Chapter 172: The Cursed Grudge of the Odaiba Building

In the gloomy and terrifying environment of the Odaiba Building's basement, Hironaka Mariko recounted to Uesugi exactly what had happened that night.

Hironaka Mariko was a very weak ghost; she possessed no combat ability whatsoever, and even after forming a Death Soul Contract with Uesugi, she lacked any combat power in the Inner World, relying purely on her intense resentment to maintain her existence. Several months after the Fuji TV Case, Hironaka Mariko's resentment had mostly dissipated, and she had no intention of taking revenge on the two remaining people connected to her: her former lover, President Kameyama, and her former fiancé, Shimakawa Ren.

Everything should have ended here.

But Uesugi Muneyuki encountered an attack by Saijo Yasue, and Hironaka Mariko, unlike Ms. Kurosawa, did not understand the Inner World; terrified, she fled, covered her head, and crouched in defense.

However, after Uesugi Muneyuki and Saijo Yasue engaged in hand-to-hand combat, and a single arrow from Senior Mai severely wounded Saijo Yasue, Hironaka Mariko sensed the scent of the source of the Cursed Grudge within Saijo Yasue.

She had been on the verge of disappearing, and even though she had mentally prepared herself, who would want to disappear if they could stay?

Thus, Hironaka Mariko rushed over in a frenzy, tightly latching onto Saijo Yasue's Cursed Grudge, instinctively absorbing the source of the Cursed Grudge from the severely wounded Saijo Yasue.

"As for how I did it specifically, I don't really know myself," Hironaka Mariko said to Uesugi Muneyuki. "That feeling was like a newborn baby instinctively sucking its mother's milk; anyway, I just sucked like that, sucked hard, and then told you to strike."

"I see." Uesugi Muneyuki was lost in thought. No wonder Saijo Yasue, who had been so sturdy and heavily wounded, was knocked over by a single strike from his steel bottle; logically, it shouldn't have been that easy. "What happened after that?"

"I absorbed at least eighty percent of Saijo Yasue's source of Cursed Grudge, and then, after your strike, we both fell into the rift between reality and heaven. I was almost drowned by her Cursed Grudge, but relying on your Death Soul Contract, I stubbornly remained in the present world. In a daze, I instinctively returned to the second basement level of the Odaiba Building, the place where my memories were deepest, and spent several months digesting it here."

Hironaka Mariko spoke of this with quite a bit of pride: "Once I finished absorbing Saijo Yasue's Cursed Grudge, I discovered that the entire Odaiba Building had become my territory of Cursed Grudge. I could go wherever I wanted, and I could freely shuttle through every corner of the Odaiba Building!"

"For example, if you go up to the third floor from the front building, walk to the end of the corridor, and take two steps down to the corner, the fourth room on the right is a 'reception room.' Old Ghost Kameyama likes to have newly joined female anchors entertain big-name celebrities there. The newcomers are naturally willing for the sake of a chance to get ahead, though occasionally there are those who aren't, like Reimi, who just joined the station and didn't want to entertain Nakai. But Old Ghost Kameyama arranged it anyway, so I deliberately stuck my head out from his zipper just as Nakai was about to take off his pants to scare him. I scared the guy into a coma on the spot, hahahaha!"

Hironaka Mariko talked about her amusing experiences inside Fuji TV, feeling smug about her creativity.

She also once pretended to be a female Secretary and entered the President's office to deliver documents while Old Ghost Kameyama was reading files. President Kameyama even said thank you to her, but after a few seconds, he remembered that this was Mariko's voice, raised his head in a hurry, and found no one in the room. He was so scared that he lost control of his bowels and scrambled out of the President's office on all fours like a turtle.

As for Nakai, it seems that ever since that incident, he was so frightened he almost became impotent, and it took three months of seeing a urologist to slowly recover.

