Curse Returns: What did the human-shaped wishing machine do wrong this time?

"I still... want to stay with everyone..."

"I want to go to many more and more different places with everyone..."

The girl's tearful words still seemed to echo in his ears. Xia Youjie stood quietly for a few moments, then slowly blinked.

He stepped forward, squatted down, touched Nen no Riko's hair, and patted her face.

She did not respond to him again.

she is dead...

He died just like that...

This unacceptable result, like a hammer blow, left a long-lasting tinnitus in Xia Youjie's ears.

"What are you doing?"

The five nerves of Satoru, who had been using them without any limits, were twitching, and his head was throbbing as if it would explode at any moment.

Ignoring the throbbing pain, he rushed forward and grabbed the assistant supervisor by the collar, only to be met with a corpse in the same state of death.

The fact that they managed to deceive Gojo Satoru and Natsuyuki Suke suggests that Riko Tennen and the assistant supervisor did not die from curses. Their purplish lips indicate that they were only poisoned, or rather, they had already been poisoned before coming to the vocational high school.

In other words, regardless of whether Gojo Satoru and Natsuyuki let Tennori Riko go, she was destined to die when she entered the Ryousei Shrine.

Like other sorcerers, Gojo Satoru, who was used to relying on spells, did not take ordinary people seriously. Even Natsuyu Suguru, who always said that he wanted to protect ordinary people, thought that their only enemy was the sorcerer.

The unexpected way he was going to die was hard for Xia Youjie to accept.

He couldn't accept that the assimilation journey Riko had been waiting for was a dead end that was blocked from the very beginning.

He couldn't accept why someone in the world of sorcery like an assistant supervisor would use methods that ordinary people usually use. Could even an assistant supervisor be bribed by the Panxing Cult?

Xia Youjie didn't want to believe it.

He reached out and hesitantly covered the thin body of Riko Tennen with a white sheet.

He sat silently on the steps of the college corridor, while Gojo Satoru made a phone call beside him.

Logically speaking, given Riko Tennen's special astral body identity, even if there were traitors within the higher-ups, it's unlikely that no one would have come to her aid after her death, given her status as a special astral body.

Gojo Satoru keenly noticed the difference.

He called the elders of his family, and upon hearing the conversation, Gojo Satoru angrily threw his phone against the wall, smashing it to pieces.

Meeting Xia Youjie's questioning gaze, Wujiao Wu slightly turned his head, a hint of mockery flashing in his icy blue pupils.

"The rotten oranges at home say that besides Riko, there is another astral body, but that astral body also died at the same time. Now they are crowding around a newborn baby astral body, trying to assimilate her with Tengen."

Gojo Satoru kicked the wall in front of him hard.

Xia Youjie opened his mouth.

He understood what Gojo Satoru meant, but the content made the world before him feel somewhat dizzy.

Sunlight streamed through the glass windows into the dark corridor, and Xia Youjie, breathing rapidly, instinctively tried to hide from it.

For some reason, he felt a burning, stinging sensation on his skin under the sunlight.

Suppressing the urge to vomit, Xia Youjie felt a sense of powerlessness creeping from his arms to his legs. He mechanically stood up, turned around, and asked, "Wu, should we save that child?"

The newborn child, who hasn't even had a proper look at the world, is about to suffer the same fate as Riko...

Whether it was due to transference or not, Xia Youjie felt that his mind was in a daze and he urgently needed to do something to distract himself.

"It's too late."

Gojo Satoru shook his head.

He didn't often pay attention to political changes in the sorcery world, but he knew that the General Headquarters was very wary of his family because of his background in Gojo. Even the elders of the family knew about it, so there was no way to salvage the situation.

"Is that so...?"

Xia Youjie slumped into his chair, trying to force a smile, but no smile appeared at all.

His lips moved, his voice tinged with a hint of bitterness.

"So... everything was prepared in advance? There are so many asteroids, and Riko is just a tool for targeting them. Even that assistant supervisor is just following orders from higher-ups?"

It's like a mask shattering, revealing its fragile interior.

Xia Youjie lowered his head and covered his face. The light in his eyes flickered like a candle flame in winter, then slowly dimmed.

"The assistant supervisor and the Panxing Cult's account had money transactions, but these seemed a bit too deliberate."

His sunglasses were already off. Gojo Satoru sat next to Natsumi Yuuki, his pale lips pressed into a cold, hard line, his angular face filled with a gloomy atmosphere.

"That's really disgusting..."

Xia Youjie said it casually.

It felt as if a piece of my soul had been ripped out, leaving an empty void in my heart, or as if I had been stung somewhere, causing a sharp, throbbing pain.

"Let's go find that child."

Xia Youjie suddenly raised his hand and touched his chest.

"Jay, there is no such thing as resurrection in this world."

Gojo Satoru paused for a moment before answering his friend's question.

He thought Xia Youjie wanted to ask Alluka to make a wish to revive Tian Lizi.

There is no such thing as resurrection from the dead in this world. If Jay insists on making a wish, he will only receive a curse or be subjected to physical punishment.

After all, this is a world where even love can turn into a curse.

"I know, I was just thinking, I finally understand why that cursed spirit's power is so strong."

Xia Youjie desperately swallowed the urge to vomit that was rising from the back of his tongue.

The nausea that flowed from his stomach to his throat was different from the vomiting he usually felt when swallowing the cursed spirit jade. It was a different kind of mixed emotion that rushed in all at once, an uncontrollable feeling of nausea stuck in his throat.

For a fleeting moment, Xia Youjie really considered going to Alluka to wish for Riko's resurrection.

But in an instant, he knew that was wrong.

The cursed spirit that is dependent on Alluka can not only fulfill people's wishes, but is also a collection of desires.

To obtain desires that are completely disproportionate to one's own efforts with only a small price to pay.

Anyone who has used Alluka's abilities will never forget him. As long as a person has a wish to fulfill, the cursed spirit within Alluka will amplify that desire infinitely.

Just a few days ago he didn't have any wishes, but now he's thinking that sacrificing a few high-ranking officials to get Riko back isn't so bad, is it?

As long as there is one person with desires, the cursed spirit will not disappear.

What appears to be a simple exchange of equivalents is actually just another form of curse.

The next person to make a wish will curse the previous person when they pay the price; those who cannot get their wish will curse the person who has it; and those who die because of the price will curse the person who killed them before they die.

The curse of desire is endless.

When desire crosses the line of humanity, greed and selfishness will be magnified to the extreme.

Various conflicts will follow.

In this world, they are all cursing each other to their hearts' content.