Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Li Ang and Wang Congshan stomped across the roof tiles, sprinting all the way.

The bone spurs fired from the Venus Flytrap Monsters’ arm bones were terrifyingly powerful, but they needed time to be loaded and chambered, and the monsters’ reactions were sluggish and their movement slow,

so their hit rate against moving targets was extremely low.

The two players bounded and landed across the roofs without stopping for even a second, occasionally making tactical evasion moves to dodge the dense barrages of bone spurs.

In the area where the Fujimura Family lived, the houses were relatively dense,

but as the terrain ahead gradually opened up and the gaps between buildings widened, the players could no longer clear them by relying on their own physical capabilities. Even the Tactical Boots with a jump function inside Wang Congshan’s Axis Cube

could not be taken out, because their structure was too complex and they consumed too much Spiritual Power.

Fortunately, Li Ang still had his Psychic Abilities.

Spiritual Energy Creation System Level-One Superpower: Secondary Creation Technique.

Li Ang tugged with both hands, pulling a long, narrow plank out of the void. He grabbed the plank and flung it forward, laying it across the rooftops of two houses to form a temporary passage.

The two of them stepped on the plank and continued their mad dash, throwing down three wooden bridges in succession before finally reaching a more open road where there were fewer Venus Flytrap Monsters.

Fate Carving Village was built along the mountainside, with a slight slope, and the overall layout formed a right-angled trapezoid,

with a Y-shaped road running through the middle of the entire village.

The Fujimura Family house, along with the other residential buildings, were all situated downslope,

while the two ends of the uphill segment of the Y-shaped road led to different places: the right end connected to the Hiratsuka Family Residence, and the left end extended onward, circling around to the other side of the mountain.

Whether it was that the Venus Flytrap Monsters only appeared with the fog in the lower-lying areas, or that some kind of restriction existed around the Hiratsuka Family Residence,

they did not continue up the rising road to chase Li Ang and Wang Congshan,

but instead lingered downslope, wandering about aimlessly.

Li Ang and Wang Congshan exchanged a look and walked uphill along the road, spotting along the way three neat rows of paper red lanterns hanging from the eaves and walls of the houses on both sides.

These lanterns had long since gone out, with the candles inside burned away,

their outsides printed with patterns like cherry blossoms, with ornaments hanging underneath,

and some lanterns even printed with the black characters for "Fate Carving," looking like decorations prepared for a festival.

With no monsters interfering, the two soon reached the fork in the Y-shaped road.

The houses here were sparse,

and looking right from the intersection, they could see a large, well-lit Japan Islands-style old residence, surrounded by a square wall, with many trees planted in the courtyard.

Looking left from the intersection, they could vaguely see, at the end of the road, a Torii standing there.

A Torii is an auxiliary structure of Japan Islands Shrines, representing the entrance to the God Realm in Shinto, used to distinguish the God Realm where the gods dwell from the secular world where humans live, and to remind visitors to mind their words and actions after stepping through it.

The appearance of a Torii also meant that there was a Shrine.

Li Ang and Wang Congshan exchanged a look, then walked some distance along the left branch of the Y-shaped road, quickly seeing the Torii in full.

This Torii was entirely wooden, its surface unpainted. The ends of the kasagi atop the pillars curled upward, and between the two pillars was tied a thick, long Shimenawa, with white "zigzag" Gohei hanging from it.

"Weird."

Li Ang frowned slightly. Normally, a Shimenawa, symbolizing a Barrier that stops calamities from passing through, would be tied to the "nuki"—the lower side of the horizontal beam of the Torii,

but on Fate Carving Village’s Torii, the Shimenawa was tied in the middle, making it look rather improper,

more like... a roadblock?

Moreover, the wood used for this Torii looked dark greenish-black in color, somewhat like the timber Li Ang had previously found in the Noh Mask–making secret room of the Fujimura Residence.

Li Ang took that piece of timber out of his backpack and compared it to the Torii’s pillars, discovering that their grain and texture were extremely similar.

Wang Congshan carefully touched the Shimenawa tied in the middle of the Torii and said doubtfully, "Uh... the System isn’t letting us go through."

"Huh?"

Li Ang raised an eyebrow, and, like Wang Congshan, reached out to touch the Shimenawa, only to feel an invisible wall of air. A System prompt immediately popped up in front of his eyes,

[The current area is sealed by a Barrier and cannot be passed]

Li Ang pressed with force and found that the air wall didn’t budge in the slightest, so he could only look toward the back of the Torii.

Behind the Torii was a flight of bluestone steps built up along the slope, numbering in the hundreds,

and at the top of the steps stood a wooden Shrine painted in red and black.

The Shrine’s main doors were tightly closed, the candlestands on the front platform long since extinguished, dim and pitch-black, giving off a strong sense of ominous foreboding.

The entire Torii was covered by an invisible wall,

and the Shimenawa tied across its middle was welded into the space itself, impossible to destroy or remove.

Trying to go around the Torii to enter the Shrine

would likewise slam you into the air wall,

triggering the System prompt [The current area is sealed by a Barrier and cannot be passed].

"Looks like we have to keep pushing the story quest forward and get the key item before we can go through here."

Li Ang withdrew his hand from the air wall and returned with Wang Congshan to the fork of the Y-shaped road.

The Venus Flytrap Monsters were still wandering in the streets below and hadn’t come up after them,

however, by the light from the residential buildings below, the two clearly saw a black shadow step out from the opposite side of the street, push open the main gate of the Hiratsuka Family Residence, stride straight inside, and disappear from sight.

The shadow’s body was covered in thick black fur (or perhaps it was wearing a fur coat), its back slightly hunched, but its outline was clearly humanoid.

A different kind of monster? Or another living person?

Li Ang and Wang Congshan immediately rushed forward, running to the gate of the Hiratsuka Family Residence,

only to see that the gate was wide open, with no trace of any figure inside.

"It probably wasn’t an illusion."

Wang Congshan said softly, "When we came by earlier, the main gate of the house was closed, and now it’s open.

And there’s a dark handprint on the frame of each door leaf."

"Mm."

Li Ang narrowed his eyes and nodded, saying thoughtfully, "I get it now."

"Huh?" Wang Congshan froze for a moment at his words. "Get what?"

"This handprint is a kind of hint,"

Li Ang pointed at the handprints on the doorframe and said, "It’s provoking us,

asking if we dare go in and have a little spar, to show us what a ’black hand’ really is."

"If that’s what it means, then there really is a ghost."

The corner of Wang Congshan’s eye twitched. She rubbed her forehead and said, "Anyway, we don’t have anywhere else to go right now. Let’s just go in and Trigger the next-stage quest objective."

"Hold on."

Li Ang waved his hand and, under Wang Congshan’s puzzled gaze, took a brick out of his schoolbag.

Wang Congshan’s eyelid jumped as she griped, "What the hell, when did you bring that thing along too? You carried it this whole way? Don’t you think it’s heavy?"

"As a student, isn’t stuffing a brick into your schoolbag a totally normal thing to do?"

Li Ang tossed out a line casually, then set the brick in just the right spot to jam the door, preventing the main gate from suddenly swinging shut after they entered the residence.

After making preparations, Li Ang finally nodded. "Okay, let’s go."