Chapter 21: Day 21 of Cultivation

Chapter 21

Let’s go back four days.

"Kanako." Inside the train, Nanami Kento interrupted the casual conversation between Haibara Yu and Kanako, "Can I see your weapons in advance?"

Shortly after he finished speaking, Nanami Kento realized he needed to explain his words, so he continued, "You need auxiliary glasses to see the cursed spirits clearly, so exorcising the curse should also require a weapon imbued with cursed power."

"Understanding your combat methods in advance will facilitate cooperation on subsequent missions."

Even without Nanami's explanation, Kanako would have agreed without hesitation.

However, Nanami Kento patiently explained his inner thoughts, and Kanako was embarrassed to interrupt him midway, so she waited until he finished speaking before handing over the parachute gun.

The appearance of this purple umbrella was exactly the same as the one Kanako brought with her when she first traveled through time. Nanami Kento grasped the umbrella handle and was about to take a closer look at it, but when he pulled hard with his arm, he found that it wouldn't budge.

Nanami Kento:?

At the other end, Kanako held on tightly to the other end and did not let go.

Kanako explained, "The umbrella is a bit heavy, and it's even heavier after the modification. If Nanami doesn't use her cursed power to strengthen her body, she might not be able to hold it."

Nanami Kento had witnessed Kanako's nearly three months of dismantling the high school, so he decisively gave up on observing it himself and waited for Kanako to introduce it herself.

"The Umbrella Gun was returned to me by Gojo Satoru a couple of days ago. About two months ago, he said he could transform it into a cursed spirit exorcist. I'm not entirely sure how, but it seems he dismantled several cursed tools from his family's warehouse and then added them to the original Umbrella Gun."

"If we categorize them by level, the current Umbrella Spear is probably a Level 2 spell tool, Nanami."

If this were in a game, the purple lattice umbrella would have a label like a game item:

[Second-level Curse Tool: Umbrella Spear (Kanako's equipment)]

Sometimes it was Nanami, sometimes it was Sangan Gun... Nanami Kento temporarily ignored the children's strange way of giving nicknames, and turned on the screen of his mobile phone.

"February Station?" Kanako read the file on her phone.

After boarding the train to the destination, Kanako and the others chose an empty carriage, opened the document sent from the "window", and confirmed it again.

Kanako's new phone only had the phone numbers of the senior high school staff saved in it, not the number of the auxiliary supervisor. She simply kept leaning towards Nanami Kento and continued reading, "The cursed spirit level for this mission is level two, making it a quasi-level two mission."

This is a rule that Kanako has only recently figured out. Simply put, the level judgment related to the sorcerer himself will be lower than the actual strength, while the level judgment related to the curse spirit will be higher.

It is said that these regulations were originally drawn up to ensure that sorcerers of every level could easily deal with cursed spirits of the same level, reducing the possibility of danger and casualties. Therefore, the level of sorcerers was extremely strict.

But later… due to a shortage of manpower, the higher-ups automatically ignored the original intention of the judgment rules when assigning tasks. It became common for third-level sorcerers to deal with second-level cursed spirits. Although they successfully solved the problem, they still couldn't get a level increase. The sorcerer level judgment was still strict…

Kanako frowned slightly in dissatisfaction and pouted her upper lip towards the tip of her nose.

"Will the quasi-level 2 mission be too difficult for freshmen?" Kanako asked.

Nanami Kento suddenly perked up and immediately responded, "I completely agree with you, Kanako. This shouldn't be a task assigned to first-year students."

Kanako was startled.

After a few seconds of excitement, Nanami Kento slowly calmed down and said, "But as someone who abides by the rules, sometimes I need to adapt my own development to the rules."

Huiyuan Xiong said to Kanako: "Nanami-san is very good at thinking, and can point out the essence of something in a sharp way, and she is also very reasonable!"

Kanako lowered her chin solemnly, and her eyes looking at Nanami Kento instantly became bright.

"Okay, let's get back to the topic. Judging from the difficulty of the mission, this is a very ordinary mission." Nanami Kento moved to the side calmly, not used to Kanako's sudden closeness.

He forwarded the file to Kanako's number, but she still had no intention of turning her head back and stayed with him.

Nanami Kento: ...Wait a minute.

Speaking of which, this is Kanako's first mission.

Then there would naturally be more things to teach her. For two first-year students who could almost be regarded as senior sorcerers, Nanami Kento moved his phone a little closer to Kanako.

"The ability to quickly retrieve information from the documents is essential." Nanami Kento explained clearly, word for word. "Please give a brief overview of the time, location, and mission requirements."

