Chapter 922: Rhea and Holmes: Chapter 1
1955 was a turning point in the economy for post-war Fuso.
The United States imported a large amount of military supplies from Fuso in the form of aid, and coupled with Fuso's domestic policy adjustments, it ushered in an economic boom after its defeat.
But there are still many villages hidden in the mountains that still live a conservative life.
Mount Tanno, located in Isehara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, is isolated from the world due to its remote geographical location and rugged rocks.
The most famous place in the mountains is Kuroisen Village, which can be traced back to the Kamakura period.
The village is famous for its natural black hot springs.
Legend has it that these black springs are gifts from the mountain god, and soaking in them year-round can prolong life and eliminate all diseases.
In that era when feudal superstition prevailed, these legends attracted a large number of admirers.
But this also brought a great disaster to the village.
A group of mountain bandits took advantage of the chaos between the Kamakura shogunate and the imperial court to attempt to seize the village. Toyokawa Asazo, the eldest son of the Toyokawa family in the village, was a general under the Hojo clan of the Kamakura shogunate.
So he led the villagers to resist relying on the mountain terrain.
Because the mountain people were familiar with the terrain and Toyokawa Asazo was brave, the bandits were unable to gain their advantage and surrounded the main entrance to the mountain.
This is not a long-term solution.
When the bandits learned that the Hojo clan had received a secret letter from their old subordinate Toyokawa and was about to send people to suppress the bandits, they immediately panicked.
At this moment, a man in a monk's robe with a human face passed by. His head was huge and smooth.
The bandits should be killed as monsters.
Unexpectedly, this big-headed man said that he could help the bandits destroy Heiquan Village.
This big-headed ghost is called Hua Piao, also known as the slippery ghost. He loves to visit other people's homes without permission. He is naughty and lazy by nature. Once he stays in someone's home, he doesn't want to leave.
Also known as a scoundrel.
It once smelled the delicious food at Fengchuan's house in Heiquan Village, so it climbed over the wall into the yard to get some food.
Toyokawa Asazo treated him with good wine and delicious food, but unexpectedly, this scoundrel thought he had found an easy target to bully and became extremely arrogant.
Not only did they destroy the shrine of the mountain god worshipped by everyone in Heiquan Mountain, but they also forced Toyota Asazo to worship it as a god.
Trying to gain faith and cultivation without any effort.
The general Toyokawa Asazo was born and followed the Hojo family of the Kamakura shogunate in battles for many years.
He kicked and stomped on the opponent, causing Hua Piao to flee in panic.
Since then, Hua Piao has remembered this grudge, and today he finally found a good opportunity to take revenge.
The bandits asked how to enter the village.
Hua Piao laughed and said, you jacks of all trades won't be enough to beat the Fengchuan family even if you enter the village. I know a small path leading to the top of the mountain, where is the source of the hot spring. Why not start with the hot spring that everyone in the Heiquan Village likes to soak in?
The bandits were overjoyed and immediately followed Hua Piao into the mountains overnight. When they reached the top of the mountain, they indeed found a natural hot spring.
The black hot spring water bubbled out and then flowed along the tributary all the way to Heiquan Village.
The thief quickly took out all the prepared poison and poured it all into the hot spring without thinking.
The black hot spring didn't show any abnormality even after the poison was added, and the slippery guy on the side clapped his hands in approval.
The next morning, the bandits entered the village without encountering any resistance. Except for Toyokawa Asazo and some villagers who did not soak in the hot springs at night, they were still alive.
The rest of the villagers fell to the ground with ulcers on their skin and wailed.
Toyokawa Asazo's body was also extremely itchy, but when he saw the thieves, he still shouted and killed them and ran away.
Unfortunately, due to poor health and the large number of bandits, although he was brave, he was eventually beheaded.
On that day, almost all the people in Heiquan Village were wiped out, and the statue of the mountain god that everyone worshipped was covered in blood.
It seems that I can no longer see clearly what is happening in this world.
Huapiao sat on the beam and laughed happily.
