Yes, I did all of this!

When Duanmu Mo pushed Shenwu Ling to the side of the carriage, she immediately turned around and said:

"Mr. Duanmu, did you hear that?"

"heard it."

Seeing that there were still police officers nearby, Duanmu Mo picked her up and placed her on the seat.

"However, I advise you not to have too high expectations."

He arranged Shen Wuling's wheelchair, then sat in the driver's seat and said:

"If he were truly affected by the Key to the Underworld, he would have left long ago."

"...That's true."

Shen Wuling frowned, placed her fingers on her temples, and closed her eyes to search.

Duanmu Mo also drove away from the police's sight.

However, he hadn't gone far when he stopped nearby.

At the same time, Shen Wuling opened her eyes: "No... I found out about that professor. According to the security cameras around his house, he went out for a walk this morning."

"Ok?"

Duanmu Mo was somewhat surprised, but not too astonished. He nodded and asked, "So, are you going to go and meet him?"

"Yes, Mr. Duanmu, please wait for me a moment."

Shen Wuling raised her hand and waved it at the car's screen, which immediately displayed another view—the perspective Shen Wuling was now seeing.

After finishing this, Shinmu Rin pushed open the door and left, transforming with a wave of her wrist.

A dark golden cocoon of light enveloped her, fixing her in mid-air like a crystal. But in the next instant, Feng Ling's figure broke through the crystal, and the cocoon of light shattered into fragments and disappeared into the air.

Duanmu Mo withdrew his gaze and looked at the wind chimes on the computer screen.

First, it quickly flew to a high altitude, then after confirming a direction, it flew rapidly towards that direction.

The clouds seemed to become speed lines, and the scenery on the ground was rapidly receding. In less than a breath, the wind chime left Kamishiro City and flew towards another city.

About ten seconds later, the wind chimes stopped and looked at the scenery on the ground.

The professor disembarked here, which means his home is either in Kamishiro City or a nearby city. Fortunately, his city doesn't have the extensive damage caused by monsters like Kazekawa City or Kamishiro City. His address is also in a quiet neighborhood.

Looking down at the houses, Fengling's eyes scanned the data, confirming the scene inside, and she silently nodded:

"That person is inside."

As she spoke, she raised her hand toward the house.

The wind chimes activated, transforming the ceiling of the house into neatly arranged walls, revealing a spacious interior and an old man reading in the study.

Seeing the movement on the ceiling, the old man looked up in alarm at the wind chimes above him.

The old man initially wanted to flee, but breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the other person's features:

"Magic, magical girl?"

“You don’t seem afraid,” Fengling said, her brows furrowing as she looked at the old man.

"afraid of what?"

Seeing the old man's bewildered expression, Fengling raised her hand, aimed a floating cannon at him, opened its muzzle, and fired a beam of light.

"Please cooperate with my investigation and stay still." Feng Ling's tone was cold, her expression unchanged, her mechanical and emotionless eyes fixed on him.

"what!"

The old man had also witnessed the battle of the Wind Chime. When the floating cannons were pointed at him, he cried out in surprise and instinctively raised his hand to shield himself.

But the beam of light did not harm him; instead, it slowly swept over the old man, scanning for the corrupting aura emanating from him.

"..."

To Fengling's surprise, the old man did indeed have a faint smell of corrosion, but the concentration was so weak that it could only mean that he had indeed come into contact with the Key to the Underworld, but had not been completely corroded.

"No... Mr. Duanmu, I'm a little embarrassed."

—Feng Ling didn't speak, but her voice came from the car's computer.

"Isn't he a weirdo?"

Duanmu Mo looked at the scenery on the screen and asked.

"No, at least I can't detect any signs of corruption on him."

"Let's get straight to the point and ask him where he found the Key to the Underworld."

"Ok."

The sound of wind chimes rang out from inside the car. Then, she turned to the old man in front of her and asked, "Where did you dig up that heart with the red and blue lines?"

"The heart?" The old man paused for a moment, then realized what he meant, his face showing some embarrassment: "You mean the sacrificial heart? Actually... I stole it."

"Please explain in detail."

The old man didn't hide anything. After pondering for a while and calming down, he recounted with lingering fear how he obtained the Key to the Underworld.

In a tropical rainforest lived a very primitive tribe that was very hostile to outsiders. However, the tribe reluctantly agreed to let the archaeological team, including the elderly, enter to conduct research, after receiving generous offers from the archaeologists.

