Chapter 35 Jiang Lai: The mysterious demon in action
The continuous cluster of buildings seemed extremely heavy in the gradually thinning sunlight. It was the Zenin family, one of the three great families.
The armored guards stood like standing tombstones, silently nailed to the spot.
As the sun sets, two figures gradually walk out on the road in the distance. The white-haired man has his hands in his pockets and walks in a casual and nonchalant manner, with an air of nonchalance.
The black-haired person on the side walked more steadily, with her loosely tied bun swaying slightly with her steps.
They walked side by side towards the gate of the Zenin family.
The guard at the door took a step forward as they approached, pretending to stop them, and said in a voice as hard as stone: "Show me your proof, please."
"Huh? No one came to greet us?" The white-haired man, Gojo Satoru, asked, "Please, you guys need our help, why don't you show some respect and welcome us in?"
The black-haired Kasyu Takeshi next to him had a gentle expression and handed over a rectangular hard card with a seal on it: "We are here to carry out a mission. This is the card issued when you receive the mission."
The leading guard took it, checked its authenticity with his personal instrument, and then continued in a flat voice:
"Mission: To train the appropriate age students of the Zen temple. Executors: Gojo Satoru and Kaguru Kei, second-year students of the Tokyo Metropolitan Jutsu High School. Requirements: Only two people are allowed in."
"Yes, yes, so where are the people on your side?" Gojo Satoru raised his head slightly and looked forward.
"The head of the family and the elders are waiting for you two in the reception room." The leading guard half bowed and said calmly, "Someone will take you there."
"Okay." Gojo Satoru nodded slightly, then suddenly changed the subject, a sly flash in his blue eyes, "--By the way, only two people are allowed in, which means non-humans are not allowed in, right?"
"Uh, sorry, what?" The leading guard was stunned for a second, obviously not understanding the meaning of Gojo Satoru's words.
"For the sake of courtesy and to avoid causing any disturbance, I'll explain this in advance." Xia Yujie narrowed his eyes and smiled. He raised his hand and pointed, "Look behind you."
The guard turned his head subconsciously.
——On the top of the outer wall of the Zenin family in the back, a silent black figure was sitting! The enchanting silver-white-gold fox full-face mask perfectly covered the face.
The rising evening breeze blew up the corners of his navy blue clothes, and the ink-colored spells flowed naturally. He was lowering his head, his eyes seemed to fall on the book in his hand, and the atmosphere was as quiet as water.
For a moment, there was only silence.
“What, what is this!?” A crack appeared on the guard’s stone-hard face, and he took a half step back in disbelief, “How did this guy get into the barrier?!”
"The outer barrier is to block unrecorded humans and cursed spirits." Xia Yujie said with a smile, "But He is neither of them."
The guard looked stunned and didn't seem to understand.
"Why, you can't think of it? Then I'll tell you the answer." Gojo Satoru raised his lips, his beautiful blue eyes looked at the guard through his sunglasses, and said arrogantly, "This is the one who signed a contract with this six-eyed... my monster."
His tone was brisk, but the amount of information contained in it was extremely heavy, bombarding everyone present.
——
"Hmm? Monster?" The blond teenage boy raised his eyes when he heard the servant's report.
He rested one hand on the table, the gold edges on the cuffs of his kimono were faintly visible, the pattern was a complex and orderly family crest. The delicate fabric was clearly distinguished from the clothes of the servants around him, who were either crawling on the ground or standing with their heads bowed.
——Zenin Naoya, the eldest son of the Zenin family. He is one year younger than Gojo Satoru. He is sharp-tongued, arrogant, and admires the strong. In addition, he has a very feudal patriarchal mentality and a very contemptuous personality.
He has a pair of upturned green fox eyes, and his appearance is more inherited from his mother, so he looks pretty good. He originally had black hair, but later when he was in his rebellious period, he dyed it blonde at home.
At this moment, upon hearing that the duo of high school experts from outside had brought along a person who was said to be a "monster", Zenin Naoya snorted coldly:
"What kind of monster? It must be Gojo Satoru's gang deliberately teasing us! You really believe this? How stupid."
"But, but it is said that it really looks like it, because the barrier that blocks humans and cursed spirits can't stop it..." the servant whispered.
"No matter how similar it is, it's definitely fake!" Zenin Naoya sneered, "Gojo Satoru must have used some tricks, or that [monster] is a cursed spirit released by the cursed spirit master after entering the barrier - but the technique is so that you can't recognize it as a cursed spirit."
"But Master, what's the point of this?" asked a bolder and more talkative servant beside him. "Why do they do this?"
