Why can't humans do it too?

“…The kind of people they are?” Suddenly turning his head, Su Er caught the blind spot in Xin Ke’s words.

"...It's people like them," Xin Ke said nonchalantly, realizing what she had said, her body stiffening slightly before she confirmed it.

"Okay," Suer nodded, acting as if nothing had happened. "Let's go, there's no point in staying here anymore."

It seems... someone hasn't forgotten either.

------------

Not afraid of corpses and possessing an astonishing resistance to death, but even so, Suer felt a little nauseous after watching such a grand spectacle.

He poured himself a cup of tea, but after a few seconds, seeing the rising steam and the aroma of the tea, he poured it out. Su'er then sat in a chair to calm himself down.

Such a massacre might not even qualify for a place in history books, and it's uncertain whether these gods and monsters will even exist tens of thousands of years from now.

"What will happen next?" Suer muttered to himself.

“Although I don’t have the ability to foresee the future, there’s only one thing I’m certain of—the monsters will definitely retaliate,” Xin Ke said softly, floating behind Su Er and massaging his forehead. “After all, the reason they were born doesn’t allow them to swallow their anger and ignore the deaths of so many of their own kind… Even if they don’t have any feelings of kinship, isn’t that interesting? No matter which world you’re in, you can’t escape this vortex: war? death?”

Xin Ke was naturally teasing Su Er about his bizarre experience, where every time things just started to stabilize, he would find that the surrounding environment was changing drastically.

"...You really haven't changed at all?" Although Xin Ke was massaging her, Su Er somehow felt even more headache-inducing.

"Really? I think I've changed a lot," Xin Ke retorted casually, leaning over from behind to give Su Er a light peck on the cheek, "...like this."

whispering sound.

Even if Su Er denies it, he knows that after experiencing so much, he can no longer be called a normal human being. At the very least, an ordinary human being would never be in the mood for flirting after witnessing such a horrific massacre. He was probably infected by Xin Ke, so let's call it the Xin Ke virus for now.

Normally, their reaction at this moment should be the same as the two little ones huddled in the corner on the other side: their faces were pale, their bodies were trembling slightly, and they wished they could bury their heads in their stomachs.

Putting Daigo aside for now, since he's just an ordinary human child, what's with this brat named Shin? His fearful appearance is completely inconsistent with the rumors about the oni race that Sue heard in Izumo Castle recently. He's too weak and doesn't look like a monster at all.

When the first knife fell, Suer immediately pulled Dagu next to him and covered his eyes. The child was very sensible and did not struggle. In the end, even if Suer wanted to let him go, he could not, as he was held tightly.

Daigo couldn't see the massacre, but he could smell the thick, almost lingering scent of blood. For anyone in this era, the smell of being wounded was unforgettable. At this moment, he was so frightened that his face was completely pale, as if the blood flowing beside the execution ground was his own.

The children here don't always enjoy watching executions.

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Second Encounter with Firelight

There was no rush at all. While chatting casually with Xin Ke, Su Er watched as Daigu slowly regained his ability to speak, holding a cup of hot tea.

"Daigo, you haven't forgotten, have you? You still haven't answered my first question." Just like in the previous world, the children in this world had long lost their childlike innocence, and when talking to Daigo, Suer didn't intentionally treat him as a child.

"A question?" Daigo asked doubtfully, but his memory was exceptionally good, and he quickly remembered what Suer was referring to. "Ah! Right! I met Shin when we were working outside the city. I saw that he looked lonely, so I asked him to join me. We're partners now!"

So you've essentially gotten a ghost as a work assistant for free?

Suer immediately thought of this. Even though Xin looked malnourished, he was still a demon. Even if he hadn't completely transformed into a monster like Huozhao, his physical abilities were still amazing, making him a very capable worker.

However, considering that Shin nodded in agreement as Daigo spoke, this could perhaps be described as a mutually beneficial arrangement.

But that's not what Suer wanted to know.

"Where's the Firelight?" Su'er suddenly stopped smiling and looked at the letter seriously.

Compared to the letter he had seen in the underground ghost city, this kid looked very sullen or withdrawn at the moment, completely lacking the cheerful energy he had shown when he greeted Suer and the others without any stage fright and clung to Huozhao.

Suer believed that Huozhao's relationship with this brat was genuine, so what happened? He looked like he had been abandoned.

"Firelight... Uncle Firelight, he..." He hesitated, his words and expression making Su'er believe that the tall oni had been caught and killed by the black Tamamo-no-Mae after fleeing with the remaining members of his clan on the battlefield.

