Billy's corpse underwent an indescribable change in front of my eyes, and this deformation was not a qualitative or deformation of physical properties within the known range, nor was it a conscious metamorphosis. What is produced by the corpse in the process of change is not something that can be identified with common sense. I didn't know what it was, but I thought it was weird, as if something had been eaten from the depths of Billy's being, leaving only an empty shell. I intuitively know that Billy is completely dead, both from the perspective of hospital reality and from the perspective of doomsday vision, this kind of death is quite complete, although I don't know if it will also show this kind of death when observed from other angles, but at least within the scope of my observation and cognition, Billy's death is very complete and irretrievable, even if there is another round of doomsday illusion, he will not appear.

Based on what I saw while walking in my consciousness, I can only think that "Jiang" ate "Billy". However, neither my cognition nor my intuition can find enough evidence to prove this, after all, all I have observed in the world of consciousness is that the strange blood-red color "eats" the silver bullet. My perception of the current changes in Billy is based entirely on the details that can be observed, and I have finally come to a conclusion that seems somewhat logical, but from my past experience, this unprovable conclusion is sometimes quite unreliable.

In any case, there is no need to think about Billy anymore. Face-to-face adversaries — not enemies, I have never seen these old friends as enemies, even if we are on opposite sides in our perceptions, thoughts, and actions — there is only one file left. Excluding Jung, the File, and Billy, and of course the other "old friends" around, I am glad that none of them were ritual performers, and if anything, they were perceived by me to be more like auxiliaries and observers, and perhaps more defenders in the face of the enemy that the Torchlight had anticipated, just as the Files and Billy did against me.

Whether it's assisting the ritual, or observing the progress of the ritual, or even adding to the ritual or containing the enemy, it is far better than becoming the executor of the ritual or becoming a living sacrifice - I really think so, even if Billy is completely "dead" in front of me, hollowed out of his body, and even the outer shell has been deformed, but, from the perspective of my plan, from the source of my plan, once my plan is successful, these people still have hope of "recovery".

Whether it is the deviation ritual of the torchlight or the sacrificial ritual of the Doomsday Shinrikyo religion, the final result will definitely attract unimaginable shocking things, and if you want to say which of the two results is good and which is bad, there is actually no difference in reason, all of them are desperate results, but, from a perceptual point of view, the final result of the sacrifice ritual of the Doomsday Shinrikyo is more or less "familiar", even if this "familiarity" is just an illusion, and it seems that it is only an illusion, It is also far more inclinedly than the incomparably strange and unimaginable results of the torchlight. It was this inclination that led me to decide to combat the ritual of deviance, and even to the point of preferring to have the sacrificial rites of the Doomsday Shinrikyo replace it.

And what is better than these two rituals is, of course, my own means. I always thought that whether it was me killing them with my own hands or "Jiang" devouring them, it was definitely a more hopeful ending. Taking my own existence at this time as an example, although from my observational point of view, being killed by the "river" is also a complete death, I still cannot rule out the possibility that they will be resurrected in the mystery of the "river". This possibility alone is enough to call it hope in despair.

If the actions that surround the river can also be called a "ritual", then I am the executor of this ritual. Compared to the completely unfamiliar ritual of deviation and the sacrificial ritual that has always been hostile, the "E's ceremony" centered on me is certainly more to be counted on.

I had a gut feeling that as long as I killed someone with my own hands, there was still a possibility of a future. For those who are swallowed by the "river", this possibility will be minimized, but it has not completely disappeared. And neither the shadow alluded to by the deviant ritual of the torchlight, nor the black hand hidden behind the sacrificial ritual of the Doomsday Shinrikyo cult, could take away the people killed by me and "Jiang"—I'm not sure if this intuition was a demagogue or instigation, but the situation was so vicious that I had no choice. No, I never had a choice.

If necessary, in the worst-case scenario, I must also use "killing Dorothy with my own hands" as the most drastic tactic to save the last trace of thought. After all, the enemy we face is so elusive and full of malice that it is impossible to close the gap between us in the absence of time.

Whether it is in the reality of the hospital or in the apocalyptic fantasy, all that people who can recognize the "virus" have done so far is only the most preliminary goal of "finding the location of the virus", and they have not yet been able to really achieve it. Once the existence of the "virus" is really locked in the layered arrangement, can such a terrible enemy really be defeated through common sense? Imagine the worst-case scenario. The ending that is within the scope of imagination, and the ending that is beyond the scope of imagination, all have crazy fear.

If I had a choice, I would have been willing to choose better situations, but those better situations never appeared in front of me, and everything collapsed in a deepening malignancy, like a terminal illness that was getting worse.

As soon as I start thinking deeply about these things—in fact, my mind is circling around these things all the time, and I can't stop it—I can hear those terrible sounds, the frightening illusions, and at the same time, the intuition that seems to be directing me to what to do becomes stronger. It seems to be the more correct choice to do what I intuition, and I can only act on this basis in my ignorance, and for this reason I need to put aside reason, because reason will absolutely deny this rightness, and only emotion can allow me to break free from the shackles of despair of "no way out" and carry out a plan that is absolutely wrong from the point of view of reason.

