"Oh, trying to build atmosphere here, are we?"
Seeing the black figures constantly flashing past behind the two semi-transparent yellowish windows, Ye Xing chuckled lightly. Before Tamamo-no-Mae could stop him, he strode forward and opened the stairwell door.
"Ye Xing-kun..."
Just as Tamamo-no-Mae tried to intervene, she discovered that when Ye Xing pulled open the door where figures had been constantly flashing behind the window, only a pure white wall appeared before them.
She quickly stepped forward, shielding Ye Xing behind her, and cautiously peered outside.
Beyond lay an ordinary hospital corridor, lined on both sides with patient rooms, each with a small transparent window.
Apart from the complete absence of lighting, and the chilling darkness and silence that stirred unease in one's heart, there was nothing particularly unusual.
"The figures from earlier..."
Tamamo-no-Mae pressed her lips tightly together, her eyes showing tension as she carefully examined the surroundings, appearing as if facing a formidable enemy.
If some terrifying, mad evil spirit had actually appeared after opening the door, she would have felt somewhat relieved.
As long as it could be seen, it could be killed.
But this bizarre phenomenon - being able to see figures moving about earlier, yet finding nothing unusual after opening the door - made Tamamo-no-Mae feel increasingly tense.
"Quite interesting."
Ye Xing still maintained his relaxed demeanour. He also scanned the long corridor before them, but his expression was completely different from Tamamo-no-Mae's.
No fear, no tension, no wariness.
Only the almost mad desire of someone starving desperately searching for hidden food.
Noticing the look in Ye Xing's eyes, Tamamo-no-Mae had only one thought.
The poor child is truly famished.
Ye Xing-kun...
Has he been controlled by his appetite and emptiness, losing his usual caution, going mad to the point of losing his rationality?
Clearly, this corridor must be hiding some kind of trap.
And for the current Ye Xing...
Trapped by the lure of food.
"Sigh."
Seeing Ye Xing enter the corridor without hesitation, Tamamo-no-Mae could only sigh helplessly and immediately followed him.
"Hmm... There's no one in the wards, oh wait, no ghosts either..."
Peering through the small windows on the ward doors, Ye Xing examined the furnishings in each room.
Bloodstained sheets dyed dark red, almost black with filth; curtains swaying in the breeze from slightly open windows, as if someone was hiding behind them; and floors caked with congealed blood trails.
It had to be said, the atmosphere was perfectly crafted.
If this place were made into a horror game, it would undoubtedly become hugely popular.
Like most ordinary people, Tamamo-no-Mae's nerves were stretched taut in this eerie silence, constantly on guard against monsters that might suddenly leap out from any corner.
Ye Xing's thoughts were quite different.
'Bloody hell, hasn't the trigger event happened yet? Why isn't it coming out? I'm getting impatient.'
Kyoto's number one eroge shooter truly lived up to his reputation.
Even in such a terrifying environment, Ye Xing's current mindset was exactly like that of R-18 eroge players.
He wished he could mash the skip button, rapidly skip through all the plot, unlock all the CG images, and then start enjoying himself.
Watching Ye Xing's impatient, excited and expectant expression, Tamamo-no-Mae couldn't tell whether the evil spirits were hiding in the shadows to create a more frightening atmosphere to torment those who entered this area, or whether they were too scared to come out because of this clearly mentally unstable exorcist.
She couldn't distinguish, truly couldn't distinguish.
"Oh?"
Just then, Tamamo-no-Mae suddenly heard Ye Xing, who was walking ahead, make a surprised sound.
She quickly took two steps forward and followed his gaze to see a strange figure sitting in the hospital room, with both hands and feet bound by leather restraints, and bandages wrapped around its face.
From beneath the blood-stained bandages, only a pair of bloodshot eyes were visible, turning with doll-like mechanical movements as they looked towards Tamamo-no-Mae and Ye Xing standing outside the hospital room.
The moment their gazes met...
The previously calm corridor suddenly began to tremble, with the overhead lights flickering and emitting blinding flashes of light.
In the flickering white light, every time darkness returned, the bandaged figure in the hospital room would disappear.
When the lights came on, it had already stood up from the bed.
With the flickering of the lights, it approached the hospital room door like a ghost until finally, its entire face was pressed against the small window.
Just as the bandaged figure pressed its face against the window, piercing shrieks of children and women echoed through the corridor, making Tamamo-no-Mae feel like her eardrums were about to burst.
This sudden, bizarre spectacle - as if the entire mental hospital had been stimulated and finally awakened - made Tamamo-no-Mae's face pale.
"Ye... Ye Xing-kun, we... we need to quickly..."
Before Tamamo-no-Mae could say the word "leave", she saw Ye Xing nodding with deep agreement.
"Exactly, we need to get in quickly before this bloody thing escapes."
Before Tamamo-no-Mae could react, Ye Xing had already extended his left hand and grabbed the door handle of the hospital room.
He tried turning it a couple of times but found it wouldn't open.
"Open up right now."
