Zongman I fight weirdness in everyday world

Later that evening, on the rooftop of a tall building in Kyoto.

"We've already confirmed it."

L, having returned to the rooftop with Yagami Light and Hoshino, organized the information he had gathered while investigating the building and slowly began to speak to the members of the Superpower Research Society.

"According to our investigation, this place is indeed somewhat similar to the kind of Reverse World we know, but it's not exactly the same."

"Here, time is completely frozen, which means that in the corresponding real world, everyone has stopped 'cognizing.' Of course, there's another possibility."

"It's not that people have stopped 'cognizing,' but that everyone is in a state where they cannot 'cognize.'"

Hearing L's last sentence, Futaba Rio couldn't help but frown slightly.

"Unable to 'cognize'... does that mean... death?"

Before L could answer, Hoshino shook his head.

"We don't know the answer to that question. After all, the 'cognition' that constitutes a city doesn't just come from the people living in it, but from everyone who knows of the city's existence. More or less, everyone will have their own impression of the city. For example, in our world's Kyoto, with the knowledge of 'Masks' and the belief that Kyoto is the safest city in the Sakura Province, the birth rate of Reverse World evil spirits has plummeted."

"But to completely stop 'cognition,' or rather, to make the power of 'cognition' insufficient to construct the Reverse World..."

Futaba Rio understood what he meant without Hoshino finishing his sentence.

"That would be... killing everyone who knows about the corresponding real-world city, or leaving only a small portion... But we can't be sure if this method is feasible, after all, we haven't done anything like that before..."

"It's just a possibility."

Hoshino leaned his hands on the railing of the rooftop, surveying the "Kyoto City" shrouded in crimson light and permeated with thick, black mist, and said softly.

"This place... is both the Reverse World and the real world."

"Both the Reverse World and the real world? Could it be..."

The members of the Superpower Research Society all wore expressions of disbelief upon hearing this.

"Could it be... that this is what it looks like when the real world... and the Reverse World are completely fused together...? Complete nothingness?"

Just as everyone was unsure of how to react, Yotsuya Miko, who had been observing the streets, suddenly narrowed her eyes, her tone revealing a rare and obvious emotional fluctuation, as she said with slight panic.

"Look there..."

The members of the Superpower Research Society walked to the railing of the rooftop and looked in the direction Yotsuya Miko was pointing. When they clearly saw the scene on the street, they couldn't help but reveal expressions of incredible shock.

"What on earth is this...?"

On the originally empty street, there now appeared strange patterns like red blood vessels, pulsating non-stop, as if they possessed life. And as everyone watched, these red vascular meridians were spreading at a speed visible to the naked eye. In just a few seconds, the streets within the Superpower Research Society members' vision were completely covered by these red meridians.

"It seems it's time to split up."

Hoshino looked at the members of the Superpower Research Society present and said with a smile.

"Ryuzaki and Yagami Light will follow me. You guys go investigate the surrounding cities to see if there are any similar scenes to Kyoto. Hmm... let me think, for the meeting... let's make it a week from now, at this same place."

"Separate reconnaissance... that's indeed the most efficient way."

Futaba Rio pushed up her glasses, looked at Hoshino, and confirmed with some concern.

"Are you sure that as long as we are in the same world, we can sense each other's state through the power of the contract?"

"No problem."

Hoshino reached out and pinched Futaba Rio's fair cheek, saying with a smile.

"If you encounter a crisis that you can't solve, I can directly teleport through the contract, so don't worry."

"Okay..."

Futaba Rio stood on tiptoe, seemingly wanting to kiss Hoshino's cheek, but when she felt the gazes of the surrounding Superpower Research Society members, her pretty face flushed red, and she seemed a little hesitant. After a few seconds, Futaba Rio suddenly bit her silver teeth lightly and glared at Sakurajima Mai and the others who were watching the fun, saying unhappily.

"You like watching, don't you?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Futaba Rio had already tried hard to stand on tiptoe and kissed Hoshino on the cheek, then raised her chin at Sakurajima Mai, Yotsuya Miko, Yuigahama Yui, and the others, as if in provocation.

"Hmph, I kissed him, so what? What's so funny? Huh?"

