"After all, the surname Anado is very rare in Japan, and it would be a pity to disappear. Are you right, police officer Araki... officer?!"

"Where is it... 咻咻..."

Just when Chairman Anado was full of tears and emotion, Sousuke Araki was already pouting his hips like a police dog, beating with his knuckles one by one along the floor tiles at the edge of the house.

"Oh, I found it, is it this one..."

When he knocked on a floor tile with a significantly duller echo and a slightly different material from the surrounding, he raised his eyebrows and punched it hard.

"Crack!"

The old floor tile was then torn apart, revealing the dark hole below and the faintly visible stone steps.

A rotten and stale smell floated out from the inside along with the big puff of dust.

"Wait... this is... authentic?!"

The cave president stared at the hole in front of him with a stunned expression, showing a surprised expression.

He grew up in the village since he was a child, and he never knew that there was a basement hidden under the main hall of this shrine with a history of hundreds of years?

"Police Officer Araki, why do you know... There's nothing like this?!"

Suddenly reacting to something, he looked at Sousuke Araki, who had already walked halfway down to the floor, with even more surprised eyes.

It is not too uncommon for a house built during the Warring States Period to have such a concealed safe-haven structure, but it would not be discovered by an outsider who came to the village for the first time.

Could it be that Officer Araki is actually a descendant of a branch of the Anado family, so he knew this secret?

"Sorry, this question is confidential and cannot be told to anyone..."

Just when President Anado automatically renamed someone "Sousuke Anado", Sosuke Araki had already walked down the stairs of less than two meters and entered a large basement.

Stepping down the last step, he lifted the blindfold, looked around at the basement in front of him, and looked slightly stunned.

Then, Sousuke Araki sighed heavily.

"meet as planned……"

In the basement, which is similar in size to the main hall above, there is no obvious trace of spiritual activity and no trace of resentment.

On the rough stone wall, yellowed rune papers were densely stuck.

The surrounding ground was filled with small white porcelain dishes.

On the bottom of the dish, there are still traces of wax oil and blackened candles.

In the center of the basement, two black wooden frames are strung with a rope, forming a "simple torii".

"...I'm here to find you."

On the straw mat just below the Zhulian Rope, a figure in a white kimono with long hair covering his face was sitting cross-legged.

No, to be precise, a skeleton from an unknown number of years ago.

She just turned her back to the stairs, folded her hands on her stomach, and sat there quietly.

It's like a shrine maiden who is praying devoutly in front of the torii gate.

A bunch of dark strings passed between the holes in the back of her hand, adorned with a bell whose color could no longer be distinguished.

"what!!!!"

Suddenly, a scream came from behind Araki Sosuke.

President Anado, I don't know when, also walked down.

"Help!!!!"

Seeing the scene in the basement, he was so frightened that he fell back, and crawled out of the shit.

"What's wrong? President Anado, are you alright?!"

Hearing the sound, Ryoma and Canggu, who were outside the door, also rushed in.

"Before the second, the police department and Officer Changgu, this...how can there be dead people here...you have to believe me, it has nothing to do with me..."

Sitting down at the entrance of the tunnel, President Anado hugged Hase's thigh and explained with sweat on his face.

"I really don't know...Changgu, we have known each other for so many years, and we have also secretly visited the custom shop many times together. You, you know best how timid I am..."

"Of course I know it has nothing to do with you. When this lady died below, I'm afraid even your grandfather was not born."

Below the cave, Sousuke Araki's voice came.

"Sousuke, are you okay? Hiss..."

He took out the flashlight and took a picture from the top of the tunnel to the basement. Before the second, Ryoma took a breath of cold air.

"I...I know!"

The pale, sluggish president Anado seemed to remember something.

"Next, that, that is the Mianliu Festival..."

After saying this in a low voice, he closed his mouth again in fear.

"Mianliu Festival?!"

"The Mianliu Festival is a memorial ceremony for Hinamisawa Village to celebrate the end of winter... However, because "mian" and "gut" are the same sound, some old people once frightened me, saying that this is a kind of 'gut-liu festival' to worship the mountain god. Transformed..."

In Japan, in addition to the "Sakura Festival", there are all kinds of "living festival" traditions.

The names and specific ceremonies vary according to local customs, and the objects of worship are also various ghosts in the mountains collectively referred to as "mountain gods", and they only pray for a good harvest and peace.

In Hinamisawa Village, legend has it that in ancient times there was a ritual of sacrificing a person's belly, putting it into running water, and enshrining the hollowed-out corpse in a secret room.

"Impossible, since the beginning of my memory, the intestinal flow sacrifice has disappeared..."

President Anado shook his head vigorously, as if he was still immersed in the weird scene just now and couldn't extricate himself.

"As for the Mianliu sacrifice in the village, the ritual process is just a witch dance, and the villagers use the sacrificial shovel to tear the cotton inside the doll and put it into the river..."

He is proud of the "Anado family" and sticks to the village, but he can't accept it no matter what. Below the shrine of the clan, a poor woman has been sacrificed alive.

"Ryoma, bring in the tools and gasoline in the car for me."

Halfway up from the basement, Sousuke Araki's expression suddenly became serious.

"Then, you can take President Anado out, and leave the next thing to me..."

...

After half an hour.

"Lu Doujun, there is only one confirmed handwritten genealogy, and it is already in my hands."

"It's hard work, Araki-kun, I've been busy here all morning, and I have completely erased the traces on the relevant websites and search engines."

Sosuke Araki is standing under the torii gate, talking on the phone with someone far away in Tokyo~lightnovelpub.net~ That, when you're done, come back as soon as possible... Kotori Yu went to school, about yesterday The late action report, I can't confirm many details by myself..."

"You don't know, the old lady hasn't slept since last night, she has been busy researching the 'crystal' that you made with your joint efforts, and the picture scroll that can't take out the 'bowl', the only person who can stop her is is you! 』

"Understood, I'll come back directly after I'm done with it."

After hanging up the phone filled with the complaints of Kukai Ludou, Sousuke Araki's piercing pupils reflected the light of the fire rising from the sky.

"Really, crystals or something, they all said not to use such misleading words indiscriminately..."

Not far in front of him, the quaint main hall of the shrine was lingering in the blazing fire.

"Crackling...Boom!"

Under the roaring black smoke and the sound of wood breaking, the main beam supporting the house collapsed, and the roof collapsed, revealing the still burning wooden tables and chairs and pieces of spiritual tablets.