Chapter 41 Sacrifice
The door opened, and a man in a pure black college uniform walked in. His eyes were slightly lowered, a bandage was wrapped around his forehead, his hair was tied up in a loose bun, his semi-long hair was casually draped over his shoulders, and he was holding a few pieces of paper in his hand.
——It's Geto Suguru.
Jiang Lai stood still and looked over. The other party also noticed the extra figure in the room the moment he stepped in, and quickly raised his head to look at him with vigilance.
"...Lai?" A figure in a navy blue kimono flashed through the curtain, and Xia Yujie looked a little stunned.
"Long time no see, Jie Jun." Jiang Lai smiled and looked at ease. "It's so sudden, I hope I didn't scare you." His eyes fell on the person in front of him.
At this time, Geto's appearance had not changed much from when they parted, but his expression was visibly much more haggard.
There was a faint blue shadow under his eyes, he was thin, and his tied-up hair made him look listless.
Even so, he still habitually wrapped himself in a gentle mask to hide his thoughts.
At this moment, facing Jiang Lai who came uninvited, Xia Youjie was just stunned for a few seconds, then smiled: "I was not scared, but it is indeed a bit unexpected to meet you here again."
"Don't worry, I didn't move anything in your room." Jiang Lai blinked lightly, "It's just that the view from the French window here is nice, so I stood here to admire it and wait for an acquaintance to come back - I asked Wu to keep the tablet for me, and now I'm back to get it."
Xia Yujie thought for a moment and said, "If you want to find Wu, he left school at noon to do a mission nearby. Maybe he will be back in the afternoon. Do you want me to send him an email?"
Jiang Lai remained calm and unperturbed, saying, "We will meet if we are destined to. No need to send an email to inform each other. Just let it be a surprise."
"Okay, wait a minute then." Xia Yujie walked in and greeted politely, "Please sit down. You can sit on the bed or on a chair. By the way, would you like some water? There's also coffee here."
"You don't have to be so polite," Jiang Lai adjusted his clothes and sat on a stool at the side, "I don't need water or coffee either."
[There is] no sense of hunger.
Summer Oil Jay paused for a second, then responded, "Oh... I almost forgot."
Jiang Lai's eyes fell on the boy with the ball-shaped hair, and he said in a gentle and caring tone: "Do you have a lot of tasks recently, Jiejun? You have dark circles under your eyes."
After hearing this, Xia Yujie paused slightly, pursed his lips and then curled them, and sighed with a bit of helplessness: "There have been too many curses during this period. Wu and I have already separated to do individual missions. It is indeed quite busy... Recently, I have been drinking coffee and staying up late to write mission reports."
"It's too hard." Jiang Lai said softly, "It's okay to drink tea. Coffee is more bitter."
"It's not bad." Xia Yujie replied, "I'm used to it." Here, he paused, shook his head and smiled, "...In fact, it might be better to lose the sense of taste one day. The taste of the cursed spirit is really not that good."
Disgusting like a rag that wipes away vomit. Jiang Lai knows this.
So he said, "It might be better to put some candy in your pocket—or just steal some from Wu."
"Okay, I'll steal Wu's candy next time." Xia Yujie smiled, like a ray of light breaking through the dark clouds, and the depression between his eyebrows dissipated a little. "Stealing Wu's candy is like stealing his treasure. I guess we have to fight."
"He will definitely give it to you." Jiang Lai blinked, and then continued half-jokingly and half-seriously: "I was originally wondering if Jiejun had dark circles under his eyes because he had a lot of worries in his heart and couldn't sleep at night - after all, at this age, people always have a lot of thoughts."
The ball-headed boy's fingers moved imperceptibly, and his eyes naturally fell on the desk. He raised his eyes again and admitted calmly in his usual voice:
"I have some concerns," he said lightly, "but they are just some random thoughts and it won't affect my sleep."
"Didn't you talk to Wu or Xiaozi about it?" Jiang Lai asked, "It just so happens to be a topic."
"Everyone is too busy." Xia Yujie smiled and recalled for a few seconds, "...Since we entered the third year, we haven't sat down to eat together for a long time. Naoko is busy studying medicine and taking care of the two girls from the Zenin family. Wu is now the strongest, and all the major events in the world of spells are waiting for him to rush around."
It was the year after the Star Plasma Body, Wu Xixiao's third year. Jiang Lai confirmed the timeline.
"Come to think of it, today is the day when Haibara and the others return from their mission, and they will bring back specialties from far-flung places." Kagome continued, "Let's share them together later - you can also bring some to see Maki-chan and Mayui-chan."
"Okay," Jiang Lai agreed happily, "When will Huiyuan and the others come back?"
