First Meeting with Naoko

"Mr. Echizen, are you satisfied with this room?"

The landlord scrutinized Wu Heng's expression carefully.

"Hm, it's fine. I'll take this one." Wu Heng wasn't particularly picky, even though he wasn't fond of tatami mats.

Once the landlord left, Wu Heng took off his trench coat, hung it on the rack, and sat down on the tatami.

It was too late now, and having encountered two bizarre things right after arriving, he needed a good rest. Watching some TV to relax seemed like a good idea.

He turned on the television and switched to the news channel, where a female anchor was reporting on a series of minor earthquakes. This place was like that—earthquakes at the drop of a hat.

Wu Heng watched for a while, then turned off the TV and went to sleep, leaving the lights on.

After about three hours of sleep, he heard a sound.

The television suddenly turned on by itself, and the female anchor in her formal attire was still reporting the news.

"Good evening, viewers. Breaking news from our station: a disappearance occurred at 1:00 AM on the 8th on Kuro-matsu Street. A young man has mysteriously vanished from Room 203 of the Moriya Inn. The Kuro-matsu Police Headquarters is currently investigating."

"This is footage discovered at the scene of the disappearance. Please take a look; rewards will be provided for any relevant clues."

After the anchor finished speaking, the screen shifted to show the interior of Wu Heng's bedroom.

It was exactly 1:00 AM on the 8th!

The footage even showed his trench coat hanging on the rack; it was definitely filming him in real-time!

Wu Heng jumped up with a start. Judging by the camera angle, he realized the recorder was positioned at the dresser.

He turned his head to look; the dresser drawer was half-open, but it was pitch black inside, revealing nothing.

Strike first!

Wu Heng channeled his spirit-touch energy into his right arm and lunged forward, smashing the dresser with a punch. Wood splinters flew everywhere, but there was nothing there.

The footage on the TV vanished, and the female anchor reappeared. The corners of her mouth slowly curled upward, her eyes growing increasingly venomous as she repeated the last sentence over and over.

"Rewards will be provided, rewards will be provided, rewards will be—"

Fury welled up in Wu Heng's heart. This is endless. He strode over and kicked the TV screen, shattering it. With a loud bang, the television flashed a blinding white light, followed by a shower of sparks.

Where is it?

Wu Heng scanned his surroundings.

Hee hee hee hee. Laughter echoed around him, seemingly coming from every corner of the room.

He turned to grab his trench coat and began putting it on while walking toward the door. This was a place of ill omen; he couldn't stay in the home turf of this bizarre entity.

A twisted, pale hand reached out from a crack in the wall by the door, twisting the wooden handle and locking it to prevent Wu Heng from leaving.

Found you!

Wu Heng's eyes lit up when he saw where the ghost hand had appeared. He strode forward, and with a thought, the Eagle Claw Gauntlets—similar to the Frandi Claws he had purchased at the Lighthouse—appeared on his right hand.

He donned the gauntlets instantly and slashed out, tearing a chunk of the wooden wall lining away.

A white shadow quickly recoiled into the wall and vanished.

Hiding?

"Then the game of hide-and-seek officially begins!"

Wu Heng dismissed the eagle claws and summoned a Morning Star Mace. The 98-centimeter-long weapon consisted of an ornate handle and a radial, blade-tipped head.

This was a cold weapon he had bought from Green Scale at the Lighthouse; it was incredibly powerful even just held in hand.

Even an ordinary person could use it to crush armor with a full-force swing.

More importantly, there was a rotating switch on the handle. The head and handle were connected by a 3-meter-long thin chain, which could be twisted to transform it into a meteor hammer.

He hammered the wooden wall blow after blow. Each strike caused a square meter of the wall's lining to explode, forcing the white shadow to retreat and hide in segments.

"Where are you? I'm coming to find you!"

The continuous smashing battered the entire room until only the wardrobe remained. The white shadow had slipped inside.

"Heh heh heh, found you!"

Wu Heng sneered.

For this strike, release 20% of the muscle protection limit!

The hammer fell, and the wardrobe shattered into countless splinters like foam.

A mass of white shadow rolled onto the floor and spread out like a blanket, rushing toward Wu Heng.

There was a protrusion on the blanket—a twisted, bizarre face as large as a tablecloth, flat as paper, as if a human head had been flattened by a steamroller. Fist-sized eyeballs flickered with a sinister, icy light.

Wu Heng retracted the mace. Facing a bizarre entity like a blanket, he switched from a fist to a palm, unleashing an instantaneous burst of power.

His palm, coated in spirit-touch energy, was like a sharp axe, meant to cleave through every obstacle in its path.

Sshhh—! The white shadow was torn in two like paper, the pieces splitting off to lunge at Wu Heng from different directions.

Wu Heng grabbed one end of the white shadow with his hand, swung it toward the other, and tangled them together, twisting them into a rope-like coil.

He then dragged it to the floor, dropping to one knee with his left hand supporting his body.

His right fist struck like a violent storm, hammering the ground ten times in rapid succession until it was reduced to a pile of ash.

The wooden floorboards suffered a bowl-sized crater, leaving the entire bedroom looking as if it had been blasted by a rocket launcher.

Wu Heng stood up, smoothed out his wrinkled trench coat, and turned to walk out the door.

His perfectly good rest had been interrupted.

Was this place headed for destruction? So many ghostly things wandering around, harming people.

Passing through the hallway, the door to Room 202 stood slightly ajar, clearly empty inside. Wu Heng went to the landlord's room on the first floor and knocked, but there was no response.

He kicked the door open; he was furious, suspecting the landlord had given him Room 203 on purpose.

The door swung wide to reveal a pitch-black room with no reply, so Wu Heng flipped the light switch.

The landlord had merged with his quilt, twisted into a braided mess!

Wu Heng sighed; it seemed he had misjudged the landlord.

Such a fine quilt, originally pristine white, would certainly be impossible to wash and reuse now—what a waste.

He couldn't stay at the Moriya Inn any longer; he would have to go out and find another hotel.

Wu Heng stepped out onto the street. At this hour, aside from a few shops adorned with small pink lights, almost everything else was closed.

The entire street was deathly quiet, completely deserted.

He had only taken two steps when his sensitive ears caught the sound of faint sobbing coming from a nearby trash can.

You have to be kidding me?!

Wu Heng was speechless. It wasn't happening again, was it?

He cautiously lightened his footsteps, intending to leave first; he truly didn't want to deal with this again.

The sound of the trash can lid being lifted echoed out.

"Sir, please wait, save me! Could you please help me? There's a man trying to kill me."

"Could you take me to the police headquarters? Please!" a gentle, delicate voice filled with panic pleaded.

It really was happening again!

Wu Heng helplessly channeled his spiritual power into his right arm, his body coiled and ready to explode as he glanced to the side.

A girl with fair skin and an exquisite, cute face was struggling to climb out of the trash can, her eyes brimming with tears and fear.

There was no beauty mark by her eye; she shouldn't be Tomie.

The girl climbed with great difficulty because she only had one leg; the other had been amputated at the knee, and she was leaning on a crutch.

Seeing that she was indeed a living person, Wu Heng breathed a sigh of relief, but he still prepared to leave. Who knew what kind of powerful supernatural entity this woman might be tainted by?

"That man is a pervert, and he's looking for me everywhere!"