Chapter 206: Yūmi Island (Part Twelve)
Chapter 206: Yūmi Island (Part Twelve)
“Pah! It turned out to be trash that could only supply a bit of Miscellaneous Fate.”
Fang Jing glanced disdainfully at the scattered flesh all over the ground.
He guessed that thing was similar to the Corpse Hound and shared the trait of strong regenerative ability, but it still couldn’t escape death when facing his attack.
Fang Jing had discovered that he possessed three different kinds of “power,” and their impact on supernatural things was not the same.
“The Cadaveric Toxin Flame should be the most powerful Curse force I’ve mastered. I have to admit, this abnormal Curse, born from pushing the Seal of the Asura Hand to its limit, is the skill with the greatest destructive power and force that I can control at this stage.”
However, its weakness was also obvious—this power was aimed at living beings.
To put it simply, the Seal of the Asura Hand was a Curse directed at living creatures, so its effect on non-living beings was limited.
“Next is the Life Magnetic Field. This power is a special ability born from the Fate Fragment of Life Magnetism. Once the Life Magnetic Field is released, besides simply repairing the body, it can also resist abnormal supernatural forces.”
He had noticed this when he took out the Spirit that looked like an old woman and a few other monsters.
“Lastly, there’s the secondary talent of the Beast of Rage, ‘Rage Blood Aura.’ Compared to the toxic flame released by the Seal of the Asura Hand, this power deals greater damage to Spirits.”
This secondary talent, brought by the Fate Beast, was called “Rage Blood Aura.” It worked by generating angry emotions, which caused the Beast of Rage within his body to release the Rage Blood Aura.
This blood aura emitted a faint red glow and had extremely strong lethality against Spirit-type beings, even more powerful than the toxic flame of the Seal of the Asura Hand.
Through this round of battles, Fang Jing made a summary. He gained more information about these three different levels of power and also understood how to properly use them going forward.
To deal with different kinds of enemies, he should choose different ways to use his powers.
“But this also proves that many occurrences on the island are somewhat related to this thing…”
After blasting Tomatsu apart, he checked the scattered flesh on the ground. With a touch of his finger, he picked up a pile of shimmering powder—it wasn’t just ordinary powder, but tiny spores.
“If I’m not mistaken, the abnormalities happening on this island are most likely related to this…”
Just at that moment, there was a sudden loud crack in the sky. Fang Jing looked up and saw several streaks of lightning cutting through the air. The sky had unknowingly become covered with dark clouds, and a few drops of rain hit his face.
“It’s starting to rain again.”
The dim gray clouds spread like spilled ink, and a light drizzle began. Soon, it turned into a downpour.
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The increasingly heavy rain made Shusu Yuki feel uneasy.
The rain was pouring down, and his vision was blurry.
Yuki didn’t carry an umbrella; he only wore a black raincoat.
He had to admit that the hot summer weather seemed unpredictable, especially on an island like this.
He never expected to encounter such heavy rain along the way. The continuous rain and the gloomy gray clouds hanging over the island felt like an omen of something bad.
Even with the raincoat, Shusu Yuki didn’t feel comfortable. His upper body was almost soaked.
Rainwater, sweat, and mud were all mixed on him. After traveling this far, his energy was nearly spent. The cold from his wet clothes made his body temperature drop rapidly.
Still, he pushed on toward the pier. His goal this time was to get a boat. To be precise, a speedboat.
Hayasaka Muko had secretly given him the key. She also told him there was a speedboat at the island’s pier, and they could use it to leave Yūmi Island together.
“Will… things really go this smoothly?”
He couldn’t help but doubt it.
Everything had been too easy.
Hayasaka Muko had obtained the key without much trouble, and within the Cult, there were followers who sympathized with her. Thanks to that, he hadn’t encountered any obstacles along the way. After smoothly getting the key, he made it to the pier without any issues.
“Is there no one guarding the pier either?”
There was no one at the pier. Looking around, besides a rundown, long-abandoned lighthouse, there was nothing else there.
(Maybe because the rain is so heavy, everyone else has left this place…)
That was the only explanation he could think of.
Shusu Yuki walked onto the wooden pier, where a boat covered in stains and rust was docked.
It looked like a sightseeing yacht, but it was clearly old and worn with age.
Next to this boat was a small speedboat.
Naturally, Yuki wasn’t aiming for the large sightseeing-style boat.
That transport ship was too conspicuous and not suitable for escaping.
