"Your brother is dead?!" Cang Tai's mind was in a mess. He took two steps back in disbelief. "But Lord Bai Liu said he wanted to go find your brother!"
Xiao Kui turned her head to the side, she lay on the ground and laughed unconsciously, her whole body was shaking with laughter: "Looking for my brother? Then he can only go to a shrine that is full of festival signs to find him."
"But at this time, Bai Liu can't see my brother at the shrine. He can only see my brother's..."
Sota raised his head in horror: "A vengeful spirit?!"
"It's not my brother's vengeful spirit. My brother is not buried in the shrine." Xiao Kui smiled strangely, "It is not allowed to place sacrificial corpses in the Kitahara family's shrine."
Sota was stunned: "Isn't the shrine a place for offering sacrifices? Why is it not allowed to place the bodies of the sacrifices?!"
"How can you put a sacrifice in a sacrifice?" Xiao Kui rolled her eyes and looked at Sota, "Of course you have to put something much more terrifying than the corpse of the sacrifice."
Xiao Kui's face turned pale, and she covered her mouth and giggled: "Guess what's in the shrine?"
Outside the shrine, Bai Liu stood quietly.
After nightfall, the shrine is tightly closed. An inexplicable bloody smell comes from the cracks in the door, and the shadow of some kind of monster can be seen twisting inside the paper door. In front of the door hangs a knotted rope made by thick hands, with Xuan paper hung on it at certain intervals - legend has it that these things can be used to seal evil monsters.
If the rope is broken, the monster will be released.
Bai Liu raised his hand to untie the rope, then calmly walked into the shrine in the night.
A layer of translucent water waves rippled around him, expanding outward and then dissipating, the knotted rope broke, and blood smeared on the rice paper. Bai Liu's body temperature suddenly dropped by several degrees, and the shrine lit up automatically without any lights being turned on.
The light was a dim, flickering orange-yellow flame, not the light of the lamps in the shrine. Instead, it was like the pupils of some giant animal emitting an eerie fluorescent light in the dark, with a dangerous sense of peeping.
Wind blew out from the enclosed shrine, blowing out and in like breathing, blowing back and forth, swaying the hem of Bai Liu's clothes, and carrying a strong smell like rotten meat from the mouth of a vicious dog.
Bai Liu acted as if he didn't smell anything. He walked to the shrine on the huge wooden cabinet with a nonchalant expression. He put his hands together and bowed slightly as a polite gesture. Then he raised his head, lifted his skirt, and stepped onto the shrine.
The breathing-like ups and downs of the wind seemed to stop for a moment as if in surprise, and then the wind suddenly became stronger, making a whistling sound, as if a dog was baring its teeth angrily at a thief who had offended its owner's territory, breathing out of its nose, and making a warning gurgling sound in its throat. An extremely huge yellow eye appeared on the back of the wooden cabinet, staring straight at Bai Liu with malicious intent.
Bai Liu turned a blind eye to all the anomalies. He climbed up to the first level of the wooden cabinet and looked up to see the shrine placed at the highest point of the cabinet.
In the shrine is a black-and-white photo of a little boy who is no more than twelve or thirteen years old. He has a childish face and is smiling foolishly when the photo was taken.
——This is the only photo of a smiling offering in the entire Kitahara family shrine.
There is a tablet under the photo with the words "Kitahara Jiro" written on it.
Bai Liu reached out to take the photo, and without hesitation, he reached directly for the black altar under the shrine. He touched a wet and bloody animal corpse, then he grasped it and took it out.
It was the body of a small black Shiba Inu, with its neck artificially twisted and soaked in some kind of preservative.
The Shiba Inu's limbs hung limply against its belly, with liquid continuously dripping onto the ground. Its eyes should have been a bright yellow, but now they were so cloudy that only a layer of yellowish color could be seen.
