Chapter 26 Peeping Over the Wall (6) After Dazai Osamu left, 307...

After Dazai Osamu left, the air in Room 307 seemed to freeze.

Kunikida Doppo forcibly suppressed his unease at Dazai Osamu's vague hint and focused his attention back on the current crisis.

He helped the nearly exhausted Kobayashi Yuta to his feet and sat him down in a chair, while Tanizaki Jun'ichirō handed him a glass of water.

Yuta Kobayashi held the water glass with trembling hands. The warmth of the water seeped through the glass, but it did nothing to dispel the chill in his body.

"Mr. Kobayashi, cheer up."

Kunikida Doppo's voice remained calm, his words carrying a reassuring tone: "Now that the issue of expenses has been resolved, what we need to do now is to find a way to resolve this. The Armed Detective Agency has handled many unusual cases, so please trust us."

Kunikida Doppo's words brought a glimmer of hope to Kobayashi Yuta, who forced a smile and nodded.

Following Kunikida Doppo's instructions, Tanizaki Jun'ichirō began using fine snow for initial isolation.

Tiny particles of light reappeared, this time not for detection, but to cautiously create an illusionary barrier inside the room, especially around the crack.

Jun'ichirō Tanizaki attempted to block or interfere with the perception and penetration of the thing in the gap to some extent, not knowing if it would work, but just in case.

However, everyone could sense that the atmosphere in the room had changed.

Previously, there was a chill and the unease of being spied on; now, there is an added, viscous pressure that feels almost tangible.

The air was filled with an indescribable smell, even stronger than the smell described by Yuta Kobayashi; it was a strange odor mixed with decay.

The crack itself did not seem to have any visible changes, but Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's fine snow became noticeably unstable when it approached.

The light particles were flashing, and maintaining the illusion barrier required more of Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's energy.

“Mr. Kunikida,” Jun'ichirō Tanizaki said, beads of sweat forming on his forehead, “the thing inside seems to be more active than before.”

Kunikida Doppo nodded solemnly; he too could feel the invisible pressure slowly but steadily increasing.

He glanced at Yuta Kobayashi subconsciously and found that the other was in extremely bad shape.

Yuta Kobayashi sat there, swaying slightly, his eyes fixed straight ahead, but not looking at anything specific.

His lips moved silently, as if he were talking to a voice only he could hear.

"Mr. Kobayashi?" Kunikida Doppo sensed something was wrong and called out softly.

Yuta Kobayashi's body trembled slightly, as if he had been startled awake. He looked blankly at Doppo Kunikida: "Huh? Wh-what's wrong?"

"how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, just a little tired and dizzy..." Kobayashi Yuta's voice was weak and low, and his eyes began to wander. Although he was answering Kunikida Doppo's question, his gaze was not on Kunikida Doppo.

This is just the beginning.

Kunikida Doppo didn't say anything more, but instead gave Tanizaki Jun'ichirō a look.

The other person's behavior is clearly off, very off!

In the following period, Yuta Kobayashi's mental state deteriorated at a visible rate.

He would sometimes fall into a daze, and at other times become unusually sensitive. The slightest sound would startle him. He would suddenly turn his head to look at a corner of the room, especially in the shadows and gaps. His pupils would contract and his breathing would become rapid, as if he saw something that others could not see.

Even more disturbingly, he began to exhibit some unconscious, imitative movements.

He would make digging motions with his fingers, pressing himself against the wall for long periods of time without moving, listening intently.

On one occasion, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki even discovered that he was imitating that spying posture—hiding behind the door, only one eye showing, staring intently at Kunikida Doppo, who was recording the situation.

Junichiro Tanizaki was startled; that look was truly terrifying. When he spoke up to warn the other person, Yuta Kobayashi looked completely bewildered, having no recollection of his actions just now.

"Mr. Kunikida, is the thing in the crack influencing him?" Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's voice trembled slightly. "It's not just a scare tactic, but assimilation?"

Kunikida Doppo's heart sank, and Sakaguchi Ango's warning echoed in his mind.

As evening passed and night fell, the twilight completely faded.

The lights outside the window could not dispel the increasingly heavy gloom over the 307.