Yuki’s target was the small speedboat. He didn’t plan to use it to return to Japan either; he intended to pick up Hayasaka Muko and go with her to a nearby small island.
Once they reached the island, he would call the newspaper office. As long as he could contact his colleagues and friends at the newspaper, he could safely bring Hayasaka Muko back to the mainland.
“After we return to Japan, I’ll need to find her a place to stay. Sending her to a welfare home wouldn’t be good, and it’s not suitable for her to live with me… Right, she could stay at Maeda-senpai’s house for a while. If I explain it to Tamako-san, it should be fine.”
If I remember correctly, Maeda-senpai and Tamako-san’s daughter is about the same age as Muko. If that’s the case, I won’t have to worry about her being too lonely.
While thinking about these future plans, Shusu Yuki tried to start the speedboat.
Just then, a deep voice came from behind him.
“Shusu-san, what are you doing here?”
Yuki’s hair stood on end. Without thinking, he turned around and saw Kuzunoki standing on the pier with several followers.
Kuzunoki wore a faint, ambiguous smile. He held an umbrella in one hand and a gun in the other.
“Alright, the game is over. Bring her here.”
At his command, a few figures escorted Hayasaka Muko forward.
Mmph…!
Hayasaka Muko was trembling all over. Her hair was drenched by the rain, and her head hung low.
“We’ve known about your plans all along. I’ve had people watching you.”
Kuzunoki shook his head and said in a cold tone, “Shusu-san, personally, I have a good impression of you, and the Founder holds you in high regard. But you’ve let the Cult down.”
“I…”
Shusu Yuki could only give a bitter smile. He had nothing to say. He noticed that not just Kuzunoki, but all the followers held guns.
“Take him back. Let the Founder judge these two!”
Amid the heavy rain, he issued the command in a ruthless tone.
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“So… are we really going to the ‘Shrine’?”
Kase Mi followed closely behind Fang Jing, trembling with fear. Besides her, Sakuma had also caught up.
Sakuma had only hit his forehead and bled a little.
Kase Mi found a first aid kit for him. After wrapping a bandage around his head, he hurried to keep up, not daring to fall behind.
The residence was mostly smashed up, and after the incident with Tomatsu, neither of them dared to stay there any longer.
But since Fang Jing insisted on leaving the residence, Kase Mi and Sakuma had no other choice. They had to stick to him like glue.
No matter how slow they were, they could tell that Fang Jing was their best chance at staying alive.
“Yes, no matter what, the events on the island are likely closely related to the Cult. Considering that, we definitely need to check out the Cult.”
Of course, this was just a random excuse.
The real reason was simpler: Fang Jing suspected that an organization related to the Strange Phenomenon was hiding on the island.
This organization might be the “Cult” itself, or it might be that a mysterious force was lurking within the Cult, using it as a cover to hide itself.
Before Tomatsu died, he mentioned something about a group! That they were going to purge humans too!
This showed that “it” wasn’t acting alone. There were quite a few of them.
In fact, Yūmi Island was their habitat.
“Another thing: Yūmi Island has existed since ancient times, but there were never any unusual rumors. Considering their special ability—erasing memories of missing people—keeping the disaster within a certain range might really make it unnecessary to worry.”
The trio walked across a forested slope, climbing higher, weaving among several hill paths dotted sporadically with trees. On the other side of the not-too-distant slope, wooden buildings became visible.
These were remains of the old village settlement. The building sites had turned into muddy pits; wooden parts of any brick structures were eaten away by wild grasses from the forest, fully reducing them to ruins.
“Hmm…What’s that?”
Fang Jing stopped walking. Instead of continuing, he turned and moved toward the remains of the village.
What caught his eye was a blurry white shape by the corner of a concrete wall. It slipped away whoosh, unnervingly fast. Without reflexes as monstrous as Fang Jing’s, one wouldn’t notice that flash of white at all.
Rain poured unceasingly. Kase Mi and Sakuma behind him shivered from cold, their clothes thin, protected from the rain only by light jackets.
“…A Spirit?”
Fang Jing didn’t feel cold. His current strength, while not making him immune to heat or cold, easily shrugged off ordinary chills. He exhaled a long plume of warm breath.
He guessed what he’d seen was probably a Spirit.
He knew some things about Spirits. They were considered a kind of Strange Phenomenon, though not a major threat to human society.
Some believed they were Ghosts and phantoms, transformed from the souls of the dead.
But others thought they weren’t souls, but lingering traces of the dead’s thoughts—Thought Remnants.
