Japanese Terrorist: What? I'll fight Hellstar!

"The Slit-Mouthed Woman?"

Kazemi Junya's facial muscles visibly tensed, revealing a look of surprise and uncertainty. He looked at Amamiya Rin with a solemn yet somewhat inexplicable gaze, as if hoping to ask for further confirmation.

"The Slit-Mouthed Woman who scared all children out of their homes at night more than a decade ago...did she really exist?"

Did you really see the Slit-Mouthed Woman?

Kazemi Jun also raised this question.

"Officer Feng Hai, you're already in the police history compilation office, and you're still asking this?"

Amamiya Rin couldn't help but glance sideways, her gaze towards Kazemi Junya becoming somewhat strange, as if she were looking at some rare animal.

Logically speaking, Feng Haichun should have witnessed quite a few supernatural events, right? Why make such a fuss?

"No, you're too young to understand."

Kazekami Junya frowned, his eyes vacant, as if sorting through distant memories.

"That happened fifteen years ago, when I was still in elementary school. One day, I heard that a local high school girl had accidentally cut her lip with something while arguing with her boyfriend. In student circles, rumors spread and disappeared very quickly, and these kinds of serious incidents of conflict between couples are actually quite common."

After a pause, Feng Haichun continued.

"However, for some reason, the story spread wider and wider. Later, some people said she got plastic surgery and got married, some people said she committed suicide... and then, inexplicably, it became a nationally circulated horror story, which became more and more bizarre."

In the rumors, she became a woman wearing a large coat, a scarf, carrying large scissors, and wearing a mask. She would ask children coming home from school, "Am I pretty?" and then, depending on the answer, cut open the children's mouths or kill them... Finally, I remember in Himeji City, the police arrested a woman dressed as the Slit-Mouthed Woman, who was playing pranks in the streets with a knife. The newspapers even did a special feature on it. There was no such thing as the Slit-Mouthed Woman monster; it was just some bored people imitating the rumors, playing pranks, and a series of coincidences. With the spread of misinformation, the craze slowly faded away.

The prototype of the Slit-Mouthed Woman was very close to that of Feng Haichun at the time. He knew about the Slit-Mouthed Woman before the rumors about her were born, and he was also very clear about the evolution of the rumors.

"Yeah, it's all a rumor! The 'Slit-Mouthed Woman' thing doesn't exist at all!"

As Kogure walked in carrying the bag containing the body, she rubbed her arms as if trying to rub away an invisible chill.

"What I hate most are those people who exaggerate! What was originally a simple, serious incident gets blown out of proportion by them and turned into a horror story! It's infuriating!"

Kazemi Chun nodded and continued, "In other words, the Slit-Mouthed Woman is not a monster at all. Even if she were a monster, her weakness wouldn't be hair wax, because the reason hair wax is a weakness is because of another rumor about the Slit-Mouthed Woman."

According to legend, the Slit-Mouthed Woman was a woman who went to a plastic surgery clinic for lip augmentation. During the procedure, her doctor used inferior hair wax, which emitted an unpleasant odor.

Unable to tolerate the unpleasant smell of the inferior hair wax, she kept trying to avoid the procedure, which caused the scalpel to accidentally cut her lip.

"According to you, this rumor is completely fabricated. The Slit-Mouthed Woman was actually slit open because she had an argument with her boyfriend, so the hair wax couldn't possibly work."

As Amamiya Rin listened to Kazekai's analysis and Kogure's complaints, his brows furrowed.

He could understand what Junya Fukai meant.

The legend of the Slit-Mouthed Woman is false, but the Slit-Mouthed Woman is real, and the real Slit-Mouthed Woman does not have the weakness of hair wax at all.

but……

"I did use the hair wax spell to drive it away..."

Did you really get rid of it with hair wax?

Amamiya Rin couldn't help but fall into doubt.

He immediately calmed his mind, entered a meditative state, and carefully recalled his fight with the Slit-Mouthed Woman, turning the memory into a video and analyzing it frame by frame.

Nothing was found.

When he recited the incantation, the Slit-Mouthed Woman showed no unusual reaction. Even after he recited the incantation three times in one breath, the Slit-Mouthed Woman showed no signs of being attacked. Her eyes were filled with resentment and unwillingness.

Is it possible that the Slit-Mouthed Woman didn't run away because of the spell, but because her own vicious attack caused a groin injury that severely restricted her movement, forcing her to give up the pursuit, and that her spell was just a futile bluff?

Amamiya Rin pondered for a long time but couldn't come to a definitive conclusion.

"It's just that people's hearts are full of evil."

