Long-term salvation

The rock walls of the corridor are not rough, but the traces of small tools knocking on them are still clearly visible. Some unnoticed blunt-edged protrusions are neatly arranged, resembling human fingernails.

Wandering the corridors are the vengeful spirits of the "Ji Ren," whose eyes have been sealed shut with needle and thread. They are the guardians of the "Void" within Jie Shen Village, living a miserable but important life underground. When the "Great Compensation" sounds, a massive influx of energy from the otherworld sweeps in, and the Ji Ren are doomed.

The moment the first vengeful spirit appeared, Rhodes fired two shots in succession. The sound of gunfire echoed in the dark corridor, enough to drown out the roars of those vengeful spirits.

Unlike the Kamishima Village outside, or even the Kurosawa Mansion, there weren't many vengeful spirits in the corridor leading to the "Hollow." This abnormal phenomenon was explained when Rhode and his companions rushed out of the corridor and arrived at a wide area:

The vast expanse, gloomy but not dim, was lit by thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands, of candles burning silently. Smoke rose straight up, curling into a milky white cloud at the cave's ceiling. Silence reigned, save for the clinking of metal rings from the other side of the cavern. This was the sound of the priests and spirits of the ritual site pounding their long metal staffs into the ground.

The vengeful spirit of Seijiro Makabe was standing in front of the door of the final ceremony venue. It ignored Amagura Kan who was walking slowly over and Amagura Mio who was looking at Rod with a pleading look, but stared straight at Rod and Asuka Iki.

"Go ahead," Rhodes said to Amakura Mio. He reached out and touched the girl's head, a smile finally appearing on his face. "Take the rope, nails, and hammer I gave you. Hang in there. I'll catch up with you after I deal with this unlucky guy."

"...Yes! I understand!" Tiancang Mio nodded with a firm look in her eyes, "I will never let my sister be taken away!"

Almost immediately after the Amakura sisters disappeared into the cave leading to the ritual venue, Makabe Seijiro's vengeful spirit suddenly pounced upon Rhode and the others! Apparently due to its proximity to the rift in the otherworld, it had grown even larger. Besides Makabe Seijiro's main form, it seemed to have gathered the bodies of several, perhaps even dozens, of the vengeful spirits of different villagers, completely losing its human form and resembling a monstrous vengeful spirit crawling out of the abyss!

Rhodes grabbed Hida Ikiji's slender waist and ran quickly around the edge of the venue. The candle flames were deflected by the flow of air, but none of them went out.

The roaring bullets from the revolver pierced the wraith's body, only making it more ferocious. Dozens of wraiths suddenly extended their arms and stabbed at him, but Rhode nimbly dodged them. The wraiths' arms slammed into the cave walls, sending up clouds of dust and smoke, causing the ground to tremble painfully at this unforeseen disaster.

"Muji, use the projector!"

Rhode shouted loudly, and he suddenly stopped in his tracks. The "wooden club" formed by several tightly wrapped arms came down fiercely, only half a meter away from Rhode and the others! The force was so strong that the ground and the candles that had been inserted on it were smashed and dented!

Hearing Rhode's cry, the girl raised the projector in her hand and pressed the button towards the vengeful monster's body.

A blinding flash of light instantly stripped the fused spirits from the wraith monsters. Those twisted faces, howling protractedly, transformed into dark blue meteors that pierced the cave walls. Another flash of blinding light followed, and the powerful power of the psychic vision, amplified by the projector, dealt a terrifying blow to the wraiths like a fuel-air bomb.

The vengeful spirit monster stretched out its hands and waved them in vain, as if it could retrieve the scattered vengeful spirits, but Rhodes and Asuka Ikiji would not give it this chance:

Rhodes put the girl down and took out a flamethrower, which was just right for use in this open space.

A moment later, blazing flames spread across the air like a long dragon, passing through the chest of the vengeful monster in a disorganized manner. As mankind's first weapon against darkness besides the flesh, flames carried a large amount of "conceptual" power that was enough to severely damage evil. Visibly, the vengeful monster's figure became slightly dimmer, and the pain that mortal beings could not understand caused it to roar shrilly, instantly extinguishing all the candles in the cave!

The flames from the flamethrower were not so easy to extinguish. The flames fell to the ground and spread on the ground, rekindling and melting the extinguished candles!

