Start with a core cabin

Chapter 1448 Abstract Ritual (This meow will always be youthful and beautiful at the age of seventeen!)

The following is a transcript of Reina's remarks.

"When I entered this shop, Miss Saya was already the top star, and the customers all liked her very much. Not only the customers, but even other colleagues admired her. How should I put it, in this kind of work, it is common for people to undermine each other. But Miss Saya has a natural leadership charm, and everyone is willing to listen to her. She will also help us and teach us how to deal with customers. She said that her dream in the future is to open a club, so now we are just accumulating experience."

"What's Miss Saya's background? She seems to be from Wakayama and came here to work hard... Well, but everyone is actually like this, and so am I. I don't want to waste my youth in a small rural area, and I want to go to a big city to have a look while I'm still young. Ah, actually I like to read mystery novels very much, and I've also watched a lot of detective shows, so I know you, Mr. Duanmu. After all, your features are too obvious, but then again, you look even taller in person than on TV..."

"Sorry, I got off topic... ahem, anyway, Ms. Saya is very popular, so when she called a few of us who ranked high to a party, no one refused. Then at that party, Ms. Saya said that she wanted to take a few people to Gion..."

"Hey? You said this is Gion? Mr. Duanmu, you don't understand. For outsiders, perhaps the whole place is Gion, but for us, only the small area inside is the real Gion. The stores there are membership-based, and you must be recommended by acquaintances to enter. And the people who come in and out are big shots such as presidents of large companies and politicians. In fact, many sisters dream of entering Gion and working there. Compared with them, we are like the difference between a third-rate idol and a superstar."

"Oh, yes, it was said that Miss Saya was poaching people. When we heard Miss Saya say that, we were all very surprised, but it was not surprising. After all, we do this for the money, and being able to work in Gion is the dream of many people. In fact, we talked about this topic a lot when we got together, but it was too difficult for outsiders to work in Gion. Outsiders like us had no chance at all. Then... Miss Saya brought a guest... Hmm? Mr. Duanmu, do you want to know who it is? I'd like to have another glass of wine, can I?"

"Ahaha...Mr. Duanmu is so generous. I didn't expect the detective to be so rich. By the way, don't be surprised when you hear that Miss Saya brought a guest. That guest... turned out to be a monk! To be honest, we have been in the store for a long time and have seen all kinds of people, but we have never seen a monk. So we were also very puzzled at the time, and the monk was an old man, so everyone felt a little strange."

"Oh, by the way, another strange thing is that it was clearly night time, but he was still wearing sunglasses, but the way he walked didn't look like a blind person. Then, the monk began to explain to us that the store was located inside Gion and was a membership-based store that served celebrities. They had taken a fancy to Miss Saya and wanted to recruit her. Miss Saya was willing to bring a few sisters with her, so he came here to investigate."

"In fact, we can guess a little about Miss Saya's thoughts. The competition in the store there must be more intense than the club we are in now. Miss Saya also wants to bring a few allies to help. And no one is willing to give up this opportunity. Not only that, the reward given by that store is quite generous. To be honest, this is quite tempting, but after that, the monk took out a few flyers... At first I thought it was an introduction to the store, but it turned out to be some religion... I am not interested in that kind of thing, so I stuffed it into my bag, but then it disappeared... Ah, yes, yes, that's it. Mr. Duanmu, where did you get it from? Eh? Was it brought back by a drunk customer? That's terrible, please don't tell the store about this, otherwise I will be fined."

"Ah, you ask me about what happened next? Afterwards, as you saw, Mr. Duanmu, Miss Saya took several other sisters to that store, and I was the only one who stayed. Um...you ask me why I didn't go? Actually, I also have a little selfish motive. After all, my current ranking in this store is pretty good, and the customers like me quite a lot. It's just that Miss Saya was here before, so no matter how hard I tried, I could only take over what she left. But now that Miss Saya has left, maybe I can become the top star. Hehe...I'm not like Miss Saya, who plans to do this for the rest of her life. For me, this is just a temporary way to make money. So it would be great if I could do it easily."

"… Another reason is what I just told you. The monk said that everyone who joins must get a flame tattoo on their body, and I'm afraid of the pain. Also, the compensation they give is too generous… How should I put it? I've read a lot of detective novels and watched a lot of shows, and I always feel that there's something wrong with the generous compensation they give. Generally, the split between the club and the ladies is fixed. Most of the time we get less, and some shops are more lenient and allow us to get more. But what about that shop? It feels to me like they gave most of the profits to us and only kept a small part for themselves… If Miss Saya had this treatment, I could understand it. But I don't think I'm at Miss Saya's level yet, so this compensation is terrible."

"Did we keep in touch after that? This... No. It's strange to say, I thought Miss Saya and the other sisters would inform the boss in advance, but one day, they suddenly stopped coming to work and called the boss. The boss was furious at the time. I later called the other sisters to inquire about the situation, but their phones were all unreachable... Mr. Duanmu, you are not here to investigate this, are you? Is this some kind of incident!?"

Fortunately, Lina was a detective enthusiast, so she answered every question from Duanmu Huai and seemed very cooperative, even somewhat proactive - of course, although she was proactive, she also drank a lot of wine.

At least tonight's turnover is stable.

Unfortunately, Reina didn't know where the store was, she just said it was in Gion. She wasn't very clear about the exact location, after all, as Reina said, that kind of store is a membership system, and unless you are a staff member or a guest, you are not allowed to enter.

