Chapter 76 Who is in trouble and who is not

Ryoumian Sukuna didn't say anything else, and Jiang Lai didn't ask any more questions. He already had a vague guess in his mind.

The next step is to gradually confirm the guess, he thought.

This small town at the foot of the mountain is not large in area, and the group quickly walked around and collected all the relevant clues.

The whole process went smoothly, which can be said to be due to: Suga's outstanding handsome appearance and blind (fake) attribute that makes people subconsciously concerned, Jiang Lai's experienced scientific rhetoric routine, and Ryomen Sukuna's evil aura that makes people tremble and unable to walk.

Therefore, they can easily stop a passerby and then quickly and cleverly ask what they want to know.

After the circle was over, the white-haired boy and Jiang Lai began to simply sort out the clues.

"Most of the missing children and girls are residents who moved here temporarily when they migrated with their families from other villages, or people who have lived here for no more than two generations. The rest are children from residents in the northern part of the village."

Jiang Lai pieced together the common points of all the people and then analyzed: "In other words, judging from the time, the missing person is from outside the area and a new resident. Judging from the location, the missing person is from the northern half of the village."

"So next we are going to investigate the north of the village?" the white-haired boy said.

"No." Jiang Laidun paused for a second and said, "Let's go to the south to have a look."

"But aren't there any missing persons cases in the south?"

"Yes." Jiang Lai nodded and replied, "That's why we should go to the south to have a look."

Yuhagi's eyes, hidden under the black and gold cloth, blinked slightly. After a pause, he suddenly said, "Oh - I understand. Reverse investigation, find the difference between the north and the south? For example, maybe there are some guardian gods enshrined in the south."

Ryomen Sukuna didn't say a word the whole time, he seemed completely uninterested in these things.

Overhearing Yu Hao's words, he raised the corner of his mouth and laughed sarcastically: "Guardian God? Do you think this is the capital city where nobles gather? There won't be any gods looking after such a small place."

Jiang Lai glanced at Ryoumen Sukuna and then turned back to Suehagi. He didn't have any special response, knowing deep down that this difference in perception was normal.

The white-haired boy is the six-eyed god of the Gojo family. He grew up in an aristocratic environment that was isolated from the common people and basically never went out alone. It was not until this age that he suddenly felt like running away from home and coming to the outside world.

Ryoumen Sukuna has been exposed to the lives of the lower class since he was a child. He is murderous and indifferent, and has witnessed the ugliness of countless people before their deaths and the viciousness of human nature.

Jiang Lai is somewhere in between the two. He did not start from any one standpoint, but simply relied on the analytical experience of the scientific world to pave the way and conduct clue analysis.

If these things did not involve unscientific things like cursed magic, Jiang Lai originally planned to send the information to Kudo Shinichi and let the real detective help find the murderer behind the scenes.

At this moment, Suehagi paused for a moment after hearing Ryoumen Sukuna's reply, but he still subconsciously retorted: "Huh? If that's the case, you should give some valuable analysis instead of always sabotaging us."

"Tell me about it." Jiang Lai said with a smile, "Help our [Punish Evil and Promote Good] team to uncover the truth and end this as soon as possible."

At this moment, Ryoumen Sukuna still felt disgusted with "punishing evil and promoting good". Perhaps because he wanted the second half of the sentence to "end soon", he sighed and finally said with a nasty tone, waving his hands:

"You want me to say? I think the South is worshipping an evil god who specifically eats people from the North."

"Evil God?"

"Or maybe a curser, some Onmyoji, or a monster." Ryoumen Sukuna said casually, "Sacrificing young boys and girls is the most popular way of trading. Don't be surprised."

The white-haired boy frowned under the black and gold cloth: "Sacrificing young children and girls in exchange for protection?"

"That makes sense, right? If you want protection, you have to pay something." The two-faced Sukuna cloth with black stripes on the main trunk crossed his arms in front of his chest, and his scarlet eyes half-narrowed, "Anyway, the dead are others. As long as the butcher's knife doesn't fall on your head, it's not worth worrying about, right?"

"So your guess is that some people in the southern villages secretly made a deal with someone or something, sacrificing the lives of people in the northern villages and outsiders in exchange for their own benefits?" Jiang Lai followed Ryomen Sukuna's words.

The white-haired boy questioned, "Will someone in the northern village notice something is wrong? It can't be kept secret for long."

"Maybe it was that monster - let's call the mastermind a monster for now, it used some method to blur the incident." Jiang Lai thought for a moment and lowered his voice, "Maybe... not all people in the north are ignorant."

Ryoumen Sukuna turned his scarlet eyes towards Jiang Lai and sneered: "It's rare that you can still think so much. I thought everyone you looked at was a good person."

"Of course I have my own judgment." Jiang Lai turned his eyes away and nodded in reply. Then he smiled, "How can I think everyone is a good person? Do you think you are a good person in my eyes?"

Ryomen Sukuna made a nasty expression, and drew a cursed blade with his fingernails in a threatening gesture.

"..." On the side, the white-haired boy was silent for a while, then put one hand behind his ear and spoke with a long tail tone, "Ah - so troublesome, forget it, no matter what, let's just assume that there is something enshrined in the south, and then find the mastermind behind it, right?"

"Yes." Jiang Lai nodded.

"Okay, let's go!" The young man Yu Hao was full of enthusiasm. He dropped his guide stick on the ground and walked forward. "Once we find the child of that family, the mission will be successfully completed!"

"Just go like this? No need to make any further plans?" Jiang Laiduo asked.

"That's not necessary." The white-haired boy said in a relaxed tone, "I am still very confident in my own strength. I can handle any situation - don't worry."

