The home of the Boy named Da Yong was indeed, as he said, a place where the poor lived.
The house was dilapidated, the wall plaster peeling badly, and the only window was right next to a trash station.
When the two men walked over, it felt as if they were entering a massive, deserted landfill.
Flies buzzed around, breaking through the defense of their hands and boldly crashing into the men. The place reeked, a mixture of various rotting smells.
Perhaps there were even carcasses of cats and dogs hidden under the mountain of trash.
"Be careful," Nagayama Keiichiro warned his deputy. "There's hardly anyone around here. I suspect that Chaos 'Contactee' specifically chose this place for their promotion, but unexpectedly lost control."
"A 'Contactee'? What if it's a ranked 'Origin Point' or 'Super-Sequence'?" Yoshino Kenichi asked.
"If it were an 'Origin Point' level Ritualist losing control during a promotion to 'Super-Sequence'—the Chaos aura emitted by an Out-of-Control One of that level wouldn't be this faint."
After judging the situation, the Captain believed the fellow in this wooden house hadn't reached a rank yet and was most likely just a 'Contactee'.
Nagayama Keiichiro thought for a moment, then cautioned his deputy again: "Stay focused."
Yoshino Kenichi nodded. The two men approached the house cautiously. He suddenly pulled the still-happy Boy behind him and made a'shh' gesture.
There was no movement from the door; the entire house stood there as silent as if it were dead.
It was so quiet that only the breathing of the three people could be heard.
Nagayama Keiichiro gave Yoshino Kenichi a look. The latter understood and spoke loudly: "Hello, excuse me. Is this Da Yong's house?"
"The Child got lost, and we've brought him back. Is anyone home?"
"Hello?"
Creak—
The thin wooden door was pushed open.
An old woman, at least seventy years old, poked her head out with a hunched back.
Her face was covered in deep ravines and wrinkles that reached the corners of her mouth. Her hair was completely white, and her eyes seemed like a cross between a hawk's and a frog's: sharp and protruding.
They were also covered in bloodshot veins that seemed to crawl and move rapidly.
Even in this serious moment, Yoshino Kenichi didn't forget to complain in his mind: With looks like that, even a normal person would think something's wrong. Your eyes are about to fall out, old lady.
"Who is it?"
The old woman spoke, and Nagayama Keiichiro repeated what Yoshino Kenichi had just said with concise words.
"Oh... Da Yong is back. I'm old and my memory isn't what it used to be. Sometimes I forget him outside. I'm so terrible."
While the old woman was speaking, Yoshino Kenichi made a mistake—
A fatal mistake.
He failed to keep a grip on Da Yong, or rather, he hadn't expected a little Boy to have so much strength.
The little Boy broke free from his arm, sprinted toward his grandmother, and threw himself into the old woman's arms.
"Grandma! They brought me back! But those two uncles look so serious. Are they bad people?"
The Child asked innocently, his arms around his grandmother's waist and his head tilted up.
"Of course not! Hahaha! Da Yong, it's good you're back, good you're back. Dear guests?"
The old woman's eyeballs protruded even further. She craned her head and turned toward them: "Would you like to come in and sit for a while? Though the place is a bit small."
As she spoke, the old woman's withered fingers intentionally traced the air around the little Boy's neck.
The Boy in front of her smiled radiantly, completely oblivious.
Nagayama Keiichiro glared sternly at Yoshino Kenichi.
This momentary error by his deputy meant their entire plan had to change.
—They weren't supposed to enter the house; they were meant to stall outside and wait for backup.
But now, to ensure the Boy's safety, the two of them had to find a way to go inside.
"I'll go in alone."
Yoshino Kenichi also seemed to realize that his mistake had put them both in danger. He spoke up, offering to go in by himself.
Nagayama Keiichiro shook his head almost imperceptibly.
How could that be allowed?
Sure enough, the old woman laughed shrilly, like nails scratching a blackboard, her two eyeballs rotating up and down out of sync.
"How could that be? It would be far too rude to leave one guest outside."
Nagayama Keiichiro nodded: "Then we shall trouble you."
With that, he gave his deputy a look, and the two of them approached the old woman one after the other in a specific stance.
"Please, come in."
After the old woman spoke, she pulled the Boy and quickly vanished inside the door.
The two men glanced at each other, both reaching for their waists and gripping the handles of their weapons, slowly approaching the wooden door step by step.
Then, they gently... pushed it open.
The musty smell of the house hit them, and visible dust danced wildly in the air.
The old woman was sitting inside with the Boy, directly facing the door.
"Please, come and sit."
Nagayama Keiichiro nodded.
"This Child is very smart. It's a pity I don't have the means to send him to school. His parents are very busy and rarely come back."
Once the old woman started talking, she couldn't stop, recounting various trivial matters. Fortunately, she had the best audience.
The two men in front of her were only too happy to let her keep talking until the end of time, or at least until backup arrived.
"Oh dear, I've been talking for so long I forgot to pour tea. Really..."
The old woman stood up shakily, gave them an apologetic smile, and turned toward the kitchen.
Nagayama Keiichiro also stood up, signaling Yoshino Kenichi to keep the Boy calm, and then walked toward the other side. He carefully observed the details of the house, trying to find information about this Out-of-Control One.
The methods to counter many Ritualist abilities are hidden in the details.
The trouble was that whether it was Chaos or order, 'Ritualists' always had a 'Price' to limit the use of their abilities.
But an Out-of-Control One did not.
Beyond the living room was a narrow corridor. There were no lights, and it was terrifyingly dark.
Nagayama Keiichiro squinted, his face close to the wall.
He discovered that many notes were stuck to the corridor wall. Some of the paper was mottled and yellowed, looking many years old.
These papers recorded daily chores. It seemed that as the old woman's memory worsened, she needed to write down what happened each day to prevent herself from forgetting.
Nagayama Keiichiro skipped the trivialities, found more important sections, and began to read them word for word in his head.
「Today Tomoko brought back a Child, saying he's hers. I don't even want her, yet she throws a Child at me? When did this happen? This Child looks five or six years old already. Am I supposed to raise him? Where would I get the money! Both husband and wife are bastards!」
"Is his name Da Yong? How brave. Aren't you afraid I'll throw this Child away?"
"I see. By using my hands to discard him, this couple can happily rid themselves of the burden while standing on the side of justice to condemn me."
"Bastards, bastards, bastards! What do you mean 'if you can't afford to raise him, just throw him away'? Why don't you two do it yourselves?"
"This little fellow is quite clever; he could still find his way back even after being dumped so far away. I have to be careful next time; it'll be troublesome if the police are called too many times."
The remaining half of the wall was filled with the old woman's monologues, recounting how she abused this Child she couldn't get rid of.
How his parents indifferently ignored him, and ignored her as well.
"Went to the hospital today and was diagnosed with cancer. What? Am I going to die? My daughter won't even come to see me."
The writing stopped here, with a black ink blot bleeding through the paper and sinking deep into the wall.
From this point on, no more words were recorded on the wall.
Nagayama Keiichiro followed the handwriting upward in disbelief, carefully checking the time this line was written.
One year ago.
He rubbed the shooting callus on his finger, and suddenly his eyes widened in horror!
No, it's not an Out-of-Control person!
Oh no!
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