105. Your Friend Is Amazing

For a moment, Momiji felt a strange sense of being watched by a predator. She saw that the Air Friend with its chest open like a gluttonous maw seemed to have caught her scent and moved closer.

It wasn't moving on two feet, but rather like teleportation, arriving within arm's reach in the blink of an eye.

For a moment, the Momiji were unable to move.

All he could see was the gaping maw slowly approaching him.

Then, it extended its invisible tongue and licked the back of Momiji's hand.

The Air Friend immediately became excited, jumping left and right, and then licked the back of the Momiji's hand.

"."

Momiji suddenly had a strange feeling. She raised her hand and touched the spot where her Air Friend's head was.

Because the Air Friend's form was very blurry, Momiji didn't know where his head was actually, and only hoped that it hadn't been inserted into anything strange.

Then, Momiji saw that the Air Friend obediently bent down and rubbed its head against her hand, just like a dog.

". sit down?"

Momiji couldn't help but recall what Lu Ban had said to her before.

The Air Friend immediately sat down obediently, its huge and ferocious mouth opening and closing as if sticking out its tongue.

"What are you doing?"

Lu Ban glanced at Momiji with a strange look.

"Your Air Friend seems a little different from others."

The Momiji were somewhat disheveled.

Although she had not dealt with any cases related to "Air Friend," according to the description in the case file, such Air Friend stories would attach themselves to the host and then continuously drain the host's life force. Although they were initially invisible and silent, they would gradually affect the host's consciousness. Eventually, the host would fall into madness and be devoured by the Air Friend Air Friend, which would then become a real, tangible Corrupted Ones and even replace the host.

But now?

What exactly is this dog-like Air Friend?

Moreover, Lu Ban couldn't see it yet, so it was probably Air Friend in its early stages. But the oppressive feeling it exuded was even more terrifying than some powerful Corrupted Ones.

"Hmm? You can see him? So only the shrine maiden of the Harmony Island has such power?"

Lu Ban immediately became curious.

"Your Air Friend, hmm, that's impressive."

Momiji carefully considered her words, and upon hearing them, the Air Friend in front of her jumped up excitedly again.

"Right? He sometimes talks to me, and he can even give me first aid when I'm in danger. Speaking of which, if you could see him, what does he look like? I wonder if he was injured when he was exposed to that fog earlier?"

Lu Ban asked with concern.

He's fine.

Momiji thought this Air Friend could beat three of her; it was incredibly good.

"That's good. Hey, let's not talk about the Air Friend for now. Do you have any clues about that fog just now? Is it some kind of ghost story or something Corrupted Ones?"

Lu Ban asked.

"It's like Uncertainty Fog, but I'm not sure."

With lingering fear, Momiji glanced back at the shrine atop the mountain.

Then she saw a person dressed as a shrine maiden standing on the roof of the shrine, seemingly looking in her direction.

Momiji blinked, and the person disappeared again.

Did you see that?

She asked a question.

"This person looks a lot like the one I saw on this road. Is she the Calamity Priestess?"

Lu Ban naturally saw the same thing.

"It shouldn't be. Song Island is relatively remote and far from the Wa Island Grand Shrine. Candidates for the position of Divine Child like us usually don't serve here. Going back further, there was probably only one three or four hundred years ago."

Momiji pondered.

"Now we need to figure out a few things. First, all the priests and Shrine Officials of the Harmony Island shrine are dead. So who are the Shrine Officials at Anxinyuan now? Second, what exactly caused the deaths of these shrine maidens? If it was the Uncertainty Fog, then where is the Uncertainty Fog now? Finally, who is in charge of this island now?"

Lu Ban gave a brief summary and then took out the bottle that he had casually filled with mist earlier.

The bottle was empty; it looked like it was empty.

"This fog doesn't seem to be Uncertainty Fog."

The system text did not appear in Lu Ban's field of vision, which meant that he had not obtained the [Sigh of the Unfixed Mist]. What was in the bottle in front of him was naturally not the Uncertainty Fog.

He opened the bottle.

I waved my hand above the bottle, and the air that was summoned had no smell, no strange granular mist, and naturally did not cause a burning sensation in my respiratory tract and lungs.

"Can you identify it?"

Momiji looked slightly surprised.

"I can only distinguish the Uncertainty Fog. I suspect that the fog is some kind of living thing, just in the form of fog."

Lu Ban said something simple.

In the Silent Land, the concept of "life" is greatly expanded; plants can grow wildly, and even mist can exist as a form of life.

"Anyway, let's go back first, and tomorrow we can visit the teahouse and the headquarters of the Island Magistrate?"

He thought about it and realized that when he encountered a problem, he should just find the person in charge.

Since, according to Momiji, there is already a big problem on this island, the Island Magistrate agency, which is supposed to maintain order, is either too stupid to notice or too corrupt to have become homogenized. In any case, we have to visit it.

Momiji nodded, and the two began their descent down the mountain.

They didn't encounter any trouble on the way down the mountain. Perhaps what happened earlier was just a warning to Lu Ban and Momiji not to meddle in other people's business.

The festival had ended, and surprisingly, the streets were spotless, without a trace of their former bustling state. Lu Ban bent down and touched the ground.

"The dust is gray, as if no one has walked on it."

He stood up and realized that several hours had passed since he and Momiji went up and down the mountain, even though it only felt like thirty minutes.

Anxinyuan was guarded by Island Magistrate. From a distance, Lu Ban could see two men holding weapons standing at the gate.

only

"!"

Momiji's eyes widened slightly. She and Lu Ban exchanged a glance, confirming that what they saw was real.

She turned her gaze to the Island Magistrate.

The two "people" were no longer human-shaped, but monsters made of countless piles of flesh and blood stitched together. Even their clothes were fake fur. Lu Ban could see a bloodshot eye looking at him from among the flesh and blood.

Lu Ban found it hard not to meet those eyes.

Is there something on me?

The monster asked curiously, and even its voice was not human language, but some kind of troubling muttering.

More importantly, it seems unaware that it is a monster.

Just like how humans who have been transformed into monsters still retain human cognition, live like humans, and form human society with other monsters.

For a moment, Lu Ban was somewhat dazed.

Because he had thought of a problem.

If even the monsters themselves don't know they are monsters, how can Lu Ban and Momiji be sure that they haven't mutated and are still the original humans?

With these questions in mind, Lu Ban returned to the courtyard where he lived with Tachibana Masamune, Ginpei, and others.

He saw that Ginpei and Tachibana Masamune were sitting at the table, drinking and chatting happily.

"I never expected that Young Master Lu Ban would be so charming, able to successfully invite Miss Momiji."

Ginpei at least looked like a human being, which reassured Lu Ban somewhat.

However, when he walked directly in front of Ginpei, he saw that Ginpei's chest was festering, and in the deep wound that exposed the bone, flesh was writhing and giving birth to new life.

What are you doing?

Lu Ban sat down opposite Ginpei.

"We're playing a game."

Beside him, Tachibana Masamune, who had also become half-monsterized, spoke.

"It's called 'Hyakunin Isshu' (Hyakunin Isshu)".

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