Hollow Shrine

Time passed day by day. This period was both short and long for Shi. Every morning, Bai Mo would pretend to come to Shi's room. Her body had returned to normal, so Bai Mo would only chat with Shi during this time.

In the afternoon, after giving Shi psychological counseling, Touko would have a brief chat with Bai Mo. Now, Touko felt that Shi should have recovered almost completely, just one step away from recovery. After informing Bai Mo, he unusually came here in the afternoon.

"Your salary is too easy to earn. All you have to do is come here for a cup of tea every day. Once the door is closed, nobody knows what you're doing," Shi teased Bai Mo, who came here every day to slack off.

"Who told the Ryougi Family to be so rich? Ever since they found out about my performance, they put me in charge of your rehabilitation. But you're already as strong as an ox." Bai Mo leaned against the window. Compared to Touko in the afternoon, chatting with Bai Mo made her feel more relaxed. Perhaps it was the bloody aura on Bai Mo that made her feel that the person in front of her might be one of her kind.

"So, I'm your sugar daddy now? Then I'll have to give you a good review after I recover. You have such abilities, yet you waste them on me." Shiki Ryougi lay on the pillow, still wearing bandages.

"No waste. I've been working a full eight hours every day, and now there are practically no patients left in this hospital."

Since Bai Mo took charge of Shiki Ryougi's rehabilitation, spending just one minute each day checking on her body is enough to justify the Ryougi Family's investment. The rest of the time, Bai Mo treats those hospitalized; most of the injuries in this ward are external wounds, which can be easily repaired through Cellular Regeneration.

"That's amazing! I'll bring you a banner of appreciation when I'm discharged, doctor."

"So, when are you planning to be discharged? You can't just stay lying here forever," Bai Mo said, leaving Shiki Ryougi speechless. Before Ryougi Shiki knew it, Bai Mo had already left.

When should she leave? Shiki Ryougi was pondering this question, or rather, when was she prepared to face all of this?

Bai Mo didn't take the usual route. His intuition told him that Shiki Ryougi should be ready, so his life as a doctor here should come to an end. In that case, he would check on the situation at this hospital and see if there was anything else he could do.

Bai Mo stopped in front of a hospital room. The room gave him a sense of loneliness. He glanced at the name on the door: Kirie Fujou.

When the door opened, the girl's long hair was spread all over the bed, seemingly untrimmed for a long time. She looked at the scenery outside the window and, sensing Bai Mo's presence, seemed surprised, like an abandoned house cat, but showed no aversion and was quite docile.

"Um... excuse me, are you here to see me?"

A flicker of joy crossed Kirie Fujou's heart, and she asked cautiously, "The doctor who examined me has already left, so he's here to visit me, right?"

Although Bai Mo was wearing a white coat, Fujou's eyesight was failing. If it were an ordinary person, they would be wary if a stranger suddenly barged into their private hospital room, but she only had hope in her heart. No one had visited her for several years, and even if Bai Mo was an assassin who came to strangle her, Fujou didn't want to drive him away.

Her prolonged loneliness made her yearn for contact with the outside world.

In Bai Mo's eyes, Fujou's situation was not so good. After flipping through her medical records, Bai Mo noticed that she had malignant lung tumors. Bai Mo frowned slightly. These medical records had been forged. Kirie Fujou's condition was not as simple as just malignant lung tumors. Her entire body was covered with tumors composed of cancer cells, both benign and malignant. The only thing that was not affected was her black hair.

It's a miracle that Kirie Fujou is still alive.

"I have to admire your willpower; it's a miracle you're still alive, Miss Fujou."

"Is that so? Maybe the doctors here are very skilled."

Absurd! It's obvious that Fujou's situation was orchestrated. With so many tumors, there's no way the claim they couldn't be detected. This hospital is truly full of surprises. Now, a question faces Bai Mo: should he let this woman continue, following the clues to uncover something?

"It might be a little itchy now, I hope you can hang in there."

