The man with the slit mouth returned to the small shrine. The figure of this little land god had become fainter. He used more of his strength to look for people, monsters, or other small gods for help. Unfortunately, no one extended a helping hand to him.

"Even if you are about to disappear, you must find a way to save that child?" The man with the slit mouth squatted down.

The flattered little land god hurriedly bowed to him - the slit-mouthed man was far more powerful than him. Although he inherited the word "land god", there were so many gods, big and small, in Japan. If he had no power, he would not be as free and powerful as many monsters.

He said: "Yes, that child has worshiped me for a long time. She is a very important believer to me, and I promised to bless her..."

The man with the slit tilted his head, and his black hair was tinted with a light golden hue in the moonlight.

He hated human trafficking, which reminded him of the painful memories of his life. Even when he destroyed Hua Jiu Hui, there were many traces of his involvement. He had wiped out many people from the gangs in the Leibo Street. There were also many people from the □□Yi organization.

After hearing what the land god said, he asked curiously: "...Even if she has forgotten you and you are almost losing your last bit of faith, do you still want to do it?"

"Yes." The land god answered decisively, "I was born because of human belief. I was also very prosperous in the past when I had faith. Once I think back to those days, I still feel fascinated..." He raised his head, his eyes filled with the high-rise buildings around him.

The shrine is located near the main road, in a small natural green belt, so it is almost very close to the steel and concrete jungle.

The man with the slit mouth had no idea how many lives this little god had seen on this street.

"A long time ago, this place was not like this." He recalled, "In the early days of building this cold steel forest, workers from the construction team often came here to pay their respects. They didn't have anything good to offer, but occasionally they would bring me some oranges."

People at that time still believed in these things, especially when working on construction sites, where accidents could happen, so this was a way to seek peace of mind.

"I protected them - I did it." The land god said, "At that time, I still had such power."

"Really?" The man with the slit nodded. "Then you are amazing."

He was surprised to be praised so frankly, and then continued: "After the house was built, nothing happened here, and people gradually stopped believing in it."

so it is.

People didn't know that it was because there was a land god protecting them secretly. Instead, they thought that nothing had happened here for a long time and there was probably nothing dirty. So they felt relieved and started to talk to their friends about getting rid of superstition.

The result is that the faith in the land god has declined.

Jiuyuan couldn't comment on this cycle. Every step was the result of everyone's joint choice. Moreover, in this era, except for a few devout believers, most people have flexible beliefs and concentrate on worshipping certain gods that match their wishes to pray for their wishes. For example, before the exam, if they want to ask for academic results, they will go straight to Tenjin Doshin's Tenmangu Shrine. If they want love and marriage, they will mention the God of Bonds.

As a result, the faith in the gods who already had names became more concentrated, while the ordinary minor gods could only wait for the fate of disappearing completely.

"Don't you feel resentment?" asked the man with the slit mouth.

The land god shook his head, "I was born out of human needs. When no one needs me anymore, it will prove that humans are strong enough to survive without relying on illusory beings. My mission will end here. It is meaningless to stay in this world. If I am not careful, I might even fall from the Godhood because of my obsession. Wouldn't that be ugly?"

"Really?"

Jiuyuan is not a god, and he can never fully understand their thoughts.

But perhaps it is true that, precisely because humans are constantly moving forward, their needs will continue to change with the times and the environment.

He couldn't help but say to the system: "When all the mysteries in this world are discovered by them, will there still be real gods and monsters in this world?"

[System: ...Master, I cannot answer this question. Theoretically, as long as there is no one in the world who believes in mysteries, all of this will disappear as humans forget and no longer need it.]

[System: But why do you suddenly ask this? Are you simply inspired by the experience of the land god? ]

"I just feel that this answer seems very important to me." Jiuyuan thought for a while.

"By the way, System, can you help me search for other shrines nearby and pick out the ones with the highest spiritual power?"

