"When a normal vengeful spirit wants to grab someone, what would they grab?"
As Natsuki spoke, he looked at the female vengeful spirit with thighs covered in tally marks: "For example, that train pervert girl."
The subway hummed as it operated.
In the cold subway car, Natsuki's voice was calm and indifferent.
"The wrist?"
Chika answered thoughtfully.
"Also the shoulder." This was the blonde gyaru's answer.
Finally, the short-haired girl: "Um... in horror movies, vengeful spirits generally like to strangle people's necks, right?"
"In short, vengeful spirits also choose the most convenient posture when grabbing people." Natsuki continued. "So under what circumstances would a vengeful spirit grab someone's ankle?"
"I know!"
Chika's eyes lit up as she excitedly answered: "The thing that attacked Marin could only reach her ankle for some reason."
"..."
Hearing this, all the players looked toward the corpse lying by the subway door.
This was a middle-aged uncle wearing a suit, suffering a serious hair loss crisis. He was lying face-down on the floor facing the subway door, his skin pale, lips purplish-black... Anyone would see this as a corpse.
"All the vengeful spirit passengers are standing in corners. I thought before that they feared the monsters outside the subway." Natsuki continued. "Actually, there's another possibility—what they fear is the uncle lying by the door."
"People on the subway are either vengeful spirit passengers or players. How could there be a corpse?"
"So, there's only one truth—"
Natsuki pressed his finger to his brow, saying in a low voice: "He's not a corpse at all!"
"..."
Saying this, Natsuki turned his head and gave Chika a meaningful look.
"Meow?"
Chika tilted her head over, her pretty pink eyes full of confusion.
"Hurry and use the combination technique." Natsuki reminded helplessly.
This is a horror game—why are you meowing!
Although according to his deduction, before the lights went out, the vengeful spirit on the ground couldn't move.
Otherwise, when he was looking for the lighter earlier, he would have already been done for.
But better safe than sorry.
Only lawless madman Zhang San could truly put his mind at ease.
"I understand." Secretary Fujiwara quickly nodded, pointing at the corpse lying on the floor. "Lawless madman Zhang San, if I call you once, do you dare answer?"
The next moment, a cold, hoarse voice suddenly came from the corpse's mouth.
"...Zhang San is here!"
"He spoke." The blonde gyaru stepped back half a step, unable to help saying, "He really is a vengeful spirit!"
Natsuki stepped forward and reached out to touch the middle-aged uncle's body, immediately feeling powerful again.
Whether you're the boss of this game dungeon or not, as long as you're called lawless madman Zhang San, even if you're a god, he'll still capture you.
Throughout the entire process, the middle-aged vengeful spirit lay on the ground motionless.
Mrs. Kaguya stepped forward, bent down to pick up the middle-aged uncle's briefcase that had fallen on the ground, and took out an empty plastic medicine bottle from it.
"This is a heart-saving pill." Mrs. Kaguya pressed her lips together slightly, a trace of reminiscence showing on her exquisite and moving face. "...I used to take these often."
As a congenital heart disease patient, she'd naturally taken plenty of this type of heart-saving medication.
"We caught this uncle, so why hasn't the game cleared yet?"
Chika asked curiously.
"Because something still hasn't been done." Natsuki looked at the female vengeful spirit passenger. "You falsely accused this uncle of being a molester, didn't you?"
"The others chose to stand by and watch, considering it none of their business, staying aloof."
"Even when this uncle collapsed on the ground from a heart attack, no one extended a helping hand."
"That's why you're all trapped on the subway, unable to leave."
"I see." The blonde gyaru Marin suddenly understood.
"That behavior is way too much." Chika's brows furrowed. "Molesters are terrible, but falsely accusing someone of being a molester is even worse!"
Japan's molester crime follows the presumption of guilt principle. In simple terms, as long as you can't provide evidence proving your innocence, you're presumed guilty.
Yet when women falsely accuse men of being molesters, they don't need to pay any price. Women often use this method to extort and blackmail others for money.
After revealing the truth, the game still hadn't cleared.
Natsuki couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
So clearing the wronged man's name doesn't count as a clearing method—the real solution is to throw the middle-aged uncle off the subway?
"Natsuki-kun." Mrs. Kaguya leaned close to Natsuki's ear, speaking softly. "That humming sound just now was the sound of a cardiac defibrillator."
Natsuki thought briefly and quickly understood.
For the middle-aged uncle lying on the ground, more than clearing his name, he hoped someone would extend a helping hand to let him survive.
The subway slowly decelerated. Darkness attacked again.
Natsuki turned over the uncle vengeful spirit's body and, according to knowledge learned in health class, began performing CPR.
The next moment, the world before his eyes suddenly froze.
The game notification sounded in all players' ears.
[The game has been cleared. You will exit the game in ten seconds. All players, please prepare]
"Shimizu-nee." Natsuki quickly turned his head to look at Mrs. Kaguya. "Hurry back."
