Global Ghost Stories: I'm Investigating Ghosts in My Nightmare!

Chapter 33 The Mark of the Tower
Bai Yu returned to her house, far away from the Investigation Bureau.

In the living room, the air seemed to solidify into cold amber, sealing the white words and black words in an eerie standoff. The old diary lying open on the coffee table, like an eye peering into an abyss, silently watched everything in the room.

Bai Yu didn't move; he just quietly watched Hei Yan.

That face, seven-tenths similar to his own, yet filled with a captivating and arrogant allure, now radiated an almost obsessive pleasure. His slender fingers gently brushed across the tower-shaped pattern of arms and eyes on the diary, as if caressing a lover's skin.

"A long-forgotten work of art awaits our unveiling." Hei Yan's voice was soft and seductive, each syllable seeming to come from a theater in another dimension, carrying an empty echo.

Bai Yu's eyes remained unwavering. He spoke, his voice as flat as a string stretched to its limit: "Just how much do you know?"

This time it's no longer a question, but an inquiry.

He was no longer satisfied with passively accepting the filtered fragments of information revealed by the shady words.

From the "mountain god" of Luoshui Village to the even more bizarre diary before him, he felt more and more clearly that behind these seemingly independent nightmare events, there was a web woven by a more ancient and grander being.

Hei Yan, this self-proclaimed art connoisseur, is far more than just an observer.

Hei Yan slowly raised his head upon hearing this, his unfathomable eyes looking at Bai Yu, a playful smile playing on his lips: "'Know'? Bai Yu, what a pitiful word you used. I prefer to explore the unknown, and as for those things I 'know,' I only 'appreciate' them. Just like I appreciate your current state, on the verge of collapse yet forcibly maintaining your rationality... It's truly a sight to behold."

He stood up, walked to the porthole, turned his back to Bai Yu, and looked at the vast city made of steel and lights outside the Investigation Bureau.

“This mortal,” he was clearly referring to the owner of the diary, “is ridiculous. He thinks he is the helmsman, trying to summon the legendary Leviathan by tracing nautical charts. But he doesn’t know that every stroke he makes is just etching an indelible coordinate on the sea of ​​his own soul. He is not summoning, but ‘responding.’”

"Respond to what?" Bai Yu pressed, each word seeming to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

“Answering a feast that has already begun.” Hei Yan turned around, his smile growing even brighter. “He thought he was opening a ‘door,’ but in reality, he was just posting an invitation to himself and everything connected to him by blood. An invitation to the ‘Tower of Ten Thousand Heads.’”

“The Tower of Ten Thousand Heads…” Bai Yu repeated the name, a chill from the depths of his soul instantly gripping him. Just uttering those four words brought back memories of that magnificent building constructed from endless pain and despair.

“Ha, what a magnificent work of art!” Hei Yan opened his arms as if embracing an invisible masterpiece. “It is not built of bricks and stones, but of countless souls like the owner of this diary who presumptuously peered into things they shouldn’t have. Each soul is a brick, a brick that wailes, cries, and struggles forever. They think they are pursuing the truth, but in reality, they are just adding bricks to this tower. And this tower itself is a huge beacon, a trap that constantly attracts more ‘building materials’.”

His gaze returned to the diary: "This diary is not a simple record of the ritual. It is a 'contract,' a 'mark.' Anyone who comes into contact with it and resonates with it with their spirit will be marked by this mark. Your soul will be engraved with the symbol of the tower, your dreams will become an extension of the tower, and your existence will become a new 'anchor point' for the tower in the real world."

Hei Yan slowly walked up to Bai Yu, leaned down slightly, and his handsome face, so beautiful it seemed unreal, almost touched Bai Yu's cheek.

In the hollow of his heart, it seemed as if endless stars were spinning.

“So, congratulations, my dear Xiaobaiyu.” He whispered, his voice filled with malicious admiration, “And that little girl named Lu Yueqi. You are no longer bystanders. Your souls have been etched into the blueprint of this tower. You… have become a part of this story.”

boom--

It felt as if a thunderclap had exploded in Bai Yu's mind.

He understood instantly.

Lu Yueqi is not merely a "lighthouse" with a special constitution that easily attracts nightmares. She has already been "marked." Like a wounded lamb targeted by a pack of wolves, no matter where she flees, her unique scent will draw the predators. And the moment I came across and began to decipher this diary, I too stepped into the same trap.

He had always thought he would be the hunter, but now he realized that he and Lu Yueqi were already prey from a higher level of existence.

