Tokyo: The evil god doesn't want to be the top star

Only open authorization, only one yen price, and only the hope that more people can be encouraged by this song...

Even though she is in the despair and darkness of "deafness", she just wants to pass on the power of hope to the listeners through this song before she leaves.

What a boundless love this is.

Driven by the emotion called "touching", the number of paid downloads of the song soared like a rocket, and many netizens even bought hundreds of copies to show their respect.

Hot words such as "I once thought about ending it all", "Yayoi Moon", and "We must see each other again" have been at the top of the popularity charts of major social media platforms.

As for the song itself, the music critic Keizo Horie, who is known for being stingy with his words, immediately gave a long music review titled "Living seriously is harder than dying, but even so, I still choose to live."

"A very moving song that captures the indomitable spirit of pop rock with a powerful melody. The lyrics lightly touch upon the trivialities of life that weigh on the heart, and depict the darkness of being gripped by despair, until the last bar, when the light of hope is lit."

"The singer Yayoi Tsuki's personal experience made her singing particularly touching and further sublimated the spirit of the song. From her overflowing emotions and unstable breath, I heard her determination to not give up on herself, her singing, and her fans. She did not look down on others, but stood in the mud of despair, beside the audience who were also struggling, and roared, 'Don't give up!'"

"Life that seems to be nothing happens hides sorrow and sadness, but even so, this world is still worth looking forward to, because I want to be with the one I love."

After Keizo Horie, a number of music critics also gave unconditional praise, allowing the music producer who continuously created excellent songs to "come down to earth" and once again enter people's attention.

Chapter 166: Whisper of Demons

2024-07-13

As a result, hot search terms such as "come down to earth and give up royalties", "owe a song to the mortal world", and "buy tickets" were also pushed to the center of the social topic list.

After all, if only the singer gave up the royalty income, the song would not be sold at the price of "one yen".

This shows that the emerging producers who are responsible for writing lyrics, composing music and arranging music have voluntarily given up their royalty income.

But "Xia Fan" is different from Yayoi Tsuki. He is not deaf and he is not going to retire. There is no need for him to give up the royalties of such a high-quality song...

This was an "idiotic" move for a music producer, but it made people who only knew "Sakura" and "Gurenhua" and never paid attention to the song producers remember the name "Xiafan".

There were even netizens who were moved by the poem "I Once Thought About Ending It All" and spontaneously called on others to go to "Sakura" and "Gurenge" to "buy tickets" for the poem's descent to the mortal world.

"Jinguji Aoi: Mr. Xia Fan, your 'Festival Song' has been very effective. Not only have all the cursed people who were taken in returned to normal, but the number of suicide calls received from various places in District 24 in the past hours has also dropped significantly!"

"Jinguji Aoi: In the next period of time, we will use official power to secretly guide and regularly play this song in public places to ensure that the curse of the "Complete Suicide Manual" can be completely purified."

"Jinguji Aoi: Lesson 9, the Psychic Association, and the people who may have lost their lives due to the curse all owe you a great debt of gratitude."

At the same time, Jinguji Aoi sent a LINE message to express her gratitude.

"It's been less than a day, and the effect is so obvious. That's great... As long as this memorial song can help more people, a few hundred million royalties won't be a big deal..."

Although he lost the royalties and the precious opportunity to pray, at least all his efforts were not in vain. Xia Fan suddenly didn't feel so distressed.

[You have fulfilled the oracle: Let all people listen to the new festival song and shed tears. God's blessing: Whisper of Demons]

[The demon whispers: Every word you say is about ghosts and monsters, and every word you say is like a tearing hole in people's hearts. If greed, anger, and ignorance arise, the world will be like hell. The emotions in your words can easily stir up all seven emotions and six desires.]

At the same time, a message from a certain oracle was finally received.

"It took so long to show it was completed. Could it be that it really took 10,000 people crying to count it?"

Complaining in a low voice, Xia Fan silently checked his faith value.

【Midsummer Shrine believers, number of visits this week: 4183】

[Current cumulative faith value 17526]

"From the time the TV series was released to now, the index has risen by more than 4000 points in just a few days. If this trend continues, it will soon break through points..."

