Der törichte Agent

Kapitel 39

"I can't remember what happened back then..." Feng Shui turned his head back, closed his eyes again, and said evasively.

“Running away is only for you; there’s no going back for me. I sensed she was coming back a while ago,” Jimmy said with a smile.

"Her?" Feng Shui opened his eyes again and asked, puzzled.

"It seems you've really forgotten that our destined comrade-in-arms from when we were refining the universe, the true master of the Netherworld since ancient times, has returned." Jimi's smile turned excited.

"The true master of the Netherworld? Who exactly do you think it is?" Feng Shui asked, somewhat surprised.

"Huang Quan, the reincarnation of the joy and anger among the seven emotions of the Demon Butterfly, inherited the position of overlord of the Netherworld. However, now that she has come to the human world with you, she is no longer the master of the Netherworld. The true master of the Netherworld is Zi Yang, our comrade-in-arms from the primordial chaos, whom you recently met in the Netherworld. She is the true Huang Quan," Jimi said softly.

"How is this possible? How come I didn't know about this?" Feng Shui was so shocked that he stood up from the hot spring and asked Jimi.

"It seems you've truly forgotten many things. A life too comfortable makes you forget many important things from the past. The second reorganization is about to begin. You now possess a demonic body. Although you don't focus on cultivation, the demonic body will continue to cultivate on its own; you can't control it. The real Huangquan Ziyang has returned, but she seems to have forgotten many things since her first reincarnation. A while ago, I sensed that she had awakened the original defensive power of the Netherworld, but for some reason, it has fallen silent again. I came to see you this time simply to check on your cultivation progress, but it seems you no longer want to continue on the path of demonic cultivation. Alas... everyone has their own ambitions, and I won't force you. I have a disciple in the mortal realm; thank you for giving him some pointers." Jimi said with a sigh.

"Your apprentice? Could it be that kid named Wuyong?" Feng Shui recalled the man he had met while eating snacks at the night market earlier.

"Hehe, there are fewer and fewer people like us who cultivate through demonic means. Wu Yong has already accumulated nearly 70,000 years of cultivation. Now he only needs to refine his demonic body. I think that after some more years, he can truly step into the gate of demonic cultivation. I hope he doesn't mistakenly enter the Demon Luo Domain..." Jimi said with emotion.

"No wonder... no wonder I felt so close to him." Feng Shui murmured, recalling the feeling he had when he first met Wu Yong.

"Alright, farewell then. I won't look for you again, but I think one day you'll come looking for me. I'll be waiting for you," Jimi said with a smile.

Without using any teleportation array, a flash of purplish-gold light appeared on the "Dragon Release Disc" on Jimi's left ear, and Jimi vanished. Feng Shui helplessly sat back down in the hot spring, feeling somewhat lost. He had truly forgotten much of his past. Was he running away, or was he genuinely unable to recall those thrilling memories of the chaotic era? The second reorganization was about to begin. What exactly did this reorganization refer to? Jimi, perhaps one day, I will actively seek you out.

With a relieved smile on his face, Feng Shui saw a pale yellow teleportation array reappear in the hot spring water, and Feng Shui disappeared again.

2004-12-09 10:52:00

Part Two: Cultivation Array

Chapter Nineteen: The Ghost Dwelling

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July 19th, 22:38.

Japan, Kanagawa, Yugawara Town.

Nestled in a deep canyon surrounded by winding, rolling mountains, it is a hot spring resort along the banks of a stream.

It was late at night, and although it was summer, there wasn't a trace of coolness in the air. This was probably because it was a mountainous area, and also near the sea, making the air feel even cooler.

A strange-looking ceremony is taking place in front of a quaint little hotel.

Not far from the entrance of the small hotel, there was a simple rectangular altar with a pure white ceramic urn in the center. White glutinous rice was scattered around the urn. There were also many strange little props on the altar, which looked like ritual implements used for performing rituals.

Not far behind the altar, ten men and women dressed in black with white flowers pinned to their chests sat on ten chairs. One of them, a young woman who looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six, was wiping away tears with a handkerchief. It seemed that the deceased in the urn was a close relative of this woman. Beside her, another very beautiful woman was supporting her shoulder and comforting her. Upon closer inspection, the beautiful woman comforting the weeping woman was none other than Chen Feier.

The other eight seated men all wore solemn expressions and sorrowful faces, though not overtly so; they appeared to be relatives or friends of the deceased. Behind these ten seated men stood fifteen burly men in black suits and sunglasses, presumably bodyguards.

A priest dressed in the attire of an Edo-period Japanese Onmyoji, wearing a white, expressionless mask, was waving a banner for summoning souls and performing a strange dance in front of the altar. He was also singing an even more eerie and unpleasant Japanese song in a strange and unpleasant tone.

The small hotel behind the altar was completely dark, with only a few white candles on the altar casting a weak and feeble light, making the ceremony seem even more eerie.

Suddenly, the Onmyoji stopped singing and dancing, and the entire ceremony fell silent. Even the young woman who had been crying stopped, and everyone's eyes turned to the Onmyoji.