Bai Yu suddenly stood up, the last trace of holiday laziness in her eyes completely crushed, replaced by a cold determination.

He grabbed the diary from the coffee table, didn't glance at Hei Yan again, and quickly walked out of the house.

The situation was far more serious than he had anticipated. He had to find Lu Yueqi immediately and get more clues about the tower from her.

……

Apartment buildings in the residential area.

In Lu Yueqi's dormitory, the girl was curled up on the sofa with her knees drawn up to her chest, staring blankly at the ceiling.

After handing that strange diary to Bai Yu, she thought she could finally get a good night's sleep.

But the truth is quite the opposite; last night's dream was clearer and more terrifying than ever before.

It was no longer fragmented symbols and vague whispers.

She dreamt that she was floating in an endless darkness. There was no up, down, left, or right, only an endless feeling of falling. Then, she "felt" being watched.

It wasn't just one pair of eyes, or even a few pairs. It was thousands upon thousands of gazes, coming from all directions, densely packed, crawling all over her skin like cold insects.

She tried to scream, but no sound came out.

Then, a strange sound arose. It was a grinding sound, like a giant millstone crushing countless bones, or like countless people groaning in pain through throats filled with sand. The sound pierced her ears, gnawing at her sanity.

Just as she was about to be driven mad by this terrifying sensory experience, she "saw" the outline of a tower in the darkness.

It soared into the clouds, seemingly connecting the beginning and the end of this darkness. But it was not still. Lu Yueqi could clearly "see" that the surface of the tower was... crawling extremely slowly.

It is not made of bricks and stones, but of countless twisted and painful human faces and countless intertwined arms reaching out in vain.

Every face is screaming silently, every arm is struggling desperately.

"Dong dong dong."

The rapid, forceful knocking startled Lu Yueqi from her terrifying memories. She trembled, like a frightened bird.

"It's me, Bai Yu."

A familiar, calm voice came from outside the door, and Lu Yueqi practically tumbled and crawled to open it.

Seeing Bai Yu's pale yet incredibly reassuring face, the girl's tense nerves relaxed slightly, her eyes reddened, and she almost cried: "Bai Yu..."

Bai Yu's expression was unusually serious. He walked into the room and placed the old diary directly on the table.

"Tell me everything about your dream, every single detail you can remember." His tone was almost devoid of warmth.

Lu Yueqi was startled by his appearance, but she could sense that Bai Yu's seriousness was not directed at her, but rather stemmed from some kind of immense pressure.

She dared not delay and, suppressing her inner fear, described the terrifying dream she had experienced the previous night in detail.

From the feeling of being watched by countless eyes, to the noise that grinds like bones, to that writhing tower made up of human faces and arms.

Bai Yu listened quietly, his face as still as water.

Lu Yueqi's description and Hei Yan's artistic interpretation form a chilling confirmation.

"Was there anything else in your dream? For example, was anyone talking to you?" Bai Yu's gaze was sharp as a knife as he stared intently at her.

Lu Yueqi's body trembled violently, and her face turned deathly pale.

“Yes…” she said in an almost inaudible voice, “There is a woman’s voice… so gentle, it keeps echoing in my mind. She… she is calling me…”

"What's her name? Or what did she say?"

“She didn’t say her name…” Lu Yueqi tried hard to recall, fear making her thoughts chaotic, “She just kept repeating… ‘Come, climb to the top of the tower’… ‘Come, become a part of eternity’… ‘Come, Yao… is waiting for you’…”

瑶！
Bai Yu's pupils suddenly contracted. He immediately opened the diary and quickly scanned it. Finally, in the latter half of the diary, he found several entries that were somewhat blurred by ink stains.

"...Today I heard the divine oracle again, Yao's voice, like heavenly music... She promised me eternity, promised me a glimpse of the truth behind the 'door'..."

"...The offerings are ready. I will use my flesh and blood as a stepping stone to welcome Yao's arrival..."

"...She is not a god, she is a guide...leading to that great, living monument..."

The clues were completely connected at this moment.

Lu Yueqi's maternal grandfather, that pathetic pursuer, did not worship any deity, but rather a "guide" named "Yao".

Yao's mission is to lure more souls like himself into becoming part of the "Tower of Ten Thousand Heads." Now, this mission has been passed down to Lu Yueqi through blood ties and the "mark" of the diary.

Bai Yu closed the diary and looked at the girl trembling with fear before her. Simple protection was meaningless. Hiding her was useless; the tower's "gaze" had already locked onto her.

