Chapter 7 Killing the Possessing Spirit
Today is Thursday. The weekend is close.
9 p.m. Normally this would be the time to think about how to survive tomorrow's workday, yet Inoue Tetsuya was still sitting at his desk.
"About time…"
This company has three workplaces excluding field posts. In this whole area, he couldn't see anyone else working anymore.
Extreme rank gives extra rewards.
So if Inoue could become number one in the whole company, maybe he could go settle things with Nanako directly.
When you discover an evil spirit, there's a very good response: call the police.
Spirit Domain cooperates with the Investigation Bureau. Reporting here can bypass the police department and send the information straight to the Special Incident Investigation Bureau.
After Hanada Shizuka left, the first thing Inoue did was exactly that.
The result—if you don't report you won't know, once you report you'll be shocked. The "Provide Clue" form was insanely long.
Not all fields were required, but even picking and choosing took him ten minutes.
Then a new window popped up:
[Our bureau will reply within 48 hours. Thank you for your contribution to Neon's social stability.]
Inoue Tetsuya: "..."
He only wanted to say: "Contribute my ass!"
Forty-eight hours. Without some self-defense ability he'd probably be dead already.
Suppressing his anger, he went to the forum section to look for opportunities.
Twenty minutes later he realized there was no chance.
No private chat unless you're friends.
He's just a D-level small fry. His post got zero attention and sank instantly.
In the end it still came back to friends. He replied under a thread saying he found a D-rank evil spirit and invited teammates to split loot. No one believed him.
As for friends…
He didn't dare touch Poison Widow's contacts. He'd already deleted them all.
So the moment it hit nine, he prepared to run. At the company entrance he clocked again. The mechanical system voice sounded in his head—
"Ding-dong~"
Notice: Overtime ended.
...
"Ding-dong~"
Notice: 3 hours overtime. Today's bonus +30%. Your spiritual power and level temporarily +30%.
Notice: Because you ranked first in overtime within your team, additional +10%.
Notice: This is your first voluntary overtime. Spiritual power, spirit, physique increase. Spiritual power and level temporarily +30%.
Notice: As the 31st last employee to leave today, spiritual power and level temporarily +30%!
...
[Inoue Tetsuya]: Status off work. Spiritual power 200%. Level D-!
...
"200%, D-? …"
His eyes lit up.
He didn't expect sitting at the computer till nine could stack this many buffs.
The 30% from three hours overtime and the 10% for team first were expected. The remaining 60% were not.
First voluntary overtime in life. Shame of wage earners.
But if shame can be traded for power, then shame it is. Facing life and death, pride means nothing.
Like that street interview: "If I give you 100 million, will you run naked on the spot?"
Number of people who choose no: zero.
Really zero. How many people earn 100 million in a lifetime? Same even converted to yen.
Buy a house in a comfortable city, deposit the rest, live off interest till retirement. Isn't that nice?
The surprising part was ranking 31st from last.
If he's 31st from last, that means in this 300-employee company, about one-tenth are still working.
Inoue rubbed his chin. "If I want to be first in the whole company, I'd have to aim for midnight… that's insane."
Cursing, he slung his briefcase and took the elevator down.
He channeled spiritual power to his eyes. A warm sensation spread.
He was looking for Matsushima Nanako.
E vs D, he only had one thought: run.
D- vs D, he felt he could at least fight.
But even after getting out of the taxi, he didn't detect any abnormal spiritual fluctuations.
Tokyo is safe?
Safe and yet it assigned him an evil-spirit coworker?
Since she came looking for him, he didn't dare relax.
As for Tokyo's safety, that's for the Police Agency and Investigation Bureau to worry about.
What Inoue did notice was the taxi driver. Polite the whole ride, yet faint black aura surrounded him, visible to the naked eye.
He could even hear fragments of thoughts:
"Business is bad today. Wanted to go home early."
"My wife's been looking at me weird lately."
"I saw my daughter and her boyfriend. The kid looked decent… but she didn't call me Dad. Is having a taxi-driver father that embarrassing?"
And so on, almost the whole ride.
You can only say evil spirits appearing isn't without reason. Even without spiritual revival, some people will still turn twisted.
He entered the apartment complex. People were still on the road.
His own company still had thirty people working. Across the whole country, there must be countless people in the same situation.
Shaking his head and sighing, Inoue suddenly punched!
A fist wrapped in pale red aura slammed into the abdomen of a man walking toward him.
Bang! The man flew backward.
At the same time a gray shadow burst out of the man's body and rushed straight toward Inoue's face!
"Ding-dong~"
Notice: Evil spirit detected. Level E!
...
This complex has seven or eight buildings. Of course Inoue doesn't know every neighbor.
But a complex is basically a collective.
He knows his own level well. There's no way he belongs in the same circle as a successful man wearing a million-yen Rolex.
And he guessed right. The man was possessed.
"E-rank evil spirit. Damn. When D-rank came face-to-face I chickened out. But an E dares show up in front of me?!"
He crossed his arms. The aura shifted shape, forming a red round shield.
"Hah!"
The gray spirit shrieked and crashed into the shield.
Result—
Inoue only stepped back two steps.
The gray spirit flew backward like the man before.
E-rank spirits clearly have less intelligence than D-rank. Whether it's the octopus he killed or Nanako who flirts with men, none would charge someone stronger than themselves.
Of course it wasn't stupid. Seeing it couldn't win, it turned to run.
Inoue sneered. "Only thinking of running now? Too late."
This thing can possess humans. He can't let it get near anyone else.
So the moment he steadied himself, he chased. Red fist shadows flashed through the night.
Boom boom boom boom boom! …
Die die die die!
The E-rank possessing spirit couldn't withstand the barrage and shattered.
Battle over.
"Ding-dong~"
Notice: E-rank evil spirit killed. Spiritual power, spirit, physique increased!