The black shadow behind the slender ghost whipped towards the other Marceau like a whip, its chest had been pierced by the beast-like Marceau, and pieces of black veins spread to the rest of its body, its twitching posture seemed to endure great pain, even so, the wielding of the black shadow was still full of power, making people feel that once they were hit, the bones of their whole body would be broken. A mystery spread through the air, making me dizzy and almost vomiting, but it didn't stop me from grazing.

I held Marceau, dagger in hand, and when the black shadow of the slender ghost bounced into the air, it had already passed through it, and when the blade cut through the black shadow, there was no feeling of force, but when I looked back, the black shadow had already broken down in mid-air, leaving only an illusory afterimage to pounce on the beast-eyed Marceau, like a blow blowing, making her clothes and long hair flutter violently.

In the next moment, the veins that spread from the crack in the slender ghost's chest completely enveloped its body.

The ghost began to distort, and the humanoid body seemed like dirt thrown into a blender, and in a moment it lost its form, only the black veins wrapped around it like a giant net, pulling it into the beast-eyed Maceau. I heard the sound of chewing, and I couldn't help but think of the lanky ghost being chewed by an indescribable thing inside that Marceau's body. Even in the frequent, loud ticking sound of the watch shop, the chewing sound could not be drowned.

I think that this beast-eyed Marceau is the ghost of Marceau, or that the ghost is hidden in the body of this beast-eyed Marceau. I use my own experience as a criterion, and I also find Marceau's situation very strange. Marceau, Marceau's Electro Demon, Marceau's Ghost, Marceau's Nightmare. The way of storing zài between the four sides seems to be very different from that of the average electronic demon user.

When the chewing sound stopped, the sound of the clock also stopped, and the light in the store returned to the dimness it had when I first entered, and when I looked out from the direction of the door, the nightmare Las Vegas scene had returned to normal, not the original painting-like appearance. Such a change. On the contrary, it gives people a feeling of "restoring normal", of course, here, there is no so-called normal. I looked out the back door, which was hidden, and I wondered if it was the labyrinthine passage behind me that I had first touched Marceau.

I don't quite understand how exactly Marceau got into my ghost nightmare, and how my ghost nightmare came into this watch shop. One can only roughly imagine this transformation. It's like a consciousness walker entering the consciousness of others and distorting the consciousness of others. Even in the form of a nightmare, Marceau's actions made her look like a consciousness walker - or, perhaps, the mystery of the electronic demon she created, which was the mystery of consciousness.

"Gao Chuan, you said you wanted to help me." Marceo tugged at my sleeve. I turned my gaze away from the other Marceau and touched the head of the one next to me.

"Yes. But I can only appear in your nightmares now. I said, "It's a nightmare, Marceau." ”

"I know, but I'm not scared anymore, because Takakawa is here, so I'm not afraid of her." Marceau said this, but his eyes never turned away from the other Marceau. It seems that the so-called "she" refers to the beast-eyed Marceau.

"Who is she?" I tried to guide Marceau. Marceau's mind was not normal, and her eyes were the same as some of the mentally ill people I had seen in Dr. Nguyen Li's clinic. Under normal circumstances, asking such a mentally ill person some normal questions will definitely give people a puzzling answer.

"She's who she is." Marceau said; "She's not Marceau."

"You're afraid of her? Will she hurt you? I asked, staring at Marceau, who was in the eyes of the beast. Outcome. The beastly girl, who seemed to be unconscious, gave a smile as strange as Marceau's beside me, and replied, "I'm not afraid of her at all, because she's not Marceau." ”

Sure enough, the conversation began to turn to the incomprehensible stage. If I continue to ask Marceau these questions, whether it is this Marceau next to me or this Marceau opposite, what he says will become unbelievable. The words of the mentally ill are always full of deep meaning, but this is only because they only give answers according to their own thinking that is different from ordinary people, and these natural answers can become ridiculous in normal thinking.

So, I changed the subject and said, "Marceau, you have summoned demons. ”

"yes, I'm the demon." Marceau, who was beside me, replied in a sinister tone, and when I looked at her, her body had been molded into muddy water, and it was still melting. Ordinary people would probably be so frightened that they couldn't help but let go of their hands, but I grabbed her hand suddenly, and the heat and touch from the palm of my hand were like a cloud of cold muddy water.

