In an entirely white room devoid of any colour variation.
The middle-aged man previously handcuffed beside Sharon was drenched in cold sweat, his lips turning blueish-purple as he emitted muffled whimpers.
Twenty minutes had passed since the vicious woman who kidnapped him disappeared.
During these twenty minutes, the man had initially been terrified, then calmed somewhat upon realising he wasn't being harmed - only to become more frightened than ever.
Because he'd realised that all sounds - birdsong from the forest, insects crawling over decaying leaves, the breeze against his skin, even the voice of that vicious nun who'd kidnapped him - had vanished entirely ten minutes ago.
Only now did he understand he was trapped in a world without sound, without wind, without any fluctuations whatsoever.
And only now did he realise that the nun's talk of sacrifice had been deadly serious.
He had truly been sacrificed, and most likely to the Evil God worshipped by that malicious nun.
'Amaterasu Omikami!! Please, if I have committed any sins, judge me by the law instead of sacrificing me to an Evil God!!'
As the middle-aged man whimpered and wailed...
Within his subconscious, an ethereal woman with a white hairband, straight black hair, and a dark blue school uniform walked through his consciousness.
This ethereal woman was naturally a fragment of Utaha Kasumigaoka's consciousness.
At this moment, she was relying on Excellent Rank Hypnosis to perform deep Mind Reading, delving into the depths of the middle-aged man's psyche.
As if descending a staircase within his mind, Utaha saw fleeting scenes flash before her eyes.
Among these scenes...
There was a joyful moment of the middle-aged man playing baseball with his son on a park lawn.
There was a scene in a dimly lit warehouse where a bloodied man knelt before him, begging for mercy.
There was a high-end club where the middle-aged man and a group of similarly aged men were naked with a crowd of young, imprudent women.
Utaha gazed coldly at these memories surfacing from the depths, utterly unaffected by any of them.
Until she stopped at the next step, pausing before one particular scene.
In this scene...
Inside a luxurious office.
The middle-aged man stood reporting to another man.
"Found it." Utaha slightly raised her head, observing the man from the middle-aged man's perspective.
The man had a high hairline, a plump, round face with shallow wrinkles, and the classic 'hygiene moustache' often sported by older Japanese men.
Overall, he appeared to be a kindly, portly grandfather, exuding an air of benevolent prosperity.
Yet Utaha knew very well this 'grandfather' had appeared in the middle-aged man's memory of that debauched KTV gathering, faintly recognisable as one of the central figures.
With icy detachment, Utaha watched the middle-aged man's report to this portly elder. After listening for a while, her ethereal form gradually faded from the man's psyche.
When Utaha opened her eyes again, she was met with Luo Shu's gentle, handsome face.
"You weren't hurt, were you?"
Though he'd followed Utaha's perspective through the system's capabilities during that deep mental dive, lacking her ability to hear the subject's thoughts in real time left Luo Shu slightly concerned.
After all, from Utaha's current dazed expression, she didn't exactly look like she'd returned safely.
Could she have suffered some mental contamination in the psychic realm that he hadn't been able to detect?
To Luo Shu's surprise, Utaha stared fixedly at him for a long moment before declaring with blissful sincerity:
"I suddenly realise how truly blessed I am to open my eyes and see this face of yours."
Hearing this, Luo Shu's face darkened: "So you're using my face as eye bleach now?"
"Isn't this nice?" Utaha Kasumigaoka teased with a mischievous smile, sitting up from the sofa where she'd been reclining. "It means your appearance perfectly hits the sweet spot for this humble believer of yours, doesn't it?"
Hearing this, Luo Shu rolled his eyes at her, still unaccustomed to Utaha's flirtatious remarks.
At that moment, Utaha raised her hand and gently pressed her temples, alleviating some mental fatigue as she said:
"Although I deliberately gave myself suggestions to ignore disgusting things when I see them, I didn't expect there to be so many of those images..."
Earlier, when the middle-aged man had his mental breakdown, Utaha had already been deep-diving into his psyche for quite some time.
The mere thought of those scenes involving sexual acts, various abuses towards women, and persecution of others made Utaha feel nauseous.
While she'd long anticipated the filth of the adult world, only now did she realise she'd been too naive about how depraved people could be.
Compared to that middle-aged man Luo Shu had confined in the pale room, Luo Shu's occasional glances at her seemed positively saintly...
"The man captured by Sharon is named Ken Yakushiji. He's the managing director of a subsidiary company in the Yakushiji Group responsible for military food supplies, Ryōko Yakushiji's cousin, and the Yakushiji family member directly connected to Truth Astronomy."
Hearing the Yakushiji surname, Luo Shu immediately showed understanding:
"Which Yakushiji member is collaborating with Truth Astronomy to attempt demonic possession?"
"Katsuhiko Yakushiji."
Utaha recalled the plump, seemingly benevolent-looking man with visible disgust:
"71 years old this year, executive at police equipment enterprise JACES, head of the pharmaceutical division. He's Ryōko Yakushiji's uncle and the actual biological father of our captive Ken Yakushiji."
Hearing the term "actual biological father," Luo Shu froze momentarily before sighing at the messiness of elite circles:
"The person in charge of pharmaceuticals pursuing a demon's body... seems Katsuhiko Yakushiji must be having health issues?"
Surprisingly, Utaha shook her head:
"His body has no problems. Or at least, in Ken Yakushiji's perception, with monthly check-ups and dedicated medical care, Katsuhiko is healthier than any elderly person he knows."
"Hmm?" Luo Shu raised an eyebrow at this. With no illness or disaster, why would someone pursue demonhood?
As Luo Shu puzzled over this, Utaha said with revulsion:
"According to Ken Yakushiji's thoughts, Katsuhiko's reason for pursuing demonic reincarnation is simple: having indulged in all worldly pleasures, he now wants to become a long-lived woman to experience the other gender's delights."
"Ha?"
Luo Shu blinked in astonishment at this, only managing after a long pause to say with a strange expression:
"So he's... a pervert?"
"...It does appear to be the case."
Utaha paused before nodding in agreement.
At this revelation, Luo Shu fell silent.
He'd considered possibilities like impending death driving the man to seek longevity, or demonic reincarnation for power - but never imagined someone would want to become a woman just to experience a different life.
Truly, the longer you live, the more you see.
"Does Ken Yakushiji's memory contain the location of the demon's sealing ground?"
"It does," Utaha Kasumigaoka confirmed.
"Where is it?" Luo Shu asked.
Utaha glanced at Luo Shu before parting her cherry lips to reply:
"Chiba!"