Lu Mingfei, who had read Dragon Clan before Dragon Slaying

"Miko Matsuri" is a festival that has only emerged in the town in recent decades, but the history of Shikatori Shrine can be traced back hundreds of years ago.

According to legend, in the Edo period, a certain hunter hunted a snow-white deer in the deep mountains. When he was about to slaughter the deer and prepare to cook it for dinner, the deer suddenly showed a human-like panic, and then vomited. She said that if the hunter prayed to let her go, she would definitely repay the hunter with a big reward. The hunter was attracted by the ethereal and crisp voice of the deer. Driven by curiosity, he loosened the rope that bound the deer. Unexpectedly, the deer In front of him, the deer turned into a white-skinned woman in plain onyx.

The hunter became very beastly on the spot, and wanted to take off the clothes of the woman transformed into a white deer and blow it up, but the woman calmly told the hunter that the happiness is only temporary, and this kind of thing is just an illusion, but happiness and well-being Harmony and happiness are indeed eternal. If the hunter puts away his killing and violent nature, the woman is not only willing to serve the hunter for the rest of her life, but also willing to protect the safety of his descendants for three lives and three generations.

The hunter was influenced by the woman, and he did not treat the woman roughly, nor treated her as a maidservant, but respected each other as a guest. The two spent a total of 20 years building a house in the mountains called The shrine of "Shikatori", on the day when the shrine was completed, the white deer transformed into a woman disappeared in plain sight, and she left a letter for the hunter, which said: "I am originally a small god in the mountains. , I accidentally lost my divine power and was hunted by you, and now I regained my divine power because you built a shrine. I am sorry to keep it from you, but I did not deceive you. I will pray for you with my divine power. You will live to be a hundred years old in this life , your descendants will also enjoy ten years of health and tranquility."

Later, the hunter became the first priest of the Shikatori Shrine. He really lived to be a hundred years old and died. Many people who heard the mysterious story of the Shikatori Shrine came from afar to pray for peace and happiness. They were at the foot of the mountain. The branches and leaves spread and multiplied, and gradually developed into today's Shikatori town, and the hunter's descendants have always inherited the post of the shrine's palace secretary. Today, the Shikatori Shrine's palace secretary happens to be the hunter's great-grandchild, which is the promise of Shikako of the third generation.

The "Miko Festival" is that rich people heard the story of Shikatori Shrine. In order to pray for their children, they will send girls to Shikatori Shrine for a ten-day "apprentice shrine maiden" training at a high price. On the last day of the ten days, the "apprentice priestesses" who have completed their classes are eligible to walk around the town for a week with lanterns in their hands, and return to the shrine to prepare for their future. Praying for the health and well-being of your life and family.

The "Miko Matsuri" is also the most profitable event at Shikatori Shrine. The last day of the "Miko Matsuri" should have been the busiest day in the town, but today there were hardly any people around to watch the trainee shrine maidens carrying lanterns for a night parade, and every house was turned off. Candle lights and locked doors were obviously frightened by the recent serial disappearances of girls.

However, for the profit and maintenance of the shrine this year, the priest of the Shikatori Shrine concealed the series of strange things that happened in the town recently from the families who sent the girls to study witch courses. Instead of making a large-scale broadcast, the matter was suppressed, because I was afraid of unnecessary panic, and I was also afraid of scaring the serial killer. In this way, the missing girls would be in danger.

The families of these "apprentice witches" are waiting at the foot of the mountain. They don't know the strange things that have happened in the town recently, so they are very puzzled. Tonight should be the busiest day in the town. Why is the whole town full of chaos? Dead silence, no one to see... But they also thought that it was probably because of the torrential rain tonight, and it was normal for the residents of the town not to want to go out in such bad weather.

Yuan Zhisheng noticed the guards in plain clothes patrolling in the corner of the town. He had a premonition that today's task would be more difficult than he imagined. First of all, it was because the weather today was indeed very bad. Such extreme weather provided convenience for the criminals to do evil. Today is the "witch festival", and the foreign girls are also in the range that the prisoners may attack, so the scope of the victims has also increased, and then the patrolling police officers must not be high-risk mixed breeds Opponents, they are not only unable to provide help to Yuan Zhisheng, they may even make prisoners more vigilant and increase the risk of Yuan Zhisheng's exposure.