Ye Xing pointed seriously at the bandaged face behind the small window and declared with righteous authority.
"Hurry up, room inspection, open the door!"
The bandaged evil spirit's eyes froze for a moment, seemingly not expecting this kind of situation.
"Not opening, eh?"
Ye Xing suddenly pressed his own face against the window too, separated from the bandaged evil spirit's face by just a single pane of glass. His eyes filled with excitement and anticipation as he whispered softly.
"Let me in quickly!"
Seeing Ye Xing like this, the bandaged evil spirit instinctively placed its hand on the door handle, clicked the lock shut, took several steps back, and stood there not knowing what to do.
For some reason, it felt an emotion it had never experienced before - fear.
The human standing outside the door showed no trace of spiritual power...
Yet the bandaged monster evil spirit instinctively knew that if this person were to enter its hospital room, something... truly terrifying would happen.
"Won't you let me in?"
Ye Xing's face broke into a kindly smile as he spoke in a gentle, coaxing tone.
"Be a good child and let big brother in."
The bandaged monster evil spirit trembled, then - to Tamamo-no-Mae's astonishment - actually lay back down on the hospital bed, pulling the bloodstained, filthy blanket over its head while continuing to shiver.
"Tch, won't let us in..."
Seeing Ye Xing's disappointed expression, Tamamo-no-Mae was utterly dumbfounded.
Good heavens, she could only think good heavens.
Even among the evil spirits of the Reverse World, those in the mental hospital area were considered the most insane category.
After all, they were manifestations born from people's negative impressions of mental hospitals - essentially, the mental patients among evil spirits.
Yet even the most deranged evil spirits felt instinctive fear when facing Ye Xing.
This guy... was different from ordinary exorcists.
He wanted to kill evil spirits, wanted to devour them, wanted to watch them wail and struggle in agony - simply because he derived greater pleasure and enjoyment from it.
"Since they won't let us in..."
Ye Xing released the door handle and chuckled softly.
"Let's just forget it then."
...
Five minutes later.
The bandaged monster evil spirit hiding under the blanket cautiously peeked through the small window to check outside the hospital room.
That human... had disappeared.
This finally allowed it to relax somewhat.
Sitting up on the bed, the bandaged monster continued observing through the small window, confirming that the human was truly no longer outside.
Since its birth, it had never encountered something like this...
Something it couldn't even describe.
Like a being that merely wore human skin, while containing nothing but pure madness within.
The bandaged monster had seen many evil spirits that mistakenly entered the mental hospital building and reached its floor.
Some were frightened away by its power; others knew they had no escape and resisted in despair.
But it had never seen anyone who, in such circumstances, still desperately wanted to break in.
Fortunately, that guy had left.
What puzzled the bandaged monster evil spirit was that, although the human male had departed, why...
Why did that intensely dangerous feeling of being watched still persist?
Just then.
The bandaged monster evil spirit suddenly felt a cool breath against its neck.
Followed by a cheerful greeting.
"Yahallo."
"I'm in!"
The bandaged monster evil spirit shuddered violently, terror flashing in its eyes. Without hesitation, it immediately dashed toward the hospital room door, grabbed the handle and tried to escape into the corridor.
But a human arm seized its left ankle firmly before it could flee.
The bandaged monster evil spirit lay prone on the ground, its hands flailing incessantly, blood oozing from its body and leaving a long trail of smeared marks on the floor.
"No... no!"
Amidst its desperate cries, the ward's door was gently closed by a pair of slender, jade-like hands.
Accompanied by the sounds of flesh-tearing and the bandaged monster evil spirits weeping screams, silence returned to the corridor after just over ten seconds.
"Eating with one hand really is quite inconvenient."
Watching Ye Xing grip the bandaged monster evil spirit's head with one hand while pressing his right foot against its chest, violently tearing off the twisted, horrifying head before opening his mouth to devour all the black Qi the head transformed into, Tamamo-no-Mae wore a complicated expression, unsure how to evaluate what she'd witnessed.
As an evil spirit herself, she could imagine the sheer terror the bandaged monster evil spirit must have experienced.
There was no helping it.
The exorcist was simply too cunning.
You won't open the door?
Fine.
Then I'll come through the window.
First the head, then the left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg, and finally the entire torso.
Watching Ye Xing devour this bandaged monster evil spirit piece by piece as if dismembering a body, Tamamo-no-Mae strongly suspected whether he was doing this because he'd expended too much power to consume it all at once, or simply because he preferred this more cruel approach.
Since she had doubts, she asked.
"Ye Xing-kun... why are you eating it bit by bit?"
"Hmm? Oh, this."
Only after greedily swallowing the last wisp of black Qi transformed from the bandaged monster evil spirit did Ye Xing look up at Tamamo-no-Mae, replying with a light laugh.
"No particular reason. When eating bread, don't you sometimes tear it into small pieces too? Just for amusement, that's all."
After saying this, Ye Xing didn't linger, leading Tamamo-no-Mae out through the ward's door.
