Bizarre Honkai, a Wife-Chasing Crematorium

"I see you! I see you!" A loud, high-pitched voice rang out in the alleyway. Right after, a blast of freezing cold air hit Li Mo, feeling like it was about to completely surround him.

"..." Li Mo remained motionless, his mind racing. Which rule had he broken? Stepping out of the alley? But he'd already avoided one attack. Even if leaving triggered something, the ghost should have attacked immediately, not given him a second warning.

The instinct to survive urged him to draw his gun, to turn and fire. But his preternaturally calm mind overruled. He continued walking, feigning ignorance.

He stepped out of the alley unharmed. The chilling presence vanished instantly.

"..."

"It tested me twice," Li Mo thought, "and a third time just as I was leaving its territory, when I'd be most likely to let my guard down. A normal person would have run or turned back, breaking their normal behavior."

"This anomaly seems to know what I desire, what I fear... but not what I think."

"It can only attack me when I react abnormally."

"No, wait. If that were true, it should have attacked when I stopped the first time..."

"It wants me to react... but reacting isn't the killing condition..." Li Mo pondered. What did abnormal behavior relate to?

"Emotions?" he realized. "The first test, using Mei, tried to evoke surprise and joy. The second, mimicking intimacy with Mei, aimed for excitement and arousal. The third, its killing intent exposed, wanted fear and terror."

With this realization, Li Mo turned back, re-entering the alley. In his current state, he was devoid of emotion. If he was right, the anomaly was powerless against him. This was a chance to gather intel.

Even if he was wrong, he could die once more. He hadn't used anomalous powers since his double death.

He couldn't keep running from anomalies. He could always reset and avoid the alley, returning home to clear the accumulated death count. As long as he could reach home, he was effectively immortal in this world.

Like all anomalies, he had infinite retries. But he had something they didn't: human intelligence. He was adaptable, unpredictable. Anomalies were just lines of code, rigid and inflexible.

As he stepped back into the alley, the icy chill returned, enveloping him like a Siberian winter. Then, just as quickly, it faded.

"Come out. I see you," Li Mo called out. Two minutes passed. Nothing.

"Not coming? Then I'm leaving." He turned and walked away without hesitation, no further attempts at provocation.

"Does it need time to recharge after a failed attack? Or has it left?" he wondered. "The latter would be troublesome. The former... I'll need to test that again."

Nearby was Chiba Academy. Most of its students were wealthy, chauffeured to and from school. But some, like Satou Yuno, were less privileged and stayed in the dorms.

If this ghost could kill by simply provoking an emotional response, those students were in danger. Teenagers were volatile, their emotions easily swayed.

And he didn't know how many targets the ghost could attack at once. If it was unlimited…

"I need to talk to Mei," he decided. "She'll have an idea. If all else fails, Elysia can handle it. This thing can't stay here."

He continued home. As he reached the gates of Chiba Academy, he was slammed from behind. But Li Mo, twice-dead, now possessed a physique rivaling an unarmored S-rank Valkyrie. The girl who'd bumped into him bounced off him like a rubber ball.

"Oof! Ow… That hurt!"

Li Mo turned. He knew that voice. He'd heard it in the coffin for three months. But the first person he saw wasn't Kiana. It was Raiden Mei.

Her beautiful face glowed in the afternoon sun, her eyes sparkling, a light sheen of sweat on her delicate skin. Her full chest rose and fell beneath her white blouse and black skirt, black knee-highs completing the ensemble. With her long hair loose instead of its usual ponytail, and her striking 1.7m height, she was a goddess among mortals.

"I'm so sorry! I couldn't stop Kiana from bumping into you," Mei apologized, bowing her head. But as she looked up at Li Mo, she froze.

White hair, blue eyes, that face… She glanced incredulously at Kiana, who was still rubbing her backside. The resemblance was uncanny. Like Kiana's male counterpart.

"Waaah, Mei, my butt hurts! Rub it for me…" Kiana whined.

Mei blinked, helping Kiana up, ignoring her request. She pointed at Li Mo, curiosity in her eyes.

"Kiana, is he your brother?"

