Chapter 228: Neon Country: Evil God

Someone else died, more than one.

A little girl who was in the same class as Kenichi Sato, who liked to tie her ponytail with a bow and loved to dress up, and who would wear a skirt and cute little boots even in the cold winter, fell from the second-floor window of her house, hit her head on a stone, and died on the spot.

The accident happened at noon. Her mother was cooking in the kitchen. The kitchen window faced the courtyard and she saw her daughter fall.

On the same day, a classmate of Jianyi, a boy named Yamashita, died of electric shock at home.

The sudden loss of two children, both from the same class, seemed a little strange, and people in the town discussed it for a long time.

The day after this child passed away, another classmate of Sato Kenichi died unexpectedly.

This is no longer a discussion, but a panic.

One or two times might be a coincidence, but what about three or more times? Mitani was unwilling to die tragically, so the rumor spread that he had become a ghost and was taking away other children. Many people with children were vigilantly watching their children, fearing that their children would also die unexpectedly when they were not paying attention.

The situation is especially bad in Kenichi Sato's class. Many parents go to school to pick up their children and bring them home. They don't allow them to go out or go to school, and they dare not let them touch anything dangerous, fearing that they will be the next one.

Naturally, classes could not be held and the school announced an early holiday.

Like other children, Kenichi Sato was taken away by his mother.

"This world is so hard to live in." Mrs. Sato complained, "When weird things happen, life is unbearable. Kenichi, don't touch anything dangerous when you get home, and don't go out unless necessary, understand."

Sato Kenichi lowered his head and hummed vaguely.

When they got home, they found that Sato's father was also there. Mrs. Sato asked in surprise, "Don't you need to go to the dock to help?"

"No need to go today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow." Sato poured himself a glass of wine. "One of the captain's children is gone."

Mrs. Sato, who had just taken off her coat, was stunned for a moment: "No more? Is he also Kenichi's classmate?"

"No, it was a student from the same school who was two grades higher than Kenichi." Sato said in a muffled voice, "He said he accidentally fell into a tank filled with marine fish and drowned."

"This..." Mrs. Sato knelt down, "What a poor child."

Sato didn't say anything, just lowered his head to drink, and his wife didn't say anything either, just lowered her head to look at the table. After a while, they both said in unison: "Let's move."

After looking at each other, Sato said, "We are not from this town anyway, and the house is rented. We can leave anytime we want."

Mrs. Sato nodded and said, "There is something wrong with this town. There must be something strange going on... Most of the dead were Kenichi's classmates. I am worried about Kenichi's safety."

"Where to go next?"

"How's Misawa City?"

"Do you have enough money to stay here?"

"I've saved a lot recently. If I save a little..."

The Sato couple got together and began to discuss what to do next.

Inside the closed door, Kenichi Sato eavesdropped on his parents' conversation. He rubbed his breasts with his little hands, and no one knew what he felt in his heart.

He had wanted to leave this exclusive town a long time ago, but he couldn't bear to leave his god friend in the Torii. Without his offerings, he didn't know if the god could continue to grow. He heard that without people's offerings, the god would disappear, and he didn't want his friend to disappear. During the time he came here, the god had always been with him.

Only the gods were willing to listen to him quietly and give him a response.

It was late at night, and Kenichi Sato went to bed early. When she and her husband made plans to move out and were preparing to go to bed, Mrs. Sato quietly came to Kenichi's door, looked at her son's 'sleeping' face, and sighed slightly.

Moving house all the time and changing to a new environment is not conducive to the growth of children, but what can we do about it?

Who made them penniless?

After closing the door, Mrs. Sato and her husband returned to their room, spread the mattress on the tatami, and lay down to sleep.

In the small bedroom, Sato Kenichi opened his eyes, not feeling sleepy at all.

He quietly got up from the bed, went into the kitchen in the dark as usual, then strolled out of the room and ran all the way to the back mountain.

There was no one on the dark path, and the windows and doors of every household were closed. Only the clattering sound of the boy's footsteps could be heard in the night.

Kenichi Sato came to the familiar Torii. He rushed to the shrine, constantly calling his friends in a low voice, and did not forget to place the raw meat for offering on the stone steps.

A small white hand stretched out, with all five fingers intact, looking like an ordinary child's hand.

Jianyi was not amazed at the god's growth rate, but was anxious to tell the god that he was about to move away.

"Mom and the others said that they will move out of here next week at the latest. I can't bear to leave you." Jianyi held the other person's little hand.

The little white hand paused, and a voice came from the shrine: "Leave?"

"Um."

The little hand held Jianyi's hand: "Then... give it to me."

"ah?"

"Give me your things." The little hands spread out and began to ask for it.

Jianyi was puzzled: "Do you want my things? Do you want to make them into souvenirs? We will hardly see each other in the future, so it would be better to have souvenirs..."

