Where the Gods Should Go

Naoko saw that there were no clean rooms left, so she invited Wu Heng to stay in hers.

Wu Heng had no desire to spend the night in the ruins of Room 203, and even less desire to stay in the pervert's room, so he followed Naoko to 204.

By now, Wu Heng was completely wide awake, so he turned on the television to watch it while Naoko began tidying up her luggage.

"Echizen-kun, I might be heading home tomorrow. What about you...?"

Naoko spoke with some hesitation, a glimmer of anticipation in her eyes.

"Hmm, I'm leaving for another place tomorrow as well. I'll head out as soon as the sun rises; I have urgent matters to attend to."

Wu Heng spoke casually. He didn't want to leave emotional entanglements in every world he visited, and Japanese girls were clearly prone to obsession—it was better not to provoke them.

"Oh!"

Naoko replied with a hint of disappointment. After finishing her packing, she took out a sketchbook and sat down next to Wu Heng. He watched the television in silence while she quietly drew.

After a while, Naoko handed a drawing to Wu Heng.

"Echizen-kun, look!"

Naoko wore a sweet smile.

Hearing this, Wu Heng lowered his head to look.

On the paper:

Under the moonlight, a man in a trench coat stood on the street, his silhouette appearing exceptionally tall and upright in the moonlight.

The dark trench coat looked like a cloud, mysterious and full of power.

A small, dirty girl in pajamas with tear tracks on her face leaned against him, and a dead mutant beast lay on the road.

Strangely, however, the man's face was blank.

"Why didn't you draw the face?" Wu Heng asked, curious.

"Echizen-kun, your current appearance isn't your true face, is it?"

"I can sense a serious dissonance between your appearance and your temperament."

Upon hearing this, Naoko narrowed her large eyes, smiling like a flower in spring, sweet and warm.

Truly clever, Naoko. Is this a woman's sixth sense? Wu Heng was speechless.

"Then, can I take a look at the real you, Echizen-kun?"

Naoko's smile grew even brighter, a clean smile, as delicate as a flower.

"I cannot show you."

Wu Heng's current appearance was an illusion. He could wear other skins to change his identity, but he could not revert to his original face.

"What a pity. I thought I might be able to see the true face of a god!"

Naoko lowered her head in defeat, her eyes revealing the disappointment of shattered hope, and she grew somewhat despondent.

Is even a single glance too much to ask? Naoko, you really are someone who has never been favored by the gods. Naoko sank into self-deprecation.

"I'm truly sorry. How about this: I'll describe it, and you draw it."

Wu Heng couldn't help but chuckle; he loathed clever enemies, but he appreciated clever people.

Since he had nothing better to do, he figured he would treat this as a reward for the girl's intelligence.

"Mm, okay!"

Hearing this, Naoko nodded vigorously, her eyes moist, yet a brilliant little sun bloomed on her face.

"The hairstyle should be like this—yes, make the hair a bit longer."

"Like this long?", "Yes!"

"The nose doesn't need changing.", "Oh!"

"The eyes are a bit too gentle.", "Like this, then!"

Accompanied by Wu Heng's descriptions and Naoko's responses, the pencil rustled across the paper.

It wasn't until the sky began to brighten that the two voices finally fell silent.

On the paper was an anime-style version of Wu Heng. Compared to his real appearance, it looked quite similar, but if taken alone, no one would ever be able to recognize him.

"I have to go; I have work to do."

Wu Heng spoke first, his tone indifferent.

"Where do you plan to go after you're finished?"

Naoko tucked a lock of her dark hair behind her ear, asking as if it were a casual question.

Wu Heng couldn't answer that; even if he did, it would be impossible to explain. He could only reply:

"To where I belong."

Naoko fell silent. The sun slowly rose, casting rays of light upon them, an interweaving of black and white.

Wu Heng stood up: "Aren't you going to give the drawing to me?"

"I want to keep it!" Naoko said with a smile, fighting back a sob.

Her hands gripped the drawing paper tightly, unwilling to let go even a little.

"Fine, then I'll be going. See you if fate allows!"

Wu Heng set down a box of pistol ammunition, turned, and walked toward the door. He waved his right hand as he walked away without looking back.

The vermilion bedroom door was opened, and the room instantly brightened, only to dim again as Wu Heng's figure blocked the light. Then the door closed completely, and the room plunged back into darkness.

"Is that where a god should go?"

"Then what if..."

Naoko sat quietly on the tatami mat, turning her head to look at the box of pistol ammunition.

"What if I... also become... a god?!"

"See you if fate allows? See you if fate allows!!"

"Echizen!"

Naoko's fair fingers gripped the drawing paper tightly as she murmured with determination.

A long time later, the bedroom door opened again, and light flooded the room once more, only this time, it was Naoko who opened it.

Echizen!

Wu Heng had underestimated a woman's obsession, especially the obsession of a disabled girl.

*

*

Wu Heng walked out of the inn, looking left and right as he strolled down the street. He was looking for someone fated to meet him.

After walking for ten minutes, he finally spotted his target in front of a restaurant.

The bald restaurant owner was bowing and scraping before two tattooed youths, seemingly discussing the bill.

The youth with a ghost face tattooed on him slapped the bald owner across the face.

"Old man, what's the big deal about eating your food? I brought my brothers here to advertise for you; you should be paying me 10,000 yen for the advertisement. After deducting the 1,200 for the sushi, you still owe me 8,800 yen in change."

Wu Heng's eyes lit up. He stepped forward, pulled out three gold coins, and tossed them in his hand. The clinking sound immediately drew the attention of the two young thugs.

"When did you steal my gold coins!"

The youth with the ghost tattoo instantly forgot about the advertising fee and pointed at Wu Heng, shouting sharply.

"Our gold coins aren't just this few. Where are the rest?"

The other youth, who had a scorpion tattoo, snatched the coins directly from Wu Heng's hand, picked one up, bit it, and nodded at the ghost-faced youth.

"Oh, so they are your coins? There's a bag of them over there. I just picked up two, thinking they were fake."

"Nani? Where? Take us there right now!"

Hearing this, the two spoke in unison, impatient and eager. If they went too late, someone else might pick them up—those were their gold coins, after all.

"This way, please!"

Wu Heng pointed in a direction and, amidst the bald owner's relieved 90-degree bow, led the two into a secluded alley.

A moment later, the youth with the scorpion tattoo walked out of the empty alley, scrolling through his phone contacts to find the target he needed.

Behind these thugs, there was usually an umbrella.

"Senior Mori, I have a chance to get rich. A fat sheep brought a large amount of gold, at least three or four pounds. He claims it belonged to his ancestors, but I suspect it's stolen goods."

Wu Heng hung up the phone and pondered how to deal with Tomie. The mission was simple: kill Tomie.

It offered 3,000 survival points, so it couldn't be a simple kill, right?

After all, Tomie's physical constitution was very ordinary; she could be cut down easily. Her horror lay in her ability to split and multiply after being killed.

After splitting, her consciousness would also split, and even fire could not completely destroy her.

If he could just kill Tomie normally, wouldn't he be able to farm infinite survival points? The Lighthouse shouldn't have such a loophole!

Wu Heng coveted Tomie—not for her beauty, but for her ability to multiply and grow infinitely. After all, if he wanted to fill his Life Box, he couldn't possibly go out and kill two hundred million people.

But this presented a problem: the Lighthouse's teleportation currently did not allow for the transport of living people or monsters. Given Tomie's immortality and the biological consciousness in her fragments, it was highly likely that even a single cell could not be brought back.

Therefore, Wu Heng needed a method—a way to bypass the Lighthouse's restrictions on such things.