“Ms. Jingo accepts the laws of this world and has never questioned their rationality. Yet, you seem to believe that this world is wrong—and this isn’t just some edgy, arrogant speech from a manga, is it?”

"So I can only assume that in your eyes, this entire world is nothing more than a meticulously designed, large-scale realistic game. And you are the only player."

Huh.

Qi Xing could ignore the irrepressible laughter of the devil in his head.

He was not a person who was easily seen through, either. Qi Xing's experiences and personality determined that his [surprise] would not be the wide-eyed, stuttering reaction of an ordinary person.

But this sentence did make him pause.

What the other person said wasn't necessarily completely correct, but it was quite accurate.

Even Qi Xing himself liked to use the metaphor of a [game] to describe this absurd world.

He did often feel that the world Sasa created was some kind of eroge.

Perhaps it was precisely because Sasa saw through Qi Xing's thoughts that she mocked Elaine as a [low-star card].

But regardless,

"You guy, suddenly talking so philosophically, as if you know me very well."

Qi Xing raised his eyebrows,

"Then what about you? Are you a grain of rice in a rice ball, or are you waiting for me to chop down the tree?"

This question made the smile in Fujiwara Eiga's eyes deepen a little.

He paused slightly, as if thinking seriously, and then slowly and gracefully bowed, his tone steady and tinged with a hint of etherealness: "I am just a withered leaf about to fall."

—

Meanwhile, in the center of Aomori City, where evil energy was about to erupt, before this incident took place.

A young exorcist was standing at a crossroads in life, half-submerged in the abyss, struggling to grasp even a sliver of hope.

Kito Reima, nineteen years old, had not long graduated from high school.

Once upon a time, he thought the path after his graduation would be smooth.

He came from the Kito Family—one of the oldest exorcist families in Aomori Prefecture. Since childhood, he had learned the family's secret talisman arts and demon-slaying swordsmanship, and as a youth, he had personally slain malevolent spirits that caused trouble.

According to the elders, although the exorcist business had been sluggish in recent years, a family with several hundred years of tradition would surely not let their generation fall to the point of having nowhere to go.

Moreover, he did indeed have some talent. Since he was a child, the family had pinned high hopes on him.

Even taking a step back, even if he couldn't make money from subduing demons, he could always find work in fields like feng shui, blessing rituals, or exorcisms, right?

However, reality slapped him hard in the face.

Over the past six months, he had run through almost every major temple, shrine, psychic research institution, feng shui consulting firm, and even some societies related to Onmyodo in Aomori City—but no matter where he went, the answer he received was equally ruthless.

"Sorry, we already have a candidate."

"These days, it's not just you people from exorcist families who know a bit about spiritual power."

"Even if we want to hire someone, we prefer those practitioners who have obtained official certification."

Kito Reima was not a fool, and he soon realized—it wasn't that he wasn't good enough, but that there was simply no place for him in modern society.

"Did you hear? That guy from the Kito Family came looking for a job."

"Haha, really? Didn't their family used to make a living solely by exorcism?"

"What's so great about an exorcist family? They were the ones who acted all high and mighty back then, and now they find that they have to humble themselves just to find a job as a Shinto priest, right?"

Whenever he heard such things, Kito Reima's face would turn livid, but he couldn't say a single word.

He wanted to rush up and tell them about the glory of exorcists. Tell them about the history of the Kito Family, tell them that he was not incompetent… but he knew that whatever he said would be useless.

What made him break down even more was that the name Jingo Rin often appeared in these people's mouths time and again.

The rice bowl that originally belonged to their exorcist families had now been smashed to pieces by a freak who jumped out of a muggle nest!

He wanted to curse her, wanted to resent her, wanted to do something… but the reality was that he didn't even have the qualifications to meet her.

Oh, no. If he were to draw his spirit blade and cause a scene in the street, Jingo Rin might fly over immediately and beat him to the ground.

He probably didn't even have the qualifications for the [Guardian of the North] to truly draw her sword against him.

This was an unprecedented sense of powerlessness.

In the entire Aomori City, or even the entire Northeast, there was simply no place for him.

The exorcism arts he thought he had mastered seemed redundant and ridiculous in this day and age. The training he was once proud of was now not even as competitive as an ordinary college student's job prospects. Even he himself began to doubt whether the so-called [Family Glory] was a tradition, or just a joke?

No… he couldn't think like that!

Reima shook his head violently, gritted his teeth, and tried hard to suppress the anger and powerlessness in his heart.

He could not accept that he was useless. He could not accept that he was no different from those elders hiding at home waiting to die.

He wanted to accomplish something great so that everyone would acknowledge him!

His brain was already running fast.

Too many strange things had happened in Aomori City recently—from the unknown evil energy emerging from some corners to certain weird incidents whispered about. Even a while ago, a love hotel stood up and turned into a giant monster, only to be quickly suppressed, with the outside world having no idea of the Truth.

More importantly—the financial situation of some exorcist families was clearly as dismal as that of the Kito Family, yet recently they had mysteriously received [capital injection]. Where on earth did they get the money?

Thinking and thinking, Reima recalled that he had once heard relatives whispering at a family gathering that someone was willing to help them revitalize the family.

"As long as you go to a certain place… you will have a chance… to meet a benefactor…"

But, is this really a benefactor?

No. All of this must be some force, secretly plotting in Aomori City to deal with Jingo Rin!

This was his chance!

I, Kito Reima, do not need to beg for that kind of charity!

I will find out the Truth and find the mastermind!

If… if he could slay the culprit who created the evil energy monster, then not only would the family acknowledge him.

Other exorcist families would also look at him with new respect.

Even—even Jingo Rin would have to acknowledge him!

Good. That's what he would do.

