World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 42 The Mystery of the "Beast"
World Tree Forum.

Atmaninravi: Everyone should know about the famous "International Bridge" in Dietrich, the cross-border bridge that stretches from the United States to the United States.

Atmaninravi: I'm from Canada, but I come to Dietrich every day for work. I'm a programmer, so I inevitably have to work overtime occasionally. Last night I worked until 2 a.m., and I was thinking of just staying at the company, but then I had a sudden urge to go home.

Atmaninravi: While cycling across the international bridge, I thought I glimpsed a huge dark shadow in the distance. I stopped curiously to look for a while, but found nothing. Now that I think about it, it was probably a ship? Anyway, when I turned around, something strange happened.

Atmaninravi: I swear the bridge was deserted—a few cars, but no pedestrians—when suddenly a dark-haired woman appeared before me. The lamplight lengthened her shadow, and a tail swayed from side to side—yes, a fluffy tail!
Atmaninravi: As I cycled past, she stared at me intently, watching me until I left the bridge. I never saw her "behind" in the end. Oh, and she wasn't on a dog; that was just her shadow.

Gildorrat_5: Fu Rui is ecstatic.

Naturalnumbers: Dude, does it really have a tail? What color is it? What does it feel like?
Atmaninravi: I'm not a Fury fanatic!!! I already said I only saw a shadow. The woman turned her body as my perspective shifted, so her back wasn't showing at all.

Phil_Tornado: I know you're not a Fury fan, but is it possible that she was wearing a mascot costume?

Shmyfe: Alas, my master's task.

01/Tater: Sigh, masochist.

Atmaninravi: The World Tree Forum is supposed to be the headquarters of occultism... Can anyone answer me seriously? That tail is very flexible, wagging back and forth. I think it's a limb that grows on a living thing, not a prop.

Nim-opet: Aside from the poster being hallucinating from staying up all night, it might really be an 'orc'. The question now is—what kind? Since it's the border between the Eagle Country and the Maple Leaf Country, I bet it's a werewolf or a beaver.

thematrix1234: Then I guess it's the classic catgirl.

Фeдoр: Hurry up and change it, blah blah blah.

Heviaaaa: I was reminded of the story of the nine-tailed fox. I've been reading "Investiture of the Gods" recently, so maybe you've encountered Daji (a character from Journey to the West)~
_jeremybear_: OP, besides the shadow of the tail, was there anything else unusual about that woman?

Atmaninravi: There were several blue dots of light around her, or maybe they were neon lights reflecting off the water, I couldn't see them very clearly.

_jeremybear_: Will-o'-the-wisp?
Atmaninravi: Ugh, what you guys are saying is making me question the meaning of life. Maybe I'm just seeing things. Next time I'll ask my boss if I can work fewer overtime hours; I'm hallucinating from exhaustion.

Gil-Blond: Tears well up in the eyes of working people.

Without photos and with the poster's account being rather vague, there were hardly any serious replies. Eventually, the poster had a mental breakdown and stopped replying, and the post slowly sank to the bottom.

However, compared to some attention-grabbing posts, this is actually the most authentic ghost story encounter recently.

Searching for the location of the International Bridge, Lin An set his destination as a nearby coffee shop.

…………

"There has never been a worse time than now!"

The curly-haired hippie sipped his drink and gesticulated wildly as he complained to the guests at the next table.

"If I haven't walked so many unknown paths, where will my heart lead?"

"2037 has passed, Happy New Year. Who knows what the world will be like tomorrow."

The person who answered was a young man with black hair and black eyes. He was handsome and friendly. The hippie always felt that he had a kind of indifferent and mysterious temperament, just like a wizard in a novel.

"Thank you for your kind words." The hippie sighed. "However, everything and everyone are the same; that's the mystery and the ending."

"It's already past 3 a.m., you should go home right away," the young man advised kindly. "I heard there have been 'orcs' appearing on the International Bridge recently. Besides, given your condition, it's not advisable for you to wander around the streets at any time."

“No, buddy, I’m going to Canada… One of the joys of life is adventure.” The hippie swayed as he stood up, rubbing his sleepy eyes, and pushed open the door. “A true spiritual journey is more powerful than the reasons that lead us there!”

Don't justify your self-degradation so confidently!

The young man was Lin An.

To verify the post on the World Tree Forum, he spent the night in a coffee shop near the International Bridge. The number of customers dwindled until only he and the hippie remained, who seemed homeless and clung to Lin An, talking about vague ideals.

Lin An finally spotted a black sedan parked on the side of the bridge. He thought the mysterious figure with a tail would emerge, but it turned out to be a herbalist from Maple Leaf Country.

The hippie, who had been waiting for his long-awaited target, said goodbye to Lin An and ran out with unsteady steps.

Alas, not every exploration yields results.

A full hour had passed since the time mentioned in the forum post, and Lin An was about to leave when the doorbell of the coffee shop rang.

Lin An sat down again.

This is a great location; it's by the window, in a corner, and you can see the front desk through a mesh decoration.