"Let's have fun! They are just so bad. The guards outside actually let them in. They are such a bunch of rubbish. No wonder they can only stand there like a stone every day." His words were full of sarcasm. "They are fooled by that bastard Gojo."
Of course, he didn't dare to say these words directly in front of Gojo Satoru - because Gojo Satoru would really beat him up.
The Zenin family is sealed off all year round, and Zenin Naoya rarely sees people outside his family.
However, as one of the three longest-lasting families, the Zenin family occasionally interacts with the other three families, the Gojo family and the Kamo family.
Zenin Naoya met Gojo Satoru several times when he was young, but he was basically beaten in each of these meetings - Naoya was unwilling to admit that he was the one who spoke badly first.
All in all, although Zenoya Zeno has a hidden admiration for the strong, because Gojo Satoru casts a shadow on his childhood, he currently has only one idol in his heart - that is Shinjiro, whom he bumped into in the corridor when he was ten years old.
At that time, they only met by chance, but his strong and cold aura deeply shocked Naoya who originally wanted to laugh at him.
From then on, Jin became the object of Zenin Naoya's inner longing.
Unfortunately, Jin left the Zenin family soon after that and Zenin Naoya never saw him again.
After recalling the past for a moment, Zenin Naoya felt even worse. He stood up and walked out: "I want to see what the Gojo Satoru guy is doing. How dare he deceive our Zenin family!"
"Ah, wait... Master!"
"Master! No, Master, the master of the family has not allowed it—"
Zenin Naoya ignored the servant who called out to him from behind and walked out with big strides, ready to rush directly to the reception room where the head of the family and the elders were sitting, wanting to see what the two people from the high school were doing.
Monster? How is that possible! It must be some newly acquired cursed spirit that Gojo Satoru's accomplice used to deceive people.
He narrowed his upward eyes slightly, pressed the corners of his lips into a straight line, and his steps made a sound when he landed.
The servants chasing behind him didn't dare to really stop Zenin Naoya, they could only beg beside him. Zenin Naoya felt that the other party's yelling was annoying, so he simply rushed forward with a spell, leaving the servant far behind.
He headed all the way to the living room, where naturally there were servants and guards standing quietly waiting.
The people in charge here are stricter than those in Zenin Naoya's house, and they will not relax the rules just because of Naoya's status.
They stopped Zenin Naoya with expressionless faces and said that if he made any noise, they would "ask him to leave".
"..." Zenin Naoya pursed his lips. At this moment, he was no match for them. So he quickly adjusted his thinking and nodded, "Okay, I won't go in. I'll wait outside. Your responsibility is just to prevent people from entering, but you don't say that you can't let people wait outside, right?"
The guards hesitated for a few seconds and put down their hands: "Please do as you please, Master Naoya. Just remain quiet." They still stood guard in front of the main gate.
Zenin Naoya walked around the area several times and finally stopped at the window. The blinds inside half blocked his view and he could only get a vague glimpse.
The blond boy squinted his eyes and tried to look inside through the gap in the blinds.
Those wearing family kimonos are our family... On the other side, the one wearing the pure black uniform of the technical high school, the one with black hair is Geto Suguru, and the one with white hair is that Gojo Satoru guy... There seems to be another figure next to him, but it is not clear.
Zenin Naoya wiped the mist off the window with his hand and looked again intently.
The man's navy blue sleeves were covered with strange symbols. Zenoin Naoya didn't know if it was an illusion, but he seemed to see the ink-colored writing move a few times.
He could barely see the man from his current perspective, and could only vaguely glimpse the old-fashioned book above his sleeves... Was he reading this? How could he be so casual during a meeting at Zenin's house? ?
Zenin Naoya exhaled and raised the corners of his eyes.
When they come out, he wants to see what the extra thing is.
——
In the living room.
In fact, Jiang Lai was indeed staring at the book in his hand - that is, looking at his mobile phone.
This kind of meeting was really long and boring, Jiang Lai had no interest in listening to it. Gojo Satoru beside him had already propped up his head with one hand on his chin, his white eyelashes had not moved for a long time, and he must have fallen asleep.
Only Geto Suguru was still smiling with narrowed eyes, and he seemed to be listening carefully to the speeches of the people opposite him.
However, Jiang Lai thought that maybe Xia Youjie was also sleeping, because his eyes were too small and he was squinting and smiling, so it was impossible to tell whether he was open or closed (bushi).
His thoughts wandered for a second, then returned to the phone (book) in his hand.
