Shizuku didn't care what Nueno Meisuke was going to do with the 100,000 yen. To her, 100,000 yen was no different from 10 or 20 yen. After parting with Nueno Meisuke, she quickly drove to her next destination - Mizunuma Marie's home.
Marie Mizunuma lives in a very old apartment. According to the manager, she has always lived with her two daughters. Marie Mizunuma was very good to her daughters, but for some reason, they suddenly left.
"suddenly?"
"yes."
The apartment manager whispered as he led Shizuku to the end of the corridor.
"I don't know when they disappeared, but the mother and daughter suddenly disappeared... Actually..."
Having said this, the apartment manager lowered his voice.
"I heard that Ms. Marie abused her own children."
"Is there such a thing?"
"Yes, miss, you may not know that, in fact, after that, someone found Mizunuma Marie's eldest daughter, Mimiko, dead at home. How pitiful."
"What about the cause of death? Have the police come to investigate?"
"The police came to investigate, but they seemed to say he died of illness or something... Sorry, I don't remember that clearly."
As he spoke, the apartment manager took out the key and opened the door.
“This is it.”
Shizuku opened the door and walked in.
Inside is a somewhat narrow apartment room, basically a one-bedroom apartment with a porch + kitchen, living room + bedroom, even smaller than the house allocated to the state-owned enterprise back then. However, from the pictures drawn by children on the wall, it can be seen that the living conditions here used to be.
But for Shizuku, the most important thing is...
“Not here.”
Feeling the cold air around her, Shizuku frowned. Her purpose was to find the hiding place of the evil spirit, but the evil spirit didn't seem to be here. But at least she still had some clues, that is, there was indeed a cold aura here, which meant that even if the evil spirit didn't regard this place as its own nest, it had stayed here for a while.
“Ding-ling-ling…!!”
Just at this moment, Shizuku's cell phone rang. She turned on the phone and soon heard the voice of Nueno Meisuke.
"Hello, is this Miss Kasugano?"
"It's me."
"My name is Nue Ye. I talked to the people at the welfare home and found out something incredible."
At this point, Nueno Meisuke's tone became serious.
"According to what they said, Ms. Mizunuma Marie may be suspected of abusing her own child."
"Where's the evidence?"
After hearing this, Shizuku's expression did not change, because the apartment manager had just told her the same thing. But it was just a rumor after all, and there was no actual evidence.
"Her little daughter Nanako was often injured, and all of them were cuts, so the welfare agency once suspected that Mizunuma Marie was abusing her daughter."
"But that's just a suspicion."
Shizuku knew that the Japanese government was a meddlesome person in this regard. Unlike China, where children are their own and they can be beaten as they please. If the Japanese government staff suspected that the parents or caregivers were abusing or beating the children, they could forcibly cancel the parents' custody of the children and hand the children over to welfare institutions or find someone else to adopt them.
According to Naruosuke Nueno, Mizunuma Marie's youngest daughter Nanako had gone to the hospital for treatment several times because of cuts caused by sharp objects, so it is normal for both medical staff and workers to have such doubts.
"No evidence?"
"No, according to them, Mizunuma Marie took very good care of her two daughters. She often took care of them day and night during their hospitalization. She doesn't seem like someone who would abuse her daughters, but..."
"Do you suspect that Mizunuma Mari has a mental illness or a split personality?"
"After all, it's not impossible. Of course, it could also be a possession by an evil spirit."
Indeed, as Nueno Meisuke said, this possibility does exist. Mizunuma Marie is a single mother who raises two children alone and has to work to support her family. The mental pressure is obviously very great. If she has some symptoms of schizophrenia or dual personality, then her behavior is understandable.
"So what does Mizunuma Nanako herself say?"
"Nanako can't talk."
Nueno Meisuke's voice sounded a little low.
"Perhaps because the shock was too great, she is completely silent now, and she can't answer anything I ask."
"I see...it's already late today, let's meet up at the hospital tomorrow."
"Hospital?"
"Yes, this is the hospital where Mizunuma Marie worked before her death. I heard that Mizunuma Mimiko's autopsy was also done there. I will go to the nearby police station to retrieve the file records, and then we will meet up at the hospital."
After giving the instructions, Shizuku put down her phone and stared at the room in front of her.
Indeed, after hearing the information collected by Nueno Meisuke, it is easy to suspect that Mizunuma Marie was the murderer who abused her own child, and also killed her own daughter Mimiko, and then fled. The resentment of her daughter Mimiko, who was killed by her, formed an evil spirit, and then launched a murderous revenge action.
So is this really the case?
Thinking of this, Shizuku stared at the room in front of her. Then, her pupils dilated slightly, and then time began to flow backwards in Shizuku's eyes... Soon, scenes from the past emerged.
