The afterlife blew up Gensokyo

"No, that's right. I hope you will do me the honor of joining me."

The unfortunate raccoon demon's voice trembled slightly.

He couldn't help but be scared. This guy in front of him was the kind of person who would beat up even the gods if he disagreed with them... He seriously doubted whether his small body could withstand a punch from the other party.

"Alright, I'll accept this invitation and go to the appointment later."

With a rather bored expression, Shi Bai waved for the other person to leave.

This unwarranted respect for the strong made him feel quite uncomfortable, especially since the other party remained unchanged despite his friendly attitude, which made him look down on the other party a little.

All beings are born equal, so why should they be superior to others?

Communication is based on equality, and he had tried his best to maintain an equal attitude, but the other party simply wouldn't cooperate, so he couldn't do anything about it.

"But what about the tanuki monster..."

With his arms crossed, Shi Bai looked thoughtful.

"...Doraemon, the blue robot cat?"

When the topic of tanuki came up, that was the first thing that came to his mind...

"It's Doraemon! Not a tanuki!!"

A blue-haired loli with heterochromatic eyes, who was lying behind the table watching anime on her phone, peeked out to protest.

"Go watch your anime."

Rolling his eyes, Shi Bai casually threw a pillow at him.

"Oh……"

Taking the pillow and placing it under her chin, Tatara Kogasa obediently pulled her head back.

Just like before, when he excitedly downloaded special learning materials provided by netizens, only to find that he had downloaded the entire Calabash Brothers series instead, there are many similar mishaps on his phone. The Doraemon series that Tatara Kogasa is currently watching is another example of this.

If he hadn't thoroughly cleaned his phone and deleted all the inappropriate content when he lent it to Sayo and Yui a long time ago, he really wouldn't dare lend it to Tatara Kogasa now...

Afterwards, Shi Bai pondered for a long time before finally finding the memory of the name "Eryan Mazo" on the neatly written invitation card in a corner of his memory.

"...Is it a big raccoon?"

Futaniwa Mamizo, a tanuki spirit from Sado Island, is a classic yokai with a large tail and great yokai power. He is the leader of the tanuki spirits. He often disguises himself as a human and roams among human villages.

"Hmm... if it really is her, then my Gensokyo encyclopedia can be completed in another part..."

P.S.: Good morning!

Chapter Six: The Things That Had to Be Said About Me Under the Moon

Regardless of whether the demon king who invited him was actually Eryan Mazo, Shi Bai felt it was necessary to go and accept the invitation, both out of courtesy and reason.

As the saying goes, many grains of sand make a tower, many trees make a forest, and many hands make light work. The efficiency of searching for Yuuka Kazami alone is many times greater than the efficiency of mobilizing many yokai or gods to help you search.

Under the bright moonlight, a giant tree with a circumference of over ten zhang (approximately 33 meters) twisted and coiled, breaking through the clouds. Its huge, silvery-white leaves clustered together, densely intertwined, forming a seamless whole in the moonlight, like a pillar of ice and snow.

—This is a valley nestled among distant mountains.

Beside the giant tree, a blue stone was placed peacefully on the open ground, serving as a table. Behind the stone, a chestnut-haired girl with animal ears, wearing wooden clogs and a sleeveless dress with only a shawl, had been waiting there for a long time.

"Good morning~"

When the other person turned their gaze in his direction, Shi Bai extended his hand in a very friendly greeting.

"........."

Niiwa Mamizo silently raised his head and glanced at the moon in the night sky.

"By the way, is the food on this table edible?"

Upon seeing the delicious food and fine wine displayed on the bluestone slabs, and smelling its aroma from afar, someone's eyes immediately lit up.

Delicious food often relies on rare ingredients, and among the dishes the tanuki is currently serving as a feast for guests are several rare ingredients he has never seen before. So far, he believes the most precious ingredient he has ever seen is still the moon pigeon that Eirin Yagokoro keeps as a pet…

"……Can."

His expression stiffened slightly, and he forgot all the words he had prepared in his mind. Futakuya Mamizo nodded somewhat mechanically.

"Thank you so much! I haven't eaten all day."

With a bright smile on his face, Shi Bai pulled the small umbrella of Tatara who was hiding behind him and sat down in front of the blue stone.

He'd be a fool not to take advantage of a good deal. He'd deliberately saved up for tonight's banquet, skipping lunch and breakfast, just to come here and have a free feast...

"........."

