Start with a core cabin

Chapter 1413 Unstable Shadow (The handle key is broken...)

Originally, according to the plan, everyone was going to go to the hotel to rest before conducting the investigation. However, Duanmu Huai thought that since they were already here, it would not be too late to investigate the clues first and then go back to rest. So he directly asked the bus to turn around and drive towards the shrine.

Generally, shrines are located at high places, and this place is no exception. After walking up a long hillside, everyone arrived in front of the shrine. This place has been sealed and the police have put up a sign prohibiting entry. However, for Duanmu Huai, this is naturally not an obstacle. He directly pushed open the door and strode into the shrine.

Compared to the previous shrine in Yangchen Town, this shrine is relatively more formal, with a newly renovated gate, a hand-washing pond inside, and then the shrine in front and the money box, etc. Except for being a little smaller, this place is not much worse than those shrines in tourist attractions.

Even the specifications are quite formal.

Basically, the structure of Japanese shrines is similar. There is a torii at the entrance, and then there is a shrine road that leads to the shrine through the forest. On both sides of the shrine road, there are stone lion sculptures, which are mainly used to remove filth and evil spirits. After passing the shrine road, you will come to the main hall, which is a place for people to worship. Behind the main hall is the main hall, which contains the sacred objects enshrined in this shrine.

In addition, there is the shrine office. You may not know what this place is for just by listening to it, but in fact, it is the supply and marketing agency of the shrine. The shrine maidens will sell the shrine's amulets and some specialties here, and are also responsible for drawing lots and interpreting lots - in fact, it is a place where people spend money at the shrine.

"This place has also been renovated by our Baifan Group."

Manager Kashiwagi now hurriedly introduced himself to everyone.

"After all, our target customers are the upper class, so they naturally have this demand. So we negotiated with the owner of the shrine and carried out a comprehensive renovation of the entire exterior of the shrine."

I have to say, this group of people are really capable.

After hearing what Manager Baimu said, Duanmu Huai nodded. It seems that Baifan Group has really put a lot of effort into this. They strive to give their customers the best experience. Indeed, if they just stay in the villa, they don’t have to worry about other places. But if the guests want to go out and have fun, and they see a shabby and dirty village and shrine, they will naturally not get a good evaluation.

Of course, if the target customers here are ordinary tourists, the Baifan Group would not have put so much effort. But since their target customers are those upper-class people who are not afraid of spending money, the situation is different. If Duanmu Huai came here for vacation, he would also happily spend money here.

After all, for the upper class, money is no longer a problem. They care more about whether they can live comfortably and have fun. As long as their expectations are met, then the amount of money is not a problem.

But on the other hand, this also put a lot of pressure on Baifan Group. With so much cost put in, if this problem cannot be solved, then all the efforts will be in vain...

No wonder Mika was so nervous.

"Do you know what this shrine is dedicated to?"

If there is anything that makes people unhappy about Japan, it is that Shintoism's beliefs are too complex and far less simple than other religions. For example, Taoist temples generally worship the Three Pure Ones, and if a temple worships something else, everyone's first reaction is that it feels wrong.

But Japan is different. The so-called eight million gods make them worship everything. Worshiping foxes and wild boars is a basic practice. There are even shrines dedicated to hair, and those who worship there basically can't grow hair. There are also shrines dedicated to penises, which are also very popular. Those who go there to worship are either not good themselves or their husbands are not good.

In addition, the shrine that enshrines pillows is mainly used to cure insomnia.

Duanmu Huai also saw a shrine dedicated to the God of Poverty, but the purpose of this shrine was not to make people poor, but to let those unlucky people come here to vent their anger. Most people go to the shrine to pray and make wishes to the statue, but in this shrine of the God of Poverty, people go in to beat the statue.

To put it bluntly, it is to let those unlucky people who are not doing well in life and career beat the God of Poverty to vent their anger... To be honest, Duanmu Huai really can't understand the Japanese's brain circuit. Everyone can understand that worshipping the God of Wealth to make money. But because you are poor, you beat the God of Poverty to vent your anger? Aren't you afraid that if you offend the God of Poverty, he will directly destroy your family? Or is the head of this shrine a materialist? He doesn't believe this at all?