Jiang Lai had just finished reading the official website update, which showed Geto Suguru returning to the classroom to get a letter - just like what was later shown on the playground, what was pulled out of the envelope was a piece of white paper with ink stains.
In the picture, the boy with a bun holding the paper for a long time before folding it and putting it away. The camera focused on the details of his hand, without showing Geto's expression at the time.
Afterwards, the comic depicts what happened on the playground, which is basically the same as what Jiang Lai experienced.
不過，裏面并沒有出現[小宮山悠]的名字，只有江萊那句[你有點像我之前的一個熟人]。
因為兩個世界并不互通，世界意識也不會讓人發現兩邊的互相觀測，因此相關線索會模糊。
江萊早就猜到了這一點，當時才自然而然地脫口而出小宮山悠的名字。
官網漫畫一直更新到這次禪院家任務，結尾停在江萊自己的變裝上。
彩漫畫面渲染力特別強，将銀白金紋狐貍面具的妖異、流動墨跡外衣的神秘感都充分展現而出！
這裏是更新的結束，但不是畫面的結束，最後一頁是宣傳——最新發布的咒回Q版小人盲盒周邊，原著和新系列角色都有的最全版！
江萊在裏面看到了自己——是正篇的現代風衣形象，大概是取自當時壽喜鍋店的那一身裝扮。
他甚至還看到了結川栗芥……果然是角色最齊全版。
最後，江萊的目光落在塗黑的隐藏款剪影上。
不知道為什麽，他莫名覺得輪廓有一點點熟悉，特別是旁邊半飄着的、多出來的什麽。有點像是自己的書冊（手機）……？難道隐藏款是昨日昔日篇的自己？
算了，總之先看看論壇有無線索吧。在禪院家長老們嗡嗡的敘述中，他打開新系列最新劇情讨論帖。
【夏油的那封信好詭異……嗚嗚，要是有不知道是誰給我寄一張帶污漬的白紙，我會被吓死的QAQ】
【樓上，準确來說，是我們不知道寄信人是誰。但是夏油那種表現，應該是知曉的吧？盲猜一個監管會給傑的暗示，畢竟新系列裏夏油傑的經歷就只有這一點很不一樣。
結合之後他問五條悟的那句“你認為人應該分三六九等嗎”，我認為這裏可能顯露出了監管會的部分理念。
再結合之前情報冊所說的，社會上失蹤的人很大程度上和監管會有關，那麽有沒有一種可能：鳶尾花遍布各處監視，然後進行某種他們制定的某種規則下的等級評定，繼而進行某種操作。】
【！！好家夥，樓上這麽一說，似乎有可能？不知道為什麽，呃、莫名有一種豬肉品質鑒定的錯覺……】
【那位狗狗結川不是也很可疑嗎？那番低級綠茶氣死我了！！差一點夏油就又憋回去上面那句問題，好在萊神出手了】
【雖然但是，萊神和結川的對話好好笑hhh，前面那個“你有點像我的一個熟人，不過他已經噶了”那裏，是威脅吧哈哈哈！！
後面一連串怼爽死了，萊神護自家白毛貓崽子，威脅隔壁綠茶狗狗，好棒！】
【感覺結川的綠茶是裝出來的……後面他和萊神對話的時候，有一瞬間是正常的。
感覺有點像那種熱衷表演、然後以別人情緒為樂的壞狗狗，似乎也盯上了萊神的樣子……有點變态哈。】
【那一幕真的有點驚悚，結川的眼睛在光線下畫出偏紅的色彩，完全沒有之前腼腆狗狗的感覺了！】
【咳、聯想一下萊神口中所說的不知名綠茶“熟人”，還有祂之前遇到的真人、宿傩等咒靈，就是說——萊神，是不是，有點吸引bt？】
【合理的，一針見血的。越扭曲的bt一般越會喜歡這種處于另一種極端的神明吧……
神明大人我愛你！！prprpr哼哼唧唧萊神快來我家！讓我當你的狗狗你的貓貓！瘋狂徹底瘋狂星期一到星期日!！】
【？樓上你，笑死，前半段還很正常，後半段怎麽突然發瘋文學了啊。看出來萊神吸引bt了hhh】
【嗚嗚，但是萊神真的好溫柔，好喜歡^和夏油散步談話那裏，真的哭哭了T^T……傑你多和朋友們聊聊啊！在陪伴中成長什麽的】
