Page 67

Page 67

Not to mention that Ryoko couldn't walk, even if she was pretending, how could a junior high school girl's physical fitness compare to that of Nan Xizi, who had been trained for a long time and was a member of the TAC team? According to Nan Xizi, the ghost she saw was not running normally, but rolling and jumping, and the strange flash was more than ten meters away. If it was recorded by a surveillance camera, the person viewing it would definitely suspect that the video skipped frames, but Nan Xizi saw it with her naked eyes. The ghost flashed in front of her eyes, and every time it disappeared, it would appear more than ten meters away.

This is really not something that humans can do.

Perhaps it was another case of ghosts haunting the place? The mother who died in a car accident at 2 a.m. five years ago hated those who drove at night, so she used Ryoko's body to take revenge on passing drivers at a.m. every day - that's what ghost stories say. It's no wonder that Captain Long, who should have believed in science the most, was superstitious, because he had indeed encountered too many strange things recently, all of which could not be explained by science.

In comparison, Captain Long found himself missing the Yabo people a little bit - at least the Yabo people's super beasts were still within his understanding.

Destroying super beasts is the TAC team's area of ​​expertise, but destroying ghosts is not.

So yesterday, Captain Long took Beidou, Konno and others to Izumo City, next to the Firefly Plain, and visited the most famous Izumo Taisha Shrine - but the result was not ideal.

Izumo Taisha Shrine and Ise Jingu Shrine are the most famous shrines since ancient times. Especially Izumo Taisha Shrine, according to legend, every year in the month of Kanna (October), eight million gods will hold a meeting of gods here. Throughout October, other places are "Kanna", only Izumo is "Kami". The main hall of Izumo Taisha Shrine is the palace where Amaterasu Omikami receives the gods.

It's already September. If the legendary gods really exist, those who are impatient might have already rushed there, right?

But surprisingly, Izumo Taisha does not really have a demon exorcism business. Yes, in front of the TAC team, the priest of Izumo Taisha admitted this without any hesitation.

If a high-ranking official goes to pray to the gods, Izumo Taisha will probably arrange for a few shrine maidens to put on a performance. As for the standard of the performance, it depends on the degree of "official" and "noble" of the high-ranking official. Of course, if they are not high-ranking politicians, then the more important thing is the amount of money they are willing to offer.

Everything has a price comparison standard. From a single person's prayer, to two shrine maidens performing a demon-exorcism dance, to a five-person ritual, to the most grand ceremony with twelve shrine maidens, several demon-exorcising priests, and a group of musicians performing a soul-soothing ceremony. This is similar to a water and land ritual.

This is not a problem. After all, the so-called evil spirits of these nobles are mostly psychological. Asking the shrine maidens and priests to dance is enough to comfort them. The sign of Izumo Taisha is enough for the pilgrims to show off after receiving the gift.

But the TAC team was different. When it was the TAC team's turn to ask for help, there must be something strange going on. Who would dare to take this job? What if they really encountered an evil spirit? Wouldn't that ruin the glory of Izumo Taisha for more than 800 years?

Izumo Taisha, built in the late Tang Dynasty of Chinese history, can barely be considered a historic protected building even in the ancient country across the strait. In the island country, it is the ancestor of thousands of shrines, ancient enough to make it the oldest shrine in mythology.

"So, a small shrine in Itomori Town can exorcise demons, but Izumo Taisha can't?"

"It seems so." Captain Long said with some disbelief.

But Ling actually didn't find it strange, just like the monks who truly practice asceticism and adhere to the teachings of Buddhism are not necessarily in Shaolin Temple.

Izumo Taisha is probably similar to Shaolin Temple. It has long been a tourist attraction, and even a listed company. Its thousand-year history has become a "market value" waiting to be sold.

"I heard that you are a witch who can really exorcise demons, so I have an unwelcome request. I wonder if you can spare some time to come to Firefly Plains. To be honest, there is a TAC military factory near Firefly Plains, and there is a batch of important weapons to be transported recently."

In fact, this is the main reason for TAC team's anxiety. The V7 missile completed a few days ago is the most advanced weapon developed by TAC team to fight against Ultra Beasts. According to the data collected in the early stage, facing Ultra Beasts, as long as they are not special cases like Baraba, ordinary Ultra Beasts can be killed with one blow with the armor-piercing ability and destructiveness of V7.

