Chapter 26: An Ending That Cannot Be Changed; Yun Zhou: This place is full of Du…

“…What do you mean by that?”

Liu Ming narrowed his eyes. He suddenly had a very strong, ominous premonition.

“Exactly what I said, Young Master Liu. I’m very grateful to you for helping me clear away that invisible ‘pressure,’ but I have my own things to do, just as you have yours.”

Izayoi Ame sighed. He truly lived up to his title as the Third District Chief; he had quickly accepted his previous Anomaly and even guessed that the abnormality was caused by some invisible “Anomaly”—the influence of the Plot Strings.

Through Liu Ming’s actions just now, at the very moment the Plot Strings on his body snapped, he had even seen fragments that he shouldn’t have been able to see—his own future.

But even so, he still did not change his next plan.

“You’re still going to live or die with Kanagawa?”

Liu Ming stopped hiding it. Talking to smart people was a comfortable experience; fortunately, smart people made up the vast majority in the seven major districts.

Only Yun Zhou, Du Shui, and Ying Huo—those three idiots—were the minority.

Liu Ming thought, rather inappropriately.

“I am the District Chief.”

Izayoi Ame looked at the youth before him. The boy was only eighteen or nineteen, the youthfulness hadn’t yet faded from his face, but his methods were already sophisticated enough to send a chill down one’s spine.

The person in front of him was the heir to the Liu Family. Perhaps he would set a record, overturning Ame’s own record as the youngest District Chief. But at least for now…

Izayoi Ame patted Liu Ming’s shoulder. His hand paused in the air for a split second before resting on Liu Ming’s head.

The movement was very gentle, a soft… ruffle of the hair.

Liu Ming’s pupils constricted, turning almost into reptilian slits. His eyes widened as he stared at Izayoi Ame, unable to figure out what the man was trying to express.

“Just as you have the Liu Family behind you, I have the Izayoi Family behind mine. Although there isn’t a single good person in the Elder Council, the Izayoi Family and the Third District are my responsibility, just as the Liu Family and the First District will become yours in the future…”

Izayoi Ame spoke with the sincerity of someone who had walked the path before. He spoke slowly and seriously, as if the value of those words was worth the precious time he was consuming.

“Junior, keep moving forward. Good luck.”

Izayoi Ame bowed slightly and turned to leave. As he walked past Liu Ming, the sea breeze caught the hem of his Haori. The silver-threaded embroidery of Kanagawa on the fabric reflected the scattered, drizzling light in the dim night.

It looked like rain.

He walked toward the Torii that had, at some point, turned deep blue again—the entrance to the Izayoi Family’s special space. It was a space carved out by Umizuki no Mikoto, a structural Anomaly. As long as one was of the Izayoi bloodline, they could use their blood to awaken the Blue Torii and travel between different locations through these special gates.

Liu Ming didn’t know where he was going, but it certainly wasn’t anywhere good.

He knew this because the bullet chat had exploded, the colorful text blurring his vision until his eyes ached.

【Ahhh, don’t go! Seriously, can’t Young Master Liu stop him?!】

【Why does District Chief Ame make this same decision in every cycle?! Why does he have to do this?! Is he crazy?!】

【Great, the District Chief is heading off to die. Haha, this cycle is truly doomed. After all, only after the District Chief dies does the real culprit show up to snatch the prize—】

【The Third District is always like this. Sigh, the District Chief is too stubborn. He never retreats from what he stands for, and because of that, he always dies… it could even be called a meaningless death.】

【Yun Zhou, come save him! Protagonist aura, do something! To be honest, this cycle finally had some major changes, I really don’t want it to end like this!】

…

Value…

That word caught Liu Ming’s attention.

Just before Izayoi Ame entered the Blue Torii, Liu Ming spoke up: “…The Tree Tower Academy’s freshman orientation is coming up soon.”

Liu Ming spoke in a flat tone. His words were simple, devoid of intense emotion or explanations of profit; he was merely stating a fact.

Izayoi Ame stopped in his tracks. He turned around, looking at Liu Ming in surprise, as if he hadn’t expected Liu Ming to say such a thing.

Liu Ming closed his eyes, feeling as though what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over—or perhaps he was just hiding his own awkwardness. Nevertheless, he continued, the underlying worry in his voice becoming increasingly obvious: “I hope you don’t end up as a corpse that the freshmen never get to meet.”

