Huaiyin jolted awake from her nightmare, sitting bolt upright.
Then she realized—both she and Dou Tang were covered with the same wool blanket.
Her heart still pounding, she turned and met Dou Tang's cold yet faintly surprised gaze. The look in his eyes made her feel as if she'd been caught doing something terribly wrong.
At that moment, Dou Tang stirred beside her. He rubbed his eyes and rolled his shoulders—after all, letting Huaiyin use his arm as a pillow for so long had left it sore and stiff.
For once, he'd actually slept a little—and even dreamed, though the details were already fading. Still, he felt oddly refreshed.
"Well, well, you're both awake," came Lu Zizhen's teasing voice.
She was sitting by the table, swirling a glass of liquor. The round ice cubes clinked softly against the glass.
Huaiyin wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
Dou Tang nodded toward Lu Zizhen, then turned to Huaiyin. "Another nightmare?"
Huaiyin blinked rapidly, took a deep breath, and nodded.
But alongside her lingering guilt for having glimpsed another person's past, she felt something else—something like joy.
She knew his story now.
And she was the only one who knew.
That made her feel special—so special it filled her with a quiet, secret satisfaction. That night in the old house passed peacefully.
For the first time, Huaiyin managed to sleep alone—and this time, the nightmares didn't come.
The next morning, the three of them drove toward Myōkō-Togakushi Renzan National Park.
Cars weren't allowed deep inside, so they left the vehicle at the last parking area and continued on foot.
They encountered no obstacles along the way—clearly, Lu Zizhen had already taken care of the local arrangements.
"You already talked to the people around here?" Dou Tang asked, adjusting the recording gear slung over his shoulder.
"Of course," Lu Zizhen said. "When they heard we were going to the Blue Oni Manor to exorcise evil spirits, they were thrilled. Couldn't wait to help."
"Doesn't sound like exorcists," Dou Tang remarked dryly. "More like businessmen." Lu Zizhen shrugged.
"Naturally. Think about it—how many people live in Japan? With that many souls, how many evil entities do you think are born? Every sinner haunted by guilt will eventually beg exorcists for help. It's a gold mine."
She smiled wryly.
"I've been here for two years, Dou Tang. Two years. I bought a car, bought a house—no loans. I know it sounds materialistic, but that's just reality."
She led Huaiyin onward. The mountain path was muddy, though one could tell it had once been well maintained.
Considering when the manor was abandoned—back in the Shōwa era—it must have cost a fortune to build such a road through the mountains.
Clearly, there was a story behind how Blue Oni Manor had drawn the Blue Oni… and why it was eventually deserted.
They walked for a long time—so long that Huaiyin's strength gave out, and Dou Tang had to carry her on his back—before a faint valley finally came into view.
Dark clouds pressed low over the hollow, the air damp and cold. Moss carpeted every trunk, making the forest look ancient and decayed.
"Who in their right mind would build a house here?" Dou Tang muttered. "Their brain must've been slammed in a door."
As they turned the final bend, a massive black shape loomed ahead. Dou Tang squinted until he could make out the outline—
and realized it really was a building.
An old, decrepit Western-style manor, buried deep in the mountains. Its shape was strange—unlike the one in the game.
This one was U-shaped, like a slumbering monster spreading its arms wide, waiting for the foolish to step into its gaping maw.
The entire building was pitch-black. No vines crept up its walls, no moss grew upon it—as if something, or someone, was constantly keeping it clean.
Or perhaps… it was so cursed that even vines dared to shun it.
Even the falling leaves veered away in midair—living or dead, nothing wanted to touch it.
The atmosphere was wrong. Too wrong.
Just looking at the manor made one's instincts scream to run. Its very presence exuded a suffocating dread.
Yet as Dou Tang took another step forward, his eyes lit up.
[A nearby target holding a Crown has been detected!
Go and play with it—seize the Crown and claim final victory!]
A Crown Game target!
The Blue Oni was a Crown Holder!
Dou Tang's pulse quickened with excitement, though he forced himself to sound calm. "Looks like this is the place. Definitely reeks of bad luck."
Lu Zizhen's expression turned serious—not because of the manor itself, but because of something on the ground.
She pointed.
"Looks like someone beat us here. Four of them—one woman, three men. Crazy bastards."
Dou Tang followed her gaze. The trampled leaves clearly showed four sets of footprints—he could even tell their gender by the stride length.
Huaiyin blinked. She could feel it too—the faint echo of another Crown.
But she didn't have access to the Crown Game system; only Dou Tang could read its signals.
The three of them approached the pitch-black manor. The closer they got, the heavier the air became.
At the very top stood a sealed clock tower. Its clock face was frozen at an impossible time—the hour hand at six, the minute hand at eleven.
On any real clock, the hour hand should've been closer to seven.
The iron gates had been pried open, their chains snapped by a cutter. The shattered lock still dangled loosely.
Inside the courtyard—silence.
The fountain had long since dried up, a thick layer of black sludge congealed at its base. The smell of decay hung in the air.
Lu Zizhen waved a hand in front of her nose.
"Looks like they've already gone in. Let's move fast—otherwise, they're probably done for."
Dou Tang nodded and gently set Huaiyin down from his back.
He didn't dare leave her behind in town—after all, they were strangers here, and if she drew another spirit like the Drenched Wraith, even his Candy Bean guardians wouldn't be enough to save her.
Being near him was still the safest option.
The manor's redwood doors were tightly shut—but when Lu Zizhen tugged, they creaked open easily.
The three stepped inside.
Before they could even take in the grand hall's surroundings—
BANG!
The doors slammed shut behind them.
Lu Zizhen pushed, then laughed when they wouldn't budge.
"Hahaha! Oh, come on! The old 'door locks behind you' trope? Classic horror setup! Hahaha!"
Dou Tang just shook his head.
He stepped back, straightened his spine, bent his left arm before his waist, right arm curling up—
—and threw a full-force punch.
BOOM!
The impact shook the air. The massive redwood doors flew off their hinges, hurtling into the courtyard. One of them landed on the fountain and shattered into splinters.
He wasn't playing by any horror-movie rules. No hesitation. No suspense.
Just pure, brute-force problem solving.
He really did kick down doors at the slightest provocation.
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