Chapter 880

The snow fell silently at night, landing on the inn's roof, in the courtyard, on the surface of the hot spring water, accumulating a thin layer before melting. The room was in disarray.

On the kotatsu lay half-eaten Aomori apples and several plates of snacks to go with alcohol; two bottles had been tipped over, their amber liquid seeping into the tatami mats, slowly spreading through the weave of the straw matting.

This was already the second round after bathing.

Four times is already enough! Uesugi Muneyuki grimaced.

Yet none of these women intended to let him go.

How could once be enough?

Asuka wore light pink stockings with strawberry patterns, sitting cross-legged by the kotatsu, toes curled, she handed him a peeled scallop to his lips.

Miyawaki Sakura leaned against his shoulder, her white polka-dot velvet stockings wrapped legs extending from under the blanket, resting on his thighs, knees slightly bent, ankles gently rubbing against the inside of his calves.

Tei Reiji knelt behind him, the outer thigh of her flesh-toned lace-trimmed suspender stockings pressed against his lower back, her hands on his shoulders, fingertips occasionally kneading his shoulder and neck muscles.

Shirakawa Mai sat opposite him, her black moon-pattern floral stockings wrapped feet extending from under the blanket, toes pressing on the top of his feet, slowly moving upward.

Several people were playing Yu-Gi-Oh!

However, at this moment Uesugi Muneyuki's hand already contained the "Sealed Left Hand," "Sealed Right Hand," and so on—five cards in total—logically enough to directly declare victory in the game.

But Mai Xuejie said:

Winning brings reward, losing brings punishment.

If Uesugi Muneyuki wins, he must take turns; if he loses, they take turns with him.

This forced Uesugi Muneyuki into a difficult "prolonged consideration."

"Come on, Muneyuki!" Xiao Yinghua teased, smiling with a soft, kitten-like gentleness and post-moistened satisfaction, she said with a wicked grin: "You now have at least five ways to end this game—hurry up and play."

"Yeah, hurry up, Muneyuki!" Asuka also said with a wicked smile: "We're waiting for you to reward us… or punish you!" "Muneyuki-san, you can't not play!" Tei Reiji announced gently.

"Mmm" Uesugi Muneyuki wanted to cry but had no tears; he couldn't possibly tell everyone he was currently being stepped on by Mai Xuejie and couldn't move, could he?

And opposite him, Mai Xuejie even more so held Sebadolagon in her hand, smirking at him: "Junior Student, do you like Yui-san?" "A little, just a little!" Uesugi Muneyuki surrendered.

"Oh, how big is 'a little'?" Mai Xuejie smiled falsely: "You already have me, yet you're still thinking of someone else's Yui—she has a proper boyfriend, you lecher; it's better we handle this internally."

"Nonsense, am I the type who likes NTR and sleeping with other men's wives?" Uesugi Muneyuki flushed with frustration, he wanted to stand up, but clearly some part was being stepped on, so he could only sit: "It's all your fault! I can't help it either!"

"Hmm?" Mai Xuejie moved her black silk-clad feet under the kotatsu, Uesugi Muneyuki gasped for cold air: "Are you sure it's not you who likes it?" Uesugi Muneyuki referred to Mai Xuejie moving the Seishokurin onto him and needing to release desire after purifying dead souls.

While Mai Xuejie spoke of his lustful nature.

"Well, I don't know why, but even though we've become One Lotus Together Born, I still feel strange, especially facing Yui." In the One Lotus Together Born state, Mai Xuejie said with a hint of jealousy: "I don't know why, I always feel that in some parallel world—say, one called 'Nogizaka Poem'—the Okinawan giantess is your white moonlight, while I am the foolish junior who desperately chases after you, waiting for you, only to be cruelly toyed with by you and then cruelly made to serve the giantess as a concubine? You agree, don't you, cunning junior?"

"No, no!" Uesugi Muneyuki shook his head frantically, he obviously knew this was a death sentence: "Although Yui-san was someone I admired in my youth, that was merely… just… a typical idol-fan relationship, and moreover, Yui has shown her age these years, I've grown too—she, she can't possibly stop me from becoming better, can she?"

"Hmph, no one stays eighteen forever, but there will always be someone eighteen." Mai Xuejie snorted through her nose: "You scumbag! Count +1!" "It's all because you forced me." Uesugi Muneyuki's face turned slightly green.

Shirakawa Mai also looked at him, the corner of her mouth bearing a faint, elusive smile.

She said nothing, but he understood that gaze—tonight's program list, arranged by her.

Asuka handled feeding, Miyawaki Sakura served as a backrest, Tei Reiji handled massage, she herself needed to do nothing but sit there, using those feet clad in moon-pattern floral silk stockings to step on him—you can't escape, everything here is yours, but you also belong here. Outside, the snow fell heavier and heavier, the room's temperature rising higher and higher.

Condensation on the paper door formed droplets, tracing down the wooden frame like melting ice.

(I am the dividing line of Bingbing's water)

The next morning, Uesugi Muneyuki was awakened by the sound of sweeping outside the door.

Tatami mats were in disarray—wine bottles, glasses, eaten apple cores, crumpled tissues, plus several pairs of stockings carelessly tossed in a corner: white polka-dot, light pink strawberry, flesh-toned lace, black moon-pattern, all tangled together, indistinguishable whose they were. Asuka and Miyawaki Sakura huddled in another futon in the room's corner, two people embraced while sleeping, hair scattered in a mess.

Tei Reiji had already left at some point, leaving a note by her pillow with two different lipstick prints. Shirakawa Mai sat by the window, already dressed and groomed, holding a cup of hot tea, watching the sky outside gradually brighten. She had changed out of last night's outfit into a dark gray turtleneck sweater and black long pants, her hair tied in a ponytail, revealing a slender neck.

