Transformed into the leader of an esoteric sect in Japan

Kurosawa Shizuki found it hard to imagine how such rules could be established, and how the creatures in the forest could be so content with their place and not invade each other's territory. She didn't think that the winged creatures or human-faced spiders she had encountered before could communicate with humans.

“But you want to become Valkyries and ascend to the Chakra Sanctuary controlled by the gods. Isn’t that an invasion of other life forms?” Yuki Asakura asked pointedly.

“That’s right, what we’re going to do is cross different realms of life. This has always been taboo in the woods, but we are called by God himself, and we have our own mission! God is protecting us, so we will definitely succeed!” Sha Zi waved his little fist, looking very confident.

"We've finally arrived—the River of Illusion! If we keep following the River of Illusion downstream, we'll find Dust Town sooner or later!" Yongzi finally led Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura out of this small patch of woodland. Kurosawa Shizuki discovered that they had unknowingly come to a narrow river that ran through the woodland. The river, which was more than ten meters wide, was murky, sometimes gray and sometimes dark red, and the current was very rapid. It was like a blood vessel in the woodland, but it clearly divided the woodland into two sections.

"Why is this river called the River of Illusion?" Kurosawa Shizuki stood in front of the River of Illusion, looking down at the rushing water, a strange feeling stirring in her heart. She felt that there were indeed very strange things flowing in the River of Illusion.

“That’s because there are always illusory things flowing in the river! It’s said that different eras and histories flow into the River of Illusion at the same time, and we can find all sorts of wonderful things on the riverbank. I remember when we were little, Dad often brought us to play on the River of Illusion, and we would often find shiny silver coins, beautiful seashells, and glowing bottle caps on the riverbank.” Sand and Yongzi continued to walk hand in hand along the River of Illusion. Sand seemed to be recalling things from a long time ago, and a sweet smile appeared on her lips.

“Could you tell me about Dust Town? I’m very curious about what a town in the woods would be like.” Yuki Asakura continued chatting with the two little girls.

Kurosawa Shizuki stared blankly at the River of Illusion, feeling as if the river possessed some kind of magic. The whirlpools in the murky water seemed to be sucking her soul in. Was this river flowing through different eras and histories? Then, had this river also flowed through the history that once belonged to her? A hazy mist rose above the river, and at the other end of the River of Illusion, a figure appeared and disappeared.

"Three years ago, Dust Town was the largest town, home to over five hundred humans, but it is now abandoned. Dust Town regularly offers sacrifices to the Forest Fairy, thus receiving her protection from dark creatures; the town's mayor has also established a hunter's team, regularly gathering large quantities of supplies from the woodlands and the River of Illusion; Dust Town also seems to have its own church, with incredibly devout faith in a winged god..."

Although Yongzi and Shazi are two young girls, they sometimes give the illusion that they are one person. They are so connected that Yongzi often finishes speaking and Shazi will finish speaking.

However, Kurosawa Shizuki had no interest in listening to what Sako and Eiko were saying.

Kurosawa Shizuki saw something strange floating down from the upper reaches of the River of Illusion. A blindingly pale object was drifting downstream. Squinting to observe it closely, she felt a chill run down her spine. It was a naked female corpse with yellow ribbons wrapped around her hair. She gave off an aura that was both alluring and holy. As if she knew that Kurosawa Shizuki was watching her, she suddenly opened her already rotting eyes and looked at Kurosawa Shizuki, giving her a strange smile.

What made Kurosawa Shizuki even more horrified was that the female corpse in the river looked 70% like herself.

"What the hell is that?!" Kurosawa Shizuki was startled and involuntarily exclaimed.

However, the ghostly female corpse was only fleeting, disappearing into the murky waves in the next instant.

"What's wrong? Why are you making such a fuss..." Asakura Yuki gently supported Kurosawa Shizuki's body, following Kurosawa Shizuki's gaze. "There's nothing there, just water."