There was no address written on the flyer. Could it be that this clue has been lost?

Duanmu Huai had used time travel on the flyer before, but it seemed that this flyer had been sealed until it was used, so he could not see what was happening around him. What he saw from the flyer was roughly the same as what Lina said, and Duanmu Huai could not see anything before that. But there was nothing he could do about it, after all, this flyer was stuck in the middle, so he had no vision at all.

However, Duanmu Huai did not gain nothing. He got a photo of Saya from Reina, and then sent it to Shionji Yuko, asking her to investigate. According to Reina, they agreed to go to the store together the next day. However, Reina had already decided to withdraw, so she found an excuse and did not go.

After that, Reina no longer had Saya and the other sisters...

After making sure that he could not get any more information from Lina, Duanmu Huai said goodbye and left. Shionji Youzi was also very quick. Just as Duanmu Huai left the club and had not yet returned to his hotel, Shionji Youzi sent him a surveillance video.

In the picture, we can see a trendy-dressed woman suspected to be Saya walking out of the station with several other people, chatting and laughing, and then arriving at Gion.

  Then they walked all the way into Gion, and then... they climbed the stairs and entered a temple?

"???"

Seeing this, Duanmu Huai was puzzled. At this time, Ziyuan Temple Youzi also sent a message.

"They never came out after entering the temple, at least in places with surveillance. I debugged the records of the next few days, but there was nothing to find."

"Good boy, this is really good boy."

Duanmu Huai watched the surveillance video and sighed.

Setting up a club in a temple? Playing so wildly? Well, you have to say, this seems to be really exciting. Duanmu Huai remembered that in the game, there was a plot in the church where he had sex with the statues and nuns. The scene full of taboos and passion was quite interesting. If the scene in that memory was replaced with a Buddhist temple surrounded by the Eighteen Arhats...

"…………………"

No, it seems like I have lost interest all of a sudden, and even want to recite scriptures.

After all, the temples are full of monks, which cannot be compared with the nuns in the churches.

"What's next?"

"I'm going to see what the hell is going on in that temple."

As things developed to this point, Duanmu Huai knew without a second thought that there was definitely something wrong with that temple, although the fact that a cult was hiding in a temple was problematic in itself.

"Then you better do your best. There is no surveillance in that temple, so there is no room for me to perform well."

Shionji Yuko simply hung up the phone, while Duanmu Huai cheered himself up and then followed the route in the video and walked towards the depths of Gion.

It was already late at night, and it was also the busiest time in Gion. People were coming and going on this street in the dark night. The lights dispelled the darkness and illuminated the entire street. Duanmu Huai walked in it, but surprisingly, he was not discovered by anyone. Thanks to the stealth from the Dark Raven Guard, his huge body was completely integrated with the shadows. On this bright street, the movement in the dark shadows had been completely concealed.

It didn't take long for Duanmu Huai to arrive at the foot of the temple. He saw that the roadside was full of cars. Although Duanmu Huai was not very familiar with cars, he could guess that these cars were obviously for the rich and powerful. Looking up, he saw that all the way up to the mountain gate, there were people wearing black suits, who looked like gangsters or bodyguards guarding.

Although it is possible to just rush in, it would be too time-consuming. Wasting time fighting with monsters in such a place is not a good option.

Duanmu Huai thought for a moment, then concealed his body again, slipped through the woods in the cover of night, and came to the wall of the temple - the security here was of course very tight, but for Duanmu Huai, who was two meters and eighty centimeters tall, the wall in front of him was even shorter than him, so Duanmu Huai just jumped lightly and easily climbed over the wall.

"Okay, where should we go next..."

Duanmu Huai stood up and looked at the situation in the temple. Then he soon discovered that the main hall was brightly lit. Following the sound of the wind, he could faintly hear the sounds of chanting and worshiping Buddha.

Why are you not going to sleep so late at night but chanting scriptures here?

  There must be something wrong!

Thinking of this, Duanmu Huai immediately lowered his body, quietly crossed the square like a bear, and came to the main hall. Then he stuck his head out and looked inside through the gap in the window.

The main hall was brightly lit, but it was not lit by electric lights but by candles. The light of each candle illuminated the originally dim main hall, allowing Duanmu Huai to see everything inside.

There were dozens of candlesticks placed around the main hall, and in the center of the main hall, there was a Buddha statue. However, the strange thing was that this Buddha statue had no face, only the limbs and the flame behind it were carved. The whole face was blank, with only a cone-like flame symbol on it.

In front of the Buddha statue, several monks in monk robes were closing their eyes, beating wooden fish and chanting scriptures like "Mami Mami Homage".

Opposite these monks, several men in black suits who looked like big men were kneeling there. The youngest among them was in his fifties. The oldest ones looked like they had white hair and beards, and they might be in their seventies or eighties.

However, what follows is the highlight—among the guests and the monks, you can see several women wearing monk robes and shaved heads, dancing to the sound of wooden fish and chanting.

Seeing this, Duanmu Huai blinked and rubbed his eyes.

  Is there something wrong with my eyes? What the hell is this drawing of hell?

Although cults never harm human beings, your description is a bit too abstract!

"——————!"

Just when Duanmu Huai was confused, he heard the sound of chanting in the main hall becoming louder and louder. At the same time, the brazier in front of the faceless Buddha statue suddenly burst into hot and dazzling flames!

(End of this chapter)