Yuta Kobayashi was curled up in the chair, seemingly asleep, but his eyeballs were moving rapidly under his eyelids, and his brows were furrowed, as if he were trapped in a terrible nightmare.

Kunikida Doppo and Tanizaki Jun'ichirō dared not relax, taking turns keeping watch and closely monitoring Kobayashi Yuta's condition and the movements within the crack.

In the dead of night, the most worrying situation arose.

Yuta Kobayashi, who had appeared to be asleep, suddenly stood up straight.

His eyes were half-open, but his pupils were unfocused and lacked any vitality.

The other person's movements were stiff, and their joints made a slight clicking sound, like a puppet controlled by invisible threads.

“Mr. Kobayashi.” Junichiro Tanizaki, who was on night watch, immediately stood up alertly.

Yuta Kobayashi didn't react at all. He turned around stiffly, facing the wall with the crack.

He raised his hand, not to imitate, but to use his fingers to dig into the crack.

His fingernails made a screeching sound as they rubbed against the wall, and soon blood seeped from them, but Kobayashi Yuta seemed to feel no pain.

"Stop him!" Kunikida Doppo shouted immediately.

Junichiro Tanizaki stepped forward and tried to pull Yuta Kobayashi's arm away, but Yuta Kobayashi suddenly unleashed an amazing force, swinging his arm and causing Junichiro Tanizaki to stumble.

"Heh...heh..."

A sound that was neither human nor like air leaking out came from Kobayashi Yuta's throat.

He seemed no longer satisfied with digging into the cracks, but turned around and began to smash things in the room frantically!

The chair was overturned, the table was pushed over, and debris was scattered all over the floor. His movements were violent and chaotic, as if he had completely lost his mind.

“He’s been controlled.” Kunikida Doppo frowned as he watched the other’s reaction. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen a ghost possess someone.

He quickly made his own judgment and stepped forward to try to subdue the berserk Kobayashi Yuta.

Kunikida Doppo is never afraid to fight physical enemies, but when faced with an ordinary person controlled by an invisible ghost story, his movements become hesitant, fearing that he might hurt Kobayashi Yuta himself.

In the chaos, Kobayashi Yuta grabbed a shard of a fallen glass, a twisted malice that didn't belong to him flashing in his eyes. He held the sharp shard and stabbed it fiercely at Kunikida Doppo.

"Mr. Kunikida, be careful!" Jun'ichirō Tanizaki exclaimed.

Kunikida Doppo dodged to the side, but Kobayashi Yuta's movements were strangely fast, and just as the fragment was about to pass by Kunikida Doppo...

"Bang."

The door was suddenly pushed open, and a figure darted in, precisely grabbing Kobayashi Yuta's wrist and stopping him.

Kunikida Doppo stared at the shards of glass lying in front of him, then looked at the person in front of him in astonishment: "Dazai?"

Dazai Osamu did not respond to him, but instead quickly and without hesitation slapped Kobayashi Yuta's forehead with his other hand.

A yellow talisman was stuck to Kobayashi Yuta's forehead; it was something Takeichi had given him when he was looking for him.

The violent and twisted aura emanating from Yuta Kobayashi suddenly dissipated, and his body went limp, causing him to faint.

The shard of glass slipped from my hand and fell to the floor with a crisp sound.

Dazai Osamu supported the unconscious Kobayashi Yuta and carefully laid him flat on the ground.

The other person's expression was somewhat serious. He looked at Kunikida Doppo and Tanizaki Jun'ichirō: "It seems I returned just in time."

“Dazai.” Kunikida Doppo breathed a sigh of relief, then tensed up again: “That was…”

"It was corrupted, and it almost became completely possessed."

Dazai Osamu gave a brief reply, his gaze sweeping across the messy room before finally settling on the crack: "The noise outside is too loud, which has provided it with the conditions and nourishment to survive."

"The sounds from outside?" Jun'ichirō Tanizaki asked, puzzled.

Dazai Osamu took out his phone and quickly showed the rumors and revelations he had just found circulating online: "Someone is stirring things up behind the scenes. The story about the Cursed Eye and the cursed residents is spreading rapidly in certain circles."

