Chapter 142: The True Essence of the Otherworld, Father and Son Boarding Super-Quant Club
At this moment, Yagami Soichiro, looking at the Worm Evil Spirit as huge as a train being split into two halves directly in front of the power of one slash from Onimaru Kunitsuna, was completely dumbfounded.
So...
So the opponent didn't lie to me.
Onimaru Kunitsuna is really a sword used to slay evil spirits!?
No wonder...
No wonder the opponent said back then that compared to losing its sharpness in a display case, Onimaru Kunitsuna could only exert its true value in his hands.
As if to confirm Yoru's words, Onimaru Kunitsuna, which had just slain a powerful evil spirit, vibrated with half its blade out of the sheath, emitting a pleasant cry.
"Behave yourself."
Hearing Yoru's reprimand, Onimaru Kunitsuna calmed down. Although just a sword, it inexplicably exuded a pitiful aura, returning honestly into the scabbard.
Only spiritual items of Onimaru Kunitsuna's level could withstand the power released by Yoru.
If it were Miko's ordinary long sword taken from the old man, let alone swinging blade qi, the blade would probably shatter before slashing down.
"Chief Yagami."
Now hearing this title, Yagami Soichiro almost got PTSD, always feeling this "Mask" was going to do something astonishing again.
Yoru just walked slowly to him, watching the white bone shield disappear, standing face to face with the Chief of Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Police Department, saying with a smile in his tone.
"What do you think exactly happened just now?"
"This..."
Yagami Soichiro's lips trembled, his expression very complicated.
His rationality...
No, he had no rationality now.
What happened just now couldn't be an illusion.
Are there really evil spirits in this world?
Seeing Yagami Soichiro with an indescribable expression not answering his question, Yoru turned to look at Kawasaki Saki and Marin aside.
"What about you two?"
He and Rio both disguised their voices, so Kawasaki Saki and Marin naturally couldn't recognize them.
Only this frivolous tone with a smile made the two girls feel inexplicably familiar.
"We... we, this..."
Kawasaki Saki protected her sister behind her, asking tentatively carefully.
"Can you let us go?"
Kawasaki Saki was scared.
Not just her, Marin was also scared.
After seeing the scene just now, normal people couldn't accept it for a while.
"Sure."
Unexpectedly for Kawasaki Saki and Marin, the mysterious person in front wearing a black mask and looking like a villain nodded directly, even waving to them.
"Bye-bye."
Kawasaki Saki froze for a moment. Although not knowing why, she obviously didn't plan to stay in this dangerous place with her sister.
Just as she wanted to hold her sister's hand and leave with Marin, Keika ran out from behind her.
Immediately after, under the public gaze, she made an unexpected move.
Smack.
Keika hugged Yoru's thigh directly, looking up with her small head, looking reluctant to part.
"Kamen Rider, when can we meet again next time?"
Yoru rubbed Keika's small head and smiled.
"Considering your personal safety, better not meet again."
"Ugh..."
Seeing Keika still refusing to leave, Kawasaki Saki hurried forward, grabbed her sister's hand, and left with Marin.
After they all left, Yagami Soichiro looked at Yoru with a complicated expression, murmuring.
"You don't plan to... silence these witnesses?"
Yoru said as if very shocked.
"Chief Yagami, what are you saying? Your thinking is too twisted. Fortunately, you joined the Police Department; otherwise, you would be no good to society at all."
Yagami Soichiro: "...."
Good grief.
Did you say it in reverse?
Making me look like a criminal.
On the other side, Rio was controlling Hone-Onna to clean up the battlefield.
"Ugh... so disgusting."
Hone-Onna opened her lips slightly, swallowing the residual corpse of the Worm Evil Spirit turned into black gas into her abdomen, looking extremely disgusted.
Rio said grumpily.
"Alright, having food is good enough. After all, it was a very powerful evil spirit; can't waste it."
"Hehe."
Hone-Onna always had a character of either not speaking or speaking frankly and astonishingly.
Facing Rio's sentence, she just returned a sneer.
"You eat good stuff at night, leaving me here to eat such disgusting things. You are really something, Quantum-sama?"
Listening to Hone-Onna's sarcastic tone, Rio frowned.
"What eating good stuff? What are you talking about? I can't devour evil spirits."
"Hehe."
Hone-Onna sneered twice again, saying meaningfully.
"You can't eat evil spirits, but you can eat something else. So envious; I put in effort during battle, but enjoyment is not my turn. Truly exploitation."
Rio finally understood what Hone-Onna meant by eating something else. Her pretty face flushed red with shame, biting her silver teeth tightly.
"You guy... no talking nonsense!"
Stomping her foot in anger, Rio glanced at the white bone body under Hone-Onna's kimono and said plainly.
"Besides, you don't have that function either."
"No body, isn't the mouth still..."
"Not allowed to say anymore!"
....
