Transformed into the leader of an esoteric sect in Japan

The alarm clock at six o'clock the next day woke up Kurosawa Shizuki, who hadn't had enough sleep yet.

[Your daily tasks have been refreshed!] The system notification sounded almost simultaneously.

Then several strange notifications popped up in my field of vision:

[Your dark spirit has devoured the puppet corpse crow, increasing your fourth-stage growth rate by 0.03%. You have gained 25 Nightmare Points.] There is a notification that seven corpse crows have been devoured.

[Your dark spirit has devoured the Sprouting Corpse, increasing your fourth-stage growth rate by 0.08%. You have gained 46 Nightmare Points.] The following is a notification that three Sprouting Corpses have been devoured.

Then there are daily settlements of negative emotions and nightmare points provided by believers' faith. Today's output is 312 points, which is slightly less than yesterday's system notification.

What the hell? This dark spirit of mine is so AI-powered? It can even go out and fight monsters while I'm sleeping at night? Wait, Kurosawa Shizuki thought of that shadow that first appeared beside her and unlocked her computer password. It really was her? She can actually act independently, completely detached from her control?

She subconsciously manipulated the black matter, finding that it was still as easy and versatile as an extension of her body, just like yesterday, without any sense of unnaturalness. However, the unease in Kurosawa Shizuki's heart still lingered.

She tried calling out to the original owner in her heart to the shadow, but naturally there was no response from the darkness. Was this shadow really unwilling to communicate with her?

Forget it, Kurosawa Shizuki tried to change her mindset. Having more nightmares is always a good thing. You have to think positively about everything. Since she doesn't know how to solve the problem in the shadows for the time being, she can only try to accept it silently, right?

Kurosawa Shizuki suddenly had nearly 600 Nightmare Points again, which made her a little restless. There were actually quite a few useful cards in the white skill card pool, such as cooking, music theory, Japanese literature, Japanese history and other worldly knowledge. If she wanted to live in Japan for a long time, they would probably be very useful.

However, some people no longer wanted Shizuki Kurosawa to continue lying in bed with her eyes closed, browsing the system.

"Sister, sister, we have to get up!" Opening her eyes, she saw Kurosawa Ai standing at the head of the bed, shaking her shoulders, looking quite energetic.

"Sleep a little longer..." Kurosawa Shizuki turned over, not finding Kurosawa Ai who had been in her arms, so she grabbed Kurosawa Ai's pillow, spread her legs, and hugged it to her chest as a body pillow. She still needed to shop on Taobao in the system!

"Sister, your sleeping posture is getting uglier and uglier! Get up, get up now! Dad said people can't be lazy!" Kurosawa Ai raised her prosthetic leg, covered by a sock, and stomped on Kurosawa Shizuki's back, which was hard as a rock. Hey, using a prosthetic leg doesn't count as a foot fetish treat!

"Okay, okay, I'm up."

With difficulty, she folded the bedding and put it back in the closet. She walked unsteadily to the bathroom, first washing her face with cold water, and then brushing her teeth side by side with her sister. Kurosawa Shizuki looked at her wet face in the mirror, pale and bluish, clearly still feeling sleepy.

She glanced at the daily tasks that the system had just refreshed. It seemed that each daily task had a certain time limit and would refresh every few days. The first daily task when she transmigrated was to hold a cult ritual, which she completed without realizing it. The system probably dynamically assigned tasks based on her current situation.

[Daily Quest, Taste of Heijō 1: Find a senior cultist who has formed a bond with the Age of Gods, and use your Dark Matter to devour or corrupt him! Rewards: 1500 Nightmare Points, Shadow Servant - The Wishful Swordsman, Small Dark Matter Crystal x1]

Based on the prompts from this daily task, it seems that she has a high chance of encountering this so-called senior cultist of the Age of Gods recently? He actually wants me to devour him... Kurosawa Shizuki felt a chill run down her spine for no apparent reason.

Eating strange, inhuman things is somewhat understandable, but me eating people? Even eating people with my own shadow would still make me instinctively uncomfortable.

"I'm not going to think about it anymore. I'll deal with it when the time actually comes." Kurosawa Shizuki patted her temples, trying to clear her mind of these thoughts.

