I planted a sacred tree in Tokyo

The sun sets in the west,

The lights were revealed in the buildings with their curtains drawn.

"Sorry for the trouble, Kosaki."

In the living room filled with large and small cardboard boxes, a girl with a side ponytail is helping to organize things.

"It's okay, Aunt Chenyue."

“I live next door: I can come home any time.”

While sorting things, the girl answered, making the housewife who was cooking in the kitchen more and more satisfied.

How could she, a mother, be unaware of her son's little thoughts?

"But when I visited before, there was no one at your house?"

When I first moved here, according to the custom of the island country, I had to visit my neighbors with gifts so that everyone could take care of each other: but there was no one in the apartment next door.

"Well, I live alone now."

"My parents went out to run errands a few years ago and got into a car accident."

Then,

There is no more.

As for people, in addition to dying of natural old age, even before transcendence comes, they often die due to car accidents or natural disasters.

Car accident?

"Ah, sorry."

Mrs. Chenyue, who was cooking, was stunned for a moment, stopped talking, and started chopping vegetables silently.

"Saki, is it okay for you to be alone?"

Put your personal cardboard box in your room,

Tatsuki Yuto walked into the living room and sat down opposite the girl.

“Although the extraordinary disaster ‘Yellow Spring Crack’ has ended, the subsequent ‘Evil Spirit Parade’ still exists.”

Living alone is a big no-no!

The easiest way to deal with evil spirits is to have more people.

After all, humans are social creatures. As long as there are many people, courage will rise immediately.

It is revealed that the "evil spirits" are essentially the reverberation after human death. Most people may be afraid of one to one, but when the number of humans increases, it is the "evil spirits" that should be feared.

"No problem,"

"It seems you don't know the 'customs' here, so let me explain them to you."

The girl put down the things in her hands and gave them to her childhood friend and now neighbor to educate her on the rules of this small town.

"We don't have any evil spirits here,"

"Replaced by Lord 'Nether Slave'."

The so-called 'underworld slaves' are the kind of 'old man in mourning' that he met before, and they are also the many 'extraordinary beings' wandering around the town now.

"Some people say that because we are protected by our ancestors, evil spirits will be bound within our bodies by our ancestors;"

"Some people say it's because of the resurrection of Lord 'Underworld Slave' in local legends."

After talking about the legends that I don’t know whether they are true or false, here is the real question:

"These 'underworld slaves' will appear after the school bell rings; usually around seven o'clock, depending on the bell."

"As long as you hide inside the building and don't look at the 'underworld slaves', they will just wander around aimlessly;"

"If you encounter a 'Netherworld Slave', as long as you can hide in the building in time, you will be fine."

In contrast, it is even more frightening to know whether an 'evil spirit' will emerge from the bed or crawl down from the ceiling.

"Isn't anyone trying to eliminate them?"

Chenyue Yongren couldn't help but ask,

Although Kyoto has suffered from the crisis of "Yellow Spring Crack\

,"But General Kafka arrived soon and stopped the situation from deteriorating - it was actually the 'illusion' created by Takahashi Ai Ling.

Immediately afterwards, the underworld crack was sealed, and then the Army's extraordinary men repeatedly cleaned it several times. Coupled with the huge population in Kyoto, even the brainless evil spirits had long since escaped.

So except for the initial impact, no evil spirits can be seen after that.

Regarding the situation in his hometown where humans and "ghosts" coexist, Chen YueYuoRen subconsciously felt incredible.

"How to eliminate it?"

Saki glanced at her childhood playmate,

"The biggest characteristic of these 'underworld slaves' is their immortality."

"Whether it's beheading, shooting, or crushing. They will recover quickly."

The real reason is not just this. At the beginning, this town was also preparing to eliminate these 'underworld slaves'; but it turned out that the 'underworld slaves' were difficult to kill, but they lost a lot of people.

Later, people discovered that since the appearance of the ‘underworld slave’, the ‘evil spirit’ had disappeared!

With such a comparison, it is better to just let the ‘underworld slave’ exist.

"Furthermore, because there is no crematorium in our town, they are all buried in the ground; so many of the 'underworld slaves' look like people who died in the town, and many people are reluctant to do it."

