On the other side of the tunnel, the trees on the side of the road were pulled out to see the new shoots, and the grass on the ground was also emerging, but after passing through the tunnel, the mountains were barren and withered, and there was no greenery in sight.

Separated by a mountain, it is like two seasons.

Makoto Chiba parked his motorcycle on the side of the road, got out of the car and walked to a withered tree, raised his hand and pulled the branches and leaves, and easily pulled the branches down, and when he looked closely, he could still see the shrunken buds on the surface of the decaying branches.

Obviously, these trees are not like this from the beginning, but when they sprout normally, they suddenly wither, so that they are absolutely inseparable from the 'Heisei Twin-Tailed Monster', after all, in this world, if anything happens, there will never be a mistake in making the monster think of it.

Looking back, this important highway connecting the north and south, cars are constantly shuttling back and forth, emitting a lot of exhaust fumes all the time, but the density of cars here is far less than that of the metropolis, if the monster likes to absorb exhaust fumes, why stay here, and go to the metropolis with more 'food'?

Unless... It's not the territory of monsters, it's like a forest, every woodland has an owner, and if you want to go in, you must be prepared to fight to the death with the owner.

Makoto Chiba re-mounted his motorcycle, and after a few further distances, he turned off the highway and entered the town of Totoma, a standard urban-rural junction where high-rise buildings and wooden houses coexist, clean asphalt roads and dilapidated dirt roads.

I checked the information on the Internet with my mobile phone and learned that the construction of the Ritoma section of this expressway began ten years ago, and the tunnel was completed five years ago, and another year later, the expressway began to be used, and a high-voltage transmission circuit passed by, so that the Ritoma Town, which was originally just a small mountain village, began to develop by leaps and bounds through this expressway and high-voltage power transmission.

In just three years, the small mountain village has become a town, with buildings of several floors, asphalt roads, and street lamps everywhere, and it can be said that earth-shaking changes are taking place every year.

When I arrived at the office of Totomachi, the bulletin board outside told about the changes in Totomachi in recent years, and there was a plan for the development of Totomachi for the next five years, which was going to tear down all the old houses and build new ones, build all the roads into asphalt roads, and plan the wasteland outside the village into factories, and start construction as soon as the weather warms up...

Before Makoto Chiba finished reading it, he saw an orange off-road vehicle driving along the two-way two-lane road, with the TPC logo and the letters GUTS clearly printed on the body, it was actually the Victory Team's Drum, and even the license plate was GUTS03.1126-X.

"Did they get the message too?" Chiba Makoto glanced at it and continued to read the information on the bulletin board of Ritoma Town, this is another village that is undergoing modernization, and the village where Obike lives is in the same situation, or the villages around the metropolis are basically like this, with the rapid expansion of the metropolis, it has been included in the scope of the metropolis and has become a part of the city.

As soon as he saw the last picture, Dagu's surprised voice came from behind him: "Why are you here?" ”

Chiba Makoto turned around and saw that Dagu was walking towards him, and Horii was followed by Horii with a disgusted face, because the clothes on his body were stained with a lot of mud, which made Chiba Makoto laugh all of a sudden, and said, "Horii team, how did you do this?" ”

"It's all those bear kids, don't let me see them," Horii said with a belly of fire, and he was driving the car well, but suddenly a string of firecrackers was thrown, although the drum car is equipped with heavy armor, not to mention firecrackers, bullets can't penetrate it, but the paint will be damaged.

So, he and Dagu got out of the car to look for someone, but they saw a few children running from the slope to the depths of the woods, and the two of them went to chase them, but Dagu didn't have anything to do, but Horii fell into the trap of the group of children - the quagmire, and fell into the mud.

"Isn't it, you're a member of the victory team, and you can't even deal with children?" Chiba Makoto looked at Horii in surprise, he knew that this guy was good at mental power, not physical strength, but he couldn't even catch up with a group of children, this... No wonder the victory team will be disbanded later, and a special super victory team will be established, in addition to the aging of the team members, there is also the problem of professional quality, after all, the victory team was not established to deal with monsters.

"What, I just... Cut them some slack. ”

"I believe it."

“... You're as nasty as New Town. Horii muttered with an unhappy face, thinking that it must not be suitable to go out today, otherwise why would he be so unlucky.

Dagu hurriedly relieved the siege for the team members and said, "You are here here..."

"I think it's the same reason you did, interviewing villages with withered trees." Chiba Makoto said and walked to the office, "Let's go, just go in and ask." ”

Horii walked to Dagu's side, looked at Chiba Makoto who walked into the office, and said in great confusion: "Why is he one step ahead of us again?" ”

"Aren't all journalists like that?" Dagu said and followed.

The mayor of Totoma Town, Yamada Town, had already been notified that the victory team would come here to investigate the cause of the tree withering in Totoma, but unexpectedly three people came.

Without waiting for Mayor Yamada to ask, Makoto Chiba took the initiative to show his press card and said, "Hello, I'm a reporter from KCB Magazine, and I heard that something strange happened here, so..."

"No, no, no," Mayor Yamada immediately waved his hand and said, "We're all fine here, we don't have any news to cover, I'm sorry to let you run in vain, and please leave as soon as possible." ”

The town of Totoma is growing rapidly, and there is an urgent need for more people to invest here, but it is not possible to be reported that something strange will happen, and if the investors are scared away, how can he be re-elected and promoted?

“......”

Horii, who came in with him, couldn't help grinning, but he didn't expect this guy to have a deflated day, and suddenly felt that this bit of mud on his body was nothing.

Chiba Makoto raised his eyebrows and said, "Are you sure you let me go?" Then I'll get the news report I interviewed on the road. ”

"You... What did you interview? ”

Chiba Makoto flipped through the notebook that was familiar to both Daiko and Horii and read, "Some villagers think that the construction of highways and tunnels has angered the mountain god, so the mountain god will let the rivers dry up and the trees wither, and soon the whole town will be uninhabitable."

There are also villagers who think that this is retribution, and the shrine was demolished for the sake of the road, and now God has come to punish the disrespectful village, and some villagers think..."

Mayor Yamada's face instantly became extremely ugly, and even the panting sound was much louder, Chiba Makoto closed the notebook and said, "So, can I leave as soon as possible now?" ”