Liu Ming didn’t look at Izayoi Ame as he said this. Instead, he turned his head away, looking like a cat that was hesitant to let its owner leave but couldn’t bring itself to drop its pride.

Izayoi Ame suddenly burst out laughing, but his response was not reassuring at all: “Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Liu Ming shot him a look as if he were a lunatic. How could he still laugh? Why hadn’t he noticed before that this District Chief also possessed the “flair” of the protagonist’s party?

A bunch of eccentric flairs!

“No, you won’t succeed, Senior.”

But soon, Liu Ming sighed, regaining his composure.

The silver-blue haired youth winked at Izayoi Ame, and then…

He turned and walked away.

The positions of the two had swapped. Liu Ming, who had been watching Izayoi Ame enter the Torii, was now the one leaving. Meanwhile, Izayoi Ame, who had been walking resolutely toward the gate, was the one standing dazed in the night wind, staring blankly at Liu Ming’s retreating back.

The youth waved a hand as he walked deep into the Guardian Forest, leaving behind only a faint sentence carried by the night breeze.

“Because Yun Zhou is here.”

Izayoi Ame stood before the Torii. One foot had already stepped into the space within, but his resolute departure had halted.

He watched Liu Ming’s retreating figure and suddenly laughed helplessly.

“What’s all this then… and here I heard the rumors that you two were on terrible terms, turning Tree Tower Academy upside down…”

He turned around, his Haori cutting a resolute arc through the air, though his voice remained gentle.

“Aren’t we… getting along quite well?”

**

On the other side of Kanagawa, scattered across the city, lay the laboratory clusters.

The utility of the Liu Family crest provided by Liu Ming exceeded Yun Zhou’s wildest imagination. Initially, at each laboratory site, Yun Zhou would stumble through a few sentences of explanation with Ying Huo’s help. However, they soon discovered that explanations were entirely unnecessary. All they had to do was present the crest, and someone within the chaotic crowds—disrupted by the appearance of the Kraken—would loudly suggest, “We should destroy the lab and evacuate immediately!”

Everyone there was just an employee. Since someone had made the suggestion, no one was inclined to object. As for the Elder Council settling scores later… they would simply say it was all the idea of their partner, Young Master Liu.

With a scapegoat provided, the researchers’ speed in destroying the laboratories increased significantly—after all, they were desperate to flee for their lives.

Yun Zhou watched as the final laboratory marked on Liu Ming’s map was consumed by flames. He stood dazed for a moment, looking at Ying Huo and murmuring, “Isn’t this a bit too smooth? I thought there’d be some big, dramatic battle.”

Ying Huo arched an eyebrow. “They are the Liu Family, after all. Didn’t you notice? In every lab, the first person to jump out and suggest burning the place down after seeing the crest was a plant—one of the Liu Family’s hidden moles embedded in the Third District.”

Deep within his green eyes, a flash of bright yellow flame flickered.

The Liu Family was indeed that kind of entity. This terrifying level of control over every one of the seven districts… it was truly unsettling.

Memories of fire seemed to burn anew. The mountain fire that had swept through the entire 6th District felt as if it were being etched into his soul once more. Ying Huo took a deep breath, regulating his breathing as he tried to suppress the uncontrollable hatred rising in his heart.

He didn’t need to struggle for long, as Yun Zhou pulled him out of his memories with a single word: “…Huh?”

Ying Huo: …Did you seriously not notice a single thing?

Yun Zhou gave a sheepish laugh and tried to change the subject. “So, next we—”

“No.”

Du Shui, who had been silent ever since the little octopus transformed into the massive shadow of the Anomaly King on the horizon, suddenly spoke. “Something is wrong.”

Ying Huo immediately looked at the only Third District native among them. “Is it the information Liu Ming gave us? What’s the problem?”

His brow furrowed, already envisioning a future where Liu Ming had led them into a death trap.

“You’ve got it wrong… you’ve all got it wrong…”

Du Shui’s voice no longer held the polite, dignified tone of a shrine maiden. She sounded like a wanderer who couldn’t find her home on the wasteland, covering her eyes and murmuring incessantly.

“It’s wrong… the lab where Y008’s remains were kept wasn’t the one the Anomaly Core escaped from…”

Du Shui spoke continuously, her entire being seeming as if it were no longer present, her voice ethereal and drifting.

