Chapter 160
After the birthday party ended, Kazuma Hatori and Satoru Gojo maintained a tacit understanding in their relationship: pretending to be mortal enemies to the outside world, but secretly being lovey-dovey.
The following spring, three more senior executives from the directorate died one after another. A strong sense of panic spread like wildfire across the wasteland, and in an instant, everything was engulfed in flames.
When they discover that staying within the three starter families is not safe, it becomes almost impossible for them to maintain their former composure and superiority.
Sirius, just as it was symbolized in a certain legend, transformed at this moment into a bright yet cold omen of death, hanging high above everyone's heads.
The more critical issue is that they knew nothing about the killer.
In the report, they could only summarize it as follows: appearing and disappearing mysteriously, definitely possessing some means of evading barriers; seemingly more skilled in using daggers or knives, which may also be the medium for activating spells; extremely arrogant, deliberately using marks to provoke the world of sorcery.
The entity itself is unknown, the motive is unknown, and the means are unknown.
The only thing that's clear is that the killer has so far been killing members of the supervisory department.
"..."
This summary is so good, it would be better if it didn't exist.
After reading the report, the chief tossed aside the stack of papers, his gaze sweeping around the office before finally settling on the white pine tree on the windowsill.
Its appearance is excellent, with its evergreen needles arranged in a pleasing pattern. The tree has a dignified and elegant posture, and its extended crown is like a dragon soaring and a phoenix flying. It is both vigorous and powerful, yet soft and graceful. Every pruning is just right, which is the result of his decades of hard work in maintaining it.
This genuine pine bonsai has extremely high artistic value, and even if an expert offered him millions, he would never sell it.
However, he noticed that the white pine tree was still green, but it seemed to have a broken branch.
A thin, inconspicuous branch.
It was neither yellowed, nor withered, nor was it infested with insects—it simply broke off quietly and fell into the soil below.
Just like the director's office that is constantly being pruned.
The chief's heart, like this branch, slowly sank.
………
With the graduation of the class led by Masamichi Yagami, he was officially promoted to principal of Tokyo Vocational High School and would no longer take on students except in special circumstances.
In contrast, Gojo Satoru, after graduating from high school, took over the job that Yagami Masamichi had previously held, becoming a jutsu teacher and homeroom teacher for first-year students.
The supervisory department only discussed once whether Gojo Satoru, who was not even 20 years old, was competent for the position of a college teacher.
Having received the news, Kazuma Hatori acted swiftly and decisively, killing the two old men who had voted against the proposal at the meeting.
Therefore, the management department tacitly approved that Gojo Satoru would become "Teacher Gojo" for the first-year students when school started.
In other words, after so many people died, they finally realized—or rather, understood—that those who wanted to harm Gojo Satoru were the targets of the murderer.
"No wonder he's an old man whose brain isn't working properly; it took him so many kills before he could react."
Upon receiving the message that the vote had passed, Kazuma Hatori spoke calmly.
Zenji Naoya didn't dare to reply, and asked weakly, "If there are no further instructions, I'll hang up..."
He was terrified of this living devil, who would act without warning and could announce someone's death the very next day just by hearing their name.
Zenji Naoya felt that if he didn't listen, he would probably see his cousin that very night.
...Let's hurry up and find the source of that curse mark for him. Right now, the Kamo family has lost two elders and is in chaos, so it's good to take advantage of the situation.
"Okay, report back to me if anything unusual happens next time."
After hanging up the phone, Hagoromo Kazuma acted like a superior to Zenin Naoya.
Although this superior was cold and ruthless, he gave Zenin Naoya no benefits except for ordering him around.
However, at least he didn't get a beating for his sharp tongue like he did last week—Hatori Kazuma considered himself to have been exceptionally lenient with Zenin Naoya.
The last high-ranking official in the management department who spoke ill of Go but went as far as Zenin Naoya is long dead.
Just as Kazuma Hatori put away his phone, he saw Natsumi Yuu walk in from outside.
He recently recruited several capable curse masters for the Panxing Cult, among whom a young woman named Suda Manami is the most useful, in charge of managing the finances.
I vaguely heard that she greatly admired Xia Youjie and joined the Panxing Sect because of him. But Yuqu Yizhen didn't care much.
"The spirit has been removed?" Kazuma Hatake asked Natsumi Yuuki.
"Pretty much. There's an interesting rumor circulating online recently."
Xia Youjie sat down in his seat and smoothed out the sleeves of his cassock.
As the "Holy Son," Kazuma Hatori wore a crested haori hakama. As the "Cult Leader," Natsuyu Ge naturally couldn't just wander around in ordinary clothes every day, so he chose a kasaya that matched his temperament.
Although the two have different styles of dress, the Panxing Sect itself is a mix of modern on the outside and traditional Japanese on the inside, so it doesn't really matter.
Kazuma Hagoromo hummed in agreement. "A rumor?"
"To be honest, I don't know where this rumor originated either."
Xia Youjie spread his hands, indicating that he had also come up empty-handed.
“When I first received the news, I thought it would generate a cursed spirit similar to a phoenix fire. Riju also told me with certainty that he sensed the fluctuation of cursed power in that place.”
Phoenix fire is not uncommon in ancient Japanese legends.
