"I can't believe it! What on earth was Brother thinking!?"

Although Hinasaki Shinku was naturally very happy to see her brother and learn that he was still alive, her happiness was soon replaced by another inexplicable anger.

"Why would he help that female ghost?! Doesn't he know how scary that female ghost is?"

Hinasaki Shinku witnessed how the female ghost brutally killed the photographer, the woman, and Takamine Junsei himself. In Hinasaki Shinku's mind, the female ghost was basically equated with a terrifying monster. But what she didn't expect was that her brother would be so obsessed that he would stand in front of her and stop Shizuku from killing the female ghost!

"Miss Crimson, what do you think of having a ghost sister-in-law?"

"I absolutely don't want that! Absolutely not!"

At this moment, Shenhong looked quite aggressive, contrary to his usual introverted, timid and gentle self.

"I will never let my brother be bewitched by a female ghost! I must get my brother back!!"

Wow, my sister-in-law is trouble.

Looking at Hinasaki Shinku, who was holding the camera tightly and wishing she could rush over to save the female ghost in white, Shizuku silently made the sign of the cross for that unfortunate brother in her heart.

Hinasaki Shinku's behavior now is exactly the same as that of Kuropi Hana in Kara no Kyoukai who saw her brother bringing Ryougi Shiki home... For a moment just now, Shizuku clearly felt the murderous intent from Hinasaki Shinku.

Come to think of it, both parents died, and now she can only depend on her brother, but her brother left without saying a word and never contacted her again. The sister was worried and went to look for him, but after going through a lot of hardships, she found out that her brother was having an affair with a woman she didn't know...

If the other party wasn't a female ghost, if they weren't on the set of a ghost movie, it would have been a family ethics drama of a fierce battle between a sister-in-law and her sister-in-law.

Let's name it "The Tragic Battle between My Girlfriend and Sister".

With the intention of watching the fun, Shizuku quietly opened the door and walked into a nearby room. It looked like a bedroom, but there was no TV or any home appliances. It was obviously designed a long time ago. There was only a table by the wall with some photos scattered on it.

“Ah, these photos are…!”

Seeing these photos, Hinasaki Shinku also hurried in and looked at the photos on the table with a little nostalgia.

“What’s wrong with these photos?”

Shizuku also picked up a few photos and looked at them. The photos were neither of scenery nor of people. It seemed more like someone was just taking random photos out of boredom. There were walls and corridors. If it weren't for the weird things in the center of the pictures that looked like transparent spirits, then these could be said to be materials for elementary school students to practice photography.

"No, it's just...my mother used to take pictures of these when she was alive..."

Looking at the photo in front of her, a hint of nostalgia appeared on Hinasaki's blushing face.

"I remember when I was a child, my mother would often take a camera and take pictures of places where there were no people. She would even take pictures in the room as if she was chasing something. At that time, I didn't know why my mother did this... But after seeing these photos, I knew... It turned out that this was really where my grandmother lived."

Hinasaki Shinku sighed and put down the photo in her hand. Although she had seen it before, it was only at this moment that she felt it for real. Unless it was a coincidence, there shouldn't be two identical cameras in the world, and it's even more impossible that the photos they took were the same...

Thinking of this, Hinasaki Shinku suddenly felt a little stuffy, she walked to the other side of the room, opened the paper door, and walked to the balcony to breathe some fresh air. However, when Hinasaki Shinku looked down, suddenly, she seemed to see something and screamed.

"Ms. Shizuku!"

"What's wrong?"

Hearing Hinasaki's deep red scream, Shizuku also came out, stood on the balcony and looked down. In front of her was the front yard of the Himuro residence. There was nothing in it except a dead old crooked tree.

"Just now, I saw someone hanged there, it was..."

"Let's go down and take a look."

Hearing what Hinasaki Shinku said, Shizuku reached out her hand, hugged Hinasaki Shinku's slender waist, and picked her up like a princess. Then she jumped up with her and jumped directly from the second-floor balcony to the courtyard - she didn't want to do such a troublesome thing as running away again.

Hinasaki Shinko was also shocked by Shizuku's behavior, but she didn't think too much about it. After her feet touched the ground again, Hinasaki Shinko hurried to the crooked tree and pointed at the branch next to it.

