Chapter 233: Neon Country: Evil God

Butterflies fluttered among the rustling trees.

The white-eyed boy stepped on the remaining white snow and walked towards the top of the mountain.

He closed his eyes, and the entire situation of the back mountain expanded outward with the butterflies and gradually took shape in his mind.

Bare trees, yellow earth half covered with residual snow, dilapidated stone steps used long ago, decaying torii, and dilapidated shrines.

The insect stopped and opened its eyes.

Shrine...

Was this mountain used for worshipping gods a long time ago?

Instinctively, I should check that place more carefully. As soon as the insect cocoon thought about it, a white butterfly the size of a palm slowly descended from the sky above the shrine, and its tiny tentacles grabbed the top of the shrine.

There was nothing inside the shrine.

Because it was a butterfly clone, I couldn't find out if there was any residual power. I had to go and see it myself.

While the white butterflies were landing on the shrine, several others had already found the garbage dump.

The garbage piled up like a mountain. Although the garbage was strictly sorted, the piles of waste still did not look good. Most importantly, the messy debris piled up together made it difficult to find out if there was anything strange.

It is Li Tu who should be the one to find the hidden monster.

Among all the character cards, the perception ability of the Rabbit is undoubtedly the best.

The shrine and the garbage dump, you have to choose one to go to in person, Chongzhu chose the shrine without hesitation.

Who wants to go to the garbage dump? It's all modern garbage. Humans are already so disgusting, and the garbage produced by humans will only be more disgusting.

Leaving a few butterflies staring at the garbage dump is the best the snails can do.

*

At the town port, a girl sat on a chair and looked at the cold sea.

Next to her, an ordinary-looking man was playing with his cell phone.

There was a distance of two seats between the two people, like strangers who did not know each other, maintaining an absolute safe distance.

"Too slow." The girl said.

The man next to him still looked down at his phone screen: "Yeah."

"The bird-winged butterfly is a very rare butterfly. It will definitely be very beautiful if it is made into a specimen." The girl said in a sinister tone.

"This is worthless." The man said indifferently.

The girl curled her lips and said, "Yes, this bird-winged butterfly is worthless. Throwing it into the garbage dump will only pollute the land."

As soon as he finished speaking, a young man's cheerful voice came from the end of the road: "Hey~~ Hello, it's been a long time since we last met——"

The girl and the man both turned their heads and looked at the smiling Birdwing Butterfly.

Beaded Butterfly: "Have you decided how to die?"

Birdwing Butterfly shook her head and said, "Hahaha, sorry, I saw a great performance spot on the way, so I sang a few songs impromptu."

The dead leaf butterfly stood up and said, "Let's go."

He didn't want to waste any more time here.

"Well, okay." Birdwing Butterfly shrugged, "Since you got here earlier than me, have you found out anything?"

Information obtained from the investigation of the beaded butterfly recollection: "The first abnormality was the death of an elementary school student named Mitani in a car accident. From that day on, people continued to die from accidents and illnesses. No one cared at first, but as more and more people died, they gradually felt that something was wrong."

The dead leaf butterfly added: "I found out that the hometown of Fukuoka Tianfu, a member of the Hundred Butterflies Society, is here. He took leave a few days ago to go home for the New Year and is now missing. According to his parents' testimony, Fukuoka Tianfu drove to the garbage dump, which corresponds to the time and location of the B-level anomaly refresh in the weird live broadcast. I suspect that the anomaly at the garbage dump was detected by the live broadcast software because Fukuoka Tianfu died there."

"Oh." Birdwing Butterfly's eyes sparkled. "That's amazing. You've found out so much in such a short time! It really was the right decision to ask you guys to come here!"

"But other than that, we know nothing." Beaded Butterfly frowned and said, "The strange types, attack methods, quantities, etc. are all unknown."

Birdwing Butterfly nodded: "Tiger Butterfly was defeated twice even though he knew the type and attack conditions of the monster. Facing a B-level monster without any intelligence, even if the three of us attack together, we will just die."

Dead Leaf Butterfly: "There are prerequisites for strange murders. Why don't we first investigate what the dead people have in common?"

"You are right, let's start with the first accidental death..." Before Bird-Wing Butterfly could finish her words, she stared at the sky in the distance and was stunned.

Following his gaze, the Leaf Butterfly and the Beaded Ringlet Butterfly turned their heads and spotted a tiny black dot in the very far sky.

