I planted a sacred tree in Tokyo

"Look, it's coming soon."

"Huh, luckily no evil spirits appeared along the way."

The family car drove through the mountains along the winding road. The front suddenly opened up, revealing a mountain basin and a small town as far as the eye could see. The three people in the car all breathed a sigh of relief.

Although this place technically belongs to Takashima City, it is separated by several mountains and seems to be another world.

In the past, it was just a few minutes' train ride or ten minutes' drive. Now, it is simply a journey through a dangerous and barbaric land.

Fortunately, their family of three had good luck and did not encounter any harassment from evil spirits.

“Ten years on, very little has changed.”

The bearded middle-aged man driving the car sighed,

As the car started to go downhill, the three of them saw buildings scattered on several streets, sparrows on electric poles, trees and small fields around the buildings. They were filled with the leisurely and calm atmosphere of the last century.

"Let's take a rest in the parking lot first."

The end of the winding road is a parking lot, which, judging from the stop sign, also doubles as a bus stop.

It’s just that both the square and the building are full of traces of time, and they are obviously rarely used. The reason is of course:

“The tram station is quite new,”

The young man who pushed open the door and got out of the car looked up to the opposite side.

Opposite the parking lot is the town’s tram stop.

In addition to the winding mountain road, there is also a tram that passes through the mountain tunnel, connecting the town with the outside world.

"Yongren, let's go eat some local delicacies together?"

"No, you can eat."

When his parents were walking to the restaurant in the parking lot, ready to eat some "hometown food," the boy named "Yongren" had already stepped out of the town.

As he walked, he waved back. Compared with the 'food from his hometown', what Yongto wanted to see more was the 'friends from his hometown'.

“It’s been ten years and almost nothing has changed.”

Walking on the streets of the small town, the young man felt quite emotional.

The familiar scenery in front of me gradually overlaps with the memories of my childhood:

The abandoned school bus in the open space next to the street was Saki's secret base when he was a child; the river not far through the town, where Saki and I once caught small fish and crabs together; and the big tree behind the house, which Saki often climbed. Above; yes, there is also the backyard of the hospital. I remember at that time, four people.

Chasing the figure of the little girl,

While walking, the boy named Yong Ren stopped.

"It's such a deserted town."

Compared with Kyoto, it's more than "deserted"?

The sun is setting, but there are no people on the street. At first glance, it looks like a scene from a horror movie!

"Yes,"

"This was originally a deserted town."

After coming back to his senses from the memory, the young man shook his head with a smile.

In my memory, it only seemed so 'lively' because of Saki's presence.

"The front is Saki's home. I wonder if I will be beaten if we meet again after more than ten years."

Girls generally develop faster than boys, so when he was a child, although he was a little embarrassed, most of the time Yuuto watched Saki accomplish various 'feats' and was so envious that he recognized her as his 'big brother' on the spot.

He had thought about going back to his 'hometown' before, but his parents had always rejected him.

It seems like there are any bad memories here?

"Why?"

He walked along the familiar street to where his childhood friend's 'home' was, but when Yuuto looked up, what he saw was a three-story apartment!

"I remember it was here, wasn't it the wooden courtyard?"

I checked the surrounding buildings again and again, and it was indeed this place that I remembered. Huh?

When Yongto glanced at the surrounding buildings, he noticed someone peeking at him from behind some windows!

That kind of secretly scrutinizing gaze made him very uncomfortable.

What's going on with the people here?

but--

Raising his hand to look at the setting sun, Yongren turned and walked out of the town.

It's getting late, let's meet up with our parents first.

In a corner that he didn't notice, a gray-brown snake crawled silently under the eaves of a house.

————

"Hey? Where's the car!"

When he returned to the station, he saw an empty parking lot, and Yongto reluctantly took out his cell phone.

‘Mom and dad went to see their brother first to discuss work matters. ’

‘The brave man will join us at the new home. ’

‘Love your mother~~’

At the same time, a location was also sent.

"Ah, I forgot to turn on the phone notification."

Yongto slapped his forehead in frustration, but it didn't matter, just follow the position——

"Who are you?"

There was a crisp sound coming from the restaurant in the parking lot next to it.

"Feel sorry.?!"

As soon as he turned his head, Yongto was stunned.

It was a girl with her hair tied into a side ponytail, wearing a simple vest, jacket, and sweatpants, looking youthful and beautiful.