There are even rumors that the ancestors appeared and bound the 'evil spirits' within their bodies to protect the town.

"I see,"

Chenyue Yongren nodded,

As the old saying goes: choose the lesser of two evils.

Compared with these "underworld slaves" who only wander aimlessly, "evil spirits" are more harmful.

Then just let them wander around: anyway, as the girl said, there is no nightlife in this town.

"If that's all it is, it's a pretty good idea—"

"ah!!"

A short scream suddenly sounded, scaring Tatsuki Yugi and Saki in the living room to turn their heads at the same time.

Yuuto's mother, Mrs. Chenyue, raised the bloody kitchen knife with a dull look on her face.

? !

"Aunt Chenyue?"

"Put the knife down—"

With a quick glance, Chenyue Yongren saw the source of the blood:

The fingers of mother's other hand!

brush,

Before he had time to think about it, he rushed forward.

?

Slightly startled,

The girl Sakuya stood up and rushed over.

"Quick, get the medical kit!"

Taking the kitchen knife from his mother's hand, Yuto Tatsuki pressed down his mother's injured wrist and turned to ask Saki to get the medical kit.

"It's in that red cardboard box!"

"Ah? Ah, OK"

After a flurry of activity, the two finally managed to urgently treat the wound on the dazed Mrs. Tatsuki's hand.

"What happened?"

"Did you accidentally cut your hand while cooking?"

Helping the distraught Mrs. Tatsuki onto the sofa, Yuto Tatsuki's eyes fell on the cooking table.

His mother's cell phone was there. If there was anything unusual, it would probably be related to the cell phone. Could it be that--

Thinking of his father who had not returned home, Yuto Tatsuki's heart sank.

His father went to his brother, Yuto Tatsuki's uncle, to discuss work issues: rest there tonight.

Could it be that something happened to his father?

"I'm fine, I'm fine"

With Saki's comfort, Mrs. Tatsuki came to her senses and waved her hands, tears silently falling.

This look doesn't look like "nothing is wrong" at all.

"Mom, is there something wrong with dad?"

Tatsuki Yuto came over with a mobile phone and handed it to his mother.

Based on his understanding of his parents, their relationship cannot be said to be good, but very good!

They have been married for almost 20 years, but they are still very affectionate, making him look like an "accident" at home.

Only his father can make his mother so heartbroken!

"I'm sorry, Yuto."

Wiping away tears with the back of her hand, the young Mrs. Tatsuki seemed to want to calm herself down, but her violent chest made her words intermittent.

"Your father. He. Sent this text message."

As Mrs. Tatsuki unlocked the screen, there was a simple line of words on it.

'Sorry, I said something wrong. '

"What is this?"

What does it mean? It's nonsense.

In the inexplicable expressions of Yuto and Saki, Mrs. Tatsuki, who finally calmed down a little, explained to them.

"I once made an agreement with Yuto's father;"

"He said that in order to prevent me from being sad, he would die after me."

Whoever dies first, the one left behind will suffer unspeakable sadness: When Mrs. Tatsuki heard the young Mr. Tatsuki say this seriously, she still felt confused. But now -

I burst into tears!

"Yuto's father, Yuto's father."

Suddenly sending such a message means that he is going to die!

"Did my father encounter the 'Underworld Slave'?"

Thinking of this possibility, Yuto Tatsuki quickly took out his mobile phone.

Call the police!

However -

"Sorry,"

"At this time, we will not go out to the police."

A cold rejection came from the other end of the phone,

"I am just a patrolman, during the time period when the 'Underworld Slave' is acting; rashly acting in the town is beyond my ability."

After that, he hung up the phone directly.

"This?!"

"Yuto, calm down."

Saki next to him comforted Yuto Tatsuki who was stunned and almost threw his phone in anger.

"There is only one patrolman in our town. Do you expect him to look for your father at this time?"

"He is just an 'ordinary' patrolman."

It would be better if a superhuman came.

"What if my father is hiding somewhere because he was attacked by the 'Underworld Slaves'?"

Are we just going to do nothing and wait for the news of his death to come back?

"I will go find my father!"

Tatsuki Yuto stood up. As a son, he couldn't just sit here.

? !

————

PS: I missed a few words about visiting relatives. Sorry~~