An infinite journey starting from paradise

Anyway, this universe hasn't developed self-awareness yet, so we can do whatever we want. (?ω?)

"I said, don't change the subject."

[Well, I can't currently take too many people across different universes at once, even between two anchor universes.

But... you could bring Hehuan and the others here. Use this universe as your harem base. You're going to be playing "sandbox games" here anyway, so why not bring them here too? ?(?﹃??)

Come to think of it, you're probably getting bored with your boring life these days, besides teaching. Why not explore some advanced universes and explore some cutting-edge technology before supporting the construction of communism? I've found several interesting universes.

There's a sci-fi universe where beautiful girls pilot mechas and fight alien monsters, a fantasy universe where magical girls and boys battle demonic invasions, and a sword-and-sorcery universe filled with all sorts of monster girls. So, are you excited?

"A little bit, but..."

Before Lin Shangren could respond, there was a knock on the office door.

"Please come in." Lin Shangren said.

The office door was pushed open, and a girl with short hair walked in.

"Mizuhara Toruko-san? Oh, your name has been changed to Kuchiki Toruko in your student file."

Toruko and Fuyuko have exactly the same pronunciation in Japanese. If you call Toruko "Kuchiki Toruko", there will always be a sense of incongruity as if you are calling "Fuyuko"'s name.

However, Fuyuko's original surname was not Kuchiki. Her biological mother Misa Nakahara's surname before marriage was "Rokushi", so Fuyuko's name should be "Nakahara Fuyuko" or "Rokushi Fuyuko".

But this didn't matter to Lin Shangren. After all, according to Japanese custom, after marrying him, Fuyuko would have to change her surname to his. And Fuyuko was Fuyuko, and the change of her surname would not change the fact that she was Fuyuko.

"So, what's up with you, Touko-san?"

Facing Lin Shangren's question, Touzi did not answer. She walked straight towards Lin Shangren, muttering softly: "If it was Dongzi, she would definitely do this, right? I just need to continue to imitate Dongzi, I just need to continue to imitate Dongzi..."

Chapter 180: The Evil Yasasi

"Teacher, are you dating Dongzi?"

Opening lightning strike.

Lin Shangren really didn't expect Touzi to suddenly say such a thing.

"What? Are you going to say, 'Teacher, you don't want others to know about your relationship with your student, do you?'" Lin Shangren thought to himself, "What does this little girl want to do? Threaten me?"

Mizuhara Toruko continued, "If this matter were to be known to others, the teacher would probably be troubled as well."

"Good fellow, you really want to threaten me."

Moral kidnapping requires the person being kidnapped to be morally upright, while threats can only be effective if the information you possess truly constitutes leverage over the other party and if you have the confidence to ensure they won't resort to treason. Clearly, Mizuhara Toruko doesn't possess these qualities.

Moreover, a female student, alone, in an office during class time, with only the other student there, threatens a teacher who has an "impurity" with a female student. If this were put into a popular Japanese film or television production, her fried cream puff combo would be indispensable - filled with cream, fucked into a fool who can't live without it.

But Lin Shangren is not a Teddy Bear who rides on everyone he sees. He doesn't care if Touzi makes his and Dongzi's relationship public. They have never been hiding it.

However, Lin Shangren did not react excessively. On the contrary, he was very curious about what Mizuhara Toruko wanted to threaten him with.

"Fuyuko likes the teacher very much, right?" Mizuhara Toruko continued, "Then... can I like the teacher too? Can the teacher accept my feelings as well?"

"what?"

Lin Shangren was stunned by this sentence for two seconds.

"No... Even if you've developed a path dependency on imitating Dongzi's life, you wouldn't go to this extent, right?"

Thinking about fanatical Christians who would nail themselves to the cross to feel Jesus' pain, and the people of the Sub-Male Empire who would also engage in sub-masculinity and find a group of homosexuals to stir up their shit and replicate the ultimate insult... Lin Shangren felt relieved.

"I really shouldn't use normal human thinking to understand fanatics."

Because the person you admire and adore likes something, you have to like it too, even if you once hated that person. You're willing to distort yourself for the sake of the "god" in your heart... No, most fanatics who go this far have no "self."

"Please, go out with me too."

This was the first confession in Mizuhara Toruko's life. It did not contain any love, only confusion and anxiety.

