Chapter 164: Not Among the Ranks of the Gods' Return?

Director Takahashi was well aware that Yoshimura Sonkichi, in collecting anomalies from all over the world, could not possibly have overlooked Huaguo.

One must understand that Huaguo was very close to them, so when collecting anomaly information they would naturally start with the nearest to Japan, and Huaguo had the supernatural — this had already been proven in the case of Tamamo-no-Mae — as for whether it had gods?

Don't be ridiculous. Tamamo-no-Mae was Su Daji, and in Su Daji's history, the gods of Huaguo had appeared in vast numbers.

Setting aside Su Daji's history, just the fact that Huaguo was one of the four great ancient civilizations made it impossible for it to have no mythology; its rich mythological color, passed down since antiquity, remained a popular subject of study for theology enthusiasts worldwide to this day.

Since Yoshimura Sonkichi could not have missed Huaguo's anomalies, yet the collected data contained none from Huaguo.

There was only one possibility…

Huaguo had no anomalies!

With no anomalies, Yoshimura Sonkichi naturally could not collect any.

Moreover, Director Takahashi guessed that Yoshimura Sonkichi had not overlooked Huaguo; rather, while busy collecting anomalies and caring about every anomaly, he had neglected Huaguo — because Huaguo had no anomalies, he had subconsciously overlooked it, focusing only on where anomalies appeared so he could hurry and collect them.

At the same time.

At Director Takahashi's words, the expressions of the others could not help but freeze for a moment.

The so-called "a single oversight in a hundred precautions" — Japan's eight million gods anomaly and the anomalies from various places had drawn everyone's attention to the anomalies themselves, causing them to overlook Huaguo, which had none.

"Huh? None? That's impossible." Yoshimura Sonkichi's eyes went wide, and he immediately lowered his head to rapidly rummage through the anomaly data from various places on the table.

There were far too many anomalies from various places; he had been so busy just collecting them that he was overwhelmed, so how could he possibly remember the specific locations of every anomaly he had collected.

After a frantic search, Yoshimura Sonkichi said in astonishment: "There really aren't any!"

The others also came to their senses and spread out all the anomaly data from various places — sure enough, there was none from Huaguo.

At this point Yoshimura Sonkichi spoke, his tone ringing and firm.

"I dare to affirm that I absolutely collected every anomaly from every place; it's impossible I missed any. Moreover, I cross-checked against the videos posted by the Departed King — every anomaly in his videos, I have. None from Huaguo. It must be because Huaguo has no anomalies."

After Yoshimura Sonkichi's words, everyone thought of the Departed King.

If Yoshimura Sonkichi might have missed something, then surely the Departed King could not have.

"Go check whether Huaguo has any anomalies."

Director Takahashi gave the order to his subordinates, then together with Director Saito and the others present, began examining the videos posted by the Departed King.

Not long after.

"There really aren't any from Huaguo." Director Saito said in astonishment.

At that moment a subordinate ran over to tell everyone that they had just gone to check, and Huaguo truly had not produced any anomalies.

A pin drop could be heard.

Everyone was speechless, exchanging glances, each able to see the shock, strangeness, and deep eeriness in the other's eyes.

That Huaguo had the supernatural was beyond doubt — Tamamo-no-Mae was the best proof.

To have such a powerful supernatural being, yet no gods? What kind of joke was that — absolutely impossible.

But why did Huaguo have no god-anomalies?

Could it be that…

"Is Huaguo not among the ranks of the gods' return?" Suddenly, Professor Beishan spoke leisurely, his tone carrying speculation and uncertainty.

Hearing this, everyone's brows twitched.

Indeed, given the current situation, Huaguo had no anomalies, which was enough to prove Huaguo was not among the ranks of return.

But why was Huaguo not among the ranks of return?

Not returning — does that mean Huaguo has no gods? No, Huaguo must have gods.

Then why had Huaguo's gods not returned?

Were they unwilling to return? Or was there some other reason?

What reason could cause Huaguo's gods not to return…

And why had the gods of every country returned, yet only Huaguo's gods had not?

