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Sakura's school's social studies classes do cover this kind of content, but there's a big difference between knowing it on a knowledge level and experiencing it personally.
We are using the same "Tokyo time" and living on the same timeline, but it is still light here in the evening, but it is already dark in Tokyo. When the sun rises in Tokyo in the morning, it is still dusk here.
"So it's a good thing to get out and walk more often." Teng Long said. He owed Sakura this as he had hardly ever accompanied his daughter for so many years.
"Let's stay at a hot spring hotel tonight."
Although the school's travel allowance was definitely not enough, Fujitaka didn't care. It was just a little money. He just wanted to compensate his wife and daughter as much as possible.
Of course Sakura agreed.
"Are there hot springs here too?" asked Fuzi. She had never been far away from home.
Fujitaka, Nadeshiko and Sakura were a family of three. Others thought they were a father with two daughters. Nadeshiko, who was in her early twenties, and Sakura, who was eleven, could not be seen as mother and daughter.
"Of course, when it comes to hot springs, the most famous one is definitely Izu Onsen, but Kagoshima is the place with the richest hot spring resources."
In fact, the entire Kagoshima Prefecture is covered by volcanic ash, which forms the surface soil here, which is rich in various mineral nutrients and creates Kagoshima's lush vegetation.
All the lakes here are crater lakes, formed by ground collapse during volcanic eruptions tens of thousands of years ago.
This is a peninsula that was born on a hot spring. What was once a natural disaster has now become a beautiful landscape.
Of course, living in a volcanic belt still has certain dangers. Based on the time scale of the planet, this is a bomb that can erupt at any time.
But for humans, since there has not been a large-scale eruption for hundreds or even thousands of years, there is no need to worry.
The largest volcanic activity in recent decades only killed 8 people, which is no better than a random step by a monster.
Humans cannot understand the "anytime" of the planets, which is measured in tens of thousands of years, nor do they need to understand it.
The nights in early spring are still a bit cold.
After the train stopped, passengers who had arrived at the station stepped out of the carriages one after another. There was a breeze blowing across the platform, and just as Fujitaka was about to tighten his clothes, Nadeshiko had already stepped forward and fastened the top row of buttons on his windbreaker with her slender fingers.
Fujitaka's hand, which wanted to pull the clothes, naturally held that of Nadeshiko.
It was so natural that neither of them noticed. Only Sakura snorted.
It was really too much, she seemed to be superfluous. But because her mother wrapped her coat tightly around her before getting off the bus, she didn't feel cold.
Moreover, she is very happy that her parents have such a good relationship.
At this moment, there was a sudden "boo" sound not far away, followed by another "tong" sound.
Something hit the roof of the train and then fell to the ground.
A pedestrian was almost hit by the explosion, which attracted many people's attention. But no one approached, as the Japanese people don't like to watch the excitement, and most of them just don't care about it.
Sakura's eyes were drawn to it as well. It was a little dark, and the lights of the street lamps on both sides of the railway could only be vaguely distinguished.
"what is that?"
"A crow, right? Yes, it's a crow." Fuzi's eyesight was better, and she could see clearly the identity of the black thing.
Not moving, must be dead.
Sakura looked up at the sky. The crow must have fallen from the sky. It didn't look like it was injured. Could it have died while flying?
"Professor Kinomoto, professor!"
At the exit outside the platform, someone was holding a sign welcoming passengers with Kinomoto Fujitaka's name written on it.
It should be someone from the local archaeological institute.
"Professor Kinomoto, my name is Shimazu. Thank you for your hard journey."
"Shimazu?" This surname made Fujitaka stunned for a moment, "Shimazu from Kagoshima, that's incredible."
"Haha, you're joking. That happened hundreds of years ago."
Kagoshima was formerly known as Satsuma Province, and Shimazu was the surname of the ruler of Satsuma Province. From the Kamakura Shogunate to the Meiji Restoration at the end of the shogunate, for about 800 years, the Shimazu family was the owner of this place for generations.
As they were talking, there was a "pop" sound, and another crow fell to the ground, dead.
"Professor Kinomoto, the car is over here. Everyone please get in quickly. It would be bad if it gets hit."
Fujitaka asked Sakura and Nadeshiko to get in the car quickly and sit in the back seat.
"Does this happen often here? Is it bird flu?"
"No, it just happened in the last few weeks. Not only the crows, but also a large number of wild animals in the mountains died for unknown reasons, including plants. Whole tracts of forests suddenly withered. No cause was found. The people from the health center went to check it out, and they said it wasn't a virus or anything, they just died inexplicably."
Nothing can be found out. If this continues, it will cause panic. Fortunately, there have been no human casualties so far.
Fujitaka sat in the passenger seat, closed the door, and Shimazu started the car.
"Are you going to the guesthouse we arranged? We can provide internal prices for reception."
"No, please take us to a hot spring hotel. It's rare for me to bring my family out, so I won't use the travel expenses. I'll pay for it myself."
"Haha, Kinomoto is a good husband. That's right, he thinks it through. Money is meant to be enjoyed. Only when you spend it is it considered money. If you keep it in your hands, you won't be able to have children."
"But you came at the wrong time. Kagoshima is a holiday resort on weekdays, but recently there have been frequent deaths of animals and plants, causing panic among the people. Some people even said that the God of Hell came to take their lives. Haha, it's all nonsense."
"King of Hell? Is that the King of Hell from hell?" Sakura, who was sitting in the back seat, asked when she heard this.
"Yeah, that's it."
