At this moment, Shizuka Hiratsuka suddenly began questioning her entire life.
From childhood to adulthood, no one had ever said she was unattractive.
But now, Shizuka Hiratsuka was genuinely starting to doubt herself.
Why would this woman in black mourning clothes, who clearly had such strong possessiveness toward Ye Xing, not be jealous of her at all?
Could her appearance really be inferior to a shower head?
What brand was this shower head anyway?
No, that's not the important point...
"Alright, I'm leaving now."
Ye Xing glanced at Onimaru Kunitsuna, who had taken human form, and emphasised once more.
"Remember, anyone else can come to harm, but this person..."
He pointed at Shizuka Hiratsuka beside him, who seemed lost in thought and appeared to have lost the light in her eyes.
"You must protect her."
"Don't worry, Master."
"Then I'll leave it to you, Little Oni."
After Ye Xing left, Onimaru Kunitsuna watched his retreating back, a noticeable blush spreading across her exquisitely beautiful and charming face.
"Master... called me Little Oni..."
Looking at the expression on Onimaru Kunitsuna's face, Shizuka Hiratsuka felt utterly speechless.
Such a beautiful, mature woman with such a figure...
Thinking this, she glanced at Onimaru Kunitsuna's chest, then glanced at her own.
Complete defeat.
A woman like this would actually call Ye Xing "Master" in public...
Just how wild is your usual lifestyle as a high school freshman!!!
...
Meanwhile, at Shibuya's commercial pedestrian street.
"Found anything?"
Seeing Miko Yotsuya floating back to the rooftop atop the pale ghost hand, Rio Futaba immediately stepped forward to ask.
"Nothing."
Miko Yotsuya shook her head.
"Neither I nor Hyakume have detected any trace of the third Gate in this area."
"What about evil spirits?"
"None either."
"I see..."
Rio Futaba nodded slightly, exchanged a glance with Mai Sakurajima beside her, and spoke slowly.
"It seems that regardless of its strength, the evil spirit behind this incident truly excels at concealing its tracks - enough to evade even Hyakume's observation."
"Yes, quite troublesome..."
Mai Sakurajima nodded slightly, gazing at the empty pedestrian street dotted with flickering lights amidst the pouring rain, her eyes revealing thoughtful contemplation as she spoke slowly.
"But with all this elaborate effort, what kind of catastrophe is this evil spirit trying to create?"
"Like at the amusement park, using vehicles for impact? But I noticed when I entered that both ends of the pedestrian street have bollards - vehicles can't possibly drive in here."
"Manipulating mentally distorted humans to rampage through the streets? That would cause at most dozens to hundreds of casualties, hardly worth such extensive preparation."
Though less experienced than Miko Yotsuya in exorcism matters, Mai knew that an evil spirit fused with a Gate could merge at least several hundred meters of the real world with the Reverse World.
Given the crowd density of this commercial pedestrian street, using this method would drag in at least hundreds of people.
Not to mention other unsuspecting pedestrians who might later wander into this haunted domain.
Before anyone noticed the anomaly and evacuated the area, at least thousands of human lives would be at stake.
"Who knows?"
Rio Futaba shook her head, clearly unable to guess the reasoning behind the evil spirit's actions.
"Anyway, let's remain vigilant for now."
Rio Futaba took out binoculars, gazing at the Gate approximately two hundred meters straight ahead from their position on the pedestrian street, murmuring to herself.
"If my hypothesis is correct, once the captain makes progress over there, that entity hiding in the darkness will see its plan about to be ruined and start making desperate moves."
"When that time comes..."
"It will inevitably reveal its weakness."
Mai and Miko nodded, thinking this was all they could do for now.
They still greatly trusted Rio Futaba's intellect.
The best approach currently is to wait.
"However..."
Miko looked back at the pale ghost hand floating behind her, forming a heart shape with its thumb and index finger, her golden eyes showing no trace of amusement, only deep concern.
"That hotel is about two kilometres away from us."
"Maintaining Soul Materialisation's true form over such distance... even for Ye Xing, it would likely consume tremendous mental energy."
Both Rio Futaba and Mai Sakurajima had also become aware of this problem.
The Soul Materialisation-formed true soul form has certain distance limitations from its user.
For example, Miko Yotsuya, currently the most powerful user, can maintain her true soul form within a maximum range of approximately 150 metres around herself.
Rio Futaba can manage about 120 metres.
Although Mai Sakurajima has received numerous infusions, her Soul Materialisation ability isn't yet fully mastered - fifty metres is her limit.
The further the true soul form is from its user, the more mental energy is required to maintain it.
Two kilometres?
Neither Rio Futaba, Mai Sakurajima, nor Miko Yotsuya could imagine how terrifying the rate of Ye Xing's mental energy consumption must be at such a distance.
This isn't a matter of spiritual power or physical strength.
