Chapter 675

It is well known that the Hakurei Shrine is a traditional Japanese shrine.

Although the shrine's resident miko doesn't even know which deity she worships, it is certain that the shrine does enshrine some deity—this question should originally have been asked of 'Yukari Yakumo', but now it seems unnecessary.

"No, better to ask anyway."

Everyone turned their gaze to Yukari Yakumo of Shadow City, only to see her shaking her head like a rattle, as if utterly unaware of what was on screen.

"."

【Search initiated: Filtering from central database records to identify high-match mythological symbols: Three Pure Ones, Lord Haotian, God, unknown mystical symbols.】

Chen Jun stared blankly at the information projected on the crystal panel; he wanted to say that even without filtering matches, it didn't matter—indeed, no database lookup was needed at all.

Most people present felt the same.

But knowing them doesn't make it reasonable for this chaotic stew—Sichuan-style spicy hot pot with hamburgers and salmon—to appear in the Hakurei Shrine of Gensokyo.

Does the Hakurei Shrine enshrine the Three Pure Ones, Lord Haotian, and God?

Fine, the Eastern ones are understandable—but the Western ones too?

【Hey, don't mess with the offerings!】

Before the Hearing Song Shu camera could react, Reimu Hakurei grabbed it and held it up to her face.

【Still seeing squirrels this season? Did you eat all your stored food?】 Reimu muttered, then sighed upon seeing the orange segment stuffed in the squirrel's mouth:

【I was going to eat these myself after offering them—you really know how to seize an opportunity.】

Reimu set the squirrel down and noticed it stood frozen, as if stunned.

【Never mind—apologize to the deity and thank them for the food.】

With a completely expressionless face, she mimicked Su Lin's earlier prayer gesture, clasping her hands together and murmuring toward the enshrined 'deities': 【Amen.】

Amen?

Amen?!

You're a miko and you clap your hands and say "Amen"?!!

"What deity does your Hakurei Shrine worship?" Bubble checked all settings but detected no such Gensokyo.

"A Gensokyo blessed by all gods must enshrine all gods," Reimu the City Guard replied weakly: "I don't know which one specifically."

How come she makes so much sense?

"Do these deities exist in Gensokyo?"

"No."

Yukari Yakumo thought for a moment and said: "At least in our Gensokyo, these deities have long vanished."

"Perhaps a timeline where the deities never disappeared?" Shandora analyzed.

The Hearing Song Shu camera's disguise was flawless, showing no flaws; thus, the Reimu in the footage paid no further attention after her 'prayer' and made no attempt to shoo the squirrel away.

Who would leave their room in this bitter cold unless food was scarce?

The squirrel was like that. Reimu was like that too.

Fortunately, today they met a wealthy patron and received many offering coins, plus bought plenty of alcohol and stored food from Kourin Tang and the Human Village.

Tonight, I can go to the izakaya and drink my fill.

In a good mood, Reimu hummed a tune as she left; the squirrel, after a moment of dazed stillness, began wandering aimlessly and eventually arrived before the offerings.

【Detecting faith accumulation data collection.】

The biological probe device was used to gather Gensokyo data from this Void dimension; the hive's mainframe had already entered high-speed computation mode, and Tavil, long on standby, began recording data—this action required the unique properties of Void life to erase dimensional differences.

In simple terms: synchronizing the construction of a mathematical model of the opposite world for later analysis and inference.

【Model established, recorded: Three Pure Ones】

【WARNING!!!】

【WARNING!!!】

The central computer suddenly blared a piercing alarm; the hall echoed with successive warnings: 【Unknown tampering detected in independent database!】

"Tampering is spreading! All offline regional databases, along with affiliated universes and planes, are showing anomalies! Entering maximum alert status!" Bubble and Little Bubbles' voices rang out—these Hive mainframes could detect even the faintest traces.

Windows popped up on screen; at a speed visible to the naked eye, the statue of Yuan Shi Tianzun at the center—its slightly streaked temples, its deep, ancient eyes—morphed into the uniform features of every Tianzun.

The Gensokyo-derived Three Pure Ones model became more lofty, more intangible.

But that wasn't all—every Three Pure Ones model, whether newly created or from other universes, even every single image in the database, showed subtle, altered details.

"Anomaly ceased. No further effects detected."