Bai Mo placed both hands on Fujou's shoulders, which would be considered a crime in Japan. Fujou was somewhat startled, but she still didn't say anything to kick him out. Just as she was organizing her thoughts, Bai Mo pulled his hands away, and Fujou felt as if her back was being torn apart.

A mass of crimson, wriggling cancer cells was extracted by Bai Mo, causing Fujou to shrink considerably. Bai Mo then slightly channeled his power to burn the large tumor in his hand to ashes, and with his other hand, he quickly repaired her body. Almost all of her organs were pulled out by Bai Mo, even her lungs.

But it doesn't matter. As long as the heart and brain are still there, the Magnetic Field Power can sustain human life. After that, all that's needed is to recreate the organs.

The surgery was completed quickly. After the remaining cancer cells were removed, Kirie Fujou regained a healthy body. The optic nerve that had been compressed by the tumor also recovered considerably, and her eyesight gradually returned to normal, allowing her to see the doctor by her bedside.

This was beyond her comprehension. She looked at the doctor in disbelief. Bai Mo clapped his hands and said, "Please keep what happened today a secret. Come with me to get discharged later. Just say you want to enjoy your last moments of life."

After making some quick arrangements, Bai Mo turned to leave, Fujou called him back, asking timidly, "Um, are you a god?"

Who are you insulting?

After receiving Bai Mo's reply, Fujou lay quietly on the windowsill. How beautiful! Everything outside the window—was it no longer something she could only look down upon? A ray of hope shone into her world, filling her heart with anticipation.

"There really are gods in this world," she murmured. To accomplish something like this, without asking for anything in return, such a being couldn't be human, could it? It couldn't possibly be.

"So, even someone like me can encounter such a fate." In her heart, the figure she saw after regaining her sight became more and more profound.

"If only he could take me away."

Unlike the tranquility in Fujou's room, Shiki Ryougi was greeted by an uninvited guest: a corpse emerged from the morgue and walked step by step into Shiki Ryougi's room. The male corpse's muscles were stiff, and its strength was clearly greater than Shiki Ryougi's, but more importantly, it offered absolutely no resistance.

"Still confused?" Outside the hospital, Bai Mo looked towards Shiki Ryougi's ward, with Touko standing beside him. A light rain was falling, and Touko, still smoking, said, "No, when you're truly facing death, Shiki will make her choice."

After a while, Shi fell from a height of nearly three stories, as lightly as a cat, while the corpse fell heavily to the ground.

"That was quite a shock. Are you a cat?" Touko stepped out from behind, frowning as she looked at the corpse. "I set up a barrier to isolate spirits, but I didn't expect this. I miscalculated."

"Then you should think of a solution."

Touko nodded, drawing Rune Runes in the air with the cigarette in her hand. The next moment, a raging fire broke out on the corpse in the heavy rain, but it still walked step by step towards Shi.

"Is this also part of the test?" Bai Mo interjected from the side. Touko clicked his Rune Runes are extremely powerful, but they need a corresponding medium to unleash their power. Right now, all they have on hand is a cigarette they just lit.

"You liar!" Shiki Ryougi said, looking at the still-moving corpse. Touko explained from the side, "This isn't so easy. Since it's already dead, burning its heart or head won't help. Now you need crematorium-level firepower or a high-ranking monk's purification. Even that won't work; you can't kill someone who's already dead a second time."

Touko prepared to retreat, but Ryougi Shiki Ryougi had no such intention. She unwrapped the bandage on her head, opened her eyes, and just as she expected, a scarlet Lines of Death spread across the corpse.

"Doctor, do you have any ideas? Although the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception are very powerful, Shiki is just a girl after all, and her strength is probably much weaker," Touko said to Bai Mo beside her.

"It was Shiki who kicked that thing down, right? And she fell from the third floor without getting hurt. She's definitely not an ordinary girl." Despite her words, Bai Mo still acted. Just as Shiki engaged the corpse, Bai Mo appeared behind her like a ghost.

