"Um… let me explain…"
After the Village Head's head was repeatedly held underwater for three minutes…
"No choice, ever since that old ghost Nakiri took that position, a single meal is hard to come by. Someone offered 1.5 billion USD just for one meal with him, and he turned it down. I'm just connecting people, so it's only right for me to get some reward… Gurgle! Gurgle! I! I can provide you with equipment! What smoke bombs, flashbangs, whatever you need, I can get them for you! Gurgle!"
Upon hearing this, Keli let go, his face changing as quickly as someone who was crying bitterly in the rain one moment and then nonchalantly telling their former teammates about disbanding the next.
The Kappa sat on the ground, coughing up water, looking somewhat aggrieved.
"So, what about the house? It's haunted in there."
"It's really haunted?"
The Village Head's rhetorical question, however, stumped Keli.
Keli frowned and recounted everything about the sewers and their midnight excursions.
After listening, the Village Head also scratched his head.
"The sewers? I understand, but I'm not very clear about things over there. Actually, that's my friend's daughter's house…"
Then the Village Head talked about Keli and the others' house.
Actually, a long time ago, that house was inhabited by another family, but something happened. The original owners participated in a very popular cult attack incident at the end of the last century. The whole family were cultists. At that time, the house actually had an heir, but the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department official at the time, considering his mistress had nowhere to live, first impounded the house as an involved asset and then let his mistress live there, also making it convenient for him to rendezvous with her.
But after the millennium, that official was investigated and prosecuted. To suppress such a scandal, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government simply made the matter a fait accompli, reclaimed and auctioned it at a low price, which is how the previous owner acquired and renovated it.
The previous owner was an orphaned daughter of an old friend of the Kappa, but unfortunately, she also disappeared after some time.
"Disappeared? Then why did I hear the version where she committed suicide?"
Keli asked the Village Head.
"How would I know?"
The Kappa spread his hands, feigning innocence.
"I just bought it because it was my friend's daughter's former residence, so when I saw you had nowhere to live, I gave it to you."
"Are you sure you haven't heard any rumors about it being haunted?"
Keli looked at the Kappa with some distrust.
"Alright, I have heard them, but aren't you experts in this field? Just solve it and live there, otherwise, it's just sitting empty… Sob sob sob! Gurgle! Gurgle!"
Keli pushed the Kappa's head back into the water again.
The blonde girl who had confronted Keli earlier leaned over, curious.
"Won't the Village Head die like this?"
"Isn't he a Kappa? Come on, I'm leaving. Kappa needs to keep his head wet, so keep pressing him for a while."
"Oh, oh!"
After the girl took over Keli's job and continued to press that scoundrel's head into the water, Keli left Arakawa.
This trip couldn't be said to be fruitless, but it could only be said that there was no progress on the current situation.
Although telling that dog, the Kappa, should reduce the number of ordinary people going into the sewers, it still couldn't be figured out what caused the rats in the sewers to mutate. Keli had seen ordinary rats when he went down.
Also, what were their neighbors hiding?
Arriving at their doorstep, Keli looked at his house; all the lights were off now.
It seemed those two were resting. He touched the meat cleaver at his waist.
Keli chose not to go inside.
He would kill as many as he could. He wouldn't force them to rest if they wanted to.
He deeply felt the fatigue and mental suppression after a killing battle.
Looking at the Sky through the myriad lights of houses across the night, according to the moon's position and star alignment, it should be 1 AM Tokyo time.
But Keli, whose actual rest was just a relaxation of his mind, was too lazy to rest.
He opened the door, went to the bathroom, and took the bird-head mask that was washed but not yet dried. Keli found it strange how only his was left there. Gently closing the door, Keli headed straight for the street corner.
"Well, even if it's just prevention, it's better to kill one if possible. After all, it wouldn't be good if they came out of the sewers and bit ordinary people."
"Anyway, if they die, they can refresh their status. Why sleep?"
"Kirito, I didn't realize you, a normie, were quite responsible. Very good, young people should maintain this momentum."
It wasn't Keli who said this, but one of the two people at the sewer entrance, wearing bird-head masks, who was using a hook to lift a manhole cover.
Both of them were startled when they saw Keli.
"Huh? You, you're not thinking of coming here alone to kill monsters and level up, are you? How despicable."
Kazuma threw a flashlight and a can of something to him.
"Get a boost before you go down. Oh, we didn't bring your hat, so you just use the flashlight."
Keli caught them with both hands and saw it was a can of cola.
"You guys found out."
Answering the question of why he was there, Keli chuckled, pulled out his dagger, poked a hole in the side of the cola can, and, confident he wouldn't choke, drank it all in one gulp.
"Let's go."
None of the three mentioned why they were there. They followed the dark opening and entered the Tokyo sewers for the second time.
Meanwhile, across from Keli's house, several sleepy-eyed old men and women, with red eyes, watched the DaKe Manor.
"Why are they still fine? And they even went out. Before, I told your sons, who are police officers, to investigate what they do, why they go out every night, but there's no result!"
"And what's with those young people? Why did they suddenly go looking for trouble with those three?"
One of the old women asked the others around her, somewhat distraught.
But there was silence behind her; no one answered her at all.
"Forget it, let them go. Anyway, the Shadow is coming to this street on its due date."
…
In the sewers at this moment, the three quickly followed the markers, passing through the previously explored paths.
They arrived at the place where they were attacked before. There were still bloodstains on the ground, but no bodies remained.
Apparently, after they left, the bodies had all been dragged away and eaten by rats.
Since they had all committed suicide once, the two besides Keli were now very energetic.
They casually looked around, but one detail caught their attention.
Because although the rats scattered in all directions when they fled,
It seemed they didn't do the same when dragging food.
There were some clear traces on the ground pointing forward.
And if one looked closely, one could also see some "animal trails" in the accumulated dust on the ground.
These were details the three hadn't noticed before the rat attack.
Then the three began to follow the dust traces and the dragged bloodstains, searching for the rats' main activity points.
However, the sewers were like a highway; no matter how they walked, the scenery seemed unchanging. Moreover, they covered the entire Tokyo, making it not so easy to find their way amidst the complex traces.
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