From Earthbound Spirit to Tokyo Evil

Oh? I forgot to ask him to remind Takahata to bring his charger!

Chapter 16 The Ultimate Secret of Not Being Used

"Um..." Takahata felt a little uneasy, but Natsukawa just kept looking at the two of them without saying anything. This put too much pressure on him, and he really couldn't remain silent any longer.

"You came earlier than I expected..." Xia Chuan said.

The threatening phone call was actually just a spur of the moment decision. In his current state, Takahata and his companions might ignore the threats or even flee to other cities, and he would have no way to deal with them at all.

He even considered that Takahata might have guessed something about him from what happened in the morning.

If he was really a powerful evil spirit, logically speaking, he shouldn't have attached himself to an ordinary amulet and had to rely on other people to achieve his goals.

Fortunately, these two raccoons didn't seem to have any logical thinking ability. Of course, it was also possible that they were too timid to even bet on this. In any case, he won this round.

Takahata and his companions forced out a wry smile out of embarrassment and uneasiness, and subconsciously looked in the direction of Tsuruso.

They originally wanted to meet Xia Chuan there. Since Xia Chuan cared so much about the girl, he would not do anything horrible in front of her. Their safety should be guaranteed.

Who could have expected that before they even had the chance to enter the door of the izakaya, they were blocked by Natsukawa and then forced to go to the shrine.

Due to lack of pruning, the plants grew very lush, and it was difficult to see the two of them unless they walked to the side of the shrine, which made them even more nervous.

"Now that you're here, don't think about running away." Xia Chuan said. "Tell me, what are your names and what do you do?"

The two raccoons looked at each other, and finally Takahata spoke first: "My name is Takahata Yuki, and I make a living by doing temporary work."

"Me too..." said the raccoon cat who looked a little younger and thinner than him. "Well, my name is Yoshiyama Ryuya."

They all sounded like aliases, but Xia Chuan didn't plan to delve into it. He was just a little surprised: "You all make a living by doing temporary work?"

"Yes." Takahata nodded.

"Aren't you monsters? Since you can transform and cast spells, shouldn't it be easy for you to make money?"

"It's really embarrassing to say this... It's just that we are all the weakest monsters. Even for transformation, we only know the most basic routines... We don't know anything else, so we can only buy and sell labor..."

Xia Chuan didn't want to appear too ignorant so as not to expose his mask as a powerful evil spirit, but the situation of these two guys was beyond his psychological expectations, forcing him to ask for more details.

It turns out that these two raccoon cats were weak monsters living in Tama Hills in western Tokyo. About twenty years ago, that area began to be developed into a residential area, and their original homes were destroyed. They eventually had to rely on transformation to blend into human society to survive.

"Didn't you resist?" Xia Chuan couldn't help but ask.

The two raccoons smiled bitterly. "What's the point of resisting? The leader, elders, and priestess were all killed. Those with slightly stronger spiritual power were also found and killed. If our spiritual power was not so weak that it could not be detected, we would probably be found and killed. Compared to others, we are still alive and can eat delicious food every day. This is already a very lucky thing."

"Did Akasaka do it?"

"We have their people, but we are not powerful monsters to begin with, and we cannot defeat humans without their help."

"You have lived here for so long, do you know other monsters?"

The two raccoons looked at each other again and answered with bitter faces: "Maybe it's because we are too weak, no one has ever come to find us. We have only seen some big monsters from afar, but they are too strong, we dare not get close to them, and we ran away when we sensed their breath from afar."

Xia Chuan felt that they were not telling the truth, but he did not want to push them too hard. After all, they were the only people of their kind that he knew, and although they seemed to be cowardly and useless and had no moral integrity, they were not bad at least.

"Do you want to live like this for the rest of your life?" He then changed his attitude and began to persuade them patiently.

"It would be great if I could live like this for the rest of my life, but I'm afraid..." However, Takahata said something completely opposite to what he expected.

"I mean, are you satisfied with this now?"

"There's food, a place to live, comic books, TVs, and game consoles. It's much better than the forest we lived in when we were kids. There's nothing wrong with that, right?" Yoshiyama asked doubtfully.

"Don't you want to live a better life?"

The raccoons showed fear on their faces: "For people like us... it's already pretty good to be able to live like this, right?"

"Yes, if you have no ability and yet you dream of more, you will be punished by God!"

"But..." Xia Chuan didn't expect that the monsters in this country would be so lifeless and unambitious, but before he could say anything else, the two raccoon cats opposite him suddenly knelt down at the same time.

"We two are really useless, please have mercy on us and let us go!"

"please!"

Is this the real version? As long as I am useless, no one can take advantage of me?

