Chapter 074: A Journey on a Whim

"Is there something you need, Officer Kubobe?"
Kousuke Kitagawa felt a tightening in his chest, but his face remained perfectly calm. He slipped his phone into his pocket and met Officer Kubobe’s gaze directly.
"Do you recall that last time, those thugs from the Miike Group were also killed by blade?"
"The Miike Group? Are you suggesting, Officer Kubobe, that the culprit in these two cases is the same person?" Kitagawa had been working beside Kubobe for two years, and immediately grasped his intention.
"It's possible, though not certain."
Finding the murderer who killed Kato in the vast expanse of Tokyo was like searching for a needle in a haystack. But if they could determine his usual whereabouts, the investigation would become much easier.
"It seems that those who died at this person's hands were all notorious criminals. He’s not someone who kills indiscriminately." Kato was a violent man listed on the Supernatural Crimes Investigation Unit’s blacklist, implicated in numerous violent crimes, even the torture and killing of ordinary civilians.
Though many players had died at Su Cheng’s hands, none were innocent.
"Whatever the case, we need to find this person as soon as possible."
"Understood!"
Officer Kubobe watched Kitagawa’s departing figure, his expression inscrutable.
The bait had been set; now all that remained was to wait for the big fish to bite.
A kilometer from the crime scene, in a budget hotel, the mature woman who had escaped right under Su Cheng’s nose appeared in one of the rooms.
"I didn’t expect even Kato to be no match for him. Who on earth is that man?" Fear lingered on her face; had she not possessed a special item to conceal her presence, she would surely have joined Kato in hell.
After such a lesson, not even a hundredfold courage would allow her to try anything in Su Cheng’s presence again.
Just then, a long shadow slipped through the crack beneath the door.
A coldness spread across her chest. Her ample bosom was ripped open, yet not a single drop of blood seeped from the wound.
Terror overwhelmed her, her eyes wide with horror.
From her chest blossomed a black flower, exuding the scent of death.
"The flower of the afterlife!"
Despair and fear filled her gaze; her skin withered like a dying flower, her body aging decades in an instant.
...
"The bus to Yamanashi is about to depart. Passengers, please fasten your seatbelts."
A soft, sweet voice echoed from the bus’s PA system. Su Cheng stowed his luggage and found a window seat, picking up a magazine.
After dealing with Kato, his life returned to tranquility. No suspicious figures had appeared nearby these days, nor had any police come to question him.
Strangely, there was no news at all about Kato’s case, as if nothing had happened.
Su Cheng guessed that someone in the police had deliberately concealed the case, not wanting to alarm the public.
As for whether the police would trace the matter back to him, Su Cheng was not overly concerned.
Kato had destroyed all nearby surveillance cameras to eliminate evidence, leaving no useful clues behind. The police would find it difficult to track him down. What concerned Su Cheng more was the woman who had escaped.
At that moment, a news alert popped up on his phone screen.
"The other day, a fire broke out at a budget hotel, resulting in the death of a female guest..." Su Cheng’s gaze lingered on the photograph of the victim, and his expression suddenly changed.

