With Kelian and the Shinra Bell that still housed the dormant soul of Magong Yongshi, Mr. Beichuan finished packing the rest of his things and put on his backpack before returning to his ho in Seto Cheng.
Unlike Mr. Beichuan, Mr. Seto opted for light travel.
But there was a reason for his light travel.
According to Mr. Seto, he had another property in Yuchuan with all the living supplies he needed, so he didn’t have to bring anything.
Mr. Beichuan could only regard this as the luxury of a wealthy and famous author.
As a full-ti author, Mr. Seto’s career was considered quite good compared to the average struggling author who couldn’t produce anything.
He had completed a successful work more than a decade ago and had accumulated a decent fortune by then.
That money had sustained him until today, until "The Lost Yuchuan" was completed, finally ridding him of financial distress and adding a substantial sum to his pocket. The property in Tokyo was bought with the royalties from "The Lost Yuchuan."
During the car ride, the two chatted about the topics they each knew concerning Yuchuan Town.
"Over a decade ago, there was indeed a famous ritual at the edge of Yuchuan Elentary School. It was said that monks were brought in to seal the school because children from the town frequently disappeared mysteriously near it."
Looking at the road ahead, Mr. Seto continued to explain, "After that, Yuchuan Elentary School was listed as a forbidden area, particularly for children. This also beca the prototype for my work."
"Is that so?" Mr. Beichuan, rubbing his chin and with a flicker in his gaze, continued, "But after the sealing and the closure of the Yuchuan Elentary School area, there shouldn’t have been any more strange incidents in Yuchuan Town. It has been peaceful since then, right?"
"Right," Mr. Seto nodded lightly.
But that was sowhat strange.
Mr. Beichuan’s brow furrowed slightly.
He had investigated in detail and found that the "Hide and Seek Alone" ga had beco a popular ghost story circulating online the year before last. That is to say, the first cursed victims should have erged from that ti until this year.
However, between the year before last and last year, there were no bizarre death incidents that shook Japan. Instead, it was from last year to this year that victims of the "Hide and Seek Alone" ga began to surface.
If a reasonable explanation were to be found... it would be that the monks’ seal on Yuchuan Elentary had weakened over ti.
Right. After all, seals are imposed by human effort and naturally degrade over ti, so it made sense that the effectiveness of the seal had diminished.
And it was precisely because of the weakening seal starting from last year that the spirits of the vengeful children could gradually influence reality from Yuchuan Elentary School, their spiritual realm.
The recent direct killings were proof enough that the conditions binding them were slowly but irreversibly fading away.
If that was really the case—
Mr. Beichuan felt he needed to help the spirits of the original four victims find salvation before the seal completely vanished, helping them break free from the endless cycle of nurturing vengeance and killing within the spiritual realm.
But what Mr. Beichuan found troubleso was that these child spirits seed to have an elusive connection with the spiritual realm; to completely destroy them, he would certainly have to pay so price.
Mr. Beichuan was imrsed in thought for a mont when Mr. Seto suddenly spoke up:
"We’re already in Kanagawa Prefecture. We’ll be turning onto a small road towards the Danze Mountain Area soon, which might take so ti."
"I understand," Mr. Beichuan nodded.
Leaving the main road, Mr. Seto turned onto a side path.
The urban views faded away, replacing by pastoral scenes of paddy fields, irrigation canals, and old bus stops.
At an old wooden bus stop, a group of girls played and frolicked; they seed to be female high school students returning ho for the spring break.
The car continued steadily forwards, and after passing through the suburbs, Mr. Beichuan noticed the river, a significant stream not far off the road.
It flowed gently along the man-made channels. This river was the well-known Yuchuan, which, many years ago when water engineering wasn’t as advanced, had washed away countless people’s hos and left many to starve in the wilderness.
But now it was different.
Mr. Beichuan looked ahead, where a succession of small but delicate dams segnted the river, reducing so of the drainage while stepping upwards.
And further afield, there was a noticeable little town—the destination of their journey:
Yuchuan Town.
Mr. Seto stopped the car at a secluded estate atop a mountain and, smiling, turned back to Mr. Beichuan:
"Mr. Beichuan, this is my house. But it’s getting quite late now; how about we rest after dinner? We can continue our investigation tomorrow."
"I am not hungry yet, Mr. Seto," Mr. Beichuan shook his head and spoke up, "I’m planning to go and ask the residents for so information first. I’ll also visit the town library to check the records about the disappearances from ten years ago. I just feel those children’s disappearances are too concerning to ignore."
"Really? I personally wouldn’t recomnd you asking the local residents," Mr. Seto said while hauling heavy ice blocks out of his car, continuing, "The people of Yuchuan are warm and welcoming, they quite like tourists visiting, but the past incidents remain scars in their hearts. If you go questioning them like that, you might end up angering them."
Reviews
All reviews (0)