Horror simulator, if you survive till tomorrow, you win

"Due to a traffic light failure on the way, the Line 4 train will not arrive on time. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to all passengers. Passengers in a hurry can transfer to the bus. Thank you for your understanding. Now repeat——"

That's all?

Ito Jun blinked, pushed his suitcase, and prepared to follow the passengers to the boarding point for the transfer bus.

However, there were so many people that the line was quite spectacular.

"never mind."

Let’s just walk.

It's only three tram stops and a dozen minutes' walk from here to the Ghost Apartment. With the stamina and power of the Magic Boy, it's no problem walking back.

Ito Jun walked behind the station and along the avenue extending from the station, he should be able to reach the vicinity of the ghost apartment.

[Magic Boy] is different from the main body. The brain has not been affected by the magnetic field of the [Guide] Town. It does not have the attribute of being directionally challenged, and has no problem walking alone.

The north exit where the bus and taxi transfers are located is very noisy. The passengers who were supposed to leave at the next stop and the passengers who were supposed to leave now added up to the doubled number, making the atmosphere at the exit even more lively than usual.

Ito Jun couldn't help but feel fortunate for his choice. The south exit, which was only occupied by a small tobacco shop, was quiet, with less than 10 people walking along this road.

After confirming the route using old maps placed along the way, Ito Jun was about to leave when he heard a strange sound.

"—!"

The sudden voice made Ito Jun stop.

The sound sounds like a cat's meowing, no, if you listen carefully, it should be a baby crying.

Wait! Why is there a baby crying here?

Ito Jun looked around.

The passageway was so narrow that one could see the end of it. Not only was there no baby, there wasn't even a cat in it. There were only neatly arranged coin-operated lockers around it.

“Wow…Ah…”

The sound came again, clearer than before, it was the cry of a baby longing for its mother.

Ito Jun's eyes locked on the row of coin-operated lockers and his expression changed.

Urban legend - abandoned baby in the locker.

This is also a popular urban legend, and there are real cases where it has happened, as well as various variations.

The only uncertainty now is whether the abandoned baby in the locker is a living baby or a strange phenomenon.

Ito Jun decisively projected his consciousness into his body. Although the [Magic Boy] had strong combat power, it was only combat power. During the exploration phase, the destructive power of the [Magic Boy] could not be used.

Ito Jun looked at the row of lockers, focusing his attention on his blue right eye, and his gaze moved from his sky-like right eye to the lockers.

Can't see anything.

"Wow...!"

The creepy crying sound rang in Ito Jun's ears again, and waves of chills ran up his spine.

His instinct told him that there was danger here.

Not being able to see anything does not mean that there is nothing. His right eye can see the essence of weirdness, but it does not have the ability of perspective.

I'm afraid we need to open the lockers one by one to confirm what is inside.

However, this behavior is too suicidal.

"Wow...ow wow..."

The baby continued crying, Ito Jun sighed, but his eyes became firm.

After a month of seclusion and enduring such loneliness, he finally came down the mountain. Did he come down the mountain to be a coward?

Isn’t this too ridiculous?

Ito Jun walked over and looked carefully, trying to confirm which locker the baby's crying came from.

“Wow…wow…wow!”

The crying became more and more mournful, and Ito Jun suddenly smelled an unbearable strange odor.

"...!"

Ito Jun's pupils shrank, and his stomach suddenly contracted. He felt a burning sensation deep in his throat, and the contents of his stomach were about to flow upstream.

Ito Jun controlled himself with reason and took two steps back.

Don't go!

As if trying to retain the blood, dark red blood flowed out from the gap in the locker.

Ito Jun seemed to hear the baby's wailing, but he knew that the wailing sound was definitely not coming from the throat.

In fact, since his IQ exceeded 10, Ito Jun's hearing has become extremely sensitive and he can always hear sounds that ordinary people cannot hear.

Ito Jun immediately shifted his consciousness, stood up and ran towards the station, looking for the station staff.

The staff member holding a bunch of spare keys looked at the bleeding locker with a pale face and couldn't even lift his hands.

"Are you afraid of it?"

The staff member held the spare key and asked Ito Jun.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm scared. Can you help me open it? It's you who found it anyway."

The staff handed the key to Ito Jun, but he refused to take it.

"This is your job, right? I feel like something might go wrong if I were to do it for you."

Ito Jun evaded the question.

If it was not just a strange phenomenon but there was indeed a dead person inside, the police would definitely be alerted. Once the police arrived, he would not be able to cope with it as he was trying to do two things at once.

The staff member made a bitter face, mustered up the courage, and opened the bloody locker.

Ito Jun took a few steps back, sat down against the wall, and shifted his consciousness to the [Magical Boy].

After changing his body, he became much more confident. Ito Jun stared at the locker that was slowly opening.

There was a plastic bag stuffed inside the 30-centimeter locker. At the same time, a pungent, sticky stench made the staff dizzy and they could not help but step back.

I saw that the locker was full of dirt. Probably because the plastic bag was broken, everything inside leaked out.

Then, perhaps because the entire locker was originally filled with plastic bags, after the locker door was opened, it lost the support of the door and slowly fell down.

