*A beach under the movie event scene of "Ju-on: The Grudge (manga revision version)".
Unlike the typical beach filled with tourists, suitable for surfing and sunbathing, this beach is more frequented by fishermen.
Due to the recent surge in the number of marine fish, Follow current novels on NoveI★Fire.net
often a high tide leaves a large quantity of fish on the beach, even standing on the shore one can clearly see the movement of fish schools, some even being squeezed out of the sea and bitten to death by their kind.
these fish look strange, but their taste is exceptionally delicious. Any local who has eaten the "fish" finds it addictive and gradually loses interest in other meats.
This has created a huge market for the fish, attracting many inland tourists eager to taste this unique seafood, bringing considerable economy to the area.
Residents also spontaneously drive to the beach, taking just a few hours to return fully loaded.
A peculiar balance of nature forms, under the extravagant consumption by the residents, the fish numbers reach a peak that no longer grows.
Today is just the same.
The beach is lined with various private cars, there’s no need to compete for spots, just find an empty space and cast nets into the sea to steadily catch fish.
The family of five of Shouta has come here, their small pickup truck nearly filled with fish, just one last net to cast.
Their sixteen-year-old son casts the final net, and upon trying to haul it finds it unexpectedly heavy.
"Dad, this net is so heavy! Heavier than any before, I can’t lift it on my own, there must be a big catch."
The middle-aged father used to do hard labor, and recently eating fish has increased his strength significantly, he quickly comes to help, unexpectedly still unable to pull it up.
Seeing this, grandpa and mom also come to assist
finally manage to haul the net up.
The sight before their eyes leaves the family puzzled, but quickly turns to shock, "A corpse!"
Deep in the fishing net,
nearly two meters tall,
with white hair draping over his shoulders,
and an impressive organ structure,
his body proportions are almost perfect.
The family is almost instantly captivated by this perfect proportion, momentarily speechless.
Wise grandpa immediately senses something amiss.
"This doesn’t look like a corpse at all, his body isn’t swollen, and there are many omnivorous fish in the group, yet none attacked him.
This net is about the same as before, except for this one person, why is it so heavy... is it this person’s weight?"
"I’ll go see if he’s alive."
Father steps forward to untangle the net, ignoring the scattering fish, first to rescue the man, fish are abundant after all.
When father grabs the man’s ankle trying to pull him, he feels like he’s dragging a huge iron block, simply immovable.
Furthermore, the sensation in his palm is strange, beneath the man’s skin seems not flesh, but cold hard lumps.
The son’s voice suddenly reaches, father realizes something is wrong and immediately backs off.
after a shake of the man’s pure white fingers, he supports his body and slowly stands up.
During the stand-up, as the net restricts him, something appears to grow from his back, instantly tearing the net apart.
The tall figure completely overwhelms father, almost blocking out the sun, father feels suffocated.
Each step leaves deep footprints in the sand, soon he arrives before father, bending down to sniff, revealing sharp metallic teeth.
Father can clearly hear mechanical sounds operating, too scared to move, seemingly any action means instant death.
The pale young man seems to smell something, finally closing his mouth, then in a hoarse voice gently asks, "Got clothes?"
Father quickly stands up and runs to the pickup, finding a spare set of clothes.
"They might be a bit short, I don’t know if you..."
Before finishing, the man puts them on at once.
Puts on shorts, drapes a short-sleeved shirt without any change in expression, walks off the beach, disappearing from view.
Father already senses danger, decisively saying, "We need to leave the city immediately, today! This isn’t human, it’s very dangerous."
the family of four stands motionless, dumbly watching him, the son first speaks up, "Dad, if we leave, how will we eat fish... outside we won’t have enough to eat, will we?"
Father hesitates for a moment, survival instinct and reason are suddenly overshadowed by another desire, his gaze turns blurry, even feeling subtle changes in his pupil structure.
"Yes, this is our hometown, we can’t leave. So many people live here, even if there’s danger, it won’t come to us so soon."
[Community Welfare Center]
This time Luo Di was once again given the identity of a worker to explore the dungeon.