Seeing that Kento Nanami entered the serious mission state so quickly, Kanako naturally would not be negligent.

"It was the early morning of May 16, 2007, at [February Station]. The first person who noticed something was wrong reported it to the police, but they ignored it. It wasn't until the evening of the 16th that the family of the reporter noticed he hadn't returned home and reported him missing. He remains missing to this day."

Kanako pinched her chin and fell into thought: "Why did the police ignore the initial call? The harm caused by the curse must be exaggerated. Just describing the damage caused would attract the attention of the police."

"That's not true, Kanako-san," Haibara Yu retorted. "After all, cursed spirits can't be interpreted using ordinary human logic! Some of them may be known for causing large-scale disasters and causing very conspicuous damage, but there are also those who like to hide people secretly."

"For example, if the victim's information contains information such as 'missing' or 'disappeared', it means that one of the characteristics of cursed spirits is that they are not conspicuous, which means there must be other special reasons."

Kanako nodded, not quite understanding.

"The reason why the police ignored the missing person's first call was because of the location." Nanami Kento took out a tram route map.

"This line..." Nanami Kento's fingertips moved along the line until they reached the bottom terminus. "There's no such station as February Station."

"Throughout history...there has never been a transportation station in the country called 'February Station'," Nanami Kento added.

Huiyuan Xiong raised his index finger neatly. "So, every time this platform is mentioned in the intelligence documents, it's marked with a special symbol. It's because this station is fake!"

Huihara Yu: "So when the person reporting the crime first called the police and gave a location that didn't exist, it would be easy for them to mistake it for a prank or harassment call."

Kanako was a little confused: "Huh?"

Kanako: "What on earth is [February Station]? If it doesn't exist, why is there a station name? No, I don't understand..."

"It's simple. You can imagine it as..." Nanami Kento closed the map. "February Station itself is the name of a cursed spirit."

[Record: May 2004, a well-known forum in XX city]

A post asking for help appeared on the Internet.

[OP: Um... I'm really sorry to interrupt your evening, but I have a question that I urgently need your answer.]

【Reply: Yes, no interruption, please go ahead. 】

[OP: Well, it's like this... I had just graduated and was busy looking for a job. I had to go to a job interview in a suburban area far from home. After looking up the general route at home, I took a certain train route for the first time.]

[OP: Ah, I can't reveal the exact route, but it's probably a train that goes through Mitama Prefecture, Shizuoka Prefecture... and ends at a small coastal port in the south.]

[Reply: That's pretty detailed. I should be able to pinpoint a few routes.]

[Reply: In short, please continue to explain your question in detail. ]

[Reply: Is there another problem with the train? Call the person in charge, or go to the conductor's office to find out what's going on!]

[Reply: Where is the OP? Where did the OP go? Why did he suddenly disappear?]

[OP: Sorry, the train car suddenly went dark. The phone screen was too bright, and the contrast with the darkness was too strong. My vision just adjusted.]

[Reply: How dark is it in the train? Aren't there any lights on at this late hour? Could it be that I encountered a ruthless conductor?]

[OP: Let me first briefly explain what happened before the train compartment darkened.]

[OP: After I boarded this tram, I planned to ride it directly to the beach at the final stop, where I would find a hotel to spend the night before attending an interview at the port the next day.]

[OP: I counted the stops one by one on my fingers. By the time I reached twelve, the sun had completely set, the sky had darkened, and the orange-yellow lights in the train car lit up. Under that warm glow, I felt a little sleepy, my chin tapping the floor. I set an alarm on my phone for half an hour, then closed my eyes and fell asleep.]

[Reply: Did the OP oversleep?]

[OP: The alarm clock rang in my headphones, and I dazedly opened my eyes to find that the view outside the window was completely like a seaside scene. The high-rise buildings that are common in the city center were nowhere to be seen, and only a hazy horizon could be seen in the distance.]

I took off my headphones and heard the sound of the tide. I asked an elderly man next to me, "Excuse me, what station are we at now?" The man kindly explained my confusion: it's the station before the final stop. Luckily, I didn't oversleep.

[OP: The entire train was incredibly quiet. I looked around and realized, including me and the old man, there were only four people on it... but that made sense, considering the train was nearing its remote terminus.]

【OP: But something strange happened. 】

[Original Poster: The train stopped at the second-to-last station for a while before starting again. I stared out the dark window in a daze, waiting for about twenty minutes, but it still didn't reach the terminal.]