“Du Shui—what’s wrong?”

Yun Zhou hurriedly leaned in, wanting to check on her. Ying Huo also stepped forward, bright yellow flames flickering at his fingertips, ready to help Du Shui forcibly suppress whatever was happening at a moment’s notice.

But it was too late.

Du Shui snapped her head up. Through the gaps of the fingers she used to loosely cover her eyes, one of her blue eyes had been completely overtaken by a spreading, blood-red pupil. It had become a non-human, anomalous eye.

“I see it…”

Du Shui whispered. “I see… the past.”

She looked at Ying Huo and Yun Zhou, a glint in her eyes that absolutely did not belong to Du Shui, yet felt strangely harmonious—as if her true nature was inherently this sharp and… mad.

It was the madness of an Anomaly, a non-human desire, a hunger to break and destroy everything.

“I have to go back… back to that place… Sister, Sister is still waiting for me…”

Du Shui’s voice grew firmer, yet also raspier, carrying an uncontrollable edge.

She gave Yun Zhou and Ying Huo a deep, piercing look, then turned and ran in the opposite direction without looking back.

“Hey! Du Shui! Wait! You can’t go running around in that state!”

With the yellow flames still burning in his hand, Ying Huo immediately gave chase, trying to pull the disobedient patient back.

Yun Zhou followed suit. As he looked at the increasingly familiar scenery around them, he suddenly realized something.

Du Shui’s destination seemed to be the Haiyue Shrine.

“I have to go back…!”

Du Shui was incredibly fast. Her physical constitution as a Sentinel allowed her to sprint toward the distant Haiyue Shrine without a moment’s pause.

The city of Kanagawa had begun to explode. Distorted marine Anomalies that had bypassed the offshore defense lines were now making landfall. The gloomy sky began to rain—a black, viscous, and ominous downpour.

Security personnel from the Izayoi Family were organizing order, guiding ordinary citizens to flee through the clusters of burning skyscrapers. They watched as giant squids swam through the air, aided by the ink-colored rain, their tentacles reaching out for those who hadn’t escaped in time.

For instance, a corporate drone carrying a briefcase, still typing away on a laptop.

Fortunately, the squid Anomaly’s tentacle blocked the path of Yun Zhou and Ying Huo.

“Get out of the way!”

Yun Zhou shouted as he ran, extending his Vajra Pestle. The heavy golden weapon smashed the squid’s tentacle to pulp, which was then severed by a dagger from Ying Huo as he followed close behind.

The Izayoi ninjas quickly pulled the office worker to safety. They looked up, hoping to see who had intercepted the squid, but saw only two shadows flashing past at high speed.

“Whoa—”

The Izayoi ninja and the office worker exchanged a look, both filled with awe. “Are those students from Tree Tower Academy? As expected of the world’s number one Corrector high school, led personally by Chairperson Black Swan—”

Then, they heard Ying Huo’s furious roar from the distance: “Yun Zhou! You’re going the wrong way! Du Shui went that way!”

Yun Zhou looked lost. “Huh? Are you serious?”

The ninja and the office worker exchanged another look, both forgetting to run to safety. “…Huh? Are you serious?”

Fortunately, Du Shui’s path was blocked by a massive swimming crab Anomaly that had crawled up from the sea. Ying Huo grabbed Yun Zhou and hurriedly chased after her, finally catching sight of her back.

“Du Shui! It’s dangerous!”

Ying Huo saw Du Shui standing before the giant crab in that uncontrolled state. He was about to shout another warning when he saw her remain perfectly still, drawing a slender tachi from her umbrella.

And then…

Red and blue spiritual power flashed by. Those two beautiful jellyfish flickered in the air, overlapping. Du Shui’s blood-red eye stared fixedly at the crab before her, and then…

She swung the blade.

The flash of the sword was like a thin thread that pierced straight through the massive swimming crab blocking her way. The crab’s body stiffened abruptly. A second later, it split into two halves, collapsing sideways to clear a path for Du Shui.

Crab meat and black seawater splashed everywhere, but Du Shui didn’t even spare it a glance. She looked up, stepped onto the shell of the crab to gain momentum, and opened her washi paper umbrella¹.