"Rio, what we're laughing at isn't this..."

Sakurajima Mai looked like she couldn't help but laugh, trying her best to suppress her laughter.

"It's just the way you try so hard to stand on tiptoe to kiss Hoshino... Hahaha, it's really too funny, hahaha, sorry, I can't help it..."

Futaba Rio was stunned when she heard this, her pretty face turning red with shame and anger.

"Mai-senpai, you..."

"Hahahahaha..."

It wasn't just Sakurajima Mai who was laughing, Yuigahama Yui was also laughing so hard that she was shaking, and even tears were about to come out.

"Ri, Rio, the way you try to stand on tiptoe to kiss Hoshino... is just like the way my Sable tries to stand up straight to steal food from the table... it's really too funny, hahahahahahaha..."

Hearing Yuigahama Yui's vivid analogy, the members of the Superpower Research Society, including Yotsuya Miko, who always kept a straight face, couldn't help but laugh. Although they were in this strange city under the crimson moon, the rooftop was instantly filled with a joyful atmosphere.

"You... you just laugh!"

After Futaba Rio left in a huff, Sakurajima Mai also walked up to Hoshino and gently嘱咐嘱咐.

"Be careful, see you in a week."

"Yeah, see you in a week."

......

After all the members of the Superpower Research Society left the rooftop in their respective groups, L slowly walked over, first closing the door to the rooftop, then looking at Hoshino, who was leaning against the railing with a lazy look, and slowly said.

"Now you can tell the truth, right? How much power can you use right now...?"

"I knew you'd see through it..."

Faced with L's sudden question, Hoshino just looked unsurprised, and waved his hand with a smile.

"In my current state, I can't use any spiritual abilities for the time being."

"This..."

Yagami Light couldn't help but be shocked when he heard this, his brow furrowing tightly.

"How could this be? Did you know beforehand that opening the passage between the two worlds would bring you such consumption? Being unable to use the power of Soul Materialization is too risky..."

"At first, I didn't know either."

Hoshino put away his smile, looked at the city covered in red meridians, which looked a bit like the city infected by the prototype virus in a game called Prototype, and said in a calm tone.

"It's just that this world... seems to be resisting me, causing me to expend more spiritual power in the process of opening the passage. Furthermore, there are no evil spirits here, so I can't replenish my power by devouring them. I can only wait for my spiritual power to recover on its own."

Hearing this, Yagami Light frowned even more, took out a wrapped rice ball from his pocket, and handed it to Yae Hoshi.

"This is a special food prepared for all of us for this operation by that Yurikawa classmate in your club, using her spiritual ability. Isn't the food she makes supposed to restore injuries and spiritual power? As long as you eat it..."

"I'm afraid that won't work."

Yae Hoshi took the rice ball handed over by Yagami Light, unwrapped it, and took a bite with a smile.

"Yeah, as expected, it's just an ordinary convenience store rice ball."

"How could this be? This is clearly..."

"Still don't understand?"

L didn't seem surprised by this, just rubbed his black, choppy hair and said indifferently.

"Yae Hoshi has already said that this world is resisting him, which means it's resisting all external spiritual abilities. The rice ball made by Yurikawa Hana is a supplement to replenish spiritual power and heal injuries in our world, but in this world, it becomes the most ordinary food."

"This world... is resisting our power?"

Yagami Light never expected that this operation would encounter such an outrageous situation, and for a moment he didn't know what to do.

Similarly, although L has been analyzing, he is not a spiritual ability user after all. Analysis is analysis, but he can't think of the optimal solution for the next step.

"Or..."

Just then, Yagami Light suddenly said something shocking.

"If you eat me, is it possible that your spiritual ability will recover?"

"Ew..."

Hearing this, Yae Hoshi couldn't help but show a look of disgust.

"Raito, you're really something. I've seen a lot of girls, but you're the first guy I've ever seen who's so fixated on men. What kind of crazy talk is that? If you're really horny, just let Ryuzaki eat you. If you act up again, I'm going to get angry with you."

"I'm not kidding."

Yagami Light looked as if he had already made a resolution, with a look of resignation, and said seriously.

