An infinite journey starting from paradise

What is about to happen in the Doll Village is a bloody storm and redress of injustice!

Chapter 147: Haunted Things (Part 1)

Inside the shrine, a deep and dark room.

The red candles flickered, the light swayed, and the only sounds in the room were soft breathing and a strange "click, click" sound.

On the small altar for the Three Treasures before the deity's body stood a lump of clay, imprinted with tiny handprints resembling crimson leaves. The surface of the clay was incredibly moist, gleaming brightly in the candlelight.

"Clap, clap, clap."

The girl's small hands kept kneading and patting the clay. Her hands were stained with slightly reddish clay, but they did not look dirty. Instead, it made people feel that her hands were unusually clean.

The girl kneaded and patted the clay silently. Around her were six other altars, each covered with slightly reddish clay. If one looked closely, one would notice white fragments mixed in with the clay.

Skeletons, human bones.

The clay was collected from seven cemeteries scattered across the village, a practice that has been practiced for centuries.

Rub the surface of the clay with your hands to hide the exposed bones, pour clean water from a long spoon on it, and then start kneading and shaping it.

A gust of wind blew and the candlelight flickered.

Although it was already March, the Doll Village, nestled deep in the mountains, was still cold, even snowing. The girl's fingertips were red from the cold, and her senses were dulled. Even so, she couldn't stop.

As the moisture gradually drained away, the clay became more malleable. The girl scooped up the clay and kneaded it into a ball in her hands. She molded the waist, the head, then the hands and feet. Using her fingernails, she dug grooves and molded the face. Thus, she fashioned a clay doll that resembled a real person, yet seemed distorted.

This is the appearance of a fetus sleeping in the mother's body.

The last step.

The girl placed the sculpted doll on the remaining soil on the altar and took out a short knife from her bosom.

The cold blade rests against my wrist, the tip trembling slightly as it sinks into my soft skin. Even if I'm told it won't hurt, the thought of harming myself still evokes fear.

The girl took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and calmed herself down completely.

She felt almost nothing as she gently twitched the blade. Opening her eyes, she saw a thin red mark on her wrist, with a round drop of blood oozing out, then slowly dripping and trickling.

Blood dripped onto the newly formed fetus's mouth. Like a baby sucking milk, the blood was sucked into its mouth, from its head to its body, and from head to toe, the entire doll was saturated with blood. The distorted baby-shaped doll turned black.

finished.

The girl wrapped the wound on her wrist with a handkerchief, carefully placed the molded doll into the brocade box, and closed the lid.

She stood up, feeling dizzy and staggering to steady herself. Then she picked up the brocade box and walked out of the secret room.

This is behind the shrine, close to the cliff of the back mountain. Only the spirit tablet and direct descendants of the Shigusa family are allowed to enter here.

The girl walked outside, not even wearing straw sandals, and stepped carefully on the ground.

A chilling wind whipped up the snow, chilling her to the bone. The girl exhaled a breath of white air and slowly walked along the icy path. Passing an area separated by jade beads, she bowed forward, knelt on the stone bricks, and moved the stone slab from the ground.

She held the brocade box high in her hand and placed it respectfully in the cave under the stone slab.

"That's all right, that's all right... Master Hina Idol God, please bless me..."

Just as the girl hidden in the mountains behind the shrine finished making the doll, the main road of the Doll Village.

This main road, Qianchong Road, is considered the busiest in the village. Even then, there was still snow on it, and shoes would sink into the slush. However, for a village road where even buses don't run, this level of snow removal is sufficient.

The boys and girls walking in front left a few shallow footprints, while the oldest one, Kuroya Naoori, walked at the end, looking at his childhood sweethearts with a smile.

He was the eldest son of the only Kuroya family in the village. His surname was Hinagami, as his father was a bastard son of the Hinagami family. He changed his surname to Kuroya after marrying into the Kuroya family. Actually, he was Hinagami Rito's cousin, and he certainly acted like a brother.

"Hey, Riki, be careful." Kuroya Naoori called out, "Be careful not to overdo it and end up in the ditch."

