As time passed.
The sun had completely set, and gusts of cold wind blew across the land shrouded in darkness. The coldness was bone-piercing, and there were already signs of winter.
In the White Fox Firm.
"Sister Kotomi, I'm going out.”
Kasugano Dome looked out of the window at the night sky that was getting darker and darker. It was time for her to go out and work. She wanted to catch the clues and clues of the ghosts in the incident of eating humans tonight so that she would not be a burden to the director and Sister Kotoko.
"Be careful on the road. Kappa and the others will move with you. Night is their home ground.”
After giving a few instructions, she casually handed the Yata Mirror that was placed on the desk to Kasugano Dome and said,""It can protect you very well.”
"Sister Kotomi, I don't want it. I'm just following them. The danger should be Mr. Kappa and the others.”
" Take it. Anyway, leaving it in the White Fox Agency is just eating dust here. After all, there is a chance that you will encounter that unknown ghost. With the protection of the Yata Mirror, no matter how difficult it is to deal with, it will be able to last until the director and I rescue it.”
Kasugano Dome did not reject the offer and accepted it when he heard Kotoko's words.
Immediately-
Under Ishinaga Kotoko's gaze, Kasugano Dome's soul seemed to have left her body as she transformed into a ghost. She held the Soul Wood that housed her spirit body in one hand and the Yata Mirror in the other as she floated out of the window and disappeared into the dark night.
With Kasugano Dome's departure, only Kotomi Iwanaga was left in the White Fox Firm.
Kotoko Iwanaga sat on the sofa and placed the second cup of steaming hot coffee beside her. She opened her laptop and recorded the information she had obtained today.
Ten minutes later-
After Kotoko Iwanaga had sorted out most of the important clues, she suddenly heard the sound of the door opening. She immediately looked at the door in surprise.
"Director, you're back."
The person who opened the door was Yuan.
"Qiong, he's already out."
Yuan asked casually when she saw that only Ishinaga Kotoko was left in the White Fox Firm.
"Yes, Director. Qiong just left not long ago.”
Kotomi Ikenaga nodded and asked curiously,""Director, did you come back so late this time with some important clues? How was your harvest?”
"We did gain some, but there are no major clues as you said.”
Yuan shook her head and took off her black windbreaker. She hung it on the hanger beside her.
"The preliminary judgment is that the spread of the branches of the evil wood spirits is based on the Shibuya area and is divided into levels.”
"Layer by layer?"
Kotomi Yanyong furrowed her brows in confusion.
Yuan sat in her office chair and found a detailed map of Shibuya District from the drawer next to her. She used a red pen to mark out the locations of the branches of the wood spirits that appeared in Shibuya District.
"I can't see any pattern."
Kotoko Iwanaga came to her desk and carefully studied the map of Shibuya District that was laid out on it. She especially looked at the locations marked by Yuanyumo with a red pen.
She had made similar calculations before.
However, there was no pattern to the results, as if they had been randomly released.
"Some things are buried deep underground.”
Yuan's eyes turned deep.
He then picked up a red pen and drew red lines on the map. In less than a moment, he was done. The map of Shibuya District in front of him now seemed to be covered by a big red net.
" This..." Kotoko Iwanaga frowned." Director, you mean that although the evil wood spirit has been eliminated, it has taken root in the soil and is spreading throughout Shibuya District."”
If it was really as she thought, the whole thing would be a big deal.
The Shibuya District had a population of more than two million. A supernatural event had unknowingly spread throughout the entire Shibuya District. As long as there was a slight movement, the casualties in the Shibuya District would skyrocket and corpses would be everywhere.
" It's very cunning…To be precise, the person behind the Strange Wood Demon is very cunning. It made these branches of the Strange Wood Demon spread their roots in different heights of the soil. If it wasn't for my breakthrough and the increase in my power to see ghosts, I wouldn't have been able to detect any traces.”
Yuan sighed.
Fortunately, he personally went to investigate. Otherwise, some things would still be in the dark.
"Then we need to get rid of it as soon as possible.”
Kotomi Ikenaga hurriedly said.
Since things had come to this, the longer they dragged on, the more dangerous the Shibuya area would be. The person who had planted the roots of the evil wood spirit in different layers of soil must have had a big plan.
