From Earthbound Spirit to Tokyo Evil

"That's too late?"

"They will find you soon. When that time comes, please tell them that the beings they buried have begun to revive. Soon, they will..."

The sentences on the screen seemed to have a kind of magic, attracting Inaba Rika to wait attentively. Every word contained huge, unprecedented information for her, and was about to bring her into a whole new world.

But at this moment, the computer in front of her suddenly flew up, as if it was hit hard by some force, and even broke into pieces in the air. The next second, the window she was facing exploded outwards, as if something had broken through the glass and jumped out.

Rika Inaba finally screamed and squatted down with her head in her hands. Her voice made the three men hiding in the elevator even more panicked, and they hid directly in the elevator. Only their last bit of conscience urged them to not just close the elevator door and escape.

"Ms. Inaba, hurry up! Hurry up!"

After a long time, they saw Inaba Rika slowly walking out of the room with a dazed look on her face.

"Ms. Inaba?"

Inaba Rika shook her head and raised the detector with her right hand: "It doesn't matter, they have already left. I don't think they will come back again."

"Really?" The security guard was a little uneasy. For other people, no matter what happened here, it actually had nothing to do with them and they could just pat their butts and leave, but it was his duty.

The loud noise just now was particularly disturbing. Where did the glass break again?

"Um... Ms. Inaba, what exactly happened?" After hearing what she said, Ozu Takuya finally breathed a sigh of relief. While he was feeling a little ashamed, his curiosity also began to take over.

"For your sake, it's better not to know." Inaba used this way to retaliate against them. The elevator finally reached the first floor. She walked out of the elevator, took out a business card, and bowed deeply to the security guard. "Thank you very much! Please take care of yourself. If you need someone to prove that the incident has nothing to do with you, please feel free to contact me."

"Yes! Yes!" The security guard took the business card with both hands. "Thank you for your hard work!"

Inaba turned and left. Ozu was a little annoyed, wondering why he didn't have the courage to face the evil spirit with her before, while Otsuka stared at her figure blankly, shook his head and sighed: "Ms. Inaba is so handsome!"

"Let's go up and see what happened before it gets dark!" Ozu finally mustered up the courage. Inaba Rika had already said that everything was fine. With her status and reputation, she couldn't possibly be lying to them, right?

Now that I'm here, if I leave without taking a few photos, wouldn't that be damaging my reputation as a paranormal expert?

"Um..." The security guard suddenly changed his expression. "You two, please go back."

"What? Didn't we just..."

"Please go back! Please don't cause me any more trouble, please go back!"

#####

I took a taxi directly back to the magazine office. Most of the editors had already gone home after get off work. Only the oldest editor, Editor-in-Chief Wada, was still in the office. However, he looked like he was also getting ready to go home.

"Inaba?"

"Editor-in-Chief Wada!" Inaba had been recalling the details of his encounter with the spirit all along the way. When he arrived in front of his senior, he finally dropped his disguise, his body trembling slightly with excitement. "I finally met them!"

"Finally... met... them?" Wada was stunned for a moment, then repeated it slowly. Seeing Inaba's expression that seemed like she was about to cry, he finally realized what she was talking about. "What!? You met them? What happened? Do you have any photos?"

"It's better than that!" Inaba took off the tiny camera hidden on his chest. "I recorded the whole process!"

"Well done!" Wada's emotions were a little complicated. He praised Inaba Rika a few words and urged her to copy the video from the equipment to the computer.

The previous process was quite long and boring, and a bit shaky, so Rika Inaba directly dragged the video to the moment when she bent down to pick up the notes.

The needle of the detector on the table is fully to the right.

"It suddenly appeared at this moment!" Recalling the process, Inaba felt like his heart was about to jump out.

"I'm a reporter from the Neon Oddity Investigation Bureau, and my name is Inaba Rika." Her own voice came from the video. Inaba Rika was very satisfied with herself, and could even be said to be a little proud of herself.

"You handled it well." It wasn't until he saw the chair suddenly slide towards Inaba that Wada began to be really moved. He then almost stuck to the screen, watching the words pop up one by one on the screen, and zoomed in to see if there were any signs of the keyboard being pressed.

"I thought about this on the way back. It should have been entered directly into the computer. The previous two incidents should have been the same."

The scene finally came to the most exciting moment. Inaba stared with wide eyes as the computer suddenly flew into the sky and the glass behind it shattered at the same time. Unfortunately, she was frightened here and curled up, preventing the camera from capturing the most critical part.

But enough is enough.

If this video is disclosed, it will definitely cause an earthquake!

"What do you think happened?" Wada's attitude was much calmer than hers, which made Inaba admire him a little. He was worthy of being the most experienced senior in the magazine.

"Well... I think all its previous actions were intended to attract our attention, and its real purpose was to warn us." Inaba Rika dragged the video back to the part on the computer screen. "It wants to tell... that the person named Akasaka... should not be a certain person but a certain group of people. They seem to have covered up something, and these things are about to be exposed. However, the word "they" should be used specifically to refer to gods, right?"

