Qi Qiu paused slightly while picking up the mask. He maintained his bowed posture and saw the extremely intense emotional changes on Miss Ikuko's face.

In an instant, Qi Jiu understood what was going on.

Miss Ikuko is the only NPC in this dungeon so far who showed an expression of disbelief after seeing his face.

In other words, that guy's character is only connected to the "next world" of the dungeon. Only by following Miss Ikuko's line can we dig out the plot line that was abandoned by the system.

"Miss Yuzi, do you know me?" Qi Qiu came slightly closer and asked knowingly.

He imitated the guy with the pipe, deliberately using a lazy and cold tone, and unconsciously raised the corners of his lips as he spoke.

Miss Ikuko was seen lying on the ground, trembling all over, her facial features stained red with blood were extremely distorted, and the disbelief on her face had turned into fear: "Yes...I'm sorry...I...was wrong..."

Miss Ikuko's throat had been pierced by the curse from the gun. Her pale fingers pressed tightly on the bloody hole in her neck, and the thick blood seeped into her fingers.

"Do you remember? Who am I?" Qi Jiu took a step closer and murmured in a half-smiling tone, coaxing her to say the other person's name.

Miss Ikuko almost stared out of her eyes. She subconsciously shrank back half a step, holding her neck and trembling all over: "You...!"

It's a pity that before she could say the other person's name, the illusion of Flower Street collapsed.

The crimson corridor instantly turned into thick ink, flowing away like a tide.

The grotesque Ukiyoe scenes painted on the shoji gate also disintegrated in an instant.

Really, why did he run away before asking her to compensate for the damaged noodles?

*

"Qi Jiu? Qi Jiu! You finally woke up, you scared me to death just now..."

When the illusion began, Qi Qiu briefly lost consciousness. Qin Rang, who was at the side and didn't know what happened, was so frightened that his voice changed.

"Holy shit! This, this is... Miss Rossetti?!" Qin Rang looked at the red-haired girl who appeared out of nowhere, wearing a rose dress and playing with a pistol. He didn't take a breath.

Shun tensed up again, "Miss Rossetti...what's going on? Why are you here?!"

Qin Rang thought he was dazzled for a moment. Why did the **ss from the previous dungeon suddenly appear in this dungeon?!

"Ah, that cracked courtesan is really unbeatable. There are still three minutes left before my part-time job ends." Miss Rossetti frowned and looked at the remaining time, playing with the gun in her hand in boredom.

Suddenly, she aimed the loaded gun at the frightened Qin Rang.

Qin Rang was so frightened that he raised his hands in surrender: "I, I, I don't know anything...!"

"Qi, Qi Chu..." Qin Rang's voice trembled, and he tugged on Qi Chu's sleeves to ask for help, "The copy is broken...Help...Help me!"

Qi Jiu sat up, holding the "Sixteen" noodles that had been split in half in the illusion in his hand. He rubbed his sore neck, and finally walked over and pressed Rossetti's gun: "Don't make trouble, you scared him.

Already."

The moment the words came out of his mouth, Qi Jiu was stunned.

Because the tone of voice I subconsciously spoke to Miss Rossetti just now was almost exactly the same as the guy in the dream.

"Just kidding."

Miss Rossetti stuck out her tongue at Qin Rang, then pointed the gun in the direction of the shrine door, and fired indiscriminately.

In less than three minutes, the door of the shrine had been completely penetrated by her and collapsed.

Qi Jiu used Ema to complete the rules of the shrine, and with Miss Rossetti's violent demolition of the door, Qi Jiu and Qin Rang were finally able to leave this strange shrine smoothly.

[Running Miss Rossetti’s limited time appointment letter remaining time: 10s]

Miss Rossetti finally put away her pistol: "Brother, my working time is up, good night."

Qi Jiu waved to her: "Thank you for tonight, good night."

Rossetti smiled: "You paid, you're welcome."

As she spoke, she turned around and waved her arms, and her red hair, as fiery as flames, disappeared into the white mist of the night.

Qin Rang had not recovered from Miss Rossetti's crazy shooting operation. He blinked in disbelief and looked at the direction where Miss Rossetti disappeared for a long time.

Qi Jiu patted him on the shoulder: "Miss Rossetti has left."

"Oh," Qin Rang turned his head blankly, "What... is going on?"

"Is it your skill? Bring over Miss Rossetti from the last copy?" Qin Rang finally realized something.

Qi Jiu nodded: "I was dragged into the illusion just now by the evil spirit controlling Ema, and Miss Rossetti was of great help."

"So it's really like this..." Qin Rang wondered, "This skill is so powerful."

Qi Jiu smiled and acquiesced: "Thanks to you for giving me Hot Spring Granny's spell pendant just now. It also helped a lot."

Qin Rang waved his hand: "What do you mean, you bear the curse of the black painted horse yourself, and I don't have to do anything... Well, are there any useful clues in the illusion?"

