Horror simulator, if you survive till tomorrow, you win

"Go to the office over there. Our minister will negotiate with you and ask you to sign a confidentiality agreement."

Ito Jun narrowed his eyes and walked towards the office.

The minister's office is much more spacious than outside. The minister of the Urban Legend Association was sitting behind his desk with his hands on the table. When he saw Ito Jun come in, he pushed the documents in his hand towards Ito Jun.

"Yamada is very tight-lipped. He probably didn't tell you much, but the Urban Legend Association is a state secret. No matter how much you know, you can't say a word. Sign this agreement and you can leave."

The minister put on an official air, but failed to scare Ito Jun. Ito Jun walked over, picked up the confidentiality agreement, took a look at it, and threw it on the table without a care.

Jun Ito said bluntly: "I want to join the Urban Legend Association."

"Ah? We don't hire outsiders."

The minister was stunned for a moment, but was not too surprised. There had been outsiders who wanted to join the Urban Legend Association in the past. After all, the Urban Legend Association, a government department, sounded very exciting and gave people a feeling like District 51.

"I'm not human."

Jun Ito revealed his cards.

In front of the minister, he fired a psychic cannon at the desk.

The melted desk made the minister tremble all over, and a trace of despair flashed in his eyes.

"Asshole! Here we go again..."

Obviously, this is not the first time that the Urban Legends Association has encountered non-human beings.

"Don't panic, I mean no harm."

Ito Jun dragged a chair and placed it opposite the desk. He sat down, facing the minister, and spoke calmly.

"...No urban legend will be true to humans...So that's how it is. You are one of those people with psychic abilities."

The minister's expression changed again and again, and finally showed an expression of relief.

He wanted to say that there was no urban legend that had no malice towards humans, but that was not actually the case. At least in the minister's memory, there was a type of urban legend that had no obvious malice towards humans.

Chapter 29 Only Magic Can Defeat Magic

Mr. T, who was born in a temple, is a famous urban legend. In one word, he is an anti-hero.

Although there are several versions, each story unfolds the same way.

First, the beginning is all about ordinary ghost stories, such as encountering a ghost that causes traffic accidents, a girlfriend's decapitated head possessing her, a friend being dragged away by a shadow at the beach, etc.

Just when the narrator was in danger, Mr. T, a senior who worked part-time at the scene, stood up and shouted "Break!" Then he either shot a light bullet from his palm to destroy the ghost, or suddenly burned the head, in short, it was a similar process, and the ghosts and monsters were defeated in an instant. After that, Mr. T left in a cool manner, and the narrator sighed that it was amazing to be born in a temple. Then it ended.

This urban legend was derived from temple abbots and shrine priests in various horror stories, and was promoted by the Urban Legend Association. It soon became popular across the country and became a major killer to restrain the weird.

The minister asked cautiously, "What can I do for you?"

Ito Jun said politely: "I would like to join your organization."

The minister lives in Bengbu. How can you, a weirdo, run to the Urban Legend Association to join? This is like a cat running into a mouse's nest, and when the mice are discussing how to deal with the cat, you apply to become the mice's accomplice.

Will the mice agree?

can!

The natural enemy has found its lair. If we don’t agree, are we going to fight head-on and be wiped out?

The Urban Legend Association is a top-secret organization established by the Ministry of Education during the rapid growth period of urban development. Its purpose is to try to reduce people's fear of the dark world.

The urban legends that permeate the streets and alleys are all decided, operated and managed by this Urban Legend Association.

According to the Ministry of Education's research, urban legends are born out of people's fear of the future and the unknown. They can be said to be alternative to the Eight Million Gods and the Horzu Gods. They exist because people believe in them, and they disappear when people forget them.

Of course, this is simply impossible. When an urban legend is born, it has already taken root in the cognition of thousands of people. Urban legends are named urban legends because they are widely spread.

This is not ancient times. How can we forget the urban legends passed down by word of mouth?

After discovering this, the Ministry of Education came up with another method: establishing an Urban Legend Association. By disguising themselves as urban legends and spreading them in a way that controlled public opinion, they adapted these urban legends and turned them from dark fairy tales into beautiful fairy tales.

But it still doesn't work.

It’s as if there’s some mysterious force influencing everything, causing supernatural phenomena to appear before people in a terrifying way.

Therefore, the Urban Legend Association adopted another method, using public opinion to restrict the subtle details of urban legends.

For example, the famous Slit-Mouthed Woman was originally a rampant evil demon.

Through the operation of the Urban Legend Association, there are four ways to deal with the Slit-Mouth Woman.