"Your idea is very interesting." Hetian said suddenly. "Well...you are the only one left in this room, what about the two people from before?"

"They were two useless guys!" Inaba suddenly became furious when talking about them. "They ran away from the beginning."

"This is really a big deal, Inaba! You have done a great job!" Hetian said with emotion. "I will report to the president right away to see what he thinks. Go back and have a good rest. You must be tired after encountering such a thing."

"Editor-in-Chief, I don't..."

"Go back and have some rest!" Wada helped her pick up her bag and even put on her coat. "Take a taxi back, don't take the train. Just bring the receipt for reimbursement. Thank you for your hard work, Inaba, you're really great!"

"Thank you for your compliment, but I..."

"It's okay, leave it to me from now on." Hetian said.

Inaba Rika was extremely reluctant, but she had no choice but to leave as he said. Wada walked to the window and confirmed with his own eyes that she had left.

Then he sighed slightly, picked up his cell phone, and dialed the number he hadn't called in several years.

"Hello? Hello, I'm Wada from the Abnormal Investigation Bureau, yes, yes, yes, the All Neon Abnormal Investigation Bureau. I'm sorry to bother you so late. May I ask, is Director Kuroda still in charge of your side? ... Agent Ishino? Yes, okay, it's the same if I ask him, please... Hello? Yes, yes, I'm Wada, it's been a long time since we last spoke. Yes, the last time I spoke to you was three years ago. Yes, I'm really ashamed, Agent Ishino, I've encountered another abnormal incident here... Thanks to you, there were no casualties this time... Yes, I can be sure that it's an abnormal incident, it shouldn't be urgent, but I think you must know the details as soon as possible, it should be very important. Okay, I'll wait in the office. Yes, yes, thank you for your hard work..."

#####

Tickets...Collect...Thank you...

Chapter 43: Failed Infiltration

finally come.

Xia Chuan was already getting a little impatient waiting.

He watched from the roadside as several vehicles of different types stopped silently under the office building and set up cordons. Then, a dozen Akasaka soldiers that he had seen at first quickly entered the building. The last few were carrying large boxes, which were probably EMP weapons.

A moment later, a faint light came from the room where he had broken the glass before. A few minutes later, a figure finally appeared at the window and sent some kind of signal to the people below with a flashlight.

More people entered the building and lights came on in more rooms, suggesting further searches were underway.

Xia Chuan couldn't help but think proudly that when they discovered the marks he had casually carved on the wall before, it would probably attract many experts to study it all night long, right?

But now he has more important things to do.

He used the little remaining spiritual power to drive Taro to quietly climb into a car with the door open and hide in the corner of the trunk.

What a good boy.

He never thought mice were cute before, and he couldn't understand those who kept hamsters and white mice as pets. But now, he began to think that mice were the cutest and most reliable pets in the world.

Have a good rest, you will be free soon.

But Akasaka's investigation continued until dawn. They even repaired the broken glass, and needless to say, all the marks left by Natsukawa upstairs were also restored.

He waited quietly for the owner of the car to come back and listened quietly to their discussion of the incident.

They may not be core members and have not received much information, but they all seem very uneasy because such a thing has never happened in the past decade at least.

"Senior, are there any spirits willing to communicate with us?"

"You shouldn't think about this. When faced with these things, your only option is to destroy them immediately." Perhaps because it felt that its words were too strong, the voice explained after a moment. "Some people thought about this before, but most of them died later, and died miserably."

"What about the rest?"

"They live in regret and pain every day. Many people can no longer do this job, and the few who remain are atonement every day."

The car then fell into silence. While Xia Chuan was thinking about the past hidden in these words, he tried hard to figure out the direction and remember the road. About an hour later, this car followed several other cars and turned into the underground garage of a four-story office building that looked inconspicuous.

Akasaka Construction Co., Ltd.

There are various signs hanging on the surrounding buildings, many of which have the word "Akasaka" on them.

It turns out there really is a place called Akasaka.

Xiachuan ordered Taro to rush out when the car door opened, and then ran quickly to a dark corner along the wall. Just as he was about to let Taro go into the building through the ventilation duct, a red light suddenly flashed in the duct, and Taro shivered and fell down immediately.

This is……

Xia Chuan was shocked and angry, but he saw a camera with an infrared device in front of the pipe pointed at this side. A few minutes later, a maintenance worker came over, opened a side inspection port, took out the rat's body with a metal clamp, put it in a bag, and then threw it into the trash can in the basement.

The plan was almost accomplished but it was already done. Natsukawa could only observe a minute of silence for Taro, give up the plan to continue sneaking into the Akasaka headquarters, and turn his attention back to the shrine.

Sato went out again, and the treatment opportunity promised by Natsukawa seemed to give him great motivation, but also brought great pressure.

I really don't know what kind of patient he is looking for to treat.

Xiachuan looked at the remaining three mice. They all looked good, and there was plenty of food in the cage. However, this continuous action for more than ten hours did make him a little sleepy, so he decided to take a day off and see if there were any changes in the Akasaka members around Yui.

Everything was normal, with few people on the street until almost noon, when Matsushige Goro went downstairs to open the shop and began to prepare the ingredients for the day.

