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"Uro, what's wrong? Coming over so late?"
Mei Mei's tone was calm, as if nothing had happened just now.
Uro walked quickly into the room, not even bothering to greet Toho Hiroshi, and rushed directly in front of Mei Mei, voice trembling with irrepressible emotion: "Sister! How much longer are you going to keep this from me?"
"That Curse inside your body! Is it true that you only have one year left to live?"
These words exploded in the suite like a thunderclap.
Toho Hiroshi turned his head sharply to look at Mei Mei, his pupils shrinking: "A Curse? Only one year left to live? Mei Mei, what is going on!"
Mei Mei's face went pale the moment Uro said those words, but she quickly regained her composure.
She glared at Uro, reproachful: "Uro! Who told you to run your mouth!"
"If I didn't say anything, were you just going to keep hiding it?"
Uro retorted excitedly, eyes rimmed with red, "Sister! Are you not even going to value your life just to investigate those dangerous clues?"
Mei Mei took a deep breath. She didn't look at Toho Hiroshi, but said to Uro: "This is my choice. Besides, isn't there still a year left? There will always be a way..."
"What way!"
Uro was almost growling, "Unless we completely exorcise Prince Sawara, but right now we can't even find a trace of this guy..."
He finally realized Toho Hiroshi was still present and abruptly stopped, but the words were already out and couldn't be taken back.
The suite fell into a dead silence.
The neon lights outside the window were still flickering, but they seemed to be covered by a cold shadow.
Toho Hiroshi stared intently at Mei Mei; all the ambiguity, hesitation, and struggle from before were shattered by this sudden truth.
He finally understood what kind of despair and unwillingness were hidden behind Mei Mei's unusual initiative tonight.
It wasn't just a temptation on a whim, but more like a futile effort to grasp a last bit of warmth in the face of a countdown to death.
His heart felt as if it were being tightly gripped by an invisible hand, heavy and painful.
"So..."
Toho Hiroshi's voice was terrifyingly low, carrying a hint of hoarseness he hadn't even noticed himself, "Was your attempt to make me stay just now a final farewell to me, Mei Mei?"
Mei Mei's body trembled slightly, and she finally looked up, meeting his gaze.
In those beautiful eyes, the previous temptation and laziness had long since vanished, leaving only deep exhaustion, a hint of embarrassment at being seen through, and a kind of resigned calm.
She tugged at the corners of her mouth, wanting to reveal her usual, composed smile, but ultimately failed.
"It seems... yes."
She said softly, her voice tinged with an imperceptible choke, "Sorry for using such an undignified method. I just thought that if it were you, perhaps I could leave behind some memories that aren't so cold during this last year."
Uro bit his lip tightly to the side, and tears finally couldn't help but fall.
Toho Hiroshi stood where he was, looking at the woman before him who was usually powerful, confident, and had everything under her control, yet now appeared so fragile.
Investigating the clues regarding Tengen and Prince Sawara was to fulfill his commission, and she had paid the price of her life because of it.
Guilt, heartache, and anger—complex emotions churned in his chest.
He slowly raised his hand, seemingly wanting to touch her, but in the end, just tightly clenched it into a fist.
"One year."
He repeated this cruel time limit, a storm seemingly gathering in his Rinnegan, "That's enough."
Both Mei Mei and Uro looked at him.
Toho Hiroshi's gaze was sharp as a knife, as if piercing through the walls to look toward the direction of Kyoto.
"One year is enough for us to find that cowardly ancient vengeful spirit."
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a resolute determination, as if making an unbreakable vow, "Then, I will drag it out with my own hands and crush it, along with the Curse it has placed upon you."
"I won't let you die, Mei Mei."
"This is my, Toho Hiroshi's, promise to you."
...
The night was like ink, and the cold wind swept over the desolate mountain ridge, emitting a low, wailing sound.
Toho Hiroshi wore a large black cloak, the hem of which snapped in the wind as he moved at high speed, almost completely blending his tall, upright figure into the darkness.
Only the pale moonlight occasionally leaking through the gaps in the clouds outlined his cold, sharp profile and his signature long snow-white hair.
Uro followed silently a little behind his side; the excitement and tear stains from the hotel were gone, leaving only focused vigilance and a hint of deep-seated worry.
He held an ancient compass in his hand, its needle emitting a faint, directional Cursed Energy fluctuation, guiding their path forward.
"It's just ahead, Mr. Toho."
Uro lowered his voice, pointing to an area in the distant mountain hollow shrouded in heavy shadow, "According to one of the 'Ley Line Congestion Points' with the strongest connection to Prince Sawara's resentment that my sister organized, this is it."
"Legend has it that he was imprisoned in a place similar to this and ultimately starved to death."
Toho Hiroshi nodded slightly, his Rinnegan shimmering with faint purple ripples in the darkness; the world in his vision instantly stripped away its surface, revealing the essence of energy flow.
He saw the ominous Cursed Energy residue permeating the area ahead—it was an extremely ancient aura, carrying decay and resentment, originating from the same source as the light gray energy flow on Mei Mei's map.
The two of them silently infiltrated the mountain hollow.
The terrain here was low-lying, and the air was cold, damp, and thick, as if even time had slowed down.
Scattered around were some heavily weathered boulders, on which faintly visible, long-blurred ancient runes could be seen, seemingly remnants of some kind of suppression or seal.
"Starved to death..."
Toho Hiroshi repeated this widely circulated claim in a low voice, his Rinnegan carefully scanning every inch of land and every stone, "For a Prince whose resentment is enough to support him becoming a 'Divine Cursed Spirit', this cause of death is far too 'docile'."
His gaze finally settled on a seemingly ordinary rock wall. The Cursed Energy residue there was the most concentrated and presented a peculiar "imploded" structure, as if energy had been forcibly extracted and devoured.
"Uro, step back."
Toho Hiroshi signaled, simultaneously slowly raising his right hand. In his palm, a pitch-black Truth-Seeking Orb appeared silently, rotating slowly, emitting an aura that annihilated everything.
He didn't use his full power, merely controlling the Truth-Seeking Orb to move close to that rock wall.
"Sizzle—"
The part of the rock wall that came into contact with the Truth-Seeking Orb did not undergo a physical explosion, but rather vanished silently as if erased, revealing a hidden, downward-sloping narrow entrance behind it.
A colder chill, carrying a stale, bloody scent, surged out from within.
At the edge of the entrance, the residual Cursed Energy traces became clearer and more twisted, as if recording some kind of extreme pain and struggle.
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