  There is even a super outrageous shrine dedicated to Edison and Hertz, one of whom was in charge of strong electricity and the other of weak electricity... I wonder if people go to this shrine to pray that there will be no power outages?

I don’t know if Edison and Hertz can enjoy this incense…

Therefore, in Japan, if something strange happens, the shrine is the most likely suspect. This is why many ghost stories, ghost stories, and even old hauntings often occur at shrines.

Because the things worshipped in shrines are all weird, one of them might belong to the Old Ones or the Outer Gods... Maybe you go to a shrine that worships umbilical cords, but people there believe in the Orphan of Sco!

Duanmu Huai took a careful look before entering the shrine, and did not see the iconic animal statues such as foxes and wild boars outside, which means that this shrine is definitely not dedicated to animal spirits such as foxes.

Then...it is very questionable what is enshrined here.

"Ah, there's an introduction to the history of this shrine over there."

Manager Kashiwagi was also prepared for this. He walked to a self-service newsstand nearby and took out a few brochures...

I have to say, what a spirit of craftsmanship.

Duanmu Huai silently nodded his thumbs up, then reached out to take the brochure and started flipping through it.

According to the above, this shrine is also related to the story that Mika told them before. The brochure says that this shrine was originally used to worship the demon (Duanmu Huai didn't find it strange, after all, the things worshipped in Japanese shrines are all demons and monsters in China, the kind that you would kill on the way to the West). The owner of the shrine is also an accomplice of the demon, helping the demon choose villagers to devour every year.

Later, a great monk arrived and defeated the demon and his lackeys, and sealed the demon away. In order to express gratitude to the great monk, the family that was saved by the great monk decided to replace the former shrine owner who died in the battle with the great monk, and guard the shrine and the sealed demon for generations.

The monk consumed his life to seal the demon, and passed away shortly afterwards. This shrine enshrines the monk's skull.

"………………………"

The shrine enshrines the heads of monks. This kind of crazy thing can only be seen in Japan. Duanmu Huai said that you might as well demolish the shrine and build a temple... It is better to believe in Buddhism than to worship skulls.

  Isn't this unlucky?

Next, Manager Kashiwagi led everyone to the worship hall, which is where people usually come to worship. According to the rules, people will first wash their hands in the hand basin, and then come to the money box in front of the worship hall to worship. In simple terms, just like in many cartoons, throw a coin into the money box, shake the bell hanging on the money box, and then bow twice, clap twice, and bow once.

Well, to put it bluntly, it means telling the gods enshrined here that I have already paid you, please help me realize my wish...

To be honest, with the little money they gave, I don't think I could fulfill any valuable wishes.

  After all, it’s just a coin…how big can its face value be?

Anyway, if Duanmu Huai became a god worshipped in a shrine, he would not fulfill the wishes of these believers. You want me to help you with just a few coins? Am I so cheap?

  At least you have to learn Shaolin or something and spend a lot of money to be the first to do it!

So every time Duanmu Huai heard others say that the Japanese were superstitious, he would sneer at them.

Superstition? Have you ever seen such a deadly superstition? If it were an old man in a rural area of ​​China who was worshipping gods, he would also offer three animals to express his feelings. When he made a wish, he would also say that if the wish came true, he would definitely slaughter a cow or a sheep to fulfill the wish.

Tell them not to do that, and just throw a few coins into the land temple and see if they will spit at you to death.

  So even the Japanese are so superstitious. I think they don’t believe it at all!

How can you treat the gods and Buddhas so badly? You think your retribution is not enough, right?

Okay, we’ve strayed off topic, let’s get back to the topic.

At present, the worship hall has completely lost its original appearance. The whole worship hall looks like it has been burned by fire, and it is charred and has become a large piece of wreckage. In the yard, there is also a thick, collapsed tree. Judging from the gods surrounding the trunk, this should be the sacred tree of this shrine.

But at this moment, the tree seemed to have been uprooted and fell directly to the ground.