"According to the normal mission and traffic speed, they will arrive around the afternoon." Xia Yujie took out his cell phone and looked down at it. "But they haven't sent me any messages... I can't contact them either. I don't know if the phone is out of battery."
"..." Jiang Lai did not respond. In fact, a plot point from the original novel subconsciously popped up in his mind.
In the original work, when Geto Suguru and Gojo Satoru were in their third year of technical high school, Haibara and the others were given a mission to exorcise a second-level cursed spirit.
However, they did not expect that this mission was due to an observation error by [Window] - the belief in the God of Land was actually not a second-level cursed spirit, but a first-level cursed spirit.
The cursed spirits, whose levels did not match their expectations, dealt them heavy damage at the time and ultimately led to the tragic sacrifice of Haibara Yu.
I don't think the new series will reach this point in the plot this time… However, there is a second-year student named Yuukawa Kurikawa whose strength is unknown. With one more person on the mission, the mission should be completed smoothly.
Even if it is not possible, it should be possible to withdraw in time or delay until support arrives.
While Jiang Lai was reminiscing in silence, Xia Yujie continued to ask, "Do you want to wait here first, or should I take you to talk to Xiao Zhenxi and Mayi now?"
"Sit in your room for a while." Jiang Lai blinked. "I haven't seen the two little guys for a long time. It's a bit inappropriate to go empty-handed. Later, take one of the special products given to you by the younger generation as a meeting gift for them."
He laughed and said, "Your use is not in vain. I will return it to you in the future."
"No need." Xia Yujie chuckled and waved his hand, "I was going to give it to you too."
Jiang Lai didn't say much here. He looked at the paper in the hand of the person in front of him and said, "You must be busy with something, right? Just be busy. I'll just sit in your room. There's no need to find a topic to entertain me."
"Well, okay."
It's really hard. It seems that it's really as described in the comics. This summer, cursed spirits appear in endless numbers and spread like maggots.
After he finished speaking, he added: "I have a few more books here, they are good for killing time, do you want to read them?"
"No need." Jiang Lai shook his head and reached out to catch the book that had just floated in the air. "This book is enough to keep me company."
——In fact, the reason why Jiang Lai stayed in Geto's room was to spend more time to understand the current situation.
He just glanced through the official comics and had not had time to pick out and sort out many details. Before sorting out the information, he decided not to rush out to travel around the college.
The sunlight streamed down from the overlapping leaves and shone into the house through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows. Xia Yujie and Jiang Lai both sat quietly in the room, each concentrating.
The rustling sound of writing on the desk and the occasional bird calls outside the dormitory become the background white noise at this moment.
Jiang Lai looked down at his phone, he went through the updated content again and thought in his mind.
He had just watched it hastily for the first time, and in order to get a clear idea of the timeline and background at that time, he skipped the part where the senior officer said farewell and jumped directly to the astral plasma incident later.
Now, when he re-read it, Jiang Lai found important information from the parting scene at the college - about Yuikawa Kurita. He never thought that what he had just casually discarded would be so useful in the comic.
The dog Jiechuan turned his head to look at the spider web beside him, Jiang Lai's question echoed in his ears, and his thoughts gurgled out naturally in his heart like a spring.
From these thoughts, Jiang Lai finally understood the truth behind the dog Jiechuan's inferior tea art performance.
A person who loves fun and has a cold nature. Every move he makes is to stir up the emotions of others or other creatures. He loves to watch others or other creatures have dramatic emotional outbursts.
Jiang Lai touched his chin. If that was the case, he probably cared about me because he thought I was too calm.
Jiang Lai was mysterious most of the time, and was very calm in his every move. Even when he responded to Kawashimaru with words, he did so in a nonchalant manner.
What the dog Jiechuan wanted was "other people's reactions", but Jiang Lai didn't give him any "reaction", so he started to pay attention to Jiang Lai.
Jiang Lai laughed in his heart, and his mind wandered for a second. This kind of person is suitable to face a top three-faced paralyzed player, and see who can't help but fail first.
His imagination only ran wild for a moment before he quickly regained his composure and opened the forum page.
[Rai Shen actually said goodbye this time! He left the scene in a carefree manner in the previous times. Does this mean that Lai Shen is more familiar with them now? He even gave them a parting gift.
[This card seems familiar... I went back and flipped through the main comic. In the rainy and snowy alley, when Rai Shen helped Fushiguro Megumi and met with Geto Suguru, the moment his windbreaker was lifted up, a part of the shirt pocket on his chest was exposed → (Picture) This should be it? ]
[Oh my god! The microscope upstairs has become a spirit! But how come the one I gave away is back again? ]
[Upstairs, Raishen didn't say he was giving it away, he just asked Gojo to keep it temporarily and take it back when they met next time. It means that after they met, Raishen took the pendant back.]
