Courtyard House: Time Traveler Not Yet a Ghost

The air suddenly turned chilly, dropping at least ten degrees Celsius; even a light shirt would make you shiver. The already dim moonlight now appeared frighteningly white, like a corpse's skeleton, casting distorted shadows on the ground. A thin, sticky haze slowly rose into the air, smelling somewhat like burning paper, yet also like damp earth.

Those people sleeping within this area shivered in their dreams, turned over, wrapped their blankets tighter, mumbled a few incoherent words, and remained fast asleep, completely unaware of what had happened.

But beneath the shrine, the memorial tablets being enshrined, and the wisps of remnant souls clinging to them, all trembled violently the instant the ripples swept over them, as if they had been scalded by fire!

They vaguely sensed that something powerful was coming!

Then, a jet-black chain shot out from the small banner with a "whoosh," moving as fast as lightning. It silently burrowed into the soil, passed through layers of stone, and reached the stone chamber beneath the shrine where the "Spirit Seal Book" was hidden!

This is the Netherworld Chains - Yin Chains!

The chain was as black as spilled ink, with wisps of eerie, bluish-green flames coiled around it, giving it a chilling appearance—it was the Soul-Eating Yin Fire. It swayed gently in the stone chamber, like a snake that had come to life, and slowly slithered toward the nearest memorial tablet—the one for Hideki Tojo.

The memorial tablet trembled even more violently, and a blurry, inhuman ghostly figure floated out from it. This was the remnant soul of Hideki Tojo, accumulated over more than ten years of worship. It had long been twisted beyond recognition by the chaotic power of faith, looking like a large, dark, fleshy ball with a few eye-like points of light flickering on it. At this moment, it was "looking" at the chain in terror, its entire ghostly figure trembling.

The chains didn't give it much time to be afraid.

With a sudden lunge, it instantly ensnared the ghostly figure!

"ah--!"

A bloodcurdling scream echoed, but alas, it only reverberated in the spirit world, inaudible to mortal ears. The soul-stirring shadow struggled desperately like a grasshopper caught in a trap, but the chains tightened like iron hoops. The soul-corroding eerie fire surged along the chains, sizzling as it touched the shadow-stirring shadow, like burning dry wood. The shadow-stirring shadow writhed and contracted in agony within the fire, finally turning into a wisp of black smoke with a "poof," which was then sucked into the chains with a "whoosh."

The chains slowly retracted, and the wisp of refined soul power, through an inexplicable connection, was transmitted back to Xiao Fan, and from Xiao Fan, it was transmitted back to the original body, who was waiting tens of thousands of miles away.

Hideki Tojo has now been completely wiped from this world, his very soul and his very image.

The first little banner swayed gently, as if savoring the taste of this first "snack".

Then, with a "whoosh," it extended a second chain and swam towards the next memorial tablet.

That night, at the Yasukuni Shrine, the remnants of twelve Class A war criminals, their hands stained with blood, vanished silently, one after another, without leaving a trace.

Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi Headquarters

The second small banner hangs above the six-story building of the Yamaguchi-gumi. The building doesn't look particularly grand, but in Kobe, everyone who sees it has to go around it.

At 2:20 a.m., the Soul Banner Domain unfolded with a "hum," covering an area of ​​five thousand meters in radius. From the Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters building to the densely packed residential area next door, the brightly lit bar street nearby, and the dormitories of several night schools that also held classes at night, everything was enclosed and became the territory of the Netherworld Ghost Domain.

As soon as the area was spread out, the surrounding light and shadows began to look strange. The streetlights turned dim and flickered incessantly, and the shadows of the trees swayed back and forth on the wall, like menacing ghosts.

Immediately afterwards, the Ghost Realm Projection was activated!

Those people sleeping at home suffered greatly, all having nightmares. Some dreamed of being chased by a group of blue-faced, fanged demons, unable to move no matter how hard they ran; others dreamed of their loved ones lying in front of them covered in blood, unresponsive no matter how much they called out; still others dreamed of slipping and falling with a "whoosh" into a bottomless abyss. For a time, within a 5,000-meter radius, terrified screams could be heard every now and then, but no matter how much they screamed, they couldn't wake up, as if they were trapped in a nightmare.

Inside the Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters building, the effect of this ghostly projection was even more direct and ruthless.

Fifth floor, the president's bedroom.

The current chairman of the Yamaguchi-gumi is an old man in his sixties, with white hair and a face full of wrinkles. He looks like an ordinary old man, but his eyes can be deadly when they turn fierce. Right now, he is fast asleep on his large bed, with a young and beautiful woman lying next to him. She is his newly acquired mistress, and she is sleeping soundly.

Outside the window, a dark golden chain, like a snake, reached in—this was the Netherworld Chain, Yang Chain!