The canals that fed water to the fields were now covered in thick snow, making it easy to fall in if one wasn't careful. A few days ago, an old man who lived on the left side of the village accidentally fell into the canal and is now recuperating in the Black Arrow Hospital.

"Don't worry."

Hinagami Rito's answer was somewhat weak.

Kuroya Naori frowned. "How can I not be worried? You almost fell off the roof last time when you were shoveling snow. And you look so weak, you shouldn't be this weak even with a cold."

"Just get some more sun." Hinamirito forced a smile. "And that time I had to shovel snow was because Xiao Shang threw a snowball at me."

"That's because you were absent-minded. I called you several times that day but you didn't respond. What's been going on with you these days..."

"Hey!"

Before Kuroya Naoori could finish his words, Hinagami Rito suddenly kicked the snow on the ground towards him.

"You guy."

Kuroya Naori dodged the attack, then kicked the snow in the direction of Hinagami Rito. Hinagami Rito retreated, but Kuroya Naori kept chasing him.

At this moment, a hand grabbed Kuroya Naoori's sleeve. Kuroya Naoori turned around and saw Futami Yuu staring at him coldly with snow falling on his head.

"Ah... I'm sorry, young boss lady." Kuroya Naoori smiled awkwardly.

Erjianyou loosened his hand and said, "If you want to raise the snow, just raise Li Ren, and don't involve Xiao Hina and Sanli."

Hina refers to Hinagami Karen, the twin sister of Rito Hinagami. Hina is her nickname for her by her friends. She is indeed like a tiny chick: petite like a chick, and as clingy as a chick.

Mikuri is Songmiya Mikuri. She's the same age as the Hinagami siblings, but she's much more mature than Hinagami Karen. Of course, this might also be due to her makeup and appearance. Longing for the world outside the village, she begged her parents to subscribe to a fashion magazine from outside the village, and she learned her style from those magazines. Judging solely by her attire, she doesn't look much different from any other early-stage student in Tokyo.

"What do you mean you only praise me?" Hinami Rito asked with some dissatisfaction.

"Because you can escape no matter what, right?" said Futami Yu.

"Huh? You're saying that as if Hanaren and Mikuri are slow," Hinagami said. "But I can dodge them all. I'm pretty strong after all."

Kuroya Naori couldn't help but chuckle. He really didn't know why his skinny cousin, who looked like a chicken, had such mysterious confidence. Hinagami Rito used to be quite clever, but these days, maybe because of the cold, even climbing a mountain would make him breathless.

"Speaking of which, what about the little girl I saw in the back mountain that day? I haven't seen her for a few days. She should be my future sister-in-law, right?"

Although Kuroya Naori was only from a branch of the Hinagami family, he was quite intelligent from a young age and deduced the truth about the Ame-no-Child Festival from fragments of his parents and aunt's remarks: the Hinagami and Uzumaki families were secretly marrying under the guise of a festival to maintain their control over the village. The so-called Ame-no-Child was the candidate for the Hinagami family's bride, and the girl named Satsuki, whom they had stumbled upon in the mountains a few days ago, was likely this generation's Ame-no-Child.

"Hey, brother." Hearing his sister's call, Hinami Rito quickly turned around: "Hanaren, what's wrong?"

"watch out!"

Hinagami Rito didn't react in time, and was hit in the face by a snowball from his sister. He was a little angry and was about to explode, but suddenly he felt a pain in his lower back and his legs became weak, and he accidentally fell flat on the ground.

"elder brother?"

Hinagami Karen hurried over to check on her brother, and then she let out a scream. She... was covered in snow by Hinagami Rito who was lying on the ground.

"Haha, I got you!"

"Damn it! Bad guy, bad guy, bad guy!"

Hinagami Hanaren acted like a spoiled child and punched Hinagami Rito's back with her little fists, and Hinagami Rito, who was really weak, had to use all his strength to stand up again.

"I say, do you really want to do this? This is called... hurting the enemy by a thousand and hurting yourself by eight hundred, right?"

As Kuroya Naori spoke, he patted the snow off Hinagami Rito.