[Original Poster: The warm yellow light in the carriage grew dimmer and dimmer. The other three passengers who hadn't fallen asleep before, including the elderly man, all drifted off into a deep sleep. I had been taking a light nap for a while, so I wasn't particularly sleepy at the moment.]

[OP: It's been twenty minutes... thirty minutes... maybe even longer, and we still haven't reached the terminal.]

[OP: This tram is still moving forward without slowing down.]

【reply:……】

[Reply: I think the original poster is a little sleepy. Is it because it's his first time taking an unfamiliar train and he got the wrong train number?]

[Reply: I think so too. Perhaps the original poster didn't take the right train in the first place. You wouldn't find a station that takes less than half an hour to reach anywhere else in the country.]

[Reply: Perhaps the original poster wasn't riding an ordinary tram, but a special train or something like that...]

[Reply: No, wait a minute, didn’t the old man you asked the original poster about answer your question? This means that at least the old man was thinking the same thing as you—“Why hasn’t we reached the terminal yet?”]

[Reply: But everyone is asleep... Only the OP is confused.]

[Reply: Why not solve the problem directly with action? Go knock on the window of the conductor's cab.]

[Original Poster: I tried it, it didn't work... No one responded.]

[Reply: To the person above, please look up and don't forget that this is most likely a black-hearted conductor who turns off the lights in the carriages at night.]

[Reply: You can certainly pretend not to hear the passenger's response, right?]

Ah, finally out of the tunnel. The moonlight isn't nearly as bright as it seems, but it's still some light.

[OP: I've contacted the commander's office and the liaison officer, but haven't received any definitive response yet.]

The good news is, I think I saw the station.

[Reply: That’s great.]

[Reply: Well, get off first and then find someone to contact.]

[Original Poster: The bad news is, the name of this station is a bit unfamiliar. I guess I got on the wrong train.]

[OP: It's called "February Station," but I can't seem to find any information online about it. Is it a station so old it's about to be phased out, or is it a newly established or renamed station?]

[Reply: I don’t remember this station.]

[Reply: I checked and there's definitely nothing... I'll ask my grandfather, he used to work in a related profession, so maybe it's some antique.]

[OP: I'm getting off first, because logically this is the final stop, and I don't know how long it will take before the next one stops.]

[OP: Everyone on the bus was asleep, and the thought of me being the only one getting off suddenly made me want to quit... The night was so dark, and the sea breeze was so cold.]

【……】

No one knew how much time had passed, and no matter how explosively the number of replies increased during the day, the author's replies stopped forever at that night.

And the last two messages.

[OP: We've arrived at the station, why didn't the train stop? Why didn't it stop? Why didn't it stop?]

【OP: Where on earth am I?】

After reading this, Kanako shivered from head to toe and her hair stood on end.

"What happened?" Huiyuan Xiong asked naturally.

"No! Nothing happened! A cool breeze blew in just now, and I was wearing too few clothes!" Kanako tugged at her Tang suit.

System: […Am I seeing correctly? Are you afraid?]

Kanako shook her head frantically in her heart: [I’m not, I didn’t! ]

The system was very surprised: Kanako, who reads Ieiri Shoko's anatomy book as a meal aid and... to put it bluntly, has no guilt about killing lives, is actually afraid of urban legends!

[Kanako stubbornly said: "I'm... I've been watching too many horror movies lately! That's right, I won't be scared anymore if I stop watching them!"

[The system ruthlessly reveals: You watched a movie in bed with a bunny stuffed animal in the middle of the night, right? Afterward, you were too afraid to go to the bathroom alone, and you deliberately made me sing Doraemon in your head before you slowly crawled out of bed?]

【Kanako: QAQ】

System: [Your current situation may be the legendary... immune to physical terror, but afraid of psychological terror.]

Kanako is weak, pitiful and helpless.

"Have you finished reading it?" asked Nanami Kento.

Kanako quickly came to her senses, clenched her fists, and pretended to be calm: "Hmm...! I've completely grasped the cause of the incident in just five minutes!"

Nanami Kento didn't react much. He calmly raised his hand and signaled Kanako to continue expressing her views.

“…Okay, no problem.” Kanako subconsciously poked the index fingers of both hands together, thinking uneasily that she might have accidentally said something too exaggerated.

But now that the words have been spoken, the unyielding Kanako will not let others see her fear.

"【February Station】is a fictional station name. It first appeared two years ago, in May 2004, in a help post." Kanako looked up at Nanami Kento, trying to judge from his expression whether she was right.

…attempted and failed.