While my mind was still spinning, the seemingly slightly normal, but equally weird Marceau completely collapsed into a puddle of muddy water, and quickly seeped into the ground before my eyes.

"So, you're the real Marceau?" I looked at Marceau, who looked like a beast on the other side, and although the transformation was sudden and strange, it was still not a change that would surprise the occultists.

"Guess what? Takakawa, what do you think I am? On the other side, Marceau's expression began to soften, the beast-like eyes disappeared, and the whole person became exactly the same as Marceau who disappeared before, as delicate as a girl, but with the weirdness of an abnormal girl. She lifted the hem of her gown and spun it around as if she were dancing, an action that suddenly made her feel lively.

"Do you know why you're here?" I was not disturbed by these strange changes, my heart was as calm as ever, I walked up to her and half-crouched, looked into her eyes and asked.

"It's the price of summoning demons." Marceau's expression changed again, and there was still a hint of weirdness in that serious expression, which made people feel that she was still with some kind of malice, if not lying, but I never intended to speculate on her in a bad direction. Because, she is Marceau, no matter when and under what circumstances, she is my relative, and I believe in her. Just as I believe in Sakuya and Hakkei, in other words, if I don't trust them, who else can I trust? I think this idea is incorrect in the eyes of ordinary people, a dangerous and strange situation. You shouldn't trust someone completely, not to mention, the girl in front of you has an indescribable weirdness. However, I never felt that there was anything wrong with my unconditional trust. Maybe it's because I'm a mental patient.

"Sure enough, summoning a demon will give you nightmares?" I said, "I had nightmares too. ”

"I know, so. I ate your nightmare. Marceau reached out and stroked my face, "You said you would protect me, didn't you?" ”

"Yes, but maybe you're protecting me." I replied, holding her in my arms, "Thank you." Marceau. It's great to see you again. ”

"Don't be afraid. Takakawa. "Marceau hugged my head and patted me on the back like a little adult. Her body temperature is as warm as that of a normal person, and in this nightmare world, it seems to be a real being.

"Do you want to get out of here?" Half an hour later, I parted ways with her. Putting his arm on her shoulder, he asked, "Going outside?" ”

"I can't get out." Marceau shook her head and said, "My nightmare is here, and that's it." ”

"Have you forgotten? I came in from outside, and a lot of people had already gone out. "I talked about when she was fighting the lanky ghost. The nightmare Las Vegas change outside the store, there were indeed many people running out of the buildings, originally there was not half a figure in those buildings, but at that time, it was like a switch was turned on. Now it looks like those people have gone from their own nightmare to the wider nightmare of Las Vegas.

"I don't want to go out, but, Takakawa, you can let them in." Marceau stared at me with a wistful gaze, so that I could directly feel her anticipation, she wanted more people to enter this watch shop, and with her strange eyes, one could not help but have some bad associations - this watch shop was like a hunting trap, and Marceau would hurt everyone who entered it.

Even so, I agreed.

"Can you sue me, why did you do this?" I asked.

"Because, Marceau will die if he doesn't eat them." Marceau's tone became gloomy, and she seemed extremely unstable, and she said: "Marceau doesn't want to die yet, isn't it terrible and painful to die?" Takakawa, as you said, will protect me. ”

"Yes, I will protect you, Marceau." I reassured her, "Why would Marceau die if she didn't eat them?" ”

"Why?" Marceau stared at me incredulously, as if shocked that I could ask such a stupid question, "Because, this is the price to summon demons." I used the power of the demon, so I want to give the demon something else, isn't it a matter of course? ”

"I can enter your nightmare because you're guiding me, aren't you?" I asked.

"Well, yes, I was going to eat Achuan." I noticed that Marceau changed my address from "Takakawa" to "Achuan" here, as if she didn't realize it herself, which made me wonder if her subconscious had changed because of her contact with me, and was influenced by the past, even if this "past" was not in the same apocalyptic fantasy, or even, not in the apocalyptic fantasy.

"But why didn't you eat it?" Again, I was directed.