The black pupil in the huge yellow eye behind him suddenly shrank and turned into a vertical line the moment he saw Kitahara Jiro's portrait being taken down. The light and shadow of the iris flowed around the pupil, and the light in the shrine suddenly dimmed. Something jumped out from behind the wooden cabinet, bared its fangs at Bai Liu who was standing on the cabinet, and barked away.
In the pitch darkness, the roar of some gigantic beast echoed through the shrine.
[System prompt: Congratulations to player Bai Liu for activating the first page of the monster book "Evil God Festival·Boathouse". ]
attic.
Cang Tai was so anxious that he scratched his ears and cheeks: "Bai Liu is going to the shrine now. Xiao Kui, please tell me what is in the shrine."
"If there were no sacrificial corpses in the shrine, why did the old servant say that there were scary ghosts in the shrine and told us not to go out at night?"
"Of course there are vengeful spirits in the shrine." Xiao Kui raised her lips in a weird way, "There is indeed no corpse of the sacrifice there, but there is the corpse of a pet with the same name as the sacrifice."
"Evil spirits formed from animals are much more terrifying than humans."
Kneeling on the ground, Sota was stunned and asked in astonishment: "A pet's corpse?! How could it be a pet's corpse!?"
Xiao Kui squinted at Sota and said, "Of course it's the body of a pet."
"The Kitahara family tortures the sacrifices every day, so how can they be afraid of the vengeful spirits formed by the sacrifices? Even if people become ghosts, it is the ghosts who are afraid of people, right?"
Xiao Kui continued with an indifferent expression: "But animals are different."
"Their memory is not as good as that of humans. After they become vengeful spirits, they will not remember who tortured them in their lifetime. They will only remember who their master is. Then, in order to protect their master, the evil spirits they form will frantically attack humans who approach the sacrificial shrine, that is, their master."
Sota was in a trance after hearing this, and he sat on the ground paralyzed: "...Why are there pet corpses in the shrine?"
Xiao Kui said, "Because the bodies of the offerings cannot be brought into the shrine."
Confused, Sota asked back, "Why?"
Xiao Kui laughed when she heard this question. She laughed until she coughed and cried, but she was still laughing: "Because the shrine does not accept people who died unjustly."
"The sacrifices here either couldn't bear the pain and committed suicide before the evil god ceremony, or they endured the pain and successfully sacrificed themselves at the evil god ceremony, but because they saw the evil god's eyes, they went crazy and committed suicide."
"People who commit suicide are considered to have died in vain and are unclean. They cannot enter the shrine to receive offerings."
Xiao Kui's face turned fierce. She hammered her hammer on the floor and cursed viciously: "But the Kitahara family, these idiots, are clearly enjoying the pain of these sacrifices, but they still have to pretend to erect a memorial archway to beautify the pain of these sacrifices, calling it a tribute to their contributions to the Kitahara family, as if the pain is no longer pain, but their voluntary sacrifice!"
"The shrine has many offerings, most of which are tragic suicides, which is not in line with the shrine's sacred rules."
"So this group of people came up with a plan." Xiao Kui sat up with her hands on the floor. She looked straight at Sota, with no emotion on her face. "They decided to use substitutes instead of offerings to be placed in the shrine for worship."
Xiao Kui said this, took a deep breath and continued, "I originally wanted to bury my brother's body by the sea, but the people of the Kitahara family said that they would let my brother enter the shrine, so that he can always be worshipped and appreciated. In this way, my brother's vengeful spirit after suicide may be able to become a Buddha, instead of becoming a ground-bound spirit and being trapped in the Kitahara family."
"Although I hate them, I really want my brother to leave here, even if he can leave here as a ghost."
"So I agreed to let them take my brother's body away."
Xiao Kui pulled the corner of her mouth: "My brother and I both have a Shiba Inu with the same name as ourselves. My Shiba Inu died, but his is still alive."
"After my brother, the Shiba Inu lay under the eaves where my brother hanged himself for more than three days without eating or drinking, until I force-fed it food and it survived."
"After that, it seemed to realize that my brother was dead. It would eat the food I gave it, but spent most of its time sitting in a daze under the eaves."
