Chapter 40
When Fushiguro Megumi heard that she had been successfully rated as a Level 2 sorcerer and could independently undertake tasks below Level 2, she did not have a particularly strong emotional reaction.
On the contrary, he seemed more nervous after hearing that there was progress in the investigation of Fushiguro Miki's curse.
It is now May.
The obvious curse from Gao Fa made Gojo Satoru, who had some free time, much busier again. However, since the higher-ups dared not cause him any more trouble, his workload only increased to a stable busy period.
After all, there are some top-tier missions that no one else can do but him. But unlike before, the higher-ups would not only throw all the level-one missions that no one else wanted at him, but also say things like, "If you refuse, are you planning to watch the other sorcerers die?"
Rather than genuinely caring for the next generation of the jutsu world, those old men seemed more like they were deliberately trying to increase Gojo Satoru's workload and squeeze out his excess energy and time.
Just like the nighttime meetings where he would be called in and scolded every now and then, they deliberately prevented Gojo Satoru from having much personal time to deal with his private affairs.
Now, under Kazuma Hato's domineering and ruthless style, the higher-ups are avoiding Gojo Satoru like the plague, let alone daring to cause him trouble as before.
Therefore, most of the high-risk tasks that Level 1 sorcerers have tried to complete but were unable to do, have to be finished off by Gojo Satoru.
The adjective "please" is used in a very comforting way.
With Kazuma Yutori watching coldly from the side, everyone's words became extremely polite, as they were afraid of accidentally angering this living devil and losing their lives on the spot.
As for killing Kazuma Hagoromo?
Didn't they consider that even that person's attempt failed? Did they really expect Gojo Satoru to kill Hagoromo Kazuma? They should be grateful they didn't end up killing them instead!
Besides, it won't be long before they have to watch helplessly as Gojo Satoru completely tramples on their heads... Just thinking about it makes them feel like they have a fishbone stuck in their throats, but there's nothing they can do about any of them.
Fortunately, Gojo Satoru is indeed more law-abiding than the other one, and he won't refuse when a task is delivered to him.
The investigation has been carried out by an agency commissioned by Gojou. Now, they have compiled and submitted a detailed investigation report.
This is what Fushiguro Megumi cares about most.
“Based on the list you gave us, we visited each of these cursed individuals and confirmed that they all had almost identical markings on their bodies. After questioning everyone the cursed individuals had ever been in contact with and collecting their testimonies, we discovered a strange common phenomenon.”
The representative from the organization adjusted his glasses and began to summarize with a highly professional attitude.
This is a case that could feed the entire organization for three years; we absolutely cannot allow this distinguished client to have any unpleasantness!
The glasses he is wearing now are actually non-prescription glasses—to be precise, they were provided to them by their benefactor, glasses that allow them to see the strange things called "cursed power".
According to the sponsor, the pattern representing the [mark] is a product that is generated after being infused with cursed power. If one observes the "cursed person" from the perspective of an ordinary person, one will not be able to see anything.
Even after being told something that so drastically altered their worldview, not one of them wanted to refuse the commission.
There was no other reason than that this big spender gave so much money.
"Without exception, they all had the experience of being exposed to urban rumors, whether actively or passively."
The presenters' expressions and tone were very serious and earnest. Even when reporting on content that might seem outrageous to outsiders, they treated the three clients in front of them with the utmost respect.
"Urban legend?" Fushiguro Megumi frowned. "Did Tsumiki go there too?"
“Yes,” the reporter replied, “Miss Fukuro went to the [Eighty-Eight Bridges Bungee Jump] as rumored.”
Fushiguro Megumi suddenly stood up, but Gojo Satoru, who was sitting next to him and listening with his head propped up on his hand, reached out and pulled him back.
"Gojo-sensei...!"
"Don't worry, Hui."
Gojo Satoru spoke up, "The cursed are scattered all over the country. Could it be that the urban legends that others have come across are also [Eighty-Eight Bridges Bungee Jumping]? Impossible, this is just a screening mechanism. Anyway, let's hear what he has to say first."
Fuhei Hui paused for a moment, then gritted his teeth and silently sat back down in his original seat.
"I'm sorry... I acted impulsively just now."
"I can understand, after all, they are Hui's family."
Gojo Satoru withdrew his hand and gestured to the reporter to let him continue.
"I'm curious if there are any other discoveries besides this commonality?"
"Okay." The reporter cleared his throat slightly. "Apart from that, we really couldn't find any other similar commonalities."
"But then we remembered that, according to you, the phenomenon of the curse among the victims was that [they had no health problems, suddenly fell into a long-term coma for unknown reasons, and their bodies always had this pattern that ordinary people could not observe]."
"So, based on this pattern, we conducted another extensive screening of the hospital records, extending the timeframe to ten years."
"Because this phenomenon is unrelated to physical condition, even if you go to a clinic, doctors who cannot find the cause will recommend that you go to a well-known hospital."
"Therefore, we only need to focus on screening the hospitalization records of patients in well-known hospitals in several major cities and find keywords such as [normal physical indicators, unknown cause, coma] in the diagnosed cases."
Upon hearing this, Gojo Satoru's eyes lit up, and he praised them generously.
"It's truly remarkable that you've put in this much effort. You'll receive an extra bonus later."
Yay, money!
The reporter inwardly cheered, but outwardly remained extremely restrained, pushing up his glasses and speaking with a slightly reserved air.
"This is our consistent service standard. We will not overlook even the slightest clue until you are satisfied."
"Then, I will continue with the report. When we extend the time frame and trace back further, we find that the cursed individuals have appeared far more than just in the last two years."
