Tokyo Detective Chronicles

Fushimi took a deep breath, kept his eyes closed, and slowly moved forward along the handrail.

One step, two steps...

Soon, he suddenly noticed that the metallic feel under his fingertips had changed, from smooth to rough; the material of the armrest had changed in an instant…

The surrounding temperature is dropping.

The fishy smell was even more pungent, mixed with the stench of mud and rotting plants.

The texture underfoot was no longer the hard terrazzo tiles of the hospital, but something soft and uneven... like stepping on a piece of rotten flesh.

A light step will cause a slight rebound, but if you step on it too hard, it will be crushed.

It's extremely disgusting.

Fushimi could only force himself not to think about what was under his feet.

He continued forward, and the handrail began to curve, guiding him to turn.

By this moment, the sounds of the hospital had completely disappeared, even the footsteps had become muffled, and Fushimi could even clearly hear his own heartbeat.

"Hualin," he whispered.

no respond……

Gradually, a sense of unease and loneliness washed over him, and in this darkness and silence, his perception of time became blurred.

How much time has passed?

Ten seconds? A minute? Or maybe longer?

Now, Fushimi can finally confirm his previous guess: this is undoubtedly an entrance to the world of the living, an unrecorded "door".

Fushimi wasn't sure what would happen if he opened his eyes now, but he could sense that he hadn't fully entered the mortal world yet and was still standing on the edge of the real world.

Just then, a faint sound came from ahead.

Listening closely, it sounded like the rustling of fabric, or perhaps... breathing.

Very close.

Right beside me.

Fushimi's muscles tensed; he could feel something standing close to his right, almost touching his arm.

However, he did not sense the slightest killing intent.

His damp breath brushed past his ear, bringing with it a putrid smell.

Fushimi forced himself to calm down, his fingers gripping the armrest tightly, while his other hand held the folding knife that he had taken out many times today but never had the chance to stab.

Perhaps they sensed the danger Fushimi posed.

The thing made no further move; it simply stood there. Fushimi could almost feel the weight of that gaze, the stinging sensation on his skin.

"..."

Then, it started moving.

There were no footsteps, only the sound of something slippery dragging along the ground, moving close to his left front...

Fushimi wasn't sure what it was, nor what it wanted to do.

Is it observing?

Under evaluation?

Fushimi's back was slightly damp with cold sweat, and the soft touch under his feet sent chills down his spine.

Just then, the handrail suddenly came to an end... Fushimi's fingers groped in the air, but he couldn't grab anything.

He stood frozen in place, with no further guidance ahead.

Behind him... he obviously couldn't turn back.

In the darkness, the thing seemed to chuckle softly... very faintly.

Then, the sounds of fabric rubbing and slippery dragging began again, this time coming towards him.

It's getting closer!

No... perhaps it's them...

The sound was indeed coming from all directions at the same time!

In this darkness, deprived of sight and hearing, he could not even determine where the enemy was or how many there were.

Just then, Fushimi raised his hand, and his fingertips touched something.

It wasn't a handrail, but a rough woven material, a rope hanging down from above.

Almost instinctively, Fushimi grabbed it and pulled hard.

"Click."

A cracking sound came from above.

With a loud crash, something came crashing down. Fushimi used the sound to twist and dodge it, landing at his feet with a dull thud as mangled flesh was smashed into a pulp...

Fushimi's muscles tensed, and his heart began to race.

He could feel some sticky liquid splashing onto his trouser leg.

"Ugh...!"

Immediately afterwards, a grating "creak...creak..." sound came from his side! Something was rushing towards him!

It was accompanied by a suppressed hiss.

Seizing the opportunity, Fushimi suddenly opened his eyes and swung his sword!

"Bang!" A loud metallic clang rang out!

"!"

A blinding white light flooded into my field of vision.

A wave of dizziness... tinnitus...

There was no monster in front of him... He actually used a folding knife less than fifteen centimeters long to cut through the railing in front of him... leaving large cracks on the tiled wall behind.

He was standing in the corridor by the side entrance of the hospital, holding a broken piece of rough hemp rope in his hand.

One end of the rope was tied in a knot, forming a loop, the inside of which was stained with dark brown grime... that was blood.

This is a hemp rope used for hanging.

The fibers at the broken point of the rope were jagged and looked like they had been rotten for a long time.

And that soft touch under my feet just now...

Fushimi bowed his head.

The hospital's clean, beige floor tiles were spotless, with nothing on them.

"Hey! Calm down! What's wrong with you all of a sudden?!"

Huali's voice boomed in my ears.

She emerged from his shadow, covering her nose and backing away with disgust: "What's that smell on you?! You look like you've been soaking in corpse water for three days!"