[Why did you let Gojo keep it temporarily? Is this amulet similar to a talisman? When we parted, Lai Shen was confused and felt the subsequent twists and turns, and was worried, so he left the amulet to protect it! ]
[But Gojo was still stabbed, it seems like he had no protection. Speaking of which, at that time, there were marks on his hands, and for a moment, there was a moment of iris blossoms, and the next scene was a close-up of the card falling...
Excuse me for making a conspiracy theory. Could it be that the card fall is used to monitor the people around with the help of Gojo? Is Lai Shen really a member of the Supervisory Commission? (Shocked) Is Wen Rou an acting skill? 】
[No way!! There is another possibility, Raishen is the enemy of the Board of Supervisors, and it is inconvenient for him to appear in person, so he uses the card drop to look at the situation of the Board of Supervisors from Gojo's perspective. Woohoo, my God and his son, please don't adulterate the most beautiful father-son relationship——]
[Fuck, [The Most Beautiful Father-Son Relationship] I watched this once and lived in Bengbu once, it made me laugh to death.
I think the fallen card is a bit like a beacon. Raisin left it there, and next time he will follow the beacon and find it back.
——You see, in the previous fireworks shows and abandoned buildings, it was Gojo who asked Rashen to help. But this time, Rashen said that he would give the fallen cards to Gojo for safekeeping, and that he would come to Gojo next time. 】
[Does anyone want to discuss the dog Jiechuan (no mercy)? It turns out that it is not a teacup dog, but a demon disguised as a dog to cause trouble and watch others struggle and then get a lot of fun! ]
[Rai Shen must have seen through it, and before he left, he gently pointed out the other party's disguise. Although he didn't say it directly, that kind of question must have been a subtle warning! Handsome boss! ! ]
[Wow, I'm really worried about Geto now. He must be a member of the Supervisory Commission or he took over the mission of the Supervisory Commission. He "invited" Geto Jie to visit him. I don't know what he took him to see... Jie's condition afterwards was very wrong! ! ]
[Rationally analyzing Jay's unfinished words "used as feed to continue other things", combined with Xia Yu's previous question "Should people be divided into different levels", as well as his experience of being adopted by the Supervisory Commission, the texture on his forehead, and the unknown blank letter, we can roughly conclude:
Regulators classify humans according to certain standards, and one of these classifications is "feed."
They most likely treat low-level humans as feed, and use some kind of spell or something else to prolong the lives of higher-level humans, or to make some kind of deal.
Xia Yujie was probably selected and recognized by the regulatory agency as a good seedling (or a good tool). The lines on his forehead might be some kind of contract, either a constraint or a protection, it's hard to say.
The regulatory agency has been waiting for Geto's response and choice. In this case of the Star Plasma incident, the regulatory agency invited Geto to be a guest, perhaps to let him know more about the inside story and shake his mind. 】
[Wow, the analysis master above! ! ]
[Fuck, this makes so much sense. I'm crying. My Jie——didn't he plan to communicate with Wu and the others under the care of Raishen before? ]
[This time, the astral plasma incident made him hold back his words again. The information about "feed" must be inside information. You see, the public does not know about this incident of the Regulator. In their minds, the Regulator is still a high-ranking quality inspection organization.
And these things, Jie and Wu said, they were worried that it would bring trouble to their friends. He must want to solve these things by himself, but who knows, he might think they are right and join in hhh
In any case, if forehead texture is a kind of restraint, I think Jay is probably already trapped in it... and can't escape.
If they want to get rid of it, they have to go undercover first and wait until the traces are removed. However, they are still teenagers at the time of high school. If they can't fight, there is a high probability that the successors will really join them. 】
[Ahhhh no, I'm going crazy, wuwuwu, Lai Shen! Lai Shen!! What should I do, Lai Shen! Can you use your magic to remove the tattoo? 】
What should I do? I want to know what to do too. Seeing this, Jiang Lai couldn't help but silently connect in his mind. However, he didn't know what that thing on Geto's forehead was.
The analysis in the forum does seem to make sense. It could be a contractual constraint that was planted when Geto was adopted by the supervisory board.
I just don't know what it means that this pattern will continue to grow slowly. Jiang Lai pondered in his heart.
【Family, don't worry. According to our previous inference, the main story is the second round, and this [Yesterday and the Past] is the first round. The current pain is all from the first round. I believe that they can get a happy ending in the second round!
