From Earthbound Spirit to Tokyo Evil

"What do you know about curses?"

"Not much." Kamio Hitomi shook her head. "You can probably tell that I'm better at illusions. But I have heard something about curses."

The most famous curse is of course the so-called Four Great Vengeful Spirits of Neon. Natsukawa is very familiar with one of them, that is Sugawara Michizane, the Tenmang God originally served by the Nomiya family.

Most curses make the victim sick or die in accidents. Advanced curses can make a family experience misfortune and suffering for a long time, and the most advanced curses can directly plunge a country into turmoil and disaster.

A curse is a method of causing great damage at a relatively low cost through magic and a medium. Unlike ordinary spells, it is more difficult to detect, but its disadvantage is that it is not always successful and there is a possibility of backlash. Generally speaking, the more specific the target, the more specific the purpose, the higher the cost, and the higher the probability of success of the curse. The stronger the opponent, the greater the cost and the greater the possibility of backlash.

"The bugs you described are probably a cheap medium for curses," Kamio Hitomi said. "But I think it's a little strange."

"what?"

"If it were me, considering the cost and the possibility of backlash, the revenge would definitely not be directed at you directly, but at the important people and things around you. Moreover, the more covert the action must be, the better. It is best to wait until the curse takes effect and is hopeless before being discovered. If Yiyou is really good at cursing, why would he target the raccoon cats? No matter how you look at it, they can't be important to you, right? And the means are so crude. If the purpose is revenge, is there really any point in alerting the enemy like this?"

Her words made Xia Chuan also confused: "Maybe he wants to declare war on me in this way?"

"Declare war? What's the point of declaring war without any actual ability to cause any harm? Wouldn't it be more pleasant to wait until the person you care about is dying and you are helpless to do anything?"

Her words made Xia Chuan look at her for a long time.

"That's not what I meant!" said Hitomi Kamio.

This woman is so scary...

However, what she said was indeed correct.

What is happening now is as if the other party is desperately shouting, "I'm going to poison you, don't drink it."

"But since it has already happened, we can't just turn a blind eye and not take precautions, right?"

"That's true." Kamio Hitomi nodded. "This may also be his purpose, or at least part of it, right?"

This possibility made Xia Chuan a little depressed, but he was only depressed for a short while.

Anyway, he had already been targeted by the Styx Society, so he wasn't worried about having too much debt. He just had to be more careful on the existing basis.

"Is there any way to lift the curse?"

"Yes, isn't that what the miko and priest do?" Kamio Hitomi said. "Exorcising evil spirits and praying for good fortune, isn't that their main responsibility?"

It sounds quite unreliable, but at this point, there is no other way.

No one came to bother the raccoon cats the entire night, and the same was true the next day. Xiachuan even let them wander around and eat whatever they wanted, but nothing unusual happened.

It was as if the incident was just an accident, or even as if it had never happened.

Natsukawa finally ordered the raccoons to return to Tokyo, but out of caution, he asked them not to return to the headquarters, but to temporarily rent a house in Itabashi District, which was quite a distance away from the headquarters, and did not even contact any other forces under his command.

Yuriko Kiyokawa repeatedly exorcised evil spirits and prayed for Takahata, Yoshiyama and herself, and Natsukawa also carefully checked their bodies more than once to make sure there were no abnormalities.

However, there are countless microorganisms in living organisms, and they themselves are the guarantee of good health. Xia Chuan cannot be sure that there is nothing hiding inside, so he can only let them continue to be isolated.

The Kono Agency never found Akai Mitsuharu and his men in Toyama, and their search had in fact expanded to the entire Hokuriku region. That region was vast and sparsely populated, and people knew each other much better than in big cities like Tokyo, so it was much more difficult for outsiders to hide there than in big cities.

In the end, they had to issue a wanted order nationwide and warn Akasaka that they might have sneaked into Tokyo again.

Chapter 261 The Ullambana Festival is coming

The next month was surprisingly uneventful, with nothing happening.

Not only have the monsters from the Clear Sky Society disappeared, but even the actions of the Styx Society seem to have gradually decreased.