The girl narrowed her eyes: "What is that? A flying bird?"

"Butterfly." Birdwing Butterfly said with a smile, his body trembling slightly.

The dead leaf butterfly looked into the distance, but the black spot was already too far away to be seen clearly.

"...Are you sure?" asked the Dead Leaf Butterfly.

In this season, and still flying so high, no one else can think of anything except the butterflies with butterfly fate.

But is it really such a coincidence?

So far, the number of people in the Hundred Butterflies Club who have seen the insect cocoon with their own eyes can be counted on one hand, and the only one who has had the honor of having a conversation with the insect cocoon is Midori Butterfly Miyuki.

Their butterfly lives do not like to appear in front of humans and do not like to communicate with humans. If you see butterfly lives appearing in areas where humans gather and live, there is only one possibility: there is something strange here that the butterfly lives need to deal with.

"This is the care of God!" Birdwing Butterfly was very excited. He threw the package away, even though it contained an accordion that he was afraid of dropping. "The investigation will be postponed--"

After saying that, he ran wildly in the direction where the butterfly appeared.

No matter whether it was a B-level anomaly or the disappearance of a member of the Hundred Butterflies Society, nothing was more important than seeing the butterfly's life with your own eyes!

The Beaded Ringlet and the Dead Leaf Butterfly looked at each other and then followed suit.

The butterfly that Birdwing Butterfly saw was flying in the sky above the garbage dump. When Birdwing Butterfly and the other two rushed over, they discovered that there was not just one butterfly flying in the sky, but more than a dozen, evenly distributed in the sky above the garbage dump, as if they were surveying the land.

"Sure enough, I knew it—" Bird-winged Butterfly excitedly pointed at the butterflies and said to the two panting people behind him, "Look, that's the Blue Morpho Butterfly, it always likes to land on Butterfly Life's head. That's just the Yellow-banded Butterfly, it always likes to land on the fingertips of Master Butterfly Life—and the Ghost Beauty Butterfly, ugh, so ugly. As ugly as the Ghost Beauty Butterfly of the Hundred Butterflies Association."

The Beaded Ringed Butterfly was also looking up at the sky. After hearing what he said, it said, "The Ghost Beauty is a butterfly species that is even rarer than the Birdwing Butterfly. It is also one of the most mysterious butterflies."

Birdwing Butterfly snorted, "That's ugly too."

He looked around and didn't see Dieming, but instead saw a shabby car parked on the side of the road.

That should be the car of the missing Fukuoka Tamao from the Hyakchokai.

Of course, none of this matters. The biggest question is, what about the butterfly fate?

The butterfly is here, but where is its life?

In the huge garbage mountain, a thin, long, white creature was creeping and climbing in the garbage.

Slowly approaching the direction where the three people were.

*

Halfway up the mountain.

The cocoon has reached the abandoned shrine, and a few butterflies have landed on top of it, gently fluttering their wings.

The white-eyed boy stretched out his hand and touched the shrine. Then he used his finger bones to exert a little force, grabbed the top of the shrine, and then lifted it up with force.

The interior of the shrine was exposed to the insects, with a rotten altar, a dirty table, and some debris.

There were a few pencil tips, two small erasers, and half a worn notebook, most of which was torn off, with only the back part remaining, and a few pages were missing in the middle of the remaining part.

Chongzhu picked up the notebook and opened it, and found a diary written in the very childish handwriting of an elementary school student.

With the system in hand, he could read and write easily, scanning the contents of the insect cocoon.

[3rd, sunny.]

Today is my birthday. My mom made omelette rice and wrote "Mamiko is the cutest" on it. I was so happy. But what made me even happier was that I talked to Mitani today. 】

[7th, sunny.]

When I grow up, I want to marry Mitani because he is so handsome and I like the way he looks in a black hat. 】

[9th, sunny.]

Something happened to classmate Mitani. I am so sad. 】

[12th, cloudy.]

Something happened to Somura and Nida, I'm so scared. 】

[13th, sunny.]

Everyone is talking about curses. Is it true that Mitani is cursing us? Will I die? After I die, will I marry Mitani? 】

[14th, sunny.]

A good friend died and I went to the funeral. It was horrible. I don’t want to die. 】

The following content has no date or weather, just some scattered text.

[My mother told me not to mention San Gu anymore. There is no such person.]