Lin Shangren looked at the girl in front of him calmly: "Do you really hate yourself as Mizuhara Toruko so much? Do you really want to erase her and become someone else?"

Toru Mizuhara did not answer Hayashi Naoto's question, but hesitated for a while, and then she began to unbutton her school uniform shirt.

"Teacher, it's okay if you just accept my body." Mizuhara Touko said reluctantly, "You can play with me as you like, without taking any responsibility... Just treat me like Fuyuko..."

"I won't play with Dongzi casually, nor will I treat others as Dongzi." Lin Shangren replied. Since Dongzi and Touzi have the same pronunciation in Japanese, this sentence has a bit of a pun. "You haven't answered my question yet, do you hate yourself so much?"

Touzi still didn't answer, but continued to unbutton her clothes, revealing the bra that once belonged to Dongzi. Due to the difference in their sizes, the bra seemed a little tight - after all, Dongzi's second growth spurt began after she met Lin Shangren.

"If it was Dongzi, the teacher wouldn't dislike me like this, right?"

"I was stupid. I actually tried to communicate normally with someone whose brain circuits were abnormal."

Lin Shangren shook his head, his amber-gold irises tinged with a shadowy gray. His mind activated, wanting to directly see the girl's true thoughts.

"Let me see, there is darkness in your heart."

A black shadow as thick as mud swallowed the bare-chested girl Wan, and Lin Shangren's consciousness forcibly invaded Mizuhara Toruko's consciousness.

……

Dark, shabby, and poor—that's how Toru Mizuhara feels about her home. Can this shabby house really be considered a home? But to outsiders, this dingy, one-family house is the Mizuhara family home. They only come here when they need to collect debts from Miyo Mizuhara.

"Hey, open the door! I know you're home! Pay this month's bill right now, or I'll burn down this lousy house of yours!"

"Give me back the money! Mizuhara Mio, we know you're at home. Stop hiding!"

The old wooden door kept shaking off dust as the creditors banged and kicked it. If it weren't for the large wooden cabinet holding it up, Touzi had no doubt the door would have been pushed down.

She didn't know who the people outside who were collecting debts were. As a young child, she just felt that the people outside were so scary and she was so scared... A frightened child always longs for her mother's warm embrace, but her mother Mizuhara Mio's arms had never been opened for her.

"Don't cry."

Her mother was kneeling two steps away from her, but she had no intention of comforting her daughter. She was just using a mortar to crush, grind, and pound the expensive lapis lazuli to make the pigment needed for Mamiya's portrait.

Ultramarine, a warm blue with a purplish hue, has become ubiquitous thanks to the development of modern chemical engineering. However, natural ultramarine is only produced from a precious gemstone: lapis lazuli. For a long time, ultramarine was considered a luxury pigment. Even in modern times, top painters still use precious lapis lazuli pigment in their works.

In Mizuhara Mio's opinion, Mamiya Shinso is the best painter, and as the provider of his painting materials, she should also provide him with the best paints.

Yes, “offer”, without asking for any money.

Even though she was already heavily in debt and her daughter Toru was malnourished due to hunger, Mio Mio still took out loans to buy lapis lazuli to make a heart statue for Mamiya.

Toru Mizuhara didn't know why her mother did this, she was just very scared.

"Why me? Why do I have to live like this? Why am I Toru Mizuhara? I don't want to be Toru Mizuhara...

What if it was Dongzi? Dongzi would definitely be very happy, right? She wouldn’t have to go through everything I would go through…”

The childhood trauma reappeared before her eyes, and Toru Mizuhara felt a chill, and naturally imagined what Fuyuko's childhood would be like.

But she couldn't imagine it, she couldn't imagine the so-called happy childhood that she had never experienced.

"As long as it's happier than my childhood...Touzi's life must be much happier than mine. No one cares about Touzi's childhood. No one wants to be Touzi."

If she hated herself and her life, others would surely hate her too. Therefore, Touko had never had any friends, and she never actively tried to make any. Having never seen kindness, she didn't know how to express it, nor how to respond to others' kindness—she didn't even know if they were kind to her.

After entering Sakuraha Girls' Academy, her disgust for herself reached its peak. She felt uncomfortable among a group of girls from wealthy families, as a dirtbag like her. And they must all dislike Touko, right?

Until she met Touko, a girl who was completely different from her except for the pronunciation of her name. She smiled and said to her deskmate, Touko, "Our names sound the same, so we'll definitely be good friends."