Unfortunately, V7 cannot be mass-produced yet, mainly due to the raw materials. It is one of the "black technologies" left by the alien invasion in the past, and humans cannot refine and replicate it. The arsenal has exhausted all its inventory and only produced 3 missiles - three missiles that can actually threaten the super beasts, not fireworks to cheer up the super beasts. This is a backup killer.

All three V7s needed to be transported to the TAC's base at the foot of Mount Fuji to complete the installation work on the ship. In the design, it was installed on the weapon carrying platform of the Sky Fortress Eagle.

However, the frequent mysterious accidents on the Firefly Plains cast a shadow on this transportation mission. Captain Long did not even dare to issue a transportation order if the hidden dangers could not be eliminated. He also suspected that the so-called accidents were aimed at this transportation plan. Otherwise, Ryoko's mother had passed away five years ago, so how could these accidents happen so coincidentally recently?

The conversation between the two was a secret of the TAC team, not to mention to an underage girl, even ordinary TAC internal staff should not disclose it. But Captain Long did not mind, and did not seem to find it strange to discuss these things with a nine-year-old girl.

Similarly, Ling didn't realize this either.

"I see." Ling also glanced at the clock on the wall of the reception room. The hour hand pointed to eight o'clock in the evening. "I'll come over tonight. I've made a note of the Firefly Plain in Shimane Prefecture."

After hanging up the phone, Ling did not disturb anyone else. She said hello to Maria and went back to the bedroom to make sure that no one else would disturb her.

Opening the bedroom closet, there are all kinds of children's clothes inside - nearly half of them are the work of Chiyo. Sailor suits and princess dresses are the most basic, and there are also cute clown clothes, thief girl clothes, cartoon animal clothes, armpit-baring shrine maiden clothes, etc. The only thing in common is that they are all cute. What Chiyo can send is her confident success.

In the corner of the closet was a shrine maiden costume. This was a real shrine maiden costume, not Chiyo's alternative style. It was the one she wore a few days ago, and Yotsuba gave it to her. It was the clothes she wore in the fourth grade of elementary school, and Yotsuba, who was already a high school student, could no longer wear them.

Ling also took off her coat and skirt and put on the shrine maiden costume. It was just a simple undergarment, white clothes and red hakama, but after putting it on, it had a certain indescribable temperament.

This is actually the outfit of an apprentice shrine maiden. A regular shrine maiden will also have a Chihaya with patterns printed on it. Different patterns represent different ranks. Since Yotsuba herself has not become a regular shrine maiden, of course she does not have her own Chihaya. Even Mitsuha was an apprentice shrine maiden until she went to Tokyo to get married.

No wonder Granny Miyamizu lamented that the shrine had no one to succeed it.

On the other side, at Firefly Plains, Captain Long hung up the TAC team's cell phone.

He asked Beidou for Lingye's contact information. Although he could contact her through Beidou, he still felt it would be better to go in person.

Shimane Prefecture is located in the northwest of Honshu Island, close to Hiroshima, and farther from Tokyo than Okayama. Captain Long originally planned to send a plane to Tokyo to pick up Lingye, but she hung up the phone too quickly.

But ten minutes later, Captain Long saw a girl in a shrine maiden's costume.

Captain Long's long-established worldview made it hard to ignore the question of how she could have covered a distance of more than a thousand kilometers in ten minutes without taking a hypersonic aircraft. That's much faster than sound, unless it was a delivered humanoid missile.

But he decided to force it out of his mind, just like he never thought about why every time Ace appeared, Minami Yuko and Beidou would disappear, and when Ace was injured, both of them would fall down.

If you are not supposed to know, you don’t know.

No one is stupid, but at least they can choose to ignore it, or even cooperate to conceal it. There are some things that cannot be known. Both Captain Kiriyama and Captain Ibuki have told their successors that once they know something they shouldn't know, it's time to say goodbye. They had to send off Tuan Moroboshi and Hideki Go, both of whom were excellent team members.

