World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 20 Lalorona
"With your witness, [Lalorona]'s character list has been unlocked."

April's design was so iconic that Lin An couldn't help but think of a famous legend that matched it. At the same time, the system's mechanical voice sounded, confirming his guess.

[Name]: Lalorona, the Weeping Woman

[Rating]: Ghost Story, Level D

Radiation level: 1.5%
[Pollution Level]: 35.7%
[Medium]: The Mother of Desire
Legend has it that Lalorona's real name was Maria, and she was born into a peasant family. Her beauty attracted a wealthy man.

Less than a year after their marriage, the man returned to his previous busy and philandering life, often leaving for months at a time.

Whenever he returned home, the man never cared about Maria, only about visiting his children. Heartbroken, Maria transferred her resentment towards her husband onto her children.

Finally, one day, she grabbed the children and threw them into the river.

When the small figure disappeared downstream, Maria realized what she had done. She ran down to the riverbank desperately, trying to save them, but it was too late.

And so, Maria fell into an inescapable grief. She went mad, screaming and crying incessantly, trying to draw the children's souls back to her.

During this time, she didn't eat and kept walking along the river, searching for her children.

Her white robe became dirty and tattered, and she grew thinner and thinner, appearing taller and longer, like a walking skeleton.

The young woman eventually died on the riverbank.

After her death, Lalorona became a restless spirit. It is said that locals often saw her drifting along the coastline among the trees, and her cries and wails for the children became a curse of the night.

They call her Lalorona—a direct translation of the local language as "the weeping woman."

Different versions of the legend of Larorona exist in various places, but they all say that after her death, Larorona became a "merciless killer" who indiscriminately dragged passing travelers into the river to drown them.

The children, in particular, reminded her of her own two unfortunate children.

Aside from chance encounters, Lalorona will actively hunt down those who mistreat their families, as well as those attracted by her cries and silhouette.

As soon as they approached, she would raise her head and exhale a chilling breath from her fleshless chin, a curse binding their hearts; they would not live more than three days.

From the legend, Lin An summarized the abilities that this mysterious person might possess.

Sonic attacks, and the curse of death.

These two abilities are quite useful and suitable for the system to include, but Lin An is not so depraved as to kill his college classmate with no grudge against him just to satisfy his thirst for knowledge.

Perhaps... the mysterious person wants to obtain Lalorona's abilities?

But how could he be sure that April was Lalorona?

Could he foresee the type of mystic awakening, or could he—determine the medium they attract?

Lin An preferred the former to be true; the mere thought of human intervention in the mysterious was chilling.

In fact, Lin An had some speculations about a mysterious awakening.

After verification by April and Lalorona, this conjecture became increasingly credible.

April's wheat-colored skin is evidence of her origins in the Lower East Side. Although she has become a true "Eagle Nation" and has even forgotten her native language, she cannot sever ties with her ancestors and escape the "bloodline" she was born with.

Therefore, her mysterious prototype comes from the Lower East Asia.

By combining the three factors of "wanting to start a family," "limited understanding," and "originating from the Lower East Sea," and eliminating possibilities layer by layer, it is not difficult to pinpoint Lalorona, a D-level mystery and the medium of "Mother of Desire."

Bloodline theory...

Lin An couldn't help but drift off for a second.

As someone who is half Chinese, do you think the system is some ancient book like the "Classic of Mountains and Seas," the "Hetu Luoshu," or the "Book of Changes"? After all, it only contains the "Complete Book of Magic," and its actual ability is to "identify and collect" even lower-level mystical objects.

Uh, it feels a bit off.

Our ancestors must have spoken classical Chinese, not a machine-translated accent...

Lin An can basically conclude that the system was influenced by the bloodline on the mother's side, and its prototype most likely came from the ancient civilization of Romania and the surrounding area.

Perhaps I am a true Roman orthodox.

I wish I could unlock the system's "real name" as soon as possible.

Shaking off his distracting thoughts, Lin An continued to monitor the situation at the foundation.

Hector picked up the unconscious April and gently placed her on the edge of the pool. Caroline then put special matte black shackles on her hands and feet.

Coroner Vanessa knelt beside April, placing her hand over her abdomen as if testing something.

"The medium is the mother of desire."

Caroline quickly took out her tablet and began recording her conclusions word by word.

"The level of pollution is between 30% and 40%, with the mutations concentrated in the jaw, hair and eyes. The radiation level is very low and can be almost ignored."

"Detection shows that the mysterious person's code name is [Lana Rona], classified as an urban legend, and the control level is between Theta and Eta."

"Based on the preliminary assessment, the individual will be temporarily placed under 'Level 3 Control' measures."

Lin An raised his eyebrows.