Natsukawa simply couldn't understand this situation. He even asked Kiyokawa Yuriko to sneak to Toyama again, quietly avoid the defense network of the Kono Agency, find a secluded place, use a ritual to summon Natsukawa's divine body, and go underground to look for Yiyou's trace.

Strangely, Xia Chuan still couldn't meet him. He kept sneaking into the seal that had been compressed tightly. The huge rock and the talismans around it were still there, but Yiyou never appeared again, as if he had escaped and left.

But when Xia Chuan tried to use his own power to invade the boulder, he was immediately strongly counterattacked by the surrounding talismans. He was so scared that he immediately withdrew his power to avoid inadvertently weakening the seal.

The seal should not have been broken, but this level of burial would not cause any harm to Yiyou, so why doesn't he show up?

Xia Chuan did not find any signs of tunnels being dug nearby, nor any signs of monsters sneaking in. He searched for the inscriptions in the soil and rocks, but they were all destroyed so thoroughly that it was impossible to tell what was originally engraved on them.

"Is there anything unusual?" he asked specifically when he returned to Kiyokawa Yuriko.

"There's nothing, even the birds are gone," replied Yuriko Kiyokawa.

This piece of land has been sprayed with defoliant and is bare, like a desert in the mountains.

"Let's go." Xia Chuan checked her body again to make sure she hadn't been invaded by the same bugs or something like that before.

Everything was fine, or so it seemed.

Another month passed after the raccoon cats were isolated, and time quickly entered July. Natsukawa accidentally saw a message about the preparations for the Sumida River Fireworks Festival, and suddenly realized that the beautiful summer festival was about to come.

Yukata, fireworks, visiting shrines and night markets, catching goldfish, playing small games, he wanted all of these, but considering those enemies hiding in the dark... Xiachuan was so angry that his teeth were itching.

So, the Styx Society, the Clear Sky Society, the Akasaka Society, the Tokyo Watchers, everything that hinders the warmth and friendship of this world is heresy! They should all be tied to the rack and grilled!

This summer could have been a wonderful one, so are we just going to let it pass by like this?

"My Lord God, should we prepare a blessing ceremony?" Kentaro Sato asked a question at this time.

"What do you mean?"

"Obon Festival is coming soon!" Kentaro Sato asked in surprise.

Xia Chuan had to spend some effort to understand that the Obon Festival, which had no special meaning to him, or rather, the Obon Festival only existed in part to him, was a very important annual festival for the people of Neon.

Many companies will give their employees a holiday to go home and worship their ancestors. Every household will prepare to worship their ancestors and welcome the ghosts home. Temples will hold grand ceremonies and activities. Many shrines will also hold various prayers, lantern festivals and other activities, which can not only make money, but also bring believers closer to the shrine.

It seems a bit inappropriate to do nothing on such a solemn day. However, as a sect that has developed in secret and conducts most of its religious activities on the Internet, what to do is also a big problem.

"Didn't we do nothing on New Year's Day?"

"But now the sect's development has far exceeded that of the New Year, and the believers should also be very eager..." Sato Kentaro still wanted to fight for it. After all, the sect took advantage of this period of time when the monsters were causing chaos and panic, and achieved surprising development. Although Xiachuan didn't care at all, the number of believers in the sect would soon exceed 15,000. At this time, a grand blessing ceremony was also to boost morale, improve cohesion, and allow the sect to develop in a better direction.

Xia Chuan thought about it and felt that it was not a bad idea to do so. It was all broadcast live on the Internet anyway, so apart from the scale, props and scenes of the ceremony, there shouldn't be too many tricks: "Make a plan for me to see. However, the more times like this, the more careful you must be. Don't let your guard down because of past successes, understand?"

"Yes!" Sato was overjoyed. "Please rest assured that we will keep this in mind and act in accordance with the principle of ensuring secrecy!"

The plan was handed over very quickly, which made Xia Chuan have to reasonably suspect that Sato had already made a plan and was just waiting for him to mention it so that he could immediately take it out and surprise him. It turned out that it was probably because he had not mentioned it that this guy could not help but take the initiative to jump out.

