The Mystery of Fangshi Edo

I thought I would see dark corridors and research facilities with a strange atmosphere, but after walking down the long stairs to the ground, I found that the place was surprisingly bright, with warm lights illuminating every corner, and I could vaguely hear the machines running The sound is loud, but not at all to the point where it would be noisy.

Not only that, even the air is very fresh, without the damp, cold and dusty feeling of ordinary basements. It seems that the ventilation facilities and heating systems here have been working well.

The ceiling is also at a height that does not feel oppressive, and the neatly painted walls are decorated with extremely realistic green plants.

After passing through the corridor, the first thing that comes into view is a spacious hall, which is also brightly lit, and the floor is covered with thick light-colored blankets. It looks so clean that Fang Shi Yangming subconsciously wants to take off his shoes and walk.

Rows of small bookcases that are about the height of an adult's knee are placed on both sides, and a corridor runs across the middle. Beside those bookcases, some small chairs are scattered on round wooden tables. Next to it, there were still books spread out on two tables, and the chairs were also pulled away and did not return to their original positions.

Looks like someone was here not too long ago.

Fang Shi Yangming looked at the table that was closer to him, took a closer look, and found that it was a book about music theory, with various annotations scratched on it, and the handwriting should be left by a child.

"...Is this a music classroom?"

He put down the book after only a few glances, and turned his attention to another book next to it, which recorded the methods of cultivating garden plants.

It became a nature class again.

That said, the kids here are free to learn subjects that interest them...or so it seems.

After turning around in the hall twice, he found the bathroom and a place similar to the cafeteria, but there were no new clues, so after thinking for a while, he walked to the deepest door and pushed it open with his hand.

"..."

It was another downward staircase, but finally there were words.

After opening that door, the first thing that catches the eye is a long wooden carving hanging on the top:

【Salvation requires suffering】

"It's still streamlined, but wouldn't it be better to replace it with something like 'study hard'?"

Fang Shi Yangming twitched the corner of his mouth, but with just this line of words, he could already feel the abnormality of this institution, or this 'Salvation Ranch'.

He walked downstairs, and those ominous premonitions were verified when he reached the second basement floor.Unlike the warmly decorated ground floor, this one is white from floor to wall.

[Abandon useless beliefs, you are the savior himself. 】

Apart from the words engraved on the metal plate above, the world is covered in an inorganic cool color, and the sound of mechanical operation is also clearer, without any logos or decorations.

Fang Shi Yangming did not hesitate, and continued to move forward.

There are also some rooms on this floor, but they are basically locked. The sound of large machines running can be heard from the rooms. It should be a place similar to an electrical room or a control room.

"Mr. Gojo? Are you there?"

He asked a few questions in the empty corridor. Although the voice was not very loud, if Gojo Satoru was on this floor, he should be able to hear it.

But after waiting for a while, there was no response.

"It's only a few minutes difference, the speed of action is too fast..."

Fang Shi Yangming muttered something in his heart, and found an elevator in the depths of this floor.

There was a tear-like gap in the elevator door on this floor, which looked like something had forced it out from the inside, but fortunately, after clicking the button, the elevator was still usable.

Calling up the elevator car below, the young man walked in directly, and the first thing he noticed was a big hole on the top of the elevator, which was pitch black.

Then, there are only two buttons where the floors should be arranged, one of which is B2 where I am now, and the other is further below, without marking where it is.

"So far, it feels like it's a one-way street... Or, as an ordinary person, this is the only way I can go."

Mumbling helplessly, he pressed the button leading to the unknown.

……

"The relief that weaves all humanity into a music that never dies."

"A remedy to assimilate humans and plants, reduce strife and survive for long... tsk, crazy."

Gojo Satoru finished reading the several report-like documents in his hand in an instant, and then threw them aside, letting the unordered papers fly away. He looked down at the dying man on the ground, facing the muddy and old eyes, and spoke in a deep voice.

"I'm not interested in your methods of making monsters, tell me what happened to Jay?"

The man on the ground was wearing a shepherd's robe, with a long beard hanging down his chest, half of his body was almost gone, and he was spitting blood.But this is not Wujo Wugan, when he came here following the traces of the spell power, this scene was already in front of him——

Somewhere in the ground, in an area so damaged that its original appearance cannot be seen, the rancher Kensaku Mimuhara is dying, and Xia Youjie, just as he saw when he arrived a year ago, collapsed in the ruins not far away However, unlike in the past, Xia You seemed to be alive this time even though he was seriously injured.

……seem.

Because although his heart was still beating and his eyes were not completely dim, he was still staring blankly at the ceiling, as if he was an empty shell that had lost his soul. reaction.

So he turned his attention to the rancher on the other side.

"answer me."

He said lightly, and stepped on the other half of the man's body, which was still intact.

"……what."

The old rancher seemed to have just seen Gojo Satoru, and then, those cloudy eyes flickered with almost fanatical color again.

