I save a pathological girl with a twisted love story.

The old man sighed and then slowly sipped his tea.

Upon entering the main house, Aoi Asahi was still sitting in her original spot.

When she looked at Xia Wuzhao, her chestnut eyes were extremely moist.

"what happened?"

The girl asked Xia Wuzhao what she had been called away to do.

"It's nothing, just a normal conversation about Chiho."

"Really? What did she say?"

“She saw through Chiho’s situation, so she asked me for help,” Xia Wuzhao said calmly.

"Are you going to say yes?" Aoi Asahi asked a "stupid" question.

“I did not agree,” Xia Wuzhao said calmly. “A comfortable life does not come from anyone’s pity.”

Birds rely on their wings and the sky, beasts rely on their sharp teeth and claws and the earth. Humans can only rely on their soul and wisdom.

As Natsugiri Kai said this, she asked Asahi Aoi, "What happened?"

No, nothing happened.

Aoi answered softly.

On August 23, nothing happened except for a long and meaningful conversation.

It wasn't until dinner that Xia Wuzhao saw Chiho.

Chiho smiled as always, calmly, even obsequiously.

His scarlet pupils held an intense, unyielding unease, like a fading sunset.

They were almost humbled to the extreme.

But in the end, nothing happened.

August 14th, sunny weather.

There were no clouds in the clear sky, only the scorching sun shining down, making the cement road reflect an unpleasant white light, and turning the damp soil into annoying dust that piled up on the trees on both sides.

Such weather is rare in winter, but it is so common and even annoying in summer.

"I wish it would rain."

Asahi sat in the car, looking out at the forest.

The three of them were preparing to go to the volcanic lake and soak in the hot springs.

It was Chiho who suggested it, because it was the last day before Obon.

While Aoi Asahi and Kai Natsugiri were discussing going back, Chiho had already reached her limit.

Natsugiri remained unmoved by Chiho's decisions.

If you want to do it, then just do it.

He thought Chiho would probably do something during this hot spring trip, but it didn't matter to Natsugiri.

"Because—just like a game, if you can't advance the plot and are just doing the same things every day, then is it still a game?"

"If the plot doesn't develop, then it becomes disorienting."

"Therefore, it doesn't matter what Chiho does."

Thinking this, Xia Wuzhao sat quietly in the car.

But his appearance made the other girls feel uncomfortable and uneasy.

—It was as if there were layers of barriers around him, as if reality did not exist.

Everything that is happening now feels like a dream.

When you wake up, you will lose all memory of the dream.

Just thinking about this made Aoi Asahi feel uneasy.

"So, are the things in my mind just dreams?"

She looked at Xia Wuzhao, somewhat at a loss.

If only one person knows about it, and there's no way to verify it, then isn't it just a dream?

"No, I still have things I can verify. Things I left behind in the seaside town, things in the forest path, my grandmother, and the diary I forgot in the seaside town. I used to hide it in a crack under the bed, but after losing my memory, I forgot to take it out."

"It seems the only way is to return to the seaside town."

The girl thought to herself, and she became increasingly concerned about going back.

"I don't know if it was a dream or not, but after looking at Xia Wuzhao, this thought suddenly came to me."

"I once read in a book that mysterious thoughts can suddenly appear in a person's mind, and this ability is called precognition."

"So, did I sense something?"

Asahi looked at Natsugiri Kai, and the more she looked, the more puzzled she became.

—Because it is so unreal.

Like a disabled person.

The three of them arrived at the place around noon.

At the foot of the mountain lies a hot spring town, with all sorts of old-fashioned inns one after another, and a dense network of streams that crisscross like a spider web. But even more numerous than the inns are the wooden bridges painted in vermilion.

But there are even more tourists than this vermilion wooden bridge.

This place must be quite famous, so it's no surprise that it's crowded during the summer holidays.

The maid had already arranged everything, and they settled in a hot spring inn called Qingyuzhuang.