"Calculating security risks."

"Alert level temporarily lowered."

Hive technicians suddenly sprang into action; emergency meetings of all sizes were immediately convened.

Those still within the Hive stared at the screen for a long while.

"Likely memetic-level mystical influence," Aleya, expert in mystical knowledge, explained: "Involves higher-order causality—untraceable."

"Have we been exposed?"

"Probably not. It seems like some phenomenon-level effect."

The sudden anomaly halted the mathematical model's construction—but then another change arose: the squirrel instinctively gazed toward the shrine's exterior.

【Detected cosmic constant deviation. Signal entering trough.】

Darkness

Infinite darkness surged forth.

The cold snowstorm continued, as if all creation had plunged into a dark, frigid winter.

It did not last long—then, from one direction, a swirling, molten light rose, stretching to the very limits of the sky.

Amidst it, as if a choir sang ancient hymns, boundless light surged forth, sweeping through the snowstorm, and rained down pure, ethereal, white feathers of light.

But this anomaly lasted only a moment, vanishing without a trace in the next instant.

Had it not been for the signs of melting snow, one might have thought the entire event was an illusion.

"All detected cosmic constants have returned to normal values; high-concentration divine residue has evaporated, traces vanished and unrecordable. Suspected presence of a creator deity."

"."

"Given the case of the Three Pure Ones statues, it is recommended to temporarily skip establishing data models for the 'cross' and 'portrait of Lord Haotian'."

"Skip."

In the video, Reimu Hakurei had already drawn the Yin-Yang Jade; seeing the anomaly vanish, she walked to the entrance and peered out.

Not long after, the black-and-white witch Marisa Kirisame arrived at the shrine, riding a broom.

"Reimu, should we go deal with the anomaly? That direction seems to be Eternity Lodge!"

"If there's no follow-up, forget it. The man in the triangle romance between Hōrai San Kaguya and Fujiwara no Mokou deposited a lot of offering money at the shrine today."

"Huh?! He came here? He didn't attack you, did he?"

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you read today's latest newspaper? They say he has ambitions to turn Gensokyo into his harem paradise, DAZE!"

Marisa pulled out a newspaper; Reimu took it.

"You actually believe that crow tengu's newspaper? What is this pornographic illustration?!"

Overwhelming volume of information.

Personnel at the Hive Data Center shifted their gaze again to Kaguya and Mokou, the two immortals of Shadow City.

Surrounded by a group of excited youkai, the two exchanged a glance, both wearing expressions of "Are you kidding me?"

"There is one more badge. I suggest using an independent cosmic test field to generate a fantasy object and create an illusory belief link to determine its mystical orientation," Taveril suggested.

Since the nature of Gensokyo was still unclear and preparations for future negotiations were needed, the experiment was approved without standard procedural review.

After severing all causal and material-world connections, only several hours passed.

A 【URGENT】 report appeared:

"The fantasy object model has become contaminated by loss of cognition and grotesque deformation; it has been neutralized along with the test universe! Divine characteristics: anti-order, indescribable!"

"Using world interference theory, a matching object was found in one Earth."

"Blindly foolish."

This is not Gensokyo.

A certain head of state thought this while holding the report.

Su Lin had a dream.

In the dream, a blazing great sword was planted in the ground; not far away stood Wang Wei, and he was dragging Su Tuoni back, preparing to place him inside as fuel to burn.

Unfortunately, dreams are just dreams—because now his hands were empty.

In a foggy haze of thought, Su Lin walked up to the sword; the soft carpet and pink walls gave a sense of calm and relaxation.

A large bed stood in the center, its ancient, ornate gauze curtains tied to brackets.

A golden-haired little girl sat playing with a patched-up stuffed bear, wearing a sleep cap shaped like a doorknob, adorned with red ribbons tied into a bow on the left, a side ponytail emerging through a hole beneath the cap.

Notably, behind her grew a pair of wing-like branches, each bearing eight seven-colored crystals radiating inexplicable light.

"."

Absolutely not.

Absolutely do not sit at the same table as Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan, Song Shuhang, or Weigong Shilang.

But how do I explain this? Do I secretly have a lolicon trait?

Coach, this isn't how the story's supposed to go!