Tears slowly rolled down Xiao Kui's face. "It used to be a very docile dog. It wouldn't hurt anyone no matter how hard it hit me. But after my brother died, when I was tortured by the Kitahara family, it rushed over like crazy and bared its teeth at those people, trying to protect me. It didn't retreat even after being hit several times. It was very stubborn."
"—Just like what my brother did when he was alive."
"It always followed me around, but on the day my brother's shrine was completed and brought to the shrine, I couldn't find it."
"I searched and searched in the yard, calling and calling its name - Jiro, Jiro, Jiro, where have you been? Come out quickly, Jiro."
"I searched from dawn to dusk and shouted until dusk, but I still couldn't find the Shiba Inu."
Xiao Kui turned to look at the dazed Souta, laughed with a twisted and devilish smile, tears welling up like a spring: "And then I finally found it."
"They asked me to go to the newly built shrine to worship my brother. I went there while worrying about Jiro. Then, in my brother's shrine, I saw Jiro with his neck cut and sealed!"
Xiao Kui cried heartbreakingly: "They are a bunch of beasts. There are so many things that can be replaced, but they chose [Jiro]!"
"They just want us, the living servants, to continue suffering! To become sacrifices in the next round!"
Xiao Kui cried until her voice became hoarse and she could not make any sound. Tears flowed down numbly: "After that, I heard the legend of the vengeful spirit."
"I know that it is Jiro's ghost that has transformed into a vengeful spirit guarding my brother's shrine day and night. Except for me, if anyone dares to look up at him, Jiro will chase the person who disrespects my brother and drag him into the shrine to bite him to death."
小葵突然神經質地大笑起來，她滿臉是淚，眼神恍惚：“白六要是去神社，在見到邪神之前就會被【次郎】當成骨頭給吃掉了！”
”什麽！？我得趕快回去告訴白六大人這件事！”蒼太驚慌地想要從窗戶翻下去。
但他剛一站起來，小葵撲過來死死攥住了蒼太腳腕拉倒在地。