【說起來，新系列裏的禪院家感覺也有點奇怪啊，比原著更加極端。現代社會了，竟然還閉關鎖族。】
【同意加一。不過感謝禪院家，讓我有幸見到了妖怪pa的萊萊……美死我了】
【報——家人們！！隔壁帖子有人抽出了盲盒隐藏款！就是這次銀面金紋狐貍面具的萊神！！
啊啊官方制作得這麽快是怎麽做到的？！看來是早就拿到了獨眼貓的更新圖紙吧！】
【草，隐藏款這麽快就被抽出來了？我速沖——】
看到這裏的江萊略微一頓，對隐藏款有些意外。
他之前根據半漂浮的書影，猜到是昨日昔日篇的自己，但沒想到是這次禪院家妖怪裝扮的樣貌。
江萊：這也做得太快了吧……廠子緊急加工做工做冒火了？
【再報——隔壁帖子抽出來的是隐藏款中的超級隐藏款啊！！隐藏款本身是昨日昔日篇的萊神，而這個妖怪萊，官方說只加急制作，然後放了一個！！嗚嗚嗚為什麽我沒有這麽幸運，我羨慕死了啊啊啊】
江萊再度愣住一秒，接着恍然：好家夥，怪不得能夠做出來，原來妖怪pa投放的只有一個。
不過這也太少了，不知道是哪位幸運觀衆抽到了這個。
思維偏移只是短暫時分，接着，他收回注意力，将重點落在論壇裏的幾位分析帝上。
裏面提到的監管會方面的分析，江萊覺得有幾分道理。夏油傑的那封古怪的信，來源很可能是監管會。
而夏油傑的“三六九等”問題，大概率也來自那邊。
——其實江萊曾經一瞬間猜想過影響人是結川栗芥，但緊接着又自我否認了。因為現在的夏油傑還沒經歷過星漿體事件，思維沒那麽容易動搖。
話語重量程度，能夠讓夏油傑産生疑問并陷入思考的，大概只有初中起便接管了他的那個鳶尾花組織了吧。
江萊想。他們将人分成三六九等，是要做什麽？
無論如何，這樣的劃分實際上并不公平。他內心思緒流淌。只不過是在他們的規則下，進行的個人化評定。
由此觀之，目前夏油傑應該是對這個組織了解最深的人。但是，他不一定會說出自己所知曉的內容。
一方面，是夏油傑習慣自己思考，很少向他人傾訴。另一方面，也或許有些限制讓他不能說太多。
江萊思緒流轉之時，對面一聲響亮的敲錘聲，讓他頓時從自己的世界中抽離！
旁邊睡大覺的五條悟也被這一聲驚醒，眉頭蹙起，睫羽顫動後緩慢擡起，從側面可以看見墨鏡後的那雙極致美麗的藍眸。
他動作幅度很大地放下手，“咚”一聲同樣錘在桌子上，看起來有點起床氣。
對面敲錘的禪院家的人身體瑟縮了一下，下意識小聲解釋道：“那個……會議結束後敲一下木錘，是傳統結尾流程。”
一側的夏油傑擡手輕按住五條悟，而後擡眸笑道：“好的，那麽這次會議正式結束了。從明天開始這次任務的訓練流程。”
“辛苦你們了。”家主禪院直毘人點頭，“等會會有人帶你們去這幾天休息的住所隔間。”
“好。”夏油傑點點頭，順暢接話，他随着衆人起身，順便動作隐晦地拉了一把剛睡起後懶洋洋癱着不想動的五條悟。
江萊同樣順着起身，保持着一如既往的沉默。
在走出會議室的時候，他餘光瞥見側面有一道與家仆服飾不同的人影。但是由于面具的視野限制，外加人群走動，沒能看清是誰。
不過，江萊并不太在意。他剛才只是本能地留意分析身邊的環境。
五條悟姿态随意地走出會議室，大大方方打着哈欠往前走。夏油傑臉上挂着略帶無奈的笑容，但也沒有多言什麽。
江萊安靜地飄蕩于身側，并未和他們交流。他端着架勢，保持着神秘大妖的形象。
雖然江萊名義上是與五條悟簽訂契約的妖怪，但禪院家還是給他單獨安排了一間。
江萊不需要睡眠，夜幕降臨的時候，他打算出去溜達一下。
按理說，這樣随處游走不太禮貌，但是五條悟表示：不要跟禪院家講禮貌，對他人的禮貌只會限制了自己的快樂，沖就完事了！
江萊想了一下，覺得有道理。自己這趟本來就是來收集情報，看看能不能撞見不該撞見的秘密的，既然如此，就不要矜持了。
再說了，自己現在的神秘大妖身份，也方便四處游走。
——畢竟不為人知的強大妖怪，大多都是随心所欲的性格，不為規矩所束縛，不被空間所局限，像是一陣風、一片霧，捉摸不定。
于是，在明月挂在枝頭，繁星閃爍，燈光一盞接着一盞熄滅後，江萊從房間後院躍上圍牆，利用自己的術式在空中接連跳躍，躍到古老建築的屋頂上。
現在是深夜時分。
一身藏青色和服完美隐于黑暗，江萊将銀白色妖狐面具切換成黑金色，與這片夜幕融合。
他的腳步很輕，在屋頂時行走幾乎沒有聲響。借助相對高處的視角優勢，江萊目光在禪院家流轉。
Because the barrier was very complete, the Zenin family did not set up too many guards, but it was customary to have people in charge of night patrols.
