After mentioning a few bizarre suggestions and saying a bunch of clichés, the latter half of the note suddenly shifted as if it had changed its tune. Not only did the overall writing become erratic, but an astounding fact was revealed between the lines.

That is: not all the workers here voluntarily transformed into revenant corpses.

Some of them... even a significant portion of them, were personally killed by the author of the note—the construction team foreman.

This reminded Yun You of a certain mythological story her father once told her: a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In these ancient tales, the protagonist often receives a catastrophic prophecy at the beginning of the story, and then spends their entire life trying to avoid it. Yet, in the end, they realize that their actions, their self-assumed measures, are precisely the reasons for the prophecy's fulfillment.

Now, the foreman in the latter half of the note resembles the protagonist of those stories.

Despite wanting to save his fellow workers and bring them out unharmed, in the end, in a state of disordered and collapsing mind, he painfully and despairingly killed all his companions by his own hands.

In fact, from the first moment she read the story, Yun You felt that the foreman might have been bewitched by "it".

Perhaps, "it" could never become human, let alone blend into the crowd. Those so-called people replaced by it are nothing but madmen like the foreman, who believe killing is saving.

Its power might only be to bewitch, whispering into the ears of the mentally vulnerable, seducing them to be utilized by it.

This was Yun You's initial thought, and she considered it the only reasonable answer.

From this point of view, the second part of the note seems untrustworthy.

But...

After a bit more reflection, Yun You also thought of a logical problem similar to "Aurora's".

Firstly, regardless of what "it" intended, as the sole beneficiary of the whole ritual process, its fundamental goal is certainly to complete the ritual.

It couldn't possibly do anything to prevent the ritual from proceeding, nor could it disrupt the ritual process.

At present, though Yun You still doesn't know the content of the ritual, it's highly likely that the materials needed are obtained from within humans or animals.

And transforming people into non-stop wandering revenant corpses is precisely one of the few ways to prevent it from obtaining ritual materials.

In other words, no matter how cruel the foreman's methods were, objectively speaking, he was inhibiting the ritual, also suppressing "it".

In this case, it seems unlikely that the foreman was acting under the influence of bewitchment.

So, the words he wrote are probably heartfelt, regardless of whether they make sense—they are first and foremost thoughts from the heart.

Conversely, if the second part is true, then there is a significant issue with the first part's style, and the problem might be substantial.

On closer thought, Yun You indeed feels that the first part is bizarre.

Apart from a few nearly "prophetic" suggestions, just the overall tone of the writing seems a bit off.

In the first part, the foreman appears too optimistic, too positive, too brave, as if filled with righteousness, with the awareness that a coal miner should possess.

If an office worker read it, they might actually be fooled.

Because that's their imagined version of workers—optimistic, positive, resilient...

But Yun You is not a white-collar worker. She lived at the grassroots for fifteen years and knows the truest nature of grassroots people.

The disposition of workers is tough; it's okay to say they're resilient, but this doesn't mean they're unafraid or emotionless machines.

Facing death, honestly, few can remain calm, miners are the same.

It's hard for them to write anything like what's on the note; at least in Yun You's understanding, no one could do that.

Rather than saying the note is encouragement from "predecessors" to "successors", wise words left by the dying, it might be more accurate to say it's an inducement written from an "observer's" perspective, by something—or someone—not known to be human or otherwise...

That's why it retains such a calm tone.

"The first part might have been tampered with by 'it'... might even have been made up by 'it' itself!"

Yun You suddenly came up with this thought.

But ultimately... it's just Yun You's speculation; even she is not a hundred percent sure.

The first part might be false, it might be true, or a mix of both.

The second part, although it has a bit more of the human touch familiar to Yun You, being erratic, some suggestions she cannot refer to, like acting against companions or transforming oneself into a revenant corpse...

Moreover, the little girl is particularly curious about the last part.

Judging by the foreman's excited tone, he seemed only a step away from success, but due to a lack of something, his plans completely failed.

What exactly was this guy missing? Where did "it" hide, and what exactly is it...

Yun You just felt her mind getting a bit chaotic; the truth and falsehoods were continually entangling, sometimes sparking ideas which, upon closer consideration, felt untenable.

"Hey! Chica!"

Suddenly, Jack's call brought Yun You out of her thoughts with a start.

"What's going on, staring at that tattered note all this time..."

Jack pointed at the note in Yun You's hand, pursed his lips, and said, "What's written on there that has our Apprentice Death God mulling it over for so long?"

"It says..."

In a daze, the young girl instinctively wanted to answer.

But as the words reached her lips, she suddenly realized and quickly shook her head, changing her words: "It's just a mess of nonsense. I couldn't understand it at all after staring at it for ages."

"That seems about right."

Jack shrugged and said, "After all, in this haunted place with such humidity, even the best ink would eventually start to smudge."

As he spoke, he didn't forget to wipe the mist off his gas mask.

Ever since the three arrived at this junction, the surrounding environment suddenly became damp. Not only did a layer of dew form on their hazmat suits, but a faint pink mist rose in the mine tunnel.

"Damp..."

Listening to Jack suddenly mention this word, Yun You slightly paused, then softly murmured another word.

"Mist."

"Damp, dew, mist..."

"Trust no one... no one..."

As she recited this, the young girl suddenly widened her eyes, as if she had figured something out.

But she didn't speak up and instead silently put away the note, patted Jack and Frost Moon on the shoulders.

"Let's go."

"Time to hit the road."

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