Before Wu Xiaoming could resist, images began flashing in his head. Memories, old, weathered, shattered but deeply cherished memories.
The holder of the memories looked into the mirror to check her makeup and her hair before a date; she danced on a fine European street painted in rose colors with a young man, whose face was all but blurred - handsome and kind, was all she remembered; she almost drowned on a boat with the young man; she accepted the young man's proposal with a beating heart; she traveled to the US with this young man for honeymoon; she found out she was pregnant when she went back to France.
The flashbacks stopped. The images remaining in Wu Xiaoming's mind were all black. Then after a few seconds, the flashbacks continued.
The holder of the memories mourned the loss of her son, with the old man who was by then her husband; she mourned the passing of her husband, promising him that she would live on and be happy; she bought a one way ticket to the US, dreaming about the past her whole flight; she visited New York, San Francisco, then Los Angeles; she decided to stay in this very hotel where she and her husband came to spend their honeymoon; she woke up one evening, with her heart aching; she tried to find her medicine on her nightstand, but she dropped the bottle; she fell down on the floor, but the pill bottle rolled into the space under the bed, out of her reach; she tried to knock on the floor for help, but no one answered.
For a moment, she thought this was it. But she was wrong. A darkness overtook her, forcing her to stay where she was. It blocked the light. It cut off the path. It forced her to relive her final moments, even the days after her passing. She still tried to call for help, but no one answered. She could not see anyone, anything. She only knew a long time had passed. Everything almost drove her mad - almost. She held onto her memories and her faith that she would see her son and her husband again, she simply held on for so long that she did not remember what giving up was.
When Wu Xiaoming broke free from the flashbacks, his cheeks were wet. The dark smoke rose up again, trying to make up for all that Wu Xiaoming had burned away. He immediately pushed his Golden Light spell harder, rays of light shot from his palms and burned holes in the shroud of dark smoke. The hand completely made of bones was still grabbing his left wrist, the cool and awkward sensation of the bones did not bother him at all. Instead, it made him grounded in the moment and not get carried away by the hatred for the dark smoke as well as the other tumultuous emotions conveyed to him through the flashbacks.
The dark smoke was dying down faster than it could replenish. But only for a brief moment. For as Wu Xiaoming could clearly see, something hidden inside the bones was also releasing the black smoke - the parts of the soul that were corrupted, possibly.
"I don't know if this will save you, but - " After a short moment of silence, Wu Xiaoming sighed: "But this is my only option." He concentrated and focused the Golden Light onto the tips of his right index and middle fingers. With a quick jab, he sent the condensed golden light into the skull, through the two hollow eye sockets.
Dust and ash broke off from the bones and stained rags as they crushed and crumbled into the floor. A trace of white smoke arose from the ashes and dissipated into the air.
A faint voice echoed in Wu Xiaoming's ears. It was so light that Wu Xiaoming almost thought it was simply the wind. And on a second thought, it also sounded like "Thank you, be careful."
Right after the woman's body turned to ashes and smoke, something inside of this room changed. It seemed to be less dark, and expectedly smelled less bad. But at the same time, he could feel some kind of hostility had risen and might have shifted some attention to him - not by a lot like being stalked by a predator, but non-negligible either.
He came out of the room and looked left and right. The pale glowing walls were flashing slightly. And it was as if the entire hotel was flickering. He immediately backed into the room and sat down by a corner.
Just as he was about to exit, a very small object left in the ashes of the old woman caught his eye.
It was a small fingerbone, with a metal wedding band around it.
"Devoted Lover's Finger Bone: to love is to remember, to remember is to believe. Can be used to attract and summon ghosts who hung up on love."
"Band of Unending Faith: Grants passive skills: Clear Mind, Strong Will."
His heart almost skipped a few beats from the finger bone - if he recalled correctly, this could be one of those items that could help him unlock a "minor" skill tree, so he just put it into his inventory.
And indeed, a "minor" or "unorthodox" skill tree unlocked: The Folk Ritual Tree.