Reading data, is Mo Feifan Nasha a low-end version of Tongzi Ge? And what does three-level control mean?
The foundation has neither the means to reduce the level of pollution nor the need to prevent ordinary people from coming into contact with the mystery. It's unlikely that they will allow April to return to a normal life in this state. I wonder how they plan to inform her family and friends.

"Vanessa, what about that young man?"

Caroline pointed to Mike, who was unconscious and floating on the water.

The coroner pondered for a moment before replying, "The usual procedure: Level 4 control. However, the external testing is about to begin, and if he's willing to sign up, we can downgrade to Level 5 control."

The level of control appears to be the degree of freedom the foundation grants to individuals.

Level 4 or 5 control might only involve being monitored or listened to, far from the level of "imprisonment," while Level 3 control would involve restricting personal freedom and being confined to specific facilities.

The next moment, the countdown for "100% accuracy" reached zero.

Lin An's vision returned to normal.

"Dangdangdang——"

The helicopter's noise level dropped. The captain had just made a phone call, presumably communicating with the logistics department, and asked them to land and complete the control and cleanup work.

A rustling sound came from outside the door. Lin An's expression tightened, and he picked up the table lamp and lightly brushed it across his forehead.

"Tick tock..."

The Western-style glass lampshade had exceptionally sharp protrusions, and its copper surface cut Lin An's skin, causing a line of blood to slowly flow down. He hid behind the curtains, lay on the ground, and stretched out one arm.

About two minutes later, footsteps entered the room.

"Oh my god, there's a survivor!"

Someone drew back the curtains, gasped, and quickly placed their hand on Lin An's neck to check his pulse.

"Great, he's still alive! Medical team, we need a stretcher here!"

…………

Margaret Street was unusually crowded.

Although the people of Dietrich are used to the noise, bustle, and light pollution, it is quite rare to see so many "pedestrians" on the streets of the affluent neighborhood. Other villas kept their doors tightly shut, for fear of attracting the attention of the media with their cameras and microphones and causing unnecessary trouble.

Because some of the reporters were actually "spies" they sent out.

The camera flashes mingled among the police cars and ambulances, constantly being driven away, yet incredibly persistent, relentlessly questioning everyone involved in the incident.

"Could you please tell me in detail what exactly happened at the Wood family's party?"

What is the number of casualties at the scene?

"What did you see at the time? Do you think this is evidence that the Wood family was conducting unauthorized human experiments?"

"Excuse me--"

Doris struggled to push through the huddled crowd.

Some of the people who fled were at a pool party. Once they left the warm water, underfloor heating, and barbecue grill, they were completely exposed to the freezing winter of Dietrich, shivering and trying to huddle together for warmth.

Amidst the chaos, fear, and hypothermia, no one paid any attention to the Wood family's daughter. Instead of smiles and greetings, they were unwilling to even move aside to make way for her.

Doris pulled her ill-fitting coat tighter, the faint masculine scent reminding her of the things she had to do.

Finally, she found two medical staff members to talk to.

"A total of 49 injured people have been found. Nearly two-thirds of them suffered minor injuries from trampling, fighting, and slipping. Nine people suffered burns of varying degrees, which, according to them, were caused by being hit by a barbecue grill or a faulty power source. Five people were injured in accidental falls, three of whom suffered fractures."

"The most serious incident involved one person who suffered an asthma attack and was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment, and another person... suffered a massive tear in their calf muscle, with the bone almost exposed, and fell into a deep coma."

The two medical staff looked at each other and let out a long sigh.

"Is it a crocodile?"

"That's right, that Mississippi River alligator that escaped from the state zoo was too ferocious."

"Excuse me, have you seen my friends?" Doris interrupted their conversation. "Two men and one woman: Mike Smith, April Hernandez, and Ann Lin?"

The medical staff paused for a moment, then said respectfully, "Excuse me, are you Miss Doris Wood?"

“Yes, that’s not important,” Doris said anxiously. “I couldn’t find them, especially one of my friends from China. For some reason, he couldn’t keep up with us when we evacuated from that small room on the north balcony.”

"Are you sure?" a medical worker asked.

Before Doris could nod, another medical worker glared at her and interrupted.

"Okay, rescue personnel will be on their way for a second search and rescue operation. Please come with me this way. Our officer has something to discuss with you, Miss Wood."

"I see……"

The medical staff kindly brought clean clothes and shoes to change Doris out of her embarrassing bikini.

Just as she was about to take the slightly worn coat, she was slapped hard across the back of her hand.

“Keep your hands to yourself, ma’am.” The short-haired woman smiled faintly. “I want everything I own, from head to toe, to belong to me.”

(End of this chapter)