No, what is this feeling?

Suer suddenly turned his head to look at the doorway of his little house.

"Regarding the fire... please let me answer that myself." There were no soundproofing measures in place; if you stood at the door and listened carefully, you could always hear the conversations inside, as well as the sounds outside.

The door opened, and the tall demon bowed respectfully before entering the house. Suer glanced around at the fearful looks on the demon's face and then closed the door again. It seemed that the news had already spread.

Without using spatial expansion magic, the place where Suer settled seemed to become cramped after cramming so many people in. In addition, Huo Zhao, who was even taller than the roof when standing outside, had to hunch over inside.

There was nothing to mind, so Huo Zhao simply sat cross-legged on the ground, just like Xin next to him.

"...Although I don't really want to get involved in your messy affairs, I'll just have to tell you anyway. What's going on here?" After looking Huo Zhao up and down a few times, Su Er's tone was not friendly. In front of Huo Zhao, his eyes kept sliding over Daigo.

Instead of speaking, Huo Zhao prostrated himself on the ground to pay homage to Su Er in a posture that was the opposite of his tall and strong physique. Even though it was a bit cumbersome, he still managed to complete the entire ritual before straightening up again.

"Although I can't provide any evidence, please believe me that I had absolutely no idea you lived here beforehand. Also, my acquaintance with Daigo was definitely not something I arranged on purpose. It was all just a coincidence." As if afraid that Suer wouldn't believe him, Hijiri once again prostrated himself, as if he wouldn't get up if Suer didn't believe him.

This naturally made Suer even more irritable.

"Get up first."

Please—

"I said get up first!!"

“…Yes,” Huozhao said, seeing that Suer was angry. Even though he didn’t quite understand where the anger came from, he still sat up straight and continued, “As you can see, Xin’s horns are so twisted. His strength is also far weaker than that of other demons of the same age. In addition… In short, it is these obvious reasons that make Xin extremely isolated in the entire demon race, even with me by his side.”

The tall oni smiled bitterly, like an old father, but Suer could never forget the scene on the battlefield when Huozhao confronted Tamamo-no-Mae. He smiled bitterly with the same helpless expression, and then stabbed his claws into Tamamo-no-Mae's soft abdomen.

Perhaps because of the large fox's overly friendly reaction, which left a good first impression, Suer found it difficult to face Huozhao without malice—even though Huozhao was the one they met first.

"After being able to freely enter and leave the surface world, Xin was quickly abandoned. Now, having such a playmate is already very gratifying for me," Huo Zhao sighed repeatedly, his expressionless face revealing his thoughts.

He really does resemble an old father, or at least he looks very much like one.

"Then what about the nine-tailed fox? I remember she left with you in the end." Nodding to temporarily put aside the matter of the letter, Su Er turned to ask about the nine-tailed fox, as he hadn't forgotten Xin Ke's suggestion.

"Were you watching it at the time?" Huozhao asked in surprise, looking extremely troubled whenever the fox that turned black was mentioned. "A nine-tailed fox... was it really a nine-tailed fox?"

"If I could turn back time, I would never have agreed to Izumo's proposal, and I would even have helped Tamamo survive the siege of Izumo," she said without hesitation, expressing her regret. Then she realized that words alone could not prove the determination in her words, so she simply turned halfway around and took off her shirt.

Several huge wounds were below his ribs on his back, very obvious claw marks, one wide and two narrow, with deep indentations. Even though they had healed, the lost flesh had not been filled back in. Huozhao's words revealed that he, like Suer, did not believe that the monster behind him that claimed to be Tamamo-no-Mae was Tamamo-no-Mae.

"She was a newly born demon, but in terms of the use of power, she was already on par with me. Just when I thought I had shaken off her pursuit, she ambushed me from behind in the darkness... just like when I ambushed Tamamo," Hizo said self-deprecatingly, not avoiding what she had done. "Although we eventually managed to injure her with the help of everyone, if I had reacted any slower, my internal organs would probably have been ripped out."

"So now the situation is that you can't find her even after she escaped injured?" Su'er asked, ignoring Huo Zhao's injuries.

Chapter Sixty-Eight: Cold and Aloof

“If you want to find her, I am willing to use myself as bait,” Huozhao said frankly, bowing his head. “Perhaps it is because I was the one who ambushed her that she harbors a hatred for me that far exceeds that for ordinary monsters…”

"Isn't this the result of your own actions?" Although Huozhao sounded pitiful, Suer showed no sympathy. He even yawned before continuing, "I understand. I'll come to you if I need anything... So, has the Oni Clan joined Izumo now?"

