Double kill!

"Sukuna's Finger... has the seal already been broken?!!"

"So many cursed spirits!"

Unlike Long Xi, who was slacking off downstairs and leeching experience, Megumi Fushiguro was already on a rampage with his two members of the Paw Patrol.

Watching two shikigami that looked just like huskies chew on slimy flesh worms was admittedly a little nauseating, but there was no denying how quickly they cleared out the monsters.

Of course, that might also have been because their summoner had the strength of a Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer.

"The number of curses is still increasing! Almost there!!!"

"Divine Dogs!"

At Megumi Fushiguro's low command, the two wolf-shaped shikigami, one black and one white, suddenly accelerated, pouncing with pinpoint accuracy on the cursed spirit lunging around the corner.

Their sharp teeth easily tore through its sticky flesh. With a shrill screech, the ambushing cursed spirit was ripped clean in half.

Megumi Fushiguro didn't even glance at the mess behind him. He sprinted toward the Occult Research Club at the end of the hallway.

The cursed energy emanating from Sukuna's Finger was nearby, and the surrounding cursed spirits kept converging on the area. Any later, and those two students really would be beyond saving.

And most importantly... that was a special grade cursed object.

If a cursed spirit swallowed it, everyone in this building-and the entire Sugisawa District-would go down with it.

The nonstop sprinting hadn't tired him in the slightest. As he rounded the final corner, his targets finally came into view.

"Curses..."

Black-and-red cursed energy mist filled the hallway, where six grotesquely twisted cursed spirits had the two students completely surrounded.

A bloated, tumorous cursed spirit resembling a rotten watermelon had already swallowed the boy's upper body. Only his two legs remained, kicking reflexively, and he was about to slide all the way inside.

The other student, a girl, hung in midair, wrapped in a caterpillar-like cursed spirit made of human heads. She had long since passed out, and its human-hand-like tentacles were groping upward beneath her school uniform.

"Found them."

Megumi Fushiguro let out a partial sigh of relief and raised his hands to form a sign.

But before he could summon any other shikigami, the tumorous cursed spirit suddenly swallowed faster. The boy's waist and abdomen were already disappearing into it.

His two Divine Dogs were still at the other end of the hallway, clearing out their pursuers. There was no way to call them back in time.

"Damn it! At this rate..."

There's no way I can save them!

Even if he summoned new shikigami right now, both students would be swallowed by the time they took shape a second later. Once those terrifying negative emotions affected them, their lives would never be the same again.

At that critical instant, movement erupted in two places at once.

The window shattered with a crash, scattering heroic shards across the floor as a pink-haired boy burst inside like a cannonball.

With the wind whistling around him, he drove a clean, sharp elbow strike straight into the tumorous cursed spirit's forehead.

The sound of tears crashing down was as despair-inducing as hearing Old Black's grenade on top of your CEO.

The cursed spirit's outer hide, several times tougher than a normal person's body, caved in deeply. Its entire body instantly flattened into an artistic shape, and the boy in its mouth tumbled to the floor.

This wasn't quite the same as the original anime, something Long Xi had known for a while. Almost simultaneously, he raised his hand from the shadows behind Megumi Fushiguro.

He condensed cursed energy onto a pebble, then hurled it hard, "precisely" blasting out the human-headed cursed spirit's eye.

Green fluid splashed across the wall. Screaming, the cursed spirit released the girl, sending her falling straight down.

Every hair on Megumi Fushiguro's body stood on end.

He hadn't noticed someone standing behind him at all.

Even if that person's way of using cursed energy was primitive... there was no way he should have missed him entirely!

The wormlike cursed spirit went completely berserk after having its eye blown apart. Flailing a dozen or so tentacles, it lunged at Long Xi, who was farthest away!

It completely ignored Megumi Fushiguro, who was still standing nearby in a daze.

Long Xi was ready. He sidestepped a sweeping tentacle and followed through with a kick to its joint, forcing it back two full steps.

The returning Divine Dogs immediately pounced and clamped down on its neck, ending the fight with a crack.

[How much longer until I get to see Sukuna...]

[Big doggies, big doggies, bark, bark, bark!]

[Suddenly, you're looking pretty cute, streamer... Thirty seconds. I want an SP doujin of him being abused. Please, artists, draw it for me.]

[Are you out of your mind?!]

[Why is this Long Xi guy so wicked?]

A barrage of comments flooded in. Long Xi could clearly feel the cursed energy inside him shooting upward like a rocket.

It was more than he'd earned from clearing all those small fry earlier combined. Even his cursed technique was buzzing, seemingly about to jump from LV.1 to LV.2, but ultimately it stopped at 78%.

Was it really still too demanding?

Even his progress had stalled at 78%. It was hard not to feel like he was streaming on Bilibili, that place more terrifying than the dark web.

Long Xi discreetly tucked his numb right hand behind his back, making sure the viewers hadn't seen what he'd done. That single attack had nearly drained all his cursed energy.

He secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, his gamble had paid off.

Next, he just had to let the plot develop normally. There was no need to overthink things. After all, he'd already gained more than a hundred new followers!

Three minutes earlier.

Long Xi had just clambered over the railing onto the fourth floor. Not daring to charge straight in, he obediently hid behind the nearest pillar and began spectating from the sidelines.

It wasn't that he didn't want to save them. He genuinely couldn't win.

He wasn't Yuji Itadori, whose body could withstand a truck and pull off a Baki Hanma cosplay. At best, he was an ordinary person in slightly better shape.

He couldn't even beat Tyson, though, to be fair, few ordinary jujutsu sorcerers could beat Tyson in hand-to-hand combat either.

One punch would probably be enough for him to see the "cabbage" smiling at him.

There were six cursed spirits in that room. Even the weakest were Semi-Grade 3, and one was Grade 3. Going in now would be no different from delivering takeout-and a bargain shared meal at that, the kind that got torn into several portions.

Most importantly, charging in now would accomplish nothing.

He couldn't save anyone or draw any traffic. It would be pure cannon-fodder behavior.

In his personal approach to Early Access, the biggest taboos were meaningless deaths and boring performances.

Only a constant stream of explosive moments and relentless momentum could hold everyone's attention in this fast-paced age.

Of course, under certain circumstances, such as when fans of a particular anime or novel were practically starving for content, he didn't have to worry about that (you know what I'm talking about...).

So he kept waiting.

Waiting until Megumi Fushiguro faced an impossible choice, until everyone thought those two students were doomed, before acting at the same time as Yuji Itadori.

That way, he could save a student, rack up goodwill with Megumi Fushiguro and Itadori, and leave a good impression on the audience.

It was a deal with guaranteed profit and no downside. Only an idiot would pass it up.

As for why he used a cursed energy bullet instead of charging in to fight hand-to-hand?

First, he really couldn't beat that wormlike cursed spirit. Second, ranged attacks looked flashier and brought in more traffic.

Third, come on. It was seriously cool, okay!

Long Xi looked up at Yuji Itadori, who was frantically lowering the two students to the floor, then met Megumi Fushiguro's wary eyes.

He tugged at the corners of his mouth, offering a smile without any real malice.

Step one, done.

Next, he needed to find a way to hitch a ride with Jujutsu High and officially work his way into this world's inner circle.

"Uh... no need to be so distant, okay?"

"I did just help you out, didn't I?"