[Someone died again. The school will be closed tomorrow.]

[I'm so scared, I don't want to marry Mitani anymore, I don't want to be taken away, I %￥#]

There were messy scribbles at the back, and the page below was gone, leaving only traces of being torn.

This notebook was thrown away. Or rather, part of the diary of Mitani was torn up and thrown away.

"System, check what's going on with this 'Mitani classmate'." Chongju threw the worn notebook into the shrine and patted the dust off his hands.

The rescue system responded immediately and investigated the situation thoroughly within half a minute.

From Mitani's death to the numerous accidental deaths and illnesses in this town, not to mention the insects, even the salvation system felt something was wrong.

"System, according to the diary, this monster has appeared here a long time ago and has killed many people." Chongju raised his eyebrows.

The salvation system stammered: "Well... this system also has errors..."

"It doesn't matter." Chongxu checked the inside of the shrine again. After making sure there was nothing else to find, he turned around and began to explore the surroundings of the shrine. "I don't blame you. I don't care how many people die here."

"There is some residual weirdness in the shrine, although it is so weak that it is almost disappearing." Chongju said, "Using old objects as a medium to cause people to die unexpectedly or from illness. System, what weirdness can you think of?"

The salvation system quickly searched the database, and after this search, the salvation system also became nervous.

There are a lot of weird things that use common objects as a medium to cast curses and make people die of illness, but there are not many that can cause people to die unexpectedly, and without exception, they are very difficult weird things, all above B level. And this kind of weird thing that causes people to die unexpectedly is easy to develop secretly. After all, there are so many people who die accidentally every year, and not many people will spare the time to investigate, so if you are not careful, it will develop into A level, or even higher S level.

But fortunately they have been discovered.

"It's okay, host." The salvation system was still comforting itself, "According to the number of deaths from illness and accidents in the town that this system has investigated, it is not enough to make it an A-level anomaly. The fluctuations that were emitted before were definitely B-level. Don't panic, just solve it!"

Chongzhu: "Oh, really? It sounds like a flag."

“…”

"Okay, tell me what weird things meet these conditions. Tell me the characteristics, and it will be easier to find them specifically."

"There are thirteen types of anomalies that meet the host's specified conditions." The salvation system said, "The first is the monster god. This is the most difficult to catch, but also the most difficult to appear. Although this system thinks it is unlikely to be this case..."

"A weird god?" The insect paused as it searched around the shrine. "Can such a weird thing be called a god?"

"Because it eats human offerings, host, the monsters that this system mentioned before can use human power to cover up their own monsters, and the Monster God is one of them. If its power is used by borrowing human hands, the fluctuation of its monster power is almost zero, and it is the hardest to find among all the monsters that are good at hiding. In addition, it can split, because its main body is a white meat ball, and it can cut itself into several pieces at will. Fortunately, the mobility of the Monster God is very poor, about the same as that of an earthworm, and it can only crawl. Usually, even if it develops to A-level, it is difficult for it to leave its own one-third of an acre."

"Even if the mobility is poor, the first few lines sound absolutely invincible."

"There are also disadvantages, host. The reason why the word "god" is used in the word "weird god" is because a certain characteristic is very similar to "god". God is born from humans, and the gods praised by people have always been created by humans. Without human imagination, dissemination, and worship, gods are not gods, but just an illusory existence that will soon die. The same is true for weird gods. Newly born weird gods do not have the ability to hunt on their own, and they cannot even move. They need human offerings to feed them. Even if they grow up in the later stage and can move independently, they will most likely not leave the person they first met. Because after the weird gods grow up in the later stage, they can After leaving its original meatball image, it will gradually change its appearance to resemble the person who worships it. Host, do you know the legend of Neon Country, "God's Hiding", which means that a person's disappearance is actually taken away by gods and ghosts, which is called God's Hiding. The Evil God can also "God's Hiding", and when its appearance is exactly the same as that person, it will devour that person, inherit all of the other person's memories, pretend to be that person, and integrate into his circle of life. When it reaches this point, host, the level of the Evil God is no longer a mere A-level, but as dangerous and powerful as the host's vest. "

As the Savior System spoke, Chongjue's brows became more and more furrowed. Not only because he heard the danger of the evil god from the Savior System's words, but also because he saw countless overlapping footprints right in front of the shrine.

