Cursed Spirit Appears

"All right, I more or less understand the situation now. Let's talk about my fees."

"My fees?"

Lin Yi pretended to close his notebook and pen, looking completely confident, leaving the mother and daughter sitting before him utterly confused.

"Based on what Mrs. Saito told me about Miss Delia's condition, it sounds like she may be possessed by an evil spirit. But it's also possible that someone has been stalking Miss Delia, causing her excessive psychological stress. Is that right?"

"It must be evil spirit possession. We... we already went to the police. We even followed Delia along her route to and from work, but we didn't find anyone suspicious stalking her!"

The moment Lin Yi questioned her account, Mrs. Saito raised her voice, drawing the attention of the surrounding customers.

Lin Yi gestured for her to calm down as well.

"Perhaps. But what if? If Miss Delia is merely being stalked, then the situation will be easier to handle, won't it? Madam, you wouldn't want people finding out that Miss Delia has been possessed by an evil spirit, would you?"

"That's why we came to you, City Hunter, to solve this problem."

"Understood. Then here's what we'll do. Mrs. Saito, please send me Miss Delia's commuting route. I'll conduct a thorough investigation within three days and determine exactly which situation she's dealing with. The fee for that will be fair: two million yen. I'll personally cover any excess costs."

"No problem."

Mrs. Saito agreed readily to Lin Yi's quoted price. Two million yen was roughly 120,000 yuan, and the outfits worn by the mother and daughter before him cost more than that.

"But if it's the second possibility, then as for the price, I'll need Mrs. Saito to decide for yourself how much Miss Delia's life is worth."

"Mr. Ichiro, are you really confident you can solve Delia's problem? If you can, money won't be an issue."

"I'm a City Hunter. Though I've only been operating in Shinjuku for three months, my commission completion rate is one hundred percent. I won't promise a client something I can't do. Within a week, Miss Delia's problem will disappear."

"Then we'll be relying on you, Mr. Ichiro."

Lin Yi watched the wealthy mother and daughter leave in their private car. He glanced at the notification on his phone; they had paid without hesitation. Before he had even begun the job, they had already transferred a one-million-yen deposit.

He had earned sixty thousand yuan just by talking, so naturally Lin Yi had to keep up appearances. He walked over to the motorcycle parked outside the café—a black Honda CBR1000RR-R worth two million yen, capable of reaching three hundred kilometers per hour.

It had been the first vehicle he bought outright after earning his first fortune through Cursed Technique: Polarity Reversal.

Lin Yi inserted the key, twisted the throttle, and rode after them.

Time quietly passed within the one-week deadline Lin Yi had promised.

Based on the commuting route provided by the mother and daughter, Lin Yi got up early every day and acted as Saito Delia's personal bodyguard, following her the whole way so they could see that he was actually working.

But that did nothing to ease Miss Saito Delia's taut nerves. She was a rich family's daughter, driven to and from work by a chauffeur, and her workplace was a company owned by her father. Things like workplace harassment or bullying simply would not happen to her.

After following her for three days, Lin Yi ate well, drank well, and slept well. Meanwhile, Saito Delia, the target he was tracking and protecting, grew increasingly unstable. Although Lin Yi had not seen any Cursed Spirit harassing her during those three days, she was still tormenting herself mentally in that anxious state.

Seeing her daughter's condition worsen, Mrs. Saito finally called him.

"Please don't worry, Mrs. Saito. I've already confirmed Miss Delia's condition. Just as I promised, before this week is over, I'll resolve the trouble surrounding Miss Delia."

Yotsuya was Shinjuku's wealthy district, characterized by low-density development. It was mostly a mix of luxury apartment buildings and detached villas. With a long history, it was considered a traditional affluent neighborhood, steeped in old-fashioned charm, with excellent greenery and transportation. It was a favorite place for established tycoons and political and business figures.

Lin Yi was currently outside the detached villa where the Saito mother and daughter lived, speaking on the phone and telling Mrs. Saito on the other end to be a little more patient.

The reason he dared guarantee it so confidently was that, when speaking with the mother and daughter earlier, he had already used Spirit Vision activated by cursed energy to see the Cursed Residue left behind by the Cursed Spirit harassing Saito Delia.

This residue would dissipate over time, but while attached to a human body, it would still affect the person to some extent. That was also one reason why Saito Delia had been in such poor mental condition during the three days Lin Yi followed her.

But after those three days, Lin Yi, who had been secretly tailing her, could see that the Cursed Residue on Saito Delia was dissipating.

That meant that regardless of this Cursed Spirit's grade, Saito Delia was not its only target. As the residue on Saito Delia gradually faded, the Cursed Spirit would definitely sense it and return to leave its residue on her again, allowing it to continue drawing cursed energy from Saito Delia, its prey.

All Lin Yi had to do was wait for the rabbit by the tree, seize the Cursed Spirit in one go, and refine it instantly.

A Cursed Spirit that survived only by harassing humans and drawing cursed energy from tormenting its victims' minds could, at most, be somewhere between Grade Three and Grade Two. To Lin Yi, an unregistered Grade One jujutsu sorcerer, it was nothing more than a little fry by the roadside—something he could deal with casually.

So Lin Yi was not worried in the slightest. Maybe he would even let the Cursed Spirit harass her for a few more days, so he could get paid more. Making money was nothing to be ashamed of.

With his little scheme in mind, Lin Yi parked his motorcycle by the roadside, leaned against it, and ate the udon and grilled meat skewers he had bought from a convenience store.

After eating and drinking his fill, Lin Yi maintained his disguise as an ordinary person and heightened his intuition to its limit.

Under the passive effect of Lin Yi's Cursed Technique: Polarity Reversal, he had become an ordinary person with only a trace amount of cursed energy, unable to see Cursed Spirits with the naked eye. However, his physical abilities and intuition had been amplified severalfold. Though it was not as effective as the active effect of Polarity Reversal, he could still use that intuition to determine whether Cursed Spirits were active nearby.

Earlier, in the detective agency, Lin Yi had used that disguise to fool the probing of Kento Nanami and the others from Jujutsu High. He truly could not see the shikigami summoned by Megumi Fushiguro; he could only tell that the shikigami was near him.

As night fell, Lin Yi, who had been keeping watch outside, leaned against a streetlamp and yawned.

He looked around. Aside from the lights in the Saito family's detached villa not far ahead, the street was utterly quiet. Lin Yi was the only living person there, accompanied only by the streetlamp beside him.

Late at night, the lights in the Saito family villa went out. It was probably bedtime.

Lin Yi looked at his phone, which had shut off automatically after he played with it until the battery died. Just as he was wondering whether to find a convenience store and buy something for a late-night snack, his intuition sent him a warning.

Something invisible to him was flying over his head, heading straight for the Saito family villa ahead.

A Cursed Spirit! At last, you're here!

Only one kind of creature could trigger such a warning from Lin Yi's intuition: Cursed Spirits born from humanity's negative emotions.

Lin Yi was overjoyed. Just as he was about to use the active effect of his cursed technique and activate Spirit Vision to determine the Cursed Spirit's grade, his sharp hearing caught the sound of a camera shutter.

"Click!"

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