"Sure enough...it's 'wolf', the wolf is coming," he muttered inarticulately, as if he saw something in his own delusions, "sheep...

To the world...and to the wolf to redeem..."

……

Underground, reference room.

Fang Shi Yangming was flipping through what he found. It was a document like a research log, which recorded the way of cultivating the Savior.

For the children who come to the ranch, the rancher will first communicate with them, judge their "potential", and then brainwash the children from an early age.

"So that's why Miya became like that..."

Although it is normal at ordinary times, when talking about the topic of saving the world, the child will be extreme to an outrageous level, even if you say to her, "Let's kill people indiscriminately, everyone is polluted, this is to save the world.", then She will also gladly obey.

Because this is the kind of education that I have experienced since I was a child.

In addition, the rancher treats the children like an ordinary head of an orphanage. He takes good care of daily life. He cooks for the children, teaches them to wash clothes, reads fairy tales to them at night, They buy books and toys, and everything is as normal as it gets.

Only in terms of cultivating powerful abilities, he will suddenly break away from the role of a kind grandfather, and he himself seems to have some kind of spell, which can force children who were not born to be warlocks to obtain their own spells, But whether it can be used smoothly depends on the children themselves.

Not many people are successful.

Most of the children ended in failure, and only obtained semi-finished products or half-baked special abilities, and it didn't take long for them to disappear.

Such children will be labeled as "failed operation" on the document, and then the sentence "has left the ranch" will be written below, and they will be sent to ordinary orphanages.

Although all the things they believed in from birth until now will collapse, but after reshaping the normal world view, it is undoubtedly a good ending for these children.

What's more, because of the great uncertainty of its ability, it was directly executed secretly by ranchers in various ways under the pretext of 'preventing it from becoming a seed of disaster'.

After the resolution, the rancher will let everyone mourn the unfortunate "lost lamb", and believe that such cruel sacrifices are necessary on the way to salvation.

"This guy... is completely insane."

Fang Shi Yangming frowned.

Miya is a 'relief that devours everything and regenerates', but unfortunately it has a 'limited capacity' and cannot swallow so many things, so it is just a failure.

If she hadn't left the ranch because she got lost at the age of four, it would have ended the same way as other failures.

"...Rather than saving the world, it's more like cultivating disaster with your own hands."

If this institution is allowed to continue, someday the ranchers will produce children capable of destroying the world.

It has been confirmed that the cozy room I saw upstairs just now is completely an illusion.

The outcome of successful children is much better than that of failures. After they are judged as successful works, they will be sent back to society and continue to hide in society with distorted ideas.

"..."

Thinking about it now, it is not easy for Misa Mine Mitsuji to successfully recognize the abnormality of the ranch and integrate into the society.

Fang Shi Yangming sighed, and was about to continue to read other documents, but suddenly heard the sound of an alarm in the corridor.

"Why... Wow!"

The mountain shook for a while.

He fell to the ground, and then saw the ceiling above explode suddenly, and huge rubble fell towards him——

"..."

The moment his consciousness regained consciousness, Fang Shi Yangming asked "Huh?" in doubt, and soon realized that this was a 'reset'.

"In other words, did I die just now?"

There was no doubt about it, because the scene in front of him had changed from the gloomy reference room to the outside of the Salvation Ranch, with a deep starry sky overhead and gusts of evening wind.

Gojo Satoru stood not far away, and he seemed to be taken aback by this sudden change.

The strongest human being would definitely not die from the explosion just now, but because the reset condition of 'Fang Shi Yangming died' was triggered, he also returned to the original point.

"Mr. Gojo, what happened..."

Before he finished asking, Fang Shi Yangming saw the silver-haired man take off the things covering his eyes and stare straight in a certain direction.

Then--

"boom!"

It happened in an instant.

Wujo Wu's figure disappeared in place, and a long road leading underground appeared on the ground, as if it had been forcibly torn apart. The smoke and dust scattered in all directions, making Fang Shi Yangming cough uncontrollably.

"Ahem... Mister Gojo!?"

Does this guy still teleport?And it will destroy everything in a straight line distance?

To what extent is it unreasonable...

He covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve, looked at the road that looked solid, and ran into it.

At the end of the road, there is an area covered by the traces left by the battle. Such a scene seems to be caused by opening up many rooms.

On the ground next to him was an old man wearing shepherd's clothes, who had lost half of his body, and on the other side, Gojo Satoru was talking next to the black-haired man in the ruins.

Fang Shi Yangming went over to listen and found that what he said was: "Tell me."

It turned out to be the case.

Looking at Xia Youjie who looked like an empty shell, Fang Shi Yangming thought in his heart.

With this road alone, it is impossible to save this person no matter what, and it is too late.

And the reason why I persuaded Gojo Satoru to help was "all this can be redeemed", but now it seems that it takes a lot of effort.

—However, so far, everything has been as he thought.