"Because, Ah Chuan is the one who will protect me." Marceau said as a matter of course, regardless of whether the logic of the words reversed what happened, "Ah Chuan is the first person who is not afraid of me, and the first person who says he wants to protect me. She's so shy, and she's like a princess. She looked very happy.

I began to think that she must have been influenced by the "past".

"You didn't eat me, are you afraid?" I asked, "Afraid that the devil will hurt you?" The devil is the Marceau who pulled me just now? ”

"No, Marceau is not here, only demons are here." Marceau opened his hand and motioned to the entire watch shop, "All demons. However, I'm not afraid of it. ”

I can't understand it anymore. What is the relationship between the Marceau in front of her, the Marceau who turned into muddy water and disappeared, and this watch shop, and the demon in her mouth. The simple relationship between the original electronic demon and the user, and the user's ghost nightmare, became a mess for her. However, Marceau said that not being afraid of demons made me feel that it was not a lie.

"I am not afraid of demons, but I use the power of demons. It should be given something else, right? In this, I asked, there was a naïve exchange principle of occultism.

"Yes, because, the demon will protect me when I wake up." Marceau said, "Because. Ah Chuan can only appear in nightmares, doesn't he? If I don't have nightmares, Achuan will be gone. I know, although Ah Chuan knows everything, but in fact, Ah Chuan doesn't know what his true self is. Her words seemed to carry a deep meaning beyond this nightmare, beyond this apocalyptic illusion. She didn't deliberately show it, but I couldn't help but feel it.

"I'll wake up from nightmares too." I said, "I'm an occult expert, and I'm an electronic demon. ”

"No, Ah Chuan doesn't have a demon, because this demon is not Ah Chuan's." Marceau stared at the shadow beneath my feet and said, "Achuan was just being targeted by a demon. It doesn't matter if it hurts you. I'm going to eat it, just like I did the thing I just did. ”

Marceau's words were full of aggression, making people feel that the next moment they would drag out the electronic demon in the shadows.

"It won't hurt me." I hurriedly said, "It's not my electronic demon, but it will protect me." ”

"So, look." Marceau spread her hands. He said to me, "Agawa doesn't even have his own demons, he just thinks he's a mystical expert. Saying this, he was a little annoyed, as if he blamed himself for saying it too bluntly, so he hurriedly added: "So." I'm going to protect Achuan. If I don't have nightmares, Achuan will disappear. So, I had to have nightmares. She nodded vigorously, as if to affirm her own thoughts, even though they were not normal at all.

She's not the kind of mentally ill person who can't speak and can't express her thoughts, but she definitely has a mental problem.

It was with great difficulty that I sorted out the logic of her words: "Are you going to eat those demons or those people?" ”

"Of course it's a demon, what is there to eat?" Marceau said, "Sooner or later, dreamers wake up, don't they? I can't eat it at all. ”

I see, that's how Marceau understands nightmares. In her opinion, when she or someone else is hurt, she will only wake up from the nightmare, and the only one who will really be hurt and disappear is the electronic demon. However, in my experience, once people are actually killed in this nightmare, they will definitely be hurt more severely than "waking up". Thinking back to the shadows born in the nightmare Las Vegas, I can't help but think that even if the people who were killed could wake up, they might have a drastic change in personality, or even a change in personality, thus reflecting the viciousness of erosion.

So, if you die in a nightmare, is it not the person who dies, but the personality?

"Demons will not hurt you, but will continue to protect you after you wake up. However, in order to have demons all the time, it is necessary to eat other people's demons, and as long as you have demons all the time, you will have nightmares all the time. I sorted out the logic and asked Marceau for confirmation, "Is that so?" ”

"Uh-huh." Marceau nodded vigorously, I think that the time she had to obtain the electronic demon must not be short, otherwise, it would not be possible to come up with this logic. Because, my own experience may prove that I don't go into a nightmare the first time I have an electronic demon. And judging from this experience, even if the electronic demon user enters the nightmare, it should be his own ghost nightmare, not the nightmare Las Vegas. My case, for some reason, is a special case.

Marceau said that people don't die in their nightmares, but, I don't think, anyone in a nightmare doesn't resist the attack of ghosts at all in order to verify that they won't die. The question is what happens if the user kills the ghost with an electronic demon in their ghost nightmare. Marceau's anomaly is not because she killed her own ghost with her own electronic demon. Moreover, whether it is the disappeared Marceau or the current Marceau, they all say that the other party is not Marceau, is there some deep meaning in this?