However, the time Hironaka Mariko could manifest as a Cursed Grudge was very limited; she spent the vast majority of her time wandering the Odaiba Building as a bodiless Cursed Grudge. If she manifested once, she needed at least two or three weeks to recover.

"………………" Uesugi Muneyuki was speechless.

Fortunately, Hironaka Mariko's nature wasn't evil; otherwise, she could have scared everyone in the Odaiba Building to death.

"So what is the situation now? What about Saijo Yasue?" Uesugi Muneyuki was calm about this.

"Saijo Yasue definitely still exists; I saw her escape. But don't worry, I took away at least eighty percent of her source of Cursed Grudge," Hironaka Mariko said triumphantly. "She was almost sucked dry by me; she's either crippled or hiding somewhere waiting to die, right?"

"It doesn't matter. I am much stronger than her now, and I've taken most of her source. If she dares to appear, I can easily eliminate her."

Saijo Yasue is still alive?

Uh, no, that's not right; she's already dead. Should I say Saijo Yasue still exists in this world?

How long is this psychopathic murderous Cursed Grudge going to pester me?! Why is she so disgusting, like sticky candy or a maggot in the bone that I can't shake off?

Uesugi Muneyuki couldn't help but frown, and he cursed under his breath.

However, there was also good news: if what Hironaka Mariko said was true, then Saijo Yasue had been sucked dry by her, and the opponent couldn't possibly pose as big a threat as last time.

Senior Mai had said that Otherworld Energy was not so easy to obtain.

Hironaka Mariko's ability to manifest occasionally relied on obtaining a small amount of energy through her Death Soul Contract with Uesugi Muneyuki.

"Then what do you plan to do next? Do you intend to return to my service, or..." Uesugi Muneyuki felt much better thinking about this.

"I can only help you if I'm here!" Hironaka Mariko got excited. "Listen, Uesugi, my Wisdom King, I have merged with the entire Odaiba Building. I plan to gradually drive away the ghosts remaining in the building, and then I'll be the only one left! I can move freely in every corner of the entire building, I can participate in every internal meeting, and listen to the conversations of those key figures. I can even enter the men's restroom; you know, the high-level executives of large companies are basically all men, and they often instinctively speak their true thoughts when they come out of meetings and urinate side by side! I'm listening!"

"If you need me, you can summon me directly to assist you. I am the Cursed Grudge under your command, and when you don't need me, I'll be in the Odaiba Building creating smoke for you and acting as your information node!"

After speaking, Hironaka Mariko looked at Uesugi Muneyuki's Bai Chuan Mai with some fear: "You and Mai-san are very close, aren't you? Can you ask her not to exorcise me?"

Bai Chuan Mai truly had the ability to exorcise her, but she hadn't done so. In fact, the talisman she wrote had directly sealed Hironaka Mariko in this area until Uesugi Muneyuki arrived today to break it.

Acting as my information node?

Uesugi Muneyuki's eyes lit up, thinking this might be a good idea.

"I understand. In that case, you stay in the Odaiba Building for now, and let's see what happens next."

"Great! Watch my performance! Watch me carry every game!" Hironaka Mariko's Cursed Grudge connected with Uesugi Muneyuki once again.

He finally had a ghost under his command again.

After dealing with Hironaka Mariko's affairs, Uesugi Muneyuki and Bai Chuan Mai left the second basement level. Uesugi Muneyuki smiled at Senior Mai: "Hironaka's situation is really interesting!"

"?" Senior Mai looked at him with a look of incomprehension: "What?"

"?" Uesugi Muneyuki also looked puzzled. He had been chatting with Hironaka Mariko for so long, and Senior Mai had been standing one step behind him watching the whole time: "I've been chatting with Hironaka Mariko's Cursed Grudge for so long, didn't you hear it?"

"How would I know what you said to her? I also..." Bai Chuan Mai's bright, beautiful eyes suddenly widened as she said this.

What? This guy Uesugi Muneyuki can actually communicate directly with a Dead Soul?!

