This Japanese Monogatari Isn't Lame
Chapter 503 - 327. Heading to Ihui Island (4000 words)_2

Chapter 503: 327. Heading to Ihui Island (4000 words)_2

After all, this time it involved the parents of Shen Gu Mirai, and even Beichuan Si found himself unable to utter words of refusal when faced with her expression at that moment.

"Thank you, Mr. Temple," Shen Gu Mirai bowed her head, her voice stumbling, "Really... really, thank you so much, Mr. Temple..."

She murmured a lot more after that, but Beichuan Si could no longer hear her clearly.

All he remembered were the unceasing apologies and the choking sobs.

Ihui Island... huh?

Beichuan Si’s gaze grew heavy.

...

This was a dead zone, where the encircling sea of trees drowned out people, making it impossible to differentiate north, south, east, and west.

They had been trapped for the second day now, but Shen Gu Jiro and Shen Gu Chiharu were still searching for a way out.

"Jiro, is the satellite phone working today? It seems like the malicious aura around us has dissipated quite a bit," Shen Gu Chiharu’s eyes shimmered with a faint golden flow as she scanned the surroundings before turning to Shen Gu Jiro by the fire, and asked directly.

"..." Shen Gu Jiro.

Shen Gu Jiro did not respond to his wife’s question, but simply tossed the satellite phone to Shen Gu Chiharu with a calm expression.

The satellite phone still had no signal.

After trying several times, Shen Gu Chiharu put down the phone, rubbed her temples, and appeared somewhat bored, "Jiro, I’m so bored, come talk with me."

Shen Gu Jiro, who had been sitting on the ground pondering, just lifted his eyelids and said succinctly, "I think conserving our energy is the top priority right now, not wasting it on useless things like talking."

Though his words were sensible, Shen Gu Chiharu was far from pleased. She stood up decisively and lay on Shen Gu Jiro’s back, her voice then cried out:

"Talk with me, talk with me, talk with me, talk with me! Talk to me, Jiro!"

"..." Shen Gu Jiro.

He sighed deeply, clearly prepared for his wife’s irrepressible behavior.

They had fallen into this dead zone two days ago while searching for their missing team members.

It seemed that due to a magnetic anomaly, the weird space they were in blocked any satellite phone signal. Similarly, the strange magnetic field also disrupted the compass, leaving them utterly disoriented.

Now, the food that they had could only last at most two more days. If they couldn’t find a way out in these next two days... then they would have to venture to the part of the dead zone where the most resentful spirits lingered to look for clues.

But that was undoubtedly risky, and without certainty, Shen Gu Jiro did not want to take his wife on such a dangerous endeavor.

As if sensing Shen Gu Jiro’s thoughts, Shen Gu Chiharu’s voice trailed off, and after a long pause, she spoke again:

"Jiro."

"Hmm?"

"We’ll always be together, right?"

"...Yes."

Shen Gu Jiro nodded expressionlessly.

Shen Gu Chiharu watched Shen Gu Jiro’s face for a long while before finally smiling—

"You’re lying."

"Yes," Shen Gu Jiro admitted as he clasped Shen Gu Chiharu’s hand around his neck, "That place is far too dangerous for you, and I don’t want to let you enter such peril."

His tone did not waver, but Shen Gu Chiharu could hear the concern in his words.

She gently kissed Shen Gu Jiro’s cheek, her grip tightening:

"I know."

Leaving those words behind, Shen Gu Chiharu lifted her head.

Somehow, several shaky black figures were dangling around them again.

Pale faces surrounded by resentment, spot-stained, red-dyed hemp clothes, and rolled-up blackened flesh on their bare and blood-stained feet from which dripping dark liquid fell.

Specters.

...

The next day, Beichuan Si took the nervous Shen Gu Mirai to Tokyo Haneda Airport.

Thankfully, the weather was clear and cloudless, and the flight was not delayed.