"According to the villagers at the time, they came to worship early in the morning and found that the sacred tree in the shrine yard had fallen and the worship hall was burned down. They were shocked and hurried to find the shrine master and his family. But their family was nowhere to be found, so the villagers thought of looking for the village chief, but when they arrived at the village chief's house, they found that the village chief's family was also missing..." "In other words, this is actually two missing cases, the shrine family and the village chief's family?"

"Yes, the shrine master's family of three, and the village chief's family is him and his good-for-nothing son."

At this point, Manager Kashiwagi also frowned. It seemed that he really didn't like his son.

At this moment, everyone had bypassed the outer worship hall and came to the main hall inside. Like the worship hall, the entire main body was burned to charcoal and completely collapsed. Or it could be said that this was where the fire first broke out, and the worship hall was just affected.

"When did the fire start? Didn't anyone notice it?"

"No."

In response to Duanmu Huai's question, Manager Baimu shook his head.

"The police also conducted an investigation. The strange thing is that no one noticed when the fire broke out. What's even stranger is that there was no sign of firefighting at the scene. This is very strange. After all, if no one put out the fire, a fire that could burn down the main hall would surely spread. But none of this happened. It's really strange."

Looking at the sea of ​​trees surrounding the shrine, Duanmu Huai said that what he said made sense. In a place like this, if there was no one to put out the fire, if just a spark flew out, it would be more than a joke to set the mountain on fire.

However, the strange thing is that from the scene, the fire was limited to the main hall. Only the front worship hall was affected, and even the surrounding walls did not burn. This is very strange...

"…………………"

At this moment, Duanmu Huai felt someone pulling at the corner of his clothes. He lowered his head and saw Medea looking at him, so Duanmu Huai nodded knowingly, then he turned around and silently winked at Sha Jiuye on the other side. The latter was stunned for a moment, but still turned around and looked at Manager Kashiwagi.

"Can we see where the shrine master lives?"

"Of course, please follow me..."

Manager Kashiwagi didn't notice anything. He nodded, then continued walking forward with Sayukaya and Mika.

After they left, Duanmu Huai withdrew his gaze and looked at Irisviel and Medea.

"What happened? Did you find anything?"

Originally, as heroic spirits, Irisviel and Medea could communicate telepathically with Duanmu Huai, but after coming to this world, they became like humans and could not transform into spiritual bodies, so naturally they could not communicate telepathically, so they could only send others away in this way.

"Something is not right here."

Irisviel spoke first.

"According to Medea and I's investigation, this shrine should be located in the center of a spiritual vein."

"Spiritual vein......"

Duanmu Huai was no stranger to spiritual veins. After all, the magician families in the Type-Moon world would build their own workshops on the spiritual veins.

"Yes, in fact, it is not uncommon to use the power of spiritual veins to imprison or seal something."

Medea also spoke at this time.

"In other words, most people in ancient and modern times would do this. After all, relying on humans to seal is not safe, but relying on the power of spiritual veins can be safe."

"To be honest, I think the safest thing to do is to kill them directly, to eradicate the root of the problem and put an end to it forever."

Duanmu Huai, on the other hand, did not have a good attitude towards the seal.

"So what's the problem?"

"The problem is that we haven't found any seals here."

Alice continued to speak, and Duanmu Huai was stunned when he heard her words.

"No?"

"Yes, that is to say, there is no seal here, not only that..."

Medea was silent for a moment.

"Based on the traces of mana left here, it seems more like something has absorbed the power of the spiritual vein."

"………………………"

Hearing this, Duanmu Huai was completely speechless.

"Are you trying to tell me that something in the shrine is not sealed away, but has been lying here, relying on absorbing the power of the spiritual veins to strengthen itself?"

In response to Duanmu Huai's question, the two looked at each other and nodded.

"Probably."

"Ok."

Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes silently and sighed.

Now it seems that this matter has really become troublesome.

The wooden bridge is easy to pass. I basically never died from falling after passing it once. Just be invisible. But the forced health reduction is really disgusting... By the way, the B button of my controller is broken. It's terrible. I'll buy a new controller and play again...