Kabuki golems walk into the pit with candles in hand.

With the help of the puppet's various feelings, Kamiyagawa, who stays outside and controls it, can almost be immersive.

The inside of the pit was dark and damp, and by candlelight, the walls and floor were covered with yellow or brown rock, covered in a thick layer of dust and mud.

If you actually enter such an environment, it will not be long before you feel that it is difficult to breathe.

But the puppet is a dead thing after all, and although it can sense the smell for Kamiya, it has no need to breathe.

Continue walking inward.

The light of the candle in the puppet's arms became a little fainter.

It may be because of the humid environment in the mine, or it may be because the air inside may not be smooth.

The actual area of the pit that Kamiya and the others dug tonight seemed to be very large, and after walking for a while, a fork in the puppet's sight appeared.

Both pit roads were pitch black, and the faint candlelight could not illuminate what was inside, nor did it know where they led.

On the damp ground at the fork in the road, the iron and wood, which were so old and rotten, that it was almost impossible to see what it should have been.

It is estimated that some of the equipment and tools used by miners.

The veins on the wall indicate where the miners had dug before. Through these veins, it is possible to see the crushed rock hoarded around it.

Kamiyagawa manipulated the puppet and chose a path at random to continue deeper.

The whole cave environment is very quiet.

Only the subtle footsteps of the puppets sounded from time to time, and in such a mysterious and quiet environment, the slightest sound would seem extremely abrupt.

Click, click.

Footsteps again.

But it doesn't seem to come from under the feet of a Kabuki puppet.

"Huh?"

Kamiyagawa sensed it slightly, causing the puppet to stop its movements and stand still.

Click, click.

Sure enough, the voice was still ringing.

And it's not just the sound of footsteps. There was also a sound similar to metal crashing against solid rock.

"Ding-ding-"

The noises were faint, suppressed by deeper echoes, so it was impossible to tell where they were coming from.

This environmental situation reminded Kamiyagawa of the experience of exploring the Inuchiro Tunnel alone a long time ago.

Depression, tension and silence.

The slightest noisy sound will be infinitely amplified, stimulating the sensitive nerves of the person in the dark.

"There's something in this mine."

Because he was using stand-in props to explore, Kamiyagawa didn't have any worries, nor did he feel nervous, but became excited.

If there is nothing abnormal in this mine, won't it be in vain?

"There seems to be a sound of mining."

Kamiyagawa controls the Kabuki puppet to move forward.

The inside of the mine was clanging, and the noise that could not distinguish the specific location seemed to be louder, but before it could go too far, the candle in the puppet's hand, which was originally extremely weak, was extinguished "poof".

From this, it can be judged that where the passage is a little deeper, it is estimated that there is no oxygen left.

In the darkness, with the help of the puppet's hearing, Kamiya heard a dense and dry human voice suddenly coming from the surroundings:

"Dig and dig, dig and dig...... Until more shiny stones are dug up......"

……

"It's not easy." Kamiyagawa at the entrance of the cave put down the Kabuki puppet in his hand, "I haven't really seen Shikijiro yet...... The condition of this mine seems to be not suitable for deep exploration. ”

However, it has been determined that in the depths of this abandoned mine for an unknown amount of time, there may really be Shikijiro.

I thought about it for a moment.

Kamiyagawa took out two more props from the [Mirage Cloth Bag].

[Drowning Girl's Heart] and a small requiem candle.

He wraps the [Drowning Girl's Heart Hair] around his wrist, which not only provides underwater mobility, but also enhances the ability to hold his breath, which can come in handy in mines where oxygen is lacking.

Kamiya then walked into the mine, didn't go too deep, stopped about ten meters from the hole, and lit a small requiem candle.

"If there is really Shikijiro in the depths, I don't know if they will be attracted by the candle flame of the requiem candle."

Kamiyagawa placed the requiem candle on the ground and took off his coat to fan the wind.

Try to make all the candle flames from the little requiem candle diffuse towards the cave.

After all, the Requiem Candle is an extraordinary prop made of soul crystals, and it can be lit for a long, long time without strange talk of smoking.

Kamiyagawa waited for more than half an hour.

In the dark passage ahead, a sparse sound was heard.

The sound of clattering footsteps and the grinding of metal against the rock wall.

"Coming?"

The spirit of Kamiyagawa was lifted.