Here, the land god saw that the man with the slit mouth had not spoken for a long time, and thought that something he said had offended or made him uncomfortable, so he spoke cautiously: "Um, did I say something wrong..."

"No, it's okay." The man with the slit mouth said, "Let's go. You know where the child you want to save is, right?"

Hearing that he was willing to help, the land god nodded: "I know."

"Can we leave here?" He held out his hand. "Take me there."

Seeing that he was serious, the land god took two steps forward and was helped by the man with the slit mouth to sit on his shoulders. After being bumped around and sitting steadily, he told the man with the slit mouth what he had learned.

"Four hours have passed...we need to hurry." The man with the slit mouth said, "You remember her face, you come and identify her."

…

…

“Hmm!”

The girl regained consciousness and woke up with her hands and feet trapped.

In the underground garage, in the trunk of a gray van, the girl widened her eyes in horror. The closed environment and bad air made her feel as if she was suffocating. The people in the car were smoking and talking loudly.

"It is said that a black motorcycle was also involved in the incident before. It's really troublesome."

"If it weren't for the incident with Yagiri Pharmaceutical, we would still be able to continue this business... Now we can only sell these unlucky guys to other customers with special needs. It might be worse than selling them to Yagiri Pharmaceutical."

"I heard that they were doing human experiments, but they were just using special drugs to put people into a state of suspended animation to conduct some strange tests..."

"Let's not talk about that. These goods are to be sold to new customers. Do you know what they do?"

"I don't know. We don't need to know this. Maybe he is an old pervert with special fetishes."

"If it's a female from the 10th generation, she'll be able to fetch a good price, right?"

"That girl seemed to be chasing a black motorcycle when we caught her. Someone offered a reward of 10 million yuan, but we caught her. How ironic."

"If she hears this, she'll probably regret it so much that she'll cry—"

After hearing their conversation, Rina, who was locked in the trunk, felt regretful.

She was just joking with her classmates, and they said they would see who could find the black motorcycle first. Such playful behavior actually caused her to encounter such an unexpected disaster. It is impossible for her to say that she does not regret it.

(Will I be sold to a pervert with a special fetish, as they say?)

Thinking of this future, many cruel scenes emerged in Rina's mind, and just imagining it made the 14-year-old girl tremble.

(Help——Is there anyone around here who can save me——)

She tried to struggle to free herself from the ropes, but they were tied very tightly and she couldn't get them free with her arm strength alone. There were no tools nearby to help her, and if she made too much noise and was discovered, she might be knocked unconscious by the drugs they gave her, which would cause her to lose more time.

(What to do, what to do!)

The car was still moving, she had no idea where she was, and her fear grew.

Then the car came to a sudden stop.

(No way!? Has it already arrived!?)

"Why did you stop the car so suddenly?"

"There's someone in there, don't you see it?"

"Huh? There's no camera around here. Ignore him and just run right into him."

"Wait, he's coming!!"

Then, Rina closed her eyes tightly, praying that things would start to turn around. She heard the sound of glass breaking, and then a sharp turn, she was almost knocked unconscious, screams rang out one after another, and there seemed to be the sound of bones breaking, and the sound of something being torn apart.

She didn't dare to breathe, she held her breath, waiting for everything to be over.

In the long darkness, the air beside her suddenly moved - the trunk door was opened.

The dim moonlight cast a shadow, half of which illuminated the trunk.

"...Open your eyes." She heard a low, slightly hoarse male voice.

The girl slowly opened her eyes. Under the moonlight, a young man in black was holding a pair of reverse-edged scissors that were still dripping with blood, and his red eyes were staring straight at her.

"Mmm--" She wanted to speak, but then she remembered that her mouth was blocked, so she could only look at the other person with her moist eyes.

Please! Help me take the thing out of my mouth! — She tried hard to hint.

The young man was stunned for a moment, then he raised his hand and looked at the blood still on it.

