A comic book, but a librarian

Chapter 116: The mark representing the curse.

The car stopped at the edge of a forest near H City. This was the border between Tokyo and other areas. It looked particularly desolate. Even the lights in the roadside service areas and convenience stores were dim. The driver was very diligent in sending the three people to this place, but it was obvious that this place didn't look like there were any evil spirits. Rather, it looked like a place where bikers liked to race.

Baoyue Yexiao, who came later, seemed to be looking around here curiously. She indeed did not feel any strange aura here, but in the forest in the distance, the terrifying and weird aura seemed to be rising into the sky. Countless terrifying things were mixed in the sea of ​​trees in the distance, which should have belonged to the forest park. And there was the rumored suicide sanctuary.

"Um, Acheng... This place you brought me to seems fine, but inside the mountain..."

"No, you can't go over there!!! You can't go even one step over there! Not even one step!"

The man named Huandenghe Yingduolang finally exploded at this moment. He stood in front of everyone, took off his gloves, and showed his arms covered with white hair in front of everyone, as if to enhance his persuasiveness, and even willing to show his weird side.

"Is that really the case? There really are horrible things in the suicide sanctuary... Night Snack, can you see it?"

"Yeah, it's scary."

Baoyue Yexiao nodded, rarely admitting that she was not sure she could get away with it.

"I say... we didn't come here to go in there this time. Actually, we came here for the telephone booth, right?"

Of course, Hikigaya Hachiman could not see those horrible things, but the part of his soul that had been split and sharpened was warning him that he was getting closer and closer to death, and it was an extremely strong death.

"That's true. This is the first location mentioned in the rumor. It is said that the good man finally communicated with the female ghost through the phone here. But in fact, we don't even know the identity of the female ghost. It is only mentioned in the urban legend that the female ghost here will help others find things."

Uesugi Cheng distributed the documents he had prepared in advance to the remaining five people. However, due to the large number of people, the documents that should have been given to each person were not enough, so they could only circulate them among each other.

"The first question can only be answered with 'I didn't see it', and then the second question will be triggered?"

Baoyue Night Snack looked very curious.

"It looks like a non-aggressive spirit? But why?"

"Yes, why? The answers to all the questions can only be explored by ourselves, right?"

Uesugi Cheng rubbed his eyes and put on glasses he hadn't seen for a long time. The soul in his body began to move. It was at this time that Hotarou felt a heavy pressure that made him breathless. It was an even more terrifying feeling than having a rope around his neck. It was like standing next to a huge monster that could tear him apart with ease. Even if the other party had no ill intentions, he still wanted to stay away from there as much as possible.

"Why did the other party suddenly start to move? Why did he choose to help others? What would happen if he told others what he saw? These are the questions we need to figure out... right?"

Yotsuya Miko was stunned for a moment. She knew that these questions were indeed very attractive, but when facing evil spirits, was it really necessary to be so clear? Sometimes it might be better to be unclear, at least that's what she thought.

"Jianzi, we need to figure this out not just for our curiosity. Every spirit that remains in this world has its own thoughts. If we can use this to find their weaknesses or soft spots, it will be safer whether we are negotiating or fighting... I'll go try that phone, you guys wait outside first."

Uesugi Cheng stretched his wrist, walked into the phone booth for the second time and picked up the phone.

It was strange that although no number key was pressed, the phone was already in the dialing state. Everyone present, except Baoyue Yongzi, raised their eyebrows, and it was obvious that they also felt that something different seemed to be quietly emerging.

From the other end of the line, there was a gurgling sound like chewing, followed by a gasp, and then a woman's hoarse voice.

“Did you…see it?”

"No."

According to the urban legend, Uesugi Sumiya chose to answer no. He did not want to try more radical options here. After all, there were two unarmed people next to him, and he could not take the risk of doing something that might anger the evil spirit.

After waiting for a while, the woman asked slowly.

"What do you want to see?"

"... a puppet, a puppet from nearly a hundred years ago."

Uesugi Cheng spoke tentatively. It could be said that no one except him knew the existence of the doll Himegami Sakura. Even Jianzi had never met her. At most, she had just seen her once.

Suddenly, an extremely shrill scream came from the other end of the phone, and then the lights began to flicker. The entire phone booth seemed to be about to be blown away by the storm. Baoyue Yexiao took out the doll from his backpack, as if he wanted to do something.

But in the end, nothing happened. Uesugi Cheng pushed open the door of the phone booth and walked out.

"Did you feel anything?"

"If it weren't for the strange sight before our eyes, we probably wouldn't have thought there was anything wrong here."

"Really? It seems that the one we are facing this time is much more difficult than the guy who only knew how to curse others in the afternoon."

Uesugi Cheng raised his arm, and near his elbow, there appeared a bright red mark that looked like the tooth mark of some animal.

"This thing is the gift the other end left for me after the phone call... Can you guys tell what it is?"