A pair of large hands grabbed the corpse's head and then flung it away like a sack of potatoes. In the process, the corpse was as if it had been sent into a wood chipper, turning into countless fragments. At the same time, those fragments burned like flames, like fireworks in the night.

After the corpse was obliterated, it was as if a hole opened in the sky, and the group of souls roared and flew towards Shi. But when they got close, they obviously paused for a moment. They turned their heads and glanced at Bai Mo, as if they were guests at a table, facing two plates of food, hesitating about which one to eat.

Seizing this brief pause, Shiki Ryougi swiftly brought down her blade, and the soul was sliced through by the material knife, vanishing into thin air.

At this moment, Shi finally saw the person in front of her clearly, but she was stunned. Under the moonlight of the night, the flames had just died down, and in this world full of Lines of Death, the only pure white thing was there.

Bai Mo stood on the grass, looking at the sky; there wasn't a single Lines of Death on his body.

Shi could hardly believe his eyes; it was as if he had seen the only living person among a pile of twisted corpses, someone whose mere presence was captivating.

"Don't just stand there!"

The person in front of him shouted at Shiki Ryougi. Shiki's consciousness had just drifted back from her daze when a sudden change occurred. A bolt of electricity swept through the air and suddenly appeared, pointing directly at Shiki Ryougi. It was so fast that no one around except Bai Mo could detect this power.

The next moment, Shiki collapsed as if struck by lightning. Bai Mo immediately caught her, only to find that she was completely unharmed. She opened her eyes; the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception were already closed, but Shiki's gaze was incredibly eerie, a strangeness that Bai Mo even found somewhat familiar.

Shi opened her eyes and slowly uttered two words that no one expected.

"Damn it."

Completely devoid of any feminine features, she yelled, "What the hell is this body? Isn't this that kid? How the hell did I turn into a woman?! Wait, why is the connection broken? Where did my unparalleled power go?"

At this moment, Bai Mo finally realized where this familiar feeling came from.

Why did the Giant Shark Heavenly King appear?!

Some time later -- Garan no Dou.

Caren and Bai Mo had changed into normal clothes. At this moment, Mikiya Kokutou looked at Ryougi Shiki Ryougi, who was tied up in a chair, and felt a mix of emotions. Touko brought out boxes of objects, all of which were ancient Magecraft props.

"Um... let me double-check. I know that Shiki's previous personality disappeared, and then... in the Hollow Shrine was left behind, it was taken over by a soul that Mr. Bai Mo knew about? So... Shiki is now her previous dual personality?"

"It's a complex individual personality," Touko explained from the side, while "Shiki Ryougi" on the chair turned completely black-faced. Bai Mo had repeatedly confirmed that the Giant Shark didn't have any Magnetic Field Power, otherwise he was really afraid that it would break free of its chains and then control Shiki Ryougi's body to completely destroy this country and its neighboring countries.

"Um... will the soul have any effect on the Shiki?" Mikiya Kokutou seemed to be using his last bit of strength to forcefully ask this question.

"Originally, this soul should have possessed a power called ' Magnetic Field Rotation ' just like mine, and it was much stronger than me, strong enough to destroy the entire world. But for some reason, it has no power now and is just an ordinary old man's soul."

No, no, no, it's already terrifying enough that an old man's soul is inside Shiki's body, Kokutou swallowed hard.

On the other side, Touko began setting up the magic circle, saying as she did so, "It's alright, Shiki's Mystic Eyes can kill along with the soul. I'll seal this soul for now, and let Shiki kill it when her consciousness awakens."

Is it really possible?

Kokutou seemed to have grasped at the only straw, while Bai Mo shook his head inwardly.

By this time, he had gained some understanding of this world. All things in this world were born from a concept called the Root, including death. The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception Mystic Eyes of Death Perception are awakened when a soul returns to the present world after death and witnesses the death of all things in the process.

However, the Giant Shark's soul was not a product of this world at all, so there was no such thing as a Lines of Death. Just like Bai Mo, Bai Mo had no Lines of Death in either his soul or his body. To him, the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception were no different from ordinary eyes.