Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

She suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"What's this? A student ID?" Zhao Yingkong bent down and picked up the student ID that had fallen at the main entrance. The photo on the ID belonged to a very beautiful girl. Even without seeing her in person, her beauty was still breathtaking.

"...Kawakami Tomie?"

..................................................................

Zheng Zha pressed the intercom hard, but all he could get from this high-tech creation provided by the main god was a jumble of busy signals.

"What a piece of junk! Turn it into bricks when you need it!" He instinctively reached out to smash the walkie-talkie, but the last vestige of reason in his mind forced him to stop, ending this pointless impulse to destroy.

The walkie-talkie was innocent; the place was guilty. He stood atop the gatehouse of this abandoned elementary school, gazing at the dense forest that stretched to the horizon, its boundaries encompassing his entire field of vision. Even with his increasingly neglected brain, he should have realized something was amiss.

This is a school, an abandoned elementary school that seems to be called the Heavenly God.

On his way to find Kayako's Diary, he witnessed a group of Japanese thugs harassing a beautiful high school girl. Naturally, being hot-blooded, he quickly intervened and subdued the thugs who were groping the girl, even threatening to use a knife. However, just as he finished his good deed and was about to leave anonymously, the scenery suddenly shifted, and in the blink of an eye, he found himself in a dilapidated Japanese-style school building. He could clearly feel the gloomy aura surrounding him, and the omnipresent malice permeating the air.

Faced with this situation, Zheng Zha unlocked his genetic lock without hesitation and unleashed a [Fusion] attack, reducing half of the school building to a pile of rubble. But after the rubble settled, he found himself standing outside the school gates, unable to step inside the elementary school a second time.

Destroying the gate was easy; one slash and it was done. However, no matter how he tried to break it, how he attacked, even if he enveloped himself in energy blades and charged forward, he would always end up outside the gate. Looking back, he saw the same intact abandoned elementary school.

They can't get in, and they can't leave. They're stuck in this stalemate, one person and one school, neither able to do anything to the other.

The mission notifications from his companions had been echoing in his mind for a long time, but he was helpless. Neither the mental communication nor the walkie-talkie responded; it was as if the world had suddenly disappeared from his life.

He couldn't help but let out a long sigh. He decided to sit cross-legged at the school gate and see if he could come up with a suitable solution.

Just then, a series of crisp footsteps rang out from inside the school behind him.

Section 8. Giving a Poisoned Banana to a Chimpanzee

She was a girl wearing a typical 1990s Japanese high school girl's blazer uniform. She looked to be only sixteen or seventeen years old, with long legs, wearing boots and black stockings. Her waist-length black hair fell neatly down—she had a delicate oval face, arched eyebrows, and a pair of clear, bright eyes beneath bangs that covered her forehead. There was also a beauty mark under her left eye.

When Zheng Zha turned to look at her, she let out a startled cry, like a small animal. She immediately hopped and skipped behind a flowerbed near the school gate, peeking out timidly with only half her head showing. It was as if she would run away the moment Zheng Zha dared to utter a single word.

"You are... that high school girl over there just now?" Zheng Zha raised an eyebrow, subconsciously softening his tone. "Don't be afraid, I won't do anything to you."

He tried his best to put on a harmless smile—though it was rare...or rather, no one noticed it within the Zhongzhou team, Zheng Zha, who had enhanced his Viscount vampire bloodline, was actually the most handsome guy on the Zhongzhou team. He possessed a naturally wicked charm, and his looks surpassed even those of the pretty boys and dashing men of the real world—and whether his smile was genuinely charming or a direct vampire allure, the high school girl calmed down a bit, cautiously emerging from behind the trash can and approaching the school gate where Zheng Zha was.

"Thank you so much for your help earlier." She bowed deeply to the ground when she was still five meters away from Zheng Zha, her long, smooth hair falling down to reveal her fair neck with a healthy blush. Her voice was soft and gentle, like a nightingale singing softly in the treetops under the moonlight.

"I'm Tomie Kawakami from Kisaragi Middle School. I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you earlier." She looked up, her pretty face even softening the eerie atmosphere of the school. "Do you know where this is? I wanted to thank you, but in the blink of an eye..."