"That's right, Miss Shizuku. That's where I saw it just now..."

"Well... let's do it again then."

"Why?"

"Same as before, you know what I mean, put your hands on this tree."

"……OK."

Hearing this, Hinasaki Shinhong didn't know what she was thinking of and her face turned slightly red. Then she nodded obediently, placed her right hand on the trunk of the old crooked tree, closed her eyes, and then Shizuku held her left hand again and pressed it against her forehead.

"Let's get started."

The picture began to change again.

Soon, the sight returned to the Himuro residence.

There were still three people standing there, but this time they were two women and one man. All three of them were dressed in kimonos and looked like characters from a costume drama. Judging from their ages, there were two adults and a child, and they should be a family.

"Mother……"

Looking at the face of the woman in kimono, Hinasaki Shinhong couldn't help but scream out loud. This was because the woman in front of her looked exactly like her mother.

However, their identities were soon revealed. These three people were Sokata Ryozo and Sokata Yae, who had disappeared in the Himuro residence before, and their daughter Sokata Mikoto.

"It seems that this world is the timeline of the previous generation..."

After confirming the identities of the three people, Shizuku couldn't help but sigh, while Hinasaki Shinku didn't say a word, but just looked at the family of three with a complicated expression.

The whole world is like a cycle. Gao Fengzhunxing and his three companions came here to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Sokata Ryozo's family. And the purpose of Sokata Ryozo's family coming here is not just to help his weak wife Sokata Yae recover from illness.

On the contrary, Sokata Ryozo came here to investigate the disaster that happened in Himuro Residence that year - it is rumored that many years ago, a horrific disaster happened in Himuro Residence, and the patriarch of the Himuro family went mad, killed 1,347 people in the family, and finally committed suicide. As a folklorist, Sokata Ryozo came here to investigate the cause of this disaster and the mysterious rituals passed down by the Himuro family.

"Sure enough, folklorists are courting death."

Seeing this, Shizuku silently gave her evaluation, and Hinasaki Mikoto was speechless.

One could be considered a coincidence, but two... it's really hard to say.

Unlike Takamine Junsei and his group who encountered tragedy as soon as they arrived here, Sokata Ryozo's family lived a comfortable life at first after arriving here. Sokata Ryozo's wife Yae spent most of her time recuperating, while their daughter Mikoto became good friends with the children in the neighborhood and played with them every day. Sokata Ryozo focused his energy on exploring the secrets of Himuro Residence.

However, the good times did not last long. Before long, strange things began to happen.

First, the daughter Mikoto met a girl wearing a kimono - it was Himuro Kirie, who Shizuku and Hinasaki Shinku had also seen. Then the girl gave Mikoto a camera, and Mikoto gave the camera to her father Sohō Ryōzo.

Sokata Ryozo was obviously surprised at the gift his daughter received, but after careful investigation, he did not seem to find anything wrong with the camera, so he accepted it as an ordinary gift.

After that, Yae Sokata's health began to improve, and she started taking pictures with this camera.

During this process, Yae Souma seemed to have discovered the camera's ability to take pictures of ghosts. If it were an ordinary person, he would have been scared and stopped. However, Yae Souma seemed to be possessed, and he took the camera and took pictures everywhere in the room every day.

“My mother was like that, too.”

Looking at Sohō Yae who was holding a camera and taking pictures everywhere in the room, Hinasaki Shinku spoke with some pain.

"At that time, I saw my mother doing the same thing, taking pictures with a camera every day... I was really scared..."

Hearing Hinasaki's deep red words, Shizuku reached out and gently touched her head without saying anything.

After this, Yae Sokata's body began to weaken again and she became bedridden again. However, this was not the end. Not long after this, their daughter Mikoto Sokata took the camera away while her mother was not paying attention and went to play hide-and-seek with her friends - and then she never came back.

The disappearance of the children naturally attracted attention. First, the villagers went up the mountain to look for them. After all their efforts were in vain, they chose to call the police. However, even the police could not find any trace of the children. It was as if they had disappeared without a trace. Because of this, many people spread rumors that the children had been "disappeared".