"Keep using the projector, Muji," Rhodes calmly pulled the trigger, letting the flames penetrate the body of the vengeful monster again and again. "We continue to suppress this monster, weaken it, and then destroy it!"

The girl nodded slightly upon hearing this, raised the projector and took in the vengeful monster in front of her. As she pressed the shooting button again and again, the face of a middle-aged man gradually became clear.

That was the face of Seijiro Makabe, a face distorted by resentment, hatred, and the energy of the other world. Layer by layer, it was peeled off and returned to its original appearance.

After the sixth flash, Asuka Iki put down the projector and looked up at the vengeful monster that had almost disappeared - the vengeful spirits that had merged had already dispersed, leaving only the vengeful spirit of Seijiro Makabe, which was struggling in the sea of ​​light and fire, but was unable to cause any trouble.

After more than ten seconds, the vengeful spirit of Seijiro Makabe completely dissipated, leaving only a long and painful murmur.

"It's over, Mr. Rhodes," Asuka Iki said softly. She bent down to pick up a candle, lit it with the scattered small flames, and then stuck it into the ground. "I wonder how Tiancang and the others are doing..."

"Then let's go in and take a look," Rhodes said. He took out a cigarette from the cigarette case and lit it with the scattered flame. After taking a deep puff, he sighed with satisfaction. "Maybe I should carry a flint and steel with me in the future. I can't always use the flame of the flamethrower to light cigarettes."

At this moment, a chilling aura suddenly swirled, engulfing the flames and candlelight, forming a fierce whirlwind. The wind, carrying darkness with it, blew from the corridor, through the cracks in the rocks, and through every accessible opening, pouring directly into the cave leading to the ceremony site!

When the wind stopped and the darkness of reality enveloped the place again, Rhodes used the last fuel of the flamethrower to light a few candles, held them in his hands, and illuminated the cave.

[Side Quest: Twelve Trials: Zero: True Crimson Butterfly (Completed)]

【Task rewards begin to be distributed】

[Pollution points in the other world have been collected]

[Character exchange voucher not collected (the crack in the inner world has not been completely closed)]

[Special weapons have been collected——

Stealth suit (power and speed amplification, bulletproof enhancement, camouflage system OctoCamo)]

How come there are deductions from this system's rewards?!

"...It looks like the 'Red Gift' ceremony has been completed. Let's go inside and take a look."

Rhodes held a cigarette butt in his mouth, threw the empty flamethrower aside, and walked towards the ceremony venue with a candle in his hand.

After passing through the short passage, Rhode saw Amagura Mio sitting on the ground, hugging her sister. The moment she saw Rhode, the girl cried out in a sobbing voice:

"Mr. Rhodes, come and see how my sister is doing!"

Hearing this, Rhode frowned and ran over. He half-knelt beside Tiancang Jian and carefully examined him. He found nothing serious. His pulse, though weak, was still beating. He reached out and touched the back of his head and felt a trace of blood... Wait, did he hit his head?!

Rhodes looked at Tiancang Mio suspiciously, and the latter explained with tears in her eyes:

"Mr. Rhodes' hammer... I saw that my sister couldn't be pulled back no matter how hard she tried, so I just used the hammer..."

"Are you strong enough to knock someone unconscious?"

"I knocked on it several times. Actually, I wanted to knock on the legs."

Rhodes: "...Forget it, get out of the way first. I'll stop the bleeding for her."

Looking at Rhodes who was busy working, Amakura Mio reached out and held her sister's hand, her eyes drifting to the deep pit "Void" on the side - the reunited Kurosawa twins jumped into it, and the rolling and roaring sounds there also stopped, as if they fell into a deep sleep as contentedly as if they had swallowed enough food.

When Rhodes carried the wrapped Tiancang cocoon on his back, he saw groups of red butterflies flying out from the deep pit. They passed by several people and floated away along the corridor and the hole above.

Suddenly, Rhode felt a chill on his face, which made him look up subconsciously:

A few snowflakes slowly fell from above. If you listened carefully, you could even hear the shrill howling of the cold wind whistling through the forest - at this moment, this sound actually made people feel a lot more at ease.

The festival is finally over, and the history of Kaigami Village will also end at this moment.

only……

Rhodes looked at the deep pit "Xu". This time, he did not completely close the world crack here, but only delayed its outbreak. Decades later, perhaps a new pair of twins would be needed to perform the ritual... No, Rhodes would not let this happen. He would completely seal this place before that.