"Friends... Even if I become Touko's friend, it won't change the fact that Touko's life is a mess."

"But Dongzi's life is not as happy as you imagined." Lin Shangren thought as he watched all this.

Perhaps if she learns to be "backward compatible", Touzi will feel a little more comforted: although her life is bad, it is not extremely bad. After all, her mother has not abandoned her to the creditors to pay off the debts, right?

This kind of mental victory of "the worst case scenario is eating shit, and I'm just drinking urine now, so I'm still happy" is self-deception, but for those who are helpless in difficult situations, it is at least a kind of comfort. After all, at that time, she really could not do anything, unable to escape, unable to resist.

"As long as I can become Dongzi, I can live well as long as I become her."

Mizuhara Toruko kept muttering to herself, as if to comfort herself, or to convince herself.

"Do you really want to be Dongzi?" Lin Shangren's voice suddenly sounded beside her.

With the appearance of Lin Shangren, all the sounds in Mizuhara Toruko's conscious world fell silent, and the originally dilapidated house turned into a pure white empty space, just like a game room simulated by the park system.

"teacher…"

"Do you really want to be Dongzi?" Lin Shangren asked again, "Or do you want to have everything you think Dongzi has: a wealthy family, a happy childhood, loving parents...

Aren't you already the adopted daughter of the Kuchiki family? You should have noticed that Fuyuko has never had these things either:

She comes from a wealthy family, but suffers from malnutrition due to her adoptive mother's cold and violent treatment. Her adoptive mother, Chizuru Kuchiki, is devoted to her biological brother and has little affection for Fuyuko. Fuyuko's life before that doesn't seem as happy as you imagine, and could even be called unfortunate. The Fuyuko Kuchiki in your mind is just a figment of your imagination. Even so, do you still want to be her?

"I...but...I...but if I don't become Touko, what should I do? I don't know, I don't understand! I really...really don't want to be Mizuhara Touko!"

"Isn't the person who brought you misfortune already dead?"

Lin Shangren raised his hand and materialized Mizuhara Mio's body, which had been made into a "shell".

"When you were young, you couldn't resist or escape. But now you can. Although a sixteen-year-old high school girl still can't live on her own, without the burden of a mother, you can still pursue what you want to do. Of course, that requires a material foundation, but don't worry about that for now. Just think about it. Imagine what you like, imagine what you want to do. It's best to be specific. For example, what do you want to eat the most, or what are your favorite books or movies... In short, think about it first."

"Something I...like...?"

Lin Shangren's words seemed to have some kind of magic. Mizuhara Toruko closed her eyes and followed his guidance to think. Gradually, the things she liked as "Mizuhara Toruko" emerged in her mind.

"Oh, the original Godzilla from 54. Quite tasteful."

Lin Shangren reached out and touched the head of the Godzilla suit, which was as tall as a man.

"Think again, what you particularly want. What Mizuhara Toruko wants most."

"I... want... want a clean room with blue wallpaper, a phonograph of my own and a shelf of records... I want the dress that Hibari Misora ​​wore in 'Three Girls'... I want... I want..."

"I want to be valued and loved."

Lin Shangren gently rubbed the short hair of Mizuhara Toruko.

"You still have a chance to obtain these. Strive to pursue them. This will bring you closer to happiness than forcing yourself to become someone else. As for your material needs, I can provide you with some small help."

Touko opened her eyes again, and the originally blank space was now filled with the things she liked and longed to have, except for the people who valued and loved her.

"Since you can't get what you desire by becoming Dongzi, why not pursue what you want as yourself?"

In the real world, the shadow that enveloped Touzi's body faded from her body, and the unbuttoned collar of her clothes had been tied back together by tiny shadow tentacles. She opened her eyes, but there was no trace of Lin Shangren.

[Tsk, he was so indifferent to her before, why is he so gentle and convincing her this time? Why flirt with her if he doesn't accept it? What a jerk! ???]

"I'm just making it up to her."

Lin Shangren replied,

"After all, I killed her mother. Although given her mother's behavior, she would probably send her to Mamiya Shin'er to be made into corpse wax, so I indirectly saved her life. But, I killed her mother after all. The little girl is quite pitiful, what's wrong with me giving her a little humanitarian care?"