But something strange happened that night.
When the bandits raped and looted the village and killed the surviving villagers.
Suddenly there was a strong wind.
Then, Toyokawa Asazo, who was hanging on the tree without a head, suddenly broke free from the rope, picked up the knife with his headless body, killed all the bandits, then cut off the head of the bandit leader and turned to leave the village.
No one has seen him since then.
Time flies, and Heiquan Village still exists, but it has been completely abandoned. The hot springs in the mountains have long been dried up, and the entire mountain is almost isolated from the world.
Even during wartime, the village was not disturbed by the outside world.
In addition to the town and village office located at the foot of the mountain.
This village has almost no contact with the outside world.
And it was such a small village that should have been submerged in the torrent of history.
However, tragedies have continued to occur since 1955, when Japan's economy was turning point.
First, a folklore researcher died in the mountains while searching for historical materials about Heiquan Village. His entire head was chopped off, and a stone-carved mountain god head was placed in its place.
This folklorist is highly respected, and all sectors of society and the Fuso government also attach great importance to this case.
The Tannoyama Town and Village Police Station dispatched a large number of police officers to patrol the mountains for a month.
Apart from the basically abandoned Black Spring Village, where only a few frail old people remain, there is no other human habitation in this mountain.
Over time, this became an unsolved case.
But in 1994, five college students from Kagoshima University came to Tannoyama for their graduation trip.
God knows why these kids chose such a hellish place to celebrate their graduation.
The three men and two women are said to have visited Heiquan Village and met the descendants of the former Toyokawa clan.
But on the next day, five college students disappeared.
Kanagawa Prefecture police once again dispatched police forces and found the headless bodies of four students and a frightened girl in a cave on the mountainside.
The heads of the four dead were cut off and replaced with stone heads of mountain gods.
The surviving female student kept muttering, "Disrespectful...disrespectful to the mountain god...! Mountain god! Killing people!"
...
...
"Mountain God~ Killed someone~"
The girl suddenly snatched the file the woman was looking at from behind her and shouted deliberately.
But the woman didn't react at all.
She had a cigarette in her mouth and looked at the girl with a smile on her face.
"So you're very interested in these strange stories and legends, so you dragged me along?"
Seeing that the woman was not frightened at all, the girl shrugged in disappointment.
"It's not like I asked you to come. This is a secret order from the Tianhai City Special Management Bureau, signed by Lin Ze himself."
She took out a secret letter from the small bag at her waist.
"What do you think, Mr. Holmes, don't you think these cases are interesting?" Leia asked with a smile.
The woman took a puff of cigarette and then exhaled a puff of smoke.
"I don't think so. Everything in this world can be explained. If it's something about gods, ghosts, or strange things, then we can find its root. So there are no unsolved mysteries."
"Are you still angry about me finding you a female bionic body?" Leia leaned over and looked at the woman and asked.
The woman chuckled and shook her head. "Ma'am, this isn't your problem. The Eden-type android in the Scotland Yard Special Control Bureau may be the last android left in the world. This is a helpless move."
"There's nothing wrong with sharing a body with me, right? We've been partners for a long time~"
"At least now I can actually feel the scent of tobacco. It would be nice if I could have something else to invigorate me."
The woman said this while playing with the lighter in her hand, then looked up at Leia and asked.
"Ma'am, please tell me the truth. Why were we suddenly urgently transferred from Area 91 to Fuso to investigate a case that only appears in novels?"
"Maybe~ maybe, maybe it's because you are also a character in the novel?"
"Please be serious, ma'am."
"Alright, alright~ I don't know the details. Maybe they saw that we were too bored in Area 91? After all, Area 91 doesn't dare to make any small moves now. Hunting down the remaining members of Mendarosa and the Cheshire Cat is a long-term task."
Rhea picked up a photo from the file.
That was a photo of the hot springs in Heiquan Village.
The deep black and steaming spring water seemed quite interesting to Leia.
"And maybe... we really are the most suitable investigators?"
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