"Things are different now, things are different now."

The sudden surge in his faith value in a short period of time made him smile with his eyes narrowed.

With official help in promoting new songs and a "secret cult organization" providing a steady supply of faith, the rate of growth of faith far exceeds that when the first song "Sakura" was released.

[The gods send down their oracle: appear in the world in an extraordinary form, so that thousands of ordinary people will worship you. After completing it, you will receive the gods' blessing.]

Then, the god of heaven delivered a new oracle of unclear meaning at an inopportune time.

"Hey, hey, the two oracles of '50,000 Faith Points' and 'Play the Death Song' are not completed yet, and there's a new one coming?"

"Appearing in the world in an extraordinary form? The content of this new oracle is too vague."

"It sounds like they want me to show off my talents in public?"

Just as Xia Fan was carefully considering the intention of the new oracle...

"Zizzizi..."

A strange electric sound was heard in the house.

The computer monitor on the desk lit up silently by itself.

"Is this thing broken?"

Looking at the display full of snow dots, Xia Fan curiously moved forward to check it.

When he thought that even though it was a second-hand monitor, it would cost money to buy a new one, he subconsciously raised his hand, ready to use his ultimate move "Physical Repair Hand Knife".

"Zizizizi... I am sorry to bother you by visiting me... I am the agent of an unknown god..."

"The signal I left on... the Red God's agent... reached you..."

"He... was eaten by you... right..."

Low, intermittent voices came from the cheap computer speakers, as harsh as chalk rubbing against a blackboard.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became as creepy as a horror movie.

"..."

Faced with this strange scene, Xia Fan did not say anything, silently took a few steps back, and immediately took out his mobile phone.

"Zizzizi..."

His cell phone suddenly stopped working and on the screen there was only a bunch of snowflakes flashing wildly, as if they were alive.

"who are you?"

He spoke cautiously to test the issue.

The other party came to him in this "supernatural" way, not only mentioned the matter of "Red God", but also directly revealed his biggest secret, so he must be treated with caution.

"No one... I am not... I am... Hyakumonogatari..."

"Only the agents of God are qualified to join and listen to the strange stories of 'One Hundred Tales'..."

"Hyakumonogatari has no ill intentions... and will not interfere... in disputes between the agents of the gods..."

"Agents who have joined the 'Hyakumonogatari'... please stop fighting each other... and join forces to overthrow Amaterasu's rule..."

"Otherwise... the war of faith... will never have a winner..."

"Welcome... to join... Hyaku Monogatari..."

The strange voice sounded like an answer, or like a monologue, coming out simultaneously from the phone and computer at a steady pace.

"Take a look, take a look..."

"The Hyakumonogatari... has begun..."

"Tonight... the first strange story is... the agent of the Red God had his divinity devoured by the agent of an unknown god... this is the behavior of a bad boy, please do not imitate it..."

After the frustrating opening remarks, this "Hundred Tales" no longer talked to Xia Fan, but continued to "broadcast" strange stories on its own.

"It sounds like a late-night horror radio station... Is this first strange story about me and Akagami?"

"In other words, besides me, there are other 'agents of God' who have received the 'signal' and are listening to this strange talk?"

Xia Fan simply sat down, put his phone on the table, stroked his chin and listened carefully.

Anyway, if there is any life-threatening situation, the God of Heaven in your body will discover it and resolve it before you do.

"Tonight, the second strange story... Anyone who receives a corpse photo email is advised to forward it to others immediately, otherwise it will be your corpse that will complete the task."

"Tonight, the third strange story... The sick people long for healing, but are imprisoned by the plague... The unfortunate people long for happiness, but become slaves to happiness..."

"Tonight's fourth strange story... If you look in the mirror too many times, you might be replaced by the person in the mirror..."

"Tonight's ghost story... ends..."

After broadcasting a long string of meaningless "strange stories" intermittently, Xia Fan's mobile phone and computer monitor finally stopped showing snowflakes and returned to normal.

"There are four 'strange stories' in total... At present, I can confirm that the first 'strange story' related to me is basically true. Tian Yu Shen really swallowed up the divinity of 'Red God' like a stab..."

