"Phew..."
The old crow's eyeball was gouged out.
Gin ignored the bird's agonizing screams and Vodka's look of utter astonishment. His technique remained sophisticated and precise; despite the trauma, the old crow was still alive, its remaining eye darting in terror. He used the same ruthless method to gouge out the second eye.
Timing it perfectly according to the diary's instructions, Gin swallowed them alive.
While maintaining a crushing grip on the crow's neck to keep it still, he closed his eyes and chanted the mantra in the silence of his mind:
'I can see.'
'I can see.'
'I can see.'
The time had come.
In the dim hotel room, a strange sensation washed over him. Gin didn't know if it was a trick of the mind or a physiological reaction to the "protein," but his eyes began to feel cool—a refreshing, sharp chill that spread through his optic nerves.
He looked back. Vodka was still standing there, stunned and silent. Nothing in the room had changed.
Frowning, Gin walked to the window and pulled back the heavy curtains.
His pupils instantly dilated like those of a cornered beast.
The world had changed. The veil had been torn away, and a vast, mysterious, and terrifying reality appeared before him.
The Sky: Occasionally, twisted creatures passed by, possessing three sets of wings and bodies covered in blinking, blood-red pupils. They swam through the air as if the atmosphere were water.
The Ground: People and monsters lived together in a sickening, unconscious harmony. A behemoth three stories high carefully stepped over the pedestrians, its massive feet missing them by inches, yet no one looked up.
There were reptilian, wriggling creatures as humble as ants crawling into the sewers. There were greedy, Ouroboros-like snakes devouring their own tails, only to uncoil and swallow smaller gathering monsters in a single gulp.
The gloomy sky was a hotbed of weirdness. Faint black gauze—Cursed Energy—emanated from every corner of the city, connecting to a colossal existence hidden above the thick, churning black clouds.
The monsters were everywhere, yet the people were blissfully unaware. They walked through the legs of giants and brushed against the scales of serpents, utterly blind.
Fire: A great bird wreathed in blazing fire soared high above. The heat from its wings permeated the glass, reaching Gin's nostrils. The searing breath accelerated his blood flow, sending goosebumps rippling across his skin.
Magnificent. Mysterious. Terrifying.
Gin sincerely sighed at the grandeur of it all. Oh world… how deep are your secrets?
His vision blurred, and in the ringing of his ears, he heard the ghost of a madman's drunken laughter:
[Hahahahahahahaha…!!! I'm right! I'm right!! I'M RIGHT!!!]
Gin's heart pounded against his ribs. The shock was beyond words. He gasped so heavily his scalp went numb, forcing himself to suppress the panic with his iron-clad psychological discipline.
Old guy. Old Kamo… you were actually telling the truth.
This was far more magical, far more real, than the so-called "Elixir of Life" the Organization had spent decades researching. That elixir was effectively just a poison used to dispose of rats. But this? This notebook was the key to the Truth.
Gin clutched the diary tightly against his chest. He looked at the mysterious creatures with a sharp, predatory gaze.
Are these really creatures from human myth… or are they the true masters of the world?
"GA——!!"
A piercing, shrill howl instantly shattered Gin's trance.
A sense of mortal urgency flashed through his mind. He looked sideways, and his heart nearly stopped!
The three-winged creature with the blood-red pupils had turned its gaze. It was staring directly at the "uninvited guest" through the hotel window.
The giant monster in the street turned its head 360 degrees, its countless faces shifting into terrifying, mocking grins. The strange snake stopped devouring itself and raised its head, its slit pupils locking onto the floor of the hotel.
Are they looking at me?
"Can he see?"
"He can see??"
"HE CAN SEE US!?!?"
The monsters erupted in a riot of violent excitement. The sheer weight of their collective gaze was enough to make a normal man's heart fail.
Gin's pupils shrunk to pinpricks. He confirmed it beyond a shadow of a doubt: They were coming for him.
A "revolving lantern" of his life's memories—the classic hallucination of those near death—began to flicker before his eyes.
"KA!!"
With a burst of survival instinct, he instantly crushed the old crow's neck in his hand.
The mysterious grandeur of the hidden world shattered like glass. The monsters vanished. The sky returned to its dull, gray normalcy. Gin gasped for air, feeling as if he had just been pulled from the depths of the ocean.
He thought the danger was over. But then—
"Puff..."
Gin spat out a mouthful of dark blood, his eyes becoming heavily bloodshot.
Looking at the shocked and trembling Vodka, Gin grabbed his partner's collar and practically spat blood onto his face.
"Go! Go now!"
"Aniki? Where to?"
"Go overseas! To the headquarters!! AND..."
He pulled out the notebook with trembling, blood-stained hands. He coughed again, more blood gushing out. He had returned to the normal world, but he had underestimated the price of peering into the abyss. The "Knowledge" was a poison to his mortal soul.
"Bring it back! At any cost, you must bring this back to the Boss..."
"Big Brother!!"
Outside the Hotel
Heiji Hattori couldn't help but yawn.
Boring.
He wanted a case. A real one.
The police in Hatsukaichi are so lax… he thought. He had been waiting for a long time, and not a single patrol officer had passed by. It made him doubt the competency of the local force.
He knew the Metropolitan Police Department had its "parasites"—officers who were just there for the status or the gilded resume. It was a headache for his father, the Chief. You couldn't just sweep them all away without causing a political collapse.
Even the Old Man has to put up with it, so I guess I have to too…
"They're out!"
Hattori's eyes snapped to the hotel entrance.
He let out a breath of relief. Finally, some action.
Mizunotsuki Residence
Seiran Mizunotsuki let out a long breath, a look of post-indulgence satisfaction on his face.
With Yumi Miyamoto's hoarse cries of "I'm going to die, I'm going to die," the "fire" had finally subsided.
The sheets were stained, and the atmosphere in the room was thick. Seiran took a deep breath of the scent still lingering on the exhausted Yumi, who was currently muttering incoherently in her sleep.
Maybe after this, the confused traffic cop will just lift her skirt and ignore me out of shame, Seiran thought with a smirk. She's exactly that type.
He turned his mental gaze back to Hatsukaichi.
Yes. That notebook was Seiran's masterpiece—a small experiment to extend his tentacles into the mundane world using the "System."
The Black Organization was the perfect "shit-stirring stick" for the stagnant water of Japanese society.
Back at the Hotel Entrance
Hattori Heiji was dumbfounded.
The man in black (Vodka) practically threw his accomplice (Gin) into the Porsche and drove away like a bat out of hell the second they hit the pavement.
Gin looked unconscious, his front covered in blood.
Hattori slammed his thumb down on the emergency notification button on his communicator.
Want to run?
Stay right there!
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