Of course, this is not the point. The point is that the other person's face begins to overlap with the memory.

"Tourist?"

"Or a relative from someone in our town?"

The girl locked the door of the restaurant and walked straight towards Yugito.

"But we can talk about these later. It's getting late, so go home."

"Did you listen to me? This classmate?"

"Ahem, Saki."

When the other party stopped in confusion, Yongto coughed and stretched out his right hand.

"haven't seen you for a long time."

The girl was confused at first, and then her expression changed from joy, anger, sadness, and finally turned into a stern expression of coldness.

"Who are you?"

"Hey, I'm a brave man!"

"Tatsuki Yugito, we were when we were little."

"I don't know,"

After a stiff response, the girl turned around and prepared to leave.

But before leaving, I added:

"Go home, stranger."

? ? ?

"etc!"

Seeing that the other party was about to leave, Yongto was stunned and quickly caught up with him, took out his mobile phone and opened the photo album.

"Are you Saki? Look at your expression just now, look at this photo -"

Raising the phone in his hand, Yongto asked eagerly.

"This is evidence that we played,"

"Am I the only one who treats these memories as precious things like a fool? Treat us as friends."

"friend?"

The girl with side ponytail turned her head, her face pretending to be cold could no longer remain tense.

"I also once had a good friend,"

"We climbed trees together, caught fish, and played house in the secret base."

As she spoke, the girl clasped her hands and asked excitedly,

"But one day, he disappeared."

"No words were left behind. When I went to his house again, even the house was sold!"

"What kind of friend is this?!"

? ? ?

"Wait, that's not right."

"I have left a letter, please Ryuji give it to you."

"You lied!"

"Ryuuji doesn't have any"

clang!

Just as the two were arguing with each other, a melodious bell sounded, making Yongren turn his head subconsciously.

It came from a small town school, but at this point, school had already ended, right?

"Oops!"

The girl who had been angrily scolding Yugi just now was startled.

"Come on, time's up."

As he said that, he grabbed Yugito's wrist, pulled him and ran forward.

"Ah, ah?"

"Saki, why are you so anxious all of a sudden?"

Yongto, who was pulled by the other party and started to run subconsciously, couldn't help but ask; at the same time, he also confirmed that the other party was indeed Saki, whom he hadn't seen in ten years.

Dang, Dang, Dang

Amidst the melodious ringing of the bell, the girl pulled Yongto to run while explaining:

"This is our rule here,"

"When the bell rings seven times, if you don't return home, you will be eaten by the 'Slave of the Underworld'."

?

If it was a year ago,

The brave man will definitely scoff and say: What an old superstition.

But in this extraordinary era, that is:

"Some kind of evil spirit?"

But evil spirits will not be spared just because they hide in the home.

"No, stop talking nonsense and go to my house first!"

There was no time to get angry, and the two of them ran past the deserted street. The speed was by no means slow, but:

clang!

The last bell fell,

The whole town became silent, with only the sound of boys and girls running and their rapid breathing.

"Trouble,"

"There's not enough time."

The girl with the side ponytail complained while running,

"It's all your fault. If I had known, I would have just spent the night in the restaurant."

"Sorry, sorry."

Yongto had nothing to refute about the fact that he had delayed the other party.

But what he was curious about was, what was the so-called ‘underworld slave’? If it's an evil spirit, it would be more dangerous to be alone in a restaurant.

? !

The two of them were running quickly,

In the alley of the street ahead, a figure staggered out.

The figure looks like an old man, but he is wearing white mourning clothes and a triangle scarf on his head, which is the standard dress of the dead in the island country.

"Evil spirit?"

Yong Ren raised his eyebrows and took the initiative to throw away the hand of the girl next to him.

"let me!"

As he spoke, his feet accelerated and he strode towards the 'evil spirit'.

"Ho~~~"

As soon as the slow 'evil spirit' turned around, he saw the young man charging sideways with his elbow as a weapon.

Head-on!

Bang,

There was a muffled sound,

The 'evil spirit' who was wearing mourning clothes was pushed on the spot and the whole 'person' suddenly bent over and was thrown away.

There was even a bit of "astonishment" on the face of the mummy; if he could speak, he would definitely cover his chest and angrily rebuke: Young people don't respect martial ethics, so they came to sneak attack me, a man who has been around for hundreds of years.

"Um?"

Knocking the opponent away with a standard 'elbow to the heart', high school student Yongto was also stunned.