"That's true, but many clansmen still choose to live alone outside, and with their strength, they generally don't encounter too much danger," Huo Zhao answered affirmatively.

“Aren’t you afraid of ending up like those monsters who were killed? After you’ve done your job, you’ll be dragged to that execution platform…” Su’er was referring to the massacre that had just happened, but Huo Zhao shook his head firmly.

"No way," Huozhao firmly believed in his judgment. "Our Oni clan is far stronger than those guys. Moreover, we who came out of the underground together are more united than ordinary monsters, so such a thing will absolutely not happen to us."

'But wouldn't you be cutting yourselves off from the monsters by doing this?' These words stuck in his throat, but he swallowed them back down after a few seconds.

Why should he do it?

"Go on, go on, I'm a little tired," Suer sighed and began to shoo people away. After losing its initial novelty, the city gradually became murky again, like being at the bottom of a swamp.

"Then we'll take our leave. Please take good care of yourself." After bowing respectfully once more, Huozhao led Xin out through the main gate, bowing low, along with Xin's good friend Daigo.

"Are you that tired?" Xin Ke, who had been hiding since Huo Zhao entered the room, reappeared and massaged Su Er's forehead.

"Ah, more or less," Suer said weakly. "I just really want to go back to civilized society... to take you to the movies or something, it's much more interesting than all this fighting and killing."

"Hehe, then you'd better work hard, okay? After all, with gods and monsters influencing us, it's still unknown whether humanity can walk the path you want to see~", Xin Ke said with a light laugh, without any mockery.

"Ok, I know."

--------------

The impact of that massacre was profound and heavy, and even if it would not be recorded in history countless years later, it was unavoidable for Izumo at this moment—the monsters were fleeing.

From those seven islands, from the entire Izumo Castle, from the forests surrounding Izumo... even monsters would be frightened. Moreover, most monsters don't possess great strength; their sheer size only allows them to bully weak humans. Therefore, fleeing is only natural.

Izumo Castle is much quieter now. To be honest, now that I occasionally go out but can't see any yokai walking around with their heads in their arms, and can't hear those yokai-characteristic hawking cries, Suer is actually getting used to it.

No, saying it was deserted wouldn't be accurate either. The places where the monsters had been were quickly filled by humans, like wood glue filling the cracks in wood. Suer had never known that there were so many humans in Izumo Castle. For the first time in hundreds of years, this city felt like it had been occupied by humans.

Although this feeling was just an illusion, the largest of the seven islands that were tied to the mainland was directly given to the oni to live on. Apart from that, there were still yokai in Izumo Castle. However, those who had not chosen to leave when the storm was about to break were all guys who were extremely confident in their own power—like the flower fairy in the shop next door.

Kazami Yuuka merely raised an eyebrow slightly at the unexpected turn of events in Izumo Castle after her return from the battle, then seemed unconcerned and went about her business as usual, completely unaffected.

Da Gu Lai has less time to play around here now. With fewer monsters outside the city, he has more work to do, such as collecting wild vegetables and fruits, storing fuel for winter, and occasionally being called upon to help with city construction.

"Why does everyone suddenly hate monsters so much? They haven't said a word to each other before," Daigo said, sitting opposite Suer, poking at the rice in his bowl with his chopsticks, looking puzzled.

"Don't play with the food," Su Er said, not answering his question, but simply flicking Daigo's forehead as he scolded him. The rice in the child's bowl was almost mashed into crumbs.

"So what do you think is the reason?" Unlike Suer, who avoided the topic, Xinke asked Daigo with great interest. She didn't need to eat, but she still held a teacup and floated in the air.

This question was a bit beyond Daigo's level. He put down his chopsticks in distress, held his head in his hands, and struggled for a while, but ultimately couldn't come up with a solution.

That's understandable; given his knowledge, experience, and age, it's too much of a stretch to expect him to say anything constructive.

"I just think this is wrong!" The little boy with reddish-brown hair shouted this sentence with unwavering conviction.

"Okay, okay, no, can we eat first?" Su Er urged perfunctorily, but Daigo didn't listen to him this time. Instead, he looked at him with bright eyes.

"What do you think is the reason, sir?" Daigo wanted to know.

"...To be honest, I don't really want to talk about this. Why are you suddenly so hung up on this today? Did something happen?" Su'er felt she had a pretty good idea of ​​the reason. "Has anyone died?"

He will probably die right in front of this child.