The boiling red broth bubbled with great bursts, the rich aroma of beef tallow and the numbing spice of Sichuan peppercorns running rampant through the air.
Yet around the small square table for four, the once-relaxed atmosphere froze in an instant.
Ieiri Shoko's fingers, holding a cigarette, stopped in midair, a long ash hanging from its tip without falling.
Kamo Chitsubaki still had half a slice of Kobe beef in her mouth. Her cheerful chewing abruptly stopped, thick sesame sauce sliding down from the corner of her lips, but she could not spare the attention to wipe it away.
On the wall, the image on the LCD television continued shaking violently.
The aerial camera passed through layers of rolling gray fog, faintly revealing an ancient village hidden within the deathly silence of the deep mountains.
"Gas leak."
Ieiri Shoko slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke. "In the eyes of the ordinary people's authorities, as long as the Curtain is damaged and traces of curses are exposed to the public, they'll all be defined with that excuse."
"The barrier's broken."
Lu Ping set down his glass of water. His sharpened senses, enhanced by Three Corpses Manipulation, had already locked onto the fleeting trace of dark cursed residue at the edge of the television screen.
If even distant aerial footage could capture the outline of the village, then the concealment barrier set up in advance by Jujutsu High's assistant supervisors had already completely collapsed.
In the worst-case scenario, not only had the assistant supervisors responsible for cover met with disaster, but Suguru Geto, who had gone there to carry out the mission, was likely trapped in a battle he could not escape.
He was the wielder of Cursed Spirit Manipulation, with Grade 1-level strength.
Lu Ping did not waste words. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and expertly dialed Suguru Geto's number.
Beep—beep—beep—
"Sorry, the number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable or outside the service area."
The cold mechanical prompt sounded especially piercing amid the noisy hot pot restaurant.
Lu Ping hung up and looked at Shoko beside him.
Shoko had already dialed the number of Masamichi Yaga, their teacher at Jujutsu High.
The call was answered after only two rings, and Yaga's usually steady voice came through the receiver.
"Shoko? Where are you now?" There was a trace of impatience in Masamichi Yaga's voice.
"Teacher, I saw the news. That's Geto's mission site, right?" Shoko got straight to the point.
"It is. Ten minutes ago, we completely lost contact with the personnel stationed there. Jujutsu Headquarters is urgently mobilizing nearby manpower, but..."
Before Yaga could finish, an exceptionally sharp burst of electrical static suddenly came from the other end of the call.
Screech—crackle!
The sound was as piercing as nails frantically scraping across glass.
"Teacher?" Shoko frowned tightly.
"...Listen... you... absolutely must not... act on your own..."
Masamichi Yaga's signal began cutting in and out severely, as though separated by a thick, tangible wall. Then, with a crisp snap, the call was forcibly disconnected.
The line went completely dead.
Kamo Chitsubaki finally swallowed the beef in her mouth.
Her face cold, she pulled out her personal phone, opened an encrypted photograph that had just been sent back by the Kamo Clan's intelligence network, and slid it in front of the other two.
The photo had been taken from an overpass. In the distance, the mountains on the outskirts of Tokyo Metropolis could vaguely be seen.
Above the Jujutsu High campus, where the sky should have been clear and bright, an immensely thick dark-red membrane now completely covered the area.
The translucent membrane looked like a massive bowl of blood overturned upon the mountaintop.
"Jujutsu High has been sealed by a Curtain."
Kamo Chitsubaki lifted a large beer mug and took a hard gulp, her gaze icy.
"Looks like those curse users hiding in the gutters calculated that Satoru Gojo was away on assignment and Suguru Geto was being held up in the deep mountains. That's why they launched a surprise attack on headquarters at this exact moment."
"Luring the tiger from the mountain, then surrounding the point to strike the reinforcements." Lu Ping used the serving chopsticks to stir the tofu in the pot, his tone calm. "They've made quite a scene."
"But Jujutsu High is protected by Lord Tengen's barrier. Inside are thousands of constantly shifting doors. Even if those curse users get in, they won't find the core anytime soon."
Kamo Chitsubaki snorted and put away her phone. "As long as no Special Grade 1 or stronger combatants are involved, the personnel remaining inside Jujutsu High will be enough to handle them. What I find strange is, what exactly is their true objective?"
As she spoke, she casually sent a message telling a nearby assistant supervisor to drive her SUV over and park it outside the hot pot restaurant.
Ding.
Lu Ping's phone screen suddenly lit up, and a pinned group message popped up.
Satoru Gojo: [A selfie making a peace sign high in the sky]
Satoru Gojo: "I already know what's going on. You don't need to worry about the small fry at the school. I'm rushing back at full speed and will be there soon."
Seeing those lines of unmistakably personal, outrageously arrogant text, the heavy atmosphere around the hot pot table finally eased somewhat.
The strongest wielder of the modern era's Limitless Technique was on his way back.
Since Satoru Gojo had received the news and was using that nearly cheating-like targeted teleportation to return, the crisis at Tokyo Jujutsu High was basically close to being resolved.