"Mr. Rhodes," Asuka Ikiji suddenly spoke, her body gradually becoming transparent, like the dispelled vengeful spirits. A smile grew on her face, a hint of reluctance. "I think I'm about to wake up. When will we meet again?"

"Soon, ah, there's more," Rhodes reminded him. He reached out to take the projector. This thing was operated by powerful psychic vision and now had a slight burnt smell. "If you see the red-haired and black-haired girls coming to pick you up, don't panic. They will protect you and bring you to me."

"Well, I look forward to it very much, Mr. Rhodes."

After staring at the place where the Asuka Well Wood Mark disappeared for a while, Rhodes spit out the cigarette butt that had long been burned in his mouth, turned his head and said to Tiancang Mio:

"We are leaving Kaishin Village. This time, we are leaving through the main gate."

"Ok!"

Chapter 104: Going Down the Mountain

Walking out of the passage carrying Tiancang cocoon on his back, Rhodes immediately discovered that the Kurosawa mansion outside had completely collapsed. Rotten wooden beams overlapped each other, bricks and stones were piled up randomly, dead grass grew everywhere, and snow in the dead of winter covered it. It was bleak but real.

Kaishen Village was already in ruins, but fortunately, it was daylight.

A slight chilly breeze blew, causing Rhode to sneeze, and the cocoon on his back slowly woke up. She huddled up and whispered as if waking from a nightmare:

"finished?"

"It's all over," Rod said.

"It's all over, sister," Tiancang Mio said guiltily. She had just hidden the bloody hammer in the snow. "Go home quickly. Your family must be very worried."

"But I dreamed that Mio used a hammer..."

"You had the wrong dream, sister."

"Okay," Tiancang Jian moved her nose aggrievedly. Still feeling a little concussed, she closed her eyes again and fell into a deep sleep in the warmth coming from the depths of her soul.

Rhode walked ahead, carrying Tiancang Jiao on his back, and Tiancang Mio followed in small steps. But just in front of the torii gate at the village entrance, Rhode stopped, turned to look at the girl, and said:

"Mio, what we just experienced was an event in the other world. This kind of thing is happening all over the world, and the frequency and intensity will only increase in the future."

The girl didn't say anything. She had already guessed what Rhodes was going to say.

"Mio, you and your sister are very talented," Rod said calmly. He extended his hand to the girl, "Come to my side and help me save those in need in the world - save them just like I saved you."

"Even if you don't want to fight, you should learn some ways to protect yourself instead of just screaming at evil spirits or monsters."

"I, I need to discuss this with my sister and my family, but shouldn't I keep this a secret from them?" The girl looked at Rhodes' hand and was silent for a few seconds, but still stepped forward to shake hands with it. Her cheeks, slightly red from the cold wind, were filled with a cute and playful expression of "I really can't do anything about you."

"It will be difficult if we really embark on this journey," Rhodes warned.

"Like you said just now, I have to be able to protect myself, right?" The girl sighed, her words carrying a strength that belied her appearance. "I can't be like the twins in Minamigami Village, watching helplessly as the other side of me disappears into the darkness."

"Then you need a college degree, learn at least two non-native languages, be proficient in the operation and maintenance of mainstream firearms, learn to drive armored vehicles, helicopters, and even fighter jets, and understand demolition, close combat, subversion, and—"

"Wait a minute! Are you training special forces members?! So this is the difficulty you're talking about!"

"Ah, learning to complain is also the first priority for becoming a new recruit in the Army Without Borders. You did a great job, Mio."

“Shut up now!”

After shouting in despair for a while, Tiancang Mio reached out and brushed the falling snow off her sister's shoulders, saying helplessly:

"I thought it was just being a witch or something, doing some magical dances and casting a few spells to drive away evil spirits."

"That's strange. We met in a Humvee. Didn't the heavy machine gun shell burn you?"

"I got burned, and I was hit by the helmet," Amakura Mio said expressionlessly, "It hurts."

"That's right. Maybe future witches will also be able to use automatic rifles and drive armored vehicles," Rhodes said lightly, making strange noises as he stepped through the snow. "You should have checked under the car to see if your 'destiny' was there, so you could drag it out and rescue it. Unfortunately, there's no chance to change that now."