Kanako: "Because the poster in the post allegedly entered a ghostly...ah, strange world, disconnected from the real world, and completely lost contact with them. Even today, there's been no news of them. So, ordinary people started spreading the story like crazy on the forums, constantly amplifying the negative impact..."

"Without them realizing it, the fear and anxiety of the people had coalesced around the strange stories at February Station, forming a real curse."

As soon as she finished speaking, Kanako closed her eyes and suppressed the fear in her heart, filled with anxiety about answering incorrectly in class.

Haibara Yu clapped his hands excitedly. "Well said, Kanako-san! It only took three months for you to go from the basics of sorcery to a well-reasoned analysis! Kanako-san is very smart!"

What came to her ears was Huihara Yu's very straightforward recognition. Kanako opened her eyes suddenly, and was a little flattered by the praise. She forgot for a moment what emotion she was in just now.

Right now, her heart was filled with the joy of having achieved success for the first time, and she could no longer accommodate anything else.

Until Nanami Kento poured a bucket of cold water on her.

"Your previous deduction was based on the conclusion that February Station is a cursed spirit born from the collective negative emotions," Nanami Kento said seriously. "How would you have reasoned without this premise drawn by the sorcerer-in-chief?"

Kanako fell into thought again. If it was her...

It’s a horror movie! It’s a horror movie!!! (Kanako’s Screaming World Famous Paintings.jpg)

Well, she might be like those ordinary people, always scared when riding the tram, and in the end, she would avoid all the trams in the area where the incident happened.

Seeing that Kanako couldn't answer, Nanami Kento spoke succinctly and forcefully: "That is - believe in science!"

Kanako just asked a question:?

system:?

Kanako raised her right hand: "Question! Is the curse system also considered science as Nanami mentioned?"

"Not yet," Nanami Kento said. "The science I'm referring to is something that non-magicians can access and master."

"After all... everyone was once a human before becoming a sorcerer. We can't blindly disconnect from society." Nanami Kento realized that his words were somewhat grammatically incorrect. He thought for a moment and then corrected himself, "Rather than science, it's more about rationality."

"Rational?" Kanako was even more confused and tilted her head in confusion.

"Reason is the basic ability of human beings to judge things, and it can also ensure that humans will not be controlled by emotions." said Kento Nanami.

He realized that the concepts he explained were too monotonous, so he simply threw the question to his classmate: "Let Huiyuan-san give an example."

Kanako and Haibara Yu have always gotten along well, so she should be able to understand his explanations better.

Haibara Yu had been preparing for this, and immediately blurted out: "Reason is like a big bowl of rice!"

Kanako's eyes lit up when she heard about her beloved white rice.

Nanami Kento covered his face... He regretted letting Haibara Yu explain.

Haibara Yu: "Rationality means that you learn how rice is made and how to cook the most fragrant and sweet rice... It doesn't matter if you don't know how to cook it! Just know where to buy rice... That way, if you run out of rice one day, you can get it back through your understanding of it."

“If you don’t understand it, you won’t be able to find it again. When you can’t eat rice, you’ll be sad and heartbroken, but you’ll never be able to break through this feeling.”

Huiyuan Xiong concluded: "In short, if you just indulge in negative emotions and don't think for yourself, you will become a person who can't even eat rice!"

Haibara Yu: "So, just like wanting to eat white rice every day, you must always stay rational!"

Kanako: "I think I understand a little bit!"

Nanami Builder:......

No, he didn't understand at all. It turned out that even though they were all unique people in human society, the brain circuits of sorcerers could not be shared!

Childhood is the stage when people are most likely to fall into emotionality. Simply put, Nanami Kento just doesn't want Kanako to be controlled by her emotions and go astray.

"Kanako." Nanami Kento called.

"I'm here!" Kanako sat upright with her chest and head held high, appearing extremely reserved.

"..." Nanami Kento looked at her uneasy expression, hesitant to speak, and chose to change his words, "Think carefully before you act. A second-level cursed spirit already has a certain level of intelligence. Don't be easily fooled."

Kanako placed her hand on her chest and said, "Understood! When does it start?"

After hearing this, Huiyuan Xiong asked in confusion: "Start? We have been on a mission all the time."

Kanako was surprised: "Huh?"

Huihara Yu pointed to the four walls of the slightly old carriage, the hanging ring handle hanging in the air and swaying while driving, and the fragmented sunlight from the coast horizon poured into the empty and deserted carriage.

At that moment, Kanako suddenly remembered that she had never seen the fourth pedestrian get on the bus along the way.

It turns out that they... had been on the train heading towards [February Station].

*

Kanako saw the cursed spirit.

