Evolution of a Girl

Page 18

"Hey, Shiokawa." Tanaka waved at the other party.

"It's been a long time since it's been this lively here." An old man named Yanchuan walked over here.

"Yeah. There haven't been any since the war," Tanaka sighed. "It's a rural place like this, after all."

After the destruction of Tokyo and the official relocation to Shinhama City west of Osaka, this place was gradually marginalized.

Even though there are tourists, it is actually a relatively quiet little place.

"Here it comes." Yanchuan looked ahead.

The stage has been lit up and melodious music can be heard all around.

Then, a small figure in a shrine maiden's costume gradually stepped onto the stage as the music played.

A girl holding a Kagura bell walked onto the stage step by step, accompanied by the music of taiko drums, shakuhachi, and shamisen.

"Hmm... Is it Xiao Tianyin... or a real puppet? I can't tell..." Tanaka muttered as he looked at the scenery on the stage.

The shrine maiden in the puppet festival has to dress up as a puppet.

But this small figure in front of me looks like a real puppet no matter how I look at it.

However, the two old men did not care about this because they knew that Yikui had many puppets in the Fengna Hall, and this might just be one of them.

"bell--"

At this moment, the Kagura bell rang softly.

The surrounding discussions and music seemed to have quieted down.

Suddenly, only this gentle divine joy remained between heaven and earth.

Tanaka and Shiokawa, who were discussing this, were also attracted by the sound.

At this moment, the puppet in front of him seemed to be more than just a puppet.

She walked among the people with a resolute air, as if she were the agent of the gods.

Then the drums started beating again.

The puppet girl began to dance.

Like a mechanical, inorganic puppet dance.

This is not a dance for people to watch, but a dance dedicated to the gods, a hymn to the indelible existence in the dark.

This is a dance that humans cannot perform, and a surge that no living thing can imitate.

After the dance was over, everyone slowly came back to their senses, and the little puppet witch took out a small square box.

There is a small rice ball inside.

She put the rice ball in her mouth and raised her sleeve to cover it.

She was brewing chewed sake to offer to the gods.

"Hmm...is this really a puppet?" Tanaka felt a little confused.

"Even if it's a robot, all you have to do is put koji in its mouth in advance." Yanchuan said easily.

"That's right." Tanaka nodded.

The toast to the gods began to brew. Today's ceremony had come to an end, but the sacrifice had just begun. Everyone left the scene and began to pay their respects to the offering hall...

Chapter 28: In the Deep and Boundless Void...

After the performance, Tianyin changed into a formal attire and sat in the center of the Offering Hall.

At this moment, she is no longer the witch or puppet, but the incarnation of God.

In a country with eight million gods, creating a god is a simple matter, but Yi Kui is very serious about it.

Although the ceremony is simple, it is not crude. Even from the perspective of the steps of the ceremony alone, it can be called "grand".

Tianyin, who was sitting in the main seat, began to accept the worship from these people. Each person took turns to worship, and only one person was allowed to enter the offering hall at a time.

Although there weren't many people, it still lasted for two hours.

After tonight's worship ended, the guests left one after another.

This is not the official festival. The official festival is still a month away. Today is just the beginning.

According to the plan, Tianyin would then hold the sacred wine and enter a quiet room accessible only to her. A month later, when the wine was ready, Tianyin would emerge to preside over the puppet ceremony, singing a ballad before finally spilling the sacred wine, concluding the ceremony.

There were similar practices in the past, which were said to have evolved from the Buddha of the present life. However, because they were too cruel, by the 20th century, they became practices that shrine maidens would meditate in every morning and leave at noon.

Strictly speaking, that approach is just a compromise, while the previous methods will cause irreversible physical damage to people.

Of course, that was in the past. After I had a full-body cyborg, these restrictions no longer existed.

Although Tianyin is not a cyborg, she is not a so-called "ordinary person" either. So after the worship, Tianyin picked up the sealed sacred wine and walked step by step to the back of the offering hall.

There is an ancient mourning hall here, and inside are dolls that were once enshrined in the shrine.

