Chapter 78: The Curse

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 beeping sound.

Stack Trooper 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, convert it to data, 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. The skill is interrupted if you attack or are attacked during use.】

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

【Note: “How can software be stored on a hard drive? It has to be 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, Stack Trooper released his grip and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

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

Stack Trooper turned to Little Red Riding Hood. “How’s 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 mansion was indeed distorted. Though Li Cheng and Stack Trooper 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 eyes gouged out by a vengeful spirit; then, Suzuki Yūko’s belly swelled unnaturally as if she were eight months pregnant, on the verge of bursting; then, Sakai Yoshimi and her 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 friend, stabbed Suzuki Yūko’s abdomen with a fruit knife, killing the infant-like vengeful spirit hidden inside, and drove them all to the hospital. After frantic resuscitation efforts, no one died.

“If the Fujita mansion itself is the connection point 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 disappeared.”

“Indeed.” Li Cheng nodded, deeply agreeing: “I still feel like thorns are pricking my back, utterly uncomfortable.”

“That’s literally thorns pricking your back.” Stack Trooper squinted at the toothpick horizontally tucked inside Li Cheng’s Daoist robe.

“Huh? Who put this in?!”

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

Having grown accustomed to Pifus’s sudden antics, Jingzhe Xiazhi continued calmly: “If Ishikawa Kenichi’s conclusion about the three elements of the curse is accurate, then it proves only one thing—the curse’s connection point to this world isn’t the house, but something else. For example, the black water in the bathtub.”

Compared to tap water from ordinary homes, 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 water supply system.

“The reservoir of Shuijing City. Just beyond the back hill of the Fujita mansion.”

Stack Trooper 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? Me again?” Little Red Riding Hood’s face was on the verge of tears.

“Someone has to stay behind to protect these targets. You’re safer here than coming with us.”

Jingzhe Xiazhi said calmly: “Inside the Fujita mansion, the curse has already 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 phantom anymore—it’ll be the real thing.”

I 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.

An unremarkable girl in long sleeves and a long skirt fell by the roadside, her lower body soiled and reeking of filth.

“Ew. 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.”

Classmates who had long bullied and mocked her surrounded her, 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, 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, dragged herself to the restroom to clean herself, then fetched tools to wash away the filth on the 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 ended there, the image frozen on him standing on the mountain path beside the reservoir, watching the girl with her head bowed, walking into the Fujita mansion 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.”

————

Morning light touched the mountain reservoir, where three players stood at the lake’s edge.

No one knew Jingzhe Xiazhi’s origins, but besides high-quality consumable explosives, she carried the latest model Prometheus Labs underwater drone.

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

“Found it.”

Jingzhe Xiazhi’s gaze sharpened: on the drone’s feed, the corpse of a little girl lay clearly on the lake bottom.

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

Jingzhe Xiazhi took a deep breath and pressed the drone’s control stick. “Approaching. Preparing to deploy incense ash bomb.”

The next second, an anomaly erupted.

Fujita Kiko suddenly opened her undecayed right eye and screamed silently beneath the water.

(End of Chapter)