When the tram reached the last five stops originally marked on the route map, the curse atmosphere in the surroundings became visibly thicker.

Perhaps it was because they were getting closer to the sea, but Kanako could still smell a faint, damp, fishy odor. She looked around in confusion and happened to meet the eyes of several purple-black cursed spirits sitting in the empty seats across from them.

Kanako, facing each other: ...

Curse Spirit: ...Huh?

Kanako took a deep breath, turned her fear of strange stories into motivation for exorcism, and expressionlessly fired a volley of bullets from her umbrella.

The cursed spirit left the scene sadly with an unpleasant scream.

At the same time, Nanami Kento and Haibara Yu stood up and entered full combat mode.

"It's earlier than I thought. It seems that the curse has a wider impact than the latest updated information." Nanami Kento took out a blunt knife wrapped in bandages and observed the current situation.

Small curses like loaches emerged from various cracks inside the tram. They coveted the huge curse power in the sorcerer's body but were unwilling to get close to it casually. This was their natural perception of the strong, which made the curses dare not act rashly.

The low-level cursed spirits did not pose a threat for the time being, which made it easier for the three people to conduct their investigation.

"There are no additional clues at our current location, go to other carriages." Nanami Kento commanded.

In Japan, excluding the Shinkansen, ordinary trains have about eight carriages, while special-needs trains have about sixteen carriages.

This tram has eight carriages.

The carriage the three people were riding in was located in the middle of the entire tram, fourth in the sequence. Logically, it should be divided into two groups, advancing in opposite directions, to make the search more efficient.

So, Nanami Kento said, "Haihara-san, please team up with Kanako."

Huiyuan Xiong responded with great momentum: "Oh!"

"Once you discover a clue that may be related to the cursed spirit at [February Station], call immediately to communicate," Nanami Kento said. "If the call can't go through, make as much noise as possible to send a signal."

"Oh!" Kanako said.

She and Huihara Yu were responsible for the fourth carriage and the carriage in front of it.

Kanako searched carefully, trying not to miss any corner. Along the way, she always felt that many unfriendly eyes were lingering on her.

"That's a harmless cursed spirit staring at you." Huiyuan Xiong said, "Cursed spirits are always like this. When they find out you can see them, they will stay close to you."

"Then I won't take the initiative to see them..." Kanako murmured.

"Well, that's a good idea!" said Huihara Yu.

After saying this, she stopped at the connection between the first and second carriages.

"Habara, it smells terrible in there."

Kanako frowned, used her small body to block Haibara Yu behind her, and fixed her eyes on the empty and deserted front.

Very strange.

Whether it was the information fed back by the sense of smell or the keen perception of crisis engraved in the bones and blood, they all told of the abnormality in the first carriage.

But she didn't see any curse, and the carriage was clean.

Kanako adjusted her glasses and confirmed again that there was nothing in her field of vision.

As the saying goes, when something is out of the ordinary, there must be something wrong. With such a strong contrast, Kanako believed the former's judgment even more. She held the parachute gun and used the only long-range attack method to sweep the carriage.

The carriage was instantly riddled with holes, but it continued to move forward recklessly.

Haibara Yuu pointed his palm downwards at the ground: "There is residual cursed energy."

Residual curse power?

Kanako quickly searched her mind for basic knowledge about the world of curses: filth is the trace left behind when a curse is cast. It is extremely thin and can only be seen by concentrating curse energy around the eyes. Under normal circumstances, it cannot be smelled...

Damn it! How come it just happened to hit her nose!

Huiyuan Xiong quietly walked around Kanako and walked to the front, drawing a line with his heel: "The trace of filth extends from here to the left door, and the shape is similar to the footprint of an adult male."

Haibara Yu: "Excluding the possibility of other sorcerers being involved, he's most likely the person who reported the case. Since every step is accompanied by remnants of cursed energy, it means he's under the control of a cursed spirit, or the cursed spirit is attacking his body..."

Huiyuan Xiong concluded: "In short, he must have been murdered."

At this moment, the tram suddenly accelerated.

The tram was like a wild horse that had broken free from its reins. Its speed suddenly increased, and the scenery outside the window gradually became indistinguishable.

A loud roar was heard behind them. Kanako suddenly realized something, turned around and ran towards the source of the sound.

In the opposite direction behind...isn't that Nanami's location!?

A figure rushed out from the broken carriage. Nanami Kento rolled on the ground and got up again, slashing his sword to cut off the cursed spirits that bound his arms.

"The rear of the car is a trap! Run towards the front!" Nanami Kento shouted a warning.