The ones placed on the outside are anthropomorphic puppets, but the further you go inside, the older the history of these puppets becomes.

At first, there are just ordinary dolls. As you go deeper, you will see even more ancient dolls. Some of these dolls are four or five hundred years old, but they are well preserved.

Tianyin walked slowly to the center of the room, sat down with the divine wine in her hand, and began to meditate.

Although he couldn't do anything while meditating, Tianyin still focused his mind.

Although she may occasionally have random thoughts, Tianyin is very serious about her work most of the time, even when she is meditating, which seems boring to others.

After mastering the wonderful Kuruo Zen technique, it became easy for Tianyin to enter into a state of meditation.

Oddly enough, even though she had already mastered that Zen technique, Tianyin felt like she could still go further. However, in the real world where Tianyin lived, there was no such thing as internal strength, so for now, she could only suppress her curiosity. Fortunately, Tianyin was very patient.

"Son of God."

In a trance, Tianyin seemed to hear a voice.

Subtle sounds coming from all around.

"who is it?"

Tianyin looked around but didn't find anything, but she was sure that the sound did come from this room.

"I am God, the God of Puppetry."

The voice was neither male nor female, and contained no emotional fluctuations.

"God of puppets?"

"Yes, all the puppets here are my children and my dependents. You are one too now."

"Me too?" Tianyin was still a little confused by this voice, "Are they all alive?"

The voice didn't stop.

"You are not yet. These children exist here, but they are neither alive nor dead."

"They were once witches like you."

"Every time they practice here during the Puppet Festival, a portion of their souls will remain permanently within their shells. The more they sacrifice, the more souls they lose. In the end, they become living puppets and ultimately remain here."

As the words fell, the scenery in front of Tianyin suddenly changed.

The quiet room became brighter, and many pretty girls seemed to appear around.

"Can I do it too?" Tianyin asked curiously.

"Yes. After you take off your outer shell, part of your soul will also be taken away by the shell. In the end, you will lose your soul, your self, and your humanity. You will be elevated from the Son of God to a true god..."

Although these words were somewhat scary, Tianyin was very happy.

"In this way, can I also become a real puppet?!"

Then, I can fulfill my father’s wish!

"Wait... and... look forward to it..."

The sound gradually faded away.

However, that magical voice lingered in Tianyin's heart...

“It’s going pretty well.”

Yikui turned off the voice-changing device and microphone.

Human thinking will cause the Son of God to fall, but if he is not humane, the Son of God will not be able to survive in the human world.

When the Son of God was about to fall, her humanity was taken away so that she could maintain her original divinity.

But it's too early now.

And Yikui also knew that he didn't have that much time.

"The body is undergoing further changes."

Two minutes after Tianyin entered into meditation, her changes began.

Her metabolism began to decline, and her heart rate dropped from sixty beats per minute to ten beats per minute. After talking with the "God of Puppetry", her heart rate now dropped to once a minute.

It's as if it has entered a dormant state.

But on the contrary, Tianyin's physical sensitivity is actually increasing.

Although the body has entered hibernation, the mind is in a super-sensory state.

Yikui even felt a certain fear.

"Will she...really fall?"

He suddenly realized that if Tianyin was placed among ordinary people, she might not have fallen into the human form.

Instead, some unknowable changes may occur.

It could even be a disaster.

Yes.

The first time he saw Tianyin, Yikui actually realized in his subconscious that if Tianyin really lived like an ordinary person and became an "ordinary person", it would probably not be Tianyin who would fall.

But...human beings.

Humans will imitate Tianyin, just as they create Yinwu puppets in the image of Tianyin.

However, how can ordinary beings create existence beyond their cognition?

They will only blindly and foolishly create degraded and ridiculous existences, and eventually... be devoured.

Yi Kui had no doubt about his premonition and intuition. He also knew that so-called humans were arrogant but extremely stupid beings.

Just like myself.

“…Tianyin, what kind of existence will you become?”

He turned his head and looked back at the surveillance screen.

Tianyin sat in the quiet room, as if she had fallen asleep...

Chapter 29 Kanami and I are evenly matched

“…Tianyin.”

“…Tianyin!”