"Look at you, you've just walked to the village entrance and you're already in such a mess. You still have a cold... Sigh, I shouldn't have asked you to go out today." Kuroya Naori grumbled like a male mother, "Go to the police station at the village entrance to warm up first... You're about to get married, but you're still acting like a child."

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward when Kuroya Naoori unconsciously said "someone who is about to get married". After all, everyone present had a certain liking for Hinagami Rito, including him.

However, Kuroya Naori sees herself as merely looking out for her cousin, and Hinagami Karen simply harbors a certain attachment to her twin brother. Futami Yuu might be secretly in love with him, otherwise why would she constantly be pulling him aside? As for Songmiya Mikuri, this trendy young woman probably just finds it fun to be in love with someone during adolescence. Anyway, with the tradition of the Tennoko Festival, the marriage partner of the Hinagami family's heir has long been determined. This is a guaranteed win for the one who falls from heaven, and Oume is a sure loser.

As if unaware of the awkward atmosphere, Kuroya Naoori supported Hinakami Rito and walked towards the police station at the village entrance. The other three had no choice but to follow.

As soon as he reached the police station, Kuroya Naoori saw several cars parked in front of the police station. Uncle Takayama, a police officer from the village police station, was talking to two policemen, and there was a stretcher next to them.

"That policeman looks like Uncle Kuki Ryōzo. Who's that other one? There's a stretcher over there with someone on it? Has there been a murder?!"

Chapter 148: Fighting in the street?

A murder is certainly a murder, but it didn’t happen in the Humanoid Village.

Lying on the stretcher was the body of Gao Shanzhixin, the policeman whose heart was physically ripped out by Lin Shangren.

According to standard procedures, Takayama Shixin's body should have been legally certified and the cause of death confirmed before burial. However, Kuki Ryozo insisted on bringing his body back to the village for immediate burial. According to the custom of the Ningyo Village, the deceased must be buried in the cemetery behind the village as soon as possible, otherwise it would bring misfortune to the family.

The police didn't do anything to stop them. After all, Kuki Ryōzo was well-liked and had connections to Hinagami Pharmaceuticals. So they gave them the green light. The police gave the cause of death as a heart attack while investigating the scene. It had nothing to do with the medical examiner who had been helping with the case and then suddenly disappeared.

As for whether this counts as a work-related injury? Sorry, there's no forensic evaluation, so it doesn't count. You were in a hurry to bring him home for burial, so consider the compensation and such as that as just a matter of arrangement.

However, even if Kuki Ryozo did not rush to take Takayama Shixin's body back to the village but followed the procedures step by step, Takayama Shixin's family would not be able to get the pension because Hinagami Pharmaceutical, the biggest sponsor of the Yamagata City Police Department, suddenly went bankrupt.

The collapse of Hinagami Pharmaceutical will naturally cause a huge shock and trigger a series of chain reactions in the political, business and police circles of Yamagata City and even the whole of Japan. We will talk about this in detail later.

At this time, Kuki Ryozo did not know that the headquarters of Hinagami Pharmaceutical had already held a BBQ meeting for core employees. After all, he had rushed to the village with Takayama Shixin's body yesterday afternoon.

He was accompanied by Inui Bunji, who was originally from the same village. Although they had not seen each other for many years, they still recognized each other. Kuki Ryōzo was going back to the village to send off the deceased, and Inui Bunji was returning to investigate a case. They happened to be traveling together.

“Poor thing…”

"That's true, but there's nothing we can do about it. It's just bad luck. Things like this..."

"Yeah, it's unlucky. Compared to those killed in air raids during the war, ah... sorry."

The two men, Lao Deng and Zhong Deng, didn't have much to talk about, and with a dead body lying in the back of the car, they had no mood to chat.

Nakadō Kyūhi Bunjimoto wanted to ask Kuki Saizo about the dismemberment case. Kuki Saizo was one of the police officers who investigated the case. However, he couldn't bring himself to ask, so he could only remain silent.

It was not until they arrived at the Ningyo Village that the two of them took Takayama Shixin's body to the village police station. Takayama Shixin's home was there, and his father, Takayama Tougen, was the police officer stationed at the Ningyo Village.

