I said you are all war criminals

Under the dim lights, a band played vigorously on the stage, and a few sparsely seated audience members swayed to the rhythm. Behind the bar, Ichichi Hongka, with her side ponytail tied, stared at her laptop screen, her fingers rapidly tapping away, seemingly busy with something.

"Hongxia."

Su Shi walked to the bar and knocked on the table.

Hong Xia looked up and saw Su Shi, and immediately smiled brightly: "Hey, Su Shi! Long time no see! How come you have time to come today? Are you here to see the show?"

"no,"

Su Shi shook her head. "I came here to look for Xiangzi. Do you know where she went?"

"She's missing, right?"

Hong Xia shook her head gently, "I don't know how she is, but don't worry, Xiangzi can take care of herself."

Su Shi frowned, feeling that things were not that simple.

"But her phone is turned off, so I can't contact her..."

Hongxia raised her head and gave Su Shi a comforting smile.

"Don't worry, Xiangzi is a grown man, nothing will happen to him. Even if he is in danger, Xiangzi can knock them away with one punch."

"Xiangzi is not a violent person..."

Su Shi defends her friend.

Hong Xia just smiled, "Well, how's your band going? Even if Xiangzi isn't here, you still have a band to worry about, right?"

"There's no time to think about those things..."

Su Shi sighed, "I've been looking for Xiangzi recently. I only ran into Li Xi by chance this morning. I haven't even seen Deng."

Coming out of the live house, Sushi was greeted by a sweltering, hot air that made her feel nauseous. Hongxia's nonchalant expression lingered in her mind, adding to her irritation. Where had Xiangzi gone? Could it be that, as Hongxia said, he'd punched someone and been arrested by the police?

...That's too ridiculous.

Su Shi walked forward in a daze until he saw someone appear in front of him who looked even more confused than himself.

That was a strange man.

Even on the street, he wore a white coat. His unkempt appearance contrasted sharply with his clean face, and his slender limbs looked like they would break if bent...

This strange man was standing in front of an appliance store, looking at the turned-on TV.

The news is being broadcast on TV...

"Last night at 8 o'clock, there was a stampede at the idol Chiyoko Ibuki's concert..."

What's so good about the news?

Su Shi didn't understand.

However, looking at the man staring at the TV news, Su Shi spoke as if possessed by a strange force.

"Excuse me... do you know Toyokawa Shoko?"

33

Chapter 33: The Curse Master.

"and many more!"

Aine shouted loudly.

Li Xi walked ahead with his head down.

"Wait for me, Rikki—"

Hearing this, Lixi stopped and moved forward.

"what?"

"Don't be so anxious... Besides, you can't use the curse without me, right?"

Aine trotted over to Riki and grabbed Riki's wrist.

"Besides, because of the curse, we're inseparable... right?"

Hearing this, Li Xi pursed his thin lips.

That's right, because of the cursed bead, Riki and Aine couldn't be too far away from each other. Otherwise, they would be like being cursed by the bead, falling into a state of near drowning, and only when they held each other's hands again could they return to normal.

For Li Xi, nothing could be more troublesome than this.

——Because Aine is a good person, but Riki is not.

"...Tsk."

Li Xi turned her head and continued to move forward, but this time, she dragged Aiyin with her.

In this way, they came to a busy square, and on the giant screen in the center of the square, a clip of Chiyoko Ibuki's last concert was playing in a loop.

The picture freezes at the moment when Chiyoko was crushed by the sudden huge force. Her twisted limbs and terrified expression are creepy.

Is there something wrong with Japan that they can broadcast this kind of thing on TV so openly without mosaics?

Aine, who had just returned from London, thought about this half seriously.

A bizarre incident occurred last night when a popular idol died mysteriously during a concert in front of a huge crowd. The tragic death immediately became a hot topic of discussion, sparking conspiracy theories and urban legends, the most popular of which was a curse.

Li Xi stopped and looked up at the shocking scene on the big screen, her eyes dim and unclear. The buzzing of the people around her was like a swarm of flies flying around her ears, making her even more irritated.

"That must be a curse, right?"

Aine whispered, "Will our curse also turn out like that..."

Li Xi ignored her and just stared at the screen.

Her first target was none other than the curse master who had created this case.

According to the information obtained from the curse beads, the residual souls obtained by cursing the curse master are thousands of times greater than those obtained by cursing an ordinary person. No matter how you think about it, from the perspective of efficiency, cursing the curse master is more reasonable -

"Too cruel."

Aine continued, "We have to stop that guy and stop him from killing people."

……it is good.

Li Xi thought.

The reason why she dragged Aine here to see this tragic scene was to arouse Aine's disgust towards the Curse Master.