Like Tamamo-no-Mae or Kappa, it is also quite easy to generate imaginary cursed spirits due to the shared fear among ordinary people.
In different legends, the phoenix fire has been given different meanings.
Some say that phoenix fire is a flame that falls from the sky when a phoenix flaps its wings, others say it is a flame left behind in the human world when the phoenix is reborn, and still others say it is a bird spirit that accidentally obtained the phoenix fire.
Leaving aside ancient tales of revenge or protection, recent rumors seem to be keeping up with the times:
"To summarize, according to the famous Nostradamus prophecy, humanity will face a brutal mass extinction in ten years. Flames from the phoenix will fall from the sky one after another, carrying the tyrannical Aramitama, starting from Shinjuku and igniting the earth, completely burning all living beings, and then restarting the entire world."
After Xia Youjie finished reading the so-called prophecy, Yuqu Kazuma looked at him silently, his expression saying, "[You believe this?]"
Xia Youjie: "..."
Xia Youjie clenched his fist and coughed lightly: "In fact, Nostradamus was a 16th-century French astrologer and prophet. How could he have combined Japanese mythology to create these contents?"
This means he didn't believe the rumor at all.
“But sometimes, the reason why new urban legends are accepted by the public is not only because some of the content itself has a certain degree of popularity, but also because of the sensationalism,” Xia Youjie said. “Just like the Mayan prophecy that humans would become extinct in 2012, many people believed it.”
It is possible that this Mayan prophecy inspired the rumors, which led to the fabrication of the nonsensical "Nostradamus Prophecy".
The content about human extinction and the world restarting is enough to instill fear in some people who believe in it—and with the rapid spread of information on the internet, negative energy can easily spread and become contagious.
Even if a small group of people believe it, the argument will ignite a bomb of negative emotions.
Negative emotions are not limited to fear; negativity, disgust, rejection, frustration, contempt, and even gloating curses are all forms of negative emotions.
A curse is an extremely complex mixture of negative energy, and the fuse that ignites it may only require an outrageous and widely circulated rumor.
"But you also said you sensed cursed power in Shinjuku?"
After glancing at the game interface and confirming that the rumor had not triggered any new requests or quests, Kazuma Hatake seemed somewhat uninterested.
Perhaps because he didn't follow the normal storyline of the game, the system hasn't prompted any new tasks for a long time.
"Yes, that's what Riju said, but I didn't find anything when I got there."
Xia Youjie said, "However, the phoenix is originally an auspicious symbol of protection and prosperity. Even in Buddhism, it is considered one of the incarnations of the Peacock King or the prototype of Garuda... In short, I have heard the legend of the phoenix's rebirth, but the phoenix's destruction of the world is really bizarre."
Unlike the phoenix in Greek mythology that could be reborn from the fire, Nirvana in Buddhism originally refers to the state of being like an oil lamp whose flame goes out after it has burned out. It means transcending all birth and death, extinguishing all worldly laws, severing all suffering and karmic consequences, and ultimately reaching a state of neither death nor birth, neither defilement nor purity, neither anger nor extinction, a state of complete transcendence and perfection.
Just as a phoenix burns itself in flames, it transcends the cycle of cause and effect, leaving only a few wisps of phoenix fire in the world.
Regardless of the circumstances, the phoenix is the official emblem of the Japanese Imperial Family, so it's no wonder that some people would argue about this rumor.
"It's probably to gain attention," Kazuma Hatake nodded.
This is not unusual in the real world. Every day, a large amount of false information is posted online and spread widely—sometimes followed by a debunking, sometimes not.
"Probably. It just made me make a wasted trip and I have to tell Li Jiu to be more careful in the future... But these kinds of rumors usually only last for ten days or half a month and are quickly forgotten."
Xia Youjie chatted with Yuqu Kazuma for a while, talking about the starkly different academic performances of Mimiko and Nanako recently. He also mentioned that Tenten Riko and Kuroi Misato were doing quite well at the Fushiguro family's house—especially Tenten Riko, who made many like-minded friends at her new school thanks to Gojo Satoru and Yuqu Kazuma's autographs.
He glanced at the time on his phone, then got up and said goodbye to Kazuma Hatake.
"I had arranged to meet a believer at this time, so I'm leaving now."
He's just resting here for a while; he has a lot of things to do.
Kazuma Hatori was either busy killing the old man who was at odds with the Director General and Gojo Satoru, or clearing out monsters everywhere to collect curse power crystals. He rarely met with his followers, and Natsumi Yuuki handled most of the work.
“Hmm,” he paused for a moment, then asked Xia Youjie.
"That [patriarch] hasn't contacted you at all?"
He had already killed nearly ten high-ranking officials in the Directors' Department, and he thought that the guy who secretly controlled the Directors' Department would at least make some kind of move.
Xia Youjie's steps slowed slightly.
“No,” he turned back to Kazuma Hatake and shrugged, “She probably hasn’t realized our plan yet.”
After saying this, Xia Youjie smiled at him again before turning around and quickly leaving the temple.
Kazuma Hatake remained seated, lost in thought for a long time, before taking out his phone to edit an email for Satoru Gojo.
[We may need to make some minor changes to Xia Youjie's plan to rise from the dead.]
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