Why is my anime art style so weird?

"You can't even stand this? You're so petty."

After dealing with Eizan Etsuya, Xu Ming did not rush into the secret room, but instead turned around and went back to the stairs.

A short, stout figure, covered in blood, lay quietly on the ground—it was Haruyuki Arita.

Strangely, Xu Ming neither went forward to check if Haruyuki Arita still had vital signs, nor did he call for emergency medical assistance.

He simply stared quietly at Haruyuki Arita lying on the ground.

Soon, a miraculous scene unfolded!

A large amount of white light suddenly emanated from Haruyuki Arita's body, and his blood flowed back into his wounds. Then, his wounds healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if time had reversed.

Haruyuki Arita suddenly opened his eyes, scrambled to his feet, and began groping himself all over.

Upon discovering that he had no wounds on his body, Haruyuki Arita cried out in surprise.

"Huh? I... I'm resurrected!?"

To everyone's surprise, Xu Ming looked at him with pity and said:

No, you are already dead.

"Huh? Huh!!!"

In fact, Xu Ming found not one, but two corpses in the oil drums in the first-floor storage room.

Besides the girl's body, there was also a short, stout body that was so badly damaged that its original appearance was almost unrecognizable.

Xu Ming was unsure at first, so he used the Spirit-Sniffing Phone to test Haruyuki Arita.

However, the spirit-capturing phone did not cause any harm to Haruyuki Arita as expected.

Xu Ming once treated him as a living person, and still does.

After listening to Xu Ming's description, Haruyuki Arita's memories began to slowly return.

He has completely remembered everything that happened before.

Forced into this adventure, abandoned as a shield, tormented by vengeful spirits, and slowly dying in agony...

Those memories that he had selectively forgotten because they were too painful were all recalled.

An unusual silence began to spread between the two of them...

After a long while, Haruyuki Arita raised his head, revealing a smile that was more like a grimace.

"So that's how it is. So I was already dead."

"..."

Xu Ming remained silent; in this situation, he truly didn't know how to comfort the other person.

Should we tell him, "Your body may be dead, but your soul is still alive, just in a different form of life"?

This is clearly a case of talking without understanding the situation.

While Haruyuki Arita was still struggling with his decision, Xu Ming secretly began to inquire with the system.

'System, what's wrong with him?'

The system provided an immediate answer.

—The wanderer, or lost spirit. After death, for various reasons, they do not recall the memory of death, forget the fact that they have died, and linger in the world.

It is a kind of benevolent spirit, but because it is not protected by merit, it will dissipate on its own after a period of time and is harmless.

Xu Ming seemed to be deep in thought.

The spirit-capturing phone works by attacking the 'strange' exterior, which is composed of various negative energies, rather than destroying the soul itself. That's why it couldn't harm Haruyuki Arita.

The spirit-capturing phone is less about eliminating 'strange' things and more about purification or salvation, only in a more hardcore and modern way.

After a while, Haruyuki Arita seemed to slowly accept the fact that he was dead.

To Xu Ming's surprise, he did not immediately become a Buddha like the strange, vengeful girl on the first floor.

Judging from his appearance, it seems that he still has some unfulfilled obsession.

What are your plans next?

Xu Ming asked with some curiosity.

"I-I don't know either."

Haruyuki Arita subconsciously pointed his index finger while glancing at Xu Ming.

Xu Ming immediately understood his meaning, and a strange expression appeared on his face.

"You want to continue following me?"

Haruyuki Arita nodded quickly.

Xu Ming began to think about it seriously.

In his condition, he definitely can't go back home, and judging from his appearance, he won't disappear anytime soon. Xu Ming can't possibly ignore his wishes and send him directly to become a Buddha.

It seems we can only take it one step at a time...

"Then you can stay with me for now."

"it is good!"

Haruyuki Arita immediately broke into a silly grin.

"What a simple-minded guy..."

Xu Ming muttered something under his breath.

Then Xu Ming took Haruyuki Arita back to the office on the 4th floor.

At this moment, the Spirit Phone has recharged.

Xu Ming then entered the secret room with his phone in hand.

Soon, Xu Ming discovered a highly decomposed corpse, almost reduced to bones, beneath the pile of gold bricks, along with a fragment of a golden 'Blood Moon Wheel'.

Chapter Forty-Eight: Five Elements and Eight Trigrams

This body most likely belongs to Eizan Etsuya.

Xu Ming was puzzled as to why Eizan Etsuya's body was thrown into the secret room.

Moreover, even Xu Ming, a layman with no forensic expertise, could see that Eizan Etsuya's remains had numerous signs of bone fractures.

It was as if they were crushed to death by a gold brick...

As for the golden fragment, after system identification, its name is displayed as—Blood Moon Roulette Fragment (Gold).

A sudden inspiration struck Xu Ming.

Hisagi Terunori was sealed in a coffin and burned to death.

Xu Ming obtained a roulette fragment with the suffix "fire" from the Chinese Culinary Research Institute.

Eizan Etsu was also crushed to death in a secret room with gold bricks.

Xu Ming obtained a roulette fragment with the suffix 'gold' here.

If a Chinese citizen doesn't understand the meaning behind this, then he's not a true Chinese citizen.

"Isn't this just the 'Five Elements'—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth!"

Could it be that the evil rituals concocted by the demon father were based on the 'Five Elements and Eight Trigrams'?

Probably!

Japanese Onmyōdō (the art of Yin and Yang) originated from Chinese Taoism, and many of its principles are based on the Taoist classics of Yin and Yang, the Five Elements and the Eight Trigrams.

You can even tell from the name 'Yin-Yang Technique'.

Xu Ming still needs to verify whether it is true or not at the next location.

His next target is the 'Animal Expo Park' that once belonged to Kobayashi Rindou.

Xu Ming had researched the information and found that the animals in this expo park were raised entirely in a free-range manner.

The entire expo park is like a small ecological park, with a large number of plants planted inside.

Xu Ming boldly speculated that the death of Kobayashi Gentian was likely related to the plants in the Expo Park.

If all goes well, he might be able to find fragments with the character 'wood' as a suffix in the Expo Park.

Xu Ming then took out the roulette base that Isshiki had given him, as well as the 'fire' fragment, from his pocket.

'Just as I thought.'

A look of understanding crossed Xu Ming's face.

The two fan-shaped fragments he obtained were exactly the same size as the circular grooves on the base of the roulette wheel.

"Xu Mingjun, what are you doing?"

Haruyuki Arita looked at the roulette wheel in his hand and asked with some curiosity.

"It's nothing, just a trivial little trinket."

Xu Ming chuckled softly and added a sentence in his mind.

'A small item related to the entire Blood Moon ritual.'

"Huh? The moonlight outside seems to have returned to normal."

Haruyuki Arita suddenly pointed out the window.

Xu Ming turned his head to look.

Outside the window, the eerie blood-red moonlight quietly faded, and the first ray of light appeared at the edge of the earth.

It's almost dawn.

And so, a thrilling and exciting night came to an end.

Ding!

The system notification sounded, seemingly signaling the end of the incident.

—Congratulations, host, for completing the side event 'Office Building No. 4—The Temptation of Money'. Task settlement in progress…