"Fear and voyeurism are converging, which is exactly the condition needed for the growth of ghost stories, making them stronger and stronger."

As if to verify what Dazai Osamu had said, the lights in the room suddenly began to flicker violently, flashing on and off.

The phone screen on the table suddenly lit up without warning. Instead of the standby screen, it displayed a distorted, snowy noise, and in the center of the noise, a blurry eyeball flashed by.

This sent chills down Kunikida Doppo's spine.

"Is it...is it?" Jun'ichirō Tanizaki swallowed hard. "Is it going to make the scope of the impact even larger?"

Suddenly, several faint screams came from downstairs, and a commotion broke out.

Clearly, these anomalies were not limited to room 307.

Panic is beginning to spread in this old apartment building.

at the same time.

Inside Takeichi's office.

Zhu Yi stared intently at the system panel, his face pale.

The rate at which the ghost stories were escalating had exceeded his control, and red alerts covered almost the entire interface.

What he released was clearly just an F-level horror story meant to scare people, but now it's like a wild horse that's broken free, galloping wildly in an uncontrollable direction.

This abnormal growth rate definitely indicates external intervention!

As he suspected, during his conversation with Dazai Osamu, there was definitely a third party pulling the strings behind the scenes.

This sent chills down Zhu Yi's spine. He didn't want to see ghost stories indiscriminately harming others. He had just thrown out a small pebble, which had somehow rolled into an extremely complex vortex and been deliberately guided to create something terrifying.

[Strong anchor point resonance detected! The Ghost Story Vision Wall is attempting to fully merge with its initial anchor point (Yuta Kobayashi)! Successful merging may result in the Ghost Story gaining a stable foundation in reality, permanently solidifying its level, and potentially even further enhancing it! Host, please intervene immediately!]

We can't hide any longer!

Then he redeemed several items from the system shop, put them in his pockets and backpack, and then went to the cat's den and stuffed the bewildered 001 into his arms.

"Hua Hua, we're leaving. Watch the house!" Zhu Yi called out to the calico cat licking its paws on the sofa and opened the door.

Great, let's go!

The calico cat suddenly stopped licking itself, watching Takeichi's departing figure, a glint of light flashing in its eyes.

-----------------------

A note from the author: I've been very busy lately... I wonder if you readers are in the same boat.

Ugh, my procrastination has caused all my plans to be delayed.

To be honest, when writing this book, I originally wanted to make it... more thrilling and bolder. I wanted to portray Takeichi as a neutral, morally ambiguous character, but that went a bit too far. After all, there are many restrictions on the protagonist—he can't be a villain, and he can't kill people. This resulted in the plot becoming increasingly bland, and Takeichi's character becoming increasingly flat (and lifeless).

Therefore, the author felt that this book was poorly written.

It's only my first signed contract, so even if it's terrible, I'll keep writing it well.

After all, there are so many readers waiting... (whispering) (shyly)

After I finish writing this book, I should take a break for a while to draw and study.

As for Oda Sakunosuke's pre-order, well... I might revise the synopsis or change the plot. I don't really like the ending of the curse chapter, and I don't have much inspiration, so I'm wondering if I should change it while there are still a few pre-orders left.

Or perhaps I should start a new pre-order series? Actually, I have a lot of ideas I want to write about, all of which seem very interesting. But this is my first time writing a long novel, and I feel my writing skills are lacking (so sad). It would be great if my wildest ideas could be directly translated into text, comics, or anime.

I've rambled on for so long...

Okay, let me tell you another one then, hehe.

Cats' fur is so soft to touch, especially their bellies. Their purring sounds are incredibly soothing, and you just can't resist when they snuggle up to you.

The glass noodles were delicious, and the watermelon was really sweet.

That's complete nonsense!

However, I would be very happy if any readers could finish reading the author's ramblings.

Then I wish you all the best.

I hope you can be happy and joyful every day. When you're tired, take a good rest; when you're sleepy, get a good night's sleep. Don't waste your energy on internal conflicts.

I've always felt that everyone around me seems very tired, including myself, so this is something I'm saying to everyone, and also to myself.

"You've done a fantastic job sticking this far! You've worked so hard!"

"Anyway, everything will be alright! It will get better and better." [Pink heart]