Annoying Bugs

No wonder he smelled something fragrant when he first came in. Tsugikuni Kuuga walked over to the incense and sniffed it carefully—there was a familiar scent, Wisteria Flower and insect repellent.

After all, being from Butterfly Mansion, not knowing some herbs would be quite embarrassing.

Tsugikuni Kuuga lay back down after sniffing. It seemed this Old Man was no ordinary person.

"By the way, why is there incense burning in the house?" Tsugikuni Kuuga asked.

"Grandpa says it's to repel bugs, because mosquitoes are really annoying," the Little Boy said, clenching his small fists.

"That's true!" Tsugikuni Kuuga nodded.

Tsugikuni Kuuga noticed the Little Boy had eaten some and then hid the bag away, as if it were a treasure.

"Why aren't you eating anymore?"

"Saving the rest for Grandpa!" the Little Boy said with a smile.

Tsugikuni Kuuga was almost blinded by the child's kindness. What a well-behaved kid—most children this age would love these snacks.

Tsugikuni Kuuga patted the Little Boy's head and said, "It's fine. If you want to eat, go ahead. Your older brother here still has some!"

"Really?" the Little Boy asked weakly.

"No problem. Think of it as my lodging fee. Eat as much as you want!" Tsugikuni Kuuga smiled.

With Tsugikuni Kuuga's confirmation, the Little Boy happily took out his "treasure" and started eating. Soon, the Dorayaki was finished.

Tsugikuni Kuuga chatted with the Little Boy a bit more. From their conversation, he learned the child hadn't been outside much, so he was very fascinated by the outside world Tsugikuni Kuuga described.

The two talked happily. After all, a child always has boundless imagination and dreams unique to childhood—the most priceless and purest dreams.

The Little Boy fell asleep mid-conversation. Tsugikuni Kuuga also learned from him that the Old Man had been a hunter in his youth. As for the village's strangeness, it seemed to have started about a year ago.

But the Little Boy didn't seem to know anything else. Tsugikuni Kuuga felt no drowsiness at all. Ever since healing Mom, he'd noticed his Mental Power had increased somewhat.

He even suspected that every time he broke through his limits, his Mental Power grew a little. Was this self-harming growth?

Time quickly reached midnight. A rustling sound kept coming from outside. Tsugikuni Kuuga immediately stood up alertly, his hand going to the sword at his waist.

He glanced back at the Little Boy and saw he was fast asleep. Tsugikuni Kuuga tiptoed to the door.

Slowly, he opened the door a crack to check the situation outside.

By the faint moonlight, Tsugikuni Kuuga saw the ground crawling with bugs—specifically, a dense carpet of Centipedes.

Even Tsugikuni Kuuga, who didn't have trypophobia, got goosebumps. In short, a swarm of bugs covering the ground was disgusting.

Tsugikuni Kuuga quickly closed the door. Strangely, the Centipedes only filled the hallway and didn't enter the room. Probably thanks to that incense.

Just as Tsugikuni Kuuga shut the door, a door-opening sound came from elsewhere. He didn't open the door again but activated Tai Chi Sense.

With Tai Chi Sense, he could now perceive things within a ten-meter radius.

Through Tai Chi Sense, besides the dense bugs on the ground, there was now a large figure among them. A closer look revealed it was the Old Man.

Tsugikuni Kuuga suddenly pushed open the door and called out to the Old Man several times, but the Old Man completely ignored him, walking forward as if on his own, like a puppet on strings.

Even stranger, the Centipedes on the ground naturally cleared a path, and the Old Man followed the path they made.

Tsugikuni Kuuga first went back inside and moved the incense to the doorway to ensure the Centipedes wouldn't enter.

Sure enough, when the incense was moved to the door, the Centipedes scattered, leaving a semicircular empty space. Tsugikuni Kuuga checked on the Little Boy one more time before closing the door and stepping onto the empty ground.

Tsugikuni Kuuga noticed the Centipedes also avoided him, so he lifted his sleeve and sniffed—he'd been marinated in the scent. No wonder.

Although Tsugikuni Kuuga wanted to leave this place quickly, because a ground full of these arthropods really made him uncomfortable—his goosebumps hadn't gone down since seeing these "little darlings"—

He ran over and patted the Old Man on the shoulder, but the Old Man still didn't respond. Tsugikuni Kuuga had no choice but to follow him out.

Outside, the moonlight was brighter, making everything clearer. Tsugikuni Kuuga was glad he'd only lightly patted the Old Man's shoulder earlier.

Because on the back of his neck was a Centipede that looked half a meter long. It must be controlling him. Disgusting bug.

When Tsugikuni Kuuga looked up, an even more shocking scene came into view. The entire village's ground was covered in Centipedes, and people were walking out of every house—old, young, men, women, all without exception.

Their expressions were dazed, faces pale, eyes bulging, and they all followed the paths formed by the Centipedes. Looking into the distance, the Centipedes were crawling toward the mountains outside the village.

Just then, two Black Shadows came moving against the flow. Tsugikuni Kuuga quickly ducked between two houses.

He peeked out slightly and saw they were two demons. For some reason, despite the ground full of people, they showed no desire to eat them.

Suddenly, one demon turned its head. Luckily, Tsugikuni Kuuga had already hidden back, or he would have been spotted.

"See? The Boss is smart. Raising a group of people, taking blood regularly—that's way better than hunting outside every day. And it won't attract the damn Demon Slayer Corps because people die!"

"It's good, but there's no one to eat," the other demon sighed.

"That's not necessarily true. You can't eat the people in this village, so just go outside!"

"Oh, right, you're right. It's not like the Boss said we can't!"

The two demons laughed with a sly, triumphant grin. They glanced at the ground and saw the Centipedes had all moved on, meaning everyone was gathered.

"Let's go. Everyone's here. Wrap it up. Maybe we can even get a drink when we get back!"

The two demons had no idea there was an extra Tsugikuni Kuuga hiding in the shadows.

Tsugikuni Kuuga calmly listened to the demons' conversation and picked up a lot of useful information. First, there were probably three demons, and they were raising humans. This was the first time he'd heard of such a thing.

Tsugikuni Kuuga had never imagined that demons could be this creative—this one didn't eat people, only drank their blood. No wonder the villagers all looked like they were suffering from severe anemia.

Tsugikuni Kuuga decided to follow and scope out the situation first, find the demon's hiding spot before anything else. If he charged in recklessly under these circumstances, there would definitely be casualties. He could only pinpoint the location and act tomorrow.

Suddenly, a childish voice tinged with tears rang out:

"Grandpa, Big Brother, where are you? I'm scared!"

Tsugikuni Kuuga and the two demons turned their heads at the same time—but one side was delighted, the other dismayed!