After a moment, Shizuku closed her eyes and nodded slightly.
"I see, so that's how it is..."
As she spoke, Shizuku turned and walked out of the room, closing the door.
This time, she didn't even look back at the vague black shadow emerging in the room.
The next day, when Shizuku arrived at the hospital, Nueno Meisuke was already waiting there.
"You're finally here, Miss Kasugano."
Seeing Shizuku appear, Nueno Meisuke couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"I want to check Mizunuma Mimiko's records, but the hospital won't let me..."
This is natural. As an elementary school teacher, how could you be allowed to read patient files at will?
"I did find the death record of Mizunuma Mimiko."
Shizuku handed over the file.
"According to the police autopsy, Mimiko Mizunuma died of an asthma attack."
"asthma……?"
"Yes, you should know that asthma patients will suffer a lot when they have an asthma attack. If they don't get timely treatment, it's not surprising that they will die."
"So when she got sick, her mother was not by her side... In the end, Mimiko died alone."
Looking at the photos in the file, Nueno Meisuke couldn't help but sigh. At this moment, he didn't notice that Shizuku was staring at him with a strange smile.
And when Nueno Meisuke raised his head, Shizuku also looked away.
"Anyway, as of now, this family is very likely the source of the death calls. Now Mizunuma Mimiko is dead, and Mizunuma Nanako is in the orphanage. The only one missing is Mizunuma Marie. We can only find out the truth if we find Mizunuma Marie."
"But her colleagues at the hospital don't know where Marie Mizunuma has gone..."
Speaking of this, Nueno Meisuke seemed to remember something.
"By the way, her colleagues once said that Mizunuma Marie used to go home when she was not in the hospital, and she spent most of her time in the old hospital!"
"The old hospital?"
"Yes, it's abandoned now, but it hasn't been demolished yet...!"
"Then let's go to the old hospital."
Shizuku didn't care about what Nueno Meisuke said and made a decision quickly.
Soon, the two drove to the old Kagami Hospital. Just as Nueno Meisuke had inquired, the old hospital had been abandoned and closed. However, this was not a problem for Shizuku. She smashed open the sealed door and the two walked into the hospital.
“…”
"Ms. Kasugano, do you feel it?"
"certainly."
As they entered the hospital, Nueno Meisuke began to ask questions with a serious expression, and in response to his questions, Shizuku nodded slightly. Although there seemed to be nothing unusual on the surface, the two felt a strange and cold aura as soon as they entered the hospital.
Then the two looked at each other, slowly walked up the stairs, and walked towards the depths.
Following the direction of the spiritual energy, the two came all the way upstairs. At this moment, suddenly, the strange cell phone ringtone was heard in the originally silent corridor.
"Ding--ding-dong-dang-dong-ding-dong-dang-dong..."
“…”
The sudden ringing of the cell phone at this moment seemed to be deliberately luring the two of them, but neither Nueno Meisuke nor Shizuku was the kind of person who would back down. They walked straight forward and entered a room along the direction where the sound came from. At the same time, the ringing stopped abruptly.
"Look there, Miss Kasugano!"
At this time, Nueno Meisuke seemed to have discovered something, pointing at a box not far away and shouting. A hand stretched out from the box, holding a mobile phone in the hand, and the hand had long been rotten, and it seemed that it had been there for quite some time. At this moment, Nueno Meisuke also hurriedly walked up and opened the box. In the box, a woman's rotten body was curled up, with only one hand stretched out, holding a mobile phone.
"This...could it be..."
“——!!”
However, just as Nueno Meisuke was surprised, the corpse suddenly opened its eyes, stood up, roared, and grabbed Nueno Meisuke in front of him.
If it were an ordinary person, he would have been frightened by the sudden change in front of him. However, after all, Nue No Meisuke was a psychic teacher who had slain demons countless times, so he would not be as cowardly as an ordinary person. Facing the attack in front of him, he quickly stepped back and took out the scripture with his right hand.
"Watch out, the White Clothes Spirit Binding Curse!!"
As Nueno Meisuke roared, the scripture in his hand instantly turned into a circle, binding the rising evil spirit inside. At this moment, the evil spirit also screamed, being bound inside and unable to move.
"Damn evil spirits, just go to heaven obediently! Namo the Great Compassionate One who saves the suffering and the distressed with great inspiration..."
As Nueno Meisuke chanted the spell, the originally violent evil spirit gradually calmed down, and Nueno Meisuke also chanted the spell, trying to make her ascend to heaven.
However, at this moment, Shizuku suddenly spoke.
"Do you think it's behind the death calls?"
