Tokyo Detective Chronicles

PM: 3:30

The basement of Fushimi Detective Agency, Chiyoda Ward

The pale white fluorescent tube flickered twice amidst a buzzing sound before settling down.

The decor here is completely different from upstairs. It's an operating room with white porcelain tiles that looks a bit old, but it's quite professional.

The room was fully equipped, with a movable operating table in the center and cabinets filled with various tools and bottles all around.

In the corner were several large iron cages and shackles covered with waterproof cloth, with traces of blood still visible on them.

The table was piled high with experimental data that had not yet been organized, as well as some videotapes used to record experiments.

Although it looks like an illegal clinic run by an unlicensed dentist, or a human laboratory run by a perverted scientist.

In reality, it was just a place used by Fushimi Iori to rescue patients who had been harmed by supernatural forces and could not be treated by conventional medical means.

In addition, they conducted biological experiments related to monsters.

He spent a lot of effort gradually acquiring all this equipment.

Fushimi Iori expertly locked the door from the inside and whispered into the empty room:

"Hana-ri".

The shadow beneath his feet twitched, and the ghostly lady, dressed in tattered mourning clothes and with bandages covering her eyes, appeared silently on the operating table as if emerging from the water.

Her long, slender legs swayed gently, gradually becoming translucent as they descended.

Karin was still holding the apple she had snatched from the snotty-nosed child. She symbolically wiped it on her mourning clothes and then took a bite.

Tilting his head, he peered with interest through the gaps in the bandages at the torture instruments and iron cage under the waterproof cloth.

"Eh~ Is this a basement? Iori, why did you suddenly bring me to a place like this? Are you planning some kind of adult game?"

Fushimi came to the center of the room, put on black gloves, and pushed the operating table and the karin on it aside.

A large open space was left in the basement.

There's still one last task to be done today.

"Release that thing we just caught."

Huali paused in her chewing motion, her tone becoming slightly more serious:

"That guy... I have a feeling something's off about him, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Anyway, Iori, you'd better be careful."

"I see."

In the shadows of the ground, after a violent boiling, the white leech-like monster, more than half a meter long and tightly bound by the shadow, floated to the surface.

It lay paralyzed on the ground, still writhing helplessly, its dozen or so legs struggling haphazardly in an attempt to break free.

A disgusting black viscous liquid welled up in its mouth, accompanied by continuous cries of pain, like those of an infant.

"It hurts so much... Mom... It hurts so much..."

The sound, coming from the mouth of a large white leech, was utterly disgusting and would cause anyone who heard it to feel a sense of physical unease.

Although he didn't expect to get anything out of the other person, Fushimi still asked the question as usual:

"How did you manage to get involved with Yuko Takeda?"

Fushimi Iori had previously discovered that the monster began to parasitize from the inside.

Once they have grown to a certain size, they will emerge from the mother's body and parasitize the abdominal skin of pregnant women. After they have completely absorbed the nutrients in the uterus, they will detach and leave the host.

In other words, Yuko Takeda must have eaten something that normal people would have difficulty accessing—a medium for storing monster embryos.

That means this incident was very likely not an accident.

It was a meticulously planned man-made disaster that forced him to be more vigilant.

The leech monster did not answer.

Fushimi Iori clearly had little patience for this harmful monster. As his right fist clenched, the force of the shadow binding intensified, and his nauseatingly slippery body convulsed violently.

A strange chill crept up Fushimi's spine...

His 32 points in the [Perception] attribute made him feel slightly uneasy.

Immediately afterwards, the leech monster let out a hoarse laugh and then suddenly opened its mouth, which was full of fine teeth, located at the front of its body!

But that wasn't launching an attack...

"Ugh... Pfft—"

In the next instant, a large number of small, twisted, and not fully developed infant skeletons, mixed with viscous black water, gushed out of its mouth like vomit, scattering all over the ground!

The sheer number of them is terrifying.

When you can finally see the bones that have been spit out at your feet...

Fushimi Iori's pupils trembled, her stomach churned, and a strong sense of discomfort welled up in her throat.

Even Huali, who was usually carefree and munching on an apple, froze on the spot and covered her mouth when she saw this horrifying scene.

Clearly, this isn't the first time it's attached itself to a pregnant woman...

At the same time, a massive, red-black sphere of obsessive light, so large it blocked most of Fushimi's view, rose from the pile of deformed bones...

Like a black sun, it cast an eerie glow over the entire basement.

The faint sound of a heartbeat could be heard from within.

Fushimi had never seen such a massive and resentful obsession.

If the size of the sphere of light signifies the weight of one's obsession, then the depth of its color represents the degree of its impact on the present world.

The obsession at hand undoubtedly indicates that the scale of the events involved is unimaginably large.

Come back to your senses.

Looking at those tiny baby bones, so small they resembled those of small animals…

Hearing the mocking "hee-hee" laughter emanating from inside the leech monster...

Memories surged up uncontrollably.

The laughter only fueled his irritation, and Fushimi, unusually, lost control of his emotions, kicking the leech demon's body hard with tremendous force.

"Bang!"

With a muffled thud, the leech was kicked away and slammed heavily against the tiled wall of the basement.

The foul-smelling, dark red blood burst open, staining the white wall with a large, shocking patch of blood.

If Fushimi hadn't held back most of his strength at the last moment, that kick would have been enough to turn it into a jigsaw puzzle.

Even so, the leech monster was left barely alive, its once pale and plump body now shriveled and twitching slightly as it lay paralyzed in a pool of blood.

It still showed no intention of communicating, only instinctively hissing and wriggling.

It absorbed too many fetal souls, constantly calling out "Mother..."

Fushimi Iori suppressed her irritation and rubbed her temples.

This is the only clue we have right now, so we can't kill them yet.

He took out a white talisman with a sealing pattern drawn on it and guided it with his fingertips.

The talisman floated towards the leech demon, emitting a bright blue light, turning it and the filth on the ground into a wisp of black smoke, which was then absorbed into the talisman.

The talisman floated back into Fushimi's hand, and a twisted, struggling black mark appeared on the originally white paper.

Fushimi Iori's face was frighteningly dark; the current situation was something he could never have predicted.

But one thing is certain: there must have been other people with psychic abilities who provided protection for this leech monster.

Otherwise, having absorbed so many fetuses, the overwhelming resentment should have been noticed long ago.

He carefully put away the talisman and turned to Huali, saying:

"Karin, have the yokai keep an eye out for any unusual cases of pregnant women in Tokyo recently, especially around Chiyoda, or any rumors related to abortion, stillbirth, or miscarriage."

Karin could sense Fushimi's terrible mood at that moment, and unusually, she didn't say anything, only obediently nodding:

"Understood, I'll go tell the kids right away."

After saying that, she swayed and merged back into Fushimi Iori's shadow, disappearing from sight.

In the empty underground operating room, filled with a faint smell of blood and stench, only Fushimi Iori remained.