Chapter 58: The Resentment of the Death Curse (10)

In the intensive care unit of Shuijing City Hospital, the folklorist Ishikawa Kenichi lay on the bed, his entire body wrapped in bandages, while a heart monitor beside him emitted a steady "beep-beep" sound.

Duizhan Qibing stood at the bedside, his hands transformed into green data streams pressed against Ishikawa's chest.

【Skill Name: Basic Data Restoration】

【Type: Spiritual Energy】

【Rank: Rare】

【Effect: Sector Restoration. Scan an object, digitize it, and partially repair physical damage.】

【Cost: Base 100 spiritual energy points; additional cost calculated by duration and repair intensity.】

【Cooldown: 10 minutes】

【Note: Healing effect on living beings is halved; releasing this skill is interrupted if you attack or are attacked.】

【Note: Restarting fixes 90% of computer problems; reinstalling the OS fixes 99%; buying a new one fixes 100%.】

【Note: "How can software be installed on a hard drive? It has to be stored on a floppy disk!" Sensing business opportunity in the software wave, Old Wang spent all his savings buying and hoarding floppy disks.】

As the green data streams spread, the burn marks on Ishikawa Kenichi's body gradually faded, yet he showed no sign of awakening—according to the hospital, his coma resulted from shock after burns, and it was uncertain when he would regain consciousness.

"I can't go on."

With his spiritual energy nearly depleted, Duizhan Qibing released his grip and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

This folklorist was undoubtedly the person in the mission world who understood the curse's power most deeply; if he could be awakened, more intelligence could be obtained.

Duizhan Qibing turned to Little Red Riding Hood, "How is Suzuki Yūko? Is her condition stable?"

Dazed, Little Red Riding Hood instinctively stood at attention. "The doctor says she's no longer in immediate danger."

Time flow in the Fujita residence was indeed distorted; though Li Cheng and Duizhan Qibing felt only a short time had passed, an hour had elapsed in the outside world, and rain had begun again. Little Red Riding Hood had also been attacked.

First, she nearly had her eyeballs ripped out by a vengeful spirit; then, Suzuki Yūko's belly swelled mysteriously as if she were eight months pregnant, on the verge of rupture; then, Sakai Yoshimi and her best friend were strangled by an unnamed force and lifted into the air.

Under these conditions, Little Red Riding Hood barely escaped, rescued Sakai Yoshimi and her best friend, stabbed Suzuki Yūko's abdomen with a fruit knife, killing the infant-shaped vengeful spirit hidden inside, and drove all of them to the hospital. After frantic emergency treatment, no one died.

"If the Fujita residence itself is the nexus of the curse, then after we destroyed the house, the curse should have gradually dissipated."

Jingzhe Xiazhi adjusted his glasses and analyzed: "The problem is, it hasn't. That feeling of being watched hasn't vanished."

"Indeed." Li Cheng nodded, deeply agreeing: "I still feel thorns pricking my back, utterly uncomfortable."

"That's literally thorns pricking your back." Duizhan Qibing stared at the toothpick horizontally tucked inside Li Cheng's robe and squinted sarcastically.

"Huh? Who put this in?!"

Li Cheng pulled the toothpick from inside his robe, his expression furious.

After spending time together, Jingzhe Xiazhi had grown accustomed to Master Pi Fu's sudden antics and continued analyzing: "If folklorist Ishikawa Kenichi's conclusion about the three elements of the curse is accurate, it proves only one thing—the curse's nexus with this world isn't the house, but something else. For example, the black water in the bathtub."

Compared to tap water from ordinary residential pipes, the black water in the bathtub was murkier, containing more bacterial colonies, moss, aquatic organisms, and sulfates, while lacking the chlorine smell typical of tap water.

In other words, the black water originated from outside the city's tap water system.

"The Shuijing City reservoir. Just beyond the back hill of the Fujita residence."

Duizhan Qibing glanced at the clock on the ward wall. "It's six thirty-seven a. m. We have an hour and a half until the next rain. Time is short."

Little Red Riding Hood, you stay behind. The three of us are heading to the reservoir.

"Huh? Still me?" Little Red Riding Hood's expression was about to burst into tears.

"Someone must stay behind to protect these targets. You staying here is actually safer than coming with us."

Jingzhe Xiazhi said calmly: "Inside the Fujita residence, the curse has demonstrated the ability to split battlefields and isolate players. If you come with us, you might become the primary target, forced to face it alone."

"Then it won't be a mere phantom—it'll be the real thing."

Me? Fight the curse? Wait… is that real?

Imagining the scene, Little Red Riding Hood gripped the fruit knife and watched her three companions leave the ward.

————

Faded, old memories surged into his mind.

Summer, sports day, the playground.

A plain girl in long sleeves and a long skirt fell by the roadside, her lower body soiled and reeking.

"Ugh. So disgusting."

"So stinky! Teacher! Fujita had an accident!"

"Ishikawa, aren't you her friend? Go help her up."

"Hehe, so stupid, clumsy, and ugly—can't even control her own bowels."

Her usual bullies surrounded her, mocking and laughing; teachers saw this from afar, ignored it, and chatted among themselves.

The girl lifted her head, her helpless gaze fixed on her only friend. Ishikawa, held by classmates, opened his mouth, then slowly and painfully turned his eyes away. "She's not my friend."

The girl's eyes widened involuntarily, her gaze dimmed, all light extinguished.

Slowly, she rose, dragging herself to the restroom to clean herself, then fetched tools to scrub the soiled ground.

After school, he broke from his group, caught up with her on a narrow path: "I'm sorry."

"."

"Can you forgive me? What I said this morning wasn't true."

"."

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry."

The memory cut off, the image frozen on him standing on a mountain path beside the reservoir, watching the girl with her head bowed, walking into the Fujita residence below.

"Haa—"

Folklorist Ishikawa Kenichi jolted awake on the bed, his eyes wide beneath the bandages, voice hoarse: "Don't!"

Little Red Riding Hood, startled, instinctively asked: "Don't what?"

"Don't go near that reservoir."

————

At dawn's first light, three players stood at the edge of the mountain reservoir.

No one knew Jingzhe Xiazhi's origins, but besides premium item consumable explosives, she also possessed the latest-model Prometheus Laboratories underwater robot.

The submarine-shaped robot was launched into the water and immediately emitted sonar pulses to scan the lakebed.

"Found it."

Jingzhe Xiazhi's gaze sharpened; in the robot's transmitted footage, the corpse of a young girl lay clearly on the lake bottom.

Half her body was buried in silt; her upper half wore a long-sleeved long dress, half her face was severely decayed, her hair floated like waterweeds. It was Fujita Kikuko, missing for twenty-five years.

Jingzhe Xiazhi took a deep breath and pressed the robot's remote control joystick. "Approaching. Preparing to deploy ash bomb."

The next instant, an abrupt change occurred.

Fujita Kikuko suddenly opened her undecayed right eye and let out a silent scream in the water.

(End of Chapter)