Although he was clearly cursed, Uesugi Cheng was not panicked at all. Instead, he asked questions like a teacher.

"It's a terrible curse. There's no way to transfer it or remove it from here."

Baoyue said during midnight snack, and she spoke seriously to Uesugi Cheng.

"If you don't resolve the curse soon, you will die."

Then she looked at the telephone booth which was completely silent, and turned to Yingdalang and said.

"Hina Doran, try to make a phone call inside."

"No, there's no need for that anymore... it won't come out again for now."

Baoyue Yexiao was a little confused by Uesugi Cheng's decisive statement, but she vaguely felt that it was true, so she could only nod.

"So what should we do next?"

117

Chapter 117 Death Mark-Into the Night.

Everyone is faced with a very realistic problem: what to do next? The evil spirits are no longer active for some reason, and the only clue is the curse mark on Uesugi Cheng's hand. Looking at the scarlet mark, everyone feels a little uneasy.

"How about this, let's go back first. This matter is not so easy to resolve, especially when we know nothing about what happened here. Speaking of which... you said that the forest here has a very scary aura, have you seen any wandering undead?"

Uesugi Sumire's sudden question stunned Yotsuya Miko and Baoyue Yexiao for a moment, but then they both shook their heads.

"No, the road is very clean, as clean as..."

Yotsuya Miko slowly fell silent. This was too abnormal. Their attention was distracted by the strange scene in front of them and the mark on Uesugi Sumiko's body. If they thought about it carefully, the forest next to them was a suicide sanctuary and there were no evil spirits at all. Even if there were no evil spirits, it was impossible not to see the wandering ghost of a person who came here to commit suicide. Yotsuya Miko was very sure that her Yin-Yang eyes could see more supernatural things than anyone else, but even so, she still did not see any ghosts.

"I see... is it in the forest?"

Bao Yue Ye Xiao seemed to be deep in thought. She hugged her rabbit stuffed animal tightly and then added.

"In that case, we should indeed retreat first. Although we don't know why all the undead here disappeared, facing extremely dangerous evil spirits without knowing anything is simply a suicide move."

"Not only that, everyone, it's almost dark. Compared to when the sun is still hanging in the sky, they will probably be more reckless at night. We still have ordinary people here who can't protect themselves. We can't let them get into danger."

Uesugi Cheng looked at the two college students, a boy and a girl, at Baoyue Night Snack Bar. Although the man named Hotarou looked a little scared and timid, Uesugi Cheng could see that he was still suppressing something in his heart. However, in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, he planned to persuade everyone to go back first.

So the six of them discussed for a while and decided to go back to the city first. Baoyue had her own things to prepare for supper, and Yotsuya Miko and Hikigaya also had to make some preparations for the next adventure, just like they did at the Onuchi River and the Mumei Station.

Of course, it was still Uesugi Cheng who saw everyone off. Almost everyone planned to drag things out through the night. After all, Uesugi Cheng was right. Compared to the bright and sunny day, late at night was definitely not a good time to deal with evil spirits, except...

"I knew you were hiding something from us... You said it was dangerous, but you were planning to go back alone as a lone hero?"

Hikigaya Hachiman came out from some corner and looked at his classmates in front of him who were still in casual clothes and looked unprepared. He felt something was wrong as soon as he got off the car. It was obvious that Uesugi Sumire deliberately took them away from the forest in H City. Not only that, he obviously had no plans to meet again tomorrow as he had said. After all, he didn't even say where to meet tomorrow.

"Yotani-san, you probably spend less time dealing with ghosts than with people recently, otherwise I wouldn't have guessed that you were planning to go alone. Tell me why."

"The mark is more sinister than you think. It is very likely that the curse will be triggered at dawn and kill me."

"what?!"

Hikigaya Hachiman was stunned for a moment, and his expression became serious.

"Even if it's you...?"

"It's normal. I'm not some powerful god. Of course I will die if I'm killed. Although I can't say for sure what will happen after the curse of this mark is triggered."

Uesugi Cheng was not wrong. Although the mark should not have been so fierce, it seemed that for some reason, the evil spirit seemed to have an extremely strong hatred and murderous intent towards him, and set the mark so fiercely.

[Special Event: Death Mark - Telephone Booth] The boiling resentful spirits are intensified and become the culprit of the curse. Before killing their prey, they will leave a mark called "Death Mark". The person with the mark is called "Marked Person". Before a certain dawn, if the mark cannot be removed, the Marked Person will die from the hunting of the resentful spirits and endure eternal torture and suffering, and you have become one of them. (The great techniques and skills of the Light, Blade, Winter, and Moon may allow you to learn more.)

"It seems like I can't help you much?"

"No, there is something you can do for me. As usual, collect some information. The forest park in H City is really weird. God knows what happened there, so I hope you can collect all the suspicious deaths. The sun has just set now, so just send it to me by midnight. Collect as much as you can."