What? Senior Mai couldn't hear my conversation with Hironaka Mariko?!

Senior and junior looked at each other in surprise.

After a long while, Senior Mai suddenly sighed and took the initiative to take Uesugi Muneyuki's arm: "I'm already a bit tired of this endless testing. We feel that we need to increase mutual trust. How about this: you come to my house one night every week, and I will treat you well. How about that?"

Uesugi Muneyuki's arm touched Senior Mai's beautiful, stunning cheek. Her skin was as white and smooth as milk and as delicate as a baby's, like a piece of warm, fleshy, high-quality jade. Uesugi Muneyuki clearly saw a subtle arc forming at the corner of her sexy red lips. Her beautiful eyes were wide open, full of expectation. Her skin was as smooth as grease, her sexy lips were small, moist, and full of luster, and her beautiful, noble face had an indescribable softness.

Her swan-like, white, and slender jade neck glowed with a charming pink. Looking down, her proud breasts made her chest rise and fall in a graceful curve.

Her firm, beautiful buttocks were full and round. The thin, flesh-colored silk stockings were as light as nothing, attached to her beautiful legs like a thin layer of cicada wings. If one didn't look closely at close range, it was almost as if she wasn't wearing anything, setting off her two long, beautiful legs to be delicate, smooth, and sexy.

"I have no problem with that, but... how can we meet without being discovered?" Uesugi Muneyuki found that he had agreed immediately without even needing to think.

"Don't worry, I have a way."

Bai Chuan Mai smiled brilliantly.

This man was a priceless treasure bestowed upon her by heaven; he had no idea how powerful he really was.

He could self-generate Otherworld Energy; this was the only one since the old gods left the world!

He could communicate directly with a Cursed Grudge; this was also the only one among all the supernatural power users encountered by the entire Kanto Shrine Alliance!

He himself didn't even know how powerful he was.

And Bai Chuan Mai didn't intend to enlighten him, because Uesugi Muneyuki only needed to rely on her, only needed to trust her, and only needed to be with her—that was enough!

I will enjoy him all to myself!

……………………

Emerging from the basement of the Fuji TV Odaiba Building, Uesugi Muneyuki and Bai Chuan Mai encountered a large group of female Idols, noisy, youthful, and vibrant, a beautiful sight to behold.

Uesugi Muneyuki recognized them; one of them was from the previously very famous girl Idol group "Akasaka," whose debut song "Silent Majority" made it to the Kohaku Uta Gassen in its first year, and the immovable center was a mushroom-cut girl named Hirate Sarina, who looked average but had a very unique aura.

Hmm, a rebellious aura that would instinctively make his grandfather Uesugi Kuninori frown.

As for those opposite them, they were the super-large, veteran girl Idol group "YKC48" created by the Kansai Yoshimoto Kogyo holding company.

At this time, YKC48 had already disbanded, and the members were boarding the agency's vans one after another to retreat; even for a national Idol group, the "Wash-foot Maids" with little popularity made up the vast majority, with only a sparse few members still having other engagements.

Just then, a sharp-eyed member spotted Shirakawa Mai and Uesugi Muneyuki appearing on the first floor and immediately rushed over.

"Ah, it's Mai-yan! It's Lord Mai-yan!"

A girl with her hair tied into twin tails using pink ribbons, fastened with bow-style knots, her bangs styled into airy bangs, her pure black eyes filled with admiration, her sweet and lovely, fresh and cute aura paired with a performance outfit that imitated a high school girl's JK uniform but added many decorations, stepping in black over-the-knee socks and iconic small leather shoes, zoomed right in front of Shirakawa Mai, bowing so low she nearly hit her head on the ground, her voice trembling with excitement.

"H-hello! Shirakawa-san! I am Miyawaki Sakura of YKC48, it is a great, great honor to meet you, please... please treat me well!"

(End of this chapter)