The blue canopy unfurled in the air, the thrusters around its rim flickering slightly. She leaped from the shell of the giant crab and used the buoyancy to fly into the Guardian Forest outside the Haiyue Shrine.

Yun Zhou and Ying Huo didn’t have time for hesitation. Both had means of flight. The former summoned a golden gale, while the latter, faced with such a dire situation, hesitated for a moment and then gritted his teeth, finally summoning his own Spiritual Body. It was an exquisitely beautiful gyrfalcon, its feathers shimmering with an emerald luster amidst the gunfire and explosions.

They followed closely behind Du Shui and charged into the Guardian Forest. Amidst Du Shui’s relentless sprint, they saw a glimmer of light.

A blue light.

Du Shui stopped in her tracks. She looked at the blood-red Torii before her, used her tachi to cut a small wound into her palm, and splashed her blood onto it.

In an instant, the Torii that had been blood-red transformed into an eerie, mysterious blue.

“Blue?! What’s going on?!”

Yun Zhou stared blankly at that shade of blue. Why was there an Izayoi Family Blue Torii Anomaly here at the Haiyue Shrine?

When they had come here last time, this Torii Anomaly had clearly been a normal blood-red color.

And if he remembered correctly, only the blood of the Izayoi Family could open a Blue Torii like this!

The things Yun Zhou could think of, Ying Huo naturally thought of as well. He thought further and deeper than Yun Zhou, quickly realizing the answer. Du Shui claimed to be a shrine maiden from the Third District. Could she be the shrine maiden of the Haiyue Shrine?!

As a shrine dedicated to Umizuki no Mikoto, the Haiyue Shrine had never accepted anyone outside the Izayoi Family as a shrine maiden. Combined with the fact that Du Shui’s blood could open those Blue Torii, Ying Huo suddenly realized a terrifying truth: Du Shui was a member of the Izayoi Family?!

But how was that possible? She and Izayoi Ame clearly didn’t know each other at all.

There was no time for deep thought. The moment the Blue Torii finished its transformation, Du Shui charged inside. The two men had no time to think and could only follow her closely.

Space flowed around them like ripples on water. After the cool sensation of the ocean, the Blue Torii transported them to another special space that did not belong to the Haiyue Shrine at all.

It was still a laboratory, extremely similar to the one housing the remains of Y008, but the layout and furnishings were clearly different.

This laboratory… was older and more dilapidated. From its appearance, one could tell it had once been a simple, ancient shrine. The jellyfish wind chimes under the eaves tinkled softly in the faint breeze.

They were surrounded by black mountains, the texture identical to the seaside cliff. Clearly, this was the center of the mountain connected by the Blue Torii.

“I see… so this is the true end of the passage on that cliff… But if that’s the case, did the District Chief and the Second Elder really not find it, or did they intentionally give us the wrong judgment?”

Ying Huo understood instantly. This laboratory was likely the place where the Anomaly Core—the Dumbo Octopus—was kept. No matter how insane the Great Elder was, he couldn’t possibly be confident enough to put the Anomaly Core and the Anomaly remains together, which would increase the chance of Y008’s uncontrolled awakening. As expected, there was another place to house the Anomaly Core.

But… why would Izayoi Ame and the Second Elder behind him tell them the wrong location?

Ying Huo suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

By doing this… was Izayoi Ame truly misled by the Great Elder, or did he intentionally want to lead the three of them to that wrong place?

Ying Huo shivered. Everything in the Third District was filled with eeriness. The schemes and the labyrinth laid out by those manipulative people made him feel frustrated and helpless.

But there was nothing they could do now. The priority was to find Du Shui as quickly as possible and at least ensure her safety.

Ying Huo looked up. Yun Zhou was chasing deep into the laboratory that had been converted from a shrine. Du Shui’s figure had disappeared at some point. He followed, only to see Yun Zhou frozen in place in the main hall of the shrine.

“Du Shui is gone.”

Yun Zhou’s expression was incredibly serious. He looked around, the ears on his head twitching slightly. He seemed to sense something in the air, his brow furrowed. “This place… it’s full of those invisible things… and the sound of crying.”

Ying Huo immediately thought of things from certain Third District horror movies. In those movies, shrines were never good places. He shivered and knocked Yun Zhou on the head. “Can you stop trying to scare people?!”

Yun Zhou shook his head. “I’m not trying to scare you. I can really sense it. Can’t you hear it?”