The air here became heavy, and a cool breeze blew by, causing the candlelight on the altar to flicker weakly in one direction. Immediately afterward, the temperature plummeted, and everyone present shivered. The Onmyoji also shivered, and his breathing became rapid.

The candlelight on the altar suddenly shot upwards a few times before going out again, plunging the surroundings into complete darkness, so dark that one could not see their own hand in front of their face. Suddenly, a loud tremor came from the altar, and the urn in the center of the altar shattered, its white ashes flashing strangely in the night as gusts of wind swept by in the distance.

With a loud "bang," the entire altar, along with the urn of ashes, was shattered into pieces. Everyone behind the altar felt a chilling and terrifying aura rapidly approaching from afar.

Suddenly, everyone saw a dark gray light appear not far ahead, where the Onmyoji was supposed to be, emitting an evil glow in the pitch-black environment.

"Ah..." A bloodcurdling scream rang out.

The dark gray light vanished along with the horrific scream, leaving behind an even stronger, chilling aura. Unable to see their surroundings clearly, they could only hear several more pitiful screams echoing from the darkness.

"Run!" someone shouted desperately in the darkness.

However, as soon as those words disappeared, the scene fell silent again. There was not a sound, and in the darkness, only the sound of the wind seemed to grow even more rapid.

July 20th, 04:13 AM.

On the beach of Yugawara-cho, several early-rising Japanese youths are sitting on the sand watching the sunrise.

Suddenly, one of the youths noticed what appeared to be a person lying in the distance on the beach. Several youths quickly ran over and found a young woman, dressed in fine clothes but covered in blood, lying unconscious on the sand.

“Hey… wake up, what’s wrong with you?” one of the Japanese youths shouted as he pushed the unconscious woman.

The woman's body trembled, and she struggled to lift her head. Her face was deathly pale, which startled the Japanese youths.

"Run, run..." The woman said these two sentences before fainting again.

The group of Japanese youths exchanged bewildered glances. However, one of them carried the woman on his back, while the others supported him from behind. They walked quickly toward a residential area not far from the riverside road.

July 20th, 09:52 AM.

Nursing room at Yugawara-cho Hospital.

The unconscious woman lying on the hospital bed woke up, but her body was extremely weak, her face was bloodless, and her full lips were ashen.

"You're awake. Are you feeling better?" a young male doctor asked with concern at the bedside.

"Run! Run!" The woman's eyes were filled with intense fear as she hysterically grabbed the male doctor's clothes and cried out in a pitiful voice.

"You're Chinese..." the male doctor said curiously in broken Chinese.

"Run! If we don't run, everyone will die..." The woman cried out in a hoarse voice, her eyes filled with extreme fear.

"What happened?" the male doctor asked, still speaking in broken Chinese.

"Evil spirit, evil spirit..." the woman hissed, looking like she was going crazy.

2004-12-09 10:53:00

"It seems you've suffered a severe shock. I'll give you a sedative injection, and you should rest..." The male doctor shook his head helplessly, pressed the woman onto the bed, and said in Japanese.

The male doctor picked up a disposable syringe and medicine from the tray beside the bed and began to mix them. The woman lying on the bed had despair in her eyes, and her body trembled even more violently.

The woman struggled to find a business card stained with a trace of blood on her person and weakly handed it to the male doctor.

“Go to China, find a feng shui master, only he can save you…” The woman managed to say this, her hand holding the business card fell limply to her side, her eyes closed, and her expression was still filled with fear of death.

The male doctor was startled. He stepped forward, examined the woman's eyes, felt the artery in her neck, and listened to her heart with a stethoscope. A look of helplessness at the prospect of death flashed in his eyes.

He slowly pulled up the white sheet from the foot of the bed to cover the woman's dead body, picked up the medical record placed beside him, and wrote on it.

"Time of death: 720 days, 10:00 AM..."

The male doctor turned to leave, feeling helpless, but found his coat being tugged. Looking down, he saw that the woman was holding the hem of his white coat. Reluctantly, the doctor stepped forward and took the woman's hand, only to discover a business card covered in Chinese characters in her grasp.

“Wind… Water, Eight Banners…” The male doctor barely recognized a few Chinese characters on the business card and read them softly in broken Chinese.

The male doctor put the business card in his pocket, placed the deceased woman's hand under the white sheet, turned and walked out of the ward, closing the door behind him. He didn't notice a gray light appear in the ward where the deceased woman had been, then vanish in an instant.

Suddenly, a gust of wind carrying a strong, pungent smell of blood swept through the hospital corridor, brushing against the male doctor's face. His expression changed drastically, and he quickly ran towards the source of the stench. Reaching the hospital lobby, he abruptly stopped, his face deathly pale, his eyes filled with utter shock. His legs felt weak, and he slumped against the wall, a wave of nausea washing over him.

The hospital lobby was deserted, save for a dozen or so mangled, incomplete corpses lying on the floor. It was impossible to discern their gender or facial features from their appearance. These bodies could no longer be called corpses; they were all torn to pieces, white brain matter, colorful intestines, and various organs still connected by bloody fibers scattered everywhere. Crimson blood splattered across the pristine white walls, and even the lobby ceiling was covered in undried bloodstains.