"I just saw it! There's a female corpse in the water, and she has my own face!" Kurosawa Shizuki rubbed her eyes. The female corpse that was just floating in the river had disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"It's probably just a hallucination, right? Kurosawa-kun, you need to work on your courage. It's not surprising to see anything scary in the woods. What's a female corpse? Even if it's really haunted, it's just something to talk about, isn't it?" Asakura Yuki patted Kurosawa Shizuki's shoulder to comfort her.

“I think that kind of thing is more dangerous and… ancient than ghosts.” Kurosawa Shizuki frowned. Logically speaking, she shouldn’t be frightened by any kind of supernatural illusion, but now she felt genuine fear because of a fleeting glimpse of something in the river.

“Blue-eyed angel sister, you really are the chosen one of God! I bet you saw the Queen in the river! This means God’s favor upon you!” Sand looked at Kurosawa Shizuki excitedly.

"The Queen of the River, what is that?" Kurosawa Shizuki discovered that the background story of the woodland territory seemed to be much richer than she had imagined. Just how many strange monsters and demons did the Age of Gods hide here?

"Before humans settled in the woodlands, they were ruled by seven queens, all children of the gods, known as the 'River Queens,' each symbolizing a river in the woodlands. But a war broke out among the seven queens over a divine treasure, and in the end only the Forest Nymph emerged victorious. She devoured her six sisters and threw their bones into the rivers they each ruled."

Eiko enthusiastically told Kurosawa Shizuki another story, which was probably told to them by their elders.

“It is said that even today, visitors who pass through the River of Illusion and the River of Scrolls in the woodland may still see the two queens who were killed in the rivers if they are lucky enough. It is said that only those who are truly chosen by God can see her with their own eyes. Blue-eyed angel sister, perhaps this is not your first time visiting the woodland…” Sand’s words made Kurosawa Shizuki feel a chill run down her spine.

“The one chosen by God, interesting, very interesting.” Asakura Yuki repeated Sand’s words meaningfully, then looked at Kurosawa Shizuki as if she remembered something.

Kurosawa Shizuki was, of course, aware of what Asakura would connect the dots: in the forest territory of Kiriezuki, the chosen ones, the mutual devouring among the seven queens… this could only point to one fact—

The apostle devoured seven chosen ones, and finally, as a deity, he summoned a descent of the gods to serve Kirieko for eternity.

Does the story of the River Queen represent a distant, unverifiable past, where apostles devoured chosen ones and sacrificed them to the gods more than once in this forest?

Chapter 105, Section 106: The Red Death in Dust Town

For the rest of the time, Kurosawa Shizuki dared not look at the River of Illusion even once more, and simply followed the two girls with her head down. Even so, just walking along the riverbank, she often heard all sorts of strange sounds—wolf howls, women's cries, mournful bird calls, the sound of sharp blades piercing flesh... The River of Illusion was indeed constantly producing various illusions, and it seemed that only Kurosawa Shizuki could see and hear these illusions, while everyone else was completely unaware.

"What are you afraid of? Why don't you dare to look up at me?" A plaintive whisper appeared intermittently, lingering in her ears. Kurosawa Shizuki even felt someone breathing on her neck from behind, sending chills down her spine.

They walked along this difficult road for an unknown amount of time. Under the dark red haze by the river, Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura Yuki finally saw the outline of the "Dust Town" that Sand and Eiko had mentioned. It was a small town carved out deep in the forest. All the surrounding trees had been cut down, and here they could finally see the sky above the forest again.

The sky is still filled with an endless array of winged creatures, and countless rusty gears are spinning like grains of sand in the Ganges. There is also the music box temple that is always playing sad songs. The sky over the woodland seems to never change. Here, you can't perceive the passage of time at all.

“Sand, it’s been three years since we last came to Dust Town, hasn’t it? Why has this road become so long?” Yongzi asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Rather than saying the road has become longer, I feel like time has slowed down, which is very strange," Sha Zi said with concern.

The four passed a huge wooden sign at the town's crossroads, but now the sign was broken in the middle; it read: "Welcome to Dust Town."

Then we entered the town and were greeted by a desolate and dilapidated scene.

The muddy road was covered with dust and decaying leaves, deserted, with crumbling walls and dilapidated buildings.