My trance was only for a moment, but this moment happened so often that countless moments combined like a long nightmare. Every time I wake up from a momentary trance, I can feel that Billy's change is still collapsing beyond the scope of imagination, reaching a certain end or tipping point, and once this end or tipping point is crossed, what Billy will become, I don't know, but once this change starts, it is not something I can stop.

However, judging by the file's expression, she doesn't seem to notice the change in Billy. It was at her feet, but it made me feel like her perception of being a mystical expert was blocked. The file laments Billy's death, and it seems that he doesn't have much confidence in the next battle, as if he only relies on a stubborn and persistent emotion to support himself in the next battle.

In the battles that have already taken place, all sorts of irrational situations have already occurred. Obviously, there were more people around, however, the others seemed to know nothing about the current battle, which led to the file being isolated, and such an unreasonable situation could not be surprising at this moment. The file didn't mean to gather his companions at all, and it didn't seem to be deliberately ignoring those people, but it really didn't think about it. And this situation itself is extremely abnormal, and it must be related to the deviation ritual at this moment.

I heard it, voices from outside the underground hall still speeding in this direction, leaving me not much time from the time I sensed the intruders. It's not that the invaders aren't fast enough, it's just that the battle ends faster, and the Swift Super has played a vital role in the whole process, and will continue to do so.

"I don't know how you killed Billy though...... I could see that he had used forbidden powers, and that his death would have been his own choice under normal circumstances, but just now, I felt an even more terrible power, and my instincts told me that it was the main cause of Billy's death. Perhaps, without the interference of this force, it would be you who died here, Takakawa. The file glanced at Billy's corpse and said to me in a conclusive tone, "Are you trying to kill me with that power as you did Billy?" ”

"If I can't kill you directly." I did not deny it, but it was equally clear that what "Jiang" would do was not something I could interfere with at all. It exists in the depths of me, in the depths of every "high river", in the depths of that material body and conscious mind, and I know very little about it. Even so, I believe that in the current battle, if I miss, "Jiang" will take my place. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that from all the clues so far, "Jiang" is reaching my idea from an incredible angle, from an angle full of vicious malice.

Jiang's performance, while with its deep malice, didn't make the problem any better, but at least, most of the time, it seemed to revolve around my thoughts.

At this moment, the file seemed to sense something, raised his eyes slightly, looked behind me, and said quietly, "They're almost there." I don't think I'm going to die at your hands, I'd rather have a life left to kill them than to be killed by you. "Naturally, they are referring to the intruders.

In less than half a minute, these expected intruders will burst in. In other words, if I'm going to kill the file and other old friends with my own hands, there's only half a minute left. Thinking about it a little more rationally, I should have rushed my time instead of wasting time talking, but my sensibility prevented me from killing these old friends like a machine without saying a word.

No, if I really acted from a rational point of view, I wouldn't be standing here at all, let alone making enemies of these "old friends", and I probably wouldn't even be able to hit the repeater in Area 51 with a Las Vegas repeater.

I can think, but my thinking has taken a different path from others from the beginning.

"Incomprehensible...... Takakawa, what the hell are you thinking? Is this delaying time also part of your conspiracy? The file said to me, and I could tell she really couldn't understand why I hadn't done it yet. It wasn't even half a minute before the intruders arrived in the underground hall.

Then, as she wished, as she thought. The invisible high-speed passage of the swift swept between me and her, and before she knew it, before her instinct could react, I had entered the world of slowness—all her movements, in this near-stagnant slowness, in a state of immobility. And that's something I'm all too familiar with.

I knew that around her there must be a defense made of "static" supers, like "enchantments" in the occult. Maybe the essence is different, but the effect is similar, and I can't break through the stop of motion caused by the stillness, and none of my attacks can really hurt her. And such a solid defense must be the guarantee for the file to break through many crises, and most of the attacks that occur at high speed or even instantaneously are probably ineffective against her as long as they are still in the concept of "movement".

As a third-level Demon Pattern Emissary, the File's development of its own Magic Pattern Super has reached a point far beyond the imagination of others, and perhaps even the Consciousness Walker will not be able to break through this defense from the consciousness level, otherwise the File would have been killed by those many mysteries full of possibilities in his mercenary career. I am convinced that as a veteran mercenary and veteran Demonic Emringer, she has experienced far more unbelievable and dangerous mysteries than I have ever experienced.

I still hadn't figured out how to break through this static defensive circle, but I had to. This is no longer something that can be done by relying on imagination, experience, and my own ability, and even if I am stronger than the File at the Demon Pattern level, I will not be able to completely crush the effect of the Stationary Super. Although the invisible high-speed passage connects me and her, there seems to be no interference between the existence of this invisible passage and the stationary defense circle - the two seem to be on different planes, and neither is directly observable.

The rest of my choice, as she said.

I stared into her eyes as I felt the effects of stillness appear on me. With the help of this kind of gaze that she could not stagger and that I would not shift, I once again entered the conscious walk, using my gaze as a channel, and with the emotions hidden in the depths of my eyes as a motivation. This time, I want to enter the world of consciousness of the file, and only in that world can there be an opportunity to take advantage of.