In the flickering, dim yellow light, what was reflected was his face - handsome and smiling, yet carrying a demonic quality that sent chills down one's spine.
"I... am still very hungry."
...
At dawn the next day.
While Ye Xing and Tamamo-no-Mae were embarking on a culinary journey through the high-difficulty instance of the mental hospital in the Reverse World, Miko Yotsuya, Yui Yuigahama, and Mai Sakurajima hadn't been idle at all.
"Number one hundred and forty-five."
Miko Yotsuya swung the pale golden Mikazuki Munechika, the sharp spiritual blade directly piercing through an evil spirit's skull.
She looked up, gazing at the slowly rising sun on the horizon, murmuring to herself.
"The sky... has brightened..."
Human Hour, one of the two time periods when humans could pass through a Gate, had arrived.
"Futaba, should we have Hachishaku-sama open a Gate? After a night's rest, her power should have mostly recovered, right?"
Hearing Miko's question, Rio Futaba, on the other end of the walkie-talkie, currently at Kazusa Touma's home, remained silent for a long time before finally shaking her head.
"If we casually open a Gate at some location, even with Hachishaku-sama's power being able to maintain it for several or even over ten hours, Human Hour only lasts one hour, and evil spirits will definitely attempt to pass through the Gate during that period."
"Besides, Kyoto is such a large city. Even if we open a Gate, without being able to establish contact, Ye Xing might not be able to discover the Gate we opened within such a short time."
"And there's the most important point."
"We don't know the situation inside the Reverse World. If Ye Xing is currently battling that evil spirit born from people's panic during this incident, rashly opening a Gate could backfire and affect his combat."
"Considering all these points, my opinion is that even if Hachishaku-sama's power has recovered, we shouldn't open a Gate for now."
Hearing Rio Futaba's words, both Yui Yuigahama and Miko Yotsuya remained silent.
They knew that Rio Futaba must also want to open a Gate immediately to bring Ye Xing back to the real world.
But when all members were influenced by emotional factors, maintaining absolute rationality was Rio Futaba's responsibility - this was also one of the reasons Ye Xing had recruited her into the Supernatural Society.
"You're absolutely right."
Surprisingly to Miko Yotsuya, Rio Futaba, and Mai Sakurajima - according to Mai's description, when fighting the Ushikubi-no-Onna, Yui Yuigahama had nearly lost control, brutally killing the opponent while constantly demanding they return Ye Xing - it was this same Yui who now smiled and expressed agreement.
"Dango... you..."
Yui Yuigahama picked up the walkie-talkie, watching her Kiyohime use that thick snake tail to brutally smash a hidden evil spirit into pieces, before replying with a gentle smile.
"Moreover, Ye Xing remaining in the Reverse World isn't actually a good thing for our enemies."
"What do you mean by that...?"
Yui Yuigahama smiled softly and whispered.
"We're in the real world; Ye Xing is in the Reverse World."
"The enemy now has nowhere to escape."
...
After ending the communication, Rio Futaba finished brewing coffee and carried two cups into the living room. Watching Haruno Yukinoshita sitting on the sofa, propping her chin with one hand while lost in thought, she sighed softly and placed the coffee cup on the table before the other woman, her tone stiff.
"Here, coffee. Freshly brewed. Drink it or not, up to you."
"Thank you."
Haruno didn't stand on ceremony with Futaba, picking up the coffee cup to take a small sip before nodding and praising with a smile.
"Futaba-san, your coffee really is quite delicious."
"Hmph, just this once."
Rio Futaba also lifted her coffee cup to take a sip, the bitter aroma with its rich fragrance helping to clear her mind considerably.
"Why aren't you resting? You should be quite exhausted."
As someone who had firsthand experience of the physical and mental toll of first awakening and using Soul Materialisation, Futaba understood the strain well.
"Resting..."
A somewhat bitter smile appeared on Haruno's face as she shook her head.
"I simply can't sleep."
Futaba frowned slightly at this and put down her cup.
"Weren't you the one who said it was like a tiger entering a forest full of rabbits, that there was no need to worry about Ye Xing's safety?"
"Haha."
Haruno covered her mouth with a light laugh before letting out a long sigh, her eyes revealing complex emotions.
"That was something I said for my sister's benefit, and for the others in your club - to ease their anxiety. Now that I've become a psychic myself, I understand all too well the risks involved in exorcism."
Rio Futaba didn't know how to respond.
In her impression, she had always considered Haruno Yukinoshita to be someone who disregarded others' feelings, always saying inappropriate things at the wrong times, finding pleasure in offending people - a beautiful-faced woman with a truly unpleasant personality.
She never expected the other woman had this side to her as well.
Indeed...
While she might not be able to trust Haruno, she could trust the Harem God's judgment in selecting his harem members.
Just as Rio Futaba was about to say something, she suddenly sensed something. She rose sharply from the sofa, her eyes glinting coldly as she looked toward Kazusa Touma's apartment door, speaking quietly.
"Something's approaching... this feeling... It's a powerful evil spirit."