I, enter the zero world, change the ending

At five o'clock, Zhiyao, who thought she had almost finished shopping, put away her playful mood and stopped a passerby to ask about the location on the notepad. The passerby just glanced at her and then gave her a strange look.

The notepad recorded the location of Rishang Mountain, a holy place for suicides. Zhiyao didn't find it strange that passers-by would have such a reaction.

"I'm not going there to commit suicide," he said helplessly. "A friend of mine left a note saying he was going there. He's already left, and I have to hurry to get him back."

Seeing that he was in high spirits and did not look like he was going to commit suicide, the passerby's doubts were finally dispelled, and he told him the specific location and the fastest way to get there.

……

Ahead is the legendary Rishang Mountain.

When they were still two or three hundred meters away, Zhiyao could already see the entrance to the foot of the mountain in the game, and the hot spring hotel built at the foot of the mountain just to the left of the entrance. Although Rishang Mountain was also one of the destinations for this trip, he had more important things to do at the moment. So when he reached the fork in the road, Zhiyao turned left without hesitation, following the direction that the passerby had pointed to, leading to Yangyan Mountain.

As he walked, a building at the foot of the mountain came into view. Thinking that he would ask someone for directions, Zhiyao walked straight towards the gate of the building.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Zhiyao knocked seven times, three times in a row, but no one came to open the door. He put his ear to the door and listened, but there was no sound from inside.

Is he not at home?

Thinking of this, he turned around and prepared to leave. His eyes inadvertently moved to the door handle, and he noticed that the door handle was rusty and looked like it had been there for a long time.

Could it be an abandoned house?

For some unknown reason, Zhiyao reached out for the door handle, grasped it and turned it. The next moment, as the door opened, an unpleasant sour and rotten smell hit her in the face.

The smell was exactly the same as that inside the Bingshiro residence, so Zhiyao was sure that this place had been abandoned for a long time. Then when he entered the room and found dusty spider webs everywhere, he became even more certain of his guess.

"Let's go." Wuhui urged softly in her mind.

Zhiyao, who was planning this, rubbed his nose, turned around and prepared to leave. As he turned around, he inadvertently thought of the abandoned hotel he had seen before.

He vaguely remembered that Xili and Fangshenglian found a lot of useful things in that hotel. He thought that since it was also an abandoned building near Rishang Mountain, maybe they could find something here as well.

When this thought came to his mind, he immediately gave up the idea of ​​leaving and began to search the house.

At this time.

"There's someone behind you."

Yaoboji's reminder came into my mind.

Zhiyao was caught off guard and turned around reflexively, only then did she notice that there was someone standing behind her.

He was an old man, hunched over, leaning on a cane, his hair had completely fallen out, his eyes were lifeless, and he looked pale and thin.

Thinking that the other person was the owner of the house, Zhiyao hurriedly apologized with fear and trepidation: "I'm sorry, I'm not a thief. I just came in without permission because I saw that this place has been deserted for a long time. Please forgive me!"

The old man did not answer, but just stared at Zhiyao with lifeless eyes. Over time, his eyes slowly widened and his face showed an incredible expression.

"Oh my god, how could this happen... How... is it possible..."

Listening to the old man muttering to himself, Zhiyao couldn't help but feel puzzled and subconsciously asked: "Uh, grandpa, what are you talking about?"

"This old man... finally... finally... found you..."

The old man continued to speak in incomprehensible words, which made Zhiyao even more confused.

He wondered if this man, with his dim eyesight and Alzheimer's, had mistaken him for his grandson who had run away from home. The old man's tears welled up in his eyes, confirming his suspicions. For a moment, he didn't know what to do.

"Uh uh uh, grandpa, I actually..." he tried to explain.

However, the old man ignored him and took out a long box that was almost as thick as his wrist from his bag. He then handed it to him and said, "This is... very important... something... please... please... please give it to me..."

Before he could finish his words, the next second, the old man closed his eyes without any warning and fell limply to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Chapter 104: [Finally went to Rishang Mountain]

The old man who was fine a second ago suddenly fainted. Zhiyao was stunned and hurried forward to support him.

"Grandpa!"

The old man didn't respond at all.