Let your mind go blank, and help each other change clothes with love. The sisters are still wearing their school uniforms.

I put on a red and white striped tie, twirled in front of the mirror, my skirt billowing as I did so, revealing a glimpse of my snow-white thigh—a perfect "absolute territory"! Today, this muscular man is full of energy, fully recharged!

"Sister, stop grinning at yourself in the mirror. It's time to go out for your morning exercise." Kurosawa Ai rolled her eyes. "I need to continue my rehabilitation, and you need to readjust to your old lifestyle as soon as possible."

"Hey, wait for me!" Kurosawa Ai quickly grabbed her schoolbag and caught up with him, who had already opened the door.

So they went down the dilapidated stairs, the older sister helping her younger sister, whose cheeks were puffed out, and they went out.

As dawn broke, everything was bathed in a beautiful pale gold hue, and the enormous beast that was Pingjing had begun to awaken.

"Boom boom boom—" In the distance, the early morning trams could be seen rumbling past on the tram tracks, and the not-too-bright morning light shone through the gaps in the tracks onto the sisters.

"Sister, headphones," Kurosawa Ai handed Kurosawa Shizuki a pair of in-ear headphones, and put on the same headphones herself. "They're not for listening to music. We'll be practicing English while we're doing our morning exercise. You used to be really bad at English, and now you've lost your memory. It'll be really difficult for you to catch up."

"We used to be so hardworking?" Kurosawa Shizuki found it hard to imagine how the original owner spent her days.

“In the past, it was always you, sister, who supervised my efforts. Now that you have forgotten everything, it’s my turn to supervise you,” Kurosawa Ai said earnestly. “We are the Kurosawa family. Even if our student status is just a disguise, we must do our best to do everything to the best of our ability.”

"Is it necessary? After all, if I remember correctly, next year is the end of the world!"

“Even if the end of the world comes tomorrow, we should continue to live earnestly today,” Ai Kurosawa said calmly. “We should do everything we can to the best of our ability. As for the end of the world, let the Anti-Corruption Bureau, the government, and the immortals worry about that. The end of the world is not an excuse to indulge in depravity.”

"Alright, I'll try my best to do it like I always have." Kurosawa Shizuki smiled wryly, feeling a little looked down upon in front of her earnest younger sister.

In my previous life, as a high school student in China, studying hard was quite easy.

Moreover, compared to English, Kurosawa Shizuki was more troubled by Japanese language, history, and other humanities subjects. In her previous life, she often easily scored 130 points on English tests and could understand most of American TV shows without subtitles.

Less than a kilometer from the sisters' home, there was a small green park, and they walked towards it together.

Kurosawa Shizuki jogged ahead for a while and then stopped to wait for Kurosawa Ai. Kurosawa Ai, with her little face puffed out, gripped the cane and limped along, trying to keep up. Kurosawa Shizuki realized that although her sister was missing her left leg, she was still consciously training herself to walk briskly every day. This little girl, despite her disability, had a strong sense of self-respect. No wonder she reacted so strongly when she tried to carry her on her back yesterday.

She was trying hard to stop relying on her sister so much... After all, she had noticed that her sister was "disappearing" all the time.

Perhaps one day, I will disappear like this too. I always have this ominous thought for no reason.

"Sister, let's review English together!" Kurosawa Ai called out from behind as she practiced her brisk walking.

Helpless, Kurosawa Shizuki had no choice but to play the English text on her phone, repeating it softly as she jogged. In her previous life, she would occasionally memorize English and Chinese texts during morning self-study, but this was the first time she had done it in this world. Now, with her body's exceptionally good memory, she naturally memorized the text after only a few repetitions.

Are English lessons in Japan really this simple? In her previous life, this would probably be considered at most junior high school level spoken English, and the voice recordings stored on her phone had a Japanese accent, which felt very inauthentic and not even as good as her own spoken English.

On another note, the original owner had to pretend to be a good student at school, an agent in the anti-counterfeiting bureau, a hunter of the strange yellow rabbit at night, and a high-ranking saint in the Black Sun Cult. With so many masks on her face, wasn't she tired?

