Gamers Are Fierce

...

Ogasawara was silent for a moment, nodded very slowly, and said: Indeed.

In mid-July of Showa 54, Enkeki Village held an Enkeki celebration according to usual customs.

Everything was carried out according to the plan of the Hiratsuka family,

But when the invisible person chose the candidate for the Karma Sacrifice, a deviation occurred.

My elder brother Ryosuke Fujimura took my place.

Li Ang nodded, I know this.

We investigated the Fujimura family's house,

I discovered that Ryosuke Fujimura’s original surname was Matsuoka, which is your mother’s surname.

He is your uncle's son.

...That's right.

Ogasawara took a deep breath and said: When we were young, we were close in height and weight, and looked very similar.

All villagers and foreign tourists are required to wear neng masks that day.

I don’t remember anything before, but this is my first time to attend the Marriage Ceremony.

Because I was naughty and playful, I exchanged kimonos with Ryousuke to see if others could notice our differences.

As a result, no one else, including my mother, noticed anything unusual and watched the shrine performance as usual.

Out of some sense of disappointment, I quietly left the shrine on my own midway through the performance, before the effects of Guiquan Liquor took effect.

It just happened to miss the time when the Hiratsuka family's Mekakure entered the shrine.

My mother, and Ryosuke, who she thought was me, were taken to the Return Spring Well to perform a Karma Festival.

In the end, the ritual failed, and the resentment of Huangquan Kingdom failed to subside. Instead, it spewed out wantonly, killing everyone in Yuanke Village.

Yuanke Village itself was also involved in the inexplicable zone between the eternal world and the underworld.

It's all my responsibility, and now it's time to make things right.

He held up one of the twine ropes,

He said slowly: I need and am destined to die here.

Only by sinking into the abyss can I get the Karma Festival back on track.

He took a deep look at the two of them and said complicatedly: When you were eight years old, I went to investigate Yuanke Village, but ended up falling into it and missed your growth.

I was a selfish, unfit father.

Take this key and leave before it's too late.

Ogasawara took out a strange-shaped key from the black hair on his body, This key can open the trap door in the backyard of Fujimura's house. Through the trap door, you can directly connect to the outside world.

The other side of the previous trap door was sealed by the strange power lingering over Yuanke Village.

After I complete the Karma Sacrifice, I should be able to reseal the underworld and allow the other side of the trap door to open.

Following Masaki Ogasawara's words, the entire underground space began to shake and shake again. A large amount of yellow sand and dust fell, and the entire space seemed to collapse in the next second.

Under such circumstances, Li Ang did not panic at all. As a result, he waved his hand and said, No hurry.

What I want to know is, didn't you escape from Yuanke Village in a state of amnesia? Did you recall these things yourself?

Um.

Ogasawara Masaki said: I have indeed lost all the memories of my childhood. I only remember that I was covered in mud, walking in the mountains and forests of Okamori Prefecture.

Later, he was adopted by the Ogasawara family.

Because of some mysterious feeling and the memory fragments that often troubled me, I finally became a folklorist as an adult and came into contact with the news about Yuanke Village.

I...like you, walked into the mountains and forests of Gangson County and entered the ruins of Yuanke Village.

Here I came into contact with familiar things before, slowly recovered my previous memories, collected a lot of clues, and worked hard to restore the truth of all events.

But he was also tightly bound by Yuanke Village and could not escape. He became like this now, sometimes sober and sometimes confused and losing his mind.

After I found out that you entered Yuanke Village, I was afraid that I would hurt you, so I went down to the Guiquan Well, preparing to take the last step and end everything.

Is that so?

Li Ang nodded and said calmly: I want to know the role played by Shuhei Fujimura in this incident.

Watching the Yuan Carving Ceremony is a must for most villagers and tourists, so why didn’t he stay with you, mother and son?

...Because he is a noodle master.

Ogasawara Masayuki explained: “The Fujimura family has always been the family in the village that makes Noh noodles.

We are responsible for carving Noh noodles using special wood, trees that are watered with Guiquan well water.

Such a mask itself will be contaminated by the abnormality of the returning spring water.

When it is worn on the face of a Noh performer, it can match the performer's dancing and singing, further amplifying the hallucinogenic ability of Guizhen sake, making everyone immersed in it.

That day, an actor's neng mask was slightly damaged, so he went backstage for temporary maintenance.

On this point, I believe you,

Li Ang nodded and said: But I think this is not the whole truth.

Um?

Ogasawara Shouzhi was stunned when he heard this, What did you say...

As you just said, only two people with strong and inseparable emotional bonds can correctly trigger the Karmic Sacrifice and complete the seal of the Kingdom of Hell.

Li Ang said: Why can you guarantee that you can complete the seal after sinking into the abyss?

...because she's still alive.

Ogasawara was silent for a moment, then pointed to the metal square box hanging on the edge of the cliff, Due to deviations in rituals, my mother has been in a state of neither life nor death, without any awareness of the outside world.

In the past few years, I wanted to end it all, but I couldn't let go of her and my father beside Guiquan Well.

It has been delayed until now.

If you use me as a sacrifice, you can reactivate the Karmic Sacrifice...

etc.

Wang Congshan raised her hand and said: The Karmic Sacrifice requires two people with a strong and inseparable emotional bond, right?

This somewhat cruel and evil ritual kills two people every four years.

For a remote and closed village, the manpower consumption is too great, and it is difficult to guarantee that it will be enough every four years.

It is for this reason that the Hiratsuka family has to hold a grand ceremony to celebrate the anniversary, publicize it to the outside world, invite tourists, and even invite your teacher, the equally well-known folklorist, to come to the mansion.

Those tourists from outside are also candidates for the Karma Festival, right?

Because of the strange myth of Yuanshan, many people who have no interest in life and have death aspirations go up to Yuanshan every year, and then disappear.

Even if he disappears occasionally, it won't arouse much suspicion.

Seeing Ogasawara nodding in recognition, Wang Congshan continued: Then the Karma Festival between Fujimura Masumi and Fujimura Ryosuke should not fail.

According to you, there is no compulsory blood relationship to hold the Karma Festival. Relationships between brothers and sisters, lovers, and even friends can be valid.

Masumi Fujimura and Ryosuke Fujimura are mother and son, and Masumi Fujimura regards Ryousuke as you.

How could it fail?

...

Ogasawara's words suddenly stopped and he stood silently.

If I'm not mistaken, most of what you told us was correct, but on key issues, you lied.

And this kind of lie is not to protect yourself, but to protect another person.

Wang Congshan said calmly: The real reason for the failure of the Karma Festival is Fujimura Masumi, right?

She knew for sure that it was the adopted Ryosuke who was taken away, not you.

Even after the effects of the Guiquan wine wore off and memories came flooding back, I didn't feel too much pain or regret.

It is even possible to speculate in a darker and narrower direction that all this came from her planning.