Upon waking up, he encountered strange circumstances,
Luo Di stared at the lone dish in the lunch box, certain that the fish had simply been scaled, steamed, and served, its eyes glaring at whoever opened the box.
Having locked eyes with the fish, Luo Di experienced an overwhelming urge to consume it, his salivary glands going into overdrive.
He quickly shook his head, closed the lid with his hand. Before understanding the situation, the fish shouldn’t be killed carelessly to avoid unknown risks.
He immediately checked his own condition,
The relevant abilities remained unchanged, equipment was carried as usual, and most importantly, the [Ring] was still stored within his body.
Yet there was a problem.
Luo Di could sense that his connections with the Corner, even with Hell, were restricted. This movie event scene was being invaded, affected, assimilated by something not belonging to the Corner.
"So, it’s really something not from the Corner?
Even the Middle Layer dungeon is starting to be affected, the deeper Corner is likely in worse shape. Once this event ends, Teacher Guo should reveal more information.
It’s a good chance for me to feel this alienation from the Corner now, so I can handle real dangers calmly in the future.
If this thing fully infiltrates, the Human World won’t just face threats from Pseudo-Persons and Psychological Corners... no wonder Mr. Kraft signed a cooperation agreement with Hook and the others.
Let’s not think about these things now, let’s deal with what’s in front first."
Luo Di quickly surveyed the surrounding environment, similar to last time in "Goosebumps," his identity was a regular employee, but seemingly not as free as a courier.
The name on the badge was still "Luo Di."
It was currently lunch break, he immediately stood up, attempting to find this event’s partner - Katayama.
But as he left his workstation, hurried footsteps came from behind, accompanied by a document:
"Luo Di, this household recently submitted a welfare application, you might need to go check their situation.
Lately, several field employees quit because they chose fishing, we’re short-handed, your salary will be reimbursed."
Luo Di instantly agreed, this opportunity to leave the company and freely act was suitable, maybe it might lead to the event’s essence.
The director patted Luo Di’s shoulder and walked away.
Luo Di quickly started looking for the address information on the document, but unfortunately, the era of the film seemed to be the early 90s, no smartphone existed here.
After searching, he found a city map in a drawer, the intended location for this fieldwork was about ten kilometers from the company.
He also found a car key and obtained his own address through the info sheet.
"Let’s check this city’s specifics, and simultaneously search for Katayama’s info. If that guy’s ability is brought along, it should be very prominent."
As Luo Di just descended the company’s stairs, he heard a commotion.
One party was simply muttering apologies.
Following the sound, he saw... even before approaching, he could smell a stench, the overweight Katayama wearing a janitor’s uniform was holding a mop, being harshly scolded by someone.
A middle-aged man who came to the Welfare Center perhaps in a bad mood was pointing at Katayama, berating him.
He mocked how this scruffy person could work here, criticizing his appearance, physique, and sweating condition, almost going physical.
As this man continued to curse,
His neck was gripped tightly, thumb nearly sinking into the flesh.
Luo Di simply uttered a word, and the man instantly became silent, even somewhat incontinent, eyes full of fear, quickly fleeing.
Katayama was ecstatic at Luo Di’s arrival, sweating even more profusely, even Luo Di slightly pinched his nose at the discomfort.
"Luckily we were assigned the same area, if your plague accidentally spread, the plot could hardly progress.
Can you control your body odor and mucus secretion? The upcoming investigation might need stealth."
Katayama was also apologetic, "Can you take me to shower, preferably with a hairdryer! Severe dehydration could restrict secretion."
"Sure... We’re not in a hurry anyway."
As the two were about to leave the Welfare Center, something strange happened.
The middle-aged man Luo Di intimidated moments ago was now vomiting uncontrollably here, spewing out numerous fish structures, mainly fish bones.
The vomiting was beyond imagination, roughly over ten kilograms.
After finishing vomiting, he fell to the ground like a dry corpse, breathless.
When he collapsed, his head happened to tilt towards the door, eyes bulging in a dead fishlike manner, strikingly similar to the fish in Luo Di’s lunch box.