There's nothing special about Qingyu Manor, and nothing noteworthy about it.

Even the hot springs weren't particularly good.

It's just ordinary.

Its only notable characteristic is its poor popularity.

During the day, only my group and I stayed at this hot spring hotel.

And the so-called hot springs are not naturally formed hot springs.

It is an artificially created hot spring, although the hot spring water is claimed to be natural.

But no matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem natural.

Several people stayed on the third floor, which was the top floor of the hot spring hotel.

After tidying up everything and putting it in the room.

The three of them decided to go see the lake on the mountain. The lake could only be seen after going up the mountain along the shrine's approach.

After the three of them made their preparations, they went to the so-called "temple path".

It's not a continuous series of steps, but rather a large square platform after a few steps where visitors can rest and linger.

Or perhaps they're taking pictures of some beautiful scenery.

The railings on both sides are low, only reaching up to people's thighs, and outside the railings is a dense and mysterious forest.

The tree trunk is straight and tall, with the top almost invisible.

Looking up, the sky seemed to have turned green, and if you looked closely, you could only see a faint blue through the gaps in the tree canopy.

There were many tourists, so the three of them walking among them didn't seem strange.

Chiho is wearing a black dress again today, much like the one she wore when she first met Natsugiri Kai. It's just more casual and less glamorous.

Will you notice me today?

The girl looked at Xia Wuzhao.

"What's wrong?" Xia Wuzhao asked Chiho.

"It's nothing," Chiho smiled and shook her head. "Are you tired?"

"Probably not," Xia Wuzhao said. "They just came up."

Aoi looked at the two of them without interrupting.

Walking along the approach to the forest shrine, a cool breeze was blowing.

The originally hot summer day has become extremely cool.

You can also smell the cool lake water, which makes you feel light and airy.

The chirping of cicadas, a common sight in summer, was suppressed by the dense calls of birds.

The three of them didn't talk much along the way.

Only Chiho kept thinking about what her grandmother had told her yesterday.

Am I a tool? Am I not a person?

"Even if it's just like this, even if it's just an instrument, I'll be content with it."

"Because it was under my mother's torment that Xia Wu approached me."

"Natsumura only cares about me when I'm in pain."

The girl thought to herself, then looked at Xia Wu.

"How come I didn't think of that earlier?"

"He was so good to me when we were in school. He just let me choose, and if I chose correctly, I would be pampered."

"But now, even though we finally managed to bring him home."

"But why don't I receive enough love and affection?"

"It's because I'm not suffering enough."

"Therefore, it's not a problem that I am a tool, but that I am a tool, but not a tool of suffering."

Chapter 196 Blood and Mermaid Reflected in the Lake

At the beginning, you will walk up the long path. This path is different from ordinary paths. There are no dense stone lanterns.

There is only one stone lantern at a great distance.

Furthermore, the location of the shrine cannot be seen, as if there is no shrine at all.

There are many vermilion torii gates, which stand out conspicuously in the dense forest.

Most of the birds perched on the vermilion torii gates, looking down at the people below.

Many photographers specifically squat next to the torii gate to take pictures of the birds.

Xia Wuzhao glanced at the camera brands; it seemed that most of them were Nikon.

The three of them would stop every now and then to sit on the railing and drink water.

The further you go in, the worse the path becomes.

At first, it was a concrete road. But now, it really looks like a mountain road.

When we got to the middle of the road, we finally saw the shrine, which was right by the roadside.

However, the tourists did not stop; instead, they continued walking forward.

According to legend, passing through a torii gate means entering the realm of the gods.

Xia Wuzhao passed through torii gates one after another, but felt that it was no different from usual.

They did not enter the realm of gods.

They walked out of the torii gate, but did not enter the human world.

As always, just like this.

At the end, there is a vermilion torii gate submerged in the lake, and a vast lake.

The lake surface churned with ceaseless waves, reflecting the brilliant sunlight.

Fragments of light drifted aimlessly.