The footprints were very small, so the owner was probably only about ten years old at most, probably in elementary school.

Mitani-san, a childish notebook, footprints of the shrine, pencil tips and erasers...

The salvation system was still chattering: "Host, don't worry too much. The probability of a monster appearing is extremely low. It's probably the probability of a super meteorite hitting the earth. Let's talk about the next one, the next weird thing that meets the conditions..."

"No need." Chongjue interrupted.

"Eh? No need?"

"I won the prize." Chongxu sneered, "According to what you just said, a meteorite hit the earth."

“…Huh?”

*

Misawa City.

Sato Kenichi came back from outside, opened the door and said "I'm back" as usual, and then as expected, there was no response. As expected, his parents were still at work and did not come home from get off work.

Because they moved here in a hurry from the seaside town, in order to settle down as soon as possible, the Sato family borrowed money from relatives. If it weren't for their good reputation and good relationship with their relatives, no one would be willing to support them with so many debts piling up.

Fortunately, everything didn't turn out too badly.

After arriving in Misawa City, the Sato couple quickly settled down here and each found a job. Although they did not earn as much as before, at least they were stable and had an income, and they began to pay off their debts little by little.

Even though the debt is higher than when I was in the small town, at least there is hope for the future.

I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but I feel like there are more accidents in Misawa City than I imagined.

Maybe it's because this is a big city with lots of people? Unlike a small seaside town, where the population is small, everyone will know if something happens.

Even so, there are still many accidents we see on a daily basis, such as a store sign falling down on a commercial street and killing someone, someone falling into a manhole cover and hitting his head because of not paying attention, a building suddenly catching fire and many people unable to run away, and car accidents are too numerous to count.

The incident was so serious that the mayor of Misawa City gave a speech urging everyone to be careful when traveling.

But that's all. Although the number of accidents has increased, it is nothing compared to the total population of the city, and they were all accidents, right?

Only the mayor can step forward and give a speech to show his concern for people's livelihood and to attract votes for the next election.

Sato Kenichi returned to the room and immediately entered his room. After closing the door, he quietly opened the small door of the innermost closet.

His 'friend' was hidden there. Since it was brought here from the shrine on the mountain, it had grown bigger and bigger as the boy worshipped it. The small shrine that had been prepared could no longer hold it, so it had to be hidden in the closet.

"I'm back." Sato Kenichi took out a hairpin from his pocket. "I picked this up. I don't know who it belongs to."

Inside the closet, an arm stretched out, with five intact fingers, exactly like Sato Kenichi's hand: "Okay~"

Only the body part connected to the arms is still a little blurry, as if the sculpture has just taken shape, but the facial features have gradually become clear. The only complete and open right eye on the face is exactly the same as Sato Kenichi's right eye, including the small black mole at the corner of the eye.

"I like it very much~" said the Evil God.

Sato Kenichi smiled. He sat cross-legged on the ground and looked straight at the strange god: "Really? That's good."

After saying this, the boy looked at the ghost and stared at its right eye carefully: "It's like looking in a mirror. It's so magical. Will you become like me in the future?"

"Hmm~"

"Then, I don't want to go to school. Can you go for me?" Sato Kenichi said with a faint smile, "I don't like school."

"Um?"

"My deskmate is a pretty girl. There are many boys who like her. They all bully me." Sato Kenichi lowered his eyes and looked at the ground. "That girl also dislikes me. She said that I always sneak out to pick up trash and smell sour."

"It's not smelly at all. I always take a shower." Sato Kenichi whispered, "In fact, even if I don't come back from outside to pick up things, they won't like me. They only like to play with rich and powerful children."

However, judging from his clothes, it is clear that Sato Ken's family is not a wealthy family.

"I'll do it for you, okay~" the evil god agreed with a smile.

Sato Kenichi laughed happily and held the little hand of the evil god: "You are my only friend."

"Hmm~"

"It's great to have you." said Sato Kenichi.

The Evil God still smiled: "Yeah."

"I..." Sato Kenichi took a deep breath. He wanted to say something, but seeing the ghost staring at him with a smile, he couldn't say anything. In the end, the boy could only mumble, "It's okay."

"I'm going to do my homework." Sato Kenichi closed the closet door and walked out of the bedroom.

The boy stood at the door of the bedroom, looking down at his toes, and muttered what he hadn't said before: "You won't hurt me, right?"

We are friends, right?