First, give candy to the slit-mouthed woman. Second, give tofu to the slit-mouthed woman. Third, shout "throw horse beans" three times. When the slit-mouthed woman is in pain, you can take the opportunity to escape. Fourth, sometimes the slit-mouthed woman will pat people's shoulders from behind. If you turn back, you will be killed. The way to avoid it is: if she pats your right shoulder, turn back from the left. If she pats your left shoulder, turn back from the right.

There is also the foot-selling woman. It turns out that no matter how she answers, her legs will be taken away. After the operation of the Urban Legend Association, as long as you answer "I'm not here" and ask her to go somewhere to find someone, the foot-selling woman will leave.

Perhaps the public also thinks that urban legends that directly harm humans are too straightforward and crude, and that urban legends with added restrictions appear more interesting, so that these urban legends operated by the Urban Legend Association are more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people than urban legends in the past.

"I need the Urban Legend Association to design and spread an urban legend for me. The theme is a hero who defeats weird things, just like Mr. T who was born in a temple. However, he must be more powerful than Mr. T, and not only can he destroy traditional monsters, but he can also defeat aliens and mutant creatures."

“…This is not going to be easy.”

The minister showed an embarrassed expression.

"The essence of urban legends is human fear. It is too absurd to fabricate an omnipotent hero out of thin air. No one will believe it. It is too fake."

The Urban Legend Association has done something similar, a plan named "Hero Creation", which uses people's positive emotions to create heroes who slay demons and eliminate evil, but it has never been successful, mainly because it cannot form an urban legend.

Legends like Minamoto no Raikou's defeat of evil spirits only existed in ancient times. Modern people don't believe in these fantasy stories.

In fact, Mr. T, who was born in the temple, is a degraded product of [Hero Creation]. It is because everyone believes that the god and the host have mysterious spiritual power that Mr. T, who was born in the temple, was born...

The minister said hesitantly, "In fact, we are still not sure whether Mr. T, who was born in the temple, really exists, because no one has ever actually seen Mr. T. However, the story based on Mr. T is indeed very popular. According to the rules of urban legends, he should exist."

Jun Ito doesn't care whether Mr. T exists or not. He is not very familiar with Mr. T and doesn't remember many of Mr. T's works, but he remembers Strange Tales of the World.

Since there are Strange Tales of the World in this world, the phenomenon of strange stories coming true must exist. If he wants to fight against the doomsday crisis in Junji Ito's comics and Strange Tales of the World, his plan must be implemented.

"...Then change your stance a little. Instead of being a hero who fights against monsters, become an extreme avenger who will stop at nothing to kill monsters."

After a brief thought, Ito Jun immediately came up with an idea.

"A young boy persecuted by monsters, in a moment of madness and despair, was inspired by the dark nebula in Cassiopeia - the Ghost Nebula, and gained the power of all souls in the universe from ancient times to the present, and became obsessed with destroying monsters. With this background as the outline, I carried out publicity and expansion. My goal is to be stronger than Ultraman, enough to destroy the power of stellar-level monsters."

"Then, I will take practical action to eliminate all the rumors, create a big commotion, and create a large number of witnesses to cooperate with your public opinion."

"……All right."

The minister uttered his agreement with difficulty.

He thought Ito Jun was terrifying. What did it mean to be stronger than Ultraman and powerful enough to destroy stars? Was this monster trying to destroy the solar system?

The minister was a little confused. He knew nothing about the strangeness in front of him. Although the other party came to seek cooperation, he did not reveal anything to him and only made unilateral demands.

And he had no way to refuse. Urban legends are immortal. What's more, he didn't even know which urban legend this weird thing belonged to. Now that the Urban Legend Association has been exposed, resistance is tantamount to self-destruction.

Chapter 30 The Beginning of the Legend

Jun Ito bought a computer in the ghost apartment.

After inserting the USB flash drive obtained from the Urban Legends Association into the computer, Ito Jun opened the folder, and the results of the Urban Legends Association's work over the past few decades appeared in front of him.

Urban legends and their evolution from all over the country almost fill up the space of more than 200G.

Ito Jun thought for a moment and took a quick look at the baby in the locker.

Some of the information is similar to what Jun Ito learned, such as the origin of the locker baby.

Indeed, a baby's body was found in a locker in Shibuya five years ago. Because it was so unfortunate, the police investigating the case named the baby Sachiko, hoping that the baby would attain Buddhahood soon.

The baby's body was buried in the suburbs, and the monks placed a stone statue of Ksitigarbha on the grave.