"If that idiot has stepped in, nothing major will happen at the school."
Ieiri Shoko stubbed out her cigarette in a dish, stood up, and grabbed the coat beside her.
"But I can't just sit here. Hoshimi Shrine isn't far from Jujutsu High. Mei Mei, the Grade 1 Sorcerer hired by Jujutsu High, is stationed there, and she's also protecting the two brats at the shrine. I'm going to join her now. My Reverse Cursed Technique will be indispensable for treating the wounded afterward."
Lu Ping stood as well. "Chitsubaki and I will go to the mountain village. We've lost contact with Suguru Geto. He needs support."
Kamo Chitsubaki raised her brows, tugging her lips into a faintly combative smile.
"Agreed. After all, someone still owes me an unfinished feast from lunch. If I let you die in the middle of nowhere, who am I supposed to bill?"
The division of combat strength was settled in an instant.
As pure medical support, Shoko's safest choice was to head to the shrine guarded by a powerful Grade 1 Sorcerer. Meanwhile, Lu Ping and Kamo Chitsubaki were currently the best candidates to reinforce Suguru Geto.
Lu Ping went to the counter and smoothly paid for their hasty lunch with his phone.
The three pushed open the glass doors of the hot pot restaurant, and a sticky, stiflingly hot wind from the streets of Shinjuku hit them head-on.
The dark clouds overhead hung low. The bustling commercial street seemed gloomy and deathly silent at that moment.
Lu Ping suddenly felt watched. His gaze shifted slightly, landing on a gray utility pole across the street.
A massive crow was quietly perched upon the empty crossbeam.
Its pitch-black feathers had no luster beneath the dim light. It tilted its head slightly, its faintly dark-red eyes silently watching Lu Ping and the others from behind.
The crow did not cry out. It was as still as a poorly made specimen.
"Black Bird Manipulation."
Kamo Chitsubaki had naturally noticed it as well. She walked toward her SUV and snorted as she climbed into the driver's seat.
"That woman Mei Mei's 'eyes' really are everywhere. It seems she learned of the higher-ups' movements even earlier than we did. Let's go. Ignore that woman whose mind is filled with nothing but money."
The black SUV's engine roared, tearing through the chill of Shinjuku's streets as it plunged onto the highway leading toward the outskirts of Tokyo Metropolis.
Two hours later.
The prosperous city neon had completely vanished, replaced by rolling mountain forests and increasingly dense gray fog.
The mountain road was narrow and rugged, muddy water splashing everywhere beneath the tires.
When the vehicle reached a mountain pass two kilometers from Snakebone Village, the road ahead had already been completely blocked by several police cars parked haphazardly across it, their red and blue lights flashing.
The car doors stood open. Walkie-talkies and scattered police caps lay on the ground, but there was not a single person in sight.
What filled the air was not the smell of gas at all.
It was a strange stench mixed with heavy sulfur, rotting flesh and blood, and the lingering odor of old funeral paper after it had burned.
For sorcerers, the cursed residue here was so dense that it could be seen everywhere.
"We're finally here."
Kamo Chitsubaki pushed open the car door and stepped into the thick mud.
She untied the leather guard around her wrist, cursed energy beginning to flow slowly through her body. Her instinct for controlling blood caused a faint red glow to emerge over her skin, while her eyes took on a scarlet hue.
Lu Ping took out his longbow, his vision piercing through layers of fog under the cursed energy enhancement of Three Corpses Manipulation.
Both of them possessed abilities that enhanced their eyesight.
In the distant valley, the backward and isolated village was being consumed by flames.
More than half of the dozens of traditional wooden homes had already collapsed. Charred beams and pillars crackled under the strain within the firelight, while billowing black smoke shot into the sky.
At the village entrance was a scene resembling hell on earth.
Beneath a dilapidated wooden sign bearing the words "Snakebone Village," a row of corpses had been neatly arranged across the muddy ground.
They were not cursed spirits. They were all ordinary villagers from this village.
The corpses of men, women, elders, and children had their limbs broken and bent in an exceptionally cruel manner that violated all human anatomy.
Dozens of incomplete, twisted corpses had been pieced together, bent, and arranged in the mud into the shape of a giant snake dozens of meters long.
Severed limbs formed the snake's scales and ribs.
The tail of this flesh-and-blood "Great Serpent" pointed directly toward the mountain road outside the village, as though marking a clear line no one was permitted to cross. Its malformed "head," pieced together from more than a dozen mutilated skulls, rose at an incredibly bizarre angle and extended toward the depths of the village.
Negative emotions and resentment so dense they made one nauseous swirled above the flesh serpent, becoming strands of gray thread visible to the naked eye.
Sensing such immense and pure malice, the Three Corpses within Lu Ping's body fell into a morbid frenzy at that moment.
They raced wildly through his meridians, continuously transforming the scattered resentment around them into cold, surging cursed energy. A roar like raging rivers echoed from within Lu Ping's body.
Lu Ping's face grew ever paler beneath the firelight.
He raised his foot slightly, hesitated not at all, and stepped directly across the forbidden line marked by the serpent's tail.
Before you continue