The deceased woman was the same one who had fled from him that day, and her time of death was in the early hours of the morning.
Coincidence, or conspiracy?
To Su Cheng, the accident was shrouded in strangeness. The hotel’s rooms were built of wood, so if a fire broke out, the flames would spread rapidly. Oddly, only the woman’s room burned, and the fire was extinguished almost immediately.
Furthermore, the woman was a player in the horror game, with physical abilities far beyond ordinary people. How could she die so easily in her room?
All signs pointed to murder.
But was this murder connected to Su Cheng?
"Perhaps she provoked a formidable enemy; it might have nothing to do with me." Su Cheng massaged his temples, cutting off his wandering thoughts.
Too many things had happened recently, leaving his nerves on edge.
So, with the school on holiday, Su Cheng decided to take a spontaneous trip to relax.
The main impetus was that Ryosuke Araki had given him a voucher for a night’s stay at a century-old local inn.
Two hours later, Su Cheng arrived in Yamanashi Prefecture, following navigation to an ancient village nearby.
By the time he reached the village, night had fallen completely. Few people were about, and he walked for ages without encountering a soul.
He strolled along the deserted country road, flanked by ordinary two-story wooden houses, their designs old and weathered, suggesting decades of history.
"The inn should be around here, but where’s the sign?"
Night descended, yellow streetlights cast long shadows behind Su Cheng.
A thin mist drifted in, shrouding the village in a veil of hazy gauze. A cold wind brushed against his neck, like icy fingers caressing his skin.
"Where have all the villagers gone? I can’t even find someone to ask for directions."
No sooner had he spoken than he spotted a hunched old woman, silver-haired and leaning on a cane beneath a streetlamp ahead.
She was petite and slow-moving, evidently a village elder. Surely she would know where the inn was.
Su Cheng hurried over and asked, "Excuse me, Grandma, could you tell me which way to the Kuzumi Cottage?"
At that moment, the old woman turned her face.
In the dim streetlight, Su Cheng saw she had the face of a cat...
"Kuzumi Cottage? Turn left ahead, then go forward a hundred meters." Her voice was slow, likely from age, but she patiently gave directions.
A chill ran through Su Cheng, but he forced himself not to reveal any odd reaction.
"Thank you."
To expose her or show fear now would likely trigger some unimaginable horror.
Despite her strangeness, Su Cheng sensed no malice from the cat-faced old woman.
"Child, are you planning to stay at Kuzumi Cottage?" She squinted, her blue-green eyes glinting eerily in the night.
"Uh, is there a problem?"
Her expression hinted at something, as if there was something odd about the inn.
She shook her head and said nothing more, shuffling away with her cane.

After passing the old woman, Su Cheng walked a few steps before realizing something. He turned, but she had vanished.
With her slow pace, she could not have disappeared so quickly.
The village’s atmosphere grew ever more bizarre.
By now, the last bus had departed and he had no choice but to stay the night.
Five minutes later, he found the Kuzumi Cottage, luggage in hand.
From the outside, it was an ordinary Japanese-style villa, with a courtyard planted with a persimmon tree and wildflowers from the nearby mountains.
The inn exuded a refined and comfortable air; if it were near a scenic spot, it would surely attract many guests.
Yet here in this desolate village, there were few patrons.
"Is anyone there? I’ve booked a room for tonight." Su Cheng rang the doorbell, and soon a young woman with a neat hairdo emerged from within.
"Sorry, I was in the kitchen and forgot to call to guide you. Please, come in."
She apologized and led Su Cheng through the courtyard to the entryway.
Su Cheng noted that the proprietress was not yet thirty, tall and slender in traditional attire, her beauty understated but with an air of mature allure.
Given his earlier experience, Su Cheng looked her over carefully, confirming she was very much alive and not some supernatural creature.
Thank goodness she wasn’t a ghost; otherwise, he’d have to sleep with one eye open against a nocturnal attack.
"Please wait in the living room while I clean your room." The proprietress, unaware of Su Cheng’s scrutiny, tiptoed away.
He wandered the living room for a while, when suddenly a child’s ball rolled to his feet.
"Big brother, will you play with me?" A clear, ethereal voice sounded from the corner. Su Cheng saw a timid child of five or six, with lovely black hair and eyes, looking just like any ordinary boy.
But from this child, Su Cheng sensed deep loneliness and yearning for companionship.
Moved, he picked up the ball, handed it back, and gently rubbed the boy’s cold cheek. "Big brother has something to do now, but I’ll play with you later."
The child nodded obediently, took a persimmon from his pocket and handed it to Su Cheng, saying with eager eyes, "Thank you, big brother. Genta is waiting for you upstairs."
Genta waved happily and ran down the hall, vanishing from sight. Su Cheng sat cross-legged in the living room, idly watching TV, and placed the persimmon on the table.
Then, a burst of laughter and chatter echoed from the corridor. Seven young men and women, evidently tourists, entered the living room.
"You’re staying here too, aren’t you? I’m Daisuke Miyazaki, nice to meet you."
Among them, a chubby man with black-rimmed glasses plopped down next to Su Cheng, casually picking up a ripe persimmon from the table.
Crunch.
He bit into it, thick juice trickling down his chin.
But what oozed forth was not fruit juice, but deep crimson blood...