In District 11, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva has merged with the traditional beliefs in boy gods and young son gods. As a result, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva has gained another function unique to District 11: protecting water children.

The so-called "water child" refers to babies who died young. People in District 11 originally believed that children who died young would go to the "Sai no Kawara" to be tortured by evil spirits and kept spreading stones because their parents were too sad. However, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva let the souls of these children hide in his robes and listen to his chanting to avoid the devil and accumulate merit at the same time.

Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva has compassion on these children and can become their protector, protecting them from harm by evil spirits. He is called "Shui Zi Ksitigarbha". In addition, there are similar images such as "Zi'an Ksitigarbha" and "Zishou Ksitigarbha". This kind of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva is often sculpted as a Bodhisattva carrying or holding a baby, or surrounded by young children.

There is a record of the legend of Jizo in "Konjaku Monogatarishu" created in the late Heian period. In this record, Jizo appears in the form of a child monk and as the savior of hell.

The way it was handled at the time was already very appropriate. Five years later, this kind of thing happened again, and Ito Jun could only attribute it to environmental factors caused by the human head balloon.

Sachiko's body was buried on the outskirts of Shibuya District. Ito Jun took the tram to Shibuya Station and then took a taxi to the location mentioned in the information.

Located behind an abandoned building, Ito Jun saw the stone statue of Jizo.

The stone statue of Ksitigarbha wears a cashmere hat and an apron. In front of him are a small yellow hat, snacks, small toys, and burnt incense. It seems that someone has been offering sacrifices to him in the past two days.

However, after five years, no one would remember to worship the stone statue of Ksitigarbha in the suburbs.

Ito Jun squatted down and reached out to touch the neck of the Ksitigarbha statue, and it felt like glue.

There are cracks on the neck of the Ksitigarbha statue, which was glued back together.

Ito Jun closed his eyes.

After organizing his thoughts, Ito Jun understood the general situation.

Some people were so ignorant that they broke the head of the stone statue of Ksitigarbha... and they did it on purpose and threw it into the water.

Ito Jun took out the mud and sand from the ears of the Jizo statue.

Sa Chiko was released and started to cause chaos.

Some of the people who broke the Ksitigarbha statue must have died, so they came back to put the head of the Ksitigarbha statue back and offer a sacrifice.

"In that case, we still have to go to Shibuya Station to find the clues."

When Ito Jun returned to Shibuya Station, he found that there were no reporters around the locker where the body was located. However, a few girls crossed the cordon and opened the lockers to take a look.

"I didn't expect that the locker that brought me happiness would actually become a cursed locker."

"It must be that guy, right?"

“That’s the guy.”

"She must have bumped into the locker and lost her happiness."

"Yes, so many people have used this locker before, and nothing happened. But it was she who bumped into the locker that caused the accident."

“Do you want to publish it on the Internet?”

“It will be deleted.”

The lockers seemed to have been cleaned out and were empty. A few ignorant and fearless high school girls were laughing and making noises as if no one was around. Occasionally passers-by didn't care at all. They just glanced at them and hurried away.

Ito Jun looked into the open locker from a distance of several dozen meters, but he could not see anything.

Perhaps it is because the sculptured body does not have psychic vision, or it is possible that Sa Chiko does not currently exist in the surface world, but in the inner world or the middle world.

"Do you know anything about this locker?"

Ito Jun thought about it, walked over and asked.

"Who are you? Why are you wearing a mask?"

The long-haired JK put her hands on her hips, raised her head and asked Ito Jun.

Ito Jun stretched out his right hand from his black windbreaker, touched the black nebula mask on his face, and said calmly: "I am a curse hunter, a ghost fighter born in darkness. Wherever there is a curse, there I am."

"Chuunibyou? The second dimension? We won't play this kind of game with you."

The long-haired JK showed a disgusted expression.

This is prejudice.

Ito Jun stretched his palm to the ground and secretly activated the switch.

"—!"

With a silent impact, a hole big enough for a TV set to fit into appeared on the ground, and the solid concrete melted.

“Is this some kind of variety show?”

“Where’s the camera?”

The JKs' expressions became stiff. Someone used her foot to probe the big hole on the ground and was immediately horrified to find that the big hole was real. The place they had walked through just over ten minutes ago had really turned into a hole.

"Ayano, Ayano seems to have used this locker. Ayano hasn't been to school recently. She's always been mysterious in the hospital. The patients who came to visit her died strangely. Anyone who has anything to do with her will die. She must be cursed!"