There is only one way to survive.

"Put on your coat and come with me." Bai Yu's voice left no room for argument.

"Go...where?"

"Go somewhere where you can survive." ...

The Bureau of Investigation's internal training grounds were empty and cold.

This is usually where investigators conduct physical and weapons training, but at this moment, Bai Yu led Lu Yueqi to a small psycho-sensing room at the very back.

The room's walls were all soft white, with no unnecessary furnishings.

"Sit down," Bai Yu commanded.

Lu Yueqi sat down uneasily on the cushion in the center of the room.

Bai Yu stood in front of her, looking down at her.

"Lu Yueqi, I have something to tell you now, and you must listen carefully to every single word."

His voice was unusually heavy: "You've been targeted by something you can't understand or fight against. It's not an ordinary nightmare; you can't escape it. It will infiltrate your dreams, distort your perception, until it completely devours you and makes you a part of it. Just like what you see in your dream."

Lu Yueqi's face instantly drained of all color.

"No...no, it can't be..." She shook her head, trembling, tears welling in her eyes, "With you all here, with the Investigation Bureau here..."

"We can protect your body, but we can't protect your dreams, we can't protect your soul!" Bai Yu's voice became stern. "If you want to live, your only hope lies within yourself."

He pointed to Lu Yueqi's chest: "I told you, you are a dreamer, and a 'nightmare' is sleeping inside you. It is both the source of the threat and your only weapon. Now, your task is to learn how to awaken it and control it."

“I…I can’t do it…” Lu Yueqi burst into tears, “I’m scared…I don’t want to become a monster…”

"A monster?" Bai Yu sighed helplessly. "Look at me. There is a being inside me that is more dangerous than any monster you can imagine. You have two choices now: one, be swallowed by that tower and become a part of it; two, become a monster and have the power to resist, which will at least help you live a little longer."

Bai Yu's words were like a cold knife, piercing through all of Lu Yueqi's fragile illusions.

"Stop your useless tears." Bai Yu's voice had never been so cold. "Your fear is the best food for that tower. The more afraid you are, the clearer its vision becomes. Now, close your eyes."

Lu Yueqi sobbed, but still closed her eyes as instructed.

“Now, don’t think about that tower, and don’t think about those terrifying images.” Bai Yu’s voice echoed in the empty room like a hypnotist. “Look inward, feel that unsettling force within you. Don’t resist it, don’t suppress it. 'Communicate' with it, understand it. Tell it that you need its power to protect yourself.”

Lu Yueqi tried her best to do as instructed, but the more she concentrated, the more her inner fear amplified. She felt a chaotic force lurking within her, a force filled with violence and hunger that made her instinctively want to escape.

"No...no...it's so scary..." She suddenly opened her eyes, gasping for breath.

A hint of disappointment flashed in Bai Yu's eyes, but he did not give up.

“Then let’s try a different approach,” he said slowly. “Keep your eyes closed. Now, imagine you are at the foot of that tower. Can you hear it? The wails of countless souls. Can you see it? Those distorted faces, one of them is your grandfather. He is looking at you, reaching out his hand to you, his mouth is moving, he is silently telling you—'Run!'”

Bai Yu's voice used a trace of black language power, and the image uncontrollably appeared in Lu Yueqi's mind.

"Then, you see the top of the tower, where a woman named 'Yao' is smiling at you. Behind her are countless arms that are slowly reaching out to you, trying to pull you up and make you a new brick."

"No! No!" Lu Yueqi screamed in despair, fear engulfing her like a tidal wave.

"This is your future!" Bai Yu's voice struck her heart like a heavy hammer. "If you don't resist, this is your only fate! Now, turn this fear, this despair, this resentment into your strength! Command that thing within you, tell it that you want to live!"

Driven by extreme fear and a strong will to survive, the chaotic power within Lu Yueqi, which she had been suppressing, finally found an outlet.

"what--!"

She let out a series of desperate screams.

hum!
A surge of energy carrying extreme cold suddenly spread out from her center!
The automatic sensor lights in the room began flashing wildly, emitting a buzzing electrical sound, and a thin layer of frost instantly condensed on the soft white walls. The temperature in the entire room seemed to drop to freezing point in an instant.

Bai Yu stood quietly in place, letting the chill seep in. He saw a twisted black shadow flash by behind Lu Yueqi.

It became.

The moment the power was released, Lu Yueqi collapsed onto the soft cushion, exhausted, and passed out.