As for Captain Muramatsu of the Kote team, Team Hayata seemed to have lost his memory, and that became a permanent secret. Of course, it was Muramatsu who first discovered this taboo.

Chapter 86: Jiu Shi Hua Yin

Ryoko's home was on the hillside at the corner of the road, less than 300 meters away from the intersection where accidents frequently occurred. There were no other villages around, and this was the only single-family house within a few miles.

The road leading to Ryoko's house was covered with knee-deep grass. With Reiya's height, the weeds were already waist-high. As the name of this plain suggests, there were many fireflies flying around the grass. At night, the twinkling insects were like stars in the sky, all over the mountains and plains, lingering around and illuminating the darkness, like a fairy tale.

"How about it, very beautiful, right?" Beidou said.

Upon learning of Ling's arrival, Beidou was arranged by Captain Long to receive him. The TAC team investigated the firefly plain for two days, but apart from the "ghost" witnessed by Minami Yuko alone in the early morning, there were no other valuable discoveries in the two days.

There are no super beasts and no aliens.

The only thing that caught people's attention was probably the swarms of fireflies dancing like a dream among the wild grass.

There are so many stars in the sky that it is hard to count them. As soon as night falls, the sky and the earth become a paradise of stars and fireflies.

"Yeah, very beautiful." Ling also nodded, but there was some confusion in her expression.

"What's wrong? Did you find anything?"

"No, it's nothing."

Ling didn't notice anything. It's just that creatures in nature are usually closer to her. It's not a deliberate approach, but a natural feeling. Just like when she holds bread crumbs to feed them, the birds will fly to her hands. When she sees a beautiful butterfly collecting nectar on a flower, she stretches out her finger and the butterfly will automatically land on her fingertips.

She could vaguely sense the thoughts of some of the little creatures, and these little creatures could also sense her thoughts.

But this group of fireflies didn't feel that way.

why?

Ling didn't quite understand. She just noticed that there seemed to be no other life in this open field except fireflies. No crickets flapping their wings, no frogs croaking. Only fireflies flying all over the sky. They seemed to have occupied this space and became the only life within a few miles.

Although it is beautiful, it is a little unreal.

But if you look closely, you won't find anything strange about these fireflies. They suck sap, use the fluorescence of their breath to talk, dance, and reproduce, just like ordinary fireflies.

After walking along the path through the grass for a few minutes, you will see an old single-story wooden house.

The house is not very big, with the garden covering only about one acre. It is an ordinary Japanese-style villa in the countryside. The floor of the house is paved with old tatami, old but very clean.

As you enter the entrance hall, you will see a corridor extending inward, with the hall space separated by a sliding door on one side.

Ling didn't understand Feng Shui either. She just felt that this layout was a bit strange, but she couldn't tell what was wrong.

At this time, the sliding door leading from the entrance to the hall was open, and you could see a girl sitting in a wheelchair in the hall. She had two pigtails and looked to be about fourteen or fifteen years old, between junior high school and high school. She must be the owner of this place, Ryoko.

And on the tatami opposite Ryoko, there were two strangers kneeling.

She was a young girl wearing the same shrine maiden's uniform as Ling, and next to her was a young man wearing a priest's uniform.

Ling also looked at Beidou and questioned him with her eyes.

"This is the Kuze shrine maiden of Izumo Taisha Shrine, and the one next to her is the Tsurugi priest." Hokuto Seiji introduced.

The two sides greeted each other, but Lingye of course asked more than that.

Didn’t they say that Yundashe doesn’t have any business exorcising demons?

Before Beidou could say anything, the Kuze Miko took a step forward and bowed. She sat upright on the tatami, folded her hands in front of her knees, bent down and bowed deeply.

For well-known reasons, the girl's age cannot be seen after she dresses up. According to ancient customs, witches should not wear heavy makeup, but in modern times, this rule has long become a dead letter. How can a girl go out without makeup?

Ling also guessed that the witch opposite must be wearing makeup, otherwise her skin would be too delicate and fair - this was definitely not out of jealousy.

And I don't know if she has dyed her hair, but the color of Kuze Miko's hair is not very similar to that of Asians, it is light in color with a hint of silver. It is not an old white, but a more moist light silver color.

