Chapter 330: , absorbing the grudge

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Time rewinds to the early morning of December 29th.

The injured Uesugi Munesetsu was taken to the University of Tokyo Hospital. After a doctor's examination confirmed he had no serious injuries, he was allowed to rest in a VIP ward, while Ikeda Erena stayed by his side.

This was Erina's first time killing someone with her own hands. Earlier, the tall, beautiful woman had been focused on Uesugi Munesetsu's condition. After confirming he was fine, Erina became dazed, sitting stiffly in place, replaying her actions over and over, tormented by guilt and inner conflict.

"You don't need to overthink it, Erina-sensei." Uesugi Munesetsu lay in bed playing with Erina's Samsung phone, his Huawei 6 Plus "War Wolf Red" model having been sliced in half by Saijo Yasuke with a single blow. Though it was a double-edged kitchen knife, in Saijo Yasuke's hands it was practically a lightsaber—no need to say more. The blade followed the apple-shaped pollen pattern on the phone's back, cleanly slicing the entire device in half: "Do you remember our Hakone trip? The human body is naturally fragile, and you did this to protect me—this is justified killing."

"I—I just————" Erina was still torn: "I just struck a little too hard—I was afraid you—" "You're not wrong! You really needed to strike hard, unleash full force! If you'd gone lighter, I'd be dead!" Uesugi Munesetsu chuckled slightly, patting Erina's hand and showing her his minor waist wound: "At that moment, the knife tip was only 0.01 cm from my kidney, Erina-sensei—you saved my lower body, and also saved your own future———"

"Pfft~" Erina, who had been anguished and conflicted, was made to laugh by Uesugi Munesetsu's words. She instinctively wanted to punch his shoulder to say, "What nonsense are you spouting now?" But fearing she might hurt him, she couldn't bring herself to strike, so she covered her mouth and snorted with laughter, still slightly annoyed: "What are you talking about? Go tell Minami—I and you———"

Yeah, what exactly are Erina and Munesetsu now? Erina's mind was a bit scrambled for a moment.

But after saying all that, Erina felt much better inside.

The two were still about to say more when they heard voices outside the ward door. The VIP room door knocked, and after receiving Uesugi Munesetsu's permission to enter, Chief Prosecutor Ohkuchi Haruki of the Metropolitan Police Department's Inspection Bureau walked in with his team.

Behind him were several others, all inspectors from the Inspection Bureau—essentially, police policing the police. Among them was Inspector Yanagisawa, who had once shared a fateful encounter with Uesugi Munesetsu.

"You've worked hard!" "You've worked hard, Uesugi-kun!" "Uesugi-kun, how's the situation?" After the inspectors exchanged routine greetings, their attention shifted to Ikeda Erena.

"Miss Ikeda Erena, head of the Special Investigation Division's female investigators, could you come with us for a moment?" Chief Inspector Ohkuchi said seriously: "Regarding your act of killing in this case—we are now placing you under administrative leave for investigation. However, please don't worry: after unanimous review by the bureau, we've determined this was lawful self-defense and justified killing. It's merely a standard inquiry and examination—necessary procedure. Please understand."

"Alright, Erina, go with them. Trust me—the bureau is absolutely on our side. Ohkuchi-san and the others are mainly here to teach you how to handle emergency reviews and questioning from the Ministry of Justice." Uesugi Munesetsu nodded.

"But Uesugi..." Ikeda Erena still couldn't relax, gazing wistfully at Uesugi Munesetsu: "I'm fine—tonight's been too much. Let me be alone for a while." Uesugi Munesetsu said gently.

Hearing Uesugi Munesetsu say that, Ikeda Erena had no choice but to follow Chief Inspector Ohkuchi away.

After Ikeda Erena left, Uesugi Munesetsu wiped the smile from his face: "Come out."

Tadokoro Curse Hiroko Moriko and Smoke Ghost Miyahara Toru appeared simultaneously.

At that moment, Hiroko Moriko was still in the midst of casting a spell. She had split her true form into two Curse Vengeance avatars, simultaneously casting a spell on Saijo Yasuke's Curse Vengeance to drain the power of this female murderer's vengeful spirit. Three pairs of sharp ghostly claws hovered above the shattered, crimson-black eye socket skull.

"Eek, that was really close—just a hair's breadth away." Miyahara Toru spoke first, the Smoke Ghost also continuing his incantation.

The reason is simple: at this moment, the detective who had been gutted open during the pursuit is now in the ICU receiving emergency treatment.

The most serious issue from being gutted open is massive blood loss leading to hemorrhagic shock, simultaneously accompanied by tension pneumothorax and open pneumothorax. Due to lung damage, air enters the pleural cavity during inhalation but cannot escape, causing the injured lung to collapse completely and pushing the mediastinum (containing the heart and major blood vessels) toward the healthy side, severely compressing the healthy lung and heart, obstructing venous blood return to the heart—this leads to respiratory and circulatory collapse, rapidly fatal.

Combined with massive blood loss, this detective is already half-dead, having gone to the afterlife, while the other half clings desperately to the edge of the cliff.

Fortunately, the Smoke Ghost is here. Miyahara Toru, through his green smoke, mouth-to-mouth, infused healing air into the detective's lungs, assisting his breathing and treating his damaged lung lobes, giving him the strength to endure resuscitation.

"Miyahara, focus on saving the person first." Uesugi Munesetsu instructed the Smoke Ghost, then turned to Hiroko Moriko and asked: "What's going on? Hiroko, didn't you already absorb most of Saijo Yasuke's vengeful power? Aren't you her natural enemy?"

"That should have been the case." Hiroko Moriko's face was grim: "Normally, she couldn't oppose me, but Uesugi, Saijo Yasuke seems to have gained new power from somewhere—her vengeful spirit is mixed with a new energy."