It seems that it is really feasible to use the candle flame to trap him.

He condensed his pupils, and soon saw what came out of the cave—

A scrawny humanoid figure that was described as withered and stiff, covered in mud and dust, wearing only a dirty crotch cloth and dragging a mining pickaxe in his hand.

Look at it like this, it's Shikijiro, that's right.

There were many Shikijiro who were attracted by the requiem candle flame breath from the cave, and each one's expression was dull and numb, but perhaps he was attracted by the candle flame breath, and there was a vague greedy look.

The top of the head is shaved and bare, and the hair at the back of the head is tied in a bun.

Their hairstyle is not the samurai's Tsukiyo head.

Different from the head of the moon dynasty, the status of the ancient Japanese miners was low, and they could not have the same hairstyle as the samurai, and their head shape should be called "Hakudo Collapse", "Turnback" and the like.

Kamiya didn't do much research on this.

But judging from the hairstyle alone, these Shikijiro should all be made by the ancient miners of Beitongzi Mountain.

It may be the undead of the miners who died in the mining accident, or more likely that they are not even the undead, but the resentment and obsession of the miners for hundreds of years.

“…… Twenty...... Twenty-three, twenty-four. ”

Kamiyagawa counted, and Shikijiro, who was attracted by the requiem candle flame, was twenty-four in total.

They don't seem to have any sanity, and they don't care at all about the existence of such a big living person as Kamiyagawa.

The small requiem candles lit around the ground, huddled together, leaned down to inhale greedily, the white ethereal candle flame invading their nostrils, and the irritating sensation brought by these Shikijiro from time to time made a dry moan from their withered throats.

Kamiya didn't stop these Shikijiro from sharing the candle flames, and stood silently on the side for a while before slowly taking out the [Rope Reins of the Hanged Dead].

Karakala.

The hemp rope stretched out, constantly straightening and making a thin sound, tying up the twenty-four Shikijiro in turn.

These weak monsters did not resist, and let the ropes run around their waists.

"Come with me, you can't eat if you don't work. After eating the candle flame, you have to work. ”

Kamiyagawa picked up the small requiem candle on the ground, and without pulling the [reins of the hanged dead], Shikijiro, who was strung together, took the initiative to follow him out of the mine.

In the mountains and forests outside the abandoned mine, Kamiya summons the Kirizuki Train.

The ordinary, somewhat dilapidated platform of the moon, appeared in the mist, standing abruptly in the woods.

The railroad tracks in front of the platform are extended.

The moon train roared from the end of the tracks, tumbling through the trees, and the bright lights were dazzling.

Bang –

The train stops and the doors open.

Kamiyagawa led all the twenty-four Shikijiro into the car, and the requiem candle that was still burning was also left in the car.

He himself came back down before the doors closed.

The living who enter the inner world on the Ruyue train will be hidden by the gods, even if it is the owner of the train.

The "Lotus Fruit" who created the strange story of the city like a moon station at the beginning is, in a sense, the previous owner of the ghost train.

The keys to the train that Kamiya now holds were all obtained from her.

And after "Lianshi" entered the inner world, the traces of existence in reality were erased, and even her own name was forgotten by herself.

Boom - Boom –

Kamiyagawa jumped off the platform and watched the train disappear through the dark space deep in the forest.

The Ruyue platform next to him also disappeared together.

This train is bound for Aokigahara.

Kamiyagawa had already changed the Rutsuki Station on the map of Aokihara to the entrance of the Aokihara Mine Cave.

In addition, seven people were arranged to meet the emperor over there.

The Seven Imperial Fronts themselves are Yu and cannot leave the inner world, but after becoming a subordinate of Kamiya, they can shuttle out of the Ruyue Station built by their masters in each of the strategy maps.

After leaving the Live Fish Hotel, the seven of them together also had C-level upstream strength.

It's almost the same as the current Prajna and Dream Tapir, and it's more than enough to contact a new employee in a carriage.

Moreover, for the Imperial Frontaries, who couldn't even get out of the Live Fish Hotel before, going out to work was simply a reward for letting go.

They are happy to do it.

"It went even better than expected."

Kamiyagawa patted the dust on his body, and he was originally satisfied, but at a certain moment, some thoughts suddenly rose in his heart.