"Awake?" She didn't turn around.

Uesugi Muneyuki rubbed his eyes, crawled out from under the blanket, barefoot on the tatami, walked to her side and sat down, supporting his waist. He had almost given the senior student a broken leg.

Deep-sea bomb, Lucia roulette, pachinko, flight chess…… these women are getting better and better at playing; Uesugi feels that if he continues like this, he will eventually be played to ruin by them.

"Today we go to the ranch," Mai said, instead spirited, her blue stripes fully filled; seeing Uesugi Muneyuki's fatigued face, she handed him the tea, laughing as she lightly kissed his lips: "Just the two of us. Xiao Ying and the others are waiting at the hotel for news."

Uesugi Muneyuki took the tea, took a sip, nodded: "Good."

"Or, we could do it once more before departure?" Mai Xuejie traced a circle on his chest with her scallion-white jade finger, laughing: "Even if it's a reward for you?"

"Ah da yo!" Uesugi Muneyuki hurriedly begged for mercy.

"Hmph~" Mai Xuejie clung tightly to him, unwilling to let go.

Mine, all mine, only mine!

Muneyuki, is mine! What Okinawan giantess, get lost!

The remnants from last night hadn't yet been cleared, the tatami still bore those stockings and wine stains, but Shirakawa Mai no longer wanted to deal with it. Someone will come to clean those things, just as someone will come to bury the dead.

The snow on Hakkoda Mountains was heavier than last night's.

The mountain's most famous site is the legendary Hakkoda Mountains Snow-Covered Ground March incident.

Before the Russo-Japanese War, in 1902, the Japanese military, to adapt to Lucia's harsh cold, organized the 8th Division to conduct winter snow-ground march training, dispatching a 210-person unit led by Captain Narinari Bunji for extreme cold mountain marching.

After entering the mountains on January 23rd, the unit encountered a blizzard, temperatures plummeting below -20°C; due to refusing to hire guides and inadequate equipment, they got lost and suffered widespread frostbite.

In the end, only 11 of the 210 were rescued, 199 froze to death.

From this we can see what the Japanese spirit was like then—they truly believed in it.

Shirakawa Mai drove that black Mercedes-Benz car slowly along the mountain road, wipers at maximum speed, barely managing to clear a small patch of visibility on the windshield.

Snow piled higher than the car roof on both sides of the road; occasionally one could see snow-bent branches stretching onto the road like a single pale arm. Uesugi Muneyuki sat in the passenger seat, holding a tablet computer, the screen displaying an internal document obtained that morning from the Tsugaru-ke. Over a dozen years, more than thirty disabled people have died at the ranch, causes of death varied.

Uesugi Muneyuki carefully examined these individuals' files.

However, he found nothing wrong; they all had uniform corpse examination reports, and disabled people inherently have poor health, early deaths are commonplace; according to the ranch's hiring scale, this is understandable, although relatively more occurred, Uesugi Muneyuki could not find any major issue. "How is it? Did you find anything?" Mai Xuejie gripped the steering wheel, lightly humming: "Xiaomei Xiaogou~ Xiaomei Xiaogou oh oh oh 'Currently speaking…'" Uesugi Muneyuki enlarged one page: "No problem, possibly due to extreme outliers…… The ranch's annual report, transmitted annually between local government and welfare agencies, always uses that standard, watertight official phrasing—'Disabled Persons Employment Support Enterprise Steadily Advancing,' 'Resident Satisfaction Continuously Rising,' 'Collaboration with Local Communities Continuously Deepening.'"

Japanese people dislike causing trouble for others, especially disabled people who are more susceptible to social pressure, so they often choose to withdraw, and among them, some even without cause will develop resentment toward society and utterly unrelated strangers.

This is also normal; Uesugi Muneyuki has seen plenty of this over the years.

Who let you have good hands and good feet?

If it were merely some individuals' resentment, it shouldn't have caused such a horrifying turbidity, but if the entire ranch had formed some kind of "collective unconscious"—like the group bullying in Konoha Village—then Yui's encountering danger would be understandable.

That is the resentment of the disabled and the dead toward the living.

The Mercedes stopped before a rusted iron gate; the ranch sign swayed in the wind and snow, the words "Aomori Hita Sesse Bokujō" half-obscured by snow, while the smaller text beside it reading "Social Welfare Corporation" had become completely illegible.

Several low iron sheds were scattered across the snowy ground, their windows boarded up with planks; in the distance, at the foot of the mountain, lay a dry spring, its mouth sealed by ice, the ice surface black.

Shirakawa Mai turned off the engine, and the two stepped out of the car. Cold wind poured into their collars; Uesugi Muneyuki raised the collar of his coat, while Shirakawa Mai had already wrapped her scarf snugly, and they simultaneously activated their invisibility ability.

The iron gate had no lock, its chains dangling loosely from the posts as if carelessly tossed there. He pushed the gate open, walked in, and his footsteps on the snow made a "creak-creak" sound, especially sharp in the empty snowy expanse.

"It feels a bit strange, as if nobody is here." Mai Senior said: "I sensed a hint of ominous Qi; be careful."

"Let me check." He stopped, closed his eyes, then opened them one by one—Spirit Vision activated.

The world changed color.

Uesugi Muneyuki stood frozen in place, his mouth hanging open.

"Mai-sama."

"Hmm?" Mai Senior also sensed a hint of abnormality.

"Call the police, now, immediately." Uesugi Muneyuki said dazedly: "We might be in trouble!"

"Huh?!"