“Kawakami Tomie…is that right?” Zheng Zha chewed on the somewhat familiar name and waved his hand. “No need for thanks or anything. As for this place…I don’t know anything about it. But I just saw the school’s name, it seems to be…Tenjin Elementary School? Is that the name? I’m not very good at Japanese, so I don’t know if I pronounced it correctly.”

Zheng Zha had been observing the girl who called herself Kawakami Tomie. It would be impossible for him to have no suspicions about this girl who had suddenly appeared in this strange school. However, when he uttered the words "Heavenly God Elementary School," he noticed that the girl's face suddenly turned deathly pale—the kind of paleness that comes from extreme fear. Her pupils constricted, her breathing became rapid, and he could clearly hear her heartbeat suddenly accelerate, her blood flow increasing by nearly half!

"It's over, it's all over!" Her legs seemed to give way instantly, and she collapsed limply to the ground, tears welling in her eyes. "Heavenly God Elementary School, how could this be... how could this be... this is that cursed school! I... I'm going to die here!"

She covered her face and sobbed, yet even the sound of her crying was so beautiful. Zheng Zha, who had been feeling very agitated, even felt a little calmer upon hearing her cries—a fleeting thought even crossed his mind that he wanted the crying to last longer and louder…

This was only a fleeting moment, a brief moment of distraction. In that instant, the girl named Kawakami Tomie had already wiped away her tears, and while sobbing softly, she managed to stand up and bow to Zheng Zha. "I'm so sorry for being so rude. May I ask how I should address you? You don't seem to be Japanese?"

"Zheng Zha is a Chinese."

"Is this Zheng-kun?" A look of surprise appeared in her beautiful eyes, which were still slightly red at the corners. "May I call you that? If you don't mind, you can just call me Tomie."

“That doesn’t matter.” Zheng Zha waved his hand. “More importantly, can you tell me what’s wrong with Tian Shen Elementary School? You seem to know a lot about this name.”

"That's how it is." She took two soft breaths, adjusted her breathing rhythm, and then revealed a sweet smile. Without any warning, she walked up to Zheng Zha and began to tell him the legend of the Heavenly God Elementary School in her soft, melodious voice.

"Tenjin Elementary School is an old school that has existed for nearly a hundred years. Twenty years ago, it was shut down because of several horrific murders that occurred there—it is said that many children were kidnapped, brutally tortured, and killed by the then principal. At the time, it caused a great uproar in society. The teachers could not withstand the pressure and left, and the students transferred schools one after another. But it was from then on that terrifying legends about Tenjin Elementary School began to circulate on the streets."

"It is said that in that bloodbath, there was a girl named Sachiko Shinozaki who died a horrific death. When she was found, her clothes were stained with blood. Perhaps because of her resentment, she became a vengeful spirit and then kidnapped students who hadn't gone home at night from other schools, bringing them to Tenjin Elementary School to torture and play with them. Many people died, and the police were helpless. Later, they had to invite a high-ranking monk from a temple to perform a ritual to barely suppress Sachiko Shinozaki. Then, the government at the time, following the high-ranking monk's instructions, demolished the school and rebuilt another one."

Tomie wore a bitter, uneasy smile.

"That newly built school is the Kisaragi Middle School that I attended."

Zheng Zha exclaimed "Ah!" and a look of sudden realization dawned on him. "No wonder you were so scared, it turns out you..."

"Yes," the girl said sadly. "For months, rumors have been circulating at school that people have been mysteriously going to Tenjin Elementary School late at night. Then they've been chased, toyed with, and tortured by Ms. Sachiko in red... Only one or two people managed to escape. The rest have all disappeared... Waaah, it's all my fault. I knew the school was closed because of this, but I still insisted on going out at night to look for my lost student ID... I'm sure, I'm sure, Sachiko will kill me!"

Before she could finish speaking, a thunderclap suddenly rang out over the school, as if the master of the place was raging at her. She let out a 'whoa' and threw herself into Zheng Zha's arms, her soft body trembling uncontrollably, her fear and terror clearly evident.

"Don't worry, don't worry. I'll find a way to get you out of here." Faced with this situation, Zheng Zha could only whisper words of comfort to the frail girl; he had no other options. "This place is eerie, but it can't harm me. Once I think of a way to get in..."

"Really!?" Tomie looked up in surprise, her tear-streaked smile making Zheng Zha's breath catch in his throat for a moment. A strange, wicked thought suddenly arose in his mind, a thought that almost transformed him into a demon in that instant!