At this time, Yoru was sitting on the train track, next to Yagami Soichiro, Chief of Criminal Investigation Bureau of Kyoto Police Department.
He put his arm around the opponent's shoulder, speaking intimately.
"I say, Old Night (Lao Ye)."
Yagami Soichiro was full of speechlessness.
"My surname is Yagami (Night God)."
"Oh, I say, Old God (Lao Shen)."
Yagami Soichiro: "...."
"You can just call me Soichiro."
"Waiting for your words."
Yoru wasn't polite at all, calling him by name directly.
"Soichiro, after today's events, you should also know that evil spirits exist in this world."
Yagami Soichiro looked complicated, finally only able to sigh helplessly.
"Mmhmm... I have seen it."
He couldn't deny what happened just now.
Even saying it was his hallucination...
But those dead rescue personnel, his sacrificed Police Department subordinates, were these human lives all fake?
There were indeed monsters in this world unknown to ordinary people but truly existing.
"So, what do you plan to do?"
Hearing Yoru's question, Yagami Soichiro replied without hesitation.
"What else can I do? Such dangerous things must be reported to the higher-ups immediately, taking corresponding measures..."
"No."
Just as Yagami Soichiro was halfway through speaking, Rio suddenly walked over and interrupted his words.
Immediately after, Rio looked at Yoru and spoke softly.
"I roughly know the true face of this evil spirit."
Yoru nodded slightly, praising with a smile.
"Not bad, as expected of you."
Hearing this praise, Rio wasn't happy; instead, she sighed slightly, her tone full of helplessness.
"You discovered it long ago, right?"
"Mmhmm, pretty much."
"Since when?"
"Let me think... probably the first time entering the Otherworld; I felt it was possible then."
"Then you didn't say for so long?"
Listening to Rio's complaining words, Yoru just replied nonchalantly.
"Even if I said it, it's meaningless. Besides, isn't this tempering you?"
"Tch, you were just being lazy, right?"
As Rio's sentence fell, Yagami Soichiro suddenly felt his vision blur.
Immediately after, he found himself sitting on the train seat.
"This...?"
Looking at the puzzled Yagami Soichiro, Yoru just smiled and said.
"Soichiro, here is the real world."
Yagami Soichiro was even more puzzled upon hearing this.
"Then the place just now..."
Yoru looked at Rio: "You explain."
"Okay."
Rio didn't ask much, telling Yagami Soichiro everything about the Otherworld and "Doors."
Although she didn't trust the Chief of Criminal Investigation Bureau of Kyoto Police Department in front of her.
But since Yoru said so, she just obeyed.
"Th... This..."
After listening to Rio's words, Yagami Soichiro felt bad all over, looking skeptical.
"You... aren't joking with me, right?"
Yoru shrugged and asked back.
"What do you think?"
Yagami Soichiro pondered for a few seconds before speaking thoughtfully.
"Saying so... your several actions leaving no traces, appearing and disappearing unpredictably like teleportation, can be explained."
"However..."
Yagami Soichiro changed the subject, looking solemn.
"Telling me these things, aren't you afraid I'll arrest you?"
Hearing this, Yoru almost burst into laughter, suppressing his smile and waving his hand.
"Soichiro, you still don't understand."
"Don't understand what?"
Yoru patted Yagami Soichiro's shoulder, smiling in his voice, but the words spoken made the opponent shudder.
"If one day your Police Department really traces my true identity..."
"That won't be my desperate situation."
"But the death date of all members of your Police Department."
Yagami Soichiro's expression froze.
He could see the opponent's eyes were very serious, not joking.
With "Mask's" ability...
This wasn't an empty threat.
The opponent really had the ability to do this.
"Look how nervous you are."
Yoru suddenly showed a few smiles in his eyes again, patting Yagami Soichiro's shoulder.
"Joking with you; I don't have much interest in killing people."
Yagami Soichiro breathed a sigh of relief.
He felt the white shirt under his suit jacket was soaked with sweat.
Yagami Soichiro composed himself, speaking solemnly and seriously.
"Then... why tell me these things?"
"This... involves the true composition of the Otherworld told to you just now."
Yoru asked as if casually.
"Soichiro, what do you think that thing just now exactly was?"
Yagami Soichiro frowned, puzzled.
"That thing... wasn't it the evil spirit you mentioned?"
Rio sitting opposite shook her head and spoke slowly.
"It is an evil spirit, but not just an evil spirit. If I have to use a word to describe it..."
Speaking of this, Rio looked at Yoru, speaking in unison.
"Train."
Yagami Soichiro froze upon hearing this.
"Train? That thing is a train?"
Rio explained calmly.
"Rather than saying it is a train, it is better to say it is an evil spirit combined from people's many negative impressions of trains, such as depression, crowding, dead silence, etc."
Yagami Soichiro was confused listening.
"No, just negative impressions can form such a monster? This doesn't conform to science..."