"Brother? What brother? I don't have a brother! Who are you talking about, Mei?" Kiana followed Mei's gaze.

Her eyes widened as she saw Li Mo. "Whoa! Are you… are you also from the Kaslana family?"

Li Mo, his face impassive, his gaze cold, simply said, "No."

"Then why do you look so much like me?"

"..." Li Mo didn't answer. He couldn't exactly say, "You're inside me, actually."

He had no intention of interfering with the main world's storyline.

His priority was protecting the companions he'd brought from other worlds. The characters here were irrelevant to him. He and his companions would only deal with anomaly-related matters, ensuring this world's fate remained unchanged.

"If you'll excuse me," Li Mo said, turning to leave. "Raiden Mei, the tears you shed in your dreams can never truly mend the regrets and sorrows of reality."

He walked away, leaving Mei and Kiana bewildered. At his feet were three shadows… unnoticed, unremarked upon.

"Mei, he was weird," Kiana said, staring after him. "I wanted to apologize, and… I feel like I've seen him somewhere before…" A vague, indistinct memory flickered in her mind.

"Oh! I know! It's the Déjà vu thing!" she exclaimed, remembering something her teacher had mentioned. The déjà vu phenomenon, that strange feeling of having experienced something before.

"Mei! Mei! I figured it out! That's what it is!" She excitedly explained her half-baked understanding of déjà vu to Mei.

"Haha… I didn't know you were so studious, Kiana," Mei chuckled, a gentle smile on her face. "But how did he know my name? Did you tell him?"

"Hmm… maybe he heard it on TV or something…" Mei's expression faltered, a shadow passing over her features.

Her father, the CEO of ME Corp, had been imprisoned the previous month for financial fraud. She, the heiress, had become a pariah at Chiba Academy, the target of scorn and ridicule.

Since her father's arrest, everyone had changed. Teachers, classmates, all treated her differently.

In the kendo club, no one would spar with her. Even during exams, opponents would toss their wooden swords aside, sneering, "Who would want to compete fairly against the great Raiden heiress? What if she cheats like her father?"

In class, when the teacher asked open-ended questions, everyone else received applause, no matter their answer. When it was Mei's turn, the room fell silent. She stood there, awkwardly, the teacher not even telling her to sit down.

She tried to share her homemade bento, only to be met with disdain and snide remarks about "not being able to afford it."

Everywhere she went, it was the same. The world had turned against her. Even their family villa and most of their assets had been seized. She now lived in the school dorms.

Then Kiana arrived. A straightforward, innocent girl who wore her heart on her sleeve.

Kiana had come out early to buy breakfast and walk to school with Mei.

"Mei, Mei, I heard there are ghosts in the dorms at night! Why don't you move in with me?" Kiana suggested, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.

Mei smiled wryly. Kiana's intentions were transparent. But Kiana was the kindest, most pure-hearted girl Mei had ever met. And Mei, always considerate of others, didn't want to burden Kiana, who wasn't well-off.

"No, thanks, Kiana. Why do you believe those unscientific rumors? You should pay attention in class. Urban legends aren't real," Mei said, gently pinching Kiana's cheek.

"Besides," she added, to reassure Kiana, "someone in our dorm leaves the light on at night. Even if there were ghosts, they wouldn't come to our room, right? And don't underestimate me."

"Heehee," Kiana giggled, clearly not dissuaded. Mei, realizing her "punishment" was being taken as a reward, quickly withdrew her hand.

"Ki…a…na!"

"Ehehe, Mei, why are you mad? Pinch me again! Punish me for being a bad girl! I'll give you all the snacks! Aaah~~"

Meanwhile, Li Mo returned to his small villa. Mei was sitting at her computer, her brow furrowed in concentration. Hearing him enter, she rose to greet him, her expression softening.

"Welcome home, Li Mo."

"I'm going to Elysia's room for a while."

"Okay. I'll get you a cola." MEI, perceptive as always, saw his exhaustion. She didn't bombard him with questions about his three-month absence. Instead, she prioritized his recovery.

She knew he needed to clear the accumulated death count and purge the anomalous contamination as quickly as possible.