The voice didn't open its mouth, but just stretched out its little hand, with a very firm intention to ask for it.

"My belongings... I don't have anything worth giving you as a souvenir." Jianyi said with a frustrated tone, "They are just some old things that are not very good."

"I want... something old."

Jianyi pondered for a moment, and suddenly thought of something: "Hey, God, can you come with me?"

The voice in the shrine paused: "Follow...you?" It had not thought of this possibility.

"Yes, I will worship you. Without worship, the gods will disappear." The more Sato Kenichi thought about it, the more feasible it became. "I can build a small shrine for you and you can live in it. Every day I will burn incense for you and offer you raw meat!"

This way he wouldn't have to worry about the gods disappearing without offerings, and he wouldn't have to separate from his friends when he left. It was the best of both worlds no matter how you looked at it.

"Okay." The voice in the shrine was excited, "Let's make an appointment..."

"Well, we have an appointment." Sato Kenichi grabbed the hand, "But how should I take you away? Should I tear down the shrine?"

The little hand moved outward, grabbed Sato Kenichi's wrist, and climbed up his arm until it reached Sato Kenichi's shoulder. At the same time, the part connected to the arm that was hidden in the shrine was finally exposed in front of Sato Kenichi. It was a fist-sized white ball of flesh with a mouth on it, a mouth that opened to speak.

Looking at this weird scene, Sato Kenichi was surprisingly not scared. He was just a little curious: "Can you see it?"

The ball of flesh turned a little, revealing the back, where there was an eyeball.

"Jianyi..." His mouth opened and closed, making childish sounds.

The cute childish voice is at odds with its terrifying appearance.

"Then let's go." Sato Kenichi hid his arms in his arms and muttered softly on the way home, "Hide in my room. There is no shrine at the moment, so I'll find you a replacement. Don't let your mother find out. She doesn't believe in God..."

Sato Kenichi, who was leaving, didn't know that there was a small white meat ball hidden in the shrine. The meat ball that had just split off was slowly growing a mouth and muttering to itself: "Kenichi... let's go together... eat..."

It was not only the Sato family who wanted to leave here, but also two other families who were also foreigners. One of them made a decision even more decisively than the Sato family. When the rumor came out, they had already packed up their packages and ran away overnight.

The other family was not as active as before. The Sato family had already found a car, but the other family was still dithering over property issues. They rented a store in the town to do business. The more roots people have here, the more difficult it is for them to leave.

The Sato family didn't know whether the family finally left or not, as they had already boarded the car and were on their way to Misawa City.

*

After the Sato family left, a young man came to their next-door neighbor, Mrs. Fukuoka's house.

The young man was wearing casual clothes, carrying a worn canvas bag, and looked lazy. He stood in front of the door, took out his key and opened it, and heard the sound of his mother arguing with someone inside.

"What a joke, what's so weird, I don't know." Mrs. Fukuoka, a middle-aged woman who has gained weight, shouted, "Everything is fine here, there is nothing weird, you can see it clearly, it's all an accident. It's just that the dead children happened to be in the same class, what does that mean! And my son is very busy, how could he come back for such a small matter..."

"Mom, what's wrong?" the young man asked after closing the door.

Mrs. Fukuoka looked at her son with almost despair. Why did he have to come back now when else?

"What are you doing back?" Mrs. Fukuoka asked.

Fukuoka Tanao was stunned by the question. This is his home. If he doesn't come back, where would he go?

What's more, it's the first month of the lunar year now. Isn't it right for him to go home and celebrate the New Year with his family?

If he hadn't received the commission to exorcise the monster before, which delayed his departure for a while, he could have returned earlier.

"Tanfu--!" The woman who had been arguing with Mrs. Fukuoka rushed over crying, which scared Fukuoka Tanfu. He looked closely and realized that it was Mrs. Somura, the owner of the izakaya.

Before leaving the town, Fukuoka Tamao often went to Somura's izakaya. Of course, he didn't go there to drink, as he was still in school at the time. He went there to eat grilled chicken skewers with oolong tea. That's how he got to know Mrs. Somura since he was a child.

"You joined the Hundred Butterflies Society, right? Fighting against that weird private organization!" Mrs. Somura grabbed Fukuoka Tamao's hand and said excitedly, "I know, you accepted the commission, right? I want to commission you, I can give you a lot of money, I just ask you to help me, you must avenge Ah Zhen——"

"Ah Zhen?" Fukuoka Tianfu looked at his mother, "What on earth happened here?"

Mrs. Fukuoka looked worried and let out a long sigh.

Just yesterday, the day the Sato family next door moved away, three more people died in this town due to various accidents.

Two children and one adult.

The 'Three Valleys Curse' of this town began to spread to adults.