In a crossover anime, do you believe that a machine spirit can defeat a fake human?

"Um, Chen-kun didn't bring his guitar today?" Yotsuya Miko noticed that Chen Yi wasn't carrying his guitar bag as usual and found it a bit strange.

"Oh, a friend of mine needed it urgently for rehearsals, so I lent it to her," Chen Yi replied casually.

"I see..." Yotsuya Miko nodded, a sudden unease rising in her heart.

It must be my imagination. Chen is right beside me; he'll protect me...

......

"Wow, there are so many people..."

“!” Standing in the tram, Yotsuya Miko inadvertently looked up and saw a terrifying face.

"You can see it?" A hint of doubt appeared on the face, as if confirming whether Yotsuya Miko had 'triggered the rule'.

"Yi, Yi-jun... there seems to be a pervert on the train." She quickly grabbed Chen Yi's arm, pretending to be very scared.

Need to pretend to be a boyfriend? Chen Yi understood instantly.

"I understand... Let's go to the corner." He pulled his right arm out, wrapped his arms around the still-shaken Yotsuya Miko, and looked around the dense crowd in the carriage with wary eyes, slowly moving to the corner of the train car.

So it really happened? It seems the problem really is with the gun... As he wished, he did obtain some information about the connection between the evil spirit and his own cheat ability, but the reality leans towards a less favorable outcome.

"I can't see it..." The evil spirit was somewhat disappointed, then turned its head and glared fiercely at some middle-aged office workers in the carriage.

Although its fierce appearance is probably invisible to most, it still tirelessly 'intimidates' the other passengers in the carriage one by one.

The girl in his arms, Yotsuya Miko, trembled violently, lowered her head and pressed herself tightly against Chen Yi's chest, not daring to look up.

"I need to go to the toilet..." she whispered, her voice trembling.

"..." That thing walked up to them again.

Chen Yi understood. He closed his eyes and carefully sensed it.

It seems... there's a breeze?

A regular breeze was blowing against the back of his neck.

It's not quite the same as the inertial wind caused by the movement of a tram...

...That's not wind, it's breath!

"How many stops left? I think I need to use the restroom too." Chen Yi's voice trembled almost imperceptibly, and a fine layer of cold sweat instantly appeared on his forehead.

He looked up at the platform clock, glancing behind him out of the corner of his eye; there was only a dense crowd there.

Is it just my imagination? The crowd doesn't seem as dense as I expected.

...No, no, no, it's not an illusion, that is to say...

That thing is right next to us.

"Jianzi, if you're feeling too stressed, I suggest you do something else to distract yourself," Chen Yi subtly reminded her not to be too afraid, lest she notice something amiss.

"Ugh...okay, okay." Yotsuya Miko swallowed hard, desperately trying to distract herself by thinking of other things.

"2, 3, 5..." Chen Yi continued counting prime numbers, his eyes glazed over.

Although Chen Yi couldn't see the other party, who knew whether the evil spirit's hunting mechanism was based on objective seeing or the evil spirit's own subjective judgment?

If Chen Yi were to be torn apart because he was aware of the other party's presence, it would be a real disaster.

"Ugh... It's not working." Yotsuya Miko suddenly hugged him tightly, pressing her whole body against him.

Yotsuya-kun, don't stick so close.

The two were in a somewhat ambiguous position, but they obviously couldn't care less about that in this environment.

"Just bear with it a little longer, we're almost there..." Chen Yi was unable to move, so he tried to comfort him with words.

If you're holding my leg tightly, and something happens to either of us, neither of us can escape.

Tsk, I can't even see it, how am I supposed to deal with it?

"..." The trembling Yotsuya Miko in her arms slowly relaxed, and she slowly raised her head.

"What's wrong?" Chen Yi turned around again, but the evil spirit had gone away.

"Um..." After hesitating for a moment, she gestured for Chen Yi to lower his head and whispered in his ear.

"After it smelled your scent... it ran away."

The girl's breath tickled my ear.

"They ran away?" Chen Yi asked, puzzled.

"Um...we went to another carriage." Yotsuya Miko looked still shaken and stammered a little.

"...So you should be able to come down now, right?"

"Oh..." Yotsuya Miko instantly created distance.

The warmth that had been clinging to him left, and a slightly cool sensation lingered on the skin not covered by the bandage.

Chen Yi looked down and saw that a small patch of his trousers was wet.

"I'm so sorry!" Yotsuya Miko blushed and apologized softly.

"Oh no, I'll never get married..." Yotsuya Miko lamented in her heart.

Service Department: Chapter Thirty-Six: Worries

"Um... are you really alright?" Standing in front of her house, Yotsuya Miko turned to look at Chen Yi, her gaze lingering on a slightly darker area on Chen Yi's trousers.

How embarrassing...!

"It's alright, I have to get back soon." Chen Yi waved his hand, indicating that the other party didn't need to worry.

On the other side, Miko Yotsuya's younger brother stood by the door and watched the whole thing.

"Brother-in-law?" He hesitated for a moment, then slipped inside to tell his mother.

