Anyone who has watched Japanese horror games knows that when it comes to horror stories set in schools, many authors love to use the "Hanako in the toilet" trope, because Hanako is a well-known monster in those schools.
The Cherry Blossom Country on Earth also has such urban legends.
There are many versions of this story. Some say Hanako was a family member of a school teacher who was murdered when she came to the school to look for her mother; others say Hanako was a female student at the school who died because of persecution by a teacher; still others say Hanako suffered greatly from school violence and was locked in the toilet and burned to death by delinquent teenagers...
In any case, the common point is that Hanako died a very tragic death in the toilet and became a terrifying earthbound spirit that would harm people indiscriminately—this is also a characteristic of the ghosts in the land of cherry blossoms.
Her spirit lingers in the toilet, causing countless bizarre events.
Directors in Japan have taken this as inspiration and made many horror movies, using urban legends from their generation to scare the new generation of children, making these legends more and more widespread and enduring.
Suzuka Kijima has always been interested in this legend, and now that she hears that there are similar ghosts in the dungeon, she immediately wants to go and find out.
Of course, she wouldn't dare go alone.
Back on Earth, Suzuka Kijima was surrounded by admirers at school because of her family background and popularity; many classmates liked to be around her. However, in the "Hyakki Yagyō" instance, she only has two "puppets".
Of course, with her innate abilities, she could control even more ghosts and monsters.
Suzuka Kijima smiled confidently.
This scene was witnessed by the think tanks of Japan, who have already analyzed a great deal of information:
"Miss Kijima's talent should be to control others through blood, but I don't know how long this control will last. It seems that Miss Kijima has not considered this kind of question."
"Perhaps it's her talent that gives her confidence."
When discussing talent, it's hard to avoid mentioning color categories—
"Kishima-kun's talent should be of the green type, right? This ability to forcibly control other natives should be the first of its kind among the chosen ones of Earth."
“Maybe it’ll be a color that’s never been seen before,” one of the members laughed. “For example, orange talent.”
"This is the seventh instance of Blue Star so far, and an orange-tier item has never appeared. It's unlikely."
"I think it's like a red talent. Isn't red a physical talent? Flesh and blood are part of the body. But this ability to control other people's minds has a bit of the shadow of a pink talent, so it's more like a mind-based talent."
"It could also be purple. Controlling is also a kind of mind-controlling technique, isn't it?"
As they said, Suzuka Kijima's displayed talent was unprecedented, so the members of the think tank speculated wildly, but none of them could convince the others until the person involved revealed the truth.
"Alright, color doesn't matter." The leader of the think tank rubbed his temples, looking at the incoming message with a slight headache.
“Miss Kijima is Mayor Kijima’s darling daughter, so Mayor Kijima hopes we will not fail again. If anything happens to Mr. Kijima—” He drew out his words, looking sternly at everyone present, the subtext of which was clear.
If Suzuka Kijima dies in the dungeon, the Sakura Kingdom's think tank will be in big trouble.
If three chosen ones encounter problems in a row, and the dungeon progress doesn't advance much, then not only will they be in big trouble, but the entire Sakura Kingdom will also be in big trouble.
This is pressure being put on them from above.
If the chosen one doesn't demonstrate their value, the think tank will generally tend to abandon the previous chosen one and give the opportunity to the next chosen one.
After all, there are only three prompts.
However, Suzuka Kijima's father was a high-ranking official, and her grandfather was a member of the committee running for a government position.
This also means that they absolutely cannot give up on Suzuka Kijima.
One member couldn't help but grin bitterly: "But, Yamamoto-kun, the situation in the dungeon is very complicated. If we really encounter danger, we can't just rush in and take the hits for Ms. Kijima."
In fact, many of the Chosen Ones who died in the Ghost Stories dungeon were killed by the jump-face kill.
To put it simply, the situation happened very suddenly. The think tank might not have even had time to react before the chosen one was already gone, or even if the think tank did react, the chosen one would have no chance of being saved.
Think tanks often work with the chosen ones to conduct speculative experiments when the chosen ones are in a safe environment, or they may directly provide reference answers from other countries.
However, even with pressure from higher-ups, some members still gritted their teeth and said:
“If we elevate Ms. Kijima directly to the level of a seed, and something goes wrong, we will face the same predicament that China faced back then.”
He was referring to when Yin Zhugang entered the instance.
Yin Zhu was the fourth chosen one to enter the instance, but for some reason, the Dragon Kingdom had already used up all three hints on the first three chosen ones, leaving Yin Zhu with no hints from the think tank and forcing her to figure things out on her own.
If Yin Zhu hadn't cleared the game on her own, the fifth player would have faced the same situation: the think tank and the chosen one would have been completely unable to communicate, and the Dragon Kingdom would have been doomed.
This point has been cited as a well-known negative example by think tanks around the world: one should not easily take advantage of opportunities presented by the state.
Another member said coldly, "Judging from the current situation, Kijima-kun's talent is worth nurturing, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to set him as a seed. Tokusatsu-kun, you're overthinking it."
"I'm sorry, I was just worried..."
Once a chosen one becomes a promising talent cultivated by the state, the think tank will allocate significant resources to them, just like Ji Liao did back then and Yin Zhu is doing now.
Need a hint? Yes!
Need our cooperation? Yes!
Need information? Just wait, it's all compiled and available!
The only risk is that if all the hints are used on this chosen one, but the chosen one still fails to complete the game and dies in the dungeon, it will cause great losses and crises to the country.
However, at this moment, Suzuka Kijima on the screen has already arrived at the Ghost Village School.
At first, Suzuka Kijima thought this was a village, and since it was full of ghosts, it was called Ghost Village School. But when she got to the school gate, she found that the school was actually called Ghost Village Middle School. The four bloody characters were carved on the stone, and blood was still flowing from the recessed crevices of the characters.
The school was surrounded by a large expanse of red spider lilies, and the will-o'-the-wisps floating in the air looked like fireflies, creating a scene that was both beautiful and eerie.
There were no security guards at the school gate. After circling around to make sure there were no rules, Kijima Suzuka led four strange-looking ghost puppets, who now resembled walking corpses, into the school in a grand procession.
As soon as she stepped into the school, Kijima Suzuka suddenly felt someone looking at her.
She turned around abruptly, only to find the school gate gone. Outside the school, there seemed to be a white mist, while inside, there seemed to be more… people around?
Seeing the lights on in the teaching building from afar, and people running and playing in the corridors, Kijima Suzuka sneered: Interesting.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com