"Marceau, what is this you now?" I couldn't help but ask. Marceau, who disappeared before, admits that he is a demon, but also claims that the current Marceau is not Marceau.

"Guess what?" Marceau was still the same very ** answer, and it seemed to make her laugh and giggle like this. However, even this happy laughter is a bit eerie. Not to mention the mentally ill, she doesn't even feel like a person, but like something in human skin.

"You're the ghost of Marceau." I guessed. The so-called "ghost" is just my term, but I'm not entirely sure if all users of electronic demons encounter something like a lanky ghost when they are caught in their own nightmares. Still, Marceau clearly understands what "ghost" means.

She smiled strangely again, and her body suddenly lost its sense of three-dimensionality and substance, as if it had changed from a three-dimensional image to a two-dimensional image, and it shook sharply a few times, as if the signal was suddenly unstable, so that the image did not become abnormal, and the final result was that it disappeared in front of my eyes in an instant. And this change, as if in action, proves my guess.

Neither of the two Marceau I encountered was Marceau, but it cannot be said that they had nothing to do with Marceau. Because, whether it is an electronic demon or a ghost, in my inference, it should be a concentrated embodiment of Marceau's own mystery and characteristics. They should represent a very essential part of Marceau's personality.

I feel a little sorry for her disappearance, because I still have many questions to know, for example, how did she get me into her ghost nightmare, how did she get into my ghost nightmare, and how did she pull me and the slender ghost into her ghost nightmare. And, why the electronic demons and ghosts, are all Marceau's appearance.

Of course, I also have my own speculations about these issues. In the occult, when paranormal events and nightmarish environments involve the issue of "access", it is often said that in the case of a small gap between the two parties, the consent of the other party is required to enter and exit the territory of the other party, and this consent does not necessarily need to be the actual idea of the other party. In the occult of Asia, there is an example of a person who has been having nightmares about a ghost knocking on the door in the middle of the night and asking for help from a ghost hunter. The ghost hunter then warned the man that if he heard someone approaching at night, no matter what he did or said, he should not have any prophecy or act in response, because such a response, even if it was a rejection, would become a substantial "invitation." Originally, the ghost was not allowed to enter the room, but once it responded, it was inviting it to enter. And ghosts are the best at using this method to enter other people's mansions and do evil.

Perhaps, I responded to Marceau in my actions and words, and thus became an invitation to open my own door in disguise. I thought back to my own experience, it was I who took the initiative to enter the watch shop, and I took the initiative to say that it was also myself who wanted to protect Marceau, and then, I was pierced in the chest by Marceau, and then, in Marceau's ghost nightmare, jumped to my own ghost nightmare, and in my own ghost nightmare, opened the door for Marceau - no matter what time I came into contact with, Marceau was not a human being.

None of these circumstances can be considered a coincidence. I looked around at the watch shop, where there was no longer half a ghost, only the usual watch shop, the hands that had stopped beating again, and the ticking sounds, both in frequency and volume, were restored to normal. I casually touched the edge of the counter, the material was old, there was dust everywhere, and it seemed to be out of business for many years in Las Vegas. I thought about it, walked to the back door, and pushed the half-hidden door open, only to see that there was no longer a never-ending corridor behind me, but a street.

The watch shop has once again reverted to its status as the "Nightmare Las Vegas Watch Shop".

I waited by the door for a while, thinking that Marceau would not show up again, so I went out. The sign of the watch shop had already peeled off most of the letters, and in the corner not far away, a shadow was wriggling, as if something would be born in the next moment. However, from the initial discovery of these shadow clusters to the present, we have not seen any greater changes in these shadow clusters. These shadows are very fragile and not aggressive for the time being, so I stepped forward and eliminated them with a dagger, but I knew that these shadows had multiplied to a rather terrifying number. Destroying a few, dozens, or hundreds of shadow clusters by one person is just a drop in the bucket.

I think these shadows will change in some way when the electro-demon extreme user dies, but to prove it, we have to find a few examples of death. (To be continued......)