After going through security and waiting for about an hour, Beichuan Si and Shen Gu Mirai boarded the plane.

"There’s a three-hour journey to Okinawa from here, you can rest a little," Beichuan Si suggested, glancing at Shen Gu Mirai’s dark circles.

"...I can’t really sleep, Mr. Temple," Shen Gu Mirai said, holding Beichuan Si’s palm and gently shaking her head.

Beichuan Si looked at Shen Gu Mirai, "I’ve arranged everything, you should aim to recover your spirit as soon as possible, don’t worry so much."

"...Okay."

Although still somewhat anxious, Shen Gu Mirai knew her current mental condition was awful, and if she didn’t take care of it, she would only hold Beichuan Si back.

Shen Gu Mirai tightly gripped the palm of Beichuan Si next to her and closed her eyes.

At times like this, only Beichuan Si could offer her some support and comfort.

After a while, the steady breathing of Shen Gu Mirai could be heard, making Beichuan Si shake his head.

This little girl had cried herself to sleep in his arms last night, and she’d woken up earlier than him, naturally ending up like this.

He had already asked Gangye Yoshiko to help with the school absence.

It seemed that Gangye Yoshiko sensed Beichuan Si’s unease in his tone because she didn’t ask any questions. Instead, she jokingly said, "Next time, you have to treat me to dinner with your little girlfriend, Beichuan," before promptly heading to Kyubei to help.

That woman was like that, never vague when it was time to assist, and Beichuan Si had helped her a lot before.

As for Okinawa...

As Beichuan Si had said, he had already arranged everything when Shen Gu Mirai was unaware, she just needed to follow him, and there was nothing else to worry about.

He wasn’t as anxious as Shen Gu Mirai; after all, with things as they were, worrying wouldn’t help.

Moreover, Shen Gu Jiro and Shen Gu Chiharu also had special abilities, so at the very least, their self-preservation shouldn’t be a problem.

Thus Beichuan Si maintained an optimistic attitude about their safety.

Seeing that Shen Gu Mirai had fallen asleep, Beichuan Si also took advantage of the free hand to take out the research materials he hadn’t finished the day before.

Continuing from yesterday’s Divine Tree legend was the issue of the tree worship in Ihui Island.

For the villagers of Ihui, that mysterious forest was a sacred Divine Realm, often seen with strands of white shimenawa connecting the trees.

Moreover, due to the local geomagnetic conditions, many electronic devices didn’t work properly within the forest, one of the reasons there were no signal bases established there.

The notes beneath the documentation also mentioned many differences between the local customs and those of the outside world.

For instance, whenever a child was born in the village, they would receive a human effigy made by the village elders.

Every household had these effigies, and every household worshipped them.

These effigies, in some sense, represented another existence of the Ihui villagers.

They believed in the concept of soul reincarnation; creating the effigies was intended to accommodate the human soul, and those who successfully had a soul reside in an effigy were known locally as "Celestials," meaning those who had achieved true enlightenment beyond their physical form.

Beichuan Si’s eyes flickered.

In some way, these Ihui villagers had indeed succeeded.

At least Sanseiyuan Tenzi was certainly residing within an effigy, which amounted to having left her physical body.

The accounts here would naturally end as this was only the first part of the research materials; a lack of detail was understandable.

The legends of the effigies, the Divine Tree myth, and the rituals conducted on Ihui Day...

To date, all this had simply circulated among the local inhabitants, and it was difficult for outsiders to extract the specific meanings behind these activities from them.

Since he was already in Okinawa, besides the rescue mission for Shen Gu Jiro and Shen Gu Chiharu, Beichuan Si was also very interested in these ritual activities.

His intuition told him that what lay hidden behind was not to be underestimated.

Beichuan Si’s fingers moved slightly, shifting his gaze away from the documents.

The plane was smoothly and slowly descending.

As Beichuan Si pondered and analyzed, the plane was almost ready to land.

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