As if sensing something, the golden-haired girl turned around, her crimson eyes fixed on a certain direction; though it felt odd, Su Lin was certain she was looking directly at him.

"Are you here to play with Flandre?"

She jumped off the bed and scampered in her red dress to the edge, but an untouchable boundary, like a mirror, separated them.

Flandre tilted her head in confusion; Su Lin mirrored her motion.

"Won't you come out and play with Flandre?"

Flandre waved her hand; Su Lin waved back.

"Big brother"

Please don't call me that—it's unfairly cute.

So that's why the blood bank in the Human Village is running low. Though I considered this possibility from the start, I thought it unlikely.

Even in the innocent Gensokyo, such things happen now—morals are declining.

"Logically, that blood shouldn't carry divine power or mystical elements."

He crossed his arms, and before he could think further, Flandre mirrored his action exactly.

"."

Su Lin fell silent, looked at the curious little girl, and clapped his hands.

Clap! Clap!

Clap! Clap!

Flandre copied him exactly, then laughed happily: "Let's play together?"

It's just a dream, after all.

Playing wouldn't hurt.

Su Lin nodded; he and Flandre turned their heads in near-perfect sync, then Su Lin turned around, pulled open his shirt to reveal a McDonald's employee uniform, and put on a wig.

Flandre stared at the red-haired, explosion-haired, red-nosed clown before her, her expression surprised.

Su Lin crossed his hands and patted his shoulders, then raised them high: "Lan Lan Lu~"

"Lan Lan Lu~" Fu Lan mimicked him in sync, treating it like a competition.

"Patchouli GO!"

"Patchouli GO!"

The two began a call-and-response imitation dance, and music, seemingly from nowhere, began to play.

"It's Fu Lan's turn now!" Fu Lan said.

She thought for a moment, as if finding a way to win, then her form blurred into four identical copies of herself.

—Taboo: Quadruple Existence

Heh, young lady.

【Is this your excuse for clones? If you could do it again, would you love me?】

Under the accompaniment of music, Su Lin sneered and twisted his body, splitting into the same number of clones.

—Taboo: Shadow Clone Technique

"So cool!"

For Fu Landor, a contest wasn't fun unless victory couldn't be decided easily.

Dazed, she didn't know how long had passed.

"Second Young Lady."

"Second Young Lady."

She opened her eyes to find herself lying on her bed, and the maid Sakuya stood nearby, holding a cake and calling out.

"I heard you calling out Patchouli's name."

"."

It felt like she'd had a strange dream.

Fu Landor shook her head, confused. She glanced around the unchanged room, then fixed her gaze on the food.

"The food these past two days has been delicious."

"Thank you for the compliment."

Sakuya set down the food as usual, then closed the door and left.

Fu Landor slid off the bed, walked to a mirror, raised her hand, and shouted: "Lan Lan Lu!"

Playing by herself isn't fun.

She turned away dejectedly—when suddenly, a shadow emerged behind her, solidifying into a solid figure: a red-haired clown in McDonald's red-and-yellow striped shirt, with a wild red afro.

Fu Landor widened her eyes in shock and raised her hand: "Patchouli~ GO!"

"Patchouli~ GO!" the red-haired clown echoed.

A faint, elusive connection traveled along the figure, as if she'd gained another…

Clone.

The burning, tearing pain faded.

"You're awake."

"Say the surgery was a success and I'll force-feed you witch's potion."

"Tch."

The first thing Su Lin saw upon waking was a crowd gathered around his bed—anyone unaware might think a strange ritual was underway.

"Did I say anything in my sleep?"

Remembering the absurd dream, he couldn't help but check.

"You kept shouting out a lot of names—some I've heard, some I haven't," Lu Mingfei blurted out. "Also said something about becoming the emperor of a harem."

Okay, that was clearly a lie.

Su Lin sat up, only to find the others watching him with strange, mocking glances.

"What the hell?"

"Hah—cough"

Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan covered his mouth, barely holding back laughter, then snatched a newspaper from Ke Lan, who was sipping tea and reading.

【Scandalous Conspiracy: The Fantasy Land Amusement Park Plan! Our Reporter Barely Escaped Death, Exposing This Outsider's Devious Intent Toward the Women of Gensokyo】

Su Lin dropped the newspaper, as if laughing in disbelief, and spat out two words:

"Bullshit."