Just like Gojo Satoru in his high school days, Rokugan a thousand years ago also maintained an absolute self-confidence during this period of time. His unfettered soul never worried about the hardships ahead, and he took a step forward as if he could cross mountains and rivers.

"..." Jiang Lai paused for a moment and followed behind, "Then let's go."

——

They walked through the villages in the south, which didn't seem much different from the north, except that they were very wary of outsiders.

Under such gazes, Six Eyes, who had the most sensitive senses to the surrounding things, was the first to feel bored and uncomfortable. He hurriedly walked through the streets with Jiang Lai, and casually complained:

"It's so annoying. Those guys have nothing better to do. They stare at us wherever we go, as if we are thieves and villains."

"Relax." Jiang Lai patted the white-haired boy beside him with a smile. He was not surprised by the attitude of these people. Some places were particularly xenophobic.

He said: "At least this time, we have gained something."

While walking through the streets, Jiang Lai overheard a peasant woman teaching her children not to go to the "sacred place" in the back hills.

It is normal to simply advise children not to enter the woods, but giving the woods certain titles with special connotations, in this context, makes people think deeply.

It was dusk and night, the sun had already set at the foot of the mountain, and the cold night wind suddenly blew.

A few people stood at the foot of the mountain behind, and in their sight was the bleak snow scene. In the cold environment, the snow had only melted a little, and the brown ground exposed by the melting looked like a mottled scar.

"Do we want to go into the mountains now? Or should we eat something first?" Jiang Lai, as an [existence], had no need to eat. He was just asking on behalf of the other two.

"No need. We ate a lot while shopping this afternoon. Let's go into the mountains first." The white-haired boy said with a sultry tongue, "Take care of the trouble in the back of the mountain, find the child of that family, and send him home safely. Then the mission is accomplished - and then we can find something to eat."

"Yeah, that's fine." Jiang Lai nodded and smiled again, "After we get down the mountain, if you want to try, I can cook for you once."

"You can cook?" The white-haired boy looked a little curious. He said with a smile, "Hey, is this really edible? It won't poison people to death, will it?"

"...Not really." Jiang Lai coughed.

The words he said just now were spoken on the spur of the moment. Then he changed his mind and thought that although many seasonings were not available in this era, with the guidance of browser search and his existing cooking skills, he should still be able to make good meals.

Speaking of cooking, the cherry-pink-haired boy also turned his eyes to look at her, with a hint of interest in his eyes. He said with a fake smile, "Can you cook human meat?"

"Let's eat boiled tree bark." Jiang Lai took off the fox mask and disassembled it, then replied with the same smile.

"Not bad, not bad, then let's speed up the process." The white-haired boy walked briskly with his cane, and at the same time he was able to maintain an elegant posture. "It's just right, I'm tired of staying in this place, so after finishing this thing, we'll move to the next place to play."

They walked into the back mountain and into the snow-covered forest in the last ray of dusk.

The white-haired boy walked in front. He scanned the surroundings with his six eyes, looking for any remaining traces of cursed energy.

"...It looks like it went that way." His clear eyes moved under the cloth, accurately seeing a trace of debris left on the ground.

Jiang Lai followed closely behind, and out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of a mouse running out from the woods beside him.

——Are there rats here too? Come to think of it, I seemed to have seen rats on the street just now.

In that brief moment, a lot of thoughts naturally ran through his mind.

The mouse ran very fast, passing by the two Sukuna who were tied to the back.

The cherry-pink-haired boy looked at the mouse nonchalantly, and the next moment, he raised his hand and drew a curse blade to cut it!

When stepping into the target mountain, in order to deal with various situations, Jiang Lai unlocked the space barriers around the two sides of Sukuna.

At this moment, the two sharp cursed blades of Sukuna were no longer blocked, and in the blink of an eye, the running gray mouse was cut in two!

"I say, are you so bored that you've started to harm animals? Why not spend some time exploring the front..." The white-haired boy turned around casually, but his breathing suddenly stopped, "Wait——?!"

A Yin-Yang pattern suddenly appeared on the ground where the cut mouse fell, and the space formation transferred the cherry-pink-haired boy next to it in the blink of an eye!

Everything happened so quickly that no one expected that the mouse was covered with such Yin-Yang magic.

The white-haired boy was stunned for a moment, then quickly came back: "...Is that guy okay?"

Jiang Lai paused for half a second, raised his hand and placed it on Yu Hagi's shoulder, and said calmly: "I think Sukuna himself will be fine - but the others, I'm not sure."

——

Ryomen Sukuna narrowed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the scene before him had completely changed.

In front of me was a wooden house, a closed and crowded room filled with the smell of children and young girls.

He looked around and saw people lying on the ground, bound and unconscious.

In front of him stood a figure wearing complicated clothes. The man, who was dressed as an Onmyoji, had a demonic aura and long hair hanging down, and the jade handle of the Onmyoji in his hand rested on his lips:

"Welcome, my friend. I hope this invitation is not too offensive - but I think we can still make a small deal."

He stood on a high place like an altar in the house, his tone was vague and his attitude seemed casual.

"..." Ryomen Sukuna stood there and laughed. The next moment, his explosive body reached the man's side in the blink of an eye, grabbed his collar and slammed him to the ground!

Before the man could react, he was thrown to the ground. Just as he was about to raise his head and get up to fight back, the cherry-pink-haired boy stomped hard on the back of his head!

"Who allowed you to raise your head?" Ryoumen Sukuna said in a deep voice, sneering, "Negotiate a deal? Or talk about your value that is worth me saving your life for now."