Rio interrupted Yagami Soichiro's words.
"Science is just a temporary summary of existing laws by humans. Thinking current science can explain everything is a superstition itself."
Through this battle, the power improvement Rio gained was only secondary.
The most important gain was that she finally discovered the essence of the Otherworld.
That place where evil spirits wandered everywhere, thick black mist permeated, and a red moon hung in the sky wasn't the same as Kyoto city looked.
There was a world constructed by people's thoughts originally.
Just except for buildings, everything else, whether evil spirits or ghosts, was composed of negative thoughts.
Precisely because of this.
After buildings in the Otherworld were destroyed or objects moved, when entering next time, they would turn back to the appearance completely indistinguishable from the real world.
Because the Otherworld itself was formed based on human "cognition" of Kyoto city.
"Saying so..."
Yagami Soichiro looked thoughtful, speaking after pondering.
"If a disaster causing panic among the public occurs in the real world, the negative emotions aroused will also make that so-called Otherworld more dangerous?"
Yoru nodded and smiled.
"Your understanding is high, Soichiro. Not causing panic among the public and increasing the difficulty of our exorcism is one aspect."
"On the other hand..."
Yoru spoke slowly.
"The corpses of your subordinates and rescue personnel are left in the Otherworld on the other side. Reporting this matter to the higher-ups without any evidence, you should know what consequences it will lead to."
Yagami Soichiro was speechless.
Leaving aside whether the two high school-aged girls just now were willing to be his witnesses.
Only witness testimony, without any other evidence, reporting to the higher-ups that he met a terrifying evil spirit the size of a train in the underground passage?
Yagami Soichiro knew without thinking.
With better luck, paid suspension, go home to rest.
With worse luck, directly sent to a mental hospital.
Yagami Soichiro looked bitter, looking at Yoru with complicated eyes.
"Why tell me this?"
Yoru always focused on sincerity.
"I need someone with authority and intelligence channels within the Police Department whom I can trust."
Yagami Soichiro's lips trembled, murmuring.
"Trustworthy... me?"
"Of course."
Yoru patted Yagami Soichiro's shoulder, a smile pattern appearing on the black mask.
"You and I are..."
"Accomplices who stole Onimaru Kunitsuna together."
....
When Yagami Soichiro left the underground passage and returned to the platform, reporters holding long guns and short cannons (cameras and microphones) surrounded him immediately.
"Chief Yagami, what exactly happened this time?"
"Chief Yagami, have you found the cause of the sudden train failure?"
"Chief Yagami, passengers rescued said they saw the mysterious person wearing a black mask at the scene and were threatened by him with a gun. Is this true?"
...
Facing the reporters' questioning, Yagami Soichiro was silent for more than ten seconds. Only after the whole venue quieted down did he speak solemnly and seriously.
"Regarding the cause of the train failure, I am not a professional and have no right to speak."
"But regarding the so-called mysterious person wearing a black mask, which is the urban legend 'Mask' circulating on the internet recently, I can tell everyone responsibly."
Speaking of this, Yagami Soichiro scanned everyone with burning eyes.
"Completely nonsense."
"Those rescued passengers' testimonies..."
Yagami Soichiro waved his big hand, speaking calmly.
"That was just an illusion caused by the lack of light in the underground passage and nervous emotions. Our Police Department members didn't find any traces of 'Mask' at the scene."
"This is just boring spreading of falsehoods."
"Such a person doesn't exist in Kyoto city at all."
....
On the other side, walking on the street with Yoru, Rio, who changed into her usual clothes and put on glasses again, couldn't help asking curiously.
"Can Chief Yagami really control the situation this time?"
Yoru nodded and smiled.
"With his ability, there should be no problem."
"But..."
Rio looked hesitant, pushing her glasses.
"Those rescue personnel and people from the Police Department, although leaving no traces, disappeared suddenly after all. How to explain this?"
"Police Department higher-ups will find a way."
"Mmhmm, that's good."
From a certain perspective, Yoru believed his goal was consistent with the Police Department until now.
Did the Police Department exist to maintain justice?
No, that was Light Yagami's goal.
What the Police Department maintained wasn't justice, but order that allowed society to operate stably.
Except for Yagami Soichiro present at the time, in the eyes of others, those rescue personnel and Police Department members just disappeared suddenly without leaving any traces.
Police Department higher-ups would certainly investigate this, but Yoru and Rio knew clearly that the Police Department would find nothing.
After all, after that Worm Evil Spirit was eliminated and the originally merged area separated, all traces of battle, including the corpses of the dead, were left in the Otherworld on the other side.
This was equivalent to nothing happening in the real world at all.
"Almost 10 o'clock..."
Rio glanced at the phone screen, blushing slightly, muttering softly.
"I am a bit tired today; need to replenish energy."
Yoru's answer was simple and unadorned.
"Sure, fill you up right away."