An infinite journey starting from paradise

"Just keep going down this road and up the stone steps you'll find the Shikusa Shrine." Kuroya Naoori sized up the timid girl before him. "But, it must be hard for you to move dressed like this, right? Aren't your feet cold?"

"Ah, um..."

The girl lowered her head timidly.

"Hey, Rito." Kuroya Naoori patted Hinagami Rito's shoulder, "I say, you come carry her back."

"Ah, me? Why?"

Hinami Rito rubbed his shoulders that were sore from being slapped, and also rubbed his aching waist a few times - just now, when he climbed down from his stepmother's warm bed, Hinami Rito was really short of money and had no money to do anything.

"You idiot."

Kuroya Naozhi rolled his eyes at him as if angry at him for not fighting back.

Could it be that Aunt Nami really hadn't told Riren about the festival? That shouldn't be the case. Even his old-fashioned and sarcastic father praised Aunt Huimei endlessly. How could such a virtuous and housekeeping aunt not tell Riren about the secret marriage between the two families?

"Well, I can still walk!" Shayue said with a flushed face.

"Well...ah, then let's take you back to the shrine, haha." Hinakami Rito said awkwardly.

"That's right. There's no rush to cultivate affection between husband and wife."

Kuroya Naoori thought so and scratched his hair.

"I'm so envious that the heir of the main family can have such a beautiful fiancée. But...it's better for me to find my own wife."

The image of the beautiful figure in nurse's uniform emerged in Kuroya Naoori's mind.

"Um...thank you. My...my name is Sunazuki."

"My name is Kuroya Naori, and this guy is Rito, Hinami Rito. We are cousins, so please be kind to me in the future."

"Wow...please give me some advice."

Then, Satsuki followed the two brothers all the way back to the Shigusa Shrine.

Afterwards, Satsuki was scolded by the shrine maiden, Uzumaki Sayo. On the way back, Kuroya Naoori told Hinagami Rito the truth about the marriage between the Hinagami and Uzumaki families under the pretext of the festival.

Of course, Shayue didn't know about the marriage.

At this time, Shayue was still confused. She was really not good at dealing with strangers.

"Want to go there?"

"Why are you standing here? Are you lost, little girl?"

A gentle voice sounded behind Shayue, and at the same time a black umbrella covered Shayue's head.

Shayue turned around and saw a handsome young man in black.

"Ah... Are you from the village? Can you tell me how to get back to the Shikusa Shrine?" Satsuki asked shyly.

"I'm sorry, I just arrived in this village too. Unfortunately, I lost my guide and don't know how to get to the shrine. However, the village is just ahead, so we can go to the Doll Village together to seek help."

Lin Shangren spoke kindly while opening the Eye of Innocence and looking at the girl's status bar.

【Name：■■■■】

[Race: Human female]

Status: ■■■■

[Identity: ■■■■]

【Remarks: ■■■■】

The girl's status bar was filled with garbled characters, as if the Eye of Innocence had malfunctioned. The last time this happened was when she had pushed the demons into a night-time rage in the subspace.

"There really is something wrong with this village... Looks like we need to let Dongzi and the other girl stay for a while."

Thinking about this, Lin Shangren reached into the shadow of his arms and gently touched Dongzi's hair. She and Yura were both fast asleep in the shadow of Lin Shangren's coat.

"As soon as we entered the village, the night snack disappeared, and the Eye of Innocence seemed to be malfunctioning. His other abilities were useful. Should we take action immediately, or wait a little longer? What do you think, Xiao Ai?"

It's up to you. It all depends on whether you want to play a suspenseful Blizzard Manor scenario or a thrilling target-shooting and slashing scenario. (?ω?)

……

Time goes back to two days ago.

"The suffering you have endured does not justify the wanton killing of innocent people. But, rest assured, the Japanese government will bring due retribution to the culprits who have caused you to suffer such a painful fate."

Lin Shangren gently touched the foreheads of the two nuns, ending their lives in a painless way.

"Sleep peacefully until the nervous system peacefully decays."

To start a revolution was no empty talk. After all, Lin Shangren had been preparing for this very thing. In this young world, common sense promoted the unity of the people of the world. He wasn't dedicating himself to this cause, but simply pushing it forward. As for how far Lin Shangren's advanced productivity could help the communist movement, that wasn't his concern.