He needs to be sent to the hospital—that’s what Zhiyao thought first.

Unfortunately, this place was in the middle of nowhere, and there wasn't even a public telephone booth on the roadside. In this unfavorable situation, Zhiyao had no choice but to hang his backpack on his chest, put the old man on his back, and rush towards the town at full speed.

At this moment, his chest and back felt very heavy, but he did not complain at all. He was only thinking about getting the person to the hospital as soon as possible.

after all……

The person fainted in front of him, and he was an elderly person who was about to die. If the best time for treatment was missed because of his own reasons, he would feel more or less guilty.

Just as he was gritting his teeth and moving forward with his heavy load, a taxi drove up in front of him.

He didn't expect to see a taxi in such a remote area. Surprised and happy, he quickly stopped a taxi.

"Go to the nearest hospital, quickly!" After getting in the car, Zhiyao urged anxiously.

The driver didn't ask any questions and stepped on the accelerator without saying a word.

Ten minutes later, the taxi stopped in front of the only hospital in the town. Zhiyao opened the door, carried the old man on his back and walked briskly.

Ten minutes later, as the attending physician walked out of the emergency room, Zhiyao hurried up to inquire about the situation.

"How's it going?"

The doctor looked gloomy and shook his head regretfully.

In an instant, Zhiyao felt dizzy.

I was clearly using my fastest speed, but I was still a step late.

Zhiyao clenched his fists in anger and was extremely annoyed at the moment. At this moment, the doctor's voice appeared in his ears.

"The patient died of multiple organ failure."

"What do you mean?" Zhiyao, not very familiar with medical terminology, looked at the doctor in confusion, "Does it mean death from illness?"

"It means dying of old age." The doctor explained in simple terms.

It turned out that it wasn't because she had delayed too long. After hearing the doctor say this, Zhiyao felt the burden in her heart was instantly lifted.

"Oh, then quickly notify his family to take care of the funeral."

"You're not his family?"

"Definitely not."

Next, Zhiyao gave a brief account of the whole process. After listening, the doctor immediately helped call the police.

By the time I finished taking the statement and came out of the police station, it was already after seven o'clock in the evening.

It was already dark at this time. Zhiyao, who was looking for a place to eat, walked into a ramen restaurant and opened her backpack while waiting for her meal.

He wanted to have some chocolate before dinner.

Who would have thought that when the backpack was opened, a long wooden box was found inside.

It seems to be that old man's thing. How come it is here? Did I put it in here without noticing during the chaos?

Confused, he picked up the box, looked at it over and over again, and then unconsciously recalled what the old man had said, especially the last sentence which left the most profound impression on him.

————『This thing is very important, please be sure to give it to me...』

Since it is an important relic, I must go to the police station later to return it.

Before that, Zhiyao decided to open it and take a look.

As the lid was opened, he saw an exquisite red silk handkerchief that looked like it was wrapped in something, so he carefully took it out and spread it on the table.

Then the next moment, there was a loud bang in my head, like a thunderclap falling beside my ears.

In front of me was a bunch of white hair with a thin red string tied at the end.

No matter how he looked at it, he felt that this thing looked like Shiragiku's relic. Not daring to jump to conclusions, he lowered his voice and asked Kirie and Yaoboji: "This thing... I think it looks like Shiragiku's hair. What do you think?"

"I've never seen it, so I don't know." Wuhui said, stretching out her hand from Zhiyao's shoulder and pressing the white hair on the table with the tip of her index finger.

After a while, Wu Hui retracted her arm and stated her conclusion in Zhi Yao's mind: "This is not ordinary people's hair. It contains extremely powerful spiritual power."

"I felt it too," Yaoboji agreed.

With both of them expressing their opinions, Zhiyao began to believe that it was Baiju's relic. At the same time, the face of the white-haired little girl appeared in her mind.

In my impression, Bai Ju was a miserable girl. Because of her albinism, she was totally unwelcome in the village when she was alive. No one wanted to talk to her. She finally made a friend named Kunihiko Aso and gave herself to him wholeheartedly, but Aso forgot the important promise he made to her in childhood.

She kept waiting and waiting, but after nearly a hundred years, Aso never showed up. However, one night in 2006, Aso's descendant, a man named Fang Shenglian, showed up.