小葵表情淩亂迷離地擡起頭，滿是淚痕的臉上笑容詭異無比：“【次郎】很久沒有被放出來吃人了。”
“與其讓你的白六大人痛苦不堪地給北原家做祭品，為他們的發展做貢獻，不如讓他好好喂喂【次郎】吧。”
白柳随意地盤坐在神社的地上，左手輕撫摸他旁邊一條巨大無比的黑色柴犬。
這條柴犬眼瞳金黃，身上散發着一股讓人不适的怨氣，脖子上能清晰地看到擰斷凸出來的白骨，但卻很違和地不停頂蹭着白柳的手，還哈吃哈赤地吐舌頭，伸出白骨裸露的脖子給白柳撸。
白柳面不改色地撸了幾下，柴犬瞬間就翻倒露出了肚皮，當這條柴犬倒在白柳外衣上的時候，它就像是嗅聞到了某種陌生的氣息，瞬間就龇起了牙，但當白柳伸手過去的時候，它略微疑惑地嗅聞了兩下白柳的手，又躺下露出了肚皮。
然後繼續重複上述的過程。
它對白柳身上的氣息極為陌生，但它對白柳手上的氣息卻很熟悉。
——那是它主人的姐姐，小葵的氣息。
白柳垂眸看向自己手上的東西——那是一卷柔細的發絲，這是他從爬上去的蒼太扔下來的窗戶外簾上取下來的。
這是小葵的頭發，也是這個【黑狗怨靈】怪物的弱點之一。
從北原家門口的兩座柴犬型的石燈籠，上一年的祭品是小葵的弟弟，到神社這裏最頂端的祭品遺照長得和小葵有幾分神似，老仆人說神社不接收枉死之人，但神社這裏的祭品卻有小葵的弟弟，這些信息結合起來，足夠白柳推斷出鑰匙在哪裏了。
白柳緩緩地用兩指頂開柴犬屍體的牙齒，滑入喉嚨，取出了一柄包裹在塑料膜內，樣式古舊的鑰匙。
【系統提示：恭喜玩家白柳完成支線任務——偷盜北原家的神社鑰匙。】
【兩條溫馨提示：
一，玩家白柳現在可用神社鑰匙開啓神社去見邪神，但會有較大的精神值歸零風險，請慎重選擇游戲路徑。
二，每天早上五點，北原家主會來神社這裏祭拜并檢查放在黑狗屍體內的鑰匙，請玩家白柳注意在那之前歸還鑰匙。】
白柳把頭發放在了黑狗怨靈的鼻尖，然後轉身走出了神社，一個人在夜色裏披着薄得幾乎透明的一件白色松垮外衣，幾乎沒有任何停頓，臉色平和地向着在北原家之上的神社走去了。
正在窗臺上奮力掙紮的蒼太突然看到通往神社的道路上亮起裏一盞很暗的燈，掙紮的動作頓在哪裏，緊接着小葵也看見了。
她猛地撥開蒼太，伸驚愕地望着那盞不斷向神社靠近的燈：“白六居然真的拿到了鑰匙……”
“這家夥不要命了嗎？拿到鑰匙就直接往神社裏沖。”小葵喃喃自語，“他不怕邪神讓他發瘋嗎？”
“或者說，你一直都在為邪神發瘋呢，白六……”
小葵恍然地望着那盞頃刻就靠近了神社大門的燈：
“……該不會真的是戀人吧？”
蒼太小聲辯駁了一句：“都和你說了啊，邪神大人是白六大人的愛人。”
小葵神色瞬間冷靜下來：“是愛人又怎麽樣？他打開了神社一樣見不到邪神的。”
蒼太不可思議地反問：“為什麽？！”
小葵冷笑一聲：“這個邪神只有在感受到足夠痛苦的人的時候才會睜開眼睛，其他時間都是一具屍體，這具屍體被封印在一個巨大的神龛裏，沒有任何人，能用任何方式能将祂喚醒。”
“北原家拿到鑰匙之後也曾經想用各種辦法把邪神逼醒，但除了讓他們派去靠近邪神的人被異化，變成怪物自殺或者是被殺，沒有任何進展。”
小葵的目光落在山頂的那盞微光上，語調極冷：“那是一個很殘忍的邪神。”
“和這樣的人□□人，可不是什麽好事，和神□□人這種事情，是他一廂情願的吧。”
蒼太氣得臉都紅了，用力揮舞拳頭：“才不是！白六大人說他們是一對愛人！一對！”
小葵用餘光掃了一眼蒼太，又轉回山頂，她望着那盞燈光，語氣和眼神都有些意味不明，好似恍惚，又好似詢問：
“以人類痛苦為食的邪神，也會懂什麽是愛，怎麽去愛一個人嗎？”
白柳仰頭看了一眼封閉起來的大門，提着燈照了一下，沒有一絲猶豫地将鑰匙插入了鑰匙孔，然後轉動。
“吱呀——！”
伴随着細微的塵土和枯葉落下，門被白柳推開了，他提着一盞搖晃的煤氣燈往裏走去，推開一扇又一扇，一扇又一扇的和室門，來到了一個屋檐飛翹的神社木屋前。
飛翹的屋檐上綁着用來許願用的搖撞鈴，鈴铛下面懸挂着一根粗大的繩索，木屋前面放着賽錢箱，透過賽錢箱最上面一層的隔層，能看到裏面散落的零錢，這些是人們用來向邪神許願的寄托物——硬幣。
白柳垂眸，他看向挂在自己心口上的游戲管理器——一個硬幣。
原來是這樣，硬幣，人向神許願的寄托物，所以才是他們這些玩家進入邪神的游戲之後系統管理器的樣子。
——因為這就是你向邪神許願的媒介。
白柳擡起頭，他繞過撞鈴，跨過賽錢箱，推開最後一扇木門，終于來到了神社的室內。
室內很大，地面上鋪了一些榻榻米，正對的地方是兩扇隔地有一段距離，安置在中央的木門，在中央合着，看制式應該是一個巨大的神龛。
如果沒有意外，謝塔就在裏面了。
白柳停在這個神龛前，他伸出手想要拉開這個神龛的門，但卻不知道為什麽，伸出的手在觸碰到神龛門閥的一瞬間，就像是被摁下了暫停鍵般，在半空中一動不動地靜了好幾分鐘。