After all, according to our previous speculation, there is a high probability that Gojo has some memories in the second round, and killing Gojo teacher from the past can avoid the pain of the first round! 】
[…Speaking of which, how did the second round start? I feel like there will be a lot of knives here, so I'm crying in advance.]
As his heart was wavering, he couldn't help but raise his eyes and look at Geto Suguru who was sitting some distance away.
At this moment, the boy with the ball-shaped haircut is writing a mission report seriously. Looking from the side, one can feel his thin figure more clearly.
As if sensing the sight, Xia Yujie stopped writing, turned his head, and put on his usual smile: "What's wrong, Lai?"
Jiang Lai opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, the phone on Xia Yujie's desk rang with an incoming message.
So he said, “Let’s read the information first.”
Xia Yujie picked up the phone, and the faint smile on his face froze when he browsed the content of the document. Complex emotions of disbelief surged up like a tide.
Jiang Lai's heart skipped a beat as he sensed the change in atmosphere.
"..." Xia Yujie held the phone tightly. He took a deep breath and said bitterly, "...something happened."
——
Three people went on a mission, but only two returned.
Before leaving, the energetic boy Huihara Yu, who was still talking to Geto Suguru with a smile on his face and said he would bring back some special products, will never be able to fulfill his promise.
The curse incident of the second level turning into the first level in the original book also happened here, and the loss situation seemed to be even more tragic.
In the original book, she was able to bring back half of the body, but this time she could only bring back Haibara's right hand, which Nanami held on to before he was swallowed.
The small wooden box containing Huihara Yu's bloody right hand appeared before his eyes.
"..." Jiang Lai stared at the hand in the wooden box, his lips pursed into a straight line.
Nanami Kento was leaning against the wall, his face covered with a towel to cover his eyes. His usually steady voice was trembling at this moment: "I thought it was just an easy second-level mission, but it turned out to be not second-level at all, but first-level...!"
The boy with light brown hair sitting next to him was crying breathlessly, with his face buried in his hands:
"Ugh...Originally, the three of us could have exorcised it or gotten help, but, but there was a villager who strayed in, and Haibara was torn away and eaten by the cursed spirit in order to save him, wuwu...We had checked the area before setting up the [account], why are there still people here...Why is it always like this, and we sorcerers are always the ones who die..."
"Can we let Gojo-senpai take on this kind of long-distance mission?" Yuikawa Kurikawa cried, "He's the strongest, isn't he?"
Nanami Kento also murmured between breaths: "Wouldn't it be better to give all these to that person?"
"..." Xia Yujie's expression was unclear. He closed the lid of the wooden box and said in a low voice, "Take a good rest first, Nanami, Yuikawa."
He held the wooden box in both hands, intending to take it to Glass.
Nanami Kento tore off the towel on his face, stood up with the help of the wall, and silently planned to follow his friend to see him off for the last time - even though there was only one hand left in the box.
The brown-haired boy cried on the stool until he seemed exhausted. He hung his head and tried to stand up but fell back. A passing by, Kagome helped him up and pressed him back on the seat: "Sit here and rest for a while, Haibara... leave it to us."
Jiang Lai also spoke at this time: "You go ahead. I'll take care of Jiechuan-kun here."
"Okay." Xia Yujie nodded tiredly to indicate his agreement.
After Geto Suguru and Kento Nanami left, only Era and Yuikawa Kurikawa were left at the scene.
The light brown-haired boy sat there, still sobbing with his face buried in his hands.
Because Jiang Lai didn't say anything, for a moment, the only sound here was Jiechuan's low crying.
After a few minutes, the young man with light brown hair spoke softly, sobbing, "Senior... could you please pass me a piece of toilet paper?"
"You don't need to."
This reply made Yukawa Kuriki pause for a second. He didn't seem to expect that Jiang Lai would say this.
Yuukawa Kuritai raised his head from his hands, his puppy eyes red from crying: "...What, senior?"
Jiang Lai took a few steps forward. His brown eyes drooped slightly, and he looked down at Jie Chuan who was sitting on the chair: "You don't need to. If you don't want to cry, you don't have to cry."
Yukawa Kurita raised his head and blinked his reddish-brown eyes, looking at a loss.
Jiang Lai stared at him, his eyes seemed to penetrate deep into his heart, through his expression.
Performance is a disguise at the right time, and words are the bridges. He becomes a pair of hands pushing from behind, loving the separation of life and death, the fall of kindness, the breakup of friendship, and the destruction of faith. The more pain others suffer, the happier he is.
The dark blue figure held up the antique book and pointed at the corner of the dog Jiechuan's mouth:
"——You were crying with your hands buried in your hands just now. Can't you control the arc here?"
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