Yuan Zhisheng slowly moved towards the Shikatori Shrine on the roof, hiding his figure while trying not to make any noise. Fortunately, the heavy rain provided the prisoner with a favorable environment for committing the crime, and it could also cover his actions , if the girls are cicadas, it is not yet known who the mantises and squirrels are.

Yuan Zhisheng allowed the dragon blood in his body to flow faster in his blood vessels, and his five senses were improved to dozens of times that of normal people in an instant. Perhaps high-risk mixed races can also improve their visual, hearing and sensitivity when their bloodlines are out of control, but Yuan Zhisheng He is a super hybrid who inherited the "royal blood". His normal state has surpassed that of ordinary hybrids by several times, even far beyond. As long as Yuan Zhisheng is always vigilant to prevent sneak attacks, there are very few people in this world who can match him. The enemy he confronted head-on.

Yuan Zhisheng has come to the edge of the town, at the foot of the Shikatori Shrine. At this time, the girls have already carried the lanterns and set foot on the bluestone steps up the mountain. I have to say that Shikatori Shrine's training fees for witches are expensive, but the effect is also very significant. , these girls from the metropolis are walking in the heavy rain with lanterns, no one is playing or crying. In just ten days, they have changed from the spoiled greenhouse flowers to a decent apprentice witch .

Those parents also climbed up with the girls in the rain, not only because they were afraid that the heavy rain would make the mountain road difficult to walk, but also to see the results of the girls' ten-day training... The practice is almost closed, which also means that these parents have not seen their daughters for ten days. The "witch festival" is equivalent to a display of the results of these ten days of practice, showing parents how much money they have spent. Is it worth it, what their daughter has learned at Shikatori Shrine in these ten days, and how much has changed.

The victim tonight must be among these girls. This is Yuan Zhisheng's firm idea. He has seen the list of missing girls. Every girl is someone he knows. One of the biggest common characteristics of these girls Even though they are all young, the oldest of them is not too big, and they are all beautiful, some girls have an ethereal beauty like a mountain elf, and some girls Xiaojiabiyu is like a delicate porcelain doll.

The beauty of each girl is different, and this mixed race kidnaps these girls with different characteristics as if to satisfy his own sick collection.

Yuan Zhisheng just looked at the "apprentice witches" carrying lanterns up the mountain from a distance, many of them are beautiful, and the age of these girls is also in line with the criminal characteristics of the prisoner, the most important thing is that Yuan Zhisheng Putting myself into the prisoner’s perspective, there are only a few types of girls in the town. The prisoners have already collected almost all of them. These girls from the big cities will leave the town tomorrow. Today is the best time to do it. How could the other party miss it? ?

The girls had already boarded the Shikatori Shrine halfway up the mountain. Yuan Zhisheng did not follow, but stayed on a roof at the foot of the mountain. The roof he was on had the best view, and he could clearly see the There is a whole mountain road between the vermilion torii gate and the shrine halfway up the mountain. There is only one passage from the small town to the shrine. After abducting the girl, the prisoner will definitely go down the mountain through this road, and the additional police officers sent by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department will Living in the shrine, if the criminal committed a crime in the shrine and was found by the police and fled down the mountain, Yuan Zhisheng was in a perfect position to guard the other party.

The shrine is a little far away from Yuanzhisheng, and the heavy rain hindered Yuanzhisheng's hearing. The whole town was enveloped in the sound of rain hitting the tiles. Yuanzhisheng waited patiently, staring at the shrine and the torii at the foot of the mountain Connecting the road, the palm is pressed tightly on the handle of the long knife at the waist, like a black panther lurking in the dark, which may pounce on its prey at any time.

Time passed by every minute and every second, Yuan Zhisheng looked down at the watch, and then frowned slightly... an unbelievable thing happened, since time is running backwards, the watch was developed by the scientific research team, it is not easy to happen Fault, before Yuan Zhisheng thought about whether he had fallen into the other party's word spirit domain, suddenly there was a scream from the shrine on the mountainside.