"From now on, you will come to Hezhuang once a week to eat, drink, and whatever. In short, come here to report to me and report everything you know. If you can't even do this, then there is no need for you to live anymore."

Xia Chuan couldn't think of what to do with these two guys for a moment, so he quietly stabbed them in the back of the neck, causing them to scream.

"I have placed a curse on all of you. If it doesn't expire, you will suffer the consequences. You may leave now."

These words made the two raccoon cats' faces fall instantly. They looked at each other in mourning, as if they were going to die tomorrow.

Suddenly someone walked in and seemed startled by the two people kneeling on the ground.

"Ah!?? What are you doing?"

"Lord Sato." Takahata glanced at Natsukawa quietly and slowly got up from the ground.

"Oh, it's Mr. Takahata. What are you doing?"

"Something fell to the ground, haha, haha."

"So that's how it is. Are you two here to pay homage? How about asking for a fortune stick before leaving?" asked Kentaro Sato, an old acquaintance of Natsukawa, enthusiastically.

"We've already visited the shrine. Let's draw lots another day, another day..." Takahata and Yoshiyama just wanted to take the opportunity to slip away, and they ran out perfunctorily. Sato didn't catch them by accident.

"Where's the amulet? Our amulet is very effective! Hey..."

Seeing the two people who had finally appeared at the shrine disappear in the blink of an eye, Sato Kentaro could only sigh and slowly walk towards the worship hall.

"Two liars! There is nothing at all..." He immediately became angry after checking the cash box, but finally remembered where this place was and suppressed his anger.

"What should I do if this goes on?" He sighed softly and walked around the small shrine again and again, but no more customers appeared.

As night fell, he should have turned on the lights, but he hesitated again and again and finally only turned on the two street lights at the torii gate and the worship hall.

In the dim shadows of the trees, the figure looked particularly lonely.

Chapter 17: The God at the End of His Road

"The shrine next door? Isn't it Sato's? He's also a frequent visitor here. You should have seen him? Haven't you? That's no wonder. I heard that he owes a large sum of money to loan sharks, and the shrine is not doing well... Alas, it's hard to do any business now!"

After the task of inquiring about the neighboring shrine was given to Yui Aoki, she was embarrassed for several days because she didn't dare to ask the boss, she was not familiar with the drinkers, and she herself was not the type who could easily get close to others.

If Xia Chuan didn't want to know the answer, she might never have asked this question in her life.

However, among the regular customers there were several elderly people who were particularly kind and easy to talk to. Yui Aoki just started the conversation with a blushing face, and then they started chatting on their own.

The deity of the shrine is naturally Kentaro Sato, whose blood clots and early-stage cancer were cured by Natsukawa. And this small Inari Shrine is the property of the Sato family. At least in the memory of all the drinkers, this shrine was already there when residential areas were just beginning to be built around it.

However, it is not a registered shrine approved by the government, but a branch shrine established privately by the ancestors of the Sato family, so it cannot receive subsidies. Because it is not a famous place, it is not good at business hype, and it is not well-known. Except for nearby residents and people who open shops in the commercial street, almost no one knows that there is a shrine here.

In the past, when this commercial street was prosperous, people doing business on this street would go inside to worship the Inari God and pray for a prosperous business. But as the commercial street gradually declined, fewer and fewer people came to worship, and it became increasingly difficult to run a business.

By the time of Kentaro Sato's generation, the shrine could no longer support his family, so he had to go to work like an ordinary person and take the shrine as a part-time job. But for some reason, he suddenly divorced after his parents died, and finally quit his job.

At this age, he would have just taken his retirement money and lived a good life guarding the shrine, but he was deceived by someone and invested all his money in bonds. In the end, the other party ran away with the money. Not only did he lose all his money, he also owed a loan shark. The house he lived in was also taken away. Only this shrine, which could not be converted into cash, was left.

"After all, priesthood is passed down from generation to generation, and outsiders cannot take it away. Moreover, the area of ​​this shrine is so small. I heard that he once asked many people to take a look, but no one was willing to take over."

Yui Aoki couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the protagonist of this story, but Natsukawa started to think.

Takahata and Yoshiyama have successfully proved that they are useless, and Natsukawa no longer has any idea about them. Their only role is probably to pretend to be Aoki Takeshi to deal with the school at some point in the future. However, Yui's phone was lost, and the landline at home was shut down due to arrears, so the contact with the school can be said to be basically cut off.

Their daily routine now basically consists of Natsukawa supervising Aoki Yui's self-study during the day, going to work at Tsuru Manor in the evening, then going home and sleeping, and repeating the same cycle over and over again.

It's a bit boring, but for Yui it's the life she has always wanted but cannot get.