Reima took a deep breath, adjusted the spirit blade hidden in the kendo bag on his back, and walked toward [that place] his relatives had whispered about.

After tonight, everything would change.

The glory of the exorcist family would be remembered once again.

And he—Kito Reima—would also leave his name in the history of Aomori!

Stepping into [that place], he even felt a trace of excitement.

He could feel the air filled with an imperceptible, strange spiritual energy, as if it were whispering, or like a dormant beast.

That was it.

Heroes must always step into the unknown, face danger, clear away the fog in the darkness, and slash through evil.

His heart was racing, his palm pressed against the hilt of his sword, his eyes sharp as an eagle's.

If fate won't let me be the protagonist, then I will seize it myself!

He pushed open the door and stepped into the deeper reaches.

However, some things were far more twisted, far more unshakable, and far more desperate than he had imagined.

He would soon find out.

078: Men are fine too

Shimizu Seishin Hospital.

This was an extremely ordinary comprehensive private hospital in Aomori City, accepting emergency cases, internal and surgical operations, and also having rehabilitation wards, with a low-key appearance and strict management.

If it hadn't been for the clues obtained from the rumors of his family relatives, Kito Reima would never have associated this place with the supernatural.

It was now ten o'clock in the morning—by the way, at the same time, Qi Xing and Elaine were visiting the Kito Family, and Jingo Rin had just gone to school.

And as for Kito Reima, he was in the ventilation ducts under the hospital, holding his breath while slowly crawling along the narrow ventilation pipe.

The metal walls were cold, and the narrow space was filled with the low hum of air flowing, carrying the scent of disinfectant.

The ventilation duct was claustrophobic and oppressive. Reima's palms were pressed against the cold metal surface, sweat having long since soaked his palms, but he dared not relax.

He knew he was doing a dangerous thing.

It could even be called a stupid thing.

But he had no choice.

Because half an hour ago, when Reima was pretending to be a visiting family member, looking around in the first-floor lobby of the hospital, he heard a strange sound—

"Thump… thump…"

It was a knocking sound coming from the wall of a certain ward, extremely faint, but rhythmic.

A patient asking for help? Or equipment failure?

He took advantage of the medical staff not paying attention and walked to the door of the ward, but the door was firmly locked.

Reima was considered to have excellent talent in this generation of the Kito Family, with keen spiritual senses. So just standing beside the door panel, he felt his heart contract violently.

He felt a trace of imperceptible, murky spiritual energy fluctuation.

Was someone locked inside?

He instinctively wanted to draw his sword and break down the door, but reason stopped him. Drawing a sword and breaking down a door openly in a hospital would only alert the real mastermind immediately.

So, Reima chose to sneak in.

He found a passage used by cleaning staff, used his spiritual power to leap up, flipped into the ventilation opening, and began this journey of exploration deep into the hospital's underground.

—However, after crawling for less than ten minutes, he had already started to regret it a little.

Because the atmosphere underground in this hospital was clearly not right.

The air became increasingly stuffy, a suffocating feeling like something pressing on his chest gradually intensified, as if the entire space had become cold. The upper levels of the hospital were a bright, clean white world, while here… it was like a dark abyss that swallowed light.

Reima narrowed his eyes and looked down from the gap in the ventilation pipe.

The first underground level, at first glance, was no different from an ordinary hospital laboratory, filled with medical instruments and petri dishes. Several staff members in white lab coats were busy, occasionally whispering to each other. But strangely, the aura on them made Reima frown involuntarily.

—Those people had absolutely no trace of a [doctor]'s aura on them.

Reaching out to grip the hilt of his sword, his heart beat even faster.

Intuition told him that further down was the place he was looking for.

Holding his breath, Reima carefully moved his body, slowly crawling deeper.

The air began to become turbid, and a faint scent of sandalwood began to permeate the pipe, like the incense offered in a temple. Reima couldn't help but frown. Because he had already noticed that some tiny patterns were carved on the surrounding pipe walls. The spiritual practice of an exorcist family allowed him to see things even in the dark. A focused look told him—those were not ordinary maintenance marks, but ancient Sanskrit symbols, faintly emitting a glimmer.

Those were the seed syllables of the Mother Buddha Mahamayuri.

Why would such things appear in the ventilation ducts of a hospital?

Unfortunately, Reima didn't have time to think too much. Because a relatively large ventilation opening finally appeared in front of him. Quietly crawling to the exit position, he carefully looked down through the gap—

The scene before his eyes made his heart stop beating.

To avoid violating good customs, this scene can only be described as follows:

Below the ventilation opening was a spacious laboratory. The cold lights cast a pale glow, making the entire room look dead and eerie.

In the spacious room were two rows of huge glass water tanks, filled with some unknown potion, soaking twenty or thirty humans under thirty years old who were non-male in the binary gender narrative. The potion in the glass tanks also faintly shimmered with an eerie luster.

What was even more horrifying was that those █ █ soaked in the eerie potion were dazed and numb, yet not dead, nor completely unconscious. Huge plastic tubes were fixed to the upper and lower parts of their digestive systems.

Through the tubes, something was being slowly and firmly injected into █ █, making the █ █ of these people swell up very large.

Whenever the tube █ █, these people would also exhibit slight tremors similar to being stimulated by high-frequency electric currents, with the intensity differing based on the individual's tolerance.

A few people who still had their sanity would instinctively widen their eyes, showing a brief but absolutely real resistance reaction. But soon, the spark of reason would become dim again under the washing.

The bottom of each water tank was covered with intricate, crisscrossing esoteric mantra patterns.

And above the room, one could also see a huge mural—the Mother Buddha Mahamayuri sitting on a green peacock, holding six ritual implements with six arms, overlooking all of this.