At this moment…
Ishinaga Kotoko also understood why the wood spirits that had devoured human flesh did not bear any blood-red fruits. When the Onmyoji attacked, even the blood-red fruits that had borne quickly dried up. The reason was that the human flesh that had been devoured had turned into nutrients for the roots buried deep underground, allowing them to weave a large net that could cover the entire Shibuya District.
As for the Yin Yang Masters from the various paranormal agencies, the evil wood spirits that they had destroyed were only visible on the surface. Their true bodies had long been transferred.
"Difficult, very difficult…"
Yuan sighed and shook her head.
"Let's not talk about anything else. Just the branches of the evil wood spirits are distributed in different levels of soil. If we want to uproot them, it's undoubtedly going to turn the entire Shibuya District upside down.”
"Then…we can't just watch it continue like this.”
Kotomi Ikenaga said anxiously.
However, she did not forget what the director had said back then. Behind the bizarre wood charm incident was a game between two unknown powerful existences. However, she did not expect it to involve so many people that it would drag the entire Shibuya District into it.
"Don't worry, don't panic.”
Yuanyumo comforted Kotoko Ishinaga and said,""Even if we pay a huge price to destroy all the roots of the evil wood spirits buried deep underground, it will only treat the symptoms and not the root cause. The person who placed them can re-spread these evil wood spirits anytime and anywhere.”
"Our goal remains the same. We still have to find the person who sent it out first. As long as we destroy it and the main branch of the evil wood in its hands, even if we ignore the roots buried under the soil, they will slowly dry up and dissipate.”
Hearing Yuan's words, Ishinaga Kotoko calmed down.
Indeed.
If the culprit was eliminated, this supernatural incident would naturally come to an end. As for the two unknown powerful existences hidden in the depths of the game, it was not something to be considered now.
"Tell me, what did you get?”
Yuan asked.
Iwanaga Kotoko nodded. She then recounted what she had seen and heard in the apartment building near Feng City University's affiliated school, as well as the clues she had found.
" After Masayoshi Kuda went missing, during the second phase of the wedding dress tree's hunt, the apartment building emitted a strange fox's miserable cry.”
" Room 405, an unknown entity has entered. It's suspected to be Masayoshi Kuda…"
" The bloodstains and words on the back of the photo frame…"
“……”
After listening to Kotomi Ishinaga's description of the investigation, all the information was like a puzzle piece that was connected and collided in Yuan's mind.
" Regarding the words on the photo frame, I can confirm the time of the carving. It should have been long before the appearance of the wedding dress tree. This means that when Masayoshi Kuda came into contact with the wedding dress tree, she was already deeply involved in other supernatural events.”
Yuanyumo nodded in agreement with Kotoko Ishinaga's speculation.
From the words carved on the back of the photo frame, one could tell that everything could have originated from that hairpin. It was also because of the hairpin that the wedding dress tree incident and the strange wood ghost incident were connected.
As for the unknown existence that entered Room 405, it was suspected to be Masayoshi Kuda.
At this point-
Yuan could not help but fall into deep thought. Back in the ghost realm of the wedding tree, he had indeed seen Masayoshi Kuda become a bride and hang on the wedding tree. However, now that he thought about it, there was still quite a bit of suspicion. When he used the Fire World Spell to free the brides, the souls that were rescued thanked him, but there did not seem to be Masayoshi Kuda's soul among them.
However, since the wedding dress tree had already been destroyed at that time, he did not pay attention to this detail.
Now that she thought about it-
The person who entered room 405 was probably Masayoshi Kuda, who was not really dead. It was not clear how she faked her death to escape from the predator of the wedding dress tree.
"I'm sorry, Director. If I had personally investigated the Wedding Dress Tree incident, perhaps I wouldn't have missed this important clue.”
Kotoko Ishinaga felt a little guilty.
Yuan shook her head and looked at the photo on the back of the photo album in her hand. She muttered to herself,""Perhaps, even if I went, I might not be able to find this framed photo. After all, the time was not right.”
"What?"
Kotoko Ishinaga was confused, not understanding what the director meant.