The touch of this entity, not an evil spirit? !

I wouldn't have hit the old man.

Will die!

"Run quickly, why are you standing there?"

The girl with a side ponytail rushed past, grabbed the stunned hero and ran away.

The 'old man' who was pushed away had already gotten up and stretched out his hands to catch the two of them. However, at the speed of the two young people, he had already run away far away.

"Ho~~"

brush,

Just when the 'old man in mourning clothes' stood there blankly, seemingly thinking about what to do next.

In the alley next to it, several long 'black shadows' flew out, pulling the 'old man in mourning clothes' in a circle, and then he was dragged into the alley.

"What was that just now?"

"That's the 'Netherworld Slave', just think of it as our 'specialty' evil spirit here."

In one breath, he ran to the downstairs of a three-story apartment, which was exactly the one Yongto had seen before: the girl stepped forward and reached in, opening the metal fence door from the inside. After the two of them entered, she locked the door from the inside.

"Phew, it's safe."

"You are too 'evil spirits'."

There were still some undecided brave men who looked outside the metal gate.

That was indeed an 'entity', not the illusory body of a normal 'evil spirit': Also, evil spirits are not afraid of sunlight and do not have the habit of only coming out at night.

"They all said they were 'underworld slaves'!"

The girl with the side ponytail emphasized again, then walked up the stairs.

"Follow me,"

"Go to my house to hide for the night and then go home tomorrow."

"Really, since you're back, won't you first understand the changes in your hometown?"

"Feel sorry."

Yong Ren apologized and looked at the town:

? ?

In the small town where the sun sets, there are so many people!

"Those are all."

Yong Ren could not help but ask in a low voice,

"Yes, they are all slaves of the underworld."

"Leave them alone, they can't be killed."

"They will disappear after daylight and have almost no impact on the town: we don't have much nightlife here anyway."

The girl with side ponytail, 'Saki', answered casually that compared to these 'underworld slaves', the 'evil spirits' in other parts of the island country are more terrifying: at least 'underworld slaves' will not enter other people's homes at will. As long as the doors and windows are closed, they can Sleep peacefully.

Of course, with so many ‘weird things’ roaming the streets, whether ordinary people can sleep is another question.

Click

Just when the two of them arrived on the second floor,

Suddenly there was the sound of the door opening in the corridor.

"Hero?"

Behind the slightly opened security door of the nearby room is a housewife holding a kitchen knife and carefully checking the situation.

"Mother?"

"Why are you here?"

Facing the surprised Yuuto, the housewife opened the door with a sigh of relief.

"What nonsense are you talking about? This is our home."

"Hey, this is Xiaosaki?"

Noticing the girl next to her son, the housewife became even more enthusiastic.

"Long time no see. She has grown into a beautiful girl."

"Come in and sit down, you're welcome~~"

While he warmly welcomed the girl into the house, he gave Yongto a 'I've got you, good boy' look on his face.

"No, Mom"

"Then excuse me, Aunt Chenyue."

————

in the alley,

Squirming, struggling,

The "old man in mourning" who has lost his limbs can only be a "cocoon" on the ground like a caterpillar.

"There's no blood on the fracture, just corpses and dirt?"

The two legs and one hand of the 'old man in mourning clothes' were wrapped by several venomous snakes, some distance away from him. Although he kept struggling, it seemed that he wanted to return to his 'original body', but he couldn't.

This kind of broken limbs, still struggling, may scare ordinary people, but to Jiukong Yaoai, it is just a boring trick.

In the extraordinary world, everything is possible.

The so-called ‘immortality’ is only relative:

The pool of liquid corroded by snake venom next to it was the hand of the 'old man in mourning clothes'.

"There are no vital points in the body,"

Looking at the 'old man in mourning clothes' who was still struggling after his spine was trampled by him, Jiukong Yao made an indifferent analysis.

"Limbs can be reattached even if they are separated from the body,"

"If part of it is destroyed, then—"

His eyes fell on the arm of the 'old man in mourning clothes': the arm that was originally torn off from the shoulder by a poisonous snake actually 'grown' a length of it unknowingly: it was as if there was soil constantly filling in his missing parts.

"I probably understand,"

The sky is shaking with love thoughtfully,

It's the power of the 'Baqi Remains' that has been used!

It’s interesting, in this small mountain town, someone actually dares to get involved with ‘her’ power?

Let's see who is so bold.