Chapter 212: Sickly Type
Ding dong ding dong——
He Jia’an walked out of the convenience store, having memorized what the shop assistant said. He was not yet certain if this urban legend was real, but judging from the performance of those two female high school students just now, if they weren’t master actors, then some unknown anomaly might indeed exist.
This might be the first anomaly event He Jia’an had encountered since arriving on the island. He wanted to investigate it.
Recently, various strange legends have been appearing one after another in various places on Sakura Island. However, most of the strange tales circulating on the internet are just fabricated plots, with overall public opinion outweighing authenticity, so certain inexplicable phenomena quietly occurring on Sakura Island have been hard to attract the attention of ordinary people.
If He Jia’an himself weren’t an investigator who flips through newspapers during free time at the mental sanatorium, and if the newspapers hadn’t been reporting several anomaly events on Sakura Island for a while, he probably wouldn’t have noticed the existence of this overseas small island.
He Jia’an’s purpose in coming to Sakura Island was exactly this, but also more than just this.
According to the World Investigator Daily, Sakura Island is suspected to have Ushi-Oni sightings. Eyewitnesses captured afterimages of the Ushi-Oni moving in the air. Additionally, signs of “blessing” mischief have been discovered here… All these signs indicate that the anomaly related to his former teammate has coincidentally gathered on this small island. He Jia’an felt it necessary to investigate.
After leaving the convenience store, He Jia’an looked around left and right on the roadside but couldn’t find the figures of those two female high school students. The sky was gradually darkening, so he thought he’d check it out tomorrow instead—people wouldn’t run away anyway.
He had noticed the school badges on those two female high school students, which read “Kisaragi High School.” Worst case, he could just wait at the school gate.
Perhaps his appearance while walking and thinking looked unkind, as if plotting something bad. Pedestrians on the road all avoided him, and some even planned to secretly call the police. After He Jia’an noticed in time, they immediately fled the scene quickly.
Unknowingly, night had fallen. He Jia’an, searching for a place to rest temporarily, followed the city’s lights and unexpectedly arrived in the red-light district. Looking at the gaudy lights and wine, drunken and debauched scenes around him, He Jia’an said that if he had enough money on him, he would definitely join those uncles surrounded by glamorous women.
Unfortunately, he had no money.
It had also been too long since he last visited such a place, so He Jia’an’s gaze was inevitably attracted by the songbirds and swallows on the road. Unintentionally, he bumped into a fat uncle who was always wiping sweat with his head down. Surprisingly, the relatively skinny He Jia’an actually knocked the uncle down.
“What thing, can’t you watch where you’re…” The uncle who was knocked down was cursing when his wig on his head got knocked askew. After he adjusted his wig and brushed back his falling bangs, he saw a bald man with a cold face and fierce expression looking down at him. He immediately covered his unruly mouth and looked at the other man in some terror.
After sizing up the uncle in front of him for a moment, a ugly smile suddenly appeared on He Jia’an’s face. “Sorry, I bumped into you.” He extended a hand, wanting to help the other up.
The fat uncle wouldn’t let the other pull his hand. He quickly got up from the ground himself and said with an embarrassed smile: “No, no, I’m at fault too. I wasn’t watching the road either. Well… I’ll be going now.”
With that, the fat uncle lowered his head again and quickened his steps to leave.
However, just a few steps after the fat uncle walked, a large hand landed on his shoulder. He could only stiffly chuckle and mechanically turn his head back…
Soon, a bald fatty fleeing in panic appeared on the street in the red-light district, accompanied by an extra sickly handsome guy.
Perhaps a bald head really affects one’s looks. After putting on the wig, He Jia’an looked much gentler. People’s attention shifted from his bald head to his facial features. Due to long-term physical weakness from his spirit enduring anomaly damage, he indeed looked like a frail patient.
There are rabbits in the world that eat radishes, and rabbits that don’t eat radishes. He Jia’an’s current image quite matched the taste of certain crowds.
In this red-light district, not only male-frequented custom shops exist; there are also host clubs that women like to patronize for consumption. Quite a few ladies frequent here. Some, probably tired of those hosts with terrible and sleazy acting, saw He Jia’an appearing in the red-light district as a rare find. Several wealthy rich women immediately swayed their heavy bodies and boldly walked toward him.
“Hey, handsome, interested in coming in for a few drinks with me?”
“I’ll cover tonight’s consumption.”
“Tired? If tired, big sister here offers you some comfort?”
“…” Several women unleashed a barrage of bold words in front of He Jia’an. Even he, who had no experience with such a scene, was taken aback. He had long heard that life pressure on Sakura Island was high, and some people would directly unleash their primal nature at night, completely different from their proper work selves during the day. But he hadn’t expected it to be this wild.
In response, He Jia’an quickly calmed down. Though he was down and out now, please allow him to retain his noble taste… So, that night, he used a rich woman’s money to book a room at a nearby hotel.
Of course, nothing happened that night. Once inside the room, he took off his headpiece, and the rich woman lost interest.
After all, she hadn’t expected him to really be a sickly weakling…
The rich woman wasn’t desperate enough to take anyone, and she had a bit of kindness too. She paid the room fee, chatted with He Jia’an for a while, then left with some random excuse.
Thus, He Jia’an luckily got a free place to crash. The next day, after freeloading breakfast at the hotel, he left satisfied.
On the road, He Jia’an asked around about the local Kisaragi High School. After several directions, he finally determined the route.
Walking into a path in a residential area, He Jia’an suddenly felt the nearby area noisy and faintly heard the siren of law enforcement vehicles handling a case. Out of curiosity, he followed the sound to take a look.
Passing through an alley and arriving at a main road, He Jia’an saw that at the entrance of a relatively upscale mansion, temporary warning lines had been set up around. People were standing outside the lines watching, and cries of a man and woman came from the courtyard of that house.
He Jia’an squeezed through the gaps in the crowd to the very front, just in time to see a corpse covered with a white cloth being carried out and loaded onto a transport vehicle, with a pair of heartbroken parents following closely behind the workers carrying the corpse.
“Beautiful lady, may I ask what happened here?” He Jia’an asked an auntie next to him who was chattering nonstop with others.
Hearing this “sweet” polite inquiry, and then seeing He Jia’an’s handsome appearance, the auntie suddenly felt a bit embarrassed. She then explained to the curious He Jia’an: “The daughter in high school from the Kurosawa family apparently quietly committed suicide in her room last night after everyone else in the family had fallen asleep…”
