation back to the main topic:

“From your appearance, it seems you’ve been waiting outside the door for quite some time. You wanted to steal my seal?”

“Um... You seem very eager to leave here, unable to wait a moment longer.”

Lena's pale silver eyes stared intently at Rat-Eyes, giving him an oppressive feeling of being completely seen through: "What is threatening you so urgently? Is it the 'Music'?"

His chest heaved as Rat-Eyes took several deep breaths, quickly regaining his composure.

So what if the other party was a high-level Ability user?

He still held an irrevocable advantage: he had arrived in the town earlier and had a better understanding and ability to utilize the town's rules.

Rat-Eyes was certain that Lena, being new to the town, could not be as familiar with its old secrets as he was!

With this thought, his heartbeat quickened, but he maintained a respectful and honest expression, stammering, "Please don't kill me. I know many secrets of the town, including the origin of the 'Music'... If you spare me, I can tell you everything I've discovered."

Lena sensed his ill intentions but couldn't suppress her curiosity: "Go on."

"Attraction No. 10, called the [Fairy Tale Library], where I spent some time reading parts of the town's history... It mentions the origin of the 'Music.'"

Rat-Eyes lowered his eyelids, appearing honest and straightforward: "It appeared in the town around the year 675."

"According to the story, a family moved from another city and passed through a desolate forest, forced to spend the night there. As night fell, the youngest child in the family suddenly claimed to hear the sound of a flute and pointed into the dense, dark depths of the forest, saying there was a flutist wearing a feathered hat and strange colorful clothes."

"But no one else heard the flute or saw the flutist the child described. They laughed it off and continued their journey, unknowingly bringing the flute sound to this town."

"After settling in the town, the first child who saw the flutist began humming the melody of the flute unconsciously, spreading this music with terrifying power. Every minor who heard the flute would vanish without a trace."

"Yes, at first, only children would disappear; but later, the power of the flute seemed to grow stronger, gradually taking away anyone who heard the melody, regardless of age or gender."

"At first, the town viewed the flute sound as a monster and tried to find the culprit, the flutist in the forest with the colorful clothes, but they found nothing."

Later, people gradually realized that the flute sound was more like an intangible phenomenon, a disaster hidden within all music... Its sound itself was the entity, while the flutist was merely an occasional appendage that appeared alongside the flute sound, akin to a projection-like illusion.

Lena said, "So from then on, the town enacted rules to ban music?"

She quickly realized an issue: "When did the town start banning memories?"

If it was before the flute sound appeared, the fairy tale city had never been normal, for as long as people had memories, there would be monsters.

But Lena had seen the town's past in the "Peeping Tom’s Hut" and felt that the old town was still normal, with a nurturing environment for children to grow up healthily...

Does this mean that the phenomenon of "memories being dangerous" in the town also occurred after the flute sound appeared?

Rat Eye didn’t answer her question directly but continued his narrative:

"After music was banned, the town soon discovered that the flute sound did not disappear—so long as it existed in people's memories, it continued to hover over the town, sounding every night, slowly approaching the sleeping inhabitants..."

Memories were also the medium through which the flute sound existed and persisted.

"And the deeper your understanding of it, the closer it gets to you..."

Rat Eye’s lips curled, his narrow eyes flashing with a cruel light, and he asked in a shrill voice:

"—Now, do you hear it? The sound of the flute ringing in your ears!"