Are there still customers this late?
Is that the female 'orc' with the tail?

Through the narrow field of vision, Lin An saw a very haggard, tall man wearing an outdated top hat and a thick woolen overcoat, revealing his gray and dry face.

"yawn……"

The waiter was fast asleep at the table, but the man didn't wake him. He just ripped off the key hanging on the waiter's back, opened the counter, and made himself a cup of espresso.

His bloodless hands emerged from his sleeves, so thin they were skin and bones, like a skeleton recently dug out of a grave. Yet his movements were clean and efficient, a far cry from his listless appearance. He skillfully operated the coffee machine, pouring water, pressing buttons, and filling the coffee container in one smooth motion.

The man downed his espresso in one gulp, placed his change on the counter, and left the coffee shop. The mysterious figure?
Lin An narrowed his eyes slightly, instinctively feeling that the man was a mysterious person, and that his radiation level was not low.

Such a powerful and mysterious person either belongs to the Foundation, works for a family, or has submitted to the witch; there are only these three factions in Dietrich.

Including the half-real and half-fake "female orc," two mysterious figures have already appeared near this bridge. If the shadowy figure witnessed by user Atmaninravi is also a mysterious figure...

Could this be some kind of gathering place?
Lin An hid in a secluded corner and watched from the window as the man walked straight from the sidewalk toward the International Bridge. His back was tall and thin, and he walked with an upright posture and took large strides.

The first day of the new year was a cold, gloomy, and foggy day, with light snow falling over Dietrich.

A black Stella was parked on the side of the road. Three Canadians were leaning against the bridge railing, chatting idly. When the hippie approached, they whistled at him.

"Hey buddy!"

As the man gradually faded from Lin An's sight, he adjusted his view to sniper mode using [100% accuracy], and the hippie's voice rang out again.

"How's business lately, buddy?"

“It’s alright. I have a new batch of weeds; you’ll like this stuff.” The Maple Leaf Countryman handed him a package. “We call it Purple Smoke.”

"Really?" The hippie opened the package and sniffed it greedily. "It smells very good."

"500 dollars."

Before the hippie could take out his money, the man approached the group, speaking in a hoarse, metallic voice as he walked.

"Please leave this place."

"Ha, where are you from?" the Maple Leaf Country merchant said unhappily. "You son of a bitch, don't get in our way of doing business!"

"Actually, I love being provoked by social outcasts like you, because not a single friend or relative in the world knows or cares whether you're alive or dead." The man didn't stop walking, unbuttoning a button on his collar with one hand. "One last time, get out!"

The Maple Leaf Country businessmen, realizing the newcomer's ill intentions, simultaneously drew their pistols and aimed them at the approaching man.

"Damn it, you're the one who should get out! I'll count to three—"

"Ping!"

A lead bullet with a brass sheath flew at supersonic speed, spinning like a flying drill as it struck the man, followed by a series of gunshots, the smell of gunpowder filling the air, and thick smoke.

The hippie covered his head and huddled trembling behind the railing.

"do you died?"

"Give him a dozen or so peanuts, and he'd be lucky to survive."

It's scarier than a ghost, buddy.

Lin An, who witnessed the whole process, was astonished.

Seconds before the merchants fired, the man threw off his cumbersome coat, and his figure instantly became transparent, completely disappearing from Lin An's sight!
Invisibility?!
The next moment, the perspective kept jumping around with the invisible man, it was like riding a roller coaster at eight times the speed, sometimes on the ground, sometimes in mid-air, sometimes looking down, sometimes looking up.

Caught off guard, Lin An had no time to adjust; his stomach churned violently, and he almost fainted from the 3D perspective.

When the camera stabilized again, everyone was lying in pools of blood, their fate unknown.

"call……"

Under the light, the man reappeared.

The old-fashioned top hat fell to the ground, revealing two white bones that protruded from the hair like antlers.

The man's ashen face featured a pair of gleaming eyes, long, yellow fangs, and lips with almost no flesh, revealing small, sharp teeth with traces of fresh flesh still clinging to them.

"Uh-huh..."

The hippie lay on the ground, clutching his disheveled hair. The pain from the ripped wound must have been excruciating, causing him to let out a sharp cry and howl from his chest, like a bulldog that had suffered a stroke.

"Let me send you on your way."

The man reached out, and with a "whoosh," his fingernails grew wildly like tree branches, piercing the hippie's trembling chest and accurately piercing his heart.

The fingers moved gracefully, severing the surrounding blood vessels and nerves, and with a "pop," they were pulled out from the ribs.

The corpse stopped struggling, and the man stuck out his curved tongue, wrapped it around the piece of flesh, and put it into his mouth, his face full of ecstasy.

"Ah, what a sweet and delicious taste."

Man-eating monster...

Almost without hesitation, Lin An recognized the man's mystery.

Wendigo!
Thank you to Gluttony_G7la for the monthly ticket, and thank you to all the readers for the recommendation tickets!

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(End of this chapter)