Beating Instances through Words Left by the Dead

When I came to my senses, I saw my brother slip and fall from the rooftop.

At this point, Amber covered her face and began to sob. Seeing this, Erin quickly hugged her, comforting her for a while, finally allowing the girl to break free from that painful memory.

Amber sniffled and said, ”At the time, I couldn’t believe what was happening right before my eyes. I couldn’t face the mistake I had made. I wanted to jump down too, for it all to end.”

”But just then, something emerged from my body, saying it could help me solve this trouble.”

”If I just gave it all the memories of my brother, it could make the incident of him falling off never happen.”

”I agreed, but the development was completely different from what I had imagined.”

Amber agreed to the monster’s demand, but her brother did not revive. Instead, he completely vanished from this world as if he had never existed.

Everyone forgot about her brother, except for her adoptive parents.

His adoptive parents frantically searched for the missing adopted son, yet they could not even find evidence of his existence.

During the search, everyone thought they were crazy due to outsiders’ doubts and their inner anxiety. The adoptive mother fell critically ill and died within half a year.

On the day of the adoptive mother’s funeral, the adoptive father ended his life by swallowing a bullet.

Amber witnessed the family’s drastic changes throughout, but having forgotten everything, she didn’t know what had happened.

As if overnight, the parents fell into madness over a non-existent family member, and eventually, they died.

The matter settled, until Amber revisited the old school building with her friends for the second time.

The faceless ghost returned that memory to her, and then, as she was shocked due to the memory, it killed her friends before her eyes.

After doing all that, the faceless ghost came before Amber, once again giving her a choice.

Leave with two sets of memories, or give both sets of memories to the faceless ghost and have everything revert to never having happened.

Amber couldn’t accept that her adoptive parents and brother died because of her, nor could she accept that her friends died because of the monster she had created.

So she chose to escape once more.

The same story repeated itself.

Perhaps it was fate’s cruel joke; whenever she thought things were going to get better, someone would suggest visiting the old school building.

And each time, she failed to stop it, leading to a tragedy’s occurrence. After the tragedy, she couldn’t face the increasingly unbearable past and could only escape repeatedly.

Until today.

Amber recounted everything in one breath, her whole being feeling as if a heavy burden was lifted. She looked at Wu Chang and said:

”This is the connection between me and the monster in the old school building. Many people died because of me, yet I’ve repeatedly lived despicably by escaping.”

”Because of my escape, they were completely devoured by the monster. Not only does no one remember them, but their loved ones also suffered greatly because of it.”

”Just like the monster said, to live with a clear conscience, I abandoned many things and harmed many people. I am the one least deserving to live, and the monster least deserving of redemption.”

Watching Amber’s self-loathing, Erin didn’t know how to comfort her. She could only shine Holy Light on Amber to stabilize her spirit while looking helplessly at Wu Chang.

Having figured out what lay at the heart of the demon, it was time for Wu Chang to act.

By coincidence, he actually knew how to solve this. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

”Amber, the brother you mentioned, is his name Frank?”

Upon hearing Wu Chang’s question, Amber suddenly raised her head, looking at Wu Chang in disbelief.

After she abandoned the memories related to her brother, no one in this world should know that name.

”Sean, how do you know?”

Wu Chang pondered for a moment, quickly constructing a truthful lie.

”Didn’t you ask me before how I could find you? I said I could sense you needed me, which wasn’t entirely true. I was also guided by a certain soul.”

”He called himself Frank and showed me what happened to him before he died. When he entered the second floor of the old school building, he was already occupied by the vine monster. The evidence was that once he was controlled, he no longer searched each class for ghosts like Grace did, but headed straight to the rooftop.”

This statement awakened Amber’s memory. She recalled Frank’s behavior on the day of the accident and was dumbstruck, standing there like she had been struck by thunder.

Wu Chang continued, ”The monster controlled his body, deliberately faked the fall to make you think it was your fault and thus keep you under control.”

”As for the choice to forget Frank, at least in the memories he showed me, when he fell from the rooftop, the vine monster had already manipulated you. You never had a choice from the start.”

”He wanted me to help you, to help you break free from the monster’s entanglement.”

The last statement was not a lie from Wu Chang. It was indeed the last words of Frank’s resentment.

This revelation impacted Amber as much as when she regained all her memories.

She murmured, ”So the rooftop monster wasn’t created by the part of me that wanted to escape?”

Wu Chang replied, ”Of course not.”

”And your perceived escape, I don’t think it was an unforgivable mistake. Not to mention that you were already under the control of that monster; even without such control, escape is very common.”

”Not everyone is a hero. Even adults may escape and compromise when faced with issues. You were not the one who lured people to the old school building, nor were you the one who harmed others. Why should you take all the blame upon yourself?”