" It's just a rough guess. Let's talk about Kuda's parents. I'm getting more and more curious about what kind of supernatural event their family was involved in before the wedding dress tree. Other than the hairpin, there must be something related to the wedding dress tree itself. Also, what is the fox curse..."
Yuan put down the photo in her hand.
Soon after, Kotoko Iwanaga pulled out the information that the officials had gathered from their investigation and slowly narrated it.
" Masayoshi Kuda was originally a family of three. They lived in a wild fishing town between Shibuya and Shinjuku. It was considered one of the wealthiest towns in the surrounding area, and the family atmosphere was very harmonious. However, a year ago, when Masayoshi Kuda was in her first year at the Peak City University Affiliated School, there was a change. Almost overnight, the temperament of Masayoshi Kuda's parents changed drastically. The originally gentle couple became extremely irritable and narrow-minded. Not long after, they went crazy and disappeared. Since then, Kuda Shingo had never returned to Wild Fishing Town.”
"After that, there were many different opinions regarding the matter of Kuda's family…The most common explanation was that they offended the goddess and were cursed.”
Hearing this, Yuan could not help but interrupt,"" Goddess and Curse?!"
"Yes."
Kotomi Ikenaga nodded and said,"" In Wild Fisherman Town, there has always been a tradition of offering sacrifices to the goddess. As for the god in the myths, I don't know. It was said that in the years when ghosts were rampant, it was the goddess who blessed them and protected them from the invasion of ghosts.”
Yuan nodded.
This wasn't too surprising. Similar stories and customs were indeed circulating in the surrounding countryside towns. However, what caught Yuan's attention was the relationship between the curse of the goddess and the " fox curse " depicted on the back of the photo frame.
"This is all the information that the officials have found out for the time being.”
Kotoko Ishinaga finished her report.
Yuan pondered quietly.
Some things matched.
Due to the supernatural incident, Kuda's parents had a drastic change in temperament, and perhaps Kuda herself was the same.
Previously, he had learned from Fuyuma Kazusa that Masayoshi was not a narrow-minded person in the beginning. It was just that her subsequent changes made everyone around her believe that her original personality was just a disguise, which led to the wedding dress tree incident.
"It seems that I need to go to this wild fishing town tomorrow to take a look at the situation. Kotomi, come with me.”
"Yes, Director."
Kotoko Ikenaga nodded.
Then, the two of them began to sort out the information they had and explore the places where they could dig out.
Until it was late at night.
Kasugano Dome's face was filled with disappointment as he returned from the outside with Yata Mirror. From his appearance, it was obvious that it was still a fruitless night.
……
In the Four Palaces Manor in the port area…
"He has already agreed. The time is set to be a week later, which is the eve of Shutendoji's attack.”
In the boudoir, Teruya Simiya was on the phone with Haruka Sejong of the Imperial Residence.
"What are your feelings towards him?"
" His logical thinking ability is very strong, and he seems to understand Shutendoji very well. It's undeniable that his strength and vision are not comparable to other Onmyoji. He lives up to his name as a rare genius of the Yin-Yang Dao, the White Fox.”
"I heard that he has absolute strength to fight against an existence at the level of a great demon. You have to know that there are not many people in the Yin Yang Dao who can guarantee like him.”
Teruya Yomiya looked out the window in the direction of Shibuya District and guessed," Based on my estimations, White Fox Yuanyu should have already broken through to become a national-level Onmyoji. It's not like the outside world thinks that she has just completed the outline of the Yin-Yang Dao…"
"Other than that?"
Haruka Seizumi, who was on the other end of the phone, seemed to want to know more.
"This is only the first time I've met him. If I want to know more about him and what secrets he hides, I can only talk about it in the future.”
"Be careful on your side."
"I will."
“……”
Afterward, Teruya Shitomiya hung up the phone and looked out into the night, deep in thought.
At the same time-
In the Chiyoda District, the Imperial Residence…
"After a week, White Fox Yuan and Mo Yu…everything will be clear.”
Putting the phone back in place, Jing Gong looked at the moonlight outside and muttered to herself.
However, what was shocking was that…
Under the moonlight, nine tails actually appeared on Haruka Shizukinari's shadow. They swayed like a group of demons dancing wildly, appearing both illusory and shadowy.
………………………………………………
New book release,
Today's update might be a little late.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。