"You don't have to take it so seriously. I was just saying it casually. The boundary gate can strengthen the passage between the two worlds. Unless you are extremely unlucky, you will never encounter Kōtotsu." Yamabuki turned back and explained to his two teammates.
But when he turned out, he saw that both teammates were far away from him. They even had a look of wanting to stay away from a plague god.
"What do you mean by this? Am I that unlucky?" Yamabuki asked.
"I heard that someone lost one and a half months' salary playing mahjong. I dare not try my luck with such a person." Batsu'unsai said the most heartbreaking words in the most gentle tone.
However, their luck was pretty good today. They did not encounter any Kōtotsu and arrived in the human world very smoothly.
"Is this the world a thousand years ago? Isn't it too desolate?" Yamabuki frowned as he looked at the scene in front of him. It was spring, and it should be the time for farmers to farm, but the fields had become completely barren, with weeds half a person tall growing in the farmland.
The sky was dark, and an ominous light was shining down from the sky.
In the middle of the farmland, there was a small thatched hut that had long been abandoned, and it looked desolate.
"Hey? Is the world so desolate?" asked Yamabuki.
"This is my first time here too." Izuhara already felt that the atmosphere around him was not right. He held the sword tightly in his hand, ready to draw it if anything happened.
The three people explored carefully. Suddenly, Yamabuki felt his foot trip by something. He looked down and saw that it was a skeleton.
"The presence of farmland means there is a village nearby. Let's look for it separately." Batsu'unsai said.
"How can we split up at this time? Haven't you seen horror movies? Monsters and ghosts specifically look for people who are alone. This operation is under my command. You have to listen to me and must not separate." Yamabuki felt creepy when he thought of the horror movies he had watched in his previous life. He pushed away the weeds in front of him. He wouldn't suddenly see a bloody face, would he?
Batsu'unsai and Kinroku Izuhara had no objections. Although Yamabuki was not very reliable at ordinary times, he was still very reliable at critical moments. The three of them cleared the weeds to make a path, and sure enough, they found a small village not far away.
The three of them walked over quickly, but they smelled a strong stench before they got close.
This is the smell of a rotting corpse!
Batsu'unsai covered his nose with her hands and frowned.
Kinroku Izuhara didn't care at all. He even felt like he was at home.
Yamabuki's heart sank. He walked over and saw that, as expected, all the villagers in the village had been slaughtered.
Moreover, it seems that these people have been dead for some time, and their bodies are already highly decomposed.
This scene was caused by either bandits or the enemy's army. In such a chaotic world, it is not surprising that such a scene occurred.
Kinroku Izuhara examined the wounds on the body very calmly and found that they were all caused by sharp blades. He also found something very strange.
"So many people died, why didn't I find their souls?" Kinroku Izuhara asked if he looked around.
After a person dies, the soul will leave the body. The smaller the obsession, the easier it is to enter the Soul Society. The stronger the obsession, the greater the probability of becoming a Hollow. It stands to reason that the villagers here all died unexpectedly and must be full of resentment. It would not be surprising if they all turned into evil spirits.
But now, there is not a single soul in this area except for corpses all over the ground.
Where have all the souls gone?
Yamabuki's expression became more and more ugly.
There are three ways to make the soul disappear completely.
First: When a person dies who has committed heinous crimes, the gates of hell will open, and hell will take away his soul, where he will suffer torture for eternity.
Second: There are hollows around here, and all the souls have been eaten by them.
Third: Quincy. Quincy has the ability to destroy souls, but Quincy mainly hunts Hollows and generally does not attack the souls of ordinary people.
The reason why the Quincies hunt Hollows on a large scale is because the spiritual pressure of Hollows is extremely poisonous to the Quincies. In order to eliminate their natural enemies, the Quincies slaughter Hollows on a large scale. If this continues, the balance of the three realms will inevitably tilt.
"Yamabuki, what do you think?" Kinroku Izuhara asked.
"First of all, it can't be hell. Hell only takes away the souls of those who have committed heinous crimes. Is there not a single good person in the whole village? This is too absurd. And what about the Quincy? Although these people are cunning, they should not attack ordinary souls..."
"In other words, since Hollows came here, all the souls of the people have been eaten?" Kinroku Izuhara's face turned pale.
Yamabuki remembered that there should be a shinigami in this area who was responsible for extraditing souls, but according to reports, this shinigami suddenly lost contact with the Soul Society and was most likely to have met with an accident.
But now, they have no clues at all, which is a headache.
Suddenly, there was a very slight noise coming from the house behind them, and Yamabuki drew his sword instantly.
Could it be that the monster did not leave after eating the person but stayed here?
"You two, come on! I'll be here to provide support for you!" Yamabuki said shamelessly.
There was no way, the strength of these two big guys was far superior to his.
Kinroku Izuhara walked in front while Batsu'unsai took the back. Her naginata was too long, and it was not easy to use it in the narrow room. It would be difficult to deal with any unexpected situation.
Finally, they found that the slight noise came from a box.
Kinroku Izuhara drew his sword, and the box was cut open instantly. A little boy of six or seven years old fell out of the box, shaking with fear.
"A fish that slipped through the net?" Yamabuki said in surprise.
The little boy's face was full of fear, perhaps he mistook the three men with knives for bandits.
Seeing the child's overflowing maternal love, Batsu'unsai said gently, "Don't be afraid, little brother. We are not bad people."
"Yeah, yeah! We are all good people. Tell us what happened here." asked Yamabuki.
The little boy looked at Yamabuki, then at Kinroku Izuhara, and finally chose to hide in Batsu'unsai's arms.
"You don't look like a good person at all." The little boy pointed at Yamabuki and said.
Then he pointed at Kinroku Izuhara and said, "He looks like a pervert! This sister is the best!"
"You are really good at judging people," Kinroku Izuhara said with a wry smile.
"I say, how can you talk like that, kid?" Yamabuki rolled up his sleeves and gave him a slap on the head, letting him know how dangerous society is and that he should not speak carelessly.
Batsu'unsai said gently, "What happened here? Why did so many people die? Why are you hiding in the box?"
The little boy cried, "It was bandits who suddenly attacked this village and killed everyone. Fortunately, I hid in a box and escaped..."
"Escaped? What are you talking about in your sleep? If you escaped, you wouldn't be able to see us. Look back and see what that is." Yamabuki said.
The little boy turned around and saw that the body lying on the ground was his own corpse.
*****
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