Natsume Ta was somewhat bewildered.

Relief?

What do you mean?

He raised his head, and on that face twisted by alcohol and violence, pure confusion surfaced for the first time.

"Natsume, what are you going to do?"

The woman kneeling beside him also stopped cursing, staring fixedly at the figure at the doorway with venomous eyes.

However, Natsume Masahiro in front of them said nothing.

"Rustle... Rustle..."

An extremely faint sound, like dry sand rubbing together, came from beneath Natsume Masahiro's feet.

Natsume Ta abruptly looked toward Natsume Masahiro's feet.

He saw pitch-black beetles rapidly surging out from the shadow beneath his feet.

They were completely silent, their six legs gliding across the dirty floor without making the slightest sound.

It was the second, the third...

Within a mere few seconds, the black Insect Tide merged into a slowly writhing carpet, silently approaching the two people in the center of the room.

"B-Bugs...?"

Natsume Ryoko screamed, retreating on hands and feet.

But that black tide moved much faster than she had imagined.

The beetles instantly submerged her ankles.

A faint yet dense stinging sensation came, and the color on Natsume Ryoko's face drained away completely in an instant.

She looked down and saw that her calves were already crawling with black beetles, their sharp mouthparts frantically devouring her flesh and blood.

"Ah—! Get away! Get away!"

Natsume Ta was also scared into soul scattered and spirit dissipated by the scene before him, crawling and scrambling to kneel in front of Zhou Huai, kowtowing frantically.

"Masahiro! Masahiro! I am your father!"

"Make them stop! I beg you! I will never beat you again in the future! I will never drink alcohol again!"

Zhou Huai looked at him expressionlessly.

A stream split from the Insect Tide and likewise swept over Natsume Ta's legs.

"Ahahah! My legs!"

The man's wails and the woman's screams intertwined, composing a hopeless song of Hell.

They struggled and rolled, trying to shake off the demons attached to their bodies, but everything was in vain.

The swarm gathered more and more, soon submerging their waists, abdomens, and chests...

The pleas for mercy turned into indistinct whimpers.

In their eyes, there was only endless despair.

The Insect Tide came quickly and went quickly.

When the black tide receded, the couple was no longer anywhere to be seen in the original spot.

As if nothing had ever happened.

Inside the room, dead silence returned.

Zhou Huai was not worried that the deaths of this couple would attract suspicion from others.

In fact, in Takamagahara, no one would care about the life or death of an ordinary person.

In the eyes of some people.

They were not even as precious as the pets kept by the woman at home.

Zhou Huai's gaze cast toward the corner of the room.

There, a small figure was hugging her head with both hands, curled up into a ball.

Her frail body trembled uncontrollably, like a helpless fallen leaf in the wind.

He took a step, his leather boots stepping on the dirty floor, making a slight "da, da" sound.

This sound was magnified countless times in the dead-silent room.

Every single beat was like a heavy hammer striking the little girl's taut nerves.

Feeling the footsteps approaching.

That small figure trembled even more severely, yet she actually took the initiative to raise her head.

A pair of eyes swollen from crying looked straight at Zhou Huai.

The little girl looked very cute, her facial features as exquisite as a porcelain doll.

Only her face carried a sickly pallor, and she was so thin that it made one's heart ache.

In her eyes, there was no sadness for losing her parents, nor even hatred for the murderer.

There was only the most primitive, purest desire to live.

"Older brother..."

She spoke choked with sobs, her voice as weak as a mosquito's buzz.

"Don't kill me, okay?"

"I don't want to die..."

"I will be very obedient and very sensible."

The little girl used all her strength to try and squeeze out a pleasing smile, but that smile was uglier than crying.

"I beg you... don't kill me, you can use any insects to experiment on me."

"As long as you don't kill me."

She did not question Zhou Huai why he had killed her mom and dad.

As if that pair of men and women who had just disappeared had nothing to do with her.

Zhou Huai couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

A little girl with such mental state, if she could grow up, would definitely be a ruthless character in the future.

What a pity.

She had no future left either.

Zhou Huai slowly squatted down in front of her, deliberately making his tone carry a hint of gentleness.

"Little girl, what's the point of living like this now?"

"Why don't you just find relief together with your parents."

"A family should be neat and complete together."

He imitated that hypocritical warmth that occasionally leaked out in Natsume Masahiro's memory.

However, it was precisely this sudden "gentleness" that made Natsume Rinku involuntarily widen her eyes.

She looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar face before her, her pupils suddenly contracting.

"You... you are not my older brother..."

The real Natsume Masahiro's gaze toward her was always one of disgust and impatience.

He would never speak to her in this tone.

The moment she realized this, the little girl's reaction was startlingly fast.

