Start a Core Pod

Chapter 1413 The Unstable Shadow (The controller keys are broken...)

According to the original plan, everyone had to go to the hotel to rest first and then conduct the investigation. But Duanmu Huai felt that it was not 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. The place has been sealed and the police have put up no-entry signs. But for Duanmu Huai, this was naturally not an obstacle. He opened the door directly and strode into the shrine.

Compared to the previous shrine in Yangchen Town, the shrine here is relatively more formal. The gate has been renovated, and there is also a hand-washing pond inside, followed by a shrine in front, a money box, etc. Except for being a little smaller, this place is not much different from the shrines in tourist attractions.

 Even the specifications are quite formal.

Basically, the structures of Japanese shrines are similar. There is a torii gate at the entrance, and then there is an approach path opened in the forest leading to the shrine. There will be stone lion sculptures on both sides of the shrine, mainly used to ward off dirt and evil spirits. After passing the shrine, you will come to the worship hall in the compound, which is a place for people to worship. Behind the worship hall is the main hall, which contains the sacred bodies of the things enshrined in this shrine.

Besides this is the Social Affairs Office. You may not know what this place does, but in fact, it is the supply and marketing cooperative of the shrine. The shrine maiden sells the shrine's amulets and some specialties here, and is also responsible for drawing lots and reconciliations - in fact, this is where people spend money at the shrine.

“This place was also renovated by our Baifan Group.”

 Manager Kashiwagi also hurriedly introduced it to everyone.

“After all, our target customer group is the upper class, so we naturally have such needs. So we negotiated with the owner of the shrine and carried out a comprehensive renovation of the entire outside of the shrine.”

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

Hearing what Manager Kashiwagi said, Duanmu Huai nodded. Now it seems that Baifan Group has indeed made great efforts here. Strive to give their customers the best experience. Indeed, if you just stay in the villa, then naturally you don't need to care about other places. But if guests want to go out and have fun and see a dilapidated and dirty village and shrine, they will naturally not get a good review.

Of course, if the target customer group here is ordinary tourists, then Baifan Group probably won’t put so much effort into it. But since their target customers are upper-class people who are not afraid of spending money, the situation is different. If it were Duanmuhuai who came here for vacation, he would happily spend his money here.

 After all, for the upper class, money is no longer an issue. What they care more about is whether they can live comfortably and have fun. As long as their expectations are met, the amount of money does not matter.

However, in turn, this has also put a lot more pressure on the Baifan Group. With so many costs pressed in, if this problem cannot be solved, it will be all in vain...

 No wonder Meijia is 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 complicated and far less simple than other religions. For example, Taoist temples are generally dedicated to the Three Purities. If any temple offers special items, everyone's first reaction will be that something is wrong.

 But Japan is different. The so-called belief in eight million gods allows them to worship anything, including foxes and wild boars. That is the basic operation. There are even shrines dedicated to hair, and most of the people who go there cannot grow hair. There are also shrines dedicated to Tintin, which are also very popular. Those who go there to worship are either themselves or their husbands who are not good enough.

 In addition, shrines that enshrine pillows are mainly used to treat insomnia.

Duanmuhuai also saw a shrine dedicated to the **** of poverty, but the purpose of this shrine is not to make people poor, but to let those unlucky people come here to vent their anger. Most people go to a shrine to pray and make wishes to the statue of the god, but at this shrine, people go in to beat the statue of the god.

To put it bluntly, it is to let those unlucky people who are not going well in life and career vent their anger by beating the God of Poverty... To be honest, the Japanese people really can't understand it. Everyone can understand worshiping the God of Wealth to seek wealth. But because you are poor, you go to beat the God of Poverty to vent your anger? Aren't you afraid of offending the God of Poverty and having your family destroyed? Or is the host of this shrine a materialist? Don’t believe this at all?

There is even a super outrageous shrine dedicated to Edison and Hertz. One is in charge of strong electricity and the other is in charge of weak electricity... I wonder if you go to this shrine to pray that there will be no power outage?

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

 So, in Japan, if something weird happens, shrines are the most suspect. Many ghost stories, ghost stories and even hauntings from the past tend to appear in shrines, and this is why.

 Because the things enshrined in shrines are all weird, maybe some of them belong to the old days or outside gods... Maybe you went to a shrine that enshrines umbilical cords, and people believe in Sko orphans!

Duanmuhuai observed carefully before entering the shrine just now. There were no iconic animal statues such as foxes and wild boars outside. This means that this shrine is definitely not dedicated to foxes and other animal spirits.

Then...it is very doubtful what is being enshrined here.

“Ah, there is 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 several brochures...

I have to say that the spirit of craftsmanship is really great.

Duanmu Huai silently nodded, then reached out to take the brochure and turned it over.

 According to the above statement, this shrine is also related to the story that Meijia told them before. What is written in the brochure is that this shrine was originally used to worship the demon (Duanmuhuai is not surprised by this. After all, these things enshrined in Japanese shrines are all **** demons and monsters in China, and they will belong to him in China. The kind that you killed casually and drank while on the journey 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, the eminent monk arrived, defeated the demon and its lackeys here, and sealed the demon. In order to thank the eminent monk, the family who was rescued by the eminent monk decided to replace the former shrine owner who died in the battle with the eminent monk and guard the shrine for generations and guard the sealed demons.

The eminent monk died shortly after that because he consumed his life to seal away the demon - and this shrine enshrines the skull of that eminent monk.

