107. The Endless Tales of the Age of the Gods
"The game only says to close your eyes to complete the task, without mentioning the consequences of opening your eyes."
"If we continue reciting the poem, we should be able to leave this space, but it might put Momiji in danger?"
Lu Ban thought for a moment and decided to open his eyes.
However, when he tried to do so, his eyelids were so heavy that he could not open them.
Just like being paralyzed in his own bed, Lu Ban couldn't open his eyes no matter how hard he tried.
"So, in this ' Hyakunin Isshu ' game, it's not that you shouldn't open your eyes, but that you absolutely cannot open your eyes?"
Lu Ban roughly understood.
"Thinking about it from another angle, if we forcibly open our eyes or explore the outside world using some method at this moment, wouldn't it lead to some unexpected results for the game designers?"
He opened his mouth.
A sound inaudible to humans emanated from Lu Ban's mouth, high-frequency ultrasound waves rippling through the space. Lu Ban was originally going to listen to these echoes to determine his current location, but after a moment, Lu Ban discovered something.
There was no response.
Apart from the ground beneath his feet, there were no walls, no rooms, and no Momiji or the others. Lu Ban was in a vast and silent area.
"That's so strange."
Thinking this, Lu Ban continued walking forward. Now that things had come to this, all he could do was recite poetry.
"I bow my head and think of my hometown."
As Lu Ban uttered this sentence, he felt his tense body immediately relax.
He felt as if light and heat were coming from in front of him, and when his hand touched Momiji's hand, Lu Ban opened his eyes.
At least, the shrine maiden before them still looked human.
As he lit his candle, he whispered something in Momiji's ear.
"There's a problem with the game; you can get out of trouble by reciting the poem."
Momiji glanced at Lu Ban and nodded silently.
She blew out the candle and quickly left the area illuminated by Lu Ban's candlelight, disappearing into the darkness.
"Yuyou Shendai Shi"
The crisp sound of Momiji came from in front of Lu Ban, giving people a unique and elegant feeling.
If one were to wear the shrine maiden Chihaya's robes and stroll through a courtyard where cherry blossoms are gently falling, accompanied by this recitation, it would surely be an absolutely beautiful scene.
Lu Ban took the opportunity to look at the others.
At the far end of the wall to his left was Ginpei, whose body was becoming increasingly festering, and diagonally opposite him was Tachibana Masamune, whose eyes were filled with countless glints.
Both remained silent, staring straight ahead, showing no fear.
Lu Ban turned his gaze forward.
Then he saw a person standing on the other side of the wall, extending forward from his position.
The person was dressed in a white robe and scarlet hakama, a shrine maiden's outfit. Her hair was jet black, her face was Pale, and her eyes were a deep, dark red. She stood in the corner, holding a lit candle in her hand. The light shone on her face, creating a bleak scene.
Wait a minute.
Lu Ban thought to himself.
The wall is straight. Logically, Momiji should be walking beside this wall right now, with Momiji standing between herself and that unknown entity on the other side.
However, I can see the person on the other side without any obstruction!
So, Momiji has already entered another dimension?
After she finished reciting the four lines of poetry, she should have been able to leave that alternate dimension, but instead, she was about to reach the location of that monster.
Lu Ban didn't know what would happen if he lit a candle at the monster's place.
"Never heard of it before."
Momiji's clear voice had now turned into a countdown. Lu Ban wanted to remind Momiji, but found that he couldn't make a sound.
He seemed to see a hazy shadow between himself and the monster dressed as a shrine maiden, and as Momiji recited these words one by one, she would get closer and closer to reality.
"Maple Leaves Dyed in Longtian River"
By the third sentence, the figure of the Momiji was already faintly visible, right next to the shrine maiden.
Lu Ban took a deep breath and saw that the witch Motionless, with only her eyes fixed on Momiji, as if she wanted to kill her with her gaze.
"The flowing water is deep"
After reciting the last sentence, Momiji walked up to the shrine maiden.
Just before she opened her eyes, a voice rang in her ears.
It was a sharp buzzing sound, enough to pierce eardrums and make one dizzy. Moreover, before Momiji could even cover her ears, the sound penetrated her brain, making her disoriented and unable to stand.
Almost simultaneously, Ginpei and Tachibana Masamune also heard the sound, dropped their candles, and covered their ears.
Lu Ban saw that the eerie witch's gaze fell from the Momiji onto him. That gaze, filled with resentment and despair, was like a dagger, piercing into Lu Ban's chest, causing him an unnatural pain and a winter-like chill.
However, the priestess made no further move; only the candle in her hand slowly went out, and she disappeared into the darkness.
"Careful."
Lu Ban was finally able to speak. He did not immediately remove the Speech Bullet from the other three. Instead, he lit the lantern on the table with a candle before helping Momiji, who had fallen to the ground, up.
He glanced at the corner of the wall in front of Momiji. There was no one there, except for a little bit of dirt in the corner, like blood that couldn't be washed off.
"This game looks like it might actually summon something bad."
Lu Ban said, glancing at the other two. Tachibana Masamune and Ginpei were becoming increasingly monstrous; perhaps by tomorrow morning, they would be nothing but a lump of rotten flesh.
With a wink, Lu Ban and Momiji bid farewell to the two startled individuals and left the reception room, heading towards their room.
"Can you heal them both and bring them back to normal?"
Under the moonlight shrouded in a thin mist, Lu Ban asked a question.
"We cannot purify the filth from those who have already begun to degenerate."
Momiji seemed to be feeling sentimental and reminiscing, she said.
"That's how the world is. Once it's polluted, eroded, and alienated, it will keep crashing into the abyss and never be able to turn back."
"Ginpei and Tachibana Masamune have only been on this island for half a day, and they've already become like this. What about the island's residents, and the artists who came before them? Have they also become like this?"
Lu Ban had a bad feeling.
"Very likely."
Momiji and Lu Ban had the same idea. She bit her lower lip, thought for a long time, and then spoke.
"Even the Harmony Island shrine, which is the most resistant to pollution, has fallen. No mortal can survive on this island. I will find an opportunity to inform the Harmony Island god tomorrow. Please, please, Divine Child, send down the purifying fire."
"Does that mean the entire island is going to be burned down?"
Lu Ban recalled the flames that had burned for so long on the seabed.
What's the difference between this approach and choosing to destroy an entire town with bombs because the spread of an infectious disease cannot be controlled?
Of course, in a sense, if the Divine Child of the Wa Island Grand Shrine were to completely destroy this place, then Lu Ban's mission could be successfully completed.
Unexpectedly, the joke made before the mission began turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, and Lu Ban didn't know whether to be happy or sad.
only.
Lu Ban remembered what Du Danping had once told Trist.
If one cannot maintain humanity in the Silent Land, then one will surely lose one's life here.
"If, and I mean if, I could find a way to locate the remaining uncontaminated people who are still salvageable, do you have a way to restore them?"
Lu Ban asked.
Momiji was taken aback. The black-haired shrine maiden looked at Lu Ban, the hazy moonlight shining on his face, reminding one of the poem he had recited earlier.
"Perhaps, it's possible."
She agreed with a somewhat complicated expression.