Chapter 65.3
Sure enough, in the next moment, the dark-haired Miko spoke, “I said it before, I am the Miko of the Kisaragi Shrine, Kisaragi.”
Her voice was very cold, like the cold moonlight, “I am not here to clean up zombies. These things are not zombies, they’re wraiths formed from the grudges of the dead.”
“The wraiths formed from the grudges of the dead?” Xiao Tangqiu was stunned. The truth was far from what he had imagined. He thought that the zombie outbreak was the reproduction of fragments of events that really existed at a certain point in time, but those “zombies” were not zombies at all?
Kisaragi nodded and said, “A few years ago, a rare subway accident occurred here. At that time, the subway was traveling from the previous platform to this platform. Due to staff errors, two accidental collisions of the subway occurred…”
“There were countless deaths and injuries in that accident. The pa.s.sengers died with hatred, their grievances gathered, and eventually formed spirits. So once it reaches the time when the accident happened, a ghost subway would appear here, constantly reproducing the scene from that year.”
Xiao Tangqiu instantly recalled the scene when he just entered this instance. He was sitting on the ghost subway at that time and saw the horror of those pa.s.sengers who had suddenly turned burned and injured from their normal appearance…
It turned out that the scene he saw was the recurrence of the subway accident that year?
Kisaragi continued, “The grudges of the wraiths are unremitting, and it is easy to cause accidents. As the Miko of the Kisaragi Shrine, I naturally want to curb their grudges and send them to the afterlife… But the grudges from those who died in the accidents is too strong. If the grievances can’t be dispelled all at once before dawn, it will re-consolidate.”
“So it’s like this!” Tang Mianmian suddenly realized, “No wonder you said yesterday that you failed! Because last night we didn’t have time to kill all the zombies!”
Kisaragi spoke lightly, “If I can’t eliminate all the grievances before dawn, it will be in vain. Now that I have finally succeeded in absolving them… The matter here is temporarily over.”
Xiao Tangqiu heard something wrong in her words, “The matter here is temporarily over? Is there something else going on elsewhere?”
Kisaragi gave Xiao Tangqiu a cold look and didn’t speak.
Xiao Tangqiu realized that there was something else to do to trigger the plot, so he looked at Xue Junli.
Xue Junli nodded and changed the way of asking, “Can we follow you? Maybe we can help.”
Kisaragi began to ask, “Are you an exorcist from outside?”
Xiao Tangqiu frowned slightly, “From outside?”
Tang Mianmian rubbed his chin, “Exorcist?”
Kisaragi glanced at Xiao Tangqiu and said lightly, “This is Hundred Ghosts Village, and it’s been many years since exorcists have come from outside.”
“Exorcist… This t.i.tle sounds kind of cool! That’s right! We are the exorcists from outside!” Tang Mianmian proactively claimed this t.i.tle.
Xiao Tangqiu, “…It’s obviously very .”
After hearing Tang Mianmian’s words, Kisaragi breathed a sigh of relief, and she nodded, “Since you are exorcists from outside, then please come with me.”
Xiao Tangqiu asked, “Where are we going?”
Kisaragi didn’t answer, only turning around and left.
They looked at each other for a moment and could only immediately follow up.
Xiao Tangqiu suddenly said, “k2026;I feel like we might have forgotten something.”
Tang Mianmian did not respond for a while, “Ah? Forgot what?”
Xiao Tangqiu thought for a while, and finally remembered what they forgot, “…Where’s that Lu Renjia?”
Tang Mianmian’s mouth twitched, “It seems that he is still on the ghost subway. It is likely that… he met a terrible end.”
Xiao Tangqiu silently mourned for Lu Renjia for a few seconds, praying that he could transmigrate into YY novels next time and embrace beauties, or transmigrate into fantasy novels to conquer the world, or maybe transmigrate to a cultivation novel to counterattack and upgrade himself!
They followed Kisaragi and soon left the long-abandoned platform.
Xiao Tangqiu glanced back at the platform. Under the darkness of the night, the deserted platform looked extraordinarily spooky and strange. But he soon realized that what was spooky and strange was definitely not just the abandoned platform.
They pa.s.sed through a weedy wasteland and came to the streets of the village.
This Hundred Ghosts Village, which has no relationship with Hundred Ghost Town, is particularly desolate. Xiao Tangqiu originally thought that the platform was desolate because it was abandoned, but even after leaving the platform, it was the same. The streets were empty and deserted, there was not a single pedestrian.
Under the darkness of the night, the streets of this village appeared extremely desolate. There were no leaves on the ground and the street lights were not on. The shops on both sides were locked with dark windows and doors. It seemed that these businesses had been closed for a long time.
Xiao Tangqiu raised his head and looked into the distance. There was no place where the lights were on. The whole town was shrouded in darkness, just like a ghost town… Although there was no wind, he still couldn’t stop a shiver.
However, Kisaragi, who was at the front of the group, was unimpressed, still walking forward on her own. Xiao Tangqiu hesitated but could not help but ask, “Kisaragi, isn’t this village a bit strange?”
Kisaragi continued forward only minding her own, not answering his question.
Xiao Tangqiu sighed. Was it because the conditions have yet to be met so the plot could not be triggered yet?
Kisaragi did not speak at all on the road, and the others clearly noticed something off about the village, becoming 120% vigilant, so no one talked along the way.