The town's first impression is somewhat like those towns in the American West during the frontier era of Kurosawa Shizuki's previous life, where cowboys roamed freely. The layout is messy, backward, and dilapidated. There are no houses taller than three stories, and the streets are piled with various wooden barrels, hay, debris, and other odds and ends. You can also see many unfinished houses that were only half-built.

All the doors of the shops and houses were tightly closed, and some were even boarded up. Many doors were marked with bright red circles painted with blood-red oil, like a horrifying period.

In the town, one can often see rough wooden totems with moth wings and a physique like a slender young girl, which are clearly expressions of worship for Wuquanzi.

However, the faith of the misty spring could not guarantee the town's eternal prosperity. Perhaps the town was once vibrant, but it suddenly encountered some unexpected situation and had to be abandoned.

The reason for its abandonment is simple and obvious, yet chilling.

This is a dead town.

Corpses were everywhere, a horrifying sight. The corpses were covered with scarlet "veils," and it was impossible to tell whether they were human or plant after so many years.

The wreckage of the carriage was visible; the horses at the front had rotted to the point of being reduced to skeletons, while the carriage at the back was piled high with corpses covered by white sheets, the bodies beneath which were also rotten to the point of exposing their bones.

Next to a small cemetery belonging to the townspeople, a huge trench had been dug out, and the pit was filled with corpses that had been burned and were all charred. Their limbs were twisted and tangled in the pit because of pain.

In the very center of the town, only one exceptionally tall locust tree has been intentionally preserved. It seems to be the only towering tree in the woodland that has been preserved in the town. Now, the tree is covered with human corpses, and countless black corpses sway in the wind, which inexplicably reminds people of a Christmas tree full of gifts.

In the town square beneath the towering locust trees, a dozen wooden frames stand atop the charred remains of various bodies burned at the stake. The corpses still bear the lingering scent of cruel vigilante justice, and to this day, a nauseating stench still permeates the town.

"Although I didn't expect to see any normal towns, I didn't expect Dust Town to be like this." Even though the town was such a terrifying sight, Asakura Yuki was still able to laugh without a care in the world, but Kurosawa Shizuki, who had been tormented by illusions along the way, felt nauseous all over and covered her throat, gagging repeatedly.

"This town... ugh... what on earth happened? The mayor of Dust Town we're looking for, is he really still in a town like this?" After entering the town, they didn't see a single living person. Kurosawa Shizuki simply didn't believe that any normal person could survive in a town like this.

“We’ve only heard about what happened in Dust Town from Dad. I never imagined things would get this bad. Dad said it’s because the gods have abandoned humanity; it’s divine punishment,” Sand said, though he seemed used to these horrific scenes of death, a deep sadness still lingered in his eyes. “Two years ago, a blue-haired girl died here after being abused by the townspeople. From her body, a terrible plague spread throughout the town. The town perished forever because of that horrible plague.”

"The name of the plague is the Red Death."

“People tried to study medicine, held psychic meetings, traced the source of the plague, and carried out numerous blockades and hunts. Finally, they gathered in the square to pray to God. But all of it was in vain. The fate of destruction was already sealed, and humanity had no hope in this world.” Yongzi’s voice was filled with a gloomy sorrow.

"What kind of plague is circulating in the town? Could it infect us?" Kurosawa Shizuki subconsciously wanted to cover her mouth and nose, but then realized it was futile. They had been in the town for at least ten minutes and hadn't taken any protective measures. If they were going to get infected, they would have already.

“It’s said that those infected with the Red Death become a terrifying, half-human, half-vegetable state. The lives of these patients don’t end immediately; they might even be prolonged, enduring a long and agonizing wait for death.” Eiko reassured Kurosawa Shizuki, but Shizuki felt Eiko’s words weren’t entirely certain. “After the town was destroyed, time was stopped for those infected with the Red Death by God, so don’t worry, sister.”

"What do you mean that the time of the Red Death was stopped by God?" Kurosawa Shizuki seemed to have heard something very powerful again.