Thought Remnants were like a person’s shadow.
Stand in sunlight, and a shadow forms.
Thought Remnants formed under certain conditions, like afterimages left when the living died.
Fang Jing strode forward, moving to the manor-like house. Its wooden door was tightly shut.
He kicked it hard with one foot.
Klang!
A dull thud echoed as he mangled the door, ducking his head to slip inside.
A wave of damp, moldy air hit him.
This was just a dilapidated shack half-soaked by rainwater, its foundation sunk, the house tilted sideways.
Fang Jing stayed silent, scanning swiftly.
“Saw it.”
Every muscle tensed. Lunging at full speed, he crashed—the decaying house groaned as its roof cracked apart overhead.
Simultaneously, Fang Jing exploded through the wall. Like an arrow released, he shot out, gaining on the white shape he’d targeted.
BOOM!
Crimson light radiated from his fist. Deep within him, the Beast of Rage roared, the Rage Blood Aura flaring like searing fire erupting from his body.
Aiming at the blurry white figure, he punched—only to freeze mid-swing.
The white shape twisted right in front of him and vanished.
“This is…”
Frowning, Fang Jing lowered his fist.
He saw a twisted, bizarrely huge tree—easily needing three or four people to embrace its trunk.
It was wrapped in aging Shimenawa. Strange though, the hanging paper strips on the rope were densely etched with symbols.
“Ancient divine-era script…And these shapes…Exactly like on that case from the Defiled Temple…”
Fang Jing’s eyes slitted like a cat’s.
(Note: ‘神代文字’ translates literally to ‘divine era script’. As it has no provided glossary entry, and for historical context clarity, we use ‘ancient divine-era script’ and introduce the concept briefly.)
Ancient divine-era script was an ancient script of Japan. Scholars thought it might imitate Korean script, and its history wasn’t as old as many imagined.
It had many variants found across the Japanese archipelago, even unearthed on artifacts in ruins.
He had studied the script on the Defiled Temple case meticulously. Though he didn’t have the original text, he remembered its form.
Fang Jing had privately investigated both the case and the Mummified Severed Hand’s origins.
He hadn’t found any divine script resembling his memory… until now, on Yūmi Island.
Kase Mi and Sakuma caught up, their faces tense and nervous.
“This… should also be a Shrine?”
“Yeah. There should be a sacred tree on this island. Kiryu Reizuke’s novel Nightmare Island described it…”
Kase Mi recalled the novel she’d read and author Kiryu Reizuke’s afterword, murmuring under her breath. “Its existence, the sacred tree… It’s said to mark the boundary between Yin and Yang. Meaning, it’s a portal connecting this island to the spirit world.”
“No. That’s not a portal to the spirit world.”
Fang Jing scoffed coldly. “If it really were a ‘portal’, the sacred tree would’ve been destroyed long ago.”
Finally, he understood what the Spirit back in the Apartment wanted him to find on this island.
“The thing called the ‘Keystone’… Likely meaning an object sealing off the island’s connection to the spirit world!”
Whoosh… Rustle…
Tensed breaths. Kase Mi and Sakuma trembled as muttering sounds drifted nearby.
Chitter, chitter, chitter—! Voices echoed through the rain. Unfocused ears might blend them with the downpour.
Within that split second, bone-chilling cold flooded the surroundings.
It wasn’t one person’s voice—but many.
One figure after another materialized through the curtain of rain, slowly encircling their position.
Followers garbed in white robes.
Believers of Shinzaki Tenrikyo. They mumbled incoherently, shuffling endlessly closer. Faces pale as paper. Utterly expressionless.
“The god’s kingdom descends. You shall be lambs offered upon his altar.”
“Lambs!” “Lambs!” “Lambs!” “Lambs!” “Lambs!” “Lambs!” “Lambs!” “Lambs!” “Lambs!”
Huddled together, they chanted monotonously in the deluge. Repeating endlessly like broken recorders.
Crack!
The spine of the leading man shattered like rotten petals. Slime and bone fragments erupted into glowing tentacles—one unfurling its vile scarlet tongue from his gaping mouth.
The others followed—men, women, old, young. Mutating one by one before the trio. Twisting into hideous monsters.
Kase Mi and Sakuma scanned their surroundings, faces blanched green with terror and revulsion.
For them, this nightmare felt like plummeting straight into a demonic pit.
“Lambs? What lambs?”
Only Fang Jing remained unfazed. He swept his cold smirk over them.
“Just shrieking pigs ready for slaughter!”