For a moment, Hongye had the illusion that she was being targeted by a predator. She saw that the air friend with a huge mouth opened in its chest seemed to have smelled her scent and came closer.

It was not moving with two feet, but it was like teleportation, and it came to a close distance in the blink of an eye.

For a moment, Hongye was unable to move.

All he could see was the gaping mouth slowly approaching him.

Then, he stretched out his invisible tongue and licked the back of Hongye's hand.

The air friend suddenly became excited, jumped left and right, and licked the back of Hongye's hand again.

“…”

Hongye suddenly had a very strange feeling. She raised her hand and touched the head of her air friend.

Because the air friend's form was very vague, Hongye didn't know where his head was really, and could only hope that it wasn't inserted into something weird.

Then, Hongye saw that the air friend bent down obediently and rubbed his hand with his unclear head, just like... a dog?

"……sit down?"

Hongye couldn't help but think of what Lu Ban had said to her before.

The air friend immediately sat down obediently, and its huge and ferocious mouth opened and closed as if it was sticking out its tongue.

"What are you doing?"

Lu Ban looked at Hongye strangely.

"Your air friend...seems a little different from the ones elsewhere."

The red leaves were a little messy for a moment.

Although she had never dealt with incidents related to air friends, according to the description in the files, this strange thing called air friends would attach themselves to the host and then continuously absorb the host's vitality. Although invisible and silent at first, they would gradually affect the host's consciousness. Eventually, the host would fall into madness and be swallowed by the air friends, and the air friends would turn into real tangible filth and even replace the host.

But now?

What exactly is this dog-like air friend?

Moreover, it seems that Lu Ban is not able to see it yet. It should be an air friend in the primary stage, but the oppressive feeling it shows is even more terrifying than some powerful filth.

"Hmm? Can you see him? Sure enough, only the miko of the island has such power?"

Lu Ban suddenly became curious.

"…your air friend is, well, pretty amazing."

Hongye carefully considered her words, and the air friend in front of her jumped up excitedly again after hearing this.

"Yeah, he sometimes talks to me and can give me first aid when I'm in danger. If you can see him, what does he look like? I wonder if he was hurt by the fog just now?"

Lu Ban asked with concern.

"…He's fine."

Hongye thought that this air friend could beat three of her, which was amazing.

"That's fine. Hey, let's not talk about the air friend for now. Do you have any clues about the mist just now? Is it also some weird talk or filth?"

Lu Ban asked.

"It's like a fog of uncertainty, but I'm not sure."

Hongye looked back at the shrine on the top of the mountain with lingering fear.

Then she saw a person in a shrine maiden's costume standing on the roof of the shrine, seemingly looking at this side.

Hongye blinked and the man disappeared again.

"Did you see that?"

She asked.

"This person looks very similar to the one I saw on this road. Is she the Misfortune Witch?"

Lu Ban naturally saw the same thing.

"It shouldn't be... Uta Island is relatively remote, and it's far from the Watashima Shrine. Candidates for the Son of God like us usually don't serve here. If we trace back, there may have been only one three or four hundred years ago."

Hongye pondered.

"Now we need to clarify a few issues. First, the clergy and shrine administrators of the Watashima Shrine are all dead. Who are the shrine administrators in Anshin-in now? Secondly, what caused the deaths of these shrine maidens? If it was the Uncertain Mist, where is it now? Finally, who is in charge of this island now?"

Lu Ban gave a brief summary and took out the bottle that he had previously filled with mist.

There is nothing in the bottle, it looks like it is empty.

"This fog doesn't look like the uncertain fog."

The system text did not appear in Lu Ban's field of vision, which meant that he did not obtain the [Sigh of Uncertain Mist]. Naturally, what was in the bottle in front of him was not the Uncertain Mist.

He opened the bottle.

I waved my hand over the bottle, and the air I summoned was odorless, without that weird granular mist, and certainly didn't cause a burning sensation in my respiratory tract and lungs.

"Can you identify it?"

Hongye was slightly surprised.

"I can only distinguish the uncertain fog. I suspect that the fog is some kind of living thing, but it is in the form of fog."

Lu Ban said simply.

In the silent place, the concept of "living things" has been greatly expanded. Grass and trees can grow wildly, and fog may also exist as a form of life.

"Anyway, let's go back first. Can we go to the teahouse and the island magistrate's headquarters tomorrow?"

He thought about it and decided that if he encountered any problem, he should just look for the person in charge.

Since, according to Hongye, there has been a big problem on the island, the agency that maintains law and order on that island is either too stupid to notice it, or too bad to have become homogenized, so they have to be visited one day.

Hongye nodded, and the two began to go down the mountain.

There was no trouble on the way down the mountain. Perhaps it was just a warning to Lu Ban and Hongye not to meddle in other people's business.

The festival had ended, but surprisingly, the streets were clean, without any trace of their former prosperity. Lu Ban leaned over and touched the ground.

"It's dusty, it doesn't look like anyone has walked on it."

He stood up and found that several hours had passed since he and Hongye went up and down the mountain, but it only felt like thirty minutes.

Anshin-in was guarded by island magistrates. From a distance, Lu Ban saw two guys with weapons standing at the gate.

only……

"!"

Hongye's eyes widened slightly, and she and Lu Ban looked at each other to confirm that what she saw was true.

She turned her attention to the island.

The shapes of the two "people" were no longer human, but monsters made up of countless pieces of flesh and blood. Even the clothes on their bodies were fake fur. Lu Ban could see a bloodshot eye looking at him from between the flesh and blood.

It was difficult for Lu Ban not to look into those eyes.

"Is there anything on me?"

The monster asked curiously. Even its voice was not human language, but some kind of headache-inducing gibberish.

More importantly, it seemed that it itself did not know that it was a monster.

Just like, humans who have been alienated into monsters still retain human cognition, live like humans, and form human society with other monsters.

For a moment, Lu Ban was a little dazed.

Because he thought of a problem.

If the monster doesn't even know that it is a monster, then how can Lu Ban and Hongye be sure that they have not mutated and are still the original human beings?

With such doubts in mind, Lu Ban returned to the courtyard where he lived with Tachibana Masamune, Ginpei and others.

He saw Ginpei and Tachibana Masamune sitting at the table, drinking and chatting happily.

"I didn't expect Master Lu Ban to be so charming that he could successfully invite Miss Hongye."

Ginpei at least looked like a human being, which made Lu Ban feel a little relieved.

However, when he walked right in front of Yinping, he saw that Yinping's chest was festering, and the wound was so deep that the bone could be seen. The flesh and blood were wriggling, and new life was being nurtured.

"What are you doing?"

Lu Ban sat opposite Yin Ping.

"We are playing a game."

At the side, Tachibana Masamune, who had also turned into a half-monster, said.

“It’s called [Hyakunin Isshu].”