“In the woods, God controls everything, including time and space. God has issued a divine decree that everything in this world related to the Red Death will be frozen in time forever, so the Red Death will no longer spread.” When Yongzi talked about the gods, she showed that look of longing and awe.

"Red Death? This is getting more and more interesting? This person died from the Red Death?" Although Asakura's face was slightly pale, he remained calm on the surface. Asakura stopped in front of a corpse on the wall with a particularly strange death.

A withered hand reached out toward Asakura, as if seeking salvation even in its dying moments.

The man had been dead for an unknown period of time, yet there was no sign of decay. His pained expression from his lifetime was perfectly preserved, making it seem as if he might open his mouth at any moment to beg the girls watching him for help. His body was covered with red, fungal-like growths, which had almost fused his body to the wall. Half of him was still human, while the other half had become like a fungus.

Many small red mushrooms even grew. It is unknown what nutrients these mushrooms relied on to sustain their lives. Even today, they still look very fresh. Around the patients of the Red Death, there were also rings of dark red smoke, and countless tiny particles could be vaguely seen in the smoke.

Strangely enough, just as Eiko said, the corpse maintained a very bizarre "static" state. Its time was completely frozen, and even the smoke was frozen at the moment it was released. Rather than a dead body, it was more like a work of art that precisely depicted death.

“That’s right, this is the final stage of the Red Death infection. We’ve heard Dad talk about the symptoms of the Red Death before—first, red spots appear, then it turns into a red, mobile corpse, and finally it turns into a red plant. Once you inhale the spores emitted by the plant, the infection will spread further.” Sandy stood next to Asakura. She seemed to be seeing a Red Death patient for the first time as well, and was obviously very curious about it.

"Aren't you worried about any risk of infection, being so close?" Kurosawa Shizuki thought Asakura and Sako were being incredibly reckless. Asakura even reached out to touch the red smoke emanating from around the corpse.

"Sister, it's probably best not to touch it, isn't it?" Sha Zi looked at Asakura with some difficulty.

"Don't worry, even if I do get infected, I have a way to deal with it. This is just a harmless experiment," Asakura said without any concern.

However, the moment Asakura's hand touched the red smoke, her hand actually went straight through it, as if she were touching a phantom that had no substance at all; not a single particle in the smoke was moving.

"That's amazing. Time has indeed been frozen completely, and we're now in a completely different history. I can't even interfere with it. The Red Death actually forced that 'god' to use such a method. It seems that this is indeed an extremely dangerous disease." Facing the Red Death, which even the gods feared, Asakura's sickly smile grew brighter and brighter. Her eyes flickered, and Kurosawa Shizuki was unsure of what she was planning.

"Kurosawa, what do you think about us trying to bring back some corpses of Red Death patients for research? I have a feeling that if used properly and deployed on our enemies, it would be a weapon powerful enough to destroy any force." Asakura Yuki turned to Kurosawa Shizuki and said with a grin, "I think it would be good to store it in black matter."

"Asakura, please don't be reckless. If we really take the Red Death out, can we really control it? Are you sure it won't infect our own people in the end?" Kurosawa Shizuki found Asakura Yuki increasingly terrifying. When she saw the dead infected with the plague, her first thought was not how to avoid being infected, but how to use this plague as a biological weapon to deal with her enemies.

This anti-human ideology is simply a demon disguised as a beautiful girl, and Kurosawa Shizuki could not agree with Asakura's idea no matter what.

“Haha, just kidding. Of course I know how dangerous this disease is. After all, it’s one of the legendary ‘doomsday diseases’,” Asakura calmly took a few steps back, smiled and waved to the Red Death patients as if saying goodbye. “Until our great cause is accomplished, let the Red Death be completely sealed away in this world forever.”

Kurosawa Shizuki couldn't understand what Asakura was thinking... before the great achievement was accomplished? So in Asakura's eyes, as long as the Black Sun's great achievement was completed, it didn't matter if the world was destroyed?

P.S., I really hope this book can get to the part where the Red Death actually spreads in reality. I've already thought of some really exciting plot points, but to this day, I still have no confidence. Without realizing it, I've made the plot of this book incredibly complex. I originally wanted to write a lighthearted, fast-paced story, but as I wrote, this book became the most structurally complex novel I've ever written.