The male doctor was stunned by the bizarre and horrifying scene. Suddenly, a gust of wind carrying the stench of blood blew by, snapping him back to reality. He staggered and hurried through the hall filled with corpses, running towards the hospital exit.

In the corridor outside the hospital, the male doctor discovered several more corpses that resembled the ones seen in the lobby. He couldn't help but shudder again, but he didn't stop and continued running towards the parking lot.

The distance from the hospital lobby to the parking lot was only about fifty meters, yet corpses lay scattered haphazardly on the ground. The male doctor, perhaps already numb to this sudden horrific scene, ran without hesitation to his car. His hands trembled anxiously as he reached for his keys, only to find that his tension prevented him from smoothly inserting them into the ignition. In his haste, his hands wouldn't obey him, and the keys fell to the ground.

The male doctor nervously crouched down to pick it up, but suddenly felt a very bad premonition behind him. The male doctor's body trembled, and he slowly turned around to look. His pupils were slightly dilated, and his face was filled with an expression of seeing an extremely terrifying scene.

Just then, a young woman's scream suddenly came from not far away. A very pretty young nurse was walking out of the small garden behind the hospital, and she saw the same scene that the male doctor had seen.

A dark gray light rushed toward the nurse with lightning speed.

"Ah..." Another scream rang out. The nurse's body was already dismembered, and hot blood splattered all over the ground, but the young man's heart was still beating.

The sound of a car starting up was followed by the loud screeching of tires against the asphalt. The male doctor had started his car without anyone noticing and was speeding towards the hospital gate.

He shifted into fifth gear in one go, floored the accelerator, and the male doctor driving the Mitsubishi sedan disappeared from the hospital's vicinity in no time, while the dark gray, deadly light did not follow.

※ ※ ※

July 24th, 9:30 AM.

China, Harbin, Eight Banners tribe.

Zhou Feiliu arrived at the entrance of the "Eight Banners Department" on her Yamaha women's scooter, only to find a young man sitting there with a travel bag on his back, looking somewhat gloomy.

"Good morning, how can I help you?" Zhou Feiliu parked his motorcycle and asked curiously as he stepped forward.

"Good morning, is this the place?" the young man said in fluent Japanese.

The man then took out a bloodstained business card from his pocket. The card read "Eight Banners - Feng Shui" along with a phone number, address, email, website, postal code, bank account number, and China Merchants Bank card number.

"You're Japanese? Hehe, that's quite a surprise. I didn't expect our Eight Banners tribe to be so integrated with the world. Hehe..." Zhou Feiliu looked at the business card in the man's hand and laughed excitedly.

"Excuse me, is this the place?" The young man pointed anxiously at the business card and asked Zhou Feiliu again in broken Chinese.

"Hello, welcome to Baqibu Co., Ltd. My name is Zhou Feiliu." Zhou Feiliu straightened his back, straightened his clothes, and his expression became solemn as he spoke fluently in business Japanese.

2004-12-09 10:54:00

“Great, I’ve finally found it! Nice to meet you. I’m Japanese, from Yugawara-cho, Kanagawa Prefecture. My name is Kamiya Matsuda.” The Japanese man’s eyes were filled with excitement as he bowed to Zhou Feiliu and said happily.

"Hehe, hello. Let's go inside and talk," Zhou Feiliu said with a smile.

Uehara Matsuda bowed to Zhou Feiliu again and sighed.

Zhou Feiliu poured a glass of water for Shangbin Matsuda and started chatting with him.

"How did you find out about our Eight Banners tribe?" Zhou Feiliu asked curiously.

“I am a doctor at Yugawara-cho Hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. On July 20th, I treated a Chinese woman, but I couldn’t save her life. However, the most terrifying thing happened after she died…” Uehisa Matsuda’s expression was filled with fear as he trembled as he began to recount what he had witnessed on July 20th.

A moment later...

"That's an exaggeration. This is a criminal case. You should contact your local police to handle this," Zhou Feiliu said, somewhat incredulously, after listening to Shangbin Matsuda's account.

"The local police department suffered the same fate. No one in Yugawara Town is alive; I was the only one who escaped. I fled to the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Department to report the case, but they dispatched a large number of officers who never returned. Now Yugawara Town has been designated a restricted area, completely surrounded by US troops stationed in Japan and our Japan Self-Defense Forces, and all news has been blocked," said Kamiya Matsuda, taking a large gulp of water.

"Is it that serious?" Zhou Feiliu exclaimed.

"What's so serious?" Feng Shui's voice came from outside the door.

Feng Shui and Huang Quan entered the Eight Banners tribe. Zhou Feiliu greeted them with a smile, while Shang Binsongtian looked at Feng Shui and Huang Quan with a blank expression, but his eyes remained fixed on Huang Quan.

"Boss, this is Mr. Ueaki Matsuda from Japan. He's here to ask us for help with a problem," Zhou Feiliu reported with a smile.

"Judging from the murderous aura between his brows, and the lingering resentment emanating from his body, I think he might be in quite a bit of trouble," Feng Shui remarked, sizing up Uehamatsuda.