It seemed like it was going to be another boring but relaxing day, but not long after, Xia Chuan was surprised to see an acquaintance he had just met.

"This is it." Editor-in-Chief Wada breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the sign for Tsuruso. "I haven't been here for several years. Fortunately, it's still open."

"Editor-in-Chief Hetian, why do you have to go to such a remote place... Is there something that can't be discussed at the magazine office? I didn't sleep the whole night yesterday..."

"I guess that's what it will be." He Tian sighed and smiled. "Go in first."

"Sorry, we haven't started yet..." Matsujige Goro said when he heard the door open, but when he turned around and saw the person who came in, his mouth immediately shut.

"It's been a while since I last greeted you, Matsushige-kun. You seem to have hardly changed. Um... can I sit down?" Wada bowed with a sigh.

"It's up to you." Matsushige Goro said coldly.

"Thank you," said Wada, inviting Inaba to sit at the innermost table. "I didn't expect that this place hasn't changed at all. It's still the same as before."

Matsushigoro did not speak, but continued to collect the food materials sent by the shops in the shopping street. Most of them had already been processed, but he still had a lot to do.

This attitude made Inaba a little curious. A normal store owner would not treat customers like this, especially since Editor-in-Chief Wada seemed to have a close relationship with him.

Is there any story behind this?

The reporter's gossip heart instantly burned.

“About ten years ago, our entire editorial department was a regular here.”

"You came here from Bunkyo Ward?" Inaba was a little surprised.

"Because Matsushige's craftsmanship is really good, but the key is that one of our colleagues lives here." Wada sighed. "Ten years have passed in the blink of an eye."

Songzhong threw a fish on the chopping board and started cutting it with a bang, then he started chopping the meat as if he was chopping someone.

"Colleague? The boss's?"

"It's his sister, Matsushige Aki."

Inaba felt that there must be a very complicated story behind this, and she also wanted to know, but why at this time?

"Editor Wada, what exactly do you want to tell me?"

"It's a very long story." He Tian said with a sigh. "Please be patient. You will get the answer to your concerns after listening to this story."

Chapter 44: Ten Years of History

Editor-in-Chief Wada's words instantly gave Inaba Rika an ominous premonition, but the other party was both a senior and a superior, and she couldn't ignore it at this point.

However, she did not notice that the pointer of the detector in her bag was full again. Driven by curiosity, Xia Chuan had floated to their side, waiting for this story.

"I joined the Strange Stories Investigation Bureau twelve years ago. Before that, I was the deputy editor-in-chief of another science fiction magazine. To be frank, although I didn't have any outstanding achievements, I was still somewhat famous in this circle. At that time, my predecessor, Mr. Gohyukata, suddenly passed away due to heart failure, and Mr. Ohkawada found me and hoped that I could take over his position."

"As for me, I was originally very interested in all kinds of strange stories. At that time, I also felt that science fiction themes were very similar to strange stories, and there would be no cross-border issues. Therefore, I did not know much about the "Strange Stories Investigation Bureau" at all, and rashly accepted the invitation and came to my current position. At that time, a group of old employees of the magazine just resigned. To be honest, I did not consider retaining them at all, nor did I ask why they resigned. I just thought that their vacant positions could be used to place my own acquaintances and gain a foothold faster. So I just pretended to say some meaningless words to retain them and couldn't wait to send them away.

After that, I brought in a few familiar subordinates from the original magazine, recruited a few enthusiastic young people, and together with the editors and reporters who stayed, I rebuilt the structure. Among those new recruits, one was Matsushige Aki.

She was the only female reporter and the youngest employee at the magazine at the time. Ms. Inaba, although you two are completely different types, to be honest, when I first saw your resume, the person I immediately thought of was Ms. Aki. "

Such statements made Inaba Rika feel inexplicably uncomfortable, not because she was being compared with another person, but because the tone and the boss's attitude made her feel that this Matsushige Aki was probably no longer alive.

Moreover, most of them have an inseparable relationship with the magazine.

"Ms. Aki, like you, is a loyal fan of "Oddity Investigation Bureau". I remember clearly that when she came to report on the first day, she was so excited that she cried while sitting in her seat. At that time, we all vowed to come up with news that would shock the world and prove to the world that among spirits, monsters, aliens and time travelers, there is always one that is real.

Aki is really passionate and hardworking. She is not a journalism major, but she works harder than anyone else and soon won everyone's favor. At that time, she would occasionally bring things made by Mr. Matsushige to the editorial office to comfort everyone, and let us know that the Matsushige family runs an izakaya, and their craftsmanship is very good. So, even though we are far away, we often come here for dinner. Later, after we got to know each other, sometimes we didn't even go to the editorial office, but occupied this table and regarded this place as our second office. Oh... Looking back now, it seems like it happened yesterday, it really makes me miss it. "

Wada gently stroked the tabletop with his fingers and sighed.

Matsushige Goro's movements finally became a little gentler, and he seemed to have sniffed, but his hands never stopped moving, and he never asked them what they wanted to eat.