Chapter 1705 An Yin Yang Master's Tale

After confirming the "size" of the five bottles of wine, the next steps were relatively simple.

As mentioned earlier, the rules of the Hanoi Tower were easy to grasp, and Ruoyu had no reason not to be able to solve it.

And so, another three minutes passed, and all five bottles of wine had been moved to the bottom row of the wine rack, with the theoretically fewest steps taken.

When the last bottle of wine was returned to its place, a sound of mechanical and gear rolling suddenly came from inside the wall beside Ruoyu.

Seeing this, Feng Bujue immediately stepped forward sideways, "Here... let me stand in front."

In places where danger might be encountered, Brother Jue usually rushed to the front; not because he had a great spirit of sacrifice, but because he believed this choice was more efficient and safer.

Squeak—

Just as Brother Jue and Ruoyu were exchanging positions, the wall at the end of the wine cellar slowly opened.

Behind the wall, a dark, narrow tunnel appeared; the walls of this tunnel all appeared to be natural stone walls that had not been carved, and the height and width were similar to that of the wine cellar, but... the depth was unknown. Looking at it, one could not see the end at all, only that it meandered forward...

"This road... doesn't seem right." Ruoyu peered inside and said, "The wine cellar below the principal's office should be a space located between the first and second floors of the school, but this road..."

"It's okay, this shows... that from here on, we are entering a kind of subspace area." Feng Bujue took over her words and said, "The settings in front of us are obviously all independently generated by the system, and have little to do with the principal... If I'm not mistaken, continuing forward will bring us closer to the final plot..."

...

Let's split the narrative and look at Xiao Tan and the others.

Because Brother Jue wasn't present, An Yueqin, who had a flashlight, consciously took the lead.

After leaving the principal's office, the four carefully went down to the first floor.

Since the "whoosh" sound they heard sounded like a door being pulled open, their search target was naturally those rooms with doors that could be pulled open.

Fortunately, the school wasn't very big. Standing at the stairwell and looking left and right, the players found the abnormality...

At this moment, within their sight, the several classrooms that had been opened before were still open, meaning... those doors hadn't changed.

However, the door to the "Teachers' Office," which should have been closed, had been opened at some point...

"That... was probably opened by that guy on the playground, right?" Xiao Tan looked at the door over there and whispered to his teammates.

"Judging from the fact that he opened the door to the 'Teachers' Office'..." Gui Xiao continued, "he might be a teacher at this school?"

"Maybe." Xiao Ling added, "But he's definitely not the teacher of Class 2-A." She explained, "Because he's not one of the four adults in that group photo."

"I think... he might be Watanabe, the class monitor all grown up." An Yueqin said, turning her head.

"Yeah, that's possible too." Xiao Tan nodded in agreement, "So far, all the NPCs... or rather, monsters, we've seen seem to be people from that Class 2-A group photo, right?"

"No... there's one... that can't be confirmed." Gui Xiao immediately replied, "That's the guy who was initially趴 (pa, lying prone) on the classroom window, and later turned into black mist at the stairwell." He paused for half a second, recalling, "I saw his face... he's not among the four adults in the photo." He looked up at his teammates and said in a deep voice, "If that guy is Watanabe, the class monitor..."

"...Then who is the man on the playground?" Xiao Tan finished his sentence and fell into thought.

"No matter who it is, let's move forward first..." An Yueqin took a deep breath and continued, "Hoo... not to mention that there are still two people trapped upstairs, just the two flashlights we have probably won't last long, so..."

As she spoke, she had already stepped forward and walked towards the office. The other three didn't say anything more, but closely followed behind.

After a few steps, the group arrived at the door of the "Teachers' Office."

And waiting for them was...

"Sorry, I'm late." The man in the room said this to the players as soon as they appeared.

This man was the mysterious man who had been standing on the playground looking up at the school.

He spoke quickly, without the eerie feeling characteristic of ghosts, and he was also holding a flashlight in his hand.

All these signs indicated... this guy seemed to be a living person.

"Who are you?" An Yueqin asked, "What are you... doing?"

At the moment, the man was indeed busy with something. He had spread out several pieces of paper on a desk and was writing some strange, illegible characters on them with a brush pen that he had gotten from somewhere.

"What?" Hearing An Yueqin's question, the man suddenly stopped what he was doing, looked up at the players suspiciously, "You... can't remember again?"

"What do you mean..." Xiao Tan also heard something from the other party's words and tentatively asked, "'Again' can't remember?"

"Ah... as expected." The man seemed to have confirmed something at this time, and he replied, "After all, you've been 'lost' for too long, it's normal to forget."

"Then can you explain it to us?" An Yueqin, who was confused, asked again.

"My name is Tsukamoto Shota, and I'm an Onmyoji (阴阳师, yin-yang master)." Tsukamoto lowered his head again to busy himself with his work, and continued, "Although it may be rude to say this, I still have to inform you that you all died six years ago."

"What?" The four had the same reaction when they heard this sentence.

Previously, Feng Bujue's speculation that the players were actually "all ghosts" had unfortunately come true.

"Don't worry, let me explain it to you slowly." Tsukamoto's attitude gave the impression that he was used to similar situations. He continued to draw talismans skillfully while saying, "This matter... has to start from Showa 47, which is twenty-six years ago..."

The players knew that the appearance of this NPC probably meant that the truth of the plot was about to be revealed, so they didn't interrupt and listened quietly.

"In May of that year, a fire broke out at Chongjiu Elementary School." Tsukamoto's narration began, "The fire wasn't too serious, but... it still burned one student to death, and this student was your classmate... Suzuki Takayuki." He paused for a second, seemingly to give the players time to digest the information, before continuing, "Suzuki-kun was burned to death in the warehouse only one door away from the principal's office. Before he died, he desperately knocked on the door and cried for help, but... unfortunately, the principal, Miyamoto, was a drunkard, and it was lunch break. Miyamoto, who had no classes in the afternoon, got drunk and fell asleep in the principal's office.