Bai Yu stepped forward, took off his coat, and gently covered her with it. He looked at the girl's sleeping face, which was tear-streaked yet held a hint of stubbornness, his gaze complex.

This is just the beginning. A door to a deeper hell has been opened for her, and for herself.

……

A week-long holiday passed in the blink of an eye.

Under Bai Yu's hellish training, Lu Yueqi was able to barely guide the nightmare power called "Deep Cold" within her body while she was awake. Although she could only maintain it for a few seconds each time and it would leave her exhausted, it was undoubtedly a huge improvement.

On the day the holiday ended, all the core members of the team were present in the meeting room.

An Mu looked at Bai Yu, his brows furrowing slightly: "Your complexion is worse than before your vacation."

Mo Fei chimed in casually, "Yeah, you wouldn't be secretly taking on freelance work during your vacation, would you?"

Lan Ce pushed up his glasses, his gaze behind the lenses falling on Bai Yu, seemingly analyzing his mental fluctuation data.

Bai Yu ignored their teasing and placed a document and a specially sealed copy of the diary on the conference table.

"I discovered a new incident during my vacation."

He summarized the contents of Lu Yueqi's maternal grandfather's diary and his own speculations in the most concise language. Of course, he omitted the most crucial parts.

He blurred the concepts of "Tower of Ten Thousand Heads" and "Mark" into "a dimensional rift with high spiritual pollution and tracking capabilities left over from dangerous rituals."

He didn't mention "Yao" or the specific form of the tower, but only emphasized that this unknown source of pollution had established a dangerous link with Lu Yueqi through blood and relics.

"...In conclusion, Lu Yueqi is currently in an extremely dangerous state. Simple physical protection cannot isolate her from this erosion from the dream and mental realms. I propose that she be formally included in the protection and observation sequence of Team One as a 'specially associated person,' and I will continue to be responsible for guiding her to master her own power in order to protect herself and find an opportunity to completely eliminate this hidden danger."

There was silence in the conference room.

"Are you kidding me!" Mo Fei was the first to slam his fist on the table and stand up. "Taking an ordinary person... no, a rookie who can't even control his own power to the battlefield? Bai Yu, are you crazy? Isn't this sending her to her death?"

“What about the risk assessment report?” Lan Ce asked calmly. “The energy model of the pollution source, the erosion method, the predictable outbreak level? The data on Lu Yueqi’s nightmare potential assessment? Without these, I cannot agree to bring a huge uncertainty into the team.”

An Mu remained silent, simply gazing intently at Bai Yu. He sensed that Bai Yu was concealing something. The "dimensional rift" he described was likely far more dangerous than he made it out to be.

“Staying outside is tantamount to suicide for her,” Bai Yu said calmly, meeting everyone’s gaze. “Only by staying with us and learning to resist will she have any chance of survival. As for the data, starting today, I hope you will be responsible for monitoring her around the clock and creating a file for her. This is, in itself, part of our job.”

His voice carried a hint of pleading when he spoke the word "hope".

An Mu remained silent for a long time before finally speaking, his voice heavy: "I agree with Bai Yu's proposal."

He looked at Mo Fei and Lan Ce: "I understand your concerns. But Bai Yu is right, we can't let someone targeted by an S-level potential threat fend for themselves. From today onwards, Lu Yueqi's security level will be raised to S-level, and she will officially become a reserve member of Team One, under Bai Yu's full responsibility. Lan Ce, cooperate with him. Mo Fei, this is an order, and... trust Bai Yu."

Mo Fei opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed his words and sat back down in his chair.

The resolution was passed.

After the meeting, Bai Yu stood alone by the porthole in the corridor, gazing at the steel city outside, still brightly lit in the night.

He gradually dragged his teammates into an even more dangerous game, but he had no choice.

From the erasure of "existence" itself in the "Ruins of Eternal Silence," to the high-dimensional descent of the "Mountain God," and now to this "Tower of Ten Thousand Heads" built with souls as its bricks.

He became increasingly certain that humanity was facing far more than just nightmares born from its own fears.

Behind the curtain of reality, in the unobservable dimensional rifts, lie ancient and terrifying beings, engaged in a game beyond human comprehension.

And they, these investigators who fight in the shadows, may not even be considered pawns.

They were just strays onto the chessboard, dust that could be crushed at any moment...

A truly all-encompassing storm seems to have only just begun to gather.

And he had already heard the first faint chant coming from the tower at the eye of the storm.

(End of this chapter)