Sakura shrank her neck in fear. She was most afraid of ghost stories.
According to the mythology of the island nation, the dead usually go to the underworld of Izanami. The term "Yama" is a foreign term.
Over the past thousand years, with the influx of Buddhist culture, legends of hell began to appear among the people. However, the people believed in Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, and did not mention much about the King of Hell.
There is only a slight mention of the King of Hell in mythological stories, and there is no belief in him.
No one will go to worship the King of Hell.
Seeing that the girl was afraid of Shimazu, we drove to a hot spring hotel near Sakurajima Tenpozan. From here, we could see Sakurajima across the strait from afar, and the scenery was very nice.
At dawn the next day, Fujitaka left the hotel alone and went to the excavation site with the contact person from the local archaeological institute. Sakura and Nadeshiko were free to spend their time in the hotel.
Sakura took out her cell phone and turned on 'QIQI' to contact Tomoyo, Reiya and the others, but found that there was no signal.
As the southwesternmost tip of the island, mobile phone signals have not yet reached here.
I've gotten used to the Internet, so I felt a little uncomfortable leaving it for a while. But it's not appropriate to hold a phone all day on a family trip, so Sakura wasn't too disappointed.
Even if there is no internet, at least it can still be used as a camera or camcorder.
In front of the flower window in the inner courtyard of the hotel, Sakura jumped into her mother's arms and took a selfie with her phone.
click-
On the other hand, the archaeological discovery site is located in Kaseda City, Kagoshima.
After the 21st century, the name of this city will disappear from the map and merge with the surrounding areas such as Kasa Town and Bozu Town into Minamisatsuma City, but it is still an independent city. It is about 20 kilometers away from the hot spring hotel.
"Professor, you see, the ruins were discovered in this wasteland. Initially, people from the surrounding villages came here to pick wild vegetables. You know, the wild vegetables in the fields in early spring are very fresh, and they are delicious when served cold or made into monjayaki. They are great whether you eat them yourself or pick them to sell in the city. Last week, someone accidentally dug them up while digging for vegetable roots."
If you find antiques like porcelain bowls or vases, most people will just take them back. The law is the law, and everyone knows that they are still valuable.
But what the villagers dug up here were Dharma instruments, or rather Buddhist instruments. Most people would not dare to take such things home. According to folklore, if ordinary people picked up such things, they would not be able to handle them, and their family would suffer bad luck. So they notified the local police station, and the police station contacted the research institute.
Fujitaka had read the information beforehand and he already knew all this.
"If it was just a few Buddhist artifacts, it wouldn't be a big deal, but during our on-site rescue excavation, we found human bones."
"So you suspect this is a religious burial pit?"
"I'm not sure yet. I heard that you are an expert in archaeology and folklore, so I wanted to ask you to come and take a look."
Fujitaka nodded upon hearing this.
In ancient times, burying people alive with their dead was not uncommon. Religion has always been bloody. It is not necessarily a cult. Even today's orthodox religions must have experienced such a history in the past.
There were not many signs of excavation at the site. After discovering some problems, the people from the archaeological institute stopped excavating.
Shimazu, wearing gloves, handed over a Buddhist artifact that was one of the artifacts excavated earlier. Fujitaka did not take it, he just looked at it and leaned over to smell it.
“It’s from the Nara period.”
"Nara? Doesn't that mean it's been over a thousand years?"
"Well, it's well preserved. You can see that it's already mineralized. It must have migrated to the surface of the soil recently due to geological activity."
He is indeed an expert from Tokyo, Shimazu secretly sighed in his heart. If it were their research institute, they could only identify it through instruments.
At this moment, there was a loud noise and the ground suddenly shook. Shimazu lost his grip on the Buddhist bowl and it almost fell to the ground. Fujitaka quickly caught it.
"Thank you, thank you." Shimazu quickly put it away and almost damaged an artifact.
"What's going on? Are they setting off guns?"
"Yes, that is private land. A large landowner named Daotian has contracted it to build a real estate complex. He wants to flatten the surrounding hills."
“That’s a big project.”
"We don't understand the affairs of the rich. There are bombs here all day long. By the way, do you remember the crows that died yesterday? This is a severely affected area. Not only animals, but if you walk a little further you will find that a large area of plants in the forest have died."
"Is it because of the explosion?"
"That's not the case. I can't explain why. It's hard to understand. If this continues, the Ministry of the Environment might be called in to investigate."
Shimazu couldn't figure it out, and neither could Fujitaka. He only came for a preliminary inspection and didn't start excavation on site. At present, it seems that this place does have archaeological value.
"I see. Do you have your equipment? Let's first map the approximate scope of the ruins."
The morning passed quickly.
Through instrument detection, the scope of the ruins is larger than expected, even extending to the private territory of the rice field owner next to it. Involving private territory is undoubtedly a troublesome matter. Official approval may not be useful.
At this moment, the ground shook again.
The earthquake was completely different from the previous one. Fujitaka almost thought he had stepped on a landmine. The huge amplitude instantly threw him into the air.
At the same time, even the ZAT team far away in Tokyo detected the earthquake.
"Captain, look!"
When Asahina saw the data handed over by Moriyama, her first reaction was that the data was wrong.
"Has this been verified? It's only in a hilly area with a range of 1 kilometer?"
"Yes, it was in Kagoshima. It was just a tiny dot on the map, but a magnitude 12 earthquake erupted in an instant."
A magnitude 12 earthquake would cause the Earth's plates to shift, but this time it only occurred in a local area within a kilometer, which was not in accordance with the laws of nature.