This Japanese Monogatari Isn't Lame
Chapter 458 - 305: Pervasive Stench (4000 words)

Chapter 458: Chapter 305: Pervasive Stench (4000 words)

Why bother using your brain for something that could easily be solved with your own abilities?

Moreover—

"In fact, I found out just now."

Beichuan Si held the flashlight in his right hand and carried the old recorder in his other hand as he began to speak.

"Found out?" The group that had just escaped from the room behind them into this long, dark corridor looked over.

Their faces were pale, and both Yamakou Hideyasu and Tanaka Takashi simply collapsed to the ground.

Even though for Beichuan Si, escaping the room behind him would have been as simple as lifting his hand, at that moment, they had all felt the imminent approach of death.

The cold breeze raised by the bloodstained saw blade above their heads... just thinking about it now made their scalps tingle.

Beichuan Si eyed them and weighed the old recorder in his hand: "If I’m not mistaken, the key to leaving the room we just came from isn’t hidden on the ground or within a secret compartment in the walls, nor is it inside a hollow mechanism, but rather within this worn-out recorder."

"In here?" Yamakou Hideyasu paused for a moment: "You mean..."

"You’ve been doing a useless task," Beichuan Si summarized simply.

With that conclusion, Yamakou Hideyasu and the other two boys could only muster an embarrassed chuckle, while Gongben Naoki asked curiously, "So how did you know, Mr. Beichuan?"

Beichuan Si didn’t say much, but simply turned his wrist, flipping the recorder over and pointing to its bottom right corner.

At the bottom right corner of the recorder, someone had drawn a smiley face with a red marker.

However, the mark left by the red marker was so faint that one would never notice it without deliberately looking closely.

Beichuan Si’s move was simple.

He grabbed the recorder and smashed it hard against the wall next to him.

Plastic pieces and the outer shell broke off, together with the tape inside shattered to pieces.

Then—

A bronze key fell from the recorder, landing on the floor in sight of everyone.

Beichuan Si pinched the key in his hand and continued to speak:

"In fact, the recording also mentioned, ’I am hidden where you’d least expect, but as things have happened, we must smile and face them.’"

Beichuan Si’s words paused for a moment before continuing, "From the moment I got hold of the recorder, I felt there might be something hidden inside. Still, considering that the recorder itself was quite old, there could have been some plastic pieces that had fallen off inside, so I didn’t pay much attention. But after hearing the hints in the other party’s sentence, I was sure the key was inside."

He then pushed Nishijou Kurenai, who had been poking her head out of his collar quite forcefully, back in and said, "As you can see, the key is inside—but actually, whether it was in there or not made no difference."

"..." The rest of the party.

Yes, in the end, it made no difference.

The three of them, including Gongben Naoki, wanted to retort.

After all, he could unlock it with his hands; they didn’t need to bother about all those details.

But they only dared to say these thoughts in their hearts. In the face of Beichuan Si, not a word of complaint could come out.

Seeing their silence, Beichuan Si didn’t say anything either, simply signaling for them to follow.

Silence once again settled around them.

This quiet was imbued with a deathly stillness that sent chills down their spines.

Perhaps sensing the heavy atmosphere, Hobu Tian tried to lighten the mood with a joke: "Actually, we don’t need to be too concerned, even if Mr. Beichuan’s... pitch-black ability stopped working, I reckon we would still be fine just now. After all, by the looks of Mr. Beichuan, he might just dismantle that little room with his bare hands."

He himself was just making a joke, thinking that even Beichuan Si wouldn’t do something only a violent madman would attempt.

But as soon as he spoke, Yamakou Hideyasu and Tanaka Takashi could only offer a sheepish laugh, not daring to say more.

These two paranormal forum moderators and broadcasters clearly remembered their first encounter with Beichuan Si a few months ago. The image of Beichuan Si kicking down a rusty iron door was still fresh in their minds.

Beichuan Si remained silent.

In his view, such questions were superfluous.

If his ability to give death substance failed, there was only one thing he would do—

And that would naturally be to dismantle the room with his hands.

After all, the scene they had just encountered could be solved with abilities, not necessarily requiring them to solve any riddles. Beichuan Si’s act of dismantling the room was therefore unproblematic.

...

Beichuan Si and the others continued forward.

On both sides of the long, dark corridor were the cold, solid walls of a hospital, covered in various frenzied, deep red scratches.

The farther they walked, the deeper those marks became, as if they were about to ooze blood.

But unlike typical haunted hospital scenes, there were only deep passageways and no sick rooms to be seen.

"Could these marks... all have been made by people?" Yamakou Hideyasu lifted his flashlight and shone it ahead.

The restless scratching marks were something they dared not dwell on—

Except for Beichuan Si.

While the others behind him watched, Beichuan Si would occasionally look up at the scratches on the wall, as if trying to decipher some information from the chaotic markings.

Indeed, there was something hidden within these scratches.

"I can’t go on like this... the devil... it’s about to..."

Beichuan Si muttered quietly.