Curse Returns, a gamble from the start, I awaken dual spells

The deeper you go, the narrower the passage becomes.

The air began to feel sticky, and things resembling human tissue started to appear on the walls on both sides.

These things, clinging to the wall, were still pulsating slightly without any nourishment.

"It seems this is indeed the place for live experiments."

Looking at the strange phenomena around him, Rito's eyes darkened slightly.

Even Kugizaki just gave a disgusted look and didn't say anything more.

The atmosphere among the four gradually became heavy.

The chase lasted about two minutes, and then another large gate appeared ahead.

"Kugizaki!" Nanami shouted quickly.

"Watch this!" Kugizaki immediately understood when he heard Nanami shout.

call out!call out!call out!

The next second, three nails imbued with magical power shot out like lightning.

boom!

The gate was rusty and hadn't been maintained for years. After being hit by three nails from Kugizaki, it collapsed straight down.

Throughout the entire ordeal, the four of them did not slow down at all, and they rushed out almost the instant the door collapsed.

"This is......"

When he rushed into the room, Fukuro was stunned, an expression of disbelief on his face.

Kugizaki wasn't much better off; the disgust in his eyes was almost overflowing.

"Now split up and search for clues. Stay alert and call for help immediately if you find anything unusual." After a two-second silence, Nanami slowly spoke.

Although he appeared no different from usual on the surface, his tone was very heavy, and even the knuckles of his right hand, which was holding the cursed tool, had turned white.

"As expected, this is a place where real people are used for experiments to modify humans."

Looking around at the scattered human tissues, many mutilated corpses were still twitching slightly in the huge petri dish against the wall.

There were even a few relatively intact cyborgs tied to the side, their eyes rolling violently and their mouths opening and closing.

It seems they have discovered Rito and his companions and are pleading for help from them.

Cruel, bloody, and terrifying are the words that describe this room.

Rito took a deep breath and then exhaled gently.

He was more accepting of the situation than the other three.

After all, he knew the original plot and was familiar with the real person's personality.

Even so, the murderous intent in his eyes did not diminish at all, and even seemed to be intensifying.

After Nanami gave the order, the group immediately turned around and walked towards several corners of the room.

Rito walked to one side of the room, where there was a workbench covered with brown marks, on which were placed some huge transparent petri dishes.

Those brown marks looked as if fresh blood had seeped out, congealed, and then weathered over a long period of time.

Furthermore, there is a numbered marker at regular intervals, as if real people would make special marks to distinguish experimental subjects.

Li Ren looked up and his gaze fell on the first transparent petri dish.

Inside was a one-meter-tall dwarf cyborg. In terms of appearance, it still basically retained human characteristics, only its size had been greatly reduced.

"Hopefully I can find clues about the real person here," Rihime thought, and then began to search carefully.

But when his gaze swept over the cyborg's head, he couldn't help but pause for a second.

"This feeling..."

Sensing something was wrong, Rito began to observe the cyborg more closely.

He moved closer and carefully observed the cyborg's appearance through the transparent container.

"This person seems familiar; I feel like I've seen them somewhere before."

Rito felt a strange sense of familiarity with this cyborg that had been shrunk several sizes, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it before.

Perhaps this is just an unlucky person I've seen before, but who was captured by real people for experiments.

Having thought this through, Li Ren stopped investigating further.

Just as he was about to look away, the cyborg in the petri dish in front of him suddenly moved.

"Hmm?" Rito took a step back and focused his attention on the cyborg.

The cyborg's eyelids were trembling slightly, and the tremor was getting stronger and stronger, as if it would wake up completely at any moment.

"...A rational...person?"

Rito shuddered, a look of disbelief on his face.

Who is it? How do you know my name?

Looking at that shrunken, slightly swollen face, Rito felt an even stronger sense of familiarity.

"Is it... a rational... person?"

"Help...help...me..."

"...Who are you?" Rito suddenly moved closer, staring intently at the face in the petri dish.

A somewhat unfamiliar yet beautiful figure instantly appeared in his mind.

"Rito... I... I like you!"

The girl in front of me wore a long white dress and had a blush on her face. Her waist-length black hair was slightly disheveled by the breeze.

The hands that were gripping the love letter were slightly white from the force.

"Sorry, I don't plan to be in a relationship right now."

At that time, Rito rejected the girl without hesitation; it was the second day after he traveled through time.

"It's...it's okay, I...I'll wait for you, Rito."

After saying that, the girl left, somewhat disappointed.

Little did he know, that would be the last time Rito saw her.

"Is this...Kaori-san?"

Li Ren pressed his palm on the petri dish, then quickly pulled it away as if he had been electrocuted.

Even he himself didn't realize that his voice was trembling uncontrollably when he said those words.

"Help...me..."

Kaori's rationality seemed to return only for a moment, and then, like the other cyborgs, she was left with only the pure instinct for survival.

"Rito, what's wrong?"

Seemingly noticing Rito's unusual behavior, Kugizaki jogged over from the other side.

"...It's okay." Looking at the girl in the petri dish, Rito forced herself to calm down instantly.

But the flames deep in his eyes seemed to burn through the entire world.

Kugizaki glanced at the petri dish in front of Rito, then at Rito, and surprisingly didn't say anything more.

At this moment, Fuhei also finished his investigation and hurried towards the two of them.

"Look, I found this."

As soon as he entered, Fu Hei took out the clues he had discovered.

It was a blood-stained ID card, the writing on it was so blurred that the words of a certain university could be vaguely seen.

"It looks like a student ID." Kugizaki took the ID and tried hard to decipher the handwriting. "It seems to be called... Haiya?"

Ashen Valley?

Upon hearing this name, Rihito's pupils contracted, and a very bad premonition arose within him.

"What did you find?" Nanami's voice suddenly rang out from the side.

His expression was no longer as calm as before, but instead carried a hint of solemnity.

Nanami's gaze swept over the three of them, finally settling on Rito's somewhat odd face, and she said in a deep voice:

"Rito, you've noticed too, haven't you!"

Upon hearing this, Li Ren nodded slowly.

What did you find?

Fushiguro and Kugizaki exchanged a glance, both seeing the confusion in each other's eyes.

But both of them remained silent, waiting for Nanami to continue.

"All the cyborgs in this lab come from the same school." As she spoke, Nanami's gaze remained fixed on Rito.

"She's a student at Rihito's previous school, Risaku High School!"