How to say it -

Bestsu Tongzishan, the largest copper mountain in the Edo period, made the Sumitomo clan rich all over the world, and rose to become a chaebol in the Shikoku region.

But for the bloody accumulation of wealth of these rich people, for hundreds of years, those who have been mining copper underground without seeing the light of day have died because of the collapse I don't know how many.

I don't know how many people who are nourished by the earth and gold, who can't live or die, who are trapped in the mines and don't see the light of day, and who become wandering walking corpses.

When the feudal nobles sang their wine, they could not hear the indistinct mournful voices of the miners in the mine under the silk bamboo.

That's why Shikijiro's strange story will be generated.

"Shikijiro's strange story is itself the result of the miners' undead or resentment. Before his death, he opened a mine for a feudal nobleman, and after it became a strange story, I was dragged to Aokihara to open a mine......"

Isn't it too much to do it yourself?

"Ah, what do you think. I'm not a good person when it comes to weird talk. ”

Shikijiro himself is not sane, trapped in this abandoned mine, and knocks on the wall with a pickaxe all day long.

Where to knock is not knock, but it is the same when you change to Aokihara.

"And it's unknown how many Shikijiro are in this pit. The twenty-four I took away were attracted by the breath of the candle flame, indicating that they had a desire for requiem candles. After that, every time they mined for a period of time, I would regularly go to the Aokihara mine pit and light a candle to share with them. ”

They ask for something, and Kamiya gives something.

If you pay your salary regularly, then you can count it as labor employment.

So, let's get a part-time job, Shikijiro!

Trade your labor for the requiem candle in my hand!

Everything made sense.

"If, in the future, Shikijiro can breathe enough candle flame breath to be promoted to F rank, I don't mind providing them with weeping blood candles in the form of salary. Anyway, there is so much F-level weird talk at hand that I can't use it up, and after Shikijiro is promoted, there is a high probability that the efficiency of mining can also become higher, a win-win situation. ”

"If only they could have some sanity from it...... It doesn't matter. With a little brain, I realized how precious the requiem candle in my hand was to them. ”

"Then they'll have to thank me."

"I'm not like those feudal aristocrats. Offering such a generous salary is a conscientious boss who provides jobs for Shikijiro and provides a smooth path for promotion, so that they can realize their self-worth. ”

"Moreover, can the surplus value of exploitation be counted as a capitalist? I don't think so. ”

Kamiyagawa is really the kind of person who is not very prone to guilt.

I feel that what I do will not have a psychological burden, nor will I create any psychological burden for myself, and I will focus on a moral bottom line that is flexible and ideological.

After hiring a group of Shikijiro, Kamiya did not leave immediately.

In fact, he had just felt that something was wrong with this mine, and he had been on guard against it.

"By the way, the breath on the body of the batch of Shikijiro I recruited is not the same as the breath emanating from the cave."

The strange talk on those Shikijiro bodies is too faint.

And it was not the same as the breath that Kamiyagawa felt when he stood outside before the entrance of the cave was opened.

"Little old man?"

Kamiya looked at the scout at his feet.

"Woohoo, woohoo."

The little old man shook his head, gesturing and telling something.

After a brief communication, Kamiyagawa roughly understood, and the strange atmosphere that attracted the little old man to the entrance of the cave at first didn't seem to belong to Shikijiro. The kind of qi on Shijiro's body can't be felt even by a little old man from a distance.

There's something else in this hole.

Really attracting the little old man from a distance is something else stronger than Shikijiro.

Kamiyagawa narrowed his eyes and glanced again at the dark hole.

At the place where the candle was lit just now, there was still a small amount of candle flame breath that permeated the top of the cave.

And at some point in the next moment.

Phew-

A strong wind of dust rolled out of the cavity.

Wrap up and pull away that little requiem candle breath.

"Woohoo!"

The little old man sensed that something was wrong, and immediately turned into a ghost qi and got into the copper match of the bird hanging from his master's waist.

"The rumors ...... I knew it wasn't over tonight. ”

Kamiyagawa stood still, bowed slightly, his black pupils shining.

His left hand rested on the scabbard of a knife at his waist, his thumb pointing towards the hilt.

Qiang.

There was a slight hum, and the bright indigo-colored knife came out of its sheath an inch.

Kamiya heard it very clearly just now.

The whistling wind of dust from