Kurosawa Shizuki didn't know if she still had the confidence to continue maintaining the original owner's complex multiple identities.

P.S. It's the weekend, so I still managed to write two updates. There will probably only be one update tomorrow.

Chapter Twenty-Nine, Section 29: Save Me

The sisters were doing their morning exercises around the small park. The morning sun enveloped the earth, the spring light was just right, and a thin layer of morning mist rose. Strolling around, there was a dreamlike atmosphere, and there was no trace of the "end of the world" atmosphere mentioned in the original owner's diary.

Kurosawa Shizuki slightly increased her running speed. Her current body's attributes were far superior to her previous one, especially with the physique boost she gained from acquiring the Hollow Blade Style. If she wanted, she could probably easily break a record at a sports meet, and with conscious training, breaking a world record might not be difficult. After all, 18 points of physique far exceeded the standard for normal humans.

So now, her running is less about exercise and more about getting more familiar with her body, so that she can use it more naturally when she's in a fight later.

There weren't many people in the park in the morning, and even fewer people of the Kurosawa sisters' age. After exercising for a while, Kurosawa Shizuki, who was concentrating on memorizing English, suddenly felt a strange sense of crisis.

A chilling aura suddenly swept in with the wind, sending a shiver down her spine. She was in the crisp morning air, but in the next instant, she suddenly felt as if she had fallen into the stomach of some terrifying beast, waiting to be digested.

Looking up, they saw a pale-faced woman leading a little girl with long black hair as she walked towards them.

As they approached, Kurosawa Shizuki inexplicably felt the air temperature drop a few degrees.

The thin woman looked sickly, with an unsettling smile on her face. She wore a black and white nun's habit and a long hymn headscarf that reached her waist, but it didn't make her look holy; instead, it gave her a grotesque and distorted appearance. As she walked, she seemed to be talking to herself, her lips dry and her eyes unfocused.

You can vaguely see the collar and cuffs of her nun's habit covered in swollen bruises. Judging from the wounds, they were probably all from being whipped. Combining this woman's attire, Kurosawa Shizuki inexplicably thought of the so-called "cultivation" of self-whipping by Catholic ascetics.

A silver rose cross hung on his chest, the cross stained with black grime and emanating an ominous aura.

The woman's steps were unsteady, making one worry that she might collapse at any moment. Anyone could see that she was just forcing herself to keep going by sheer willpower.

The little girl being led by the nun was dressed in a hospital gown, looking as if she had just come from a hospital. She was at most twelve or thirteen years old, with thick, black hair reaching her waist at the back of her head, and she walked like a human mop.

Her once cute face was now excessively thin due to malnutrition, and her pupils had no focus. She was being led forward by the nun like a doll.

There were long black lines, like eyeshadow, along the edges of her eyes, extending down to both sides of her cheeks, giving the impression of tears. It was hard to tell at first glance whether they were tattoos or scars.

That incredible, powerful presence came from this seemingly ordinary little girl. As she got closer to her, the air that Kurosawa Shizuki exhaled even turned into mist. The chill penetrated her clothes and then her air, as if it were about to solidify in her blood vessels.

The strange duo seems suspicious no matter how you look at them.

Kurosawa Shizuki became more alert, but outwardly she pretended to be nonchalant and continued her morning run.

She had no intention of helping them by striking up a conversation. In this world, it's best to stay as far away as possible from anything unusual. Even if they really were some kind of non-human being, Kurosawa Shizuki didn't want to start a fight with them in the park early in the morning.

Moreover, the chilling aura the little girl instilled in Kurosawa Shizuki made her unsure whether she could defeat this bizarre duo.

The duo made no attempt to speak to Kurosawa Shizuki. As they brushed past each other, Kurosawa Shizuki only felt a strange sense of being watched from the direction of the little girl.

Empty eyes, like a bottomless abyss, where everything will sink. Only those who are completely numb and have no hope may have such eyes.

Curiosity, doubt, alienation followed by fear. Kurosawa Shizuki sensed this strange emotion spreading from the gaze behind her. Perhaps her inspiration was too high.

Kurosawa Shizuki didn't turn around, and the two seemed to pay no attention to her either. They quickly disappeared at the end of the road. Judging from the direction they were heading, they were going to the artificial lake in the park.