"He didn't reveal my specific information, but only stated the objective facts vaguely... Was it that His 'signal' was unable to obtain my intelligence, or was He intentionally concealing it?"

After writing down everything that "Hyaku Monogatari" had just said in his notebook, Xia Fan scratched his head with a pencil...

"If the following three strange stories are as true as the one I told you..."

He picked up the eraser and wiped out the "weird story" about himself in the notebook, then picked up his cell phone and dialed a number.

"Wow, Lesson 9? I want to report it..."

……

Chapter 167 Who is good-looking?

2024-07-13

"Consultant Xia Fan, we have conducted a comprehensive hardware and software inspection of all electrical appliances, network lines, and power lines in your room, and have not found any abnormalities for the time being."

Half an hour later, two agents from the Information Group of Section 9 appeared in Xia Fan's room and checked everything in the room, from mobile phones, computers, microwave ovens to hidden circuits, as if they were facing a great enemy.

"For security reasons, we have brought you a 'head of state-level' electronic device with higher confidentiality and better performance. This device will not monitor your privacy, so you can use it with confidence."

"There is also this decoy phone. Next time if a similar 'supernatural phenomenon' occurs, you can try to induce it to 'move' to this phone. The 'black box' built into the device will record the abnormal data during the process. Maybe you can find something from it."

"We will expand the investigation area to the base stations of nearby grids and power supply systems. Bye bye."

The only result of the inspection was that Xia Fan obtained a latest model of Internet monitoring-level server computer, a satellite phone encrypted according to "national" standards, a spare mobile phone to be used as "Hundred Story Bait", and free inspection and renovation services for the entire house's wiring.

"Okay, okay, thank you for your hard work, thank you very much."

Standing at the entrance, Xia Fan sincerely thanked the two agents.

"No, many of our brothers in the ninth class survived thanks to your protection, and so many cursed people also..."

"That's right, it's our honor to serve Consultant Xia Fan!"

Although it was just an ordinary courtesy conversation, for some reason the two agents felt a strong sense of joy of being appreciated, and their faces were filled with fear and trepidation.

"It's just a thank you. Is there any need to be so excited?"

After watching the two agents nod repeatedly like pile drivers and walk away, Xia Fan returned to his room in confusion.

"Speaking of which, personal servers, satellite phones, decoy phones... maybe this is just psychological comfort?"

Looking at the expensive electronic equipment on the table, Xia Fan felt a little confused.

Except for the first strange story about "Akagami", he told Lesson 9 the story of "Hyakumonogatari" and the contents of the following three strange stories.

When "Hyakumonogatari" arrived, he did not observe any supernatural phenomena such as "dirty air", and the technical detection methods of Section 9 did not find any abnormalities...

This "Hyakumonogatari" that appears and disappears mysteriously and dares to call itself "a ghost story limited to God's agent" obviously has its own unique features. Perhaps there are some "gods" backing it up.

"Forget it. Whether it's for "Hyakumonogatari" or Lesson 9, ordinary devices have no personal privacy protection. It's better to change it..."

After some consideration, Xia Fan decided to transfer the data to the new device.

After all, apart from the "evil god" in his body, he had nothing to hide.

If the existence of a supreme "god" were to be exposed by a mere electronic device, wouldn't it be laughable?

"Beep beep..."

Just when Xia Fan was about to complete the "data move", he received a video call request from the LINE software.

"Xia-kun, I'm sorry, I was busy just now and just heard Lesson 9 report on your situation."

Appearing on the other side of the video is the impeccable face of Aoi Jinguji, who is so close at hand.

She seemed to have just taken a shower, her long, slightly wet hair hung on one side, and her rosy little face looked a little anxious.

"Hyakumonogatari, which originated in the Edo period, is a ritual popular among literati to collectively summon ghosts. Legend has it that as long as you light a hundred candles, blow out a candle after telling a strange story, until you have told a hundred strange stories and blow out all the candles, the ghost will appear."

"Not to mention whether one can tell a hundred ghost stories in one night, no one wants to be the unlucky one who tells the last story, blows out the last candle, and summons ghosts."

"So, when writers treat 'One Hundred Tales' as an elegant game, it is an unwritten rule that they end the game at the 99th story at most."