His purpose of "traveling" to this world was simple: to get system rewards and have fun, and to do some interesting and meaningful things he had always wanted to do in this world that did not belong to him.

"It's the police's job to eradicate all evil."

Lin Shangren shook his head helplessly.

Although he destroyed the core church of the Order of Heavenly Grace, a few smaller churches still dotted Yamagata City. And the nuns who committed the Eye-Broken Demon Case weren't the only two. Those possessed by these demons would continue to murder anyone who might know of their past.

"Should we stop them first? Or should we follow the example of a certain Mr. Fool and report them to the police? Well, calling the police probably won't help in this situation, right?"

If you don't want to get involved, then forget it. You just happen to have enough power, but you don't have any obligation to save others~(?ω?)

"Anyway, killing demon followers is one of the world quests, and the settlement reward is still calculated according to the number of kills. I'm just spending some time to show off my achievements. But now, I have to go and have lunch with the girls."

Lin Shangren's figure disappeared into the shadows.

Finding someone and then killing them wasn't difficult for Lin Shangren. He scanned with his eyes of innocence to confirm their identity, then pointed from a distance, sending them to the afterlife.

He spent a whole day and an entire afternoon visiting all the churches in Yamagata City. After giving the God of Death a lot of credit, he finally found a driver who was willing to go to the Doll Village with the three girls.

"Are there any residents of the Doll Village among you?" the driver asked. "That village is quite exclusive. I wouldn't be able to find it without the guidance of the villagers."

"Ah, I am a villager from the Humanoid Village... Well, you just need to send us to the valley, and we will walk the rest of the way by ourselves." said Cicao Yexiao.

In this way, the four of them got on the car, shook in the car for a whole night, and drove through a long and very rugged mountain area before they arrived at the inner valley surrounded by Chuou Mountain.

After getting off the bus, Lin Shangren and the other two prepared to follow Cicao Yexiao to the Humanoid Village. However, after only a few steps, a rather bizarre scene occurred.

"Over there, over there is the village."

Cicao Yexiao pointed to the depression not far away and said.

"That's the back mountain. My home is next to the shrine on the back mountain. Going forward is the village gate. The village office and police station are right there."

Ci Cao Ye Xiao introduced the village to Lin Shangren and the others in vivid detail. However, in the eyes of Lin Shangren and the other two, what Ci Cao Ye Xiao was pointing to was just an empty depression or a mountain pit. There was nothing in it, not even green vegetation, only snow and dirty mud outside the snow.

"This……"

"Mr. Lin, you guys are going to stay at the Black Stone Hospital, right? The hospital is just to the west of the village, and..."

Lin Shangren stared at Cicao Yexiao. Her description of the village did not seem to be false. Could it be that there was something wrong with Lin Shangren's eyes?

"Shangren...what...what is she talking about?"

Dongzi grabbed Lin Shangren's arm.

"Ah, I saw my mother, let's go over there first!"

As she spoke, Ci Cao Ye Xiao took a step forward. The space around her seemed to fluctuate for a moment, and then she disappeared without a trace.

"Ah?! She's gone!" Dongzi shouted in surprise.

"No, I can still feel her shadow."

Lin Shangren closed his eyes, and the feedback from the shadow told him that Cicao Yexiao was nine meters away from him, but he did not see the other person.

"Enchantment?"

Lin Shangren took a few steps forward, but nothing changed.

"Could it be that only people from the Doll Village can enter the village? Then, what about this?"

Lin Shangren used his shadow touch to lock onto Ci Cao Yexiao's shadow, then teleported his right hand over.

"I pinched it, it's real, it's her calf."

Then, he covered his right eye again and saw through the shadows where the shrine was located. She was walking on the road to the back of the mountain of the human-shaped village. Lin Shangren saw the shrine hidden in the mountains and the village below from afar.

"It seems so. Ah, she's almost gone."

Seeing that Shicao Yexiao was about to leave the range of the shadow control technique, Lin Shangren quickly unbuttoned his coat and said to Dongzi and Yura, "It's going to be dangerous next, so I'll have to put you two in trouble. Why don't you hide in my arms and sleep for a while?"

