Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Saito raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

“Ming Yanwei? How could it be…”

What did he see?

The female figure that the core entity of 1408 transformed into is none other than the female rookie who joined the Central Plains Team with him in Ju-on 2, right? The woman named Ming Yanwei who died from the betrayal of the rookie?

Could it be that……

"So you and Zhang Heng knew each other in the real world. Then, back in Ju-on 2..." Saito Hajime gently closed his eyes, quickly rummaging through and organizing his past memories. Many small details that had been overlooked when he was weak before emerged clearly in his analysis, and the vague image of Ming Yanwei in his mind also quietly became clear.

It turned out to be the case.

Those who can enter the Main God Space are all people who have given up hope in reality, and Ming Yanwei's despair likely stems from heartbreak. This is because she appeared wearing shamelessly revealing underwear, and her first words upon waking from the Main God's teleportation were, "I remember just having a naked chat with an online friend..." Her subsequent actions suggest she's not entirely stupid. Therefore, this statement, so damaging to her self-image upon waking in an unfamiliar environment, must have been a subconscious, deliberate act of self-deprecation and self-abandonment.

Ming Yanwei is Zhang Heng's ex-girlfriend, and she was heartbroken by him.

The fact that she was here suggests that Zhang Heng felt guilty towards her. Given Zhang Heng's usual lack of courage, it can be inferred that he abandoned her in a moment of crisis, a complete betrayal.

[Her self-deprecation regarding sex suggests she has had complex, non-consensual private experiences. Combined with previous speculation…]

[Tsk, how did I end up with such a teammate?]

He still remembered how Ming Yanwei died.

In the Ju-on 2 storyline, she appears in the story world wearing pajamas and displays a licentious and shallow demeanor throughout. Meanwhile, her group discovers a scripture in a temple that can subdue Kayako, intending to use it to overcome their difficulties, but it is stolen that night by three college student newcomers.

Back then, I was a fool, only knowing how to study the knowledge in the scriptures. I never expected that I would be ambushed and knocked unconscious by those three college students with an ashtray when I wasn't paying attention, and even the pistol I used to defend myself was taken away. When the others arrived after hearing the news, the three newcomers took Ming Yanwei hostage and finally shot her in the head with a bullet.

Ah... so in that sense, I actually owed her a life back then.

[...She still has a chance to be resurrected.]

He shook his head slightly. His gaze swept over the dead Qin Zhuiyu and the frozen Gao Hongliang.

In Zhang Heng's eyes, 1408's tricks were utterly devoid of secrecy. It was nothing more than first using the characters Qin Zhuiyu and Gao Hongliang—two minor characters—to stage a clumsy, old-fashioned ghost movie routine. This was to make Zhang Heng see through the ruse and lower his guard. Then, she would impersonate Ming Yanwei, appearing as Zhang Heng's "inner obsession" or "spiritual guide," helping him, rescuing him, and then, after displaying a haughty, coy attitude, 'forgiving' Zhang Heng for everything he had done to the real Ming Yanwei in the past. And then, in the instant Zhang Heng's heart was filled with hope, she would take everything away from him.

It's not a new method, but it's very effective.

"If this trick really works, Zhang Heng might not be able to take it and might just give up. Then this composite spirit could take the opportunity to control Zhang Heng's body to launch a sneak attack or negotiate with me... It's a good idea."

Saito Hajime exhaled softly, and several huge, semi-transparent tentacles, each half a meter thick, quietly appeared behind him.

"You should really thank me, Zhang Heng. As a comrade... teammate, I won't read your memories. I'll just use the existing reasoning to wake you up. And then, at least show some manly spirit."

He snapped his fingers.

The next moment, time in the frozen illusion began to flow. Just as Zhang Heng saw the figure of his former girlfriend and his eyes lit up with surprise, a huge, pale red tentacle swept down, crushing 'Ming Yanwei's' body into a pile of minced meat!

"Finally found it. The core of this spirit is really well hidden." Saito Hajime slowly emerged from behind the tentacles, reached out and rummaged through the flesh, and quickly found a small glowing ball.

He looked at Zhang Heng, who was dumbfounded and whose mind was almost frozen. A clear look of displeasure appeared on his face.

"Hey, how long are you going to stand there idly? Time to get to work."

"You...you..." Zhang Heng trembled as he raised his finger, his eyes filled with disbelief. "You actually killed...killed...her?"

"What's the panic? It's just an illusion. You don't actually believe it, do you?" Saito shook his head, his face full of disdain. "This apartment 1408 is nothing more than a composite vengeful spirit. Creating illusions and using others to do its dirty work are its specialties. You haven't been bewitched, have you?"