Because of the original battlefield? Or could it have something to do with the gods of other countries? Or some other possibility?

In an instant, many thoughts and speculations arose among them — there were too many possibilities for why Huaguo was not among the ranks of the gods' return.

But although the speculations were many, without exception, each one was terrifyingly earth-shaking.

The more they thought about it, the more violently everyone's eyelids twitched.

"Could it have something to do with Tamamo-no-Mae?" Professor Beishan added.

Everyone: "Huh?!"

"It's not impossible." Director Takahashi responded to Professor Beishan.

Tamamo-no-Mae was the supernatural being from Huaguo that had appeared so far; her formidable strength was plain for all the world to see, and calling her a god would not be an exaggeration. Moreover, Su Daji's history also showed that Tamamo-no-Mae had the ability to deal with gods.

Additionally, from Su Daji's history, one could also see that Su Daji had a grudge against the gods.

Able to deal with gods, and bearing a grudge against them.

Su Daji had the perfect motive to do something to prevent or obstruct Huaguo's gods from returning.

Unavoidably.

Everyone thought of the earlier speculation about Tamamo-no-Mae's history-tampering.

Could it be that… Tamamo-no-Mae's tampering of history was not actually to convey information or purposes to Zhou Wuwang or King Zhou, but rather she wanted to spread the tampered history to Huaguo, to deliver it to Huaguo's gods?

Thereby achieving some purpose, such as Huaguo's gods not being among the ranks of return.

Just as everyone was speculating one after another, racking their brains over why Huaguo was not among the ranks of return.

"Huaguo's gods couldn't all be dead, could they…" Director Saito, after a long silence, could not help but say with a shudder of his heart.

Everyone: "……"

An utterly unexpected remark, and all sound in the room cut off abruptly — in an instant, deathly silence.

One could see that everyone's expression changed — some drew in sharp breaths, some widened their eyes, all of them horrified to the extreme, their faces nearly twisted in shock.

Have all the Chinese gods died?!?!

"This…" Professor Zhongtian was speechless with shock, as if his throat had been clenched shut.

To be honest, if not for Director Saito's words, no one had ever considered that the Chinese gods could die.

Since supernatural events began appearing in Japan, the more deeply people investigated supernatural figures, the more they discovered that Japan's supernatural beings, yokai, and China were connected; bluntly put, China must possess supernatural entities and yokai far stronger than Japan's.

Otherwise, why would Japan's supernatural beings travel far to the East to study, only to return and achieve immortal renown?

In their hearts, Director Takahashi and the others had already accepted that China's supernatural beings were vastly stronger than Japan's; if the supernatural were so, the gods surely were too.

Gods stronger than Japan's gods.

For such gods, people could only think of power, extraordinariness, transcendence—never death; death was unthinkable, and they naturally assumed such gods could not die.

But that was merely their view—it did not mean it was impossible.

Gods are powerful, yet not immortal; after all, every nation's mythology has recorded cases of divine downfall.

Because the Chinese gods were powerful, they overlooked the possibility of divine death, focusing only on why they had not returned—but in truth, not appearing among those who returned does not necessarily mean they will return; it could mean they are gone.

If the gods are gone, how can they return?

In that instant.

Heavy, labored breathing echoed continuously; each person felt a searing heat throughout their body, as if seated among burning coals, their blood boiling, mouths parched, scalps tingling with burn.

If what Director Saito said is true…

Then…

Why did the Chinese gods die?

Who killed them? And how did they die?

The thought sent chills down their spines.

Everyone's lips trembled in fear.

The conference room, moments ago filled with noise and bustle, fell utterly silent—only the sounds of videos playing on the tablets on the table remained, showing the fallen kings.

"Huh??"

Like the others, Director Takahashi, stunned and frozen, involuntarily lowered his head due to human instinct—silence naturally draws attention to sound—and his gaze fell upon the video playing on the table.

At that very moment, his peripheral vision caught a fleeting frame from one of the tablets.

…