Inudou Ranko's Osaka accent interrupted Amemiya Rin's thoughts.

"Does the human heart breed evil?"

Amamiya Rin looked up at her, a thought flashing through his mind as he recalled the theory that the mind is more powerful than things.

Inudou Ranko didn't explain immediately; instead, she gestured with her chin towards Fukai Jun.

"Feng Hai, take this Ms. Kawabe to the next room to make a statement, and emphasize the confidentiality clause."

"clear."

Kazemi Junya nodded and walked over to Kawabe Maya, who was still in a daze, speaking gently.

"Ms. Kawabe, please come with me. We need to record some details. Please rest assured, we will handle tonight's events properly."

Maya Kawabe nodded silently and left the living room with Junya Kazemi. Kogure put the body into the body bag and took Mrs. Kawabe out.

Only Amamiya Rin and Inudou Ranko remained in the room.

Inudou Ranko walked to the sofa, sat down casually, took out a crumpled pack of cigarettes from her pocket, took one out and put it in her mouth, but didn't light it.

"Most urban legends with even a little bit of fame are like this. Their existence is inherently tied to the stories that have been passed down. Especially those that have emerged in modern times, they are more like troublesome things created by mixing the beliefs and fears of a large number of people with a soul filled with intense resentment or unwillingness. Their appearance, behavior patterns, and even some of their abilities are derived from the most widely circulated version of the story, including their weaknesses."

Yu Gonglin was secretly alarmed upon hearing this.

He knew that the power of belief was not to be underestimated in this distorted world; it could give special meaning to all things in nature and even trigger supernatural phenomena.

But he never expected that it could go to this extent, directly creating a ghost story?

If ghost stories can be created directly, wouldn't gods and Buddhas also be born because of people's beliefs in this animistic country?

"Then... if we could drastically change the rumors about the Slit-Mouthed Woman, for example, by spreading a new version of the story that could completely suppress or even eliminate her, wouldn't that solve the problem at its root?"

Following this line of thought, Amamiya Rin pressed on and felt as if she had found a new path.

"What do you think? Why has the Slit-Mouthed Woman remained silent for fifteen years?"

Inudou Ranko countered with a question.

Amamiya Rin didn't know; he didn't even know that the Slit-Mouthed Woman had been silent for such a long time.

Isn't the Slit-Mouthed Woman a famous Japanese urban legend?

However, he guessed the truth.

"The police arrested a woman dressed as the Slit-Mouthed Woman, wielding a knife and causing pranks in the streets... Was this your doing? Are you trying to refute rumors?"

The Slit-Mouthed Woman, born from rumors, is then denied by more rumors.

Since the power of ghost stories stems from people's belief, then let's make most people stop believing.

"Is this the right way to eliminate ghosts?"

Amamiya Rin sighed deeply.

Amamiya Rin felt she had finally understood why the Police History Compilation Office was called the Police History Compilation Office and not the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Office.

Because their job is not to eliminate ghosts, but to rewrite the history of how ghosts were born.

Hmm... it's starting to feel like a fictional mystery.

"You're overthinking it; it's impossible."

Inudou Ranko denied Amemiya Rin's guess.

"Using a reasonable explanation to cover up old horror legends and weaken the power of collective fear and belief is like cutting off the oxygen to a flame. At most, it will make the flame smaller and temporarily dormant, but it cannot be extinguished completely."

Because stories can be overwritten, but memories are hard to erase completely. As long as people remember the name "Slit-Mouthed Woman" and the legend of her, she won't truly die; she'll only remain dormant for a while. "I destroyed her once before, but she's reappeared now."

It seems that it was Inudou Ranko who dealt with the Slit-Mouthed Woman when she first wreaked havoc.

She defeated her, but could not end it completely.

Amamiya Rin could imagine that feeling of powerlessness, and he also thought of Kayako, who also possessed an immortal body.

The difference between the Slit-Mouthed Woman and Kayako seems to lie only in the strength of their powers. They share the same characteristic: they cannot be eradicated and will only temporarily disappear with the passage of time and the fading of memories.

Despair, this world is truly filled with despair! These ghost stories and curses seem more like natural phenomena than evil ghosts.

Natural phenomena cannot be completely eliminated.

"Then why did she reappear after 15 years? Why did she appear in Shimokitazawa?"

Rubbing his temples, Amamiya Rin pressed for an answer.

"I don't know, I don't know."

Inudou Ranko answered crisply and confidently, even with a hint of self-righteousness.

"Maybe some idiot made another terrible movie about her, or some paranormal show made some nonsense discussion, adding fuel to the fire. Or maybe there's a lot of resentment in this area lately, and someone with a similar experience to the Slit-Mouthed Woman died, providing her with a stage to shine. There are many possible reasons."

