The story begins with an eight-foot-tall lady surrounded by ghost story ladies.

"Fanyu-kun..."

Matsushita Ayano asked with a worried tone.

"Is there...is there a problem with this?"

Instead of answering directly, Natsume Fanyu asked:

"Landlady, where is Miss Ogata now?"

"At home." Ayano Matsushita's voice was a little strained.

"It's the weekend, Mayuko isn't working, and I even spoke to her on the phone before I left home..."

"Call her right now," Natsume Fanyu interrupted her.

"Keep her at home and don't let her go out."

Matsushita Ayano paused for a moment, then quickly pulled her phone out of her pajamas pocket, swiped rapidly on the screen, found Ogata Mayuko's number, and pressed the call button.

A waiting tone came through the receiver.

One sound, two sounds, three sounds.

Each sound seemed to be stretched three times longer.

The living room was so quiet that only the sound of breathing and the hollow beeping of the receiver could be heard.

By the window, the figure of the eight-foot-tall lady remained motionless in the morning light.

But her cool eyes were fixed on Natsume Fanyu's profile, on the deepening wrinkles between his brows.

Fourth tone, fifth tone, sixth tone.

Then you are switched to voicemail.

"Mayuko?"

Matsushita Ayano's voice began to tremble.

"Mayuko, are you there?"

"Call me back immediately if you hear this, and whatever you do, don't go out..."

She hung up and dialed again.

Another round of beeps.

Matsushita Ayano's fingers began to tremble, and her heart was rising uncontrollably, all the way to her throat.

"Answer the phone, Mayuko, why aren't you answering the phone..."

Another round of voicemail.

On the third attempt to redial, I couldn't even press the call button on the first try.

She looked up at Natsume Fanyu.

Those usually gentle eyes were now filled with a panic she desperately tried to suppress but couldn't, and her eyes were glistening with a thin layer of tears.

"Fanyu-kun... Mayuko, she..."

Natsume Fanyu remained silent.

His gaze swept across the room to the sky outside the window, which was now fully illuminated.

It is daytime now.

Generally speaking, the activity level of evil spirits decreases significantly during the day.

Especially those beings like the Gap Woman who rely on darkness and blind spots in human attention.

They don't like light, and they don't like being seen.

This is why Mayuko Ogata only senses it at night.

But once the name is known, this rule no longer holds true.

When Mayuko Ogata listened to the call in the recording three or four times, each time she listened again it was a response to the gap woman.

The "relationship" between the gap woman and Mayuko Ogata has now been established through Mayuko Ogata's response, creating a two-way channel.

The passage was thick enough to pierce the boundary between day and night, allowing the Gap Woman to touch Ogata Mayuko at any time, whenever she wanted.

Now, the Gap Woman no longer needs to wait for Ogata Mayuko to stumble into the gap before she makes her move.

Now her presence is so strong that she can actively attach herself to, infiltrate, and directly approach Mayuko Ogata.

She can exist in any crack or crevice.

It wasn't just in the gaps between doors, windows, and closet doors in the house; it even existed in the crease between Ogata Mayuko's upper and lower eyelids.

The moment Ogata Mayuko blinked, the gap opened.

The woman in the gap was waiting for her inside.

therefore...

If Mayuko Ogata were to leave home now and go to any crowded place...

So the gap woman can appear at any time through Ogata Mayuko's eye slits and mark anyone who makes eye contact with Ogata Mayuko.

Furthermore, it can directly invade Ogata Mayuko's body through the slits of her eyes, using Ogata Mayuko's body as a vessel for its own existence in the mortal world.

In other words... possession!

"It seems that we have no choice but to use that one move."

Natsume Fanyu made a quick decision in his mind.

He cleared his mind, raised his eyes, and looked at Matsushita Ayano.

"Landlady".

Matsushita Ayano looked up and met his gaze.

"Tell me the exact location of Ms. Ogata's house."

"Minami-Azabu 4-chome, Minato-ku..." Ayano Matsushita blurted out the address instinctively, her voice still trembling.

"Fanyu-kun, is Mayuko already...?"

"Nothing will happen."

That's all.

Natsume Fanyu's mind immediately stirred.

Directly employing one of the Eight Extraordinary Techniques – the Qian character technique from "Feng Hou Qi Men"...

The character "乾" (qián) is associated with a dazzling array of flowers!

The next moment...

Matsushita Ayano noticed that his eyes had changed.

Deep within the dark brown iris, something is blossoming.

One after another, layer upon layer, it was as if countless flowers were blooming outward from the core of the pupil at the same moment.

Nested, rotating, and nested again, each petal carries a glimmer of light, like stars falling into a flowerbed.

As Matsushita Ayano looked into his eyes, at the flowers that were constantly blooming and changing, she suddenly felt her consciousness becoming lighter.

Her thoughts, like dandelions scattered by the wind, flew to the flowers, then were gently gathered by the petals and collected into the heart of the flower.

Those usually gentle eyes were now filled with the sight of the ever-blooming flowers.

The panic in her eyes was fading, the fear was fading, and even the fact that "Mayuko wasn't answering the phone" was fading.

All her tense nerves relaxed at that moment, and her eyelids began to droop.

"Get a good night's sleep, landlady."

Natsume Fanyu reached out and caught the landlady a second before she collapsed to the ground.

The entire weight of her light blue loungewear instantly and without reservation fell into his arms.

That body, in its thirties and mature to the point of being unrestrained, was now as soft as if all its bones had been removed.

Only a thin layer of cotton fabric remained, barely enough to hold back her voluptuous curves that were almost overflowing.

Her breathing was steady; she had entered a deep sleep, and a slight smile lingered at the corners of her mouth, as if she were seeing something reassuring in her dream.

He put his arm around the landlady's back, and with his other hand he supported her knees, lifting her up in his arms.

The soft body curled up slightly in his arms, the collar of her loungewear slipping open a little due to the change in position, revealing a patch of dazzlingly white skin below her collarbone.

Natsume Fanyu didn't look down, but he could feel the softness of her waist and the full weight of her as she leaned against his chest without any defenses.

He gently placed her on the sofa, glanced down at her, and then turned and walked towards the door.

The eight-foot-tall lady was waiting for him.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, a posture that pushed the already tight buttons to their limit, making her neckline even more open.

The deep ravine that was once half-hidden was now almost pierced by the morning light, rising and falling slightly with her steady breathing, as if waiting.

"Okusan".

Natsume Fanyu said.

"Um."

"Make a note of tonight's 'Good Talk' session."

"Now, we should go and have a proper talk with that ghost story lady."

That's all.

He immediately unleashed another extraordinary technique from the Eight Extraordinary Skills...

The Great Luo Cave!