This yang chain was different from the yin chain from before. It looked dazzling, as if lightning was dancing on it, crackling and popping. It slowly reached out towards the old man's head on the bed.

It doesn't aim to kill people outright.

What it wants is the soul!

The chain lightly touched the old man's forehead, piercing through it as easily as passing through a thin sheet of paper, leaving no trace. The old man's body shuddered violently, his brows furrowed, and his face contorted in agony. His soul was being forcibly dragged out of his body by this chain!

A blurry, identical ghostly figure was slowly pulled from his forehead by chains. The ghostly figure opened its mouth as if to roar silently, its limbs flailing desperately in an attempt to break free, but the chains' suction was terrifyingly strong, and it had no control over the figure.

In just five seconds, the ghostly figure was completely pulled out of the old man's body with a "poof".

The chains snapped back with a "whoosh," rolling up the ghostly figure and dragging it into the small banner.

The old man on the bed remained in his sleeping position, his chest rising and falling steadily, his breathing perfectly calm, as if nothing had happened. But if a discerning person looked closely, they would notice that his eyes were empty, devoid of any life. From now on, he would be nothing more than a soulless shell, unable to hold on for more than a few days, at most three, before suffering a "heart attack" and dying in his sleep.

His soul, which had lived for over sixty years, became a source of nourishment for the Soul Refining Banner.

At the same time, on the third floor, in the room of the second-in-command, a pitch-black chain was doing the same thing, silently dragging away another soul.

On the fourth floor, in the room of the third-in-command, a similar situation exists, with a clandestine operation underway.

The second floor was the dormitory for the core members of the Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters. In several rooms, "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh," ten chains simultaneously reached in and dragged out ten bewildered souls who hadn't yet reacted!

That night, at the Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters, a total of thirty-seven core members lost their souls forever in a daze. The next morning, these people were either found "dead in their sleep" or had vacant stares, looking like idiots. The entire Yamaguchi-gumi was in an uproar.

Osaka Sumiyoshikai Headquarters

The third banner spread its domain near Shinsaibashi in Osaka, covering the busiest area.

Osaka's nightlife is even wilder than Tokyo's. At 2 a.m., there are still many people wandering the streets, and some izakayas, small restaurants, and arcades are still lit up, with occasional drunken laughter coming from the doorways.

But as soon as the ghost projection was deployed, those who were still wandering the streets immediately started acting strangely, and one by one they began to hallucinate.

A drunken office worker, dressed in a suit and tie askew, staggered along, humming a tune. He saw a woman in white standing under a streetlamp ahead, her long hair falling down to obscure her face. Emboldened by alcohol, the cowardly young man chuckled and, slurring his words, approached, attempting to strike up a conversation: "Miss...alone?"

The woman slowly raised her head—

No face!

It was a deathly pale, completely blank face, without eyes, nose, or mouth!

"Whoa—!" The office worker was terrified, screamed, rolled his eyes, and collapsed onto the street with a thud. By the time passersby found him, he had gone insane, only able to repeatedly mutter, "Shameless...shameless..."

Just as he fainted, a thin, almost invisible chain gently swept across his body, taking away a wisp of his soul power. He survived, but his mind would certainly be impaired, and some of his memories would become hazy.

Meanwhile, in the building where the Sumiyoshi-kai headquarters is located, a silent and brutal harvest is taking place, much like the Yamaguchi-gumi's operation.

The president, vice president, head of the various departments, core henchmen... one after another, their souls were dragged out of their bodies by chains and into the shrine like dead dogs.

That night, twenty-nine people from the Sumiyoshi-kai became soulless shells.

Fukuoka Inagawa-kai Headquarters

The fourth banner unfolded its domain over Fukuoka City in Kyushu.

The core members of the Inagawa-kai were having a rough night. They'd been embroiled in a turf war with the Yamaguchi-gumi, and had just finished an emergency meeting at headquarters that lasted until after 1 a.m. Many of them, finding it too much trouble to go home, found a spot at headquarters and fell asleep fully clothed.

This actually gave Obata a huge advantage.

At 2:30 a.m., the Soul Banner Domain suddenly "hummed" and enveloped the entire city center of Fukuoka.

Inside the twelve-story building that is the headquarters of the Inagawa-kai, more than eighty core members, who had just fallen asleep or were not yet sound asleep, were simultaneously bound by black or dark gold chains.

Their souls, one by one, were pulled from their warm bodies and sucked into the small banner like noodles, then transformed into strands of pure soul power, which traveled along the unseen connection to their original bodies thousands of miles away.

The next morning, when the underlings who had luckily escaped the incident found their leader and over eighty other high-ranking figures lying haphazardly, unresponsive to any attempts to wake them, and upon touching their noses, found they were lifeless—a mass death! This news sent shockwaves through the entire Kyushu underworld, throwing them into complete chaos!