Nishikawa Suimei quickly realized that Jiang Xia had entered the secret passage, and she immediately panicked.
Back in the day, she hadn't actually burned Mrs. Masuyo to death. Instead, she had imprisoned her in the secret passage, planning to undergo plastic surgery to take on the appearance of Mrs. Masuyo .
In other words, Mrs. Masuyo's body was still lying in the secret passage. And the worst part? The spot where her corpse was located was very close to where Jiang Xia had entered. Knowing how sharp the detectives were, it was likely that Jiang Xia might've seen the body...
As the thoughts swirled in her head, Nishikawa Suimei began to feel murderous intent build up.
Using the excuse of needing rest, she locked herself in her room, then opened the entrance to the secret passage with a wooden stick. Her plan was simple: sneak up on Jiang Xia and kill the detective who knew too much, taking advantage of her intimate knowledge of the hidden passages.
However, after wandering through the secret passage for what felt like ages, she never once found Jiang Xia. A few times, she thought she saw something move past her, but every time she sharply turned to look, there was nothing.
What's going on?
Could it be that Jiang Xia had already left? Or was he hiding somewhere, waiting for her to make a mistake?
Nishikawa Suimei's heart began to falter. She gripped her wooden stick tighter.
The moment Nishikawa Suimei entered the passage, Jiang Xia locked onto her position.
Although the souls of those burned to death by Nishikawa Suimei had been caught off guard, they hadn't left her. But there was more to it. Nishikawa Suimei had also killed Mrs. Masuyo, who knew exactly who the murderer was. The shikigami Mrs. Masuyo turned into after her death had attached itself to Suimei's leg, making it an ideal locator for Jiang Xia.
When Nishikawa Suimei entered the secret passage, Jiang Xia had already gathered the shikigami. He was about to start eliminating their lingering grudges when Nishikawa Suimei practically served herself up on a silver platter.
As soon as Jiang Xia saw her, he relaxed a little—how kind of her to bring a wooden stick. How considerate.
But no matter how considerate and thoughtful Nishikawa Suimei was, Jiang Xia had no intention of changing his plans. This woman was a key player in helping the souls release their grudges.
Jiang Xia stood in the darkness, watching Nishikawa Suimei pass by. He whispered to the shikigami trapped in the paper bag, "Listen carefully. I'm about to tell you about the castle fire."
Once the shikigami had a clear focus, they could understand where their resentment came from, and it made it easier to clear them in batches.
The souls didn't have much intellect, but they were highly sensitive to the circumstances of their deaths and the identity of the person responsible. With Jiang Xia's help, their scattered resentments started to converge on one clear target: the fake old woman in the secret passage.
Having accomplished his goal, Jiang Xia had originally planned to just beat up Nishikawa Suimei like he always did. But then, a thought crossed his mind.
Nishikawa Suimei had killed so many people just to get her hands on treasure. If he simply beat her up, the shikigami's grudge might never be fully released.
Shikigami, like humans, are obsessed with power—gathering souls with the same cause of death, combining their energies, and producing even stronger grudges. The more souls you have with the same purpose, the bigger the impact.
The last time Jiang Xia faced a murderer with only four shikigami, even after he'd beaten him senseless, none of the grudges loosened. It wasn't until the murderer fell off a cliff and Miyano Akemi tore off his soul that the situation changed.
Now, there were even more souls involved...
Jiang Xia counted carefully, one, two, three... There were eighteen souls in total. He counted again, just to be sure: one, two, three... still eighteen.
As Jiang Xia counted, Xiaobai and Miyano Akemi noticed what he was doing. They paused and then climbed up his legs, curiously peering into the paper bag, seemingly trying to join the line.
The Tengu Ghost, who had never seen such a "deployment" of souls before, flitted about, confused, and tentatively lined up behind Miyano Akemi.
Jiang Xia gave each of the three ghosts a light tap, and after a moment, he almost felt like releasing even more shikigami. But then he realized that it wasn't the right time to worry about such things. Business had to come first.
Now that the grudges of so many souls had gathered together, it would be impossible to settle the matter without sending the murderer a little "bento."(boxed food)
Jiang Xia hesitated for a moment before deciding to run a small experiment.
He picked up a stone, held it in his hand, and quietly tapped it. Then he quickly caught up to Nishikawa Suimei, who had gone a little farther ahead.
As Nishikawa Suimei took a step, Jiang Xia threw the stone. She tripped, her foot catching the stone and twisting her ankle, sending her tumbling down the stairs.
The stairs here were steep, and when Nishikawa Suimei reached the bottom, she passed out for a moment, only to groan and get up, sore all over.
Jiang Xia looked down at the souls in his paper bag, feeling their resentment grow stronger. In fact, it almost seemed like they were saying, "We died so miserably, and she ended up only like this?"
Jiang Xia blinked, a little taken aback. Only a bunch of souls, and yet...
He glanced at the paper bag again and softened his gaze. Forget it. They're easy enough to collect, and they've got some specific needs. Can't exactly blame them.
That said, Jiang Xia wasn't planning to kill her—at least not yet.
For normal people, death would be the end. But for psychics like Jiang Xia, death could be just the beginning of a much bigger problem.
Normally, after someone dies, their souls aren't powerful enough to cause too much trouble. But psychics themselves have a strange aura. Historically, people who were killed by psychics often turned into "blackened" souls that could come back as bosses.
For Jiang Xia, encountering such a blackened soul was like playing a game of chance: roll a 1-100,000, and if the number lands on "64541," he's done for. It was a super low chance, but it still existed. So, the best option was to avoid direct confrontations altogether.
That's why, even if Jiang Xia had to deal out some "bento," he preferred doing it in a roundabout way.
While Jiang Xia was mulling over all this, Nishikawa Suimei finally stood up, clutching her head, and threw herself against the wall in a frantic attempt to escape.
Jiang Xia observed her retreating figure and, recalling the layout of the tunnel he had memorized, began heading toward the other side of the passage.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 38/50(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:0/10*