"A hallucination? A hallucination?" Zhang Heng jolted awake, seemingly snapping out of his daze. He let out a long sigh of relief. "So it was just a hallucination... Oh well, it's fine if it's a hallucination. After all, I wasn't ready to..."

"What are you going to prepare?" Saito asked.

"No...it's nothing."

"Is that so? Well, it's alright then." The mystical scholar shook his head, seemingly disappointed. He looked at the mass of remains he had crushed into dust with his tentacles, a hint of mockery in his eyes. "Speaking of which, this vengeful spirit is truly foolish, actually thinking it could survive by simply transforming into someone from my memories. Hmph, if you're going to transform, don't transform into a woman like Ming Yanwei. Seeing her face... tsk."

"What did you say?" Zhang Heng's pupils suddenly contracted.

“Ming Yanwei, you know, the guy who was just standing here. Oh, you probably don’t recognize her.” He suddenly turned around, looking at Zhang Heng with a suspicious expression. “You probably don’t know her, do you?”

"No...I don't know him."

"It's good that you don't know her. Getting involved with that kind of woman will only bring you bad luck." He seemed somewhat relieved as he turned his head back, examining the mass of flesh as he spoke. Perhaps because he had turned his back again, he didn't seem to notice that Zhang Heng's expression had become ferocious and distorted.

But it was just a grotesque and twisted shape.

[They're not even making a move... My God.]

Saito Hajime continued, "The first time I saw her, she was having a sex chat. I have to say, although this woman had a promiscuous appearance, she had a pretty figure and face. She was actually quite charming in person. Although we didn't have many interactions, I still remember a mole on her shoulder. It left a deep impression on me."

"Unfortunately, he wasn't very bright. He believed just anyone, so he inevitably met a tragic end."

"A tragic end?" Zhang Heng's tone behind him calmed down, seemingly unconcerned. "What do you mean by a tragic end..."

"She's dead." Saito made a shooting gesture. "What's the use of just being pretty? A worthless woman like that is doomed when she's in the way. Who told her to do things she shouldn't have done and trust people she shouldn't have trusted?"

He gently blew on a non-existent muzzle flash. "A headshot, with my gun."

The next moment, the arrow pierced the air, bursting with a sharp whistling sound!

"I kill you!!!"

Saito turned his head away expressionlessly, dodging the arrow while watching Zhang Heng, whose face was contorted with rage, lower his bow and pounce on him like a demon.

Thankfully, it's not completely beyond saving.

Author's Note:

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

Holy crap... I was planning to keep voting until the very end of this entire storyline. I can't believe it broke 100 votes in just twelve hours...

Phew, thankfully the outline doesn't need much adjustment. Just a slight change in the focus of the descriptions. Even though this particular story is so unpopular, I'll still give it a chance to be revitalized in the future. After all, while mistakes aren't always forgivable, repentance and atonement are permissible.

Section Thirteen: The So-Called Joy Turns to Sorrow

Side Quest: Lift the curse on Annabelle's doll. Completion Reward: One D-rank side quest, 500 reward points. Failure Penalty: None.

Alice blinked, and heard the message of the mission from the Supreme God.

"That makes it the fourth one. Kayako, Annabelle, the Slit-Mouthed Woman, and 1408. Three curses, one with a time limit. It seems the only way to break through is with 1408."

"...I hope things go smoothly with Saito Hajime."

"So, should I hurry up too?"

She was currently on the upper floor of the Ju-on mansion, near the attic, while Patchouli was exploring the basement on the lower floor. After all, it was a thrilling haunted house adventure, and it wouldn't be fun if they stayed together all the time.

Both of them were witches who had lived for hundreds of years, long past the age of being terrified by mere ghosts and vengeful spirits. Both she and Patchouli had witnessed and personally experienced hell a thousand times more horrific than a slaughterhouse. The antics that a relatively recent vengeful spirit like Kayako could conjure were, in their eyes, as comical and laughable as child's scribbles. More importantly, the power between them was completely unequal.

When the prey can kill the hunter with a single slap, and the hunter tries everything but can't harm the prey at all, the balance of power shifts subtly. Unfortunately, Kayako is currently in a vulnerable position.

So, the current situation is actually two witches searching for Kayako's whereabouts on the upper and lower levels respectively. And whoever finds her first is doomed.

Poor ghost.

Alice thought to herself as she stepped over the creaking stairs, her not-so-light footsteps kicking up a few specks of dust on the wooden planks. All around was utterly silent; there was no wind, no sound of furniture or appliances rattling. Even the chilling aura characteristic of vengeful spirits was gone. Everything was as still as the void itself.