Qi Jiu nodded: "I met Miss Ikuko and found the true source of the fire in the hot spring street."

Qin Rang was slightly stunned: "Isn't the fire because Xiaomi made a deal with the evil spirit?"

Qi Jiu: "Xiao Mi is just the "key" that triggered this disaster. There was a fire at the shrine site a hundred years ago. I think that was the real source of the accident."

Qin Rang was completely confused now, but when he thought about it carefully, he seemed to have never really understood it.

"You still have Xiaomi's Ema?" Qi Jiu asked.

Qin Rang nodded firmly: "Don't worry, I'm here."

Qi Jiu: "Let's go, let's take this piece of Ema that Xiaomi forgot about, maybe she can remember some important clues."

"By the way, what happened to your Ema?" Qin Rang looked at the neng noodles that Qi Jiu held in his hand and cracked in half.

Qi Jiu shrugged and said in a frustrated tone: "It was damaged by Miss Yuzi, and she ran away before I had time to ask her for compensation."

Qin Rang: "..."

"I happen to have a tool for repairing items here. You can take it and use it." Qin Rang quickly exchanged the repair tool and handed it to Qi Zu, "Let's agree first, don't give me coins in exchange. After all, it's just now

A gift of thanks for making a deal with evil spirits for me."

After getting along with each other until now, Qin Rang is already very clear about Qi Qiu's style. This guy adheres to the principle of equal exchange and never accepts benefits from others for nothing, even for partners who have cooperated for a long time.

Qi Jiu was taken aback for a moment and said with a smile: "Thank you, it was a big help."

Since he had said this to the other party, Qi Jiu did not insist on paying the other party.

He also knew that he was in urgent need of repairing the props, so he didn't pretend to be polite to Qin Rang.

The two of them crossed the shrine gate that was riddled with holes by Miss Rossetti and walked back to the foggy hot spring street.

Different from the scene when they arrived, now the two of them would no longer hear the faint sound of laughter, and the white mist just floated quietly in the night, flowing silently.

Will-o'-the-wisps flickered, and the sound of clogs struck the ancient stone stacks.

"Da da da--"

The two walked towards the hotel.

[Congratulations on finding important clues and successfully advancing the branch "The Truth about the Hotel Accident". The unlock rate of this branch is currently 80%]

[Reward for promoting the branch line: Obtain the prop "Log-colored Ema"*1]

[Prop description: Can be used for shrine prayer activities]

Before he even warmed up the prop he had just received, Qi Jiu had already figured out how to use it.

[Because you opened the shrine map, triggered important hidden plot points, and successfully opened the hidden main mission of "The Truth about the Yuzhiwu Fire", please actively obtain relevant clues to complete the branch story]

[Currently hidden main line progress: 0%]

On the way back, Qi Qiu found that the black Ema that belonged to him had been taken out of the shrine illusion and was tied to his yukata at some point.

The wish to "meet Miss Ikuko" is still written on the front of the black Ema, but the price on the back has changed again——

"Please let Ikuko-san free."

At the same time, the system pops up a message box [Congratulations on successfully unlocking the free branch: "Help Miss Ikuko escape"]

[Note: This branch is an optional branch, you can choose whether to complete it according to your preferences and abilities]

Qi Jiu looked at the black Ema thoughtfully, mentally going through the clues he had obtained tonight and the things he had not figured out yet.

What is certain now is:

First, Ms. Ikuko knew the guy’s character and showed fear of his face;

Second, the fire accident in the hot spring street was caused by a deal between Xiaoya, who was born with psychic abilities, and Miss Ikuko. Miss Ikuko used her energy field as a connection to lead the centuries-old yin fire to the real hot spring street, thus causing

The tragic fire on New Year’s Eve that killed twenty-one people;

Thirdly, due to the fire incident in Ikuzhiwu a hundred years ago, the dark fire in this street has continued to this day. The dark fire uses Miss Ikuko's resentment as a burning object and will not be extinguished for hundreds of years. Therefore, truly eliminating Miss Ikuko's resentment can fundamentally prevent it.

Disaster occurs.

Of course, Qi Gu was skeptical about Miss Ikuko's description of her life experience.

Although the story of a wandering girl who became pregnant with a noble family's child and was unfortunately silenced sounds reasonable at first, it is a bit unbelievable that the noble family even burned down the entire flower street for this. After all, to the old aristocrats, the silenced oiran was

It's such an easy thing, there's no need to make such a big move.

And the crack on Miss Ikuko's face looked like it had been cut open with a knife before she died... What secret did Miss Ikuko have that made people at that time treat her in such a cruel way?

Sometimes cruelty itself symbolizes fear. Did Miss Ikuko scare people at that time?

Judging from the appearance of the filth in the soup pool, Miss Ikuko seems to have a hobby of "biting" people. Just now, Miss Ikuko also proposed that she wanted to drink his blood. So, is Miss Ikuko pica? Or is it something like sucking people in ghost stories?

Bloody spirit?
To be continued...