"By the time the fire truck drove into the school, Miyamoto had woken up in a panic. At that time... Suzuki-kun across the door had already entered a state of shock from inhaling too much smoke.

"Then, confused, Miyamoto instinctively fled the scene after seeing the smoke. He didn't know that... even at that time, if he could open the door across from him, he would have had time to rescue Suzuki-kun.

"However, these are just assumptions... Suzuki-kun was eventually burned to death, and he became a vengeful spirit because of it.

"The next day, he killed another classmate in your class—Noguchi Eiji. However, at the time, this case was treated as a general missing person case. I only found out about these things after later investigations...

"Then, on the third day... it was the day of the Sansha Festival. Although this town is very remote and not famous, it has a long history; since ancient times, the 'Mao Shrine' here has always had a self-organized Sansha Festival, and this custom has continued.

"But the villagers didn't know that this festival, which has been passed down for thousands of years at the Mao Shrine, wasn't just for worshiping 'Amitabha Buddha', 'Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva', and 'Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva'... but to pray for the three Bodhisattvas to help the villagers suppress 'it's' ferocity."

"'It'?" Gui Xiao reacted when he heard that keyword, "'It' is what?"

Note: In Tsukamoto's original words (Japanese), this "it" can also be translated as "that child (A-no-ko)."

"'It' is an evil god that is镇 (zhen, suppressed) in the Mao Shrine. Its name has been forgotten, but it is undoubtedly extremely evil and extremely powerful..." When he said this, Tsukamoto seemed to have thought of something, and the movements of his hands also paused slightly, "Alas..." For some reason, he sighed, "Later... on the night of the Sansha Festival, Miyamoto sneaked into the shrine. I think... at that time, he had probably been缠 (chan, haunted) by the vengeful spirit of Suzuki. He was so desperate from fear that he ran to the shrine, wanting to pray for the protection of the gods. But... what responded to Miyamoto wasn't a god, but...'it.'"

"Are you saying..." An Yueqin continued, "Miyamoto released 'it'?"

"That's right, Miyamoto destroyed the images of the three Bodhisattvas and tore up the封印 (fengyin, seal) that镇 (zhen, suppressed) 'it'." Tsukamoto replied in a deep voice, "And 'it,' having regained its freedom, also fulfilled its promise and helped Miyamoto resolve Suzuki's vengeful soul. But... Miyamoto soon realized that what he had released was far more terrifying than Suzuki's vengeful spirit.

"'It' first descended on this school at the foot of the shrine mountain. The next day, your homeroom teacher, Mr. Sato, encountered 'it' and went insane because of it.

"Miyamoto didn't last long. Two days later, he committed suicide at home due to excessive fear..."

Up to this point, what Tsukamoto said corresponded to the information that Brother Jue found in the old newspaper.

However, the newspaper's content ended here, but Tsukamoto's story... wasn't over yet.

"'It' wouldn't stop there, its slaughter had just begun..." Tsukamoto continued, "Two days after Miyamoto's suicide, a bloodbath occurred at this school that shocked all of Japan, known as the '520 Massacre'; on that day... several teachers and more than a dozen students at this school were killed by extremely cruel methods. When the police arrived at the scene, they saw a scene like a living hell, and... seven survivors."

At this point, Tsukamoto seemed to have finished his work. He looked up and scanned the players: "Those seven people were all students of Class 2-A, that is... you."

"Wait..." Xiao Ling replied, "That's not right... there are... only six of us."

"To be precise, six ghosts." Tsukamoto corrected, "I know... you'll know why there were only six of you left in the end if you listen to me."

"That..." Xiao Tan seemed to have suddenly remembered something and said, "About that massacre... you said 'it' killed everyone, but... how did the police close the case?"

"That case... had no result." Tsukamoto replied, "The police eventually closed the case with 'the murderer could not be found.' They... would rather bear all the social pressure than make public 'the results of their investigation.'"

"Why?" Xiao Tan asked again.

"I... I think I guessed the reason..." At this moment, An Yueqin's expression became a little subtle.

"Oh? What's the reason?" Xiao Ling also asked curiously.

"I think..." An Yueqin looked at Tsukamoto, "It's better for him to say it..."

"Hmm..." Tsukamoto let out a breath from his nostrils and continued, "The truth is hard to accept, because the results of the investigation back then showed that... the ones who carried out the massacre were these seven surviving children, only eight years old."

...

At the same time, on Feng Bujue and Li Ruoyu's side.

The two walked quickly in that tunnel for five or six minutes, and then they saw a light in front of them.

They quickly approached the light source and found that it was the exit of the tunnel.

So, the two turned off the flashlights in their hands and walked out of the depressing tunnel.

When Ruoyu, who was behind, stepped out of the tunnel, the tunnel entrance behind them, like a mirage, disappeared. When they looked back, they could only see a few ordinary country roads.

And the scenery that appeared in front of them... was actually the gate of Chongjiu Elementary School.

"Heh... another illusion?" Feng Bujue looked at the bright sunlight above his head and the campus bathed in the sunlight in front of him, and said with a smile.

"That's for sure." Ruoyu replied, "Not to mention the time factor (there's no way it could be dawn so quickly), spatially speaking, we're already outside of Chongjiu Elementary School. If this isn't an illusion, wouldn't we have cleared the game already?"

"Then..." Brother Jue continued, "Shall we go in and take a look?"

"Let's go." Ruoyu responded.

After the two said this, they strode forward and walked into this "daytime version" of Chongjiu Elementary School...