"Sister, do you know them? I have a very bad feeling about them—I saw moths wrapped in spider webs." Kurosawa Ai caught up at this moment, her gaze towards the duo filled with the same suspicion.

Kurosawa Ai's eyes gleamed with golden light once more. Those two people were actually able to trigger Kurosawa Ai's spiritual precognition?

"I don't know them, and I think it's best if we don't get to know them either. Let's continue." Kurosawa Shizuki shook her head. She already had enough to worry about, and she didn't care what secrets these two might have.

"That's good. We'd better keep our distance from such beings." Although Kurosawa Ai seemed to care as well, she still expressed her approval to Kurosawa Shizuki.

"save……"

She hadn't run more than a few steps when a very young girl's voice suddenly rang in her ears. Kurosawa Shizuki stopped, wondering if she was hallucinating.

Turning to look in the direction where the two disappeared, a hazy morning mist rose over the artificial lake, like a veil covering all the secrets.

Kurosawa Shizuki couldn't be sure if it was a hallucination. She felt that the spreading mist vaguely condensed into the shape of moth wings, spreading freely in mid-air, and the icy chill grew stronger and stronger.

Who is calling for my help? Is it the little girl being led by the nun? Although I've decided not to meddle, I can't help but wonder.

To shake off her worries and anxieties, Kurosawa Shizuki quickened her pace. It was better to avoid trouble; whether the little girl asked for her help was irrelevant. Her intuition told her that if she rashly pursued the matter, more trouble would follow.

Kurosawa Shizuki ran ten laps in one go, memorized all the English texts stored on her phone, and checked the time. It was only 6:40, and she could still do a lot of things.

Seeing his younger sister struggling to practice walking briskly behind him, he told Ai, then went alone to a small grove of trees, found a large, white rock that looked very sturdy, and practiced "Phantom Blade Style" with his five fingers together like a knife.

The grove of trees they chose was located in the area furthest from where the duo disappeared.

Kurosawa Shizuki remembered that the system had once reminded her that the skills she could exchange for could also be improved through practice in reality. Now that she had some free time, she decided to give it a try.

With Kurosawa Shizuki consciously controlling the power of the Hollow Blade Style, it was impossible for a beginner-level Hollow Blade Style hand strike to actually split the boulder in two with a casual swing; only faint white marks could be vaguely seen appearing on the stone.

With each chop, Kurosawa Shizuki recited a word following the audio in her earpiece. After about five or six chops at the boulder, she finally heard a stingy notification from the system:

[Your Phantom Blade Style has been honed; experience points increased by 1.]

Looking at the experience points needed to upgrade the Phantom Blade style from level one to level two, it's 625/12000. I only have 500 experience points left from previous battles against ghouls. Despair! The road ahead is long and arduous; I can only grind slowly!

If Kurosawa Shizuki were to forcefully reach the second level of proficiency using Nightmare Points, it would actually consume 8,000 Nightmare Points. Compared to directly throwing in so many Nightmare Points, Kurosawa Shizuki might prefer to slowly grind for them.

She spent half an hour grinding and gained a little over 200 experience points. At this rate, if she grinded for half an hour every day, it would take her over 50 days to reach level 2.

Having grown tired of chopping rocks, Kurosawa Shizuki suddenly had a brilliant idea and shifted her focus to several large trees nearby. With a casual chop, she struck one of the trees, causing the branches and leaves to sway, and she almost severed most of the trunk.

She quickly stopped, looked around to make sure no one was watching her, and nervously left the grove to find Ai. Distracted, she accidentally damaged public property, and if someone saw her, she wouldn't be able to explain herself.

The chill intensified, and layers of pale frost formed on the leaves.

In the early morning, the fog on the artificial lake grew thicker and thicker, gradually turning it into an indescribable dark red color.

Kurosawa Shizuka fled the almost deathly quiet forest as if escaping. The biting cold was so intense that she had no desire to practice the Hollow Blade Style anymore.

"Save me." She heard that eerie voice again, this time with a hint of resentment.

"Thump." Even though it was far away, Kurosawa Shizuki could still hear the sound of something falling into the water from the direction of the artificial lake.