He looked at Ying Huo earnestly, his expression lost yet sincere.

Ying Huo felt even more goosebumps break out over his body.

“Why are you getting more worked up! Fine, fine. Captain, can you sense Du Shui?”

Ying Huo sighed, deciding not to argue over these details with his captain, and began to ask about the main business.

Yun Zhou shook his head and said something even more terrifying with a straight face. “I can’t… because besides those voices, this entire place is Du Shui.”

Ying Huo: …What do you mean they’re all Du Shui?! Why can’t you stop?!

“Why is it you two?”

Just as Ying Huo was on the verge of a breakdown, a voice rang out like heavenly music within this shrine buried deep in the mountainside.

Though the voice carried a note of impatience, Ying Huo turned his head toward the sound as if he had found a savior.

No matter who it was, anyone interrupting Yun Zhou at a time like this was a godsend.

Unfortunately, the moment he turned around, Ying Huo’s perpetually smiling face instantly collapsed.

“Why is it you?!”

Ying Huo pointed in disbelief at the young man standing before him. A beautiful silver-blue snake rested on the boy’s shoulder, flicking its tongue dangerously at him. It was Liu Ming.

Ying Huo’s finger trembled, yet incredibly, he felt a genuine sense of relief the moment he saw Liu Ming.

Even though the other party had “betrayed” them not long ago, in this treacherous Third District, Liu Ming was the only one who could help them untangle the current situation and the conspiracies behind it.

After all, when it came to playing the game of schemes, the Liu Family were the professionals.

“Why shouldn’t it be me? It’s the two of you appearing here that’s strange. I followed a familiar trail of spiritual energy, expecting to find Du Shui here.”

The expression on Liu Ming’s face was one of intense annoyance, enough to make anyone’s blood pressure spike. Fortunately, Ying Huo was no ordinary person. He put up with Yun Zhou on a daily basis; enduring Liu Ming for a little longer during this emergency wasn’t that much harder.

“Young Master Liu.” Ying Huo put back on his gentle, harmless smile. “Everything that happened just now was a misunderstanding. I hope you can forgive us. A moment ago, Du Shui seemed to suffer some kind of sudden shock. Her eyes…”

Ying Huo didn’t finish the sentence, but Liu Ming already understood his unspoken words: that thing inside Du Shui’s Mental Landscape had appeared again.

Ying Huo continued his explanation, “Yun Zhou and I followed Du Shui all the way here, only to discover a new laboratory. I wonder if Young Master Liu has any clues on your end that you could share.”

Ying Huo spoke very politely, accounting for everything that had just occurred.

Liu Ming sighed. The situation was urgent. Despite his irritation, he no longer had the desire to press the issue of Ying Huo holding a dagger to his throat earlier.

That ignorant fool Izayoi Ame had already rushed to the front lines, so he might as well see this good deed through to the end.

“Ying Huo, even Yun Zhou noticed it. Have you really not seen it yet?”

Liu Ming reached out. Countless silver-blue threads flowed through the air following his movements. Under the guidance of a spiritual-type Guide, traces of spiritual energy that were hidden and unobservable to a Sentinel began to manifest one by one.

They were… spiritual-body-like entities that bore an uncanny resemblance to Dumbo Octopuses.

Ying Huo’s voice trembled slightly. “So the judgment regarding the laboratory where the Anomaly Core is located was wrong… Then what about District Chief Izayoi Ame?”

“He truly knows nothing. Or rather, he’s been forced to know nothing.”

Liu Ming sighed. He had a rough idea of what Izayoi Ame was thinking, and he finally understood how these people in previous loops – when he wasn’t here – had still ended up being wiped out even after Izayoi Ame traded his life for Y008.

Every jellyfish-like spirit was a new Y008. As long as Du Shui came here and merged with any Anomaly Core to provide the spiritual environment for the King of Anomalies to awaken, a pseudo-Y008 would be reborn.

Because Izayoi Ame knew nothing.

He thought that by killing Y008, everyone else would be safe. He never imagined that under the calculations of the true mastermind, even if Izayoi Ame sacrificed himself to kill Y008, no one would escape death.

As long as Du Shui was there, and as long as that thing in Du Shui’s Mental Landscape remained, the fate of the Third District would never change.

Translator’s Notes