When he himself was test playing the game, none of the playthroughs utilized this particular tree very heavily. The reason was simple: he liked fighting much more than collecting materials.
The sense of being watched creeped further in, he exited without checking anything else. There would be time to check other things when he was in real life.
When he awoke, the first thing he noticed was everyone was staring at him.
"What? What happened?" He asked with feigned ignorance and dumbfoundedness.
Everyone exchanged looks for a bit, before Tammy finally decided to speak up: "You were talking in your sleep. And it was - creepy."
"What - what'd I say?" Wu Xiaoming's facial expression changed. This could actually be bad for him, it was one single thread that could unravel his whole secret.
Tammy looked at Jake, Jake shrugged and spread his hands: "Sorry, we weren't recording. But - it was pretty clear what you were saying, dude."
"What was I saying?"
"You said - something like 'yes, I'll marry you', and then 'at least you're with me', and then 'I miss you everyday.'" Tammy shivered: "I mean, it's good for a romcom, but - still kinda creepy. Were you dreaming something?"
Wu Xiaoming nodded, it was a relief, actually, it seemed like these were what the dead woman was saying in her memory flashbacks. It was impressive, really, that the memory flashbacks could even affect his physical body.
"Was I talking in English?" Wu Xiaoming asked.
"Not entirely, sometimes you were speaking Chinese. But we just didn't know what you said." Leslie McKinsey looked Wu Xiaoming in the eyes: "Were you dreaming? Because - it sounded really, I mean REALLY particular and specific."
Wu Xiaoming let out a long exhale, then proceeded to retell the memory flashbacks he got from the dead woman as they were his dream - not a complete lie, and mostly rooted in truth either way. And of course, he omitted the part where he used his Golden Light spell to relieve her.
The room went silent for a brief moment, before Leslie McKinsey turned to Tammy: "We need to find the records of this place. Andria clearly didn't tell us the truth about the room and that carpet stain. Hire someone if we have to."
"Did you get something from the mics while I was out?" Wu Xiaoming asked.
"As a matter of fact, we did." Jake nodded, then pulled up something on his computer, showing a small uptick in the sound recorded by the microphones remaining in Room 404.
"We heard it. And I'm curious what you heard." Leslie McKinsey said to Wu Xiaoming.
Wu Xiaoming put on the earmuffs, cranked up the volume.
"Thank you, please be careful." With a slight accent.
"What you got?" Tammy was visibly nervous.
"Sounded like 'Thank you, please be careful'." Wu Xiaoming answered.
Everyone else in the room seemed relieved, Tammy smiled at Wu Xiaoming: "Good, so we're not hallucinating - we basically got the same thing."
"So, uh - what do we wanna do next? Room 127?" Wu Xiaoming asked. If he was correct about his "saving" the old woman's spirit, and there was not anything he missed, then there would never be any more knocking sounds coming from that room. Which meant the crew would be wasting their time if they kept recording in the room.
"Yes, we'll start shooting in 'The Room of Wandering Dream' tomorrow." Leslie McKinsey nodded and laid back on his chair: "Now, everyone, maybe take a good nap before we continue. Let's keep the mic on just in case."
Wu Xiaoming nodded and proceeded to lay back on his chair and take a moment to check his "status".
Current currencies: 21353 Spirit Fragments, 91 Vision Slivers. The dead woman netted him more than 6 thousand Spirit Fragments and 12 Vision Slivers. What a nice surprise it was.
Experience wise - no experience gained for him at all, he was still a quarter of the way to level 9. But something was different: he gained one skill point.
He took a look around the skill trees he had access to. For any of the three major trees, he would need 2 or more skill points to advance. But on the newly unlocked Folk Ritual Tree, a new skill could just be more cost-effective for him: No Evil.
"No Evil: Grants knowledge and experience of the use of basic evil repellent and detection rituals: black dog blood, male virgin urine, raw sticky rice and raw egg."