The girl then let out a series of grumblings, sometimes louder and sometimes softer, but the content was mostly complaints and self-blame, such as that she shouldn't have come back with her sister, or that she shouldn't have run into Rhodes... Oh, it would be nice to run into him, just not in this damn place.

The two were walking in the snow, one deep and one shallow, when suddenly the sound of a helicopter propeller came from above their heads.

Rod looked up and saw a Maritime Self-Defense Force SH-60J helicopter. This thing began test flights in 1987, but was not commissioned until 1991. Now, it was probably "help" called in by Sawai Soichiro's friends under the guise of training and experiments.

Just as he was thinking, Rhodes heard a familiar voice of "Oh!" coming from not far away. He looked in the direction of the voice and saw Sawai Soichiro waving at him. Apart from the mud and dirty snow that might have been rubbed on his body from falling in the snow, the latter did not seem to be affected by the events in the other world.

Looking at the girl on Rhode's back and Amakura Mio following behind him, Sawai Souichiro, who was running over quickly, raised his eyebrows and asked:

"Why are there always cute girls around you?"

"Because I'm lustful," Rhodes said with dead eyes. He adjusted the position of his arms to make the girl behind him more comfortable. Then he said with a hint of helplessness, "Although this incident ended smoothly, it still left some hidden dangers."

"Hidden danger?"

"The rift in the other world has only been temporarily suppressed, but it hasn't been completely closed. Once the storm has died down, I'll have Irons or Aperture Technology take over the mountain and build a shrine or some other structure on it to conceal it for a while until I have time to deal with it."

"The shrine... I do know a guy in Nara. He and I were classmates at the same university, and he later returned to Nara to inherit the shrine business. He's also an insider who knows a bit about the otherworld. I'll contact him and see if he can open a branch of the shrine here."

Sawai thought for a while, then he reached out and patted the dry trees along the way. Unlike before, there was a little more breath of life in them. Perhaps after the spring, or even a little longer, the forest would come back to life.

"Have you heard of the Saihe Shrine?"

"No, my impression of Nara is that it's a poor place, and the deer in Nara Park can gore people and break their bones," Rod said, stepping over a fallen tree and turning back to pull Amakura Mio over. "After it rains, Nara Park and the entrance to Todai-ji Temple stink like hell because of deer feces."

"Hmm... that's too vivid, Rhode. Because of this, if you give that guy a little more money, I think he will definitely be happy."

Sawai Soichiro smiled, his eyes swept over the Tiancang sisters, and there was more tenderness and relief between his eyebrows:

"Are these two children the victims of this otherworldly incident?"

"Their talents are very unique," Rhode said. He pulled Amakura Mio in front of Sawai, tapped the girl on the head, and introduced her with a smile, "This is Mr. Sawai Soichiro. He's the most reliable person in Japan, and he's also one of the best in the world. I suggest that when you apply to university, you follow this professor's research direction."

"Um... Professor, are you also proficient in special operations?"

"What's that?" Sawai Soichiro's face was filled with surprise. He waved his hands repeatedly. "You don't need to learn special operations to become my student, but if you want to learn, I can find some friends to teach you."

"!!!"

The girl, realizing she had been deceived and threatened, puffed up her cheeks in anger and walked angrily at the front of the road down the mountain.

Rhodes and Sawai looked at each other, and both saw smiles on each other's faces.

"My friend is very interested in you. We will meet him at the hot spring hotel tomorrow," Sawai said with a smile. He looked at the helicopter flying away, his eyes full of emotion.

"The entire forest has been sealed off by the county police, but you'd better buy it as soon as possible so I can talk to the Saikawa family, who manage the Saikawa Shrine. Speaking of which, what happened in Kaigami Village? I want to hear the story."

"We can talk slowly," Rhodes smiled and called Nikki and the others. "How's the situation? Did you successfully contact Asuka Iki?"

"Very smooth."

The voice of black-haired Nikki and the screeching sound of brakes came from the phone, which made Rod frown slightly.

"There's just one small problem, Commander—we're being hunted by a group of Yakuza (gangsters) or some other group, and they're coming with great force and determination."

"...I'll reunite with you as soon as possible and get rid of them."

"Yes, as you wish, Commander Rhodes."

Chapter 105 Speed ​​and Passion (No)

Tens of minutes ago.