"Stop!" Miko Yotsuya's mental alarm clock beeped, and she instantly caught Kyosuke Yotsuya, who was about to do something naughty.

"He's not my brother-in-law, he's a friend, a friend!" Yotsuya Miko explained in a panic.

"Sister, I understand, it's a boyfriend." Kyosuke Yotsuya broke free and ran inside quickly. "Mom! My sister has a boyfriend!"

"If there's nothing else, I'll be going now. It'll take me some time to get back."

Chen Yi, who watched the whole thing, simply maintained a polite smile.

"Staying overnight is fine... It's nothing! Goodbye!" Yotsuya Miko blurted out what was on her mind without thinking, a sense of shame creeping onto her cheeks as she quickly slipped through the door.

"Goodbye." Chen Yi said to the detached house as it closed the door, then picked up his phone and glanced at the time.

"We still have plenty of money... Shall we eat out before going back?"

......

That night.

Chen Yi sat in front of the computer, waiting for the other party's reply.

He contacted the forum blogger who proposed the hypothesis that evil spirits and false humans share a common origin, intending to obtain more information from him.

'You mean you encountered an evil spirit today and want to ask me what to do about it?'

The message was sent and instantly marked as read.

"Yes, since you know so much about evil spirits, you must have had considerable contact with them. So I hope to learn some life-saving techniques from you." Chen Yi pressed Enter to send the message.

"I understand your request... but I only know some theories, and I've never actually seen the true face of an evil spirit." The other party's message conveyed a sense of helplessness.

"I see..." Chen Yi sighed, the clues were probably going to die out here.

"However, if your situation is rather dangerous, I can help you find someone to ask about this. I have a friend who specializes in biology."

A while later, the other party sent a message.

"Thank you very much, senior."

Let's add each other on LINE, my number is... so I can send you files.

A string of numbers was sent over, and Chen Yi followed the numbers to add a mysterious account with a profile picture of a 'beaker'.

"This is my account. By the way, if you have time, let's meet in person. There are some things I can't share online."

"Where are you from, senior?" Chen Yi asked.

"If you're in Chiba and want to meet, we can arrange it in Tokyo," the other person replied.

"......" Wait a minute, where are you from?

'Are you also from Chiba, senpai?'

"No need to call me senior, I'm just a high school student." It took a long time for the other person to respond.

"Is Zongwu Gao?" Chen Yi probed.

"You know me?" the other person replied instinctively, then quickly withdrew their reply.

"I'm also from Soubu High School. There are only a few well-known schools in Chiba."

Haha, what a small world!

"Phew... there shouldn't be anything else to do..." Putting down his phone, Chen Yi breathed a sigh of relief and planned to go through today's prayer ceremony first.

"Wait, I think I had Kasumigaoka take it back." Chen Yi suddenly remembered and lay back down.

Since things have come to this, let's get started!

......

"It's another peaceful and serene day."

Chen Yi arrived at the Service Department early and sat down in his seat.

There's still no progress on the evil spirits aspect, but the first step has been taken. The current focus is on gradually figuring out solutions.

Destroy all evil spirits?

A crazy idea popped into his mind, but he immediately rejected it.

This is really too arrogant... Let's solve the problem itself first, and make sure Yotsuya Miko can never see them again before we talk.

"Your guitar." Kasumigaoka arrived at the Service Club and placed the guitar against the wall. "Nothing happened last night, right?"

"We encountered an evil spirit," Chen Yi replied simply.

"!" Everyone's attention immediately focused on him.

"Really...?" Hachiman still looked incredulous.

"It is indeed true, but only Yotsuya can see it." After a pause, Chen Yi continued.

"Based on my close encounter last night, I am personally more inclined to believe that they are not so-called evil spirits."

"They are very likely fake people, but I don't know why I can't see them from a 'subjective' perspective."

"Subjective level?" Yukinoshita asked, puzzled.

“Yes, they exist objectively. At the time, Yotsuya even said that the evil spirit was not far from the back of my neck…” Chen Yi gestured.

"So dangerous..." Kasumigaoka regretted agreeing to the other party's request, her crimson eyes filled with anger and worry.

“It was rush hour, and the subway was packed with people,” Chen Yi described yesterday. “But when I looked back, I realized that the area near me and Yotsuya, where the evil spirit was standing, seemed rather empty, and I hadn’t noticed it at the time.”

"Therefore, I conclude that evil spirits objectively exist and have physical forms, but they have been ignored from a subjective perspective."

"Since it exists objectively, I think special equipment might be able to 'see' it."

"Special equipment? You mean radar or thermal imaging?" Yukinoshita asked.

"More or less." Chen Yi nodded.

“I understand.” Yukinoshita paused, organizing her thoughts.

"You mean, the other party might have some influence on a person's eyes or brain, causing them to ignore their existence, like mental interference, right?"

"That's it."

"You're really... reckless." Hachiman, who had overheard the whole thing, twitched at the corner of his mouth, genuinely admiring this kind of person.

To survive, they risked their lives to obtain the evil spirit... No, according to Chen, the evil spirit is also a fake person. They risked their lives just to find out information about this fake person.