If I don't have money to go to college, I can only go to slay the dragon.

Regarding the Akayu Sanatorium, even for the locals, the place is something like an urban legend, because there is no clear station to reach this product that dates back to the Taisho era.

According to the memories of the older generation, that place should be located in Okutama Town at the western end of Tokyo, bordering Yamanashi Prefecture, hidden in the folded mountains of Chichibu Tama Kai National Park.

According to local elders, the sanatorium can be traced back to 1919 when the "Hot Spring Hotel Repair Order" was implemented. The sanatorium is located in the geothermal area of ​​the mountains. Its natural sulfur hot springs attracted many outsiders to travel that year and it became famous for a while.

Later, the sanatorium fell into decline due to a missing person case that made headlines in newspapers at the time. After that, no one was interested in the hot spring resort hidden in the mountains that was once regarded as a holy place for health treatment.

Nowadays, the name of the Akayu Sanatorium appears most frequently in posts about supernatural stories and urban legends on Japanese Internet forums. There was a time before when many young people from Tokyo came here in groups for adventure, but most of them failed to find the supernatural holy land and got lost inexplicably in the undeveloped forests, causing a lot of trouble and issues for the local forestry bureau and local police.

Until now, the popularity of the Akayu Sanatorium has gradually declined, but recently some voices have appeared on the Internet forum, swearing that they saw a ghost bus at Okutama Station on the JR Itsukaichi Line, and the bus had a red license plate of Akayu No. 1 on it.

Many people on the forum just treated the post as a joke. After all, the ghost bus was too old-fashioned and not even as attractive as the story of a mental hospital, so it naturally did not attract much attention.

However, only a very, very small number of people know that the bus with the Akatang No. 1 license plate is actually real, and the Akatang Sanatorium exists, even today.

Among those who know the secret, the Akatang Sanatorium has never been a legend. It is a real place that is still in business today, but the people it serves are no longer ordinary citizens, nor the welfare center for the disabled.

Yasuhiro Onodera is one such insider who is on his way to the Akayu Sanatorium.

As a senior official of the Ministry of the Environment, he should have been recuperating in a sauna in Tokyo with big-breasted and long-legged masseuses, but for some reason he resolutely embarked on a journey to find the Akayu sanatorium.

Yasuhiro Onodera was diagnosed with cancer, stage IV lung adenocarcinoma (EGFR gene mutation type) in January this year. Although he could not understand the words in the medical report, such as [4.8 cm mass in the right lower lobe of the lung with bone/liver metastasis], [gene detection showed L858R mutation and TP53 inactivation], [PD-L1 expression \u003c1% immune treatment ineffective], he could feel that his health was getting worse.

It may be that the cup of tap water filtered near the Fukushima nuclear power plant was to blame. Although there were traces of showmanship in it, the officials on the island of Fukushima assured him that the radiation in this cup of water was definitely within the controllable range. Only then did he drink it with peace of mind in front of the camera of Tokyo TV, so that all the citizens of Tokyo could rest assured about the water safety in Fukushima.

But from that day on, his health began to deteriorate day by day, until the bad news was confirmed in the hospital. At that moment, he felt dizzy and as if his bones were pulled out. The sense of superiority that was usually supported by all kinds of power and the glitz of fame and fortune collapsed in an instant. From the ruins struggled a bloody, emaciated man in his forties, a bald man.

He used almost all the connections he could in Tokyo, went from one hospital to another, and changed attending physicians one after another. In the end, he was told that the disease was discovered too late and the only way out now was to prolong his life through chemotherapy.

As he was repeatedly sentenced to death, Onodera almost collapsed. He even considered dying for the rest of his life. But at this moment, his former friend in the officialdom learned about his situation and privately handed him a business card, telling him that the big hospitals couldn't help, but perhaps some traditional and unconventional ways could help him.

The business card is still kept close to Onodera in a small iron box in the inner pocket of his suit. It is pure black with gold-stamped edges and corners. In the center of the front is a blood-red circle with an elegant Chinese character "鬼". On the back is a name:

Sakurai Kogure.

Onodera used his connections to investigate this man named Sakurai Kogure, but did not get any reliable intelligence. The only news he received was that in their circle, people like him who suddenly fell seriously ill seemed to have searched for this name through the intelligence network, but in the end they suddenly stopped and kept quiet, as if nothing had happened.

When desperate, one should try anything. Onodera finally understood the meaning of this sentence. He, who had always been dismissive of cults and all kinds of charlatans, made the call without any hesitation.

A very gentle and delicate female voice came from the other end of the phone, which made people feel very comfortable just listening to it, and at the same time, a smoldering flame would inexplicably be ignited in their hearts.

The woman named Sakurai Kogure told Onodera that the business card represented an organization called the Oni Clan. They were very powerful and their business was unimaginably broad. Since Onodera was able to obtain the business card, it meant that he was qualified to become a potential customer of the Oni Clan.