Because Fangshenglian has Aso's blood and breath, Baiju mistakenly recognizes him as Aso himself and is ready to fulfill the agreement and sign a soul contract with him. However, Fangshenglian is so scared that he uses a camera to almost break Baiju's soul apart.

At the end of her life, Baiju, who finally felt relieved, kept saying thank you to Aso and asking him to forget her. Then, while she was alone gazing at the blooming cherry tree, her soul completely died.

Although the psychological impact of this incident on Zhiyao was not as strong as Shenhong's disappearance and Xili's jumping into the sea, it still made him feel deeply sad. Now that he was near Rishang Mountain and looking at Baiju's relics, the pain was silently magnified.

"You feel bad?" Wuhui noticed his negative emotions. "Because of Shiragiku's fate?"

"Yes." Zhiyao admitted honestly, and at the same time expressed his doubts, "In fact, I'm still wondering why Bai Ju's relics are in the hands of that old man."

I vaguely remember that the game mentioned that Baiju's relics were found by Jingmiya Rui at the former site of the Aso branch family at the foot of Yangyan Mountain.

That is to say...

"Could it be that the abandoned house is actually the former site of the Aso branch family?" Zhiyao realized it belatedly.

"That's most likely the case." Wuhui replied calmly.

"Then...who is the old man's real identity?" Zhiyao continued to ask.

"It can only be someone from the Aso family." This time, it was Yaoboji who answered, "Maybe it's the elderly Aso Kunihiko?"

This remark woke Zhiyao up from her dream. Her face was full of disbelief, and her eyes were wide open with surprise.

"It's not maybe, it's definitely," Kirie refuted, offering a deduction. "He said the box contained something important, right? If it wasn't Kunihiko Aso himself, who had a deep relationship with Shiragiku, how could he have considered a lock of hair so important?"

"Ah this..."

What he said made a lot of sense, and Zhiyao had no choice but to say, "Okay, let's just assume he is. Then what did he mean by what he said to me? Before, I thought it was Alzheimer's disease where he mistook someone for someone else, so I didn't take it seriously. But now it seems... maybe..."

"I always feel like he seems to know you. Do you remember what he said earlier?" Yaoboji guessed, "And the last sentence he didn't finish, it seemed like he was entrusting something to you."

"Nonsense." This was the only thing Zhiyao believed was impossible.

Because he was sure that he had never seen the old man anywhere before, it would be even more impossible if the old man was Kunihiko Aso himself.

"But the last sentence does sound like a request," Wuhui said, and then analyzed, "Maybe he wants you to pass it on to Shiragiku?"

"If I had known that he would die suddenly, I should have examined him while he was still alive." Yaoboji added finally.

At this point, everyone fell silent. After a moment, Wuhui suggested, "In my opinion, we should take the relics to Baiju and ask him clearly. What do you think, dear?"

The answer is obviously obvious.

After finishing the ramen in no time, Zhiyao put on his backpack and headed towards Rishang Mountain.

……

In front of us is the wooden bridge connecting Rishang Mountain and the outside world. Once you cross the wooden bridge, you will officially enter the territory of Rishang Mountain.

Compared to the Himuro residence, whose internal topographic structure is vague due to its age, Zhiyao's map of Rishang Mountain is crystal clear.

On the left, the second floor of the hot spring hotel leads to the other side of the mountain tunnel. After exiting, continue up the path to reach the forest to the left of the front of the Katashiro Shrine. On the right is the cable car station, which takes you directly to the halfway point of the mountain. The alighting point is near the back of the Katashiro Shrine. However, due to the long period of lack of maintenance, there is a high probability that the power supply system has a problem and the cable car is likely out of power. If you want to ride it, you must first go to the control room at the end to confirm whether the power supply system is normal.

After weighing the pros and cons, Zhiyao decided to go up the mountain from the front.

The desolate mountains and wilderness at night always make people feel creepy, so Zhiyao asked his companions to show up and stay by his side.

Then, as his gaze swept over the three people one by one, he inexplicably had a sense of déjà vu—he was bringing ghosts from other places to challenge them on the mountain.

"Let's go." Clearing his throat, Zhiyao gave orders calmly.