Although Fuyuko and Yura didn't understand what was going on, they still hugged Lin Shangren obediently. The Eagle Finger activated, and the two of them fell drowsy. Then, they were hugged tightly by Lin Shangren, and they were rubbed into the shadow of his chest.

"Handsome Village, let me see what's wrong with you. Teleport."

Chapter 151: Things Like Haunted Dolls (Part 3)

"The person is missing."

Lin Shangren looked around, and the surroundings transformed into a maple forest with snow-covered branches. He spread out his shadow touch, but could not find any trace of Cicao Yexiao.

"Weird."

Looking up at the sky, Lin Shangren discovered that the position of the sun had also changed. The sun, which was about to set, had retreated to the center of the sky.

Not only space, but also time has changed.

"This place is quite weird."

Lin Shangren pulled out a black umbrella from the shadows and used the shadows to protect several vital parts of his body. Using the umbrella as a cane and the shadows as a guide, Lin Shangren began to move forward through the maple forest.

After walking for a while, snow began to fall, and Lin Shangren found the edge of the maple forest. When he walked out of the maple forest, he saw a long stone staircase covered with snow, with only two unclear footprints on the steps.

"Walking barefoot in the snow? Isn't she afraid of catching a cold and getting a stomach ache?"

Lin Shangren bent down and checked the footprints on the ground.

"Twenty centimeters long, six centimeters wide, small toe pads, high arches, and deep foot pits. The toes are not valgus or deformed. Estimated height is around one hundred and fifty centimeters. Female. Judging by her gait, she seems to have received some kind of etiquette training."

While analyzing, Lin Shangren reached out and pressed the snow on the ground. By the texture of the snow and the depth of the pressure, Lin Shangren roughly confirmed the weight of the owner of the footprints.

"She's a petite girl, probably with long hair. I can tell from the unnatural wiggling of her steps. Because her hair is long, she needs to brush it back from time to time."

Footprints can be used to determine not only a person's height and weight, but also their occupation, body type, and some aspects of their life history. This isn't metaphysics, but a real criminal investigation science known as code tracking. Those interested can explore this on their own; I won't elaborate further here.

In short, Lin Shangren roughly analyzed the footprints and determined their owner's characteristics. Then, something interesting happened. Judging from her stride, the girl walked slowly and calmly, not as if she was being chased. So why was she walking barefoot in the snow?

"interesting."

Thinking about it, Lin Shangren followed the footprints down the stairs. After walking two hundred meters, the barefoot feet suddenly turned and walked from the stone steps into the maple forest.

Lin Shangren followed with a few teleportations, only to find that the footprints had suddenly vanished. They had stopped in an open space surrounded by untouched snow. It was as if the owner of the footprints had walked there and then suddenly vanished.

"Strange thing."

He spread out his perception, and through shadow touch, he could confirm that there was indeed nothing around him. As the shadow touch expanded, when it was about to reach its limit of twenty meters, Lin Shangren suddenly sensed a shadow, which seemed to be a person.

He looked in that direction, but the place shown by the shadow was empty!

"Could it be the same as before?"

Lin Shangren locked onto the shadow's position and then teleported over.

"Shu~"

"Ok?"

The surrounding scenery changed again, from the forest to a rugged mountain road. Before him appeared a long-haired girl in a pink kimono.

“Not barefoot.”

Lin Shangren looked at the girl's clogs and tabi that were already soaked.

"Not her."

Lin Shangren made a judgment. Although the girl in front of him and the owner of the footprints were very similar in figure and posture, their steps were very different. It was certain that they were not the same person.

"Are they villagers from the Doll Village?"

Lin Shangren looked at the girl standing in a daze in front of him with caution. After confirming that she posed no threat, Lin Shangren opened his black umbrella and walked over.

"Why are you standing here? Are you lost, little girl?" Lin Shangren asked.

The girl turned around, startled. Blushing, she paused for a moment before stammering, "Ah...are you from the village? Can you tell me how to get back to the Shikusa Shrine?"

"This girl is quite shy. Judging from her appearance, she looks about fourteen or fifteen years old and doesn't often interact with outsiders. Judging from her skin color...she doesn't often get out in the sun."

While analyzing the girl's condition, Lin Shangren said, "I'm sorry, I just arrived in this village too. Unfortunately, I lost my guide and don't know how to get to the shrine. However, the village is just ahead. We can go to the Doll Village together for help."