“Even if we go back fifty or sixty years, there are still people across the country who are suspected of being cursed and sent to hospitals. However, after doctors cannot find the cause of the illness and the patient does not wake up for a long time, some families decide to let the patient die, some families take the patient home to take care of them, and some suspected cursed people have already passed away.”
"For these patients whose causes of illness could not be diagnosed, hospitals would often choose to conceal the information and not deliberately disclose it in order to protect their reputation. In addition, communication was not well-developed at that time, so there would be no reporters to collect this data and conduct interviews for publication."
"It's probably because of the convenience of the internet these days, and because Ms. Fushiguro is Mr. Fushiguro's family member, that she deliberately pays attention to and tries to collect relevant information in order to find a way to rescue him."
After finishing his report, the presenter gave a slight bow, indicating that his report was now complete.
Gojo Satoru changed from resting his head on his hand to listening to leaning back, crossing his arms in front of his chest, and falling into deep thought.
After a moment, he turned to look at Kazuma Hatori.
"They are the same group as the mastermind behind it all."
Kazuma Hagoromo nodded.
"I guessed so."
Previously, in order to enable Gojo Satoru to become the chief, Hato Kazuma reached an agreement with the senior management of the General Staff, namely, to find the murderer of the former chief.
How could Kazuma Hatake possibly ignore these old NPCs who clearly know something about the mastermind and wander aimlessly looking for clues on his own?
Shortly after the meeting ended, he called out the names again, held up the [Blood-Stained Fighting Gun] to the foreheads of those old men, and interrogated them one by one.
The only useful information obtained was that "the mastermind behind the scenes has been in control of the General Affairs Department for a very long time, even longer than their own ages."
This is one of the key reasons why Gojo Satoru's reforms were destined to fail.
Someone has been controlling the entire jutsu world behind the scenes for a long time. How could they possibly allow Gojo Satoru to realize his ideal of overthrowing the rule and resetting the jutsu world?
At this moment, they discovered that the person who planted the curse on Fushiguro Miki and the person who manipulated the higher-ups in the General Headquarters were most likely in cahoots.
"It must be a group."
Gojo Satoru stroked his chin thoughtfully, "Although we are sorcerers, our lifespan is the same as that of ordinary people; we don't live to be several hundred years old."
"If it's someone like Lord Tianyuan... that's unlikely. The immortality technique can only guarantee that he won't die, not that he'll grow old... Although we can guess in the direction of [immortality], does such a being really need to hide his identity? If he's immortal, he could rule the world without any problem, right?"
"What about a cursed spirit or a cursed object?" Kazuma Hatake asked.
"Unlikely. Spirits below the Special Grade basically lack intelligence. Even if they possess the rationality to communicate, their actions against humans are mostly direct and brutal annihilation, not such cunning."
Gojo Satoru shook his head. "The same principle applies to cursed objects. Moreover, the higher the level of the cursed object, the harder it is to find a suitable human vessel. The vast majority of ordinary people will be unable to accept the cursed power and will die from poisoning."
"Moreover, their actions easily leave behind remnants of magical energy, making them very easy to track down."
"I see." Kazuma Hatori said in realization.
That's true. In most games, the final villains who hide their identities in the early stages are cunning and evil humans, not monsters.
"If it's a hidden group that has passed down the tradition from generation to generation, then it's somewhat possible."
Gojo Satoru smiled at Hagoromo Kazuma before continuing.
"[New Yin] is something like that. Their patriarch is still elusive, and it is said that he has survived for many, many years by taking possession of [New Yin Stream] and then passing it on to his disciples through [Binding]?"
"But [New Yin] is the faction openly vying for power within the Directorate General, and they've always been at a disadvantage. Hmm... really, I've gotten myself into a dead end."
Gojo Satoru patted his head and sighed, clearly having no clue about the enemy's identity.
Fushiguro Megumi frowned, unable to accept that the result of his painstaking investigation, which he had entrusted to Gojo-sensei, was still unable to rescue Tsumiki.
"It's okay, it's okay,"
Seeing Fushiguro Megumi's worried expression, Gojo Satoru smiled and patted him on the shoulder to comfort him.
"Isn't there already a lot of progress? Don't worry, we'll definitely find the mastermind behind it all eventually."
“The elders of the Kamo family are still searching through ancient books, so we can wait for the results,” Kazuma Hato said in agreement. “They said this doesn’t seem like a spell that modern sorcerers would use, and it also matches the clues we’ve found this time.”
"...Yes, I was too hasty."
Reassured by Gojo Satoru and Hato Kazuma, Fushiguro Megumi slowly nodded, looked up at them, and spoke earnestly.
"Thank you for your help... Gojo-sensei, Kamo-sensei."
After being reminded of this by Kazuma Hatori before, Megumi Fushiguro did not forget this point again—besides, Tsumiki had no relation to the two of them, and the reason he was willing to go to such great lengths to help was because he wanted to save her.
"After all, my lovely student is in trouble, so of course I, as her teacher, will help her to the end!"
It was rare for Fushiguro Megumi to express her gratitude, and Gojo Satoru was very happy.
After the reporter left, during a rare weekend break when everyone was together, Gojo Satoru talked to Fushiguro Megumi about another matter.
"I was a bit busy recently, and when I got back I heard that you were assigned to a business trip to Sendai? To exorcise cursed spirits?"
“Yes,” Fushiguro replied, “we’ve only given a brief notification so far; the actual trip will take place next month.”
"It's a mission to retrieve a top-grade cursed artifact."
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