There was nothing wrong with the plan. It was nothing more than adding some decorations and content related to the Obon Festival to the daily sect's activities, adding a piece of music and dance related to the soul, and also making a plan to give lanterns to believers. In order to avoid being discovered, they deliberately proposed to order lanterns from more than a dozen different manufacturers, and randomly distributed them to the believers in charge of each area, who then distributed them to each believer.

Xia Chuan had just learned that Neon had such a tradition, but he always felt that this plan had the risk of being leaked.

"It's better not to do this. We should try to avoid similar actions in the future. In short, the identity information of believers can only be known by the person in charge of each area. You know it here, and no one else has the right to obtain it under any circumstances!"

"Yes!" Kentaro Sato quickly agreed.

"Then let's do it this way! Let Kawaguchi Reina prepare well. I'm looking forward to her performance."

"Yes, please rest assured!"

But… although Kawaguchi Rena’s dance is definitely more pleasing to the eye than Sato Kentaro’s, that kind of slow music and dance is not very aesthetic. Should we ask Kamio Hitomi to help design a few more aesthetically pleasing Kagura dances?

The sect immediately started to get busy, but other places were still deserted. At the Skeleton Shrine, the three sisters of the Nomiya family had already started making lanterns and hung them up. They also applied to Xiachuan and secretly brought their parents to reunite that day. They even made different lanterns for each member of the Skeleton Organization so that they could take them home, but most of the members had no intention of going home to worship their ancestors.

Once they join this business, the farther away they are from their families, the better it will definitely be for them.

Natsukawa also started decorating the headquarters. Since there had been no abnormalities with the raccoon cats, Natsukawa finally asked them to come back to help Yui Aoki so that she wouldn't be too lonely.

It’s better not to let the civet cats go out in the future.

There's no point in bothering yourself with it. Just let them just stay in our company and wait for death as mascots.

In this busy and leisurely time, August 13th finally approached.

Chapter 262 Finally Came to the Door

"Well, everyone, I'll be going back now."

Natsukawa forgot to give the employees of Mukuro Agency a holiday, but most of them didn't want a holiday, so no one reminded him about it. As a result, Sugishita was the only one who had packed up his things and was sitting there waiting with resentment, and he stood up as soon as the clock hit five o'clock.

There was still a lot to do when he got home, and he also needed to change cars and remove his disguise on the way, so time was already very tight.

"Eh? Is it five o'clock?" Qingdao looked at the lower right corner of the computer in surprise. "Then I'll leave too."

"Aoshima-kun, do you have plans today?" Sasaki Daisuke also started packing his things, but he had already started to seriously consider moving to the dormitory of the Mukuro Institution. It was not a consideration of money, in fact, his salary had far exceeded that of his former companions and acquaintances, but it was too troublesome to change cars every day to go to and from get off work and make sure there was no one following him.

"Go home for dinner." Qingdao followed Sugishita out without even turning off the computer. At this time, the computer next to Baimu suddenly sounded an alarm.

"There is a suspicious person approaching!" This was the first time this happened after the system was installed. People were stunned for a few seconds before realizing what was happening.

Aoshima shouted loudly to Sugishita who had already walked to the elevator, Sasaki Daisuke quickly ran to the shooting position closest to him, and Inaba Rika immediately walked to Hyakume's side.

"Three, no, five people are approaching here and are about to invade the restricted area!" Baimu reported the latest situation loudly.

"Seal the gate! Warn them!" Inaba Rika immediately followed the plan and dialed the internal phone. "Kana? This is Inaba, beware of suspicious people trying to invade!"

"There are seven people!" Baimu updated the data again. "Two people came from the back of the building!"

The computer-synthesized warning sound had already sounded outside. Daisuke Sasaki clenched his gun and looked at Rika Inaba uneasily.

Qingdao had already run to the shooting position at the back: "I saw one! Damn, he's about to enter the blind spot!"

"Open fire!" Inaba Rika said loudly, and reported to Natsukawa what happened here. "Lord Mukuro, someone is trying to invade the Mukuro Agency!"

"Damn it!" Qingdao cursed again. He looked at Sasaki Daisuke who was also a little uneasy, aimed at the figure who was running madly towards the building after crossing the isolation fence, and pulled the trigger heavily.