"In this world, you can't draw on the people's faith in 'Kamen', and now your spiritual ability can't be used temporarily. In this situation, if you encounter an attack, if something happens to you... we won't have another chance to eliminate 'Kira', and we won't even be able to protect our world. In comparison, the most correct choice is for you to devour me and restore your spiritual ability."

"Heh, you're underestimating me, aren't you?"

Yae Hoshi smiled and patted Yagami Light on the shoulder, and said easily.

"The ability to materialize souls can't be used, which is equivalent to having my skills sealed. But don't forget, I, the chosen protagonist standing at the top of two worlds, still have pure stats. When I encounter an enemy, I can just crush them with my stats, right? Don't mention your ridiculous suggestion. You bastard, could it be that because you've been craving me for so long, you've developed some kind of morbid feeling for me, and you insist on turning into ginger pork and being eaten by me? Did you wander into the wrong set?"

Hearing Yae Hoshi's outrageous description, Yagami Light couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"What craving... what morbid feelings... forget it, yeah, even if you can't use your spiritual ability, with your abnormal physical fitness that can withstand sniper bullets, there shouldn't be any accidents."

L, who was listening to the conversation between the two, said impatiently.

"Have you two finished flirting? Can you talk about what to do next?"

"I shouldn't have acted with you two..."

Yae Hoshi looked at Yagami Light and L with a meaningful expression.

"It's outrageous... it's clearly three men, but I inexplicably feel the atmosphere of a shura field. Let me mention it first, I won't participate in this shura field. You two can handle it."

After teasing them with this, Yae Hoshi entered serious mode.

"Do you know why I wanted you two to act together?"

"For concealment, right?"

Yagami Light's mind was certainly not so dull that he couldn't guess Yae Hoshi's intention.

"My Emperor Sutoku is good at hiding his aura. Ryuzaki doesn't need to be mentioned, he's just an ordinary person, so naturally he won't emit any spiritual power fluctuations. And if I'm not mistaken, in your current situation where you can't use your spiritual ability, even if you're within the enemy's perception range, you won't reveal the slightest flaw, right? Are we going to carry out a stealth operation next?"

"That's about the idea."

Yae Hoshi nodded and pointed to the streets covered with red, pulsating blood vessels, and said softly.

"Where we're going..."

"Is the underground of Kyoto."

......

Half an hour later, inside Kyoto subway station.

"This is..."

Looking at the old trains on both sides, covered with red meridians, motionless, and the escalator that appeared in front of them, similar in shape to the subway station's escalator, but with a pure darkness at the end, as if leading to the underworld, listening to the faint, heartbeat-like sounds around them, Yagami Light and L both showed vigilance.

"The subway station in this world... no, is this... still a subway station?"

"As expected..."

Unlike L and Yagami Light, Yae Hoshi looked at the scene in front of him as if he had expected this to happen, and just walked forward on his own.

"Let's go, let's investigate."

Yagami Light and L followed behind Yae Hoshi, and after going down the stairs, they found that the surroundings were like an abandoned air-raid shelter, with the same vine-like red meridians crawling on the walls, and many forks around. Just standing in such a strange, sunless, enclosed space gave people a palpitation.

"It's coming."

At the same time as Yae Hoshi's voice fell, Yagami Light and L heard the sound of chains rubbing, approaching rapidly from the corner of the distant passage.

"Release your resentment, Emperor Sutoku!"

Considering the need for concealment, Yagami Light did not use Robin Hood, who had stronger frontal combat power, but summoned Emperor Sutoku, who was faster and could hide in the shadows.

In the next second after Emperor Sutoku showed his figure, a monster wearing a tattered black robe, unable to see its face, its body looming like a shadow, and carrying a rusty chain in its hand, suddenly rushed out from the corner of the distant passage, rushing straight towards the direction where the three were standing.

"Go, Emperor Sutoku!"

Emperor Sutoku, hanging from the ceiling, waited for the black-robed shadow to approach the position where Yagami Light and others were standing before suddenly appearing from the darkness, and two sharp claws instantly pierced into the back of the opponent, pressing it firmly to the ground.

But even after encountering such an attack, the black-robed shadow did not make any sound, only the chain in his hand rubbed against the metal rails, making a strange sound that made people's teeth sore.