Yae Sokata cried over her daughter's disappearance, and because of the camera, she could see the ghosts even without the camera. In the end, Yae Sokata was overwhelmed and chose to hang herself on the old crooked tree in the courtyard.

The death of his wife was a great blow to Sokata Ryozo, but he did not become depressed. Instead, he turned his grief into strength and found the entrance to Himuro Residence where the ceremony was held. Just as Sokata Ryozo opened the stone door of the ceremony entrance and tried to find out what was going on, suddenly, countless snow-white arms stretched out from the door and pulled Sokata Ryozo into the door, and then the stone door closed again.

Then the image ends.

"I never thought that things would turn out like this..."

After seeing all this, Hinasaki Shinku couldn't help but sigh. She originally had no interest in all this, but when she connected all this with herself, it became a different matter.

"But, Miss Shizuku, this is very strange. According to what we saw, our grandmother had disappeared for many days. How was she found later?"

"I don't know about that. I'm afraid only your grandmother herself knows what's going on."

Having said that, Shizuku turned her head and looked behind her.

"But now, we have guests to greet."

As Shizuku spoke, Hinasaki Shinkuen only felt a cold breath coming, and then a voice quietly emerged and began to echo around.

"Mikoto... where are you... Mikoto... my daughter, where on earth have you gone...?"

Along with the mournful cries, the figure of a woman in a kimono, hanged on a tree, slowly emerged. She stared at the two of them and floated towards them.

"Mikoto... where are you..."

"Ms. Shizuku, this..."

Although Hinasaki Shinku was always scared when she saw these evil spirits before, now that she knew their past, especially after learning that the evil spirit in front of her was even her great-grandmother, she really didn't know what to do.

"Leave it to me."

Shizuku smiled at Hinasaki Crimson, then she walked forward and raised Frostmourne.

"Wake up, Ms. Yae, your daughter is not dead!"

As she spoke, Shizuku flicked her finger lightly on the blade of Frostmourne. With a soft "ding" sound, the undead who was originally in a daze seemed to become much more awake. She looked at Shizuku blankly and asked in a low voice.

"My daughter...is not dead?"

"Yes, I don't know the specific reason, but your daughter didn't die after she disappeared. Instead, she was adopted and then married to that family."

As she spoke, Shizuku motioned for Hinasaki Shinku to come over.

"Look, this is your daughter's daughter's daughter... You should be able to sense it. The blood connection won't disappear so easily."

“Ah…ah…”

At first, looking at Hinasaki Shinku, Sokata Yae had no reaction, but gradually, she seemed to sense something, slowly floated over, and stretched out her hands to Hinasaki Shinku.

"Child... my child..."

While crying, the ghost of Yae Munakata hugged Hinasaki Shinku in his arms, and although Hinasaki Shinku was a little nervous, she did not move.

"I'm sorry... Mom couldn't find you... I'm sorry... Mom shouldn't have brought you here..."

As if he was apologizing, Yae Munakata kept apologizing to Hinasaki Shinku in front of him.

"Why would I forget? If I hadn't forgotten it at that time... I'm sorry, Mikoto, you have to leave here, leave here, and never come back. There are things here that are as scary as there... Maybe this is my fate, maybe I shouldn't run away from all this... I'm sorry, Mikoto, I'm sorry... Saeki..."

Following his final apology, Yae Souma's figure turned into a point of light and slowly disappeared.

Hinasaki Shinku also watched all this with a complicated expression. Finally, she took a deep breath and looked at Shizuku.

"Miss Shizuku, um, my great-grandmother... has she ascended to heaven?"

"No."

Shizuku frowned and glanced around.

"She just fulfilled her wish and fell into a deep sleep temporarily. But she didn't leave. This world is like a cage that imprisons all souls. Hmm... It seems that there should be something very strange waiting for us here."

"By the way, Miss Shizuku, who is the Saju that great-grandmother mentioned at the end?"

"I don't know either."

In response to Hinasaki's deep red question, Shizuku shook her head.

"Maybe he's Ms. Munakata Yae's relative. I haven't investigated that much... Anyway, let's keep moving forward."