The two veteran policemen were already used to reporting a death, but Kuki Ryozo couldn't handle it in a businesslike manner. After all, Takayama Shixin was his nephew. When Takayama Shixin was transferred to his team, Takayama Tougen had specifically asked him to take care of Takayama Shixin.

The atmosphere was a bit depressing, just like this snow-covered mountain village.

The young boys and girls watched all this from afar, not knowing whether they should go over. They originally wanted to stay in the police station for a while to keep warm.

"Uncle Gaoshan, Uncle Jiugui, what's going on?"

The oldest one, Kuroya Naoori, still walked over.

"The boy from the Kuroya family, and the young master..."

Kuki Ryōzo looked at Kuroya Naori who was approaching and said, "You kids should stay away for now."

"Ah, is that Brother Gaoshan lying on the stretcher? He...died...?"

"Ah."

"Then...should we go back to the village and call for help?"

"Go and ask your father and Master Cicao for help. Someone in the village has passed away, so a memorial service must be held."

Kuki Ryōzo's voice wasn't loud, but Hinakami Rito and the others not far away could also hear what he said.

"We'll be there soon."

As they said that, they planned to go back to the village to find someone to help. While running, Kuroya Naoori looked back from time to time at Inui Bunji, the "uninvited guest".

"Who is he? A police officer who came to help? Or a friend of Gao Shan?"

What Kuroya Naoori didn't know was that Inuhai Bunji was just a wanderer returning home, not an uninvited guest. The real uninvited guest would have to wait for some time to arrive.

So, didn't Lin Shangren decide to leave for the Doll Village immediately? Why wait a while?

This is related to the case they encountered when they first arrived in Yamagata City, specifically, it is related to the case that was imitated by that case - the Eye-Broken Demon Case.

An unidentified serial killer strangled five women, each with their own unique identities, and then gouged out their eyeballs. The police were already clueless about where to start their investigation, and with the Hinagami Pharmaceutical arson and the Tianhui Church massacre last night, they had even less energy to investigate the Eyebreaker.

As for Lin Shangren, he hadn't originally intended to delve into the Eye-Broken Demon case. After all, there was no system reward for solving the case, and this kind of random murder case, which was almost like a madman killing people randomly, was not to his liking.

But it just so happens that the things you don't want to get involved in happen to happen to you.

Lin Shangren was about to take Dongzi and Yuliang to buy clothes. The two of them each held Lin Shangren's arms affectionately, while Cicao Yexiao followed behind the three of them, looking at them suspiciously.

For some reason, the little girl lost some of her memory of last night. It might be because of the influence of the demon, or it might be because of the brain's self-protection mechanism. In short, she only remembered that she was attacked by a group of cultists in white clothes and was almost killed. She had no memory of what happened with Lin Shangren.

When she woke up in the hotel, she was shocked. Later, she learned from Lin Shangren that he had saved her from the cult. At first, Cicao Yexiao didn't believe it, but after seeing Lin Shangren's police and forensic certificates, she believed it.

"Then... I should be able to go home now, right? Do I still need to go to the police station to give a statement?" asked Ci Cao Yexiao.

"You don't need to take a statement. After all, the person who kidnapped you has been brought to justice. If you want to go home, I can take you back." Lin Shangren replied.

The group then went to Ci Cao Ye Xiao's house with her, and they found a completely ransacked studio apartment. It was clear that the cultists had some dirty hands, as all the cash and valuables in Ci Cao Ye Xiao's house had been stolen.

Cicao Yexiao had moved to Yamanaka City alone to rent a house for easier access to school, relying on the living expenses provided by her family to survive. After this incident, she couldn't stay here for the time being and had to go home first.

"Mr. Policeman..."

"Here."

Without waiting for the girl to speak, Lin Shangren took out a handful of banknotes and said, "Consider this as my donation to you for your living expenses and travel expenses."

"This... is too much. I can't take it." Cicao Yexiao quickly pushed the money back. "I'll borrow it from you. Just 100 yen. It's enough for me to rent a car to Ningyo Village."

"Hand-doll village~"