他很少做事情猶豫，因為這個世界上能讓他猶豫的事情很少。
——但這個時候推開木門一定是其中一件。
白柳垂下眼眸，他看着自己停頓在木門前的手。
這條游戲世界線裏的謝塔，應該是在遇見他以前其他世界線的裏謝塔，換句話來說，也就是從前的謝塔。
無論白柳之前怎麽探究和追問，謝塔從來沒有和他說過自己的從前，而這個就像是謎底一樣的東西，現在終于在白柳面前展開了。
……從前的謝塔，一個被【他】殺死過後的謝塔，在見到他的時候會是怎麽樣的？
……會殺了他嗎？會恨他嗎？還是會幹脆就是當做他不存在，就像是對這條世界線裏的【白六】做的那樣？
就像是謝塔在福利院，對其他小孩做的那樣。
謝塔好像一直都無法理解人類，他忽略小孩，忽略投資人，忽略周身的一切，就像是一尊雕像一樣在世間存在着，眼裏從來沒有裝下過任何靠近過他的人類。
白柳是從謝塔這裏開始明白，神的眼裏，好像是容不下人類的，不是因為傲慢，只是單純地因為……
無法産生感情。
所以白柳不懂，為什麽那麽多人類當中，那麽多小孩當中，那麽多【白六】當中，謝塔只會看他。
他問過謝塔，謝塔想了想，回答他：“問題其實不出在我的身上，是出在白六你的身上。”
白柳當時覺得非常好笑：“問題還能出在我的身上？”
謝塔認真地望着他：“是的。”
“因為你望着我的眼神，無論是什麽時候的我，都一定會回頭的。”
“眼神這種東西無法說服我。”白柳撐着下巴懶懶地笑着，“你是怎麽區分我看你的眼神和其他人看你的眼神的？一個和我長得一模一樣的人望着你，你也能區別出來嗎？”
“我能。”謝塔用那雙銀藍色的眼睛注視着白柳，“因為你是不一樣的。”
“無論有多少個【白六】，這些人當中只有你看我的眼神是不一樣的。”
“當你用那種眼神看我的一瞬間，我就被你賦予了靈魂，産生了感情。”
“我是因為你，才有了靈魂的。”
白柳推開了神龛的門，神龛內巨大的光線落下。
神龛推開之後是後院，夜深了，能看到有個人坐在回廊上的輪廓，走進了，能看到月光下這人一頭柔順銀藍色的長卷發垂落腰間，泛出一層柔和的微光。
他穿着寬大的狩衣，看着大概有十八九歲，身形欣長而流暢，腳上帶着金色的鎖鏈蜿蜒到身後，這人似乎正低頭看着一本書。
In the center of the backyard is a huge goldfish pond, with beautiful orange goldfish swimming around in it. Their flower-like tail fins create ripples on the water, which are reflected on the pages of the book and the man's quiet profile. His long eyelashes look like they are covered with crushed snow, and are covered with water and moonlight.
Bai Liu stopped behind him, at a position where he could almost see the book.
The night wind blew, and the trees rustled. The two people's large and transparent gauze coats stretched in the wind, like fluttering leaves, overlapping and flying together.
The man put the book down, turned around, raised his eyes, and revealed the pair of silver-blue eyes that Bai Liu was so familiar with.
The night wind blew between the two people. Xie Ta looked at Bai Liu through the blown gauze and raised the broken and glued book in his hand with a light expression:
"I haven't seen you before. Is this your first time at the shrine?"
"Want to watch it together?"