As long as one is human, the mind has its limits. If mental energy is excessively depleted, two scenarios may occur.
The first: collapsing unconscious, just like Miko Yotsuya when she first used Soul Materialisation.
The second...
Losing rational thought capacity, becoming uncontrollable.
...
Tokyo National Museum.
Rain falling through the hole above the museum pattered softly against the hard marble floor tiles.
Of the hundred-strong team formed by the museum's original security guards plus nearly a hundred officers from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, fewer than one in ten remained standing.
Listening to the terrifying panting sounds occasionally echoing through the darkness, and those faintly visible crimson eyes glowing with an eerie light, the remaining guards and police officers had reached their psychological breaking point.
Looking at their fallen comrades lying on the floor, despair filled their eyes.
This Kira...
Was he even human?
He seemed to merge completely with the darkness, making him impossible to locate.
Initially, the Metropolitan Police Department's field commander had ordered personnel to guard all exits of the National Museum to prevent this dangerous criminal from escaping.
But after a few minutes, he realised something.
It wasn't Kira who was in trouble - it was all the police officers on their side.
Twenty minutes had passed since requesting reinforcements from headquarters.
Kira... hadn't killed a single person.
The fallen comrades had merely lost consciousness, without any serious injuries.
This very fact made the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's field commander shudder with dread.
Could Kira really be toying with over a hundred armed police officers without even needing to kill?
Just who - or what - was this Kira?
"The Metropolitan Police Department's response is truly slow," murmured Light Yagami, hidden in darkness, a contemptuous sneer curling his lips as excitement burned brighter in his eyes.
Interesting.
Truly interesting.
This exposure of his true identity, though not appearing with his own face, yet openly engaging with these police officers as Kira, was an extremely dangerous game.
If the special forces arrived with riot shields, heavy bulletproof armour, and including sniper teams, even with his partially merged abilities with Emperor Sutoku and capacity for aerial escape, he'd likely prove the old saying true.
There would be no escape.
Yet the more dangerous it felt, the more excited Light Yagami became.
"Only this way is it not boring."
Of course, that was just what he thought.
Light Yagami knew very well that reinforcements from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department wouldn't arrive anytime soon.
It wasn't that they weren't reacting quickly enough.
Rather, this sudden, abnormally heavy downpour had already caused severe traffic congestion throughout Tokyo's streets, making it difficult for vehicles to move.
In such extreme weather, the Police Department's vehicles would struggle to operate freely.
Let alone dispatch helicopters.
Although Light Yagami enjoyed the thrill and excitement of playing cat and mouse with the officers, he always kept his principles in mind.
These people weren't guilty; he couldn't kill them.
As for that statement, "All of you will die here today"?
Any normal person would want to avoid death.
Light Yagami was simply stimulating the officers, stirring fear and the will to survive within them, ensuring they would definitely request reinforcements from headquarters.
This way, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department wouldn't have extra personnel to interfere with Ye Xing's operations.
...
Meanwhile, in a hotel two kilometres away on the commercial pedestrian street.
Ye Xing stood inside the elevator, feeling the surrounding air growing increasingly cold. He exhaled a puff of white mist and murmured to himself.
"A spectre that can lower the temperature... Is there such a record in the Hyakki Yagyō?"
"But thinking carefully, it might not necessarily be an evil spirit from the Hyakki Yagyō."
"Although this folk tale is quite widespread in Japan, and the negative impressions it generates can form very powerful evil spirits, their true forms might also exist in the real world..."
"Perhaps this time, it's something else, unknown but terrifying, just like that guy controlled by the serial killer..."
As Ye Xing murmured to himself, the numbers on the display above the elevator kept changing.
31, 30, 29, 28...
When the number reached 27, a grating, teeth-chilling friction sound came from above the metal panel on the elevator's ceiling.
The entire elevator shook violently.
"Could it be!?"
Ye Xing looked up at the elevator ceiling as if greatly shocked.
Through the open metal panel, what met his eyes was an evil spirit with a long, serpentine body and two rows of sharp teeth in its mouth, gnawing at the elevator's metal cables.
Seeing Ye Xing's gaze upon it, the evil spirit's pupils revealed madness and distortion as it chuckled eerily.
"Go to hell."
Crash!
Accompanied by a dull snapping sound, the entire elevator began to plummet downward at high speed.
The red numbers on the display changed rapidly.
27, 26, 25, 24...
In just one second, it had passed four floors, and under the influence of gravity, its falling speed grew faster and faster.
Such luxury hotel elevators certainly have emergency braking systems to prevent accidents.
But given the current situation, clearly, this safety measure had also been destroyed by the evil spirit.
"I've been careless..."
Boom!
The elevator crashed all the way down to the basement level, the bottom of the elevator shaft. The violent impact made the entire hotel tremble.
...
Standing at the top level beside Onimaru Kunitsuna, Shizuka Hiratsuka also heard the tremendous noise. With a worried expression, she murmured to herself:
"He... won't be in danger, will he..."