A few seconds later, gunshots were heard from Daisuke Sasaki's side.

But both men missed their target.

No matter how much you practice at the underground shooting range, you are still shooting at fixed targets. Besides, a target card is different from a living person.

"The other party is not human! At least not a normal person!" Baimu suddenly shouted loudly at this time. "It's a monster!"

In the footage captured by the surveillance camera, the two people who were almost hit by bullets showed no fear or dodging at all, and their movements seemed stiff and weird.

This sentence made Qingdao and Sasaki Daisuke feel relieved, but they immediately became nervous again.

Since the other party was not human, they had no worries when shooting, but... this also meant that if they missed the other party, they might be the ones to die!

The two men immediately entered the continuous shooting mode. Sugishita also entered another shooting position and started shooting, but at this time, a bullet suddenly hit near the position where Sasaki was, and a huge spider-web-like crack was created on the bulletproof glass!

"Large caliber..." Daisuke Sasaki was startled. At this time, Aoki finally hit the target, but after being knocked down by the impact of the bullet, the opponent quickly got up and rushed directly into a place he could not see.

"I hit it, but it's no use!" he told others anxiously.

The front defense had also been breached. Two intruders had begun to climb up the building along the outer wall, while three intruders began to hit the main door and those places that looked like windows from the outside but had steel plates installed inside.

"Switch to the shotgun and use single-barreled bullets!" Kimoto Juri's voice suddenly came from the corridor. She and Tachibana Hirokazu had been watching the actions of the shrine maidens at the shrine upstairs, trying to find out some information about the Skeleton Society. After hearing the invasion warning, they rushed down in a hurry.

"More targets appear!" Baimu suddenly shouted loudly again.

"We really should have equipped them with heavy machine guns!" Mu Yuan had already picked up a shotgun, loaded it with a single-shot bullet, and ran to an empty shooting position, where he shot one of the guys who was banging on the door in the head, smashing it to pieces. Tachibana Hirokazu also did the same thing, shooting down a monster who had climbed to the second floor rooftop and was trying to break through the glass door to rush in through the steel net that had just been put down.

The huge fireball suddenly hit the place that was hit by the enemy's bullets before. The spider-web-like glass was hit violently again, and finally a hole big enough for one person to enter appeared. The two monsters immediately rushed over here.

At this time, Nomiya Wakana upstairs finally completed the Hinoki Dance. Natsukawa angrily pounced down through the ceiling, grabbed the monster that was trying to get into the gap, pierced its head with his divine power, and smashed it towards the monster that was hiding in the shadows and casting a spell in the distance.

The advantage of the divine body is that you don't have to consider the terrain. In just a few seconds, Xia Chuan had killed all the monsters that broke through the isolation fence.

Then he rushed directly towards the monster that fired the fireball again.

"Since you are looking for death..." A sharp arrow suddenly shot towards Xia Chuan. He bounced it off directly, but the force attached to the arrow head caused a small wound on his body. A moment later, a huge body broke through the wall of the residential building and rushed out, and a sheathless broadsword as big as a door panel was swung towards him!

Ushiwakamaru?

The spider web attacked from the side, trying to interfere with his movements, but Xia Chuan quickly dodged all the interference and grabbed the guy who was accumulating the fireball. His divine power turned into a sharp sword, stabbing directly from the jaw and piercing his head.

"Hizenbo!" the monsters screamed angrily, but Xiachuan had already thrown away his body and rushed straight towards the Spider Woman, ignoring the uncontrolled flames that suddenly exploded.

Monsters that use magic are necessarily weak physically, but they can pose a greater threat to people in houses far away. In such a chaotic battle, of course they must be killed first!

Chapter 263 The Monsters Are Fighting

Natsukawa's brutality made the monsters waver, especially the spider girl who was targeted by him. While trying desperately to escape, she madly spit spider webs at him to try to delay his movements. The huge Ushiwakamaru followed closely behind Natsukawa, and the giant blade in his hand continued to cause amazing damage, but he could never keep up with Natsukawa's speed.

The sharp black mist suddenly attacked from the side, surprising Xia Chuan a little.

"Falling down the mountain?"

How come she wasn't treated as a traitor and killed by the Styx?