Regarding the yōkai Sū ěr had met so far, they generally possessed a vitality far beyond that of a normal person. Thanks to this vitality, their corpses would often twitch in Sū ěr pot from time to time, expressing their final defiance by splashing hot oil onto his face—though it was basically useless.
One still had to eat.
Because he had summarized such a simple and rustic rule, Sū ěr could fully understand why this female yōkai—he meant yōkai—still twitched slightly after death.
On a whim, he had recalled the fierce and cool image from manga he'd seen in the past, where a boss would punch a hole straight through a protagonist's chest. But after personally imitating this "cool" behavior, Sū ěr had to give it a thumbs-down.
The green-haired yōkai's chest had a literal void punched into it; even hard bone couldn't stop Sū ěr iron fist. But he didn't have the massive muscles of a manga boss, nor was his fist as big as an earthenware pot. If anything, Sū ěr looked more like the "lean but fit" type.
As a result, the wound didn't look cool at all; instead, it looked like he had thoughtfully punched an Ultraman-style energy timer hole into her chest. Was there a possibility she would crawl off the ground in the next second and fire a Cero [hollow flash] from that hole?
A bit scary.
Okay, okay, the Cero part was just a joke. What made Sū ěr uncomfortable was just the blood that splashed on his face when his fist pierced her chest, and the warm, slippery feeling in his hand... It extended up his arm and felt a bit chilly when the wind blew.
Compared to those sensations, the green-haired yōkai's wide-open, unblinking red eyes were nothing to be afraid of.
"Whether it was the low-level yōkai we killed before or this high-level one, no yōkai crystals, cores, or pellets were found in their bodies. Nothing even close. So, can we rule out the existence of a formal cultivation system for yōkai in this world?"
"Are you sure?" Think, half-reclining in mid-air, pointed a finger toward the sky.
It was still daytime, and the warm sunlight hadn't faded, but Sū ěr knew she was actually referring to the Milky Way that lit up the entire world at night—a celestial phenomenon that was definitely not a natural manifestation of stars in the universe. It was just that Sū ěr currently still knew nothing about it.
"Fair point. Then we'll just continue to investigate slowly while staying steady and safe."
Sū ěr shrugged. While speaking casually, he traced his index finger over the air above a different part of his field. With his gesture, his most precious vegetable garden—second only to Think—split down the middle, revealing a wide gap in the soil like an opening chest.
The smell was a bit pungent. The giant snake corpse buried earlier had mostly decomposed, leaving behind snake bones, but there was still some white, rotting meat clinging to them. It was nauseating. Combined with the other blind yōkai tossed in recently, the bodies mixed with the dirt under the garden were currently... not very aesthetically pleasing.
Frowning and waving the air in front of his nose, Sū ěr casually tossed the green-haired yōkai's corpse inside and then closed the field as quickly as possible. Only when he smelled that scent would he doubt if using these things as fertilizer was a good idea, but the doubt vanished when he saw the thriving fruits and vegetables.
It was perfectly fine. Very ecological, quite green. Perfect!
Setting aside the green-haired yōkai who had broken Sū ěr peace... well, saying she "broke" it wasn't quite right. To Sū ěr and Think, she was just another "rabbit" that appeared at their door, common in this yōkai-dense world. Though her legs were stronger when she kicked, she was still just a rabbit.
The only thing that concerned them was the name she mentioned in her final words—Yakumo Yukari.
To be honest, after several months, Sū ěr had almost forgotten the existence of that blonde yōkai. He hadn't expected his memory to be jolted so suddenly today.
He hadn't heard much respect for Yakumo Yukari in the green-haired yōkai's tone. Think judged that the relationship between the two might not have been very good; Yūka was likely just a poor soul who had come to the door out of curiosity or some other reason.
They didn't feel a massive threat from Yakumo Yukari herself. The only reason Sū ěr and Think hadn't wiped her from their memories was because of her bizarre ability.
Gaps—what kind of power was that? Its level of secrecy was such that even Sū ěr couldn't pinpoint her exact location. Sū ěr even had a vague suspicion that the yōkai possessed an ability rooted in illusory concepts.
And such an ability was undoubtedly far more troublesome than ordinary control over wind, fire, water, or lightning.
Truth be told, leaving such a sneaky individual outside always felt physically and mentally uncomfortable, like one might be ambushed at any moment. So, it was better to nip the danger in the bud.
Sū ěr and Think had secretly made a decision: the next time Yakumo Yukari showed a opening and appeared before them, they would strike with lightning speed to kill that blonde yōkai once and for all, leaving no future troubles.
Perhaps sensing Sū ěr and Think ill intent, even after the green-haired yōkai—who seemed to have some unclear connection to her—had been dead for a long time, and even as winter arrived and snow began to fall, Yakumo Yukari never appeared.
It was as if nothing had happened. During this time, no other unusual yōkai appeared either.
While waiting for a certain blonde yōkai to walk into their trap, Sū ěr and Think lived comfortably in their bamboo house, enjoying the first snow they had seen since coming to this world. They didn't get the "delivery" of a head, but they did get a new life that made them almost doubt their own existence.
No, it wasn't their child—that was a bit premature. The "new life" was the bamboo house Sū ěr had built with his own hands in this world where spiritual energy was so abundant that things became sentient at any time. The house they were living in—had finally attained sapience.
A small green figure with a human-like silhouette, but composed of a constant, faint light, was currently running in circles around the hearth in the middle of the bamboo house.
One could only say it was lucky that its sentience didn't cause the entire house to disappear, otherwise Sū ěr might not have been able to resist the urge to "send it on its way."