"Your language is so strange... You were acting so silly just now, I thought you had changed your personality. (?▽｀)ノ?】

"Mao! I'm extremely gentle to good people and ordinary people. Although I'm not a saint like Kamijou Touma who is addicted to saving people, I'm definitely a good person." Lin Shangren said to Ashrose as he sneaked into the shadows.

[Dongzi was just a little bit friendly to her, and she regarded Dongzi as her own god. If you treat her like this, she might...]

"Shut up, Nicki Minaj! Let's get down to business first, okay?" Lin Shangren said in a voice reminiscent of Mr. Sun from the Hangzhou villa district. "I'm fed up with these girls. They're always looking for trouble."

Lin Shangren was talking about Touzi, and was also referring to the several female students who were not aware of their own dangers that he had just sensed.

Just when he had retracted his mind shadow, Lin Shangren sensed that several female students had broken into the underground air-raid shelter of Yingyu Girls' College, and their target was the one who had escaped from the air-raid shelter.

"Didn't I seal the entrance to the air-raid shelter last time? How did they get in?"

Chapter 181: The Suicide Squad

Every school has some campus legends, such as the school was built on a mass grave in order to use the students' yang energy to suppress the souls of the dead; or there being a soul ring exploded in a certain dormitory or floor, so going there late at night might lead to encountering ghosts; or the school cafeteria has been colluding with illegal vendors to sell rat meat as pork to students.

These legends, some true and some false, are numerous. Apart from those completely fabricated, some campus legends are not groundless but have real origins. For example, the series of "Seven Mysteries of Campus" in Jintian, while not involving ghosts, does reveal a murder case. Or, for example, the Naked Man soaring through the night sky of Nankai University. While he can't guarantee a successful hit for couples, he does fly naked through the sky.

As a Christian girls' school founded in 1887, Sakuraba Girls' Academy boasts a long history. From its founding until Hayashi Naoto's arrival in 1956, Sakuraba Girls' Academy naturally spawned numerous campus legends. However, due to strict school regulations, students were not expected to openly discuss these matters, and naturally, there were no curious groups like the "Junior Detective Team" or the "Fudo High School Mystery Research Society" to delve into the truth behind these campus tales.

But things are different now. With the overly strict school rules abolished, the students of Sakuraha Girls' Academy can freely discuss all previously forbidden topics during breaks: literature, movies, music... or simply chat and complain. All sorts of campus legends have also begun to spread widely among the students. Of course, this is inseparable from the personal efforts of the storyteller, Shishinomiya Tsuzuko.

Classic urban legends such as Hanako, Hachisha-sama, and Red Paper and Blue Paper are beyond words. Legends born in Sakuraha Girls' Academy have also begun to spread on a large scale, such as: there is actually a demon in the academy that regularly devours girls from poor families.

This is actually the truth. Friends who have read the previous article know that those female students who came from ordinary families but were specially recruited into Sakurayu Girls' College were eventually taken care of by Kitami Reika and other female students.

But the students at the school didn't know. To them, those students were indeed missing. The official school statement was that they had transferred schools or dropped out, but no one had seen them since. This aroused the curiosity of some students. Could it be that they were really eaten by demons?

So a group of like-minded students began to spontaneously investigate this true campus legend.

You may have a question here: are a group of female high school students really so idle?

This was due to the national conditions and the times. First, these wealthy daughters didn't have to take the college entrance exam; most of them attended school simply to maintain appearances. Second, entertainment options were limited, and their energy was excessive. Finally, the female students investigating this incident were indeed interested in the occult.

This isn't right. Are girls really interested in these supernatural things? Think about who in real life believes most in tarot readings, who enjoys playing games like pen fairies and Ouija boards, and who in horror movies loves to lead adventures and seek death.

So, it makes perfect sense for a group of high school girls to spontaneously investigate campus horror legends. Furthermore, they have an opinion leader leading the charge: Shionomiya Tsuzuko.

Tsuiko's desire to investigate this matter was naturally motivated by a desire to gather material. While the sheer volume of inspiration Lin Shangren had "fed" her was enough to turn her into a Japanese Agatha Christie, Tsuiko herself wasn't entirely satisfied. She was a writer after all; she couldn't rely solely on Lin Shangren's creative input, could she? Because the stories Lin Shangren had told her, like "The Haunted Head," "The Principle of the Net Bride," and "The Astrology Murder Case," were so brilliant, she desperately needed to write some completely original stories to stabilize her mind.