Then there was the noisy discussion, the cries of the girls and the roars of the parents mixed together, breaking the silence of the whole town, the shrine lit up all the lights, and the lights on the mountainside were brightly lit. For a while, the people in the town They were also shocked by the sudden movement, but they still didn't dare to turn on the lights, and only dared to open a corner of the curtain in the bedroom to see what happened outside.

Yuan Zhisheng yelled in his heart that something was wrong, he jumped off the roof quickly, and ran towards the shrine. At this time, Yuan Zhisheng didn't care whether he would be exposed. Seeing the movement of the shrine, the prisoner might have already made a move Yes, if Yuan Zhisheng can arrive in time, maybe he can save a few girls from being persecuted.

Passing through the vermilion torii, Yuan Zhisheng stepped on the bluestone steps that were wet by the rainstorm, and ran all the way to the mountainside. Weird cracks appeared in the rapidly retreating scenery around him. It seemed that the space of this world was cracked for some reason. On the other side of the cracks, you could vaguely see snow-white mountains, huge deep wells, and monsters with broken limbs. .

Yuan Zhisheng came to the front yard of the shrine and saw the crowd around the center of the front yard. The girls were shivering in the arms of their parents. Those parents tried their best to comfort their children, but the expressions on their faces were also very unnatural. There were also a few parents crying and shouting in place, pulling the clothes of the staff of the shrine, the police officers separated them, the police officer in charge and the palace secretary of the Shikatori Shrine stood together, as if they were asking something, the expression on the palace secretary's face It's also ugly, his face is full of disbelief, as if something terrible happened here just now.

Yuan Zhisheng moved closer and listened to the questioning between the police officers and the priest of the shrine.

"How many girls are participating in the 'Miko Festival' this time, you are confirming it." The policeman asked the palace secretary cautiously.

"17 people..." Gong Si stammered, "I'm sure I remember correctly... A total of [-] children were sent to the shrine to study ten days ago. We collected [-] fees and prepared Seventeen sets of beds...others at these shrines can testify."

The police officer looked at an elderly maiden aside. This maiden is the wife of the palace secretary. During this time, she has been responsible for preparing the girls' daily necessities and taking care of their daily life. She should be familiar with these girls. .

The older priestess nodded dully. Before the girls set off, the palace secretary did not lie. The daily necessities prepared in the shrine were all seventeen. She also counted the number of girls before the parade. There were seventeen in total. error.

"No!" A girl interrupted suddenly, "There are eighteen people in total... I was the one standing at the back, and when I walked across the covered bridge, I counted the number of people one by one, and seventeen people passed in front of me! "

As soon as the girl finished speaking, the parents pulled her back. The parents covered her mouth and held her tightly in their arms, as if they were afraid that the girl's words would cause some trouble.

The police officer looked at the palace secretary and the senior priestess again, and the senior priestess said with trepidation: "I'm not lying, there are really seventeen people, you can go and see the backyard of the shrine, there are only seventeen beds... ...and the account book, the shrine has been preparing for this 'Miko Festival' this time, and only these seventeen sums of money have been entered into the account this month!"

"The people at the shrine shouldn't have lied." A policeman came forward, "I counted, there are a total of [-] families here, and these girls should go home after the 'witch festival', even if there are Parents don't come to watch their children's Miko Matsuri, but it's impossible for them not to pick up their children and go home."

The police officer who was in charge of the questioning nodded. It seemed that it was not a problem with the shrine. Then his eyes fell on the girl who said there were eighteen people. He walked up to the girl and asked in a very serious tone: " Did you really see eighteen people? Could it be that you counted them wrong?"

"It's impossible to count wrong." The girl said affirmatively, "Because I was walking at the end of the line, every time I passed a corner and intersection, I would silently count which number I was, and every time I was counted, it was ten. eight."

"Pine nuts, don't talk about it." The girl's father pulled her behind, and the man said to the policeman, "Maybe the child really made a mistake in counting. Her math has always been poor, and it's raining so hard today. She made a mistake." The numbers are normal."

"But I really counted it many times." The girl named Songzi said stubbornly.