Her body leaned forward rapidly, shifting abruptly from a squatting posture to a kneeling posture.

"Thud!"

Her small forehead heavily knocked against the cold, dirty floor, making a muffled thud.

"Big brother... I don't care who you are!"

"Please don't kill me..."

"In the future I will repay you well! I will be a beast of burden for you!"

However, Zhou Huai still had no intention of showing mercy.

In the shadow behind him, the black tide surged once more.

Countless ferocious flying insects spread out from beneath his feet, turning into a black torrent of death that swept toward Natsume Rinku!

Looking at the rapidly approaching black Insect Tide, Natsume Rinku's eyes finally revealed complete despair.

The aura of death rushed toward her face.

She instinctively raised her frail arms to block in front of her, as if those fragile bones could block this legion from Hell.

"No—!"

A shrill scream burst from the depths of her throat!

At that very moment!

"Hum—"!

An energy fluctuation so powerful it was indescribable suddenly erupted centering around her body!

A dazzling white light instantly swallowed the entire room!

That energy was violent and pure, turning into a visible circular shockwave that swept out in all directions!

Bearing the brunt of it was that patch of black beetles about to touch her!

"Boom!"

Hundreds of Shadow Demon Insects were blown away in front of this inexplicable power.

The shockwave's momentum unabated, it slammed fiercely against the room's walls.

"Rumble!"

The entire two-story small building emitted an unbearable loud noise, shaking violently!

The walls were instantly covered with spiderweb-like cracks, and the dust on the ceiling fell rustlingly!

Zhou Huai's pupils shrank abruptly, showing a look of surprise on his face for the first time.

His thoughts spun like lightning.

He manipulated those Shadow Demon Insects to retreat back into his Insect Tide space.

Having done all this, Zhou Huai then turned his head to re-examine the little girl in front of him.

At this moment, the little girl was still maintaining the posture of pushing her hands outward.

However, on her cheeks and arms, eerie runes suddenly appeared.

The runes were pitch-black as ink, slowly writhing under her fair skin like living things, outlining a distorted and evil pattern.

At first glance, it really looked a bit like Sasuke in the female Cursed Seal state.

Bizarre to the extreme.

The confusion in Zhou Huai's eyes deepened.

You must know that ordinary people in this world could only complete their class change through the class change ceremony after turning eighteen.

And acquire various classes.

Before that, they were no different from ordinary people.

This little girl was clearly only twelve years old.

Yet she had already begun to exhibit the abilities of Classer.

This was obviously unscientific.

There was definitely some secret on the little girl.

Zhou Huai just wanted to open his mouth to ask what was going on.

Unexpectedly, the little girl's body went soft, and she collapsed straight onto the ground.

The curse marks all receded from her body, submerging beneath her skin like a receding tide.

Her small face became even ghastlier white, with almost not a shred of color.

Zhou Huai reached out to check her breathing.

She still had breath, though.

It's just that her body was unusually cold, and even the breath she exhaled was cold.

Generally speaking, a human at this temperature would already be a cold corpse.

But the little girl in front of him was clearly still alive.

"A bit interesting."

Zhou Huai finally understood what kind of illness the little girl had.

It was probably the early Awakening of part of a Professional's energy.

And her frail body simply couldn't completely bear this power, which led to various abnormalities in her body.

After all, strictly speaking, she couldn't be considered a true Professional either.

Falling into a coma now should be a self-protection mechanism of her body.

Facing such a special little girl.

Zhou Huai suddenly dismissed the idea of continuing to kill her.

Of course, he didn't plan to save her either.

He let her lie like that on the cold, dirty floor.

Whether she could survive or not depended on her own ability.

He came to the tatami mat in the living room and sat down in a relatively clean spot.

Afterward, with a thought.

Several Information Bug units resembling mosquitoes flew out silently from his wide cuffs, blending into the shadows of the room.

Zhou Huai suddenly figured something out.

Rather than searching all over Tokyo for the person who sneaked into Ise Grand Shrine.

It would be better to directly send a few Information Bug units to check out Ise Grand Shrine.

Confirming whether the Pendulum of Life was still inside Ise Grand Shrine was the most crucial thing.

Why search the whole world for a thief?

Why not just go straight to the vault and take a look?

The Information Bug units were extremely fast, flying close to the ground and wall corners, perfectly avoiding all surveillance equipment on the streets.

Zhou Huai closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the connection with the swarm.

He could clearly sense the sights and sounds experienced by every single Information Bug.

The entire city of Tokyo seemed to slowly unfold in his mind like an extremely detailed real-time map.

One hour.

Two hours.

Finally, the first Information Bug arrived at the periphery of Ise Grand Shrine.