The tram showed no sign of slowing down.

It ignored any platform on its way, broke through the guardrails that blocked its way, and issued a warning sound that echoed throughout the valley.

Those previously harmless loach-shaped small cursed spirits appeared from various holes in the carriage and flowed into the huge cursed spirit at the rear of the carriage that was trying to wrap up Nanami Kento.

It turns out that they were not avoiding at all... but waiting for the opportunity to attack.

Kento Nanami sprinted towards the front of the car without stopping. When Kanako reached him, she jumped up, raised her feet and kicked the shell of the cursed spirit hard.

So hard!

Kicking alone was not enough to break Kai's defense. Seeing this, Kanako turned around and used her purple umbrella to smash the tentacles of the cursed spirit.

"boom!"

The entire fourth carriage collapsed. Nanami Kento would naturally not give the cursed spirits time to recover before they could re-condense into shape.

The technique of the ten-stroke spell [Wall Fall Wall Fall] forcibly created a weakness in the cursed spirit. Nanami Kento slashed at the "weakness" with his blunt knife, triggering a critical hit and causing fatal damage on a large scale in an instant.

The cursed spirit held its broken "limbs" and cried shrilly like a baby. It was only a matter of time before it was completely exorcised.

Haibara Yu's voice came from the front: "Get ready for the carriages to separate!"

As the two stepped into the first carriage, Kanako was still curious about how to separate the carriages when she saw Haibara Yu punch the coupling with a fist full of cursed power. With a click, the connection point was smashed cleanly.

The remaining seven carriages disappeared into the horizon amid the howling wind.

Kanako:...?

Is this how it was solved? That's amazing!

"It's not over yet..." Nanami Kento gasped, "There's something wrong with the intelligence. This isn't a quasi-second-level mission."

"The cursed spirit in the trap alone has reached the second level, and the real [February Station] has not yet appeared." Nanami Kento said.

Haibara Yu hurriedly gave him some clues about the remaining cursed energy.

"...I have a hypothesis." Nanami Kento crouched down, gazing at the marks on the ground. "February Station is a cursed spirit with power superior to ours, at least possessing a technique."

"It was born from that strange story three years ago, and has been keeping its presence low with minimal damage ever since," Nanami Kento said. "In this country, every month, someone takes their own life on the train. To protect their reputation, the train company chooses to conceal this and avoid publicizing it as much as possible."

"In fact, the total number of human beings it has killed will only increase, not decrease."

Nanami Kento continued, "Not only that, it also constantly lures other cursed spirits closer, swallowing and absorbing other curses...Today, the source of the curse of [February Station] is no longer just a strange story."

"It's about a collective fear of trams."

Haibara Yu silently extended his hand: "Nanami-san... I have one last question."

"At this speed, the track is definitely not long enough to support the tram for that long, so after all this time, where are we now?"

Kanako shuddered all over, and her first reaction was to think of the supernatural world.

"I'm afraid it's the natural area called [February Station]."

His voice echoed in the dilapidated carriage. Kanako followed his gaze and also looked out the window -

In the pitch-black dark space, there is clearly no light source in any direction, but the scene outside the window can be seen extremely clearly.

The tram that had gone off the track was floating in mid-air, moving straight in one direction close to the sea level, and the sea water splashed by the waves soaked the wheels and rails.

"This is absolutely, definitely, definitely not reality." Kanako said through gritted teeth.

Kento Nanami once again used his actions to prove to Kanako that sorcerers should believe in science... no, the importance of rationality.

While facing the fear of the unknown, we must not give up on exploring its essence.

The "born realm" is the "inner world" of the person who casts the spell. It does not appear in the real material world, but the person who casts the spell drags the spirits of others into the realm.

The form of the field depends on the ability preference of the person who initiates the spell, so the field called "February Station" is mainly perceived as a tram that keeps heading towards a fake station.

Kanako quickly opened her phone and wanted to record this passage as a piece of knowledge, but she found that the screen would not turn on no matter how hard she pressed it.

"It's common to isolate signals within a field, or even shut down the functions of electronic equipment," Nanami Kento explained as he walked forward along the debris-filled ground.

Finally stopped in front of the closed car door.

"There is no road ahead and the footprints end here. Where is the victim most likely to be taken?" Nanami Kento muttered to himself.

Kanako tried to focus her thoughts. The train had completely veered off the tracks, careening across the azure waters, floating in the air, with nowhere to go. Where had the victim gone?

Did it fall in the rear carriage? Impossible, there was no trace of filth in the rear carriages.