PS2, thanks to Sugar! for the soap.

Chapter 106, Section 107: The Centipede Sage

As the group walked through the abandoned town of Dust, devastated by the Red Death, they saw more corpses of patients who had died from the Red Death in dark corners, abandoned mansions, and desolate cemeteries. Like the corpse they had seen before, time had been frozen, leaving them in a state of being half-plant and half-living.

Kurosawa Shizuki was somewhat surprised to discover that most of the corpses in the town did not actually die from the Red Death, because only those who died from the Red Death would not decompose due to the stagnation of time, and such corpses accounted for less than 30%.

Most of the townspeople died from blades, gallows, flames, and rubble. It seemed that the turmoil caused by the plague had a greater impact on Dust Town than the plague itself. Kurosawa Shizuki could hardly imagine what terrible things had happened in that town that was on the verge of destruction. After all, the shadow of death from the plague was enough to make anyone lose their mind.

"Ha, humanity itself is always more terrifying than any disaster. Throughout history, this is an eternal truth. All natural disasters are ultimately man-made disasters." Asakura revealed a contemptuous smile.

"But what we've seen and heard in this forest, is it all real?" Kurosawa Shizuki felt that everything they had encountered since entering the forest was too bizarre and fantastical: the music box sanctuary, the swarms of insects, the giant spider, the two little girls' father with wolf heads, and finally the three trials that followed. Everything gave Kurosawa Shizuki a strange sense of unreality.

Just as the Shadow Girl said, perhaps all of this really is just a fairytale "dream" of some little girl?

“Even if it is truly ‘real,’ our mission is to make this world ‘false.’ The history that Kirie wants to create must be denied.” Asakura looked at the backs of the two innocent little girls walking ahead, her nonchalant tone suggesting that she was completely unaware that once this forest was destroyed, the two little girls would become nothing more than a “never-existing” illusion, just like everything else native to the forest.

Yongzi and Shazi were clearly quite familiar with everything in Dust Town; they could name and explain the origin of almost every place.

“I remember this place. It was the only inn in town, the Wild Horse Inn. Uncle Clay ran it, but now Uncle Clay has been hanged.” Sand said, standing in front of a burned-down ruin. In front of the ruin, a charred and twisted corpse was nailed to a wooden stake.

“There’s also the hunter’s hut. We used to buy meat here with Dad.” Yongzi pointed to a small wooden hut. Outside the hut lay more than a dozen dead cows, half-rotten and covered in red spots. The stinking carcasses were riddled with butcher knives, and the corpses were covered with a scarlet fungus. Time had been stopped for these cows, just as they were beginning to decompose. Could it be that dead animals could be infected with the Red Death?

“Sand, are you sure this is the location?” Yongzi asked Sand.

“That’s right, Dad buried that person here himself,” Sha Zi said with certainty.

Kurosawa Shizuki felt that Eiko and Sako seemed to be searching for something in the town. Finally, she saw the two of them standing between the Wild Horse Inn and the Hunting Lodge. There was a wooden stake there, which was carved into a wooden statue in an extremely rough manner. It was a human figure with deer antlers and a cane in its hand.

"What are you looking for?" Kurosawa Shizuki asked, puzzled.

"Nothing special, just visiting the grave of an acquaintance in town." Yongzi waved her hand somewhat flusteredly.

“There’s something very powerful buried in my sister’s grave. If something unexpected happens, we might have to come here and disturb her,” Sha Zi said uncertainly.

“Sister Shazi and Sister Yongzi, we don’t have much time to accompany you to sweep the graves here,” Asakura said impatiently, showing no interest in what had happened in this town in the past. “Right now, I just want to find the town mayor as soon as possible and complete the so-called three trials you mentioned.”

"It'll be ready soon." Sha Zi and Yong Zi hurriedly put their hands together and bowed several times to the wooden statue with antlers. They spoke a few words to the statue in very low voices, which Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura Yuki could not hear clearly.

Then they went together to visit the mayor of Dust Town.