According to the woman, anyone who calls this number using the business card has a request, either for wealth, beauty, or fame and fortune, so this business card only follows one rule, that is, the person on the other end of the phone makes a wish, and they will fulfill this wish for this person, and the prerequisite is that this person must do something for them.

Onodera expressed his wish on the phone. He thought that his wish would be met with a huge demand from the other party, who would ask him to donate all his property or become a complete slave of this organization called the Demon Clan. But he was wrong.

After hearing Onodera's humble request, Sakurai Kogure on the other end of the phone still maintained her gentle voice, which made people imagine a beautiful Yamato Nadeshiko in a kimono kneeling beside the phone, stroking the back of her hand with a smile on her lips. She told Onodera that the Oni Clan could make this wish come true, and all Onodera had to do for them was sign a few documents.

The next day, Onodera returned to the office of the Environment Bureau. There were several documents to be processed on his desk. They were about the approval documents for the water plant and the maintenance and construction of Tokyo's sewer system and some matters related to the contractor. He was not sure whether these documents were the ones that Sakurai Kogure mentioned on the phone, because these documents were too normal and there was nothing wrong with them. The biggest problem he could think of was that the contractor was taking kickbacks from the construction company. But wasn't this something that every contractor was doing and every official was approving?

In any case, Onodera went through those documents quickly. He thought he would have to wait for a long time, and was even prepared to be cheated and stood up. But that evening, when he returned home, he found that someone had turned on the light in his dining room, and the white chandelier illuminated an extra ticket on the table.

Now, Onodera was standing here, alone at the entrance of a deserted tunnel in the wilderness. Just standing here made him feel uneasy, and he thought of an episode in the cartoon about the spongebob cube that his son was most afraid of, in which the spongebob cube was thrown into a village under a cliff, which was full of deep-sea fish. If he wanted to leave, he could only stand at the bus stop where he could never get a bus.

Onodera didn't remember the ending of the cartoon. At least the yellow square sponge in the cartoon was accompanied by a pink starfish. Now he can only rely on himself. He sits alone at the abandoned bus stop with a briefcase in his arms. From time to time, he turns his head to look into the depths of the dark tunnel. He always feels that there is a cold wind blowing out of it, and the foul smell of rotting wood fills his nose.

Time passed by minute by minute, or maybe time was frozen by some force. Sitting at the bus stop, Onodera felt that the night had never been so long. He used to sleep on women's bellies and thighs, and when he was a little drunk, he would just close his eyes and open them again and the sky would be bright. But today's night seemed to have no end. The cold wind scraping his bones made him feel that he would almost die here before cancer.

The chirping of partridges and crickets came from the deserted forest. Just when Onodera's eyes were about to close, he suddenly heard a sharp sound of air deflating. It was the air brake system of the large passenger bus. The unique sound of compressed air releasing when braking was so harsh in the forest.

Just when Onodera was about to suffocate, he suddenly seemed to remember something, and quickly reached into his briefcase and pulled out the ticket, shouting with a choked voice, "I, I, I'm a passenger!"

The driver's eyes became less oppressive after seeing the ticket in Onodera's hand. He finally moved his eyes away and said, "Get in the car. It's almost time."

What time? When will we go to Sanzu River?

Onodera walked onto the bus with his briefcase in his arms in great panic, and sat down in an empty seat. The vehicle then closed its door and began to move forward into the dark tunnel.

The driver was only focused on driving and didn't talk. There was no radio or music to listen to. Onodera was the only passenger in the car. He tried to take out his cell phone, but found that there was no signal after entering the tunnel. He could only sit in his seat numbly and fearfully, carefully glancing at the driver's back from the corner of his eyes from time to time, regretting whether it was a good idea to come here.

The bus passed through the tunnel and drove completely between the mountains. The forest blocked any eyes from exploring outside. A tributary of the Tama River flowed through the woods. Waiting anxiously, Onodera gradually saw man-made buildings other than trees from the window. It was a huge open space, like a parking lot, with a signboard of [Tokyo Disability Welfare Association Designated Facility], and the parking lot was full of expensive luxury cars. The most shocking thing was that he actually saw several familiar license plates of real top figures.

The bus drove further away, its tires rolling over the mud and welcoming the warm street lights. This Dazheng Secret Institute that had disappeared for seventy years finally revealed its true appearance to tonight's distinguished guests.

Located at the edge of the sea of ​​trees, the century-old beech forest surrounds the area and forms a natural barrier with the mountains. Even at night, there is a hazy night fog and the strong smell of sulfur springs. The main building surrounding it is a three-story wooden main building. Even late at night, the lights are on, and people walking inside can be seen through the arched painted glass windows.

The bus stopped at the entrance of the open-air hot spring outside the main building. Twelve maids in white wedding gowns holding green lanterns knelt in front of the corridor outside the main building to greet us. The sulfurous smell of the hot spring rose with steam. The leading maid raised her light golden eyes like glass and looked at Onodera Yasuhiro who was restrained and shocked by the scene before him. "Mr. Onodera, your visiting card has been checked by the ghosts. Please follow us to the main building to sit and rest for a while."