"From elsewhere?" Uesugi Munesetsu frowned.

"Elsewhere in the other world? What place is that?"

Wait, could it be…!!

"Good, so now we can confirm—has Saijo Yasuke been completely finished off?" Uesugi Munesetsu's facial muscles twitched as he asked.

He was really getting annoyed.

"Um, yes and no!" Hiroko Moriko continued casting, constantly drawing vengeful power through her ghost claws. The former Fuji TV female anchor's reply was utterly bewildering: "I mean, Saijo Yasuke is already finished—completely finished—but she hasn't completely vanished."

"What do you mean?" Uesugi Munesetsu's eyebrows knotted: "Can she still make a comeback?"

"No—I mean, as a vengeful spirit, Saijo Yasuke has already been completely finished off." Hiroko Moriko's two avatars, each with three pairs of ghost claws, simultaneously gripped the shattered crimson-black eye socket skull: "All of her vengeful power and her vengeful essence are right here—so from the perspective of vengeful spirits, she's already completely finished off, dead beyond death."

"But her dead soul isn't all here." Hiroko Moriko whispered: "I can feel it—her dead soul is hidden somewhere in Tokyo—don't worry, she no longer has any vengeful power to possess and harm anyone."

"I see—so as a vengeful spirit, Saijo Yasuke is already completely finished off. Even if we do nothing, she can no longer threaten us—she just still has a fragment of her soul hiding somewhere else in Tokyo?" Uesugi Munesetsu understood Hiroko Moriko's meaning.

"Exactly. Give me a few days, Uesugi. Once I've absorbed all of her vengeful power, I'll be able to find where she's hiding—and then completely erase her!" Hiroko Moriko smiled.

"Good, it seems we can finally put an end to this threat." Uesugi Munesetsu nodded, recalling that madwoman and then thinking of Nana Mi, who died at her hands—his eyes flashed with naked killing intent, spilling from his eye sockets: "I want to personally use her skull as a bowl."

Moreover, the new power she gained might be connected to that new deity from Kansai—Uesugi Munesetsu was still pondering this when hurried footsteps echoed from the hallway outside.

Soon, a beautiful figure appeared outside the ward door.

The woman wore a Parthian goddess-style dark blue pine-needle patterned dress, her skin smooth and white like congealed fat, her shoulders sleek and slightly slender, her bust high and firm, her abdomen smooth as jade, her waist slender enough to encircle with one hand, her hips full and uplifting, her legs long and smooth like jade, straight and elegant, the hem of her skirt adorned with stripe-like floral patterns, revealing slender, captivating legs wrapped in ultra-thin black stockings, making her even more alluring, her feet clad in a pair of exquisite black high heels, revealing the delicate soles beneath the black stockings—utterly tempting.

Her slender jade hand held a bright pink leather purse, her straight black hair shimmering softly under the hospital's white fluorescent lights, complementing her melon-seed face and supple skin.

Her eyebrows are delicately arched like a painting, her double eyelids sharply defined, her large eyes radiating a mature allure, slightly upturned at the corners to enhance her seductive charm, her nose bridge straight and elegant, her lips looking soft and tender, as if she had just come running toward you, her full chest rising and falling with each breath, her slightly parted red lips revealing a row of neat, snow-white, crystal-clear teeth.

exuding an elegant and radiant aura—this woman, who blends youthful vitality with mature grace, is naturally Mai Gakusē, who recently became bound to Uesugi Munesetsu.

However, at this moment, Mai Gakusē had no pleasant expression—her face had turned from white hemp to black stone.

"Uesugi!!!" As Mai Gakusē appeared at the ward door, she turned and saw Uesugi Munesetsu sitting on the bed, rushed forward in two quick steps to his side—but she didn't ask about his condition, because it wasn't necessary, nor did she ask what happened, because she already knew. Furious, she wanted to slap him across the face: "Why didn't you summon me?! Why did you have to face the vengeful spirit alone?!"

"I was at NHK's Red and White Song Festival rehearsal today and got my phone confiscated!" Mai Gakusē turned blue with anger,

but that slap never came—instead, she changed her palm to a fist and lightly tapped his head: "You idiot, you should've called me! I could've arrived instantly! Why didn't you call me?!"

"Damn it! I only found out what happened after the rehearsal ended—damn NHK, damn the soul system, 【51】 this is my last time hosting Red and White—I swear!"

This is the last time I'll ever host the Red and White Song Festival! I swear it!

"I." Uesugi Munesetsu had originally resented Mai Gakusē for draining his energy and leaving him weak, but seeing she was also recovering from serious injury and had indeed previously explained that they chose the 27th for their first dual cultivation because she had the Red and White rehearsal on the 28th—so it wasn't a lack of notice—he snorted twice through his nose, stubbornly saying: "I will personally avenge Nana Mi!"

"Are you really going to risk your life for revenge, even after nearly being slashed? Hahuki Snow, you idiot!" Mai Gakusē laughed despite herself: "You make it sound like I don't want to avenge Nana Mi—I and she are like lonely siblings!"

"??? You knew Nana Mi before?" Uesugi Munesetsu blinked, a question mark appearing above his head.

".. —·No, but I always feel like I've known her for ages—probably a past-life connection?" Mai Gakusē, fuming, rubbed Uesugi Munesetsu's hair and messed with his head: "And after she died, she even asked me to take good care of Asuka—how could this be just your personal grudge?"

"As for Asuka, you'd better tell her yourself!" Uesugi Munesetsu glanced at the ward door, his heart jolting.

There stood the beautiful forensic examiner Ishihara Mikoto and the chosen girl Saito Asuka—mother and daughter—stunned at the doorway, staring at the furious national goddess and new national hero inside the ward, shaking their heads in disbelief.

「？？？？？？」