A sleepless night.

In the early morning, Hongye, feeling a little tired, opened the window and saw Lu Ban in the yard. There were several birds singing beside him. If it was matched with the gradually dying and falling cherry blossoms, it would definitely be a beautiful picture created by a master.

——If we ignore the fact that the birds have been alienated.

Chirp chirp——

The group of things that looked like worms united together made low chirping sounds imitating birds. They stood beside Lu Ban and chirped in fear, creating a somewhat bizarre scene.

Beside Lu Ban, some kind of imaginary thing was alerting the birds. Hongye couldn't tell whether that thing was a human or a monster. As air friends are a ghost story, the priestesses knew very little about them because most of the hosts were already dead when they were discovered.

"Aren't you... afraid of these things?"

Hongye straightened her clothes, put on her boots, and walked out of the room.

"In their minds, they are still just ordinary birds, doing the same things as ordinary birds. Why should I be afraid of them? Will they swallow me in one bite?"

Lu Ban didn't care.

There was a backpack next to him and a crowbar next to him, and he seemed to be ready for battle.

"But no matter how it disguises itself or how it perceives itself, a monster is still a monster."

Hongye sighed softly.

"In fact, I think it doesn't matter whether they are monsters or not. If these creatures are just ugly but harmless to humans, then we don't need to be afraid of them. On the contrary, those who are beautiful but may hurt others are more worthy of attention."

As he spoke, Lu Ban withdrew his hands from teasing the "birds". Marks like burns from fire appeared on his fingers. He took a look and cut his skin with a knife. As the dark yellow blood gushed out, more plants spread out from the skin, wrapped around his fingers, and healed the wound.

In the sunshine, the grass and trees are lush and green, but when they grow on Lu Ban's body, it is a bit scary.

"It's just that these birds carry pollution with them, and through their flight, this pollution may spread to other islands, so unfortunately, they can't continue to survive."

After hearing Lu Ban's words, Hongye felt relieved for some reason.

Although this person seems to have many secrets, and his physique and personality are different from those of ordinary people, he seems to have a clear understanding of abnormal things.

"By the way, we can do some final investigation into the missing artist today."

Lu Ban turned and spoke again.

“Why are you still paying attention to him?”

Hongye was puzzled.

The pollution on this island should be more serious. If it is not handled properly, it will directly burn down the entire island. Then what is the problem with the missing artists?

"Think about it, this island has become like this, and almost all the people on the island have been transformed into monsters. Logically, this should be a mess, right?"

Lu Ban pulled out the grass in his hands one by one, revealing the fresh and intact skin underneath.

"Then why is the island so orderly, with only the disappearance of the artist Wan Ye causing a little disturbance?"

Hearing Lu Ban's question, Hongye's thoughts suddenly became clear.

According to what Lu Ban said just now, the bird still thinks it is a bird, so it still acts according to the bird's behavior pattern.

The alienated humans on the island still believe that they are normal humans and will live a normal life as before.

However, those who can see the truth can discover that the island is full of monsters. He can see through everything, but in the eyes of ordinary "people", the person who discovers the truth is a madman.

"…So he disappeared not because he was alienated, but because he was not alienated and noticed the changes on the island?"

Hongye finally understood everything.

"Well, the person who looks the craziest on this island is the most rational person."

Lu Ban nodded.

"Do you remember that crazy guy we met yesterday on the way here?"

"……he?"

Red leaves realized it later.

According to Lu Ban's logic, people who look crazy are the most normal people. The missing painter Wan Ye is most likely the madman who was hit and killed yesterday?

"No, but he has been alienated, so... No, if his body is polluted and alienated, but his mind is not polluted, then such a situation will occur?"

"That should be it."

Lu Ban recalled the contents of a novel, in which the protagonist, who was originally the mainstay of the family, suddenly turned into a giant beetle. His family members went from helping him to despising him, and eventually he died alone in the **.

If a person suddenly finds that his body and the bodies of the people around him have changed and turned into monsters, and everyone around him has become accustomed to it, and he is the only one who notices it, then his spirit will definitely be severely tortured and eventually collapse.

It's like when I was chatting with a few friends in the group during the summer vacation, and everyone said that they didn't do their summer homework at all and were ready to go back to school to quickly copy it and hand it in. As a result, they had been slacking off for two months and didn't touch the mountain of works at all. But when school started, they found that all the group members had finished writing them two days before the holiday, and they were the only ones who hadn't done a single stroke.

I would definitely think that the clown is actually me.

"If you can stay rational, there may still be room for salvation. After all, there is a saying that a person with a disability can be strong in spirit."

Lu Ban is full of confidence.

He and Momiji walked out of the house and saw Tachibana Masamune and Ginpei.

These two people have turned into two indescribable lumps of strange flesh and blood. Sharp teeth rubbed on the flesh, and several eyeballs rotated, finally looking towards Lu Ban.

"It looks like you two had a great night."

Ginpei's chubby tentacles were still pinching his fan, making him look like an elegant scholar among the monsters.

Hongye calmed down and did not respond.

Lu Ban smiled and followed them to the courtyard of Anxinyuan. It was spacious and bright, and quite a few "people" had already gathered there.

Lu Ban saw that those painters and poets in kimonos had turned into twisted and bizarre monsters. Some were wriggling their bodies, some were waving their tentacles, some were full of eyes, and some were piled with bones. The monsters gathered in the atrium, like a painting of a hundred demons parading at night.

Coupled with the pure glass doll floating in the sky, it is full of a weird feeling.

"It's really impressive! This year's poetry festival looks quite grand!"

"Although something like that happened before, it looks like everything is fine now. We should trust the magistrates of Utajima."

"I've been here for many days and I didn't feel anything unusual. It's true that you have to see everything with your own eyes and can't make subjective assumptions."

"I don't know what the theme of this year's poem will be. I'm looking forward to it."

There were voices accompanied by noises in the air; these monsters were sharing what they had seen and heard, and it seemed that they were looking forward to the festival.

Hongye stood among these monsters and felt a sense of perversion.

Only Lu Ban remained silent.

The poetry festival began with colorful fireworks.