Looking at the two people in front of him who were eating heartily without any regard for his own well-being, Futaniwa Mamizo was somewhat stunned, his mind filled with philosophical questions such as "Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?"

As a demon king who ruled the Sado region and the leader of the tanuki, Futaniwa Mamizo's strength was quite impressive even among the larger group of great demons.

Not only is she capable, but she is also intelligent and resourceful. She is quite mature, has a strong sense of self-respect, and is good at socializing while knowing how to hide her true self.

Although she may appear frivolous and unreliable on the surface, she is actually very steady and composed in her actions.

But no matter how good her social skills were, she was completely stunned by someone's unpredictable and erratic attacks.

According to the normal script, shouldn't I be drinking and chatting happily with the other person under the moon? And then, by the way, forging a deep friendship with the other person, so that I can find a place to protect myself before the expected monster storm.

...But what is the situation we are facing right now?

"Children shouldn't drink alcohol. Go and eat your fruit."

With practiced ease, Shi Bai delivered a chop to Tatara Kogasa's hand and then took the wine glass from her.

"Mmm...the wine smells so good...I'll just have one sip! Just one sip!!"

Holding her head in her hands, Xiaosan's words carried a strong sense of resentment.

"Minors are not allowed to drink alcohol, not even a drop."

Rolling his eyes, Shi Bai answered quite decisively.

"I haven't even had a chance to settle the score with you for stealing my vodka a while ago. When other people get drunk, they just jump around and hit people like lunatics, but you, instead, just took some plant seeds and planted a whole bunch of Peashooters in front of the door. When I went out, a whole bunch of peas came flying right at my head... Aren't you afraid of planting a nuclear-powered Doom-shroom???"

"I thought those were the seeds of the Calabash Brothers that could grow into Calabash Brothers..."

"........."

......................................................

Niiwa Mamizo discovered that she recognized every single word they said individually, but when put together, she had absolutely no idea what they were talking about.

Since she had no idea what the other person was saying, she couldn't get a word in edgewise and could only watch helplessly as the delicious food she had spent so much time preparing disappeared bit by bit.

If she hadn't finally realized what was happening and joined the fray to grab food, she probably wouldn't have been able to eat a single bite of what was on the table.

"........."

Looking at the table in front of him, which had been swept clean, he sighed and bowed sincerely to the man in front of him.

"This old man...thanks for your guidance."

"Hmm, it seems you have a good understanding."

Looking at the utterly convinced raccoon in front of him, Shi Bai coughed a few times in his mind before calmly nodding.

In the beginning, when faced with these invitations from various forces, he was almost always asked a lot of random questions. Some wanted guidance on cultivation, some wanted to seek treasures, some wanted to explore secrets... which annoyed him to no end.

After one time when he couldn't stand the polite atmosphere anymore, he sat and ate without saying a word, then turned around and left. Ironically, the other person somehow imagined something and became completely convinced of his worth. That's when Shi Bai realized something.

This is similar to how Lu Xun wrote in his article, "There are two jujube trees planted in front of my house, one is a jujube tree, and the other is also a jujube tree," and was praised and excerpted by his teacher for extensive analysis of the thoughts and feelings he wanted to express. However, when someone writes in their diary, "I ate two apples today, one is an apple, and the other is also an apple," they are criticized by their teacher. When a person has already reached a certain position, their every move will be endlessly speculated upon.

Lu Xun: "Good night!"

The Chinese teacher explained: "The word 'evening' in 'Goodnight' indicates the time, suggesting that it is already dark, symbolizing the darkness of society at that time. Yet, people feel 'at ease' under this dark sky, indirectly reflecting the numbness of the people. The exclamation mark at the end of the sentence reflects Lu Xun's sorrow for the people's misfortune and anger at their lack of resistance."

Lu Xun: "..."

...Just like him now.

Although he had no idea what the big tanuki had figured out, without Kansai around, all he needed to do at this moment was pretend to be a wise and shrewd person!

Anyway, the more thoughts a guy has, the more likely he is to be at the level of a standard Chinese language class representative. He can perfectly imagine his every move and deduce endless deeper meanings from it. On the other hand, some simple-minded guys don't think so much.

Compared to the former, Shi Bai prefers to deal with the latter, such as Hoshiguma Yuugi and Kamiki Heka.

As for the big raccoon dog, Niwamazo... Shi Bai could only say that the other party was barely passable. The reason why it was passable was that the other party finally put aside those unnecessary formalities and joined the army of food snatching. Otherwise, after he finished eating, he would have turned around and left. Why would he care about so much?

He is a man of principle.