　　　…………”

 The heads of monks are enshrined in shrines. This kind of crazy thing can only be seen in Japan. For Duanmu Huai, you might as well bulldoze this shrine and build a temple... Believing in Buddhism is worse than worshiping skulls.

Isn’t this unlucky?

 Next, Manager Kashiwagi led everyone to the worship hall—the place where people usually come to worship. Generally speaking, according to the rules, people will first wash their hands with water in the hand sink, and then go to the money box in front of the worship hall to worship. Simply put, it is just like in many cartoons, throw a coin into the money box, and then shake the hanging The royal bell is placed on the money box, and then two bows, two claps and one bow are made.

Well, to put it bluntly, I just want to tell the gods enshrined here that I have already paid for you. Please help me realize my wish...

To be honest, with the few dollars they gave me, they probably wouldn’t realize any valuable wishes.

 After all, coins...how high can their face value be?

Anyway, if Duanmu Huai becomes a **** enshrined in a certain shrine, he will not fulfill the wishes of these believers. I just want me to take action for a few coins, so I will lose the price like this?

 At any rate, I have to learn Shaolin or something, and spend a lot of money to burn the incense!

 So every time Duanmuhuai heard people say that Japanese people are superstitious, he would sneer a little.

superstitious? Have you ever seen such a superstition that seeks death? If it were an elderly person in rural China worshiping gods, they would have to sacrifice three animals to express their gratitude. When making a wish, they would also say that if the wish comes true, they will kill cows and sheep to fulfill the wish.

Tell them not to do this, just throw a few coins in the Tumu Temple and see if they will spray you to death with Tumo stars.

 That’s why the Japanese are so superstitious. I don’t think they believe it at all!

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

 Okay, the topic has gone far, let’s bring it back.

At present, this worship hall has completely lost its appearance. The entire worship hall looks like it has been burned by fire and is charred black. It has turned into a large piece of wreckage. In the yard, there is also a thick, fallen 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 then found that the sacred tree in the shrine yard fell down and the worship hall was burned down. They were all frightened and hurriedly looked for the shrine director and his family. But their family members were completely There was no trace of the village chief, 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 disappearance cases, the shrine family and the The village chief’s family?”

“Yes, the shrine hosts a family of three, and the village chief’s family is him and his incompetent son.”

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

At this moment, everyone has bypassed the outer worship hall and came to the main hall inside. Like the worship hall, the entire main body here was burned to coke and completely collapsed. In other words, this is where the fire first broke out, and the worship hall only affected the fish in the pond.

 “When did the fire happen? Did no one notice it?”

"No."

Faced with Duanmuhuai’s inquiry, Manager Kashiwagi shook his head.

"The police have also conducted an investigation. The strange thing is that no one found out when the fire broke out. What's even more strange is that there are no signs of fire fighting at the scene. This is very strange. After all, if no one puts out the fire, even the temple will The fire that could burn everything would definitely spread, but it’s so strange that none of this happened.”

Looking at the sea of ​​trees surrounding the shrine, Duanmuhuai said that this makes sense. In a place like this, there is no one to put out the fire, but if a spark comes out, it would be ridiculous to set the mountain on fire.

However, the strange thing is that judging from the scene, the fire was only limited to the scope of the main hall. Only the worship hall in front was affected, and even the surrounding walls were not burned. This is very strange...

　　　…………”

At this moment, Duanmuhuai noticed someone pulling at the corner of his clothes. He lowered his head and saw Medea glance at him, so Duanmuhuai nodded knowingly, then he turned around and faced Shajiuye on the other side winked silently. The latter was stunned for a moment, but still turned around and looked at Manager Kashiwagi.

“Can we see where the owner of the shrine lives?”

 “Of course, please come with me...”

 Manager Kashiwagi didn’t notice anything. He nodded, and then continued to move forward with Shajiuye and Meijia.

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

 “What’s wrong? 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 just like humans, unable to transform into spirits, and naturally could not communicate telepathically. , so I can only push others away like this.

 “Something’s 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 veins……”

 Duanmu Huai is no stranger to spiritual veins. After all, the magician families in the Xingyue World will build their own workshops on spiritual veins.

“Yes, actually it is not that uncommon to use the power of spiritual veins to imprison or seal something.”

Medea also spoke at this time.

"In other words, in fact, most people at home and abroad would do this in ancient and modern times. After all, relying on human seals is very unsafe, but relying on the power of spiritual veins can be done safely."

“To be honest, in my opinion, the safest thing is to kill them directly, eradicate the roots and avoid future troubles forever.”

 Duanmu Huai doesn't have a good attitude towards the seal.

 “So what’s the problem?”

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

 Irisviel continued to speak, but when he heard her words, Duanmu Huai was stunned for a moment.

"No?"

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

Medea was silent for a moment.

“Based on the remaining traces of Mana here, it’s more like something has absorbed the power of the spiritual veins.”

　　　…………”

Hearing this, Duanmu Huai was speechless.

“Are you trying to tell me that something in the shrine, instead of being sealed, has been lying here, relying on absorbing the power of spiritual veins to strengthen itself?”

Facing Duanmuhuai’s inquiry, the two looked at each other and nodded.

  “Very likely.”

"All right."

Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes silently and sighed.

Now it seems that this matter has really become troublesome.

The wooden bridge is easier to live with. I have basically never fallen to death on it once, so I just need to be invisible. But the forced blood reduction is really disgusting... By the way, the B button of my controller is broken, which is terrible. I need to buy a new controller and play again...