The term "Ju-on" means cursed land and houses. In simpler terms, it refers to a cursed spirit. In other words, as long as no one else sets foot on this cursed land, Kayako cannot leave by following the aura of that unfortunate soul.

So it will be caught sooner or later; the only variable is whether it will be sooner or later. In fact, Alice has already spotted it three times, but each time she pretended not to see it.

The first time it hid under the table, Alice deliberately sat by the table for two minutes and then left.

The second time it hid above the chandelier, Alice turned on the light, but just as her gaze was about to sweep across the lampshade, she was distracted by a bewitched mouse. She narrowly avoided the vengeful spirit's hiding place.

The third time, Alice's gaze swept across the attic, lingering for a long time on a stack of old books.

If ghosts could cry, then they would surely be shedding tears of fear by now. It knew it wouldn't last a single breath under the witch's plasma ball gravitational waves. And if it died too many times in such a short period, its vengeful spirit body might face true death.

Alice doesn't seem to intend to let it go this time.

The next moment, a tiny bolt of lightning exploded in the empty room!

“Sometimes I wonder, what truly means death for the Reincarnation Squad?” Alice said softly, watching as the pile of books hiding vengeful spirits suddenly exploded, a bolt of lightning leaping out and snaking the pale fog like a vulture that had discovered a carcass!

"Ordinary people die simply when their bodily circulation is disrupted, and death means the loss of their soul's information. If the Supreme God considers this to be death, could I free an ordinary member of the reincarnation team from the Supreme God's control by killing and then resurrecting them?"

She watched as the white mist suddenly transformed into a naked, pale woman. A bolt of lightning blocked her path, easily tearing off a section of her forearm. It didn't even attempt to resist, letting its arm be ripped apart by the lightning. Its remaining three limbs then frantically lunged towards the window, attempting to escape from the top of the attic!

[You've made a decision, but that's not enough.]

Alice raised her hand, and the harmless spectrum in the air abruptly changed. The ordinary seven-colored light, having absorbed too much energy, transformed into high-intensity rays exceeding infrared radiation. In the blink of an eye, the pale female body collapsed to the ground as if her spine had been broken by a shotgun shell from behind. Apart from wailing, she could only writhe and twitch in agony.

"But that's not enough. Because the Supreme God can't refuse a reincarnator's return to space just because they've become an undead—and the Supreme God also has the means to exchange for enhancements to the necromancer's magic path, so I guess it will only take action when the reincarnator loses the ability to reconstruct themselves, and when there are no tools or rituals for resurrection in the current world, marking the identities of those dead team members as dead."

A vortex appeared in her hand, and several gravitational fields in different directions immediately bound the poor vengeful spirit. With a gentle summons, the poor creature was compressed into a ball and fell into her palm—just like it had been a dozen minutes earlier.

“I remember that many members of the Central Continent Team died at your hands during the Ju-on 2 era. Now, I have a theory.” She looked at the small gray-white sphere and whispered, “If I were to extract the fragments of information from those people that you devoured and assimilated, would I be able to bring them back to life?”

“I want to try it out, I hope you won’t get in my way.” She held the small ball, looking slowly at the terrified face inside. The next moment, the doll’s strings were wrapped around her free hand.

Her movements suddenly stopped.

"Patch?" Alice turned her head, listening to the message that suddenly appeared in her ear.

Alice, I've found something interesting. Come quickly to the basement.

"Understood, I'll be right there." The girl nodded, glancing at the gray sphere with a hint of regret. She was about to leave when something suddenly caught her attention just as she was about to step down the stairs.

It was a floppy disk, square, about half the size of a palm. It was a storage container that was only used in the 1990s, with a capacity of only one or several megabytes. And on the top of this floppy disk was a not-too-old colored sticker.

Her brows slowly furrowed, and the furrow deepened.

She recognized a familiar face on the sticker on the CD—a different hair color, but otherwise very similar. On the side of the sticker, there was a line of text clearly written in Japanese.

——'Tales of the Eastern Supernatural'

Author's Note:

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

It's Qingming Festival, time to go to the cemetery to sweep the tombs. An update on April 5th might be difficult. I'm letting you know in advance that if I really can't make it tomorrow, I'll post a separate chapter.

No updates today, Qingming Festival.

Paying respects to ancestors during the Qingming Festival is something that descendants must do. So there probably won't be any updates today, but tomorrow should be fine... yeah, no problem.

Hmm, I was hoping to get back to the city early and try to make it through the night. Unfortunately, a sudden downpour at six o'clock stranded me in the countryside, and I can't get away at all… I don't know what the logic is. Why does it always rain during Qingming Festival? Is it because burning too much paper money increases the density of dust in the air, causing cumulonimbus clouds to transform?

Section Fourteen: Being good-looking is amazing!