Of course, Xia Chuan is not qualified to be a high school teacher at his level, but if he is only guiding the main subjects of the first year of high school to prevent Yui from becoming a loser, then there is no big problem. Some course projects cannot be done for the time being, but in Xia Chuan's plan, this is just a temporary stopgap measure. As long as she does not fall too far behind and does not completely fail to keep up with the progress in the new school in the future, then there will be no problem.

But the search for a tool man cannot just stop there. Now it seems that among the people he can contact, Sato Kentaro may be the one who is most likely to accept his instigation and willingly become a tool man. Compared to Xia Chuan's method of gaining power, the shrine can be said to be the best cover.

Of course, risks exist, but there is no such thing as a risk-free return in this world. After repeatedly evaluating all the information at hand, Xia Chuan felt that the risk was worth taking.

All it took was the right opportunity, and it soon arrived.

"This is sacred territory! Don't mess around!"

"Then why don't you pay back the money! How can the shrine just not pay back its debts?" The yellow-haired man who looked like a thug shouted loudly as he stood outside the torii gate. Next to him, several colleagues from the financial company were looking at the dilapidated shrine, seemingly considering ways to turn it into money.

"I'll find a way! Please give me some more time!" Perhaps to make himself look more sacred and prevent being beaten by them, Sato Kentaro specially put on the hunting robe of the lord of the gods, and held a somewhat worn coin tightly in his hand. But no matter how you look at it, that thing should not have any effect of self-defense.

"Hey! Sato, tell me how much time we have given you! You keep saying you have no money, but the clothes you are wearing should be worth a lot, right?"

"This is... this is what my grandfather left behind."

"Isn't that better? Maybe you can sell it for more money if you sell it as an antique."

"No, this is absolutely not possible!" Sato said nervously, but under the urging of their leader, the thugs temporarily overcame their fear of the shrine and rushed over over the torii gate.

"How dare you break into God's realm? I warn you, you will..." His fists hit him hard in the face. If they were not worried about damaging their clothes, those people might have been even more brutal.

"Hey! Be careful, everyone! Don't get splashed with blood!" the leader standing outside shouted loudly.

Some passers-by stopped when they heard the sound, but faced with these vicious guys, they wisely chose to walk away.

Sato tried to struggle, but was beaten even more violently.

Those people quickly stripped him of his clothes, and their fear of the shrine completely disappeared. The imperial coins were broken into two and thrown on the ground, the surrounding plants were trampled, and someone even brought a bucket of water from the hand shed and poured it over his head, soaking him thoroughly.

"Hey, Sato, listen carefully. Forget it this time, as long as you pay the interest for one installment. If you still can't see the money next time, don't blame us. Shrine? Hehe, if it's really that effective, why don't you get some money to pay us back!"

Sato curled up and couldn't speak, but he was kicked hard in the stomach anyway. After hearing his screams, those people walked away laughing.

Everything finally returned to silence.

Sato gritted his teeth and slowly climbed up, picked up the two broken coins and wanted to throw them away, but finally held them in his hands.

He limped towards the small social affairs office hidden next to the main temple. When he passed the worship hall, the bell hanging there suddenly rang softly.

But he didn't react at all.

It's just the wind.

He has lived around this shrine all his life. Others may not know whether there is a god living here, but doesn't he know it himself?

The pain in his body made him take a deep breath and walk around the worship hall into the social affairs office.

The room was very small, probably less than one and a half floors, and was originally used to temporarily store things like amulets and ema, but now a quilt was spread on the floor.

He has been living here ever since his house was taken away.

How did it become like this?

He still has no answer to this question, but after he has become like this, who would still believe in this shrine and come here to pray?

He couldn't sell the land, and he couldn't rent it out. He even went to the government department, hoping that they would pay some money to take the land back, but to no avail.

Is this the end of the road?

He looked at the stove used for cooking and heating, and suddenly an idea came to his mind that made him feel extremely relieved.

At this moment, the bell in the worship hall suddenly began to ring continuously, as if someone was impatiently pulling the bell strings.

what happened?

He wiped his body roughly with the towel, put on a piece of clothing and walked out.

There was no one outside and no wind either.

But he clearly saw that the bell was being pulled roughly, shaking constantly and making a violent noise.

Sato Kentaro's legs went limp and he sat down on the ground. He desperately crawled back to the social office, picked up the broken coin, and waved it vigorously in the direction of the worship hall, reciting the prayer he had memorized since childhood instinctively.

The ringing finally stopped.

But the next second, the cell phone he had casually thrown on the quilt suddenly rang, scaring him so much that he almost banged his head against the door.

The screen lit up, but it wasn't a call or a text message.

A line of words quickly jumped onto the screen that was flashing a faint blue light: Sato, do you believe in God?

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