They won the Holy Grail War, but this turned out to be the Virtual Tree Universe.

Chapter 18 A Town on the Verge of Riot (Please continue reading)

After leaving Urokodaki Sakonji's hut, Dan Lei didn't actually head straight for the locations of the Upper and Lower Moon demons that were explicitly mentioned in the original story.

Danlei is very clear that one must take things one step at a time, eat one bite at a time, and start training from the basics.

Sasaki Kojiro captured almost all the demons within a radius of dozens of miles around Urokodaki Sakonji's hut, turning them all into Tanlei's lab rats, and eventually they died from various lethal experiments.

Therefore, if Danlei wants to find the ghost, he has to go even further.

Fortunately, finding a ghost is relatively simple; you can just go to the police station and ask.

Dan Lei still knows simple hints and magic tricks; he can easily control ordinary people.

Telephones already existed during the Taisho era. Police chiefs could simply ask their friends, and Danlei would be able to find out which areas were experiencing continuous or sudden disappearances of people.

Knowing the location, Danlei simply took the train to his destination using the identification issued by the police station and the money contributed by the bloated and idiotic police chief.

Dan Lei isn't afraid of encountering Lower Moon One, Nightmare, here.

Putting aside whether his Blood Demon Art would be effective against Dan Lei, who was under mental protection, even if it were, Sasaki Kojiro was still nearby.

Dan Lei definitely wouldn't buy a ticket for Sasaki Kojiro to take the train; he could just stay in his spirit form and follow along.

If a ghost attacks Dan Lei and he falls victim to it, he will naturally deal with the ghost.

Even if all else fails, running with Danlei shouldn't be a problem.

Of course, Danlei wasn't so lucky; he just happened to run into Nightmare while taking a train.

Danlei's several train journeys during the Taisho era went smoothly; he didn't even encounter a single ghost.

As for those villages and towns where people have gone missing, two-thirds of the cases are related to human trafficking, which fully proves that in any era, people are more terrifying than ghosts.

Needless to say, when it came to human smuggling, Dan Lei wiped out the entire group, taking away any gems or other items that could be used in magical rituals.

As for those who were smuggled, they were simply given a share of the money and dismissed on the spot. Dan Lei wouldn't care whether they lived or died afterward.

The remaining ghosts all died under Dan Lei's blade.

Just as Sasaki Kojiro said, after several real close-quarters battles with demons, he did gain some insights into his swordsmanship and began to combine Type-Moon magic to try to create his own unique demon swordsman fighting style.

However, these ghosts exerted too little pressure. To be honest, even without breathing techniques, these guys could be easily killed with magic threads.

Danlei spent half a year wandering around Japan without encountering any decent ghosts.

So, Danlei, who couldn't find any powerful ghosts, started thinking about whether he should just go find those ghosts in the anime whose locations were clearly known.

Since he hadn't fought a Lower Moon demon yet, Dan Lei planned to visit Mount Natagumo.

However, after Danlei gave up looking for ghosts, on his way to the train station, he passed through a small town where the police station had no records of missing persons.

As soon as Danlei entered the town, he sensed something was wrong. Judging from the number of houses and their age, the town had a large population, and there were many utility poles along the roadside, making it a relatively modern town.

But even in broad daylight, there were very few people on the road, and they all covered their faces with cloths and walked very quickly.

Moreover, Dan Lei could sense many malicious gazes coming from the surrounding houses, as if they wanted to rob him.

This town seems to be plagued by an epidemic, and the townspeople are very unstable, which is not normal.

Just in case, Danlei added an air filtration magic trick to his device, in case he accidentally crashed in some strange place. After finishing, Danlei went straight to the restaurants in town, only to find that they were all closed.

With no other option, Danlei, adhering to the principle of calling the police when in trouble, had to visit the town's police station.

As a result, the police station in such a large town was completely empty. After scanning the area with his detection magic, Dan Lei was certain that the last time a living person had entered the house was at least four days ago, and there were very obvious signs that it had been ransacked.

However, in a corner of the room, Danlei discovered some hairs that didn't belong to a human; this place was haunted.

It's important to know that during the Taisho era, a small town's police station usually had a dozen or so people.

There was absolutely no news of what happened here, proving that all information had been cut off, and those dozen or so police officers had most likely met with misfortune.

It ate more than a dozen people in one go and still didn't make a sound. This ghost seems to be quite powerful.

At that moment, Danlei suddenly heard a noise at the entrance of the police station, so he went down to check the situation.

The commotion was caused by a young woman. She panicked slightly when she saw Danlei coming downstairs, but didn't run. Instead, she asked him anxiously.

Who are you? Why are you here?

Clearly, the young woman was a local and knew everyone in the police station, so she could tell at a glance that Danlei wasn't from there.

Dan Lei said, "Isn't this a ready-made source of information? Just throw a hint magic trick at him, and then ask seriously..."
"I'm a special envoy from the county police department. Do you know where all the police officers in this town have gone? There's not a single one around in broad daylight! It's outrageous!!"

Under the influence of the implied magic trick, the young woman had no reason to doubt Dan Lei's words, so she immediately ran over and said anxiously.
"My name is Yunako Ono, and I am the wife of Officer Heitaro Suke of this police station. My husband has been missing for five days without explanation, and there is a plague breaking out in the town. I have no other choice but to ask you, sir, to help me find my husband."

Dan Lei felt that Ono Yunako was telling the truth, so he continued to question her, and under the influence of the suggestive magic, she told him everything she knew.

Only then did Danlei roughly understand the situation of the town.

Five days ago, the town was hit by a sudden flu outbreak, a terrifying plague that causes infected people to cough violently for hours until they cough themselves to death.

The town's doctor said the water source was polluted and that many animals had died mysteriously along the riverbank, so now no one dares to drink the water around there.

But at this time, the town's police officers have all disappeared, and the telephone lines to the outside world have been cut off.

The town sent people out to seek help and purchase water, but none of them have returned so far.

Yunako Ono had actually come to the police station five days earlier, but they hadn't found anything then.

She came here today actually to find some self-defense weapons at the police station. Five days have passed, and the lack of water has brought the town to the brink of collapse. She, a young woman, is alone in an empty house and is terrified.

After learning about the situation, Danlei immediately felt that he had encountered a big fish.

It is now almost certain that the police officers in this town have been killed. The reason for killing the police officers first was most likely to ensure that no one would stop the chaos that would break out in the town later.

This small town is surrounded by dense forests that block out the sun, where ghosts can roam even during the day and ambush people who come out of town seeking help.

This ghost clearly has grand ambitions. Right now, it has only eaten a police officer and a rescuer, but its goal is most likely to plunge the town into riots and then take advantage of the chaos to eat people.

If a small town experiences a major riot due to a plague, and a fire breaks out, killing hundreds of people and leaving their bodies incomplete, it's quite normal. I doubt anyone would attribute it to ghosts.

However, there must be an informant within the town government, otherwise how could it have so accurately intercepted every person who went out to report the news?

(End of this chapter)