Xiao Tangqiu also watched their surroundings with vigilance. Kisaragi took them through one street after another, each just as desolate and deserted as before. All the shops were closed with darkened windows and doors, and even the residents they pa.s.sed by were dark.
The whole village was silent.
At some point, a bridge appeared in front of them. Kisaragi crossed the bridge and walked towards the opposite side.
When crossing the bridge, Xiao Tangqiu subconsciously glanced below the bridge and was shocked to find that the river only reflected his shadow. The others were missing!
What’s going on?!
A sudden wave of unease appeared in Xiao Tangqiu’s heart. Finally, he realized that Shen Yuan, who had been closely following him, had disappeared from his sight since who knew when.
He quickly raised his head, but only saw Kisaragi’s distant back. Before he could call to Kisaragi, Kisaragi’s back disappeared the moment she got off the bridge.
Kisaragi disappeared instantly after leaving the bridge!
Xiao Tangqiu was shocked. He quickly looked around but he was completely alone!
What about Shen Yuan?
What about Tang Mianmian?
The others in the Reincarnation Team?
In an instant, everyone around him disappeared, leaving him alone on the bridge!
Xiao Tangqiu panicked for a few seconds but he quickly forced himself to calm down. He had to find a way to break through!
He turned around again and suddenly saw a silhouette in the middle of the bridge. That back was somewhat familiar and seemed to be Shen Yuan.
Obviously, he would not be so easily fooled. He stared at the back with great vigilance, considering whether he would turn and run back, or run past the figure and rush across the bridge. At this moment, the figure suddenly turned.
That person wasn’t Shen Yuan, it was a woman. A beautiful woman.
She was wearing a bright red kimono and stood in the middle of the bridge, calmly watching Xiao Tangqiu.
Xiao Tangqiu had seen a lot of beautiful women but had never seen such a melancholy yet beautiful woman. Her eyes were like hooks that hook right onto the soul, pulling the souls out of men. They could make people want to stop and be unable to extricate themselves.
Of course, the premise was a normal man.
But Xiao Tangqiu was not a normal man. He was a man who was familiar with various horror movie and horror game routines… so he subconsciously took a step back.
The woman didn’t speak. Her brows furrowed and her beautiful eyes were still filled with melancholy.
Xiao Tangqiu took another step back.
The woman did not speak, took another step forward, and her expression was even more pitiful.
Xiao Tangqiu stepped back again and again, but his back suddenly reached the railing of the bridge. He looked back subconsciously and he was so scared that his soul almost flew away. Where was the normal water surface under the bridge?
It’s clearly filled with screaming and crying grievous spirits. They all had bloated faces, their heads were several times larger than usual, their eyes were bulging out of their swollen eyelids… They all look like they drowned!
Xiao Tangqiu was so scared that he turned back again but he b.u.mped into something icy cold and damp.
His heart chilled in an instant. Sure enough, in the next second, a pair of bonelessly soft and cold hands wrapped around his waist and neck. But this intimate posture did not move his heart at all.
He immediately struggled but he was still dragged off the bridge by the thing wrapped around his back. Although he hugged the bridge railing with all his strength, his boneless hands were amazingly powerful. He dragged him down to the water.
With a thud, Xiao Tangqiu fell into the river.
For an instant, the cold river water pa.s.sed over his head, and he immediately choked a big mouthful of water. But at the same time he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. It was better to fall into the river than to fall into a pile of wronged spirits!
But soon he realized that he was too optimistic. The hands wrapped around his waist and neck did not disappear, instead becoming tighter and tighter, dragging him deeper into the river!
Xiao Tangqiu immediately struggled violently, but the strength of the arms was astonishing. The more he struggled, the tighter they entangled around him. Fortunately, at this critical moment, he remembered that the s.p.a.ce tool given to him by Xue Junli also contained advanced ghost exorcism talisman. He quickly held his breath and found an advanced ghost exorcism talisman and then used the last of his energy to turn around and smack it onto the woman’s face!
The woman burst into screams, making Xiao Tangqiu’s ear hurt. Fortunately, the arms wrapped around his waist and neck loosened slightly and he quickly broke free from them, desperately swimming towards the water surface.
Two meters away!
One meter away!
The air in Xiao Tangqiu’s lungs gradually ran out. He watched as the surface came closer and closer. Just as he almost reached the air, his feet were grabbed by a pair of hands!
He looked down. It turned out to be one of the drowned ghosts he had seen under the bridge!
The drowned ghost looked at him resentfully with bulging eyes. Those deadly bloated hands grabbed his feet, obviously not wanting him to go ash.o.r.e.
Xiao Tangqiu was anxious. He struggled to take out another advanced exorcism talisman and slap it on the face of the drowned ghost. The drowned ghost wailed and released its hands.
But soon, another drowned ghost appeared at his feet, and even a second drowned ghost came. They each grabbed one of Xiao Tangqiu’s feet!
In the depths of the dark river, more and more drowned ghosts emerged. They swam towards Xiao Tangqiu with resentment and extended their pale and swollen hands to grab him.
Although Xiao Tangqiu struggled to expel these ghosts, the air in his lungs was exhausted and he gradually began to lose consciousness. The drowned ghosts were still drilling out from the bottom of the river like locusts, the numbers growing more and more.
At this moment, the woman who pulled him down the river also reappeared, swimming over to him again. Her beautiful painting-like skin was half-ruined from the advanced exorcism talisman, leaving only half of her beautiful face. The other half was the half of the skull eaten by fish…