Uesugi Cheng touched the skin with the mark on it. Strangely, the bracelet given to him by the mountain god seemed to be getting warmer, as if it was calling him or reminding him.

"As expected, I still can't escape the logistics work. Then you just wait for the email in the mailbox, and don't die. I don't want to be the next target of the evil spirit."

Hikigaya Hachiman scratched his hair in distress, he sighed as if he had accepted his fate, and finally decided to take on the mission. After all, Uesugi Sumiya was right, it was too reckless to face the evil spirit without any information.

So when the sun had completely set, Uesugi Sumiko once again took a taxi back to the convenience store. As for spending, he believed that with just one phone call, he would have a lot more money in his card.

"Well, first of all, let me take another look at who you are, okay?"

Standing at the door of a convenience store, he had just gone in to buy a can of drink. The clerk in the store looked a little gloomy. He didn't know if it was because of the environment or if he was just a person with that kind of personality and was attracted by the environment. However, something he said made Uesugi Cheng a little curious.

It seemed that there were very few people who would buy things in this convenience store. The clerk couldn't suppress his desire to share and spoke to Uesugi Cheng.

"You're here because of that rumor, right? The rumor about the phone booth. Don't go. It's very dangerous."

"You know what?"

"No, but I know it's dangerous. Not only the phone booth, but the surrounding area is very dangerous. Every year, people commit suicide or are 'forced to commit suicide' around here. God knows how many people die here."

The clerk started talking, and Uesugi Sumiya listened to him and thought at the same time. Suddenly, he saw someone else coming out of the phone booth outside.

118

Chapter 118: Death Mark-Ghost Bride.

A petite girl, no older than a junior high school student, walked out of the phone booth. Standing next to her was a fat otaku who looked like an idol otaku. The painful clothes he was wearing made Uesugi Cheng feel a little uncomfortable just thinking about it.

"These two people don't look like they would normally be here at this time... What are they doing here?"

Uesugi Cheng's words were not very gentle. He also wanted to test the two people in front of him. After all, he just saw the girl walking out of the phone booth. God knows if she is the kind of person who is looking for fun again.

Unexpectedly, the girl vaguely protected the idol otaku behind her and then spoke.

"I asked Brother Nakamura to bring me to this phone booth because of the rumor about the ghost bride."

"Ghost Bride?"

Uesugi Cheng didn't expect that he would have an unexpected gain. He touched his chin and then spoke.

"Can you tell me more about it? I only know that there seems to be some special rumors about the telephone booth here, but I didn't expect it to be a ghost bride?"

"She's a good ghost who helps people. She's a ghost bride who can help people find their lost items. That's what the magazine said."

The idol otaku spoke.

"My name is Nakamura Eita, and I'm here to help this little girl Morimiya explore the ghost bride phone booth mentioned in the supernatural magazine. May I ask who you are..."

Nakamura Eita didn't seem to be on guard, or perhaps because their purpose was nothing noteworthy, he said it very readily.

"Yeah, come to think of it, big brother, you don't look like someone who should be here, right? Could it be that you also..."

Uesugi Cheng moved his arm to show the mark.

"Do you have this mark on your body?"

"Ah! So you have one too, big brother! By the way, my name is Morimiya Ling, please give me your guidance."

The girl named Morimiya Ling looked a little surprised, but immediately gave her name properly.

"Uesugi Cheng, it looks like you guys are just like me..."

Just then, a car stopped near them and a tall and thin middle-aged man got out.

"Hello, may I ask..."

However, before the tall and thin man could finish his words, the woman next to him in a white business suit seemed to look at Nakamura Eita warily, as if she had misunderstood his relationship with Morimiya Suzu.

"It looks like everyone is unlucky tonight. We all got the same thing..."

Uesugi Cheng simply revealed his mark. He could vaguely feel the very complicated resentment entangled with this man, and he even seemed to have a slight earthy smell on his body.

"Is that so? I am Yashiki Kazuo, and like all of you, I have been branded with the Death Mark. As for what this mark is, please allow me to take you to Kujo Hall and explain it in detail."

Several people did not refuse. After all, the marks on their bodies did not look like good things. In addition, it was obvious that Yashiki Kazuo in front of them knew more than they did. However, when they got on the bus, Uesugi Sumire noticed the strange doll in Western dress on the bus.

"this is?"

"She is Meili. I don't know what she is, but she has helped me through two strange incidents so far."

Yashiki Kazuo turned around and started the car without noticing the slightly strange expression on Uesugi Sumiko's face.

"Sakura, what do you think?"

"No matter how you look at it, it looks like a vengeful spirit that was forcibly sealed inside the doll, but Mr. Yashiki doesn't look like he's lying, so we can only listen to him."

Himegami Sakura's voice reached Uesugi Cheng's ears when no one else could hear it.

"Well, Nakamura-nii, please tell everyone again about the rumor about the ghost bride, if it is true that the ghost bride left a mark on us."