Did he fall into the sea? There seems to be no basis for this.

As she thought of this, a drop of water fell on her shoulder.

Kanako was stunned for a moment, her eyes drifted upwards, and she tilted her neck back hard, and she saw the crack on the ceiling right on target, with a few drops of red liquid falling through the crack.

Kanako immediately realized: "It's on the roof outside."

In a flash, she smashed the car window glass with a punch, ignored the violent sea breeze, flipped over, and landed steadily on the top floor right above the tram.

A strong fishy smell almost hit me in the face. In the close distance, there was a giant ball as big as a human. The ball was beating violently, with a frequency close to that of a human heartbeat.

Kanako saw that there seemed to be something wrapped inside, and she recalled the little curse spirits whose cries were as sharp as those of babies, and she couldn't help but imagine that the thing in front of her was some kind of unborn fetus.

Wait...what if it really is like that?

"It's a cursed baby." Haibara Yu recognized the nature of the sphere.

"It seems a bit bad. If it hatches, it will at least be a special-grade...quasi-special-grade cursed spirit..." After telling the truth, the usually energetic Haibara Yu's voice gradually became weak.

Special grade...higher than first grade, it means very strong.

Regardless of the level, exorcism will put an end to everything.

Kanako never thinks too much. She put away the parachute gun without thinking, and quickly exerted force with her arms to hit the cursed baby repeatedly, leaving several afterimages in the air.

The cursed fetus could not withstand the continuous high-intensity blows, and a crack appeared at the top, and deep red liquid gushed out immediately. Kanako hurried forward and was about to finish it off, but found that there was nothing inside.

Eh? Kanako was confused. She looked around desperately. Where was the cursed spirit in the cursed fetus?

"Kanako-san."

"When I was very young, I heard an urban legend called "Half-Body Woman." Huiyuan Xiong told the story behind her for no reason.

"It's said... she was once run over by a speeding car while crossing the tracks, her body snapped in two at the waist. Later, she transformed into a demonic spirit, preying on passersby using the same method of death."

Kanako heard a strange creaking sound, and then the sound was like some kind of bone rubbing repeatedly on a hard gravel road.

"If I were Kanako-san's brother... and saw you become a sorcerer... I would definitely be very happy." Broken syllables were squeezed out of Huihara Yu's throat, "You should also always be happy."

"Now...go, and don't look back."

Kanako's expression froze for a moment, her whole body tensed almost to the limit, and then she turned towards Haibara Yu.

Then he saw the [half-body woman] hatched from the cursed fetus howling with excitement, and a white bony hand pierced Huihara Xiong's abdomen. There was still a faint smile on his face, and the corners of his mouth were filled with surging blood.

In an instant, Kanako's mind went blank... She tried her best to think with the little sanity she had left: there were two high-level cursed spirits.

[February Station]...and the [Half-Body Women] that were raised and hatched within the territory of [February Station], they are all related to trams.

These curses with the same roots are entangled and work together.

Nanami Kento yelled: "Haibara!!!"

It…hurt Haibara.

[Half-body Woman] smiled and was about to cut the wound in half, but she got stuck in the middle.

No matter how hard she tried or how much more cursed power she increased, she couldn't cut down the waist. The laughter of the [Half-Body Woman] suddenly stopped. Through Haibara Yu's body, she clearly felt her bone claws being grasped by a small palm.

Then it broke into several tiny pieces with a crisp "click".

The [half-body woman] screamed, sharp enough to pierce the eardrums: "Ah!!!"

Kanako threw the broken bone hand aside without changing her expression, carefully avoiding Huihara Yu's wound, and then cut off the entire bone arm of the half-body woman in one breath.

“One, two…”

Kanako pushed the [Half-Body Woman] to the ground and continued to break other joints while holding it down.

Her eyes were empty as she murmured the number of times she had to break the other bony arm. The number two represented the number of times she had smashed its head.

While Kanako was running away unconsciously, Nanami Kento immediately transported Huihara Xiong to a relatively safe area and used his cursed power to perform rescue measures in time.

After confirming that Haibara Yu was not in danger of life, he looked up at the false sky within the domain. At the edge of the sky, there were signs of shattered glass due to the damage caused by Kanako. Nanami Kento felt quite complicated.

He wanted to teach Kanako to hold on to her rationality, but in a critical moment, he relied on her emotions to run away and save her life.

Even saving Haibara was her credit.

...Who is the sorcerer and who is the child who needs care?

Nanami Kento knew that with his current strength, he could not stop Kanako's actions, but at least... no matter what Kanako chose to do or what the outcome was, he would accompany her to the end.