It seems that it feels a bit inappropriate.

So Rina made two more "wuwu" sounds to show that she didn't mind.

The young man wiped the blood off his hands with his coat, then removed the restraints from Rina's mouth.

The local god who had just come back from investigating the situation of the criminals was stunned at first when he saw this scene. Rina actually saw him too.

"Thank you, thank you! Thank you both!"

After saying this, she arched her body again, remembering that her hands were still tied.

Unable to bear it any longer, the land god whispered to the man with the slit mouth, "... Actually, you could have untied the rope on her hands first, so she could have gotten the thing out of her mouth by herself, right?"

Rina: “…” Yes, yes, she hadn’t thought of that just now.

The man with the slit mouth: “…” He turned his head silently.

The land god untied the rope on Rina's hands and said to her, "The nights in Ikebukuro are sometimes not very peaceful. If possible, try to avoid going out at night."

"... Yeah." The girl said listlessly, "Sorry to bother you, I..."

The moment she saw the land god, she knew his identity. After pondering for a long time, the girl said carefully: "My Lord God... Thank you very much. Did you hear my prayers and come to help me?"

Before the land god could reply, the girl said guiltily: "I haven't been to worship for a long time, I..."

She felt unworthy of it.

She had clearly forgotten him, but he still listened to her prayers...

"And the person next to him... is he... the Lord Messenger of God?" She racked her brains trying to guess.

Land God: “No…”

The man with the slit mouth shook his head first: "No."

"Eh... I'm sorry, I took it for granted." The girl said, "But why do you cover your face..." She asked subconsciously, and after seeing the reactions of the two, she realized that she had accidentally asked what she was thinking.

Even the land god was surprised: he knew the story of the man with the slit mouth.

(Aaaah, it's so rude to say that to your lifesaver!)

"I'm sorry! Please pretend I didn't say that! I'm really grateful to you two! I don't know how I can repay you two... I will definitely go to pay my respects to you two every day in the future or--"

"Because." The man with the slit mouth pulled up his mask, "... because... it's ugly, and people will hate it if they see it..."

“Huh?!” Rina didn’t expect this kind of reaction.

"...That's why I covered it up." He whispered, "Well...don't worry about it..."

He reacted like this, but Rina began to comfort him: "Well, everyone is insecure about their looks... Well, I don't mean to say something irresponsible and nice like 'You must look good like this', but you saved me, I believe you are also a very good person, that..." The girl was a little incoherent, and she even crawled a few steps forward from the trunk, "Please don't take it too seriously. If someone attacks your appearance, it is definitely not your fault! It's those people's fault! They are so tasteless! No matter what, you are great!"

The man with the slit was silent for two seconds.

The hand holding the mask moved, as if he had made an extremely difficult decision. He slowly pulled off the mask, revealing that hideous face - the wound almost split to the temple. No one could say that this was a beautiful face.

He asked a question he hadn't asked for a long time:

"...Even so, do you think it looks good?"

He half leaned over, as if to force the girl to see the ugly marks on his face.

Unexpectedly, Rina's eyes immediately turned red and she burst into tears.

Thinking that he had frightened the girl to tears, the man with the slit mouth was about to take a step back, put on his mask and run away, but he didn’t expect the girl to reach out her hand and hold his face——

"Too cruel, too cruel... Why..."

Isn't this a man-made wound? How could someone be born like this? Realizing this, Rina cried even harder.

"Why, why did such a good person like you have to encounter such a thing..."

"This is so unfair...why!"

The man with the slit mouth originally wanted to push her hand away, but seeing Rina crying so passionately, he was a little at a loss.

“…Does it hurt?” Rina was tired of crying and asked softly, “Did I touch…the wound?”

"no."

The girl's hands were so weak, how could it possibly hurt him?

It's just that no one has been close to him for a long time, and he almost forgot what human body temperature feels like.

original--

It's still so warm.

“It doesn’t hurt anymore.”