"So, how do you plan to find her this time? And how do you intend to handle it?"

Amamiya Rin was momentarily speechless, so she changed the subject to a more practical one.

"The old method. Visit and investigate, especially people and children who are active at night, and narrow down the area where she has recently appeared. Then, stake out the area and wait for her to appear. When she does, eliminate her."

"Like arresting an ordinary suspect?"

"That's right."

This plan was so simple that it left Amamiya Rin speechless.

Without tracking magic or divination, in an era when surveillance was not widespread, how could one deal with a monster with superhuman speed and an appearance no different from an ordinary person? It was truly only possible to rely on the most primitive methods of manpower to investigate and stake out.

Amamiya Rin knew that this country was powerless in the face of paranormal events. Each department only had three people, two of whom were just ordinary police officers. They could only turn a blind eye to many paranormal events.

However, Amamiya Rin really didn't expect that the Police History Compilation Office would be so powerless.

"You be careful too."

Inudou Ranko looked at Amamiya Rin, her gaze lingering for a moment on the cane he was leaning on, her tone unusually serious as a warning.

"Your paranormal constitution makes you several levels more likely to encounter ghosts than the average person. If you see her once, you might see her again. Try to stay home these next few days, especially avoid Shimokitazawa. If you really have to go out... carry a can of hair wax with you, just in case, even if it's just for peace of mind."

Does this mean... knowing that his supernatural constitution makes him prone to encountering the Slit-Mouthed Woman, you don't intend to let him act together?

Yu Gonglin hesitated, but did not volunteer.

When I left the Kawabe family home, the night was already so deep it seemed impossible to break through.

The streetlights cast dim, yellowish glows in the damp, chilly air. All around was quiet, save for the occasional sound of a car passing by in the distance, making the early morning hours seem even more desolate.

Amamiya Rin sat in the driver's seat and rubbed his throbbing temples.

Encountering two incidents in one day—one involving a vampire and the other a slit-mouthed woman—brought more mental tension than physical exhaustion.

Even with his foundation in meditation, this intense information overload still took a huge toll on his mental energy.

I glanced at my phone; it was already 1 a.m.

Amamiya Rin started the car, the engine roaring and breaking the silence. The jeep slowly drove away from Shimokitazawa, heading towards the Tomie Apartments.

Back at the apartment, Amamiya Rin pushed open the door, changed her shoes, and took a quick cold shower in the bathroom.

The cold water washed away the fatigue and the faint smell of blood. The cut on my thigh, made by scissors, had long since healed, leaving only a thin line, slightly lighter than the surrounding skin, to prove that I had been injured there.

As she dried her hair and stepped out of the bathroom, Amamiya Rin, as usual, made herself a cup of instant coffee.

He took the cup and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room.

Outside the window lies a sleeping city, with scattered lights like fallen stars.

Amamiya Rin looked somewhat dazed. He slowly sipped his coffee to shake off his sleepiness.

Too much happened yesterday, so much that he had no energy to process it all, yet he was compelled to think about it.

The dark magic rituals to become a vampire, the alchemical formulas of the Paracelsus system, the formation and evolution of urban legends, the origin of the Slit-Mouthed Woman... A large amount of information surfaced in Amamiya Rin's mind, and his tired brain was constantly sorting through the information he had acquired that day, categorizing it into useful and useless things.

"The mind triumphs over things... The human heart breeds demons... Animism..."

Amamiya Rin had a vague idea, but she just couldn't quite grasp it.

His brain was like an overloaded machine, emitting a hum that seemed unable to bear the strain. Amamiya Rin felt a throbbing pain in his temples, and the city lights and shadows before his eyes began to sway slightly.

"Haa..."

An uncontrollable yawn burst out, bringing with it tears.

Amamiya Lin blinked hard at her dry eyes, her vision clearing briefly before becoming hazy again, as if covered by a layer of mist.

I can't take it anymore, I've really reached my limit.

Amamiya Rin took a sip of coffee, staggered away from the window, sat on the sofa, and gave up thinking.

The next morning, at Tomie Apartment.

Sunlight streamed through the clean floor-to-ceiling windows without obstruction, casting large, bright patches of light on the light-colored wooden floor of the living room. The dust particles floating in the air were clearly visible in the beams of light.

The room was warm and filled with the delicate scent of expensive incense, a stark contrast to the bloodshed and coldness of the alleyway the previous night.

However, what was unfolding in the center of the living room was completely out of place with this bright and warm style, and could even be described as eerie.