After figuring this out, Nanami Kento decisively turned around and returned to the carriage to look for the true form of the cursed spirit of [February Station] in order to break the domain as soon as possible.

On Kanako's side, the system was going crazy.

About half an hour ago, the system automatically popped up a continuous red alert, and no matter how it called out to Kanako's consciousness, it was useless.

Kanako's unconscious rampage never stopped for a moment, and even after the [Half-Body Woman] completely lost the ability to resist, her indiscriminate attacks on the area never stopped.

Only a curse can remove a curse.

Kanako's purely physical attacks cannot completely exorcise the cursed spirits. The umbrella gun's cursed tool level is level two, and it cannot cause absolute damage to the higher-level [February Station] and [Half-body Woman].

Kanako blinked her lifeless eyes and activated her remaining thinking ability: How can I get rid of it?

She was used to summarizing her past experiences, and her mind drifted through the time she spent with the people at the academy, as well as her guardian, Xiaojie...

By the way, cursed spirits can be eaten, right?

The true form of [February Station] is a strange cursed spirit with translucent skin, two black buttons in its eyes, and an appearance like a small ghost. Nanami Kento caught it from a hidden corner, and it was trembling with fear.

The domain disappeared, and the surrounding scene gradually returned to the real world.

Kanako walked towards [February Station] step by step. Nanami Kento mistakenly thought that she wanted to beat someone up to vent her anger, so he did not stop her.

The next second, Kanako tentatively moved closer to the ghost, opened her mouth and took a bite.

Nanami Kento:?

system:?

“It tastes so bad…!” Kanako was so disgusted that she was completely unrecognizable and regained consciousness.

Nanami Kento quickly slapped [February Station] aside and said, "If it tastes bad, don't eat it!"

"But I want to exorcise the cursed spirit!!!" Kanako howled, "It's too high-level to kill, so I can only use my powerful digestive ability to destroy it!"

Nanami Kento's mentality collapsed. He had never been able to empathize with Yega Zhengdao so much: "...But you can't eat anything carelessly!"

"Anyway, first contact the people from the High Commissioner to take Haibara back for treatment." Dragging his exhausted body that had almost exhausted his cursed energy, Nanami Kento forced himself to make the call.

Before that, he didn't forget to care about Kanako and asked, "Are you okay?"

"That's great, I'm in good health." Kanako sniffed.

"lie."

"I'm in good health, but I'm not in a good mood..." Kanako pouted and her voice became very soft.

"There won't be a next time." Nanami Kento's voice was hoarse. "If you're afraid of strange stories, just never do any related missions again. Kanako, you're not a sorcerer."

Kanako:......

"Habara will call you Kanako-san, but I won't. You can have your own choice."

choose……

Kanako stretched out her trembling fingers and paused them on the tip of Haibara Yu's nose for a while, feeling his even breathing, and suddenly chuckled.

"Fortunately, everyone is fine." Kanako quietly extended her hand to Nanami Kento, wanting to shake hands with him. This time, Nanami Kento did not refuse.

But accidents always come unexpectedly.

Nanami Kento's hand was empty because Kanako's fingertips had turned translucent.

Kanako:? ? ?

"What happened? What's going on?" Similar situations began to spread from the fingertips to the whole body, and Kanako watched herself gradually become transparent.

Nanami Kento froze for a second, then quickly realized, "The most popular legend about [February Station] is that riding the train leads to another parallel world connected to it."

"The person who disappeared at February Station will reappear someday in the next few years—the cursed spirit born from this legend is very likely to possess similar techniques."

Well, then Kanako bit the cursed spirit, forcing it to perform the spell on the spot.

Kanako immediately caught the little ghost that was the culprit, but unfortunately the spell that had already been activated could not be changed. She slowly watched her disappearing body, and where it would go was still unknown.

"We will find you." said Nanami Kento.

His voice seemed to be floating in the distant sky. When Kanako woke up again, she was standing on the crowded Shinkansen platform.

……hiss.

Kanako took a deep breath, clenched her fists, and yelled in her heart as if to vent her anger:

Where is this place!!!

【Author’s words】

I accidentally wrote "three in one" into "four in one". I am so exhausted (rolling on the ground). Thank you all for your support. I will continue to work hard to make silly comments and tell stories at the same time!

Kanako has traveled back to the original story! She'll be back soon!

The prototypes of the two cursed spirits in this chapter are Kisaragi Station and Half-Body Woman, both of which are Japanese urban legends. I made up some of them based on inspiration. Kanako has become reliable in the mission.