Chapter 176 Mai Shinomiyai’s Tragedy (Mist)
With a few small tricks of the [Talismans: Gale Force], Mai Shinomiyai easily concealed her figure. Coupled with the spiritual eye, she slowly followed the traces left by the markings on the talisman, trailing behind Shinichi Sato in the direction he was heading.
This was perhaps the biggest difference between psychics and these mainstream heteromorphics. In Mai Shinomiyai’s opinion, the strongest among the mainstream heteromorphics had merely developed their abilities to a meticulous degree, but fundamentally, they still relied on their innate abilities.
Psychics, however, used their abilities in a completely different way. Whether it was commanding elemental spirits, cultivating shikigami, or even using divine power through the favor of deities, their essence lay in using their own cultivated spiritual energy, built from nothing, to communicate with external energies and achieve their desired purposes.
While there didn’t seem to be a huge difference, Mai Shinomiyai preferred to call herself a practitioner rather than a gifted individual, even though the young girl had always relied on her talent to get by thus far.
However, one point that the young girl had to admit was that no matter how much they cultivated and strengthened themselves, psychics were unable to contend with those top heroes in terms of raw power, except when dealing with spiritual world matters.
The biggest reason for the separation between the spiritual world and the real world was spiritual consciousness. To put it simply, it was like the different frequencies of sound wave amplitudes; different species had different thresholds for sounds they could hear, hence there were sounds that humans couldn’t hear but which truly existed.
The spiritual world was the same. This hidden world, visible only to psychics, was constantly influencing the stability of the real world, and psychics served as guardians of another world.
Even though these mysterious and powerful Onmyoji, monks, and divine officers were skilled in dealing with all sorts of ghosts and spirits, they would still suffer some unfair treatment when encountering the power of the real world. That was why the young girl disliked the whole hero thing.
After all, a disaster in the past, as prophesied, that was enough to destroy the world, sacrificed a large number of psychics, including her own parents. The one who eventually eliminated the disaster was a complete outsider. Although that person also relied on the natural advantage of his lightning energy, it had to be acknowledged that the person who was then hailed as the [Strongest Hero], and later became the [Symbol of Peace], was indeed terrifyingly strong.
Recalling past events, Mai Shinomiyai maintained her wind elemental abilities and continued to follow the blond young man holding his mobile phone, who seemed to be replying to something.
The young man’s pace was fast. After parting ways with his girlfriend, except for the initial moment when he foolishly stood in place and sent messages for a while, he then strode purposefully in one direction, as if he had something important to do.
Shinichi Sato’s situation made Mai Shinomiyai, who was hidden nearby, even more suspicious. This behavior, which clearly indicated something was going on, made him even more certain of the correctness of Great God Sangfu’s divine revelation.
This Shinichi Sato must be related to the Underworld!
…
Ten minutes later, at the gate of a wealthy villa district, Mai Shinomiyai, hidden in the wind, wore a distressed expression.
[How am I supposed to get in!!]
Well, the thoughts from before were probably just the exclamation of Mai Shinomiyai, a country bumpkin who had never seen such a luxurious place. After slightly collecting her thoughts, Mai Shinomiyai quickly found a way to pass through the gate with its thermal scanning system.
The mud man, caught a while ago and not yet turned into a shikigami’s food, successfully completed its new mission and dug a small hole in the blind spot of the surveillance for people to pass through. Mai Shinomiyai was thus able to successfully reach the residential area through this small hole.
Although Mai Shinomiyai could have flown over the not-too-high wall as gracefully as she controlled the gale force earlier, she would not have been able to maintain her current state of hidden wind, and there would have been some spiritual energy loss. If there was indeed something related to the Underworld inside, Mai Shinomiyai, without a bit of spiritual energy preserved, would have had one more fighting power.
She then controlled the mud man to fill the hole it had dug and put the ugly mud-like creature back into the talisman. Looking at the majestic buildings in the high-class residential area, Mai Shinomiyai couldn’t help but sigh that these big houses were almost comparable to her family’s shrine.
Following the traces left by her talisman, Mai Shinomiyai easily found the path Shinichi Sato had taken.
The young girl soon found the final destination of her target, a detached large villa in a corner of the residential area. As if to prevent anyone from seeing anything, the surrounding walls had been intentionally heightened and reinforced.
[Is this it? The place where the secret truth is hidden.]
Looking at the tightly closed iron gate at the entrance, Mai Shinomiyai felt, for the first time in her life, the thrill of a detective discovering the truth. Her extremely sensitive spiritual consciousness told her that she was very close to the truth.
Her hands gripping the smooth wall, relying on the sticky properties of the earth elemental spirit, Mai Shinomiyai climbed to the top of the wall in a strange posture, trying to see the actual situation inside the courtyard wall.
What greeted the young girl’s eyes was a vast courtyard, whose appearance and atmosphere were perfectly in line with the luxurious ambiance of the residential area. However, a silver-gray metal gate not far away looked particularly out of place.
Before the young girl could further investigate the appearance of the metal gate, the glass door of the corridor was pushed open, and the blond young man, wearing a black tank top that revealed his robust and firm arms, directionlessly complained to someone beside him.
Although she couldn’t hear what was being said specifically from so far away, the sensitive Mai Shinomiyai still captured a very crucial piece of information.
Basement!
Indeed, as the young girl might have guessed, this Shinichi Sato was problematic. What proper person would prepare such a seemingly sturdy basement at home?
Sacrifice? Organization meeting? Evil experiment?
A series of terrifying guesses flashed through Mai Shinomiyai’s mind. However, Mai Shinomiyai was not like the brainless protagonists in novels and anime. After hearing the important information, the young girl understood that this place, suspected to be an enemy stronghold, was definitely not something she could handle alone.
Taking another deep look into the yard, Mai Shinomiyai gently released her hands from the courtyard wall, wanting to leave silently.
But before she could even release her hands from the edge of the wall, a startled cry rang out from the courtyard.
“Old man, what’s wrong?”
A trace of a bad feeling rose from the bottom of her heart. Mai Shinomiyai didn’t even have time to maintain her hidden wind. The gale force power swirled around her, wanting to speed away.
But she realized that at some unknown time, a rough, aged palm filled with electric arcs had already landed on her shoulder. A low but somewhat familiar old voice echoed in her ear, as if she had heard it somewhere before.
“What are you doing here, Little Mai?”
(Ps: Regarding the setting of the residential area, let’s just consider it a fictional world. Because Fish Flakes hasn’t seen any high-class residential areas or houses in Neon, and Fish Flakes is currently living in a dilapidated shared apartment,呜呜呜. It’s probably like a farmer who can only imagine an emperor using a golden hoe to till the land, lololol QAQ)