"this……"
Facing Shizuku's question, Nueno Meisuke was speechless for a moment. In fact, he had no time to think about this question. It was simply because the evil spirit suddenly attacked that he instinctively fought back in self-defense.
"Then I'll leave that to you. I'll take care of this."
As she spoke, Shizuku stretched out her hand, and as she moved, a pitch-black sword slowly emerged from the void. Then Shizuku tightly grasped Frostmourne in her hand, turned around suddenly and swung it out!
“Swish!!”
The pitch-black sword instantly turned into a flash of lightning and flew forward, nailing it to the wall with a shrill scream. It was not until this time that Nueno Meisuke discovered that the ghost of a girl was nailed to the wall by the pitch-black sword, struggling constantly.
She is none other than Mizunuma Mimiko, the eldest daughter of Marie Mizunuma who died of asthma!
"Ms. Kasugano, what are you doing!?"
Seeing this scene, Nueno Meisuke was shocked, but Shizuku didn't care about what he said at all. Instead, she put her hands behind her back, smiled, and slowly walked towards Mizunuma Mimiko.
"Poor Mimiko... What a pitiful child, she had an asthma attack but no one cared, and she died tragically in the end... How pitiful... At least that's what everyone thinks, but is it really the case?"
"You...what do you mean?"
Hearing what Shizuku said, Nueno Meisuke was a little surprised, and Shizuku glanced at him.
"Don't you have a ghost hand, Mr. Nue? You can just go and look at Ms. Marie's memory, and then everything will be clear, right?"
“…”
Hearing Shizuku's answer, Nueno Meisuke hesitated for a moment, then he stretched out his ghost hand and connected to the memory of the evil spirit in front of him.
Then he immediately saw the memories of Marie Mizunuma.
In Mizunuma Marie's memory, she never abused her daughters. On the contrary, she worked hard to take care of and raise her two daughters. But what bothered her was that her little daughter Nanako was always getting hurt. At first, Marie thought it was just an accident, such as her daughter accidentally touching a knife or sharp object while playing at home. But as this situation recurred, she became confused.
Marie also consulted a doctor and was told that children sometimes choose to self-harm in order to deliberately attract their parents' attention. She was not sure whether her little daughter Nanako was one of them.
However, on this day, Marie learned the truth.
That day, Marie came home a little later than usual. When she opened the door and walked into the room, she saw her eldest daughter, Mimiko, holding a sharp knife and inflicting wounds on her younger daughter.
Seeing this scene, Marie was stunned.
She never imagined that her eldest daughter, who looked frail and suffered from asthma, had such a terrible side.
She almost angrily pushed Mimiko away, and then hugged Nanako. Mimiko seemed to be greatly stimulated by her mother's discovery of what she had done. Soon, her asthma flared up again, but Mimiko was unable to pick up the respirator. She fell to the ground, looking at her mother desperately, hoping that she could save her.
If it were any other time, Marie would definitely save her daughter without hesitation.
But now, in Marie's view, the person lying on the ground was not her daughter, but a cold-blooded and ruthless devil.
So she hesitated for a moment, and finally hugged Nanako, turned around and left home, leaving Mimiko there alone.
Next, just as recorded in the archives, Mimiko died of an asthma attack.
But she didn't really disappear.
Instead, he transformed into an evil spirit and began a new journey of killing.
“…”
Seeing all this, Nueno Meisuke was stunned and couldn't believe his eyes. He originally thought that Zhenli would abuse and kill his daughter, but he didn't expect that there was such a hidden story behind it?
"So, the death call is not a message or anger from the deceased at all, it's just her entertainment, Mr. Nue."
Shizuku's voice continued to reach Nueno Meisuke's ears.
"You know what? Every time Mimiko stabbed her sister, she would give her a candy. And I also found a candy in the mouths of those dead people before."
At this moment, Shizuku had already walked up to Mimiko, who was struggling in pain, and was staring at her with a smile on her face.
"So do you understand, Mr. Nue? She killed those people just like she hurt her own sister. She simply got pleasure from this behavior - and made a living from it."
“…”
Nueno Meisuke looked at Mimiko's ghost with a complicated expression and was silent for a moment.
"So, what are you going to do with her?"
"I have my own way."
Shizuku chuckled and reached out to grab the hilt of Frostmourne.
"Now, it's time for her to taste the pain."
As Shizuku finished speaking, a whistling cold wind burst out from the blade and quickly turned into a whirlpool. Mimiko's ghost was entangled, torn apart, and then completely swallowed by the whirlpool.
After a while, everything returned to peace again.
Shizuku retracted Frostmourne and turned to look at Nueno Meisuke.
"My work is done, Mr. Nue, how about you?"