Meeting Sadako Again
Half an hour later, Rebecca finally drifted into a deep sleep.
After listening to Xu Mo's explanation and learning that he wasn't an ordinary man but a magician capable of dealing with evil spirits, her tension eased at last. Exhaustion overcame her—three days with less than six hours of rest had pushed her to the edge.
Outside, the sky was already darkening when another knock sounded at the door.
Xu Mo opened it to find Jason standing there, clutching a paper bag. His expression was strained with unease.
"This is the videotape we watched a while ago!" Jason blurted out, thrusting the bag into Xu Mo's hands.
Xu Mo gave him a sharp look. "You're sure no one else in your family has seen it?"
"Of course!" Jason nodded quickly, though fear flickered in his eyes.
When they had returned from Silent Hill last night, Xu Mo had already asked him about this. Now Jason admitted the truth: a week ago, he and his friends had watched a strange tape together.
Xu Mo explained Sadako's story. Having already witnessed Xu Mo's power firsthand in Silent Hill, Jason believed him without question. His face had gone pale, his hair practically standing on end.
Once he got home, he wasted no time retrieving the tape and rushing over.
"Blake is dead!" Jason's voice trembled.
"Mm." Xu Mo didn't even look up, pulling the cassette from the bag. He had expected as much.
Jason shifted nervously. "So… are we really safe after watching this too?"
Xu Mo finally raised his eyes, a playful smile tugging at his lips. "Not sure. Maybe Sadako will crawl out of your bedroom TV tonight."
Jason froze before realizing Xu Mo was teasing him. He exhaled shakily, forcing a laugh. But soon he tried again, "Well… if you really don't want to consider that nurse, I can introduce you to my sister—"
"Get lost."
Jason scurried away, and Xu Mo carried the tape into the living room.
He slid it into the projector, switched off all the lights, and sank onto the sofa. Horror, after all, was best enjoyed in darkness.
The house went black, save for the faint glow of the television.
Moments later, the screen displayed a dry well. More disjointed, eerie imagery followed. Xu Mo frowned—it was identical to what had appeared on the hotel TV.
"What a waste of effort," he muttered, unimpressed.
He picked up the landline and waited.
The tape lasted less than ten minutes. As soon as it ended, the phone rang.
"Hello, Sadako… No, Ms. Morgan," Xu Mo greeted casually. He knew this was the American version of the legend—The Ring's Samara Morgan, not Japan's Sadako Yamamura—but habit made him use the name.
The caller fell silent.
"Ms. Morgan, are you listening?"
Click. The line went dead.
Xu Mo raised a brow. "Recognized me, did you?"
Jason had said the caller always rasped "seven days" before hanging up. Yet this time, there had been only silence.
That suggested intelligence—an awareness beyond a mindless curse. She knew who he was.
But Xu Mo had his own methods. Even if she chose not to come, he could force her hand.
Already, resentment crept into his body, settling under his skin.
"So there are rules after all?" he murmured.
The curse bloomed slowly inside him, its growth rate steady. At this pace, it would reach the lethal peak exactly seven days later.
But Xu Mo wasn't patient.
Drawing a thread of dark energy from the Book of Darkness, he guided it into the resentment.
The reaction was instant. The growth multiplied a thousandfold.
Dark energy—the purest, most potent fuel for evil spirits—was like a feast. He had done the same in Silent Hill, empowering Alessa before binding her completely.
Now, Sadako's curse swelled inside him, surpassing even the level it had reached when divided among Jason and the others.
"In essence, her curse is just planting resentment," Xu Mo analyzed. "She waits for it to ripen, then harvests it to grow stronger. Like a ranking board—the more resentment in a body, the higher the victim's place on her kill list."
He smirked. "And right now, I'm sitting at the very top."
Ordinary victims wouldn't reach this level even in seven days. That meant Xu Mo would be her prime target—her first stop.
A glance at the clock told him it was just past eight.
"Perfect. Enough time for dinner before tonight's interrogation."
Two guests were coming tonight—Sadako and Freddy.
Xu Mo intended to be well-fed before welcoming them both.
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By ten o'clock, Xu Mo was back in the living room, calm and ready.
The hands of the clock aligned.
The television flickered on by itself.
Xu Mo's lips curved into a smile. "Finally."
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