The next moment, Karin realized what had happened and exclaimed, "You just fell into the mortal world!?"

Fushimi stared blankly at the noose in his hand, then looked up ahead.

At the end of the corridor, the metal handrail stretched out intact, without any change in material... and in front of him, the railings and wall tiles that he had just destroyed began to repair themselves little by little.

"..."

The air smelled only of disinfectant; there was no fishy smell or putrid stench.

But he could still faintly feel the red marks on his wrist from where the old man had scratched him.

"How long have I been gone?"

"Disappeared?" Huali asked, puzzled. "You've been standing here the whole time, with your eyes closed, touching the handrail like an idiot, and then suddenly you just pulled this thing off from somewhere."

"Then he went berserk and chopped off the railing!"

Fushimi felt a sense of relief. That meant that his true form had remained in the mortal world from beginning to end, which was why he had not been attacked.

She pointed to the rope loop. "Where did you find this? Throw it away, it's bad luck."

Fushimi didn't throw it away.

He examined the rope loop carefully.

The hemp rope was old, the fibers were loose, and it was covered in dust and bloodstains.

"Don't...go..."

The old man's hoarse voice echoed in my mind.

Fushimi took a deep breath, carefully rolled up the noose, wrapped it in a tissue, and stuffed it into his coat pocket.

"Let's go," he said.

"Not going to investigate?" Huali raised an eyebrow.

"That's enough investigation."

He turned and walked towards the stairs, his steps much faster than when he came.

On the train back, Fushimi leaned against a pillar by the door, gazing at the city lights rushing past the window.

His ugly face was reflected in the glass window.

Things were worse than he had imagined.

His previous guess was completely confirmed; it was indeed an unrecorded 'door,' and he had just been walking on the path leading to the mortal world…

That self-repairing handrail at the Katsushika Ward Third General Hospital is probably the boundary of the entrance.

Obviously, to open one's eyes and move around inside, one needs to stay inside for a long enough time until one is assimilated.

But he simply didn't have the opportunity or the time.

Even setting aside the dangers that could arise at any moment, like the one just now... relying solely on hearing and smell, it's impossible to discern directions on the edge of the mortal world.

Moreover, the monsters couldn't help him either.

If humans risk not being able to escape the mortal world after entering it, then for yokai (demons/monsters) to return to the mortal world... they might have to wait until the next Night Parade of One Hundred Demons...

Therefore, Karin cannot be brought along, and other yokai are even less likely to risk their lives for this.

As for himself...

Fushimi looked down at the red mark on his wrist that had not yet faded.

He shook his head; this matter was beyond his control… no, more accurately, it wasn't something he should be handling.

Let's end it here.

Thinking of that black and red obsession, even if there were immense wealth in front of me, I would only take it if I were alive.

The good news is that he can use this information to sell to the Special Affairs Division at a high price and extort a large sum of money from them... or simply sell it on the black market at an even higher price and then secretly leak the information to the Special Affairs Division.

Even if an unsuppressed entrance to the mortal realm is extremely valuable, no matter how dangerous it may be.

Therefore, all those days of effort were clearly not in vain...

He rubbed his temples, trying to comfort himself.

After that, let the Special Affairs Division handle the headaches.

The fact that I was able to investigate to this extent is already a great help, and discovering the entrance to the mortal world is enough to attract their attention.

Fushimi felt he had done enough, and that if he continued to investigate further, something bad might happen.

"..."

The tram swayed slightly, and there were only a few passengers in the carriage.

An office worker in a suit dozing off, a student couple talking in hushed tones, an old lady carrying a shopping basket...

Huali sat in the empty seat next to him, crossed her legs, and hummed an unknown tune listlessly.

Everything seemed peaceful.

Until the tram entered a tunnel.

Suddenly, it went dark outside the window, and the lights inside the carriage turned a stark white in an instant.

The blurry shadows of the tunnel walls receding rapidly flashed across the glass window.

Fushimi didn't pay attention at first.

He had taken this route many times, and there was indeed a short tunnel that went through a residential area, about a 20-second ride.

He glanced at the time on his phone screen: 19:43.

Then, he realized something was wrong.

too long.

The tunnel usually only takes twenty seconds, but now... at least a minute has passed.

The train continued to speed through the darkness, and apart from the occasional flash of green from the emergency lights, nothing could be seen outside the window.

Other passengers also seemed to have sensed something was wrong.

"What's going on..." the female student asked softly.

"It might be malfunctioning," her boyfriend said, trying to sound relaxed, but his voice sounded a little strained.

Fushimi straightened up, and his spiritual vision quietly activated.

He was indeed being targeted...