"Please rest assured."
Onimaru Kunitsuna gave a slight smile and spoke softly.
"My master is the strongest."
...
Meanwhile, the "strongest" mentioned by Onimaru Kunitsuna was currently lying in a twisted metal elevator, his body seemingly fused with the surrounding metal debris.
If Ye Xing could still speak at this moment, he would definitely say:
"Cyber exorcist, evolve!"
But it seemed the scattered pieces of him no longer had the strength to speak.
The cold wind blowing from the underground parking level sounded like the breathing of evil spirits, sending chills down one's spine.
The surroundings were deathly silent.
Nearly five minutes passed before faint footsteps approached from the distance, heading toward the crashed elevator.
An old man in black robes, his back hunched, slowly walked up to the twisted elevator.
His eyes flickered with an eerie light like swaying lanterns, and as he opened his mouth to speak, the air around him instantly grew colder.
"So-called exorcists..."
The old man stared at the bloody mess that was Ye Xing's "corpse," now fused with the twisted elevator, and shook his head disdainfully.
"...are nothing more than this."
Observing the blood dripping onto the ground and sensing the powerful spiritual power contained within, the old man crouched, dipped his index finger into it, and put it in his mouth to taste, his face showing a look of enjoyment.
"Indeed, so delicious. What a pity humans are so fragile. Their remaining value only lies in becoming my nourishment."
At that moment.
A voice tinged with laughter came from the damaged elevator.
"How dare you reverse the natural order and try to eat me?"
The old man froze momentarily, then suddenly heard a gentle breeze behind him.
A pitch-black ghost hand with sharp white nails instantly clenched its five fingers, tightly gripping his body in its palm.
Crack... crack...
Accompanied by the teeth-grating sound of grinding bones, Ye Xing, who had been reduced to a pulp of flesh, slowly stood up from the ground.
He looked at the old man trapped in the ghost hand's palm, whose pupils showed shock, as if he had never expected a mere human to survive such an impact, and spoke with a smile.
"You've been hiding deep, haven't you? Concealed within a human body, no wonder I couldn't find you."
Here, Ye Xing's tone shifted as he gazed at the old man's face, his eyes revealing excitement and madness, whispering.
"But now, I see you."
The tables had turned.
At this moment, fear and panic surfaced in the old man's eyes.
If it dared to confront Ye Xing directly, it wouldn't have gone through such trouble by sending its minions to sabotage the elevator.
Whoosh!
The old man's face instantly contorted, spewing dark blue flames from his mouth. His body writhed, directly bursting through the five fingers of the ghost hand, and with a flicker, he vanished into the darkness of the parking lot.
"Trying to hide again?"
Watching the ghost hand dissipate into black smoke, Ye Xing showed no surprise.
He had already sensed it.
The evil spirit fused with the old man's body possessed a Gate.
Evil spirits with Gates and those without were completely different in magnitude.
Moreover, at least several hundred guests had already died within the hotel, and this bloody resentment further strengthened the opponent's power.
A single, simple detail was enough to prove the quality of this evil spirit.
It actually dared to devour Ye Xing's blood and successfully digested it.
This was extremely rare.
The quality of an evil spirit is verified by exorcists.
Relying solely on a single pitch-black ghost hand to eliminate the opponent was indeed rather impossible.
However...
Ye Xing turned around, picked up the shower head from the floor, wiped off the bloodstains on it, then gazed towards the dimly lit parking lot where only a few fluorescent tubes flickered intermittently. He revealed a kind smile and spoke in a gentle tone.
"I'm coming to find you now."
The parking lot was utterly silent, where even soft speech was quite audible.
The elderly evil spirit, hiding behind a vehicle, trembled involuntarily upon hearing Ye Xing's amused voice.
This guy...
Wasn't a normal human at all!
The elderly evil spirit curled its withered body, straining to conceal its Qi.
It didn't know how powerful this human was, nor did it have the courage to find out.
"By the way, spewing blue flames, and an elderly appearance..."
Ye Xing held the new exorcism treasure—a brand-name shower head—swinging it casually in his hand like a yo-yo, while speaking calmly.
"You're a Māra... How interesting."
Ye Xing's voice carried amusement, his footsteps echoing through the parking lot.
"Come out, let me have a taste?"
The Māra hidden in the darkness grew even more fearful upon hearing this.
Forget about power.
Wasn't the current situation reversed?
Why was it, an evil spirit, hiding while the human was searching everywhere?
This wasn't right!
Just as the Māra thought this, it suddenly felt something unusual in the human body it was occupying.
It glanced sideways and discovered a wound on its left shoulder, as if scratched by a fingernail, seething with black Qi.
"Could it be..."
The Māra's expression changed drastically.
The next second, Ye Xing's voice came from above its head.
"Found yoouuu..."