Even if you get in, there are a lot of rules and regulations that prevent you from conducting a thorough investigation.

For example, there is a small house in the center of the tribe that looks like an ancestral temple. Although you are allowed to take a look from the door, you cannot go in or take pictures with your belongings.

Only recently, because the tribe was holding a sacrificial ceremony, were they allowed to go in and take a look.

It was only then that the old man noticed a tiny crack that had suddenly appeared in the wall of the village, revealing a heart with red and blue lines inside.

If it were for a long-term investigation, he should have followed the local customs, but when he saw the heart, somehow he wanted to secretly take it back with him.

Afterwards, feeling guilty, he left under the pretext of feeling unwell. He felt unwell while on the boat, so he had the idea of ​​retiring. However, when he was planning to return to his hometown, he looked at the boat route and suddenly thought of settling down in the vicinity.

After receiving the heart, he arrived here in a daze, and it took him a few days to calm down.

"That's all I know—um, is what I'm doing illegal? Or is there something strange about that heart carving?" the old man asked cautiously, worried about the appearance of the wind chimes.

Listening to the old man's words, Feng Ling remained silent for a while, seemingly pondering, but actually asking Duanmu Mo a question:

"Mr. Duanmu, what do you think?"

"Tell him part of the story, and observe his expression while you're at it."

As Duanmu Mo analyzed the old man's words, he estimated that the time when the wall shattered was also when the Key to the Underworld was "awakened".

"Ah."

Feng Ling looked at the uneasy old man and said:

"That stone belongs to the weirdo, and the weirdo in that museum is also because of it."

"Really..." The old man was in a daze for a moment, then sat down in the chair with an expression of disbelief.

"I......"

He opened his mouth, a look of sorrow in his eyes: "Did I kill them?"

"No, you just did what you were supposed to do."

Seeing the old man's posture, Fengling couldn't bear it any longer and shook her head, saying, "This is the strange man's fault. Don't get hung up on it."

"..."

"—I said, it's all the weirdo's fault. Your self-indulgent sorrow is, in my opinion, nothing more than an arrogant attempt to bear the weirdo's sins." Wind Chime's face was cold and stern as she stared at the old man and said, "You are human, not a weirdo. That's all I can say."

Then, her voice rang out from inside the car: "Is there anything else you'd like to ask, Mr. Duanmu?"

Duanmu Mo crossed his arms, gazed at the old man, pondered for a moment, and shook his head: "No, it's nothing."

"it is good."

The wind chime responded and continued:

"If you want to spend the rest of your life in regret, then go ahead, but you don't actually have the right to do so."

"I......"

Although Feng Ling's tone was serious, her unquestionable words calmed the old man down a bit. As if he had found his pillar of support, his pale complexion improved.

"No need to apologize. That's all I have to say to you. Goodbye."

The wind chime leaped into the sky, and the separated ceiling pieces reassembled, returning to their original state.

Once back in the air, Fengling sighed, the mechanical indifference on her face fading, replaced by a helpless expression: "In the end, we still couldn't find any useful information."

"..."

Looking at the car's screen, Duanmu Mo remained silent, then shook his head.

—It's not certain whether it will happen or not.

After obtaining the Key to the Underworld, was there really nothing between boarding and disembarking the ship?

Because of the information gap, Fengling may not know, but in Duanmu Mo's mind there is a "person" who can do it.

Thinking it over, Duanmu Mo said, "That's settled then, come back now."

"—I'm back."

Suddenly, Shen Wuling bared her teeth and claws in front of Duanmu Mo and let out a strange cry: "Wow! How about that~ were you scared?"

"You..."

Duanmu Mo had already heard her commotion and gave her a helpless look.

The current Shen Wuling is almost a completely different person from the indifferent Fengling just now. He reached out of the car window and ruffled her hair:

"Yes, yes, I was startled. Let's go back."

"Hmm~"

She nodded, sat down on the other side, and leaned back in the chair.

"We can't find any clues from that professor. How about we go to the rainforest he mentioned?"

Shen Wuling muttered to herself. From leaving to returning, including the time the old man spent telling stories, it was only about five minutes. The wind chime could travel to any corner of the earth in a day, although that would consume a lot of energy.

"According to him, the Key to the Underworld only recently appeared from a crack in the wall. Before that, no one in the tribe noticed it, so I think the people in that tribe didn't know anything about it either."