The blood overflowing from the bag dyed the gray floor black and red. The staff could no longer control their bodies and screamed instinctively.

There was a pair of eyes in the bag, staring at Ito Jun coldly.

It doesn't appear to be a baby.

Because he had a new body, Ito Jun was exceptionally calm and could analyze the situation calmly.

The eyes in the bags are not small and look like those of an adult.

"This is really... Call the police, it's a case of dismemberment."

Ito Jun felt that he would not be able to return to the apartment today.

Fortunately, however, there was nothing strange in the locker, at least not yet, and he couldn't see anything else inside.

Ito Jun took a few steps back, picked up his suitcase and prepared to leave.

The original character was still sitting aside, waiting for the police to arrive, but [Magical Boy] couldn't do that. He picked up a suitcase full of blood jade fruits and soul stones and left. The staff was calling the police in a panic and didn't notice that Ito Jun had left first.

More than ten minutes later, the "Magic Boy" was temporarily settled in a hotel 10 kilometers away, and Ito Jun opened his eyes in the station.

At this moment, the station was already crowded due to the rush hour and traffic light failure. Now with the arrival of police cars and related personnel, as well as the onlookers who heard the sirens and came to watch the excitement, the station became a melting pot of chaos.

Section Chief Sasaki of the Metropolitan Police Department's First Investigation Division is directing his detectives to conduct an investigation. Ito Jun and his staff have already taken statements from a superintendent named Kagami.

"By the way, there was another person who saw the body. He came with him, but he's gone."

The staff suddenly remembered Ito Jun's [Magical Boy] and hurriedly said to Kagami.

"Is there such a thing?"

Kagami asked Ito Jun.

"He left first because he had something urgent to do. We came here together, and my presence here is enough. If you don't believe me, you can check the surveillance footage. This case has nothing to do with us."

“…There’s nothing we can do about this.”

Kagami was not an unsympathetic policeman. He nodded, thinking that what Ito Jun said made sense, and did not force Ito Jun to call back the people who had left.

"The on-site verification has been largely completed."

Next to the lockers, a man who seemed to be a forensic doctor began to report to Section Chief Sasaki.

"The contents of the plastic bag found in the locker may be equivalent to the weight of an adult, and because the body was so severely damaged, it seemed that the criminal had forced it into the locker."

"A criminal like Jason the murderer..."

"The killer Jason is fictional. It's better to say that the criminal this time is even worse. That killer character at least killed people with a weapon, but this time the victim, according to the autopsy, should have been killed with bare hands."

"Are you saying the murderer is a gorilla?"

Kagami couldn't help but interrupt.

Even Jun Ito's "Magical Boy" may not be able to stuff an adult into a 30-centimeter locker with bare hands.

"There have been no similar sightings or police reports in the surrounding areas of the city."

The man said in a serious tone.

"Don't take it seriously. Searching for gorillas is not the job of the Investigation Division."

Section Chief Sasaki said.

"Also, human tissue fragments were found in the liquid that was tested. From this, I infer that the criminal killed the victim and dismembered the body, and then--"

"Okay, okay, no need to say more. This kind of report will be summarized into a document and submitted later."

Section Chief Sasaki couldn't stand it anymore. He frowned and waved his hands as if to drive away a mosquito.

Also driven away were Jun Ito and the staff member. After the record was completed, they were no longer needed here. Kagami asked for Jun Ito and the staff member's mobile phone numbers, and reminded them that they might be needed to cooperate with the investigation, and not to leave Tokyo in the near future and to keep their mobile phones with them, and then let the two leave.

Walking towards the south exit, you will inevitably pass by a tobacco shop. The owner of the tobacco shop is a short old lady. She stood at the door of the shop and looked curiously in the direction of the lockers. When Ito Jun passed by, she asked him, "Young man, I heard that a body was found in the locker over there. Is that true?"

"Well, I'm the first witness."

Ito Jun looked at the old lady thoughtfully.

The lockers and tobacco shop aren't too far away, maybe we can get some clues here.

"You have really bad luck."

The old lady couldn't help but sigh.

However, Jun Ito doesn't think so.

Although I didn't get any high-level rewards during the period of seclusion, I did get quite a few white and blue rewards, including the white Xiaoji.

Chapter 23: The Legend of the Locker

"Let me tell you a little bit about the ominous locker."

The old lady lay on the container, squinting her eyes as if looking into the distance, and told Ito Jun a story.

"The locker used to be between the station and the land next door. It was a very secluded place, so hooligans often gathered there..."

Coin-operated lockers are rarely used, probably because of their inconspicuous location. Once, a baby was left in one, and no one came to take it out until the locker's usage period had passed.

When the baby was found in the locker, he had already died and no one knew who his mother was. He was buried in the temple.

A few years later, perhaps suffering from the condemnation of her conscience, the mother who abandoned her baby came to the place where the coin locker used to be to mourn her dead child, but the locker there had been moved, and she couldn't even put her hands together to worship.

Just when she was at a loss, a little girl took her to where the locker was.

The mother put her hands together in front of the coin-operated locker at the station. After praying for the baby's soul, she asked the little girl, "Where is your mother?"

“It’s you!!”

The mother's body was later found in the same locker where she had abandoned the baby.