Her hair is braided very delicately. First, she picks out a small ponytail and puts it into a bun and fixes it at the back of her head. Then, she separates the excess hair and braids it into two pigtails, wrapping them around the bun. The hair on her temples is left casually hanging, which is both beautiful and generous.

This is actually not difficult. If Ling is willing to spend some time, she can also dress up so beautifully, but she admits that she is indeed a little lazy. Every day when she gets up to take care of her hair, she simply braids it with a hairpin after combing it, and it doesn't even take five minutes.

I usually don't care about it, after all, Tomoyo and Sakura are the same, and Tomoyo only uses a headband to fix her bangs and doesn't even need a braid. It's only now that the comparison is hurtful.

What is even more surprising is that the eye color of the Kuze Miko is not pure black, but has a hint of crimson.

Makeup, hair dye, and colored contact lenses?

Kuze bowed so deeply that his forehead almost touched the tatami, and he straightened up after a moment. This was obviously not just a polite greeting, but a more formal etiquette.

Ling didn't know how to respond for a moment - she hadn't received any training in this regard.

"Hello, Oshima Shrine Maiden. I apologize for disturbing you. I am Kuze Kanon, the shrine maiden of Izumo Taisha Shrine..." When she said this, Kuze Shrine Maiden paused, as if she didn't know how to organize her words.

Kuze Kaon is a shrine maiden of Izumo Taisha Shrine, but she is not an ordinary shrine maiden, but the upcoming head priest. Ling did not dare to judge her age from her appearance, but in fact, she is just as expected, Kuze is 15 years old this year.

No makeup, no hair dye, and no colored contact lenses.

Abandoned at a young age, she grew up in a shrine. Her hair and eye colors are natural. For some reason, the chief priest of Izumo Taisha Shrine considered her to be a symbol of closeness to the gods, and she was trained as a priest since she was a child.

But no matter what others said, Jiuze knew that she was not close to the gods. She had never felt the existence of the gods, and had never heard of the so-called oracles. Sitting quietly, meditating, and practicing, except for making her feel calmer, never gained any other enlightenment.

Many years ago, Kuze realized one thing - gods do not exist.

Just like the emperor's new clothes.

One day, the child suddenly realized that Santa Claus did not exist, but he still celebrated Christmas every year. Everyone in the shrine knew that the gods did not exist, but everyone pretended. Pretending to do homework, pretending to believe, pretending to practice. It is said that there is a god above our heads, but the clergy are actually the ones who least believe in gods.

Just like a salesman who doesn't believe in his own product. Everyone knows it's fake, but he still acts like it's more real than the real thing.

Kuze was a little tired of such drama. Calling it a "drama" was a beautified way of saying it. In her mind, the so-called shrine was no different from a scam.

So when she heard that there really was a shrine maiden who could exorcise demons, Kuze Kanon asked for leave from the Lord of Izumo, hoping to come here to observe.

The statement used is of course the reason for communicating practice.

In fact, she knew very well that the so-called exorcism was most likely a farce, and was no different from the disaster-avoiding sacrifices held by their Izumo Shrine for dignitaries.

But she still held a hope in her heart, hoping that someone would tell her that what she had believed in since childhood was not the emperor's new clothes. She hoped that someone would tell her that the invisible new clothes actually existed.

She is not an accomplice of the fraud gang. Her years of practice can truly bless people and are truly meaningful.

"It's actually like this." Seeing his own shrine maiden suddenly lose her composure and get stuck, Priest Tsukaki continued, "I heard that you, Oshima Shrine Maiden, can really exorcise demons. To be honest, we no longer have such practice at Izumo Taisha. Although it's abrupt, please allow us to observe for a while."

This kind of thing is indeed taboo. In the past, the so-called means of "subduing demons" and the methods of cultivation were all treasured by each shrine faction, just like a secret manual. It was kept in the deepest part of the shrine and could not be leaked under any circumstances.

However, in today's era, such mystery has long disappeared. All kinds of "originals", "methods", and "secret books" are labeled with the publisher's label and printed with the recommended retail price. Even ordinary bookstores can buy them.

All kinds of masters and practitioners talk about how to practice in books and even on TV, just like the "success sutra" of businessmen. Mystery is no longer mysterious, so it has lost its meaning.