Jiang Lai was not restricted by the barrier, so he only needed to avoid the night watchmen. Most of them walked in a disciplined manner along the prescribed route and rarely looked up at the sky.
The buildings of the Zen House are not always connected. Some of them are quite far apart, so you need to calculate and edit the floating footholds in the middle.
Jiang Lai felt slightly tired after continuously manipulating the air with spell codes, so he temporarily settled down in a relatively remote courtyard.
However, when he was on tiptoe, his eyes moved and a child's figure flashed through his eyelids -
The little girl with short dark green hair was searching and stroking something on the ground. When she noticed a figure suddenly intruding, she subconsciously stiffened her body and stared at him vigilantly!
Jiang Lai was also very surprised at this time, because the building looked rather shabby and the courtyard was overgrown with weeds, like an abandoned house or a warehouse used to store useless things.
Jiang Lai thought there was no one here, so he stayed here temporarily, but he didn't expect there was a young girl here.
Why is he still awake at this late hour? What is he looking for? Many questions flashed through his mind in an instant, and Jiang Lai stood still.
The little girl with short dark green hair pursed her lips. Although she was very young, her voice was very clear: "...Who are you?"
The little girl, young Zenin Maki, was actually very nervous, but she tried to stay calm because her sister, Zenin Mayi, was sleeping in the room behind.
Zenin Maki and Zenin Mai are twin sisters. When they were born, one had no cursed energy and could not see curses, while the other had too little cursed energy and her spells were useless to her.
They were considered as unknown twins and suffered discrimination in this family that respected cursed magic and favored boys over girls.
Because of this, they are both very precocious, with abilities and thinking that are not for children of their age.
*After their mother passed away due to illness, they lived in this relatively remote place. Every day they had to learn various etiquette norms or do various chores at home, which were very hard for children of this age.
Their mother once gave each of them a bracelet. It wasn’t an expensive item, but the cheap crystal glass beads carried memories of the past, so they would wear them every day.
Before going to bed tonight, Zenin Mayi suddenly found that the bracelet on her wrist was missing. Tears welled up in her eyes at that moment. As her elder sister, Maki finally comforted her and coaxed her to sleep before she went to the yard to look for it.
If I can't find it... I'll look for it on the road tomorrow, thought Maki. I hope it's not picked up as garbage by someone.
As she bent over and pushed aside the grass to look for it, another figure suddenly fell into the yard, causing her to tense up immediately, like a hedgehog with its spikes erected.
When asked "Who are you?", Jiang Lai did not rush to speak, nor did he make any extra movements. He just put his hands together and let his wide sleeves with talisman patterns hang down naturally.
He is still observing the situation.
His eyes swept across the ground. At this moment, the dark clouds were dispersing, and the moon was casting a bright and soft light. Something bright flashed in the grass - Jiang Lai captured it sharply.
...Is the thing in that place what the girl is looking for?
After thinking about it, Jiang Lai stood still and raised his hand slightly.
At this moment, a gust of evening breeze blew up. The breeze rustled the treetops, and the grass swayed and crawled to the ground. The dust and sand in the evening breeze blew into the eyes of young Zenin Maki. She subconsciously raised her hands to rub her eyes, and physiological tears welled up.
Her heart was still tense. She rubbed her eyes briefly and then quickly tried to open them. With her still blurry vision, she looked at the figure that suddenly appeared.
A beautiful crystal glass bracelet was floating gently in front of her eyes.
“……?!”
Zenin Maki was stunned. She subconsciously stretched out her hand and the chain fell steadily into her palm.
After pausing for a second, she suddenly raised her head.
——Bathed in the moonlight, the figure wearing a black and gold fox mask in the distance disappeared into the night as silently as when it came.
The only thing left there was a leaf blown down by the evening breeze, swaying gently in the field of vision.