The house was unusually quiet, with the wooden shutters of the windows closed tightly so that only a faint light could let in. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoJudging from the clothes on the chairs and the dishes and chopsticks on the table, there were people living here not long ago.

She walked briskly to the table. The food in the dishes was rotten and covered with green and black mold spots. In addition to the previous smell, there was also a musty smell in the air, which was thought to be the result of long-term air circulation.

"You two, come here!" Noka cried out anxiously, "Look what I found!" ”

She followed the sound and saw three 'beasts' lying motionless in what was supposed to be a bedroom. They looked like gray wolves in a circle, their eyes closed, their chests and abdomen slowly heaving, whether they were asleep or in a coma. Torn pieces of cloth hung over them, and the silhouette of the original garment could be faintly discerned—apparently for humanoid creatures.

"Hey, wake up!" Noka kept shaking the largest of them, "Are you hibernating?" Wake up, it's almost summer! ”

"Don't make a fuss." Lin stepped closer, easily pushed Noka away, and then carefully examined the three sleeping youkai, "This is not hibernation...... It's not even a normal lethargy. Their bodies remain highly active, breathing and beating faster than normal...... Moreover, they are very weak and have not eaten for a long time, I am afraid. ”

"I've heard that if you don't take the initiative, youkai will only show their original form when they are greatly stimulated or when they die-" Noka glared at the three 'gray wolves' on the ground, his face full of disbelief, "Alphonse is on top, who can tell me what's going on!" ”

"Probably that's what Yu'er felt...... The source of negative emotions. Lynn's expression was a little gloomy, "If you don't get it right, it's the whole village that will be affected...... Or a wider range. ”

……

Lynn's words are prophecy.

They broke into several houses in a row, and found that most of the inhabitants were falling asleep and had reverted back to their "original" form, which was what they were before they were "enlightened", but they were often larger. A handful of youkai have lost signs of life, but have not yet begun to corrupt. Their bodies were as thin as wood, and their skin was dull, as if they had been seriously ill for a long time.

Most of the yokai are creatures, such as birds, beasts, insects, or plants, but there are a few exceptions. In one of the houses, there was only one piece of basalt standing in the hall, and a human shape could be faintly discerned; The other room has traces of life, but there is nothing that looks like a monster, I don't know if the other party has left, or if the monster that lives here does not have the "original body" that can be manifested at all-just like Yu'er.

In any case, the current situation is quite serious, this is an obvious fact.

"They may have been influenced by some kind of arcane spell - or always." Yuphie simply told Lynn and Noka everything she had seen through her arcane vision, "If it was indeed a spell...... It is likely that it is still in force at the moment. ”

"I'll go and see how the surrounding villages are doing!" Lin patted Grace and jumped on its back, "You guys can investigate here first, and wait for me to come back!" ”

Yuffie nodded, and went separately with Noka to inspect the rest of the dwellings. Perhaps luckily, when she entered the sixth house, a hoarse and muffled greeting came from the corner of the room.

“…… Who's there. ”

She quickly lit a flame of light on her fingertips, illuminating the corner where the voice came. In the corner huddled was a creature that looked half-human, half-beast. His face was somewhere between a transformed youkai and a normal mandrill, his limbs thick and hairy, his clothes torn apart, and his hands and feet completely reverted to the appearance of a beast, though still large enough to grasp objects.

There was a strange smell of medicinal herbs in the house, and the creature in the corner was holding a cup with a tired face, slowly pouring the steaming contents into his mouth. His eyes were red, and his gaze was a mixture of reason and madness, and it fell on her through the room, causing Yuffie to shiver.

"Are you alright?" She asked, "What can I help you?" ”

"Go farther away......" the other man gasped hard, as if it would take him all his strength to speak, "this village ...... Finished. If you stayed here, you would--"

"I'm not a youkai and won't be affected by that spell." Yuffie tried to calm himself down, and walked closer to see how the other man was doing. The mandrill shook back and forth, slammed its head against the wall behind it, and then widened its eyes, raised the cup in its hand to its mouth, and poured a large gulp of liquid.

Yuffie wasn't very proficient in herbs, but she could see that the youkai on the other side were struggling to resist the Sandman's onslaught, which was becoming more and more difficult.

Perhaps the best medicine for this monster is a restful night's sleep. But if she did, she would no longer be able to get any information from the other party. Yuffie secretly apologized in his heart, and gently recited the incantation, applying the secret technique of forcibly stimulating the spirit in a short period of time to the creature in front of him.

The spell seemed to be effective, and the youkai on the other side let out a low breath, and his eyes gradually returned to clarity, "Thank you...... Don't bother, I'm afraid...... I'm ...... soon Just like everyone else. He gasped heavily, "You can't save me." ”

"If you don't try, you can't know the result." "I believe in what I've learned...... Moreover, it is better than doing nothing. So, can you tell me, what's really going on here? ”

The mandrill-like youkai stared at Yuffie for a long time before he reluctantly nodded.

"You say it's a spell......" he struggled to open his mouth, as if his current state was affecting his ability to think as well, "but it was more like a plague. Someone came back from outside the village and started to get weird...... Then, the whole village was infected with ...... Disease. ”

"First of all, I had a fever, I was tired, I was afraid of the sun, I didn't want to go out, so I had to stay at home all day." The youkai on the other side sighed, "Next, we're youkai...... The possession of the ability to become weaker and weaker until ...... Disappear completely. In the end, the ability to transform into a demon clan that every demon clan had at birth was also lost...... As a result, it's like what I am now. He shrunk and tugged his furry arms around his chest, "Finally, the irresistible wave of fatigue hit us and put us to sleep. I tried my best to wake up my sleeping friends, and I could only watch them weaken day by day...... Until death. ”