After all, it’s very troublesome…the curse on Riki can only be activated by Aine.

If Aiyin is unwilling to kill, then Riki won't be able to curse others. If he can't curse others, then he won't be able to collect the residual souls.

…However, it seems that Aine still can’t accept the idea of “killing the curse master”. She still thinks that “stopping” is the best thing to do.

"How are you going to stop it?"

So, Li Xi asked directly, "You plan to tell the police that this woman was killed by a curse, and the person who killed her used the curse to commit the crime... Is that what you plan to say?"

"...There's no way I can say that. The police will think I'm an idiot."

Aine sighed.

What normal police officer would take "curse" seriously...

"So, we have to rely on ourselves to stop the curse..."

"Stop it? How? Are you going to tell him, 'Okay, okay, stop using curses to kill people'? Will he listen?"

Lixi pointed to the big screen.

"But...but killing is wrong..."

Aine whispered.

"...Tsk."

Li Xi spat. She was really not good at this kind of thing.

"Do you think he'll suddenly find his conscience and stop killing people? You're dreaming! This Chiyoko is just the beginning. More innocent people will be harmed. Maybe the next one will be someone you know, your friend, your family..."

Li Xi deliberately depicted those horrific scenes, full of blood and horrific scenes, just to break down Aine's psychological defenses.

"Their internal organs will be squeezed out, their bones will be twisted and deformed, and they will die without dignity... At that time, can you still stand here and say that 'killing is wrong'?"

Aine was silent for a moment, choosing to change the subject, "Even if we want to kill him...how can we kill him? We don't even know who he is."

"A concert..."

Li Xi pointed at the idol whose death was tragic on the big screen. "There are tens of thousands of people here. The Curse Master must be among them. Either an audience member, a staff member, or someone backstage."

She paused and said, "This guy is really brave. He dared to do it even with so many people watching."

Aine shook her head again. "With so many people here, who knows who the curse master is? I don't think you can find him."

"Fool,"

Li Xi rolled his eyes. "Think about it, who would kill someone in public? They must hate that Chiyoko to the core, right? Think about it, who could be the idol's enemy?"

Li Xi deliberately threw the question to Aine, wanting her to participate instead of standing there like a piece of wood.

"Uh……"

Aine thought hard, "Rival? Or... a perverted stalker?"

"It's all possible."

Li Xi nodded. "Although cursing to kill is a method that is difficult to detect, it is still just murder. If it is murder, there must be a motive. We just need to find the motive."

"It's also possible that killing idols is just to collect the residual souls?"

Aine retorted, "How do you know that person has a grudge against an idol?"

Li Xi was about to explain when he heard a loud explosion.

"boom!"

In an instant, the building that was playing the images of idols being crushed during the concert on a large screen in a loop, burst into flames.

The shockwave from the explosion nearly knocked Aiyin off her feet, and she instinctively grabbed Riki's arm. Riki, on the other hand, gritted his teeth, narrowed his eyes, and stared intently at the building engulfed in flames.

"what the hell?"

Li Xi cursed under his breath.

The building's glass curtain wall shattered under the intense heat, falling like rain. The raging flames greedily licked at everything, making crackling sounds. The air was filled with a pungent, burning smell, making it almost impossible to breathe.

At this moment, a distorted voice came from the burning building, like a wail, like a cry: "It wasn't me who killed him! It wasn't me!"

The voice was full of despair and fear, which made people shudder.

Immediately afterwards, a figure jumped out of the window on the third floor of the building, fell like a rag doll, and hit the ground heavily with a dull thud.

Seeing this, Aine gasped in shock and subconsciously covered her mouth.

The man who fell from the building was wearing a tight-fitting suit that tightly outlined his thin but extremely strong muscles like a second skin.

Outside the tights, there are countless red armor plates in the shape of flames. These armors are not made of metal, but a substance similar to biological keratin. Under the reflection of the blazing fire, they flash with a strange luster, as if they are really burning.

As for this guy's head, it was wrapped in a helmet of similar material, revealing only two scarlet, insect-like compound eyes. Against the backdrop of thick smoke and fire, it looked particularly terrifying.

This strange outfit, combined with his bizarre falling posture, made him look less like a human and more like some kind of monster from hell.

"what is that?"

Aine asked tremblingly.

Li Xi had already grasped his mantra beads and the "abandoned channel".

"That is the Curse Master."

34

Chapter 34: The True Power of the Mantra Beads——

Shoko Toyokawa stood on the top of the building, overlooking the chaos below.

Her father, Fengchuan Qinggao, was ultimately unable to bear the residual souls in the curse beads and was devoured by those souls.

In other words...becoming a "weirdo".