Push her down, torture her, ravage her, make her cry out in agony. Then chop her into pieces!

An unnamed flame suddenly rose from the depths of his heart. The evil temptation to destroy and ravage beautiful things almost took over his mind. However, in an instant, he quickly suppressed this evil thought, and calm thinking returned to his mind.

What's wrong with me? Why am I having such strange thoughts? She's just an ordinary, delicate girl.

"Yes, it must be this school's doing. Once I catch that evil spirit, I'll see who's tougher, her or Kayako... I can kill Kayako in her final seventh form in just one or two hits now. I'll make sure this troublemaker turns into two little pancakes!"

He swiftly suppressed the evil fire. His mind instantly cleared—in fact, just as he had that thought, a premonition of impending doom had arisen within him. It was as if, the moment he ravaged and dismembered the girl, an unimaginably powerful and terrifying enemy would descend and beat him into two pancakes. And it was precisely thanks to this inexplicable premonition that he was able to break free in time.

He breathed a soft sigh of relief.

In that awkward moment, Tomie, completely unaware of everything, climbed out of his arms, straightened her slightly disheveled clothes, and gave him an innocent smile.

"I'm so sorry to have caused you so much trouble, Mr. Zheng. The moment I saw you, I knew you were an extraordinary person. I hope you will take good care of me from now on." She bowed obediently to Zheng Zha, then tiptoed behind him, appearing docile and obedient.

"Heh, since I promised you, I'll naturally protect you... Tomie." Zheng Zha smiled and stretched out his hand towards the school gate. "But before that, I need to figure out a way first..."

The next moment, he found that his actions were completely unimpeded. Just like a fish swimming through water, he easily crossed the school gate and arrived in the school square!

He looked at his hands in surprise.

In that brief moment of distraction, he didn't see a small figure in red suddenly appear behind a window of the teaching building, casting an antagonistic gaze at Tomie, who was obediently following behind him. Tomie, as if casually, also looked up at him, and in the instant their eyes met, a clear concept was quietly conveyed to her without Zheng Zha's knowledge.

—This time, you're dead.

Section 9: Don't Pick Up the Poisonous Banana

The two walked parallel to each other into the campus, across the abandoned playground, past the dusty lobby of the teaching building, the rotten wooden floorboards creaking gratingly under their feet. The stale air made it hard to breathe. But all around was silent, and nothing out of the ordinary appeared before Zheng Zha's eyes.

He didn't completely trust the girl who called herself Kawakami Tomie—after all, someone appearing in a place like this couldn't possibly be without problems. If Zheng Zha hadn't been able to clearly sense her heartbeat and blood flow, confirming that she was definitely an ordinary person—or at least physically ordinary—he would have even suspected that this high school girl was the monster of this school.

But she wasn't.

Zheng Zha walked into a wooden corridor. He subconsciously glanced at the high school girl beside him, and she returned his smile with a gentle one. Her bright eyes were full of trust and reliance.

"Zheng-kun, did you find anything?" Tomie asked softly, her gentle voice teasing Zheng Zha's heart like a small hand—he had to strain to recall Luo Li's face in his mind to barely control himself.

[Hold on, Zheng Zha! Don't let yourself be defeated by such mere sweet talk!]

Wait... something seems off?

“It’s nothing,” Zheng Zha shook his head. With a wave of his hand, the ghost-headed broadsword he had previously put back in his storage ring appeared in his hand. “Speaking of which, I have a question for you. You came to this school with me, right? So…did you see me do anything before?”

He turned his head and saw Tomie staring intently at the demon-headed sword that had suddenly appeared in his hand, her face showing a look of shock. "This...is this a superpower? So you're a superpowered person too?"

"You too?" Zheng Zha suddenly noticed this word.

"Yes, I've always had a very strong ability to recover since I was little. As long as the injury isn't too serious, I can recover quickly." She stretched out her slender, fair hand, and as if afraid Zheng Zha wouldn't believe her, she forcefully scratched a splinter on the wooden corridor. Instantly, a cut about two centimeters long appeared on her hand, and bright red blood seeped out.

That was human blood, pure human blood.

