The true body of the Riddle was brought to the land of light by the noble survivors, but now, this silver box calls itself the Exorcist Association, the true body of the Riddle.
What is the "body" that is in the land of light?
"once?"
Lu Li asked along its words.
Evil spirits are not hereditary titles. Each evil spirit gradually transforms from a ghost, and finally its body is usurped by the breath of the abyss.
"I became the undead, and the exorcists used my shell to create new riddles."
"Undead?"
"You're not an exorcist?" the old man whispered, looking surprised.
"Not long after I became an exorcist came the weird times."
"I know, I briefly observed outside...something bad happened..."
The existence that claims to be the undead displays almost human logic and thinking.
"So what are undead?"
Lu Li had many questions, but he could only ask them one by one.
"An evil spirit that escapes the manipulation of the abyss and is reborn from its old body."
"Like the Shadow Stealer of Fire and the Stealer of Light, the Silent Hour and the Silent Hour?"
"What is that?"
Before Lu Li asked countless questions like a student, he had to answer the undead's doubts first.
"It's different... They are just evil spirits parasitized by the abyss. Unlike us, we have truly escaped from the abyss..."
One could feel the undead's deep fear of the otherworld, but to Lu Li, the ghost world seemed to be just a hiding place rather than a terrifying abyss.
Next it was Lu Li's turn to ask questions. He liked knowledge, even though knowledge was poison-wrapped pastry to humans, but he was no longer human.
The dead spirit spoke slowly like an old scholar:
The big tree called the ghost system, ghosts, resentful spirits, and evil spirits are like the trunk of the tree that breeds everything. Two crowns extend from the trunk of the tree - evil spirits and undead spirits.
The evil spirits are the Lightstealers and the Hour of Silence. They have gained enough power to become better vessels for the Abyss.
The undead were completely free from the manipulation of the abyss and stole the power of the ritual.
Lu Li seemed to suddenly feel a non-existent heart beating in his chest.
"Are all evil spirits like this?"
"I was the first test subject. Fortunately, the exorcists succeeded and recorded valuable results... But it was too late, they were already here..."
"Young exorcist, you seem to crave it?"
Lu Li nodded.
Necro thought wrongly, thinking that Lu Li needed it: "You are still a ghost, it's not worth the risk."
However, it promised to unconditionally hand over the exorcist's legacy of transforming the undead.
"Why do you call yourself the Exorcist Association?" Lu Li continued to ask.
The undead replied: "The soul needs a container, and the exorcist will put the stripped me into the building."
Lu Li was still thinking, and the old voice continued: "Young exorcist, my body is at your feet, and my true form is in front of you. There is no reason to lie to you..."
As long as Lu Li thought about it, it would die in an instant.
"What is the Exorcist Association suppressing?" Lu Li returned to his original purpose.
"Darkness. But it's about to escape..."
The Necromancer told Lu Li that no one had repaired it, making the Exorcist Association obsolete and full of cracks. Darkness overflowed from the cracks, forming the original darkness that enveloped the world.
The Exorcist Association has been eroded by darkness and is gradually getting worse, and it can last for several years at most. Lu Li came at the right time, because when the darkness breaks out, the darkness that cannot be dispelled by fire will envelope the world.
"Are you here for it?"
"I'm here to fix it."
"Young exorcist, take me with you. I will guide you to solve the source of darkness. That is the arrangement prepared by the exorcists in the past."
"They have some idea why they didn't eliminate the darkness in the first place."
"There was nothing we could do at the time, and by the time we were able to do anything, it was too late..."
Lu Li took out the silver box from the mural and wrapped it into the dreamland.
"Is this your power?"
"A cursed title."
The undead were not aware of the power that only appeared in this strange era.
"Go upstairs, the body of darkness is at the top."
Lu Li left the oil painting and returned to the corridor.
“Is darkness an evil spirit?”
"It's an evil spirit."
For a long time, the true nature was nurtured in the depths of darkness. The exorcists suppressed the original darkness for decades, and finally waited for the opportunity to eliminate it, but no one could deal with it anymore.
After passing the fork in the road, Lu Li looked towards the office area: "What's the difference between this place and the Exorcist Association of the Canria Empire?"
"The one from the Kanria Empire was a replacement, after the Exorcists split." Necromancer paused slightly: "Has the other riddle disappeared?"
"No, some survivors have survived there for twenty years relying on riddles." Lu Li stepped up the stairs, the oil lamp dispersing the darkness. "So the weirdness isn't really suppressed there?"
"Yes, darkness is scary...Human civilization will be destroyed by it, and no one will be spared. The exorcists who are worried about the darkness being released have set up bait."
Lu Li stood at the corner of the stairs, and a deep black wall suddenly stood in front of him.
"The area ahead is covered by darkness..."
The oil lamp could not shine into the darkness, and the dream was annihilated on the edge of darkness. As Lu Li stepped into the darkness, as if the actual darkness was being stirred, the oil lamp in his hand seemed to be extinguished.
In the darkness where he couldn't tell the direction, the dead spirit guided Lu Li gradually towards his destination.
"If you are still alive, the darkness will wrap you up and the whispers will swallow you up..."
Death instead protected Lu Li.
Perhaps worried about Lu Li's fear, or perhaps not meeting a "living person" for too long, the undead murmured: "What do you think of human life?"
"respect."
"Even if it's fragile and desperate?"
"When you look at the starry sky, do you look at the stars or the gaps between the stars?"
Lu Li climbed to the third floor of the Exorcist Association, and the undead told him that they were getting closer and closer to the body of darkness.
This approach continues in an invisible way.
Lu Li controls the body of the undead, and the undead also controls Lu Li's life and death - Lu Li doesn't know what lurks in the depths of darkness.
"The final blockade protects what is there, which is my power. You will get a puzzle: What is expensive and worthless, precious and useless, everyone wants it but everyone hates its existence, let the foundation
Turn it into a building, turn the beach into a breakwater, and let people repeat every day?"
"The answer is: time."
As if in the void world after death, the voices of the dead were like a rope pulling his thoughts, preventing Lu Li from getting lost in the boundless darkness.
At a certain moment, the undead whispered: "We are here."
Then Lu Li heard the sound that sounded like a dead spirit resounding in the empty space:
"What is something that is expensive and worthless, precious and useless, that everyone wants but everyone hates its existence, that turns the foundation into a building, turns the beach into a breakwater, and makes people repeat it every day?"