"...A conflict between the Youkai Sage Yakumo Yukari and the Lunar Capital?"

After listening to the big raccoon's story, Shi Bai stood with his arms crossed, looking thoughtful.

As the saying goes, when gods fight, mortals suffer. Although Yukari Yakumo never showed her face during the lunar invasion war, with the abilities of the Lunar Capital, it would be easy for them to trace back and find out who the true leader was.

If it weren't for Yakumo Yukari and those youkai causing trouble, perhaps the Lunar Capital wouldn't have completely lost the clues about Yagokoro Eirin's whereabouts. Given Yagokoro Eirin's importance to the Lunar Capital, it was only natural that the Lunar Capital would start fighting with Yakumo Yukari.

So the current situation in the yokai world is roughly equivalent to the Lunar Capital side versus the yokai side led by Yukari Yakumo, with everyone else just watching from the sidelines... but even watching from the sidelines has its risks.

The Lunar Capital's surprise attack on Youkai Mountain was undoubtedly aimed at the Youkai Sage, Yakumo Yukari. Youkai Mountain was simply caught in the crossfire, though the ending was quite dramatic.

—The Youkai Mountain, which originally maintained neutrality, was forced to join forces with Yakumo Yukari and Ibuki Suika due to their relationship and the pressure from the Lunar Capital.

In a sense, the Lunar Capital actually made Yukari Yakumo a sage of youkai, or rather, it was because of the Lunar Capital that Yukari Yakumo was able to become a sage of youkai as she wished.

Under the overall situation, small monster communities like Futani Mamizo, which were stranded on the fringes, suddenly seemed to be in a precarious situation, fearing that one day the army of the Moon Capital would come knocking and destroy them all.

This is not an exaggeration; there have been several clear examples of this happening before.

However, the war between the Lunar Capital and the monsters has actually made the situation on the human side much easier... Overall, it is quite complicated.

On Sado Island, although the tanuki group led by Futaniwa Mamizoku was in control, Futaniwa Mamizoku knew his own strength quite well.

Even the Demon Mountain, which was many times stronger than them, was almost destroyed by the Moon Capital's warship attack, let alone these beings who were many times weaker.

Futani Mamizo only wants to remain neutral and not want to get involved in either side's conflict, but often they are not in control of their own destiny.

They either run off to join the forces of the Lunar Capital like those yokai, or they choose to join the side of the yokai sage, Yukari Yakumo, hoping to sit on the sidelines and become fence-sitters? There have already been some painful examples of this before.

Are you trying to protect yourselves?

After pondering for a moment, Shi Bai looked at the large raccoon in front of him, who looked uneasy.

"They probably won't notice you guys, right?"

“That’s right. With our talents, we are confident that we can hide undetected until this crisis passes… but what if?”

Niiwa Mako revealed a wry smile on his face.

"If something were to happen, it would be the end. As the leader of a tribe, I really can't afford to gamble."

"Hmm... so how do you want me to help you?"

Shi Bai gently tapped the bluestone table in front of him with his fingers.

"The war hasn't spread here yet, so you can rest assured for now, because you still have time to prepare... Do you want to become even stronger?"

"No, we want a way to survive safely amidst this turmoil."

Niiwa Mackerel secretly gritted her teeth, hiding the mackerel in her mouth.

"If you can help solve this problem, we are willing to pay any price... I can become your shikigami and be at your command."

"A top-tier powerful demon has volunteered to become a shikigami..."

Before Shi Bai could react to Niiwa Mamizo's words, Taroko's eyes widened, staring back and forth between the two people in front of her.

The power of a Great Demon is already among the top tier of demons. For example, a top Great Demon like Futaniwa Mamizo is already a Great Demon King who rules over the region of Sado. Yet, such a being voluntarily offered to become a shikigami to be used by others...

This brought tremendous shock to Taroko's young and innocent mind.

Becoming the other party's shikigami means not only that your life and death are in the other party's control, but also that everything about you is at the other party's mercy. Only the death of the other party can free you from this fate.

The sacrifices that Futaniwa Makozo made to protect his people were immense.

"No, why would I need you as my shikigami?"

However, to Niiwa Mamizo's surprise, the man's face darkened noticeably after hearing her say those words.

"Can't you monsters be a little normal for once? You're doing this all the time, every other day. Don't you get annoyed? I do. What's wrong with you... huh?"

Seemingly realizing something suddenly, Shi Bai abruptly stopped speaking, his brows furrowed, and turned to look at his left rear.