As a vampire-enhanced reincarnator, Zheng Zha, although not needing to drink blood daily due to the mutated bloodline provided by the main god, still possessed a sensitivity to blood far exceeding that of ordinary people. Upon seeing that strand of blood, he immediately confirmed that the girl was undoubtedly a mortal, for it was the pure and flawless blood of a virgin.

Although he had no appetite at all, that should be a side effect of his mutated bloodline.

In the blink of an eye, the wound healed and disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye, restoring its original smoothness.

Tomie let out a weary sigh.

“I’m sorry, Zheng-jun, this is all I can do.” She smoothed her hair, revealing her slightly pale neck. “I can’t tell you what you asked me earlier either—there was a sudden earthquake when I arrived here, and I hid under the table for a while before daring to come out. I was wondering if I could leave, but I didn’t expect to run into Zheng-jun at the school gate.”

She bowed apologetically.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Zheng. I haven't been able to help at all."

Why do Japanese people love bowing and apologizing so much...?

Zheng Zha waved his hand.

"It's nothing, it's not a big deal. But since you have some knowledge of supernatural powers, that's good, it saves me the time of explaining."

He let out a soft breath.

Therefore, the last suspect should be cleared. Tomie simply didn't see what happened when she did it. And the damage that destroying the school might have caused her was healed by her own power. So, there's also a reason why she was drawn to this area.

Exceptions tend to attract other exceptions. Just like side quests tend to attract recurring teams.

However, something still feels off. Whenever I have a question, the answer always seems a bit too...

As he was pondering, he suddenly heard footsteps echoing in the empty corridor.

Someone's there!

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“This is the work of a fellow professional.” Alice stood in front of Kayako’s old house, looking at the gloomy old house, her slender eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"Feng shui, magnetic fields, architectural layout, surrounding environment—although this is different from our information magic system, there's no doubt that this is a magic circle that gathers some kind of power and manipulates it to achieve a certain result. It seems that magicians also exist in this world. Patchouli."

“Since vengeful spirits have appeared, a corresponding magical system is naturally possible as well.” Patchouli nodded. “However, their magical system seems different from ours. Instead of using information to construct concepts, they directly simulate concepts with their minds… It feels somewhat like the thinking of Plato and Hegel.”

“…Those idealistic idiots?” Alice’s brow relaxed. “Hearing your opinion, I must admit that the layout of the magic circle here is indeed very similar to those guys’ thinking. But in this way…” She stretched out her hand, and a blurry, huge figure suddenly appeared behind her.

"Tsukuyomi, also known as Tsukiyo-mi, is the embodiment of the moon and the deity who controls the night. All things that dwell in the night belong to its rule!"

A sliver of moonlight suddenly fell from the top of the sky, piercing through the black net of heaven and landing like a stream above the haunted house. Instantly, a dim flame, almost tangible, rose from the house! This was an ion cloud specifically designed to target spiritual beings; as it fell, a shrill scream, imperceptible to ordinary people, emanated from within the flames.

A gigantic, pale arm suddenly emerged from the Ju-on House, its five fingers forming claws, lunging towards Alice's head. However, it was met with several spheres of intensely hot plasma—small balls of superheated plasma capable of effectively killing such materialized spiritual entities. The gigantic arm was burned through the moment of contact, and the plasma continued its penetration, shooting into the interior of the house and triggering a violent explosion!

Side Quest: Remove Kayako's Curse. Successful completion grants one C-rank side quest and 2000 reward points. No penalty for failure.

The God's quest prompt appeared in Alice's mind. The pitiful scoring criteria filled her with disappointment—she had only completed one world, and the quest, which originally promised all participants a B+5000 points, had been reduced to a C+2000. The God's currency policy was truly astonishing, immediately extinguishing their plans to farm points.

She stared at Kayako, her gaze growing increasingly malevolent. With a swift movement, the moonlight, even more intense than before, scorched the ghost's soul. In an instant, the illusory arm melted away, and the entire Ju-on haunted house began to crumble and crumble. Invisible black energy rapidly spread in all directions.

“Curse…” Alice waved her hand, and the invisible black energy that had been spreading out gathered in her palm like iron attracted by a magnet. In an instant, it turned into a small, pale black ball, from which a blurry female face could be seen.

"...It's not the real body after all." She frowned slightly and casually crushed the small ball.

The next moment, the black river in the sky that only she could see suddenly boiled!

Author's Note:

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