He wasn't sure whether Mrs. Kaguya would leave the game together with him—she might be left behind on the subway.
So he couldn't take this risk.
If he lost Mrs. Kaguya, the ice sculpture young lady would definitely fight him to the death!
"Okay."
Mrs. Kaguya nodded slightly and quickly attached herself to Natsuki.
"She really is a vengeful spirit."
The blonde gyaru Marin's eyes widened.
She was still struggling desperately, yet others had already begun commanding vengeful spirits—they weren't even playing the same game!
"Marin, Atake-neesan isn't a vengeful spirit." Chika quickly said. "I'll add you to the group later. We can explain slowly after you join."
While Kaguya Shinomiya's capitalist empire hadn't been established yet, Chika Fujiwara had already successfully formed a player mutual aid association... though currently it was just a small group with only a handful of newbie players.
Ten seconds passed in a flash. Before they could say much more, everything suddenly went dark.
After a slight dizziness, Natsuki came back to his senses. He was already back on the crowded subway.
Looking down at his phone, exactly one minute had passed.
Ten seconds of exit time... probably to give players time to manage their facial expressions, so they wouldn't suddenly cry out or scream and completely embarrass themselves.
"Mm..." Chika blinked, turning her head to look around. She leaned close to Natsuki's ear, whispering, "We're back?"
Natsuki nodded slightly, his finger pressing his brow: "Today really wasn't suitable for traveling far."
His body wasn't tired, but mental exhaustion was unavoidable.
"It said we triggered a special scenario earlier. Could it have been this subway?"
Chika suddenly realized.
"Very possible." Natsuki answered in a low voice. "It might even be this exact subway car we're riding."
"Let's not think about it." Chika shook her head, taking out her bloodstained notebook. "I'll add Marin to the mutual aid group first. Marin's actually at our school—it's just that our classes are far apart, so we haven't met before."
"Stare—"
Chika suddenly tilted her head, widening her eyes and staring unblinkingly at Natsuki.
"Why are you suddenly staring at me?"
Natsuki leaned back slightly, putting distance between them.
"Natsuki." Chika's voice was eerie. "What was the name of that other player who cleared the game with us?"
Natsuki thought: "...Tomoya Aki?"
"Not that boy." Chika shook her head. "The female player who was with us."
Natsuki's brow furrowed slightly. He was shocked to discover he only remembered she had short bobbed hair, was neither tall nor short, neither fat nor thin—her appearance had become completely blurred in his mind.
"That short-haired girl... what was her name?"
"I forgot."
"..."
The two looked at each other silently.
Chika nervously hugged Natsuki's arm: "A-a ghost player!"
A moment later, the subway arrived at the station.
Natsuki and the pink-haired girl got off the subway and parted ways at the exit.
"Natsuki, see you tomorrow." Chika waved goodbye, her voice cheerful.
"See you tomorrow."
Natsuki nodded and turned to leave.
By the time he got home, it was past eight in the evening. Natsuki had originally planned to call Miko over to recharge, but unfortunately Aunt Yotsuya had already left work and come home. Miko was unwilling to come over, so he had to give up.
"Mm, finally home."
Mrs. Kaguya raised both hands above her head, lazily stretching. Then she looked over expectantly: "Natsuki-kun, phone, phone—give me the backup phone."
"No." Natsuki walked to the refrigerator, opened it, looked at the human head evil spirit inside, eliminated it expressionlessly, then took out a can of cola. "Miko isn't coming over to recharge, so you can't play on your phone anymore in your current state."
If you keep playing, you'll successfully become an immortal cultivator and ascend directly!
"How can you do this?" Mrs. Kaguya was greatly disappointed, then her eyes suddenly lit up. "I thought of a solution."
"What?"
Natsuki took a sip of cola and looked over.
"What if I help Natsuki-kun recharge?" Mrs. Kaguya crossed her left leg over her right, extended a finger and gently pressed it against her thigh. The corner of her lips lifted slightly, forming a pleasant arc. "If Miko can do it, and little Kaguya can do it, then I should be able to help Natsuki-kun recharge too, right?"
It must be said, this Mrs. Kaguya was indeed incredibly beautiful. Her every smile and frown was exceptionally attractive.
Compared to the ice sculpture young lady who was always expressionless, Mrs. Kaguya was elegant and charming.
"I used to... mm, when I was alive, I specially learned how to give massages." Mrs. Kaguya's face showed a charming smile, her voice alluring. "My technique is definitely much better than little Kaguya's and Miko's. I guarantee Natsuki-kun will be very comfortable."
"..."
Whether it would be comfortable or not was unclear, but generating power himself and then recharging himself—are you trying to become the king of pseudoscience, a perpetual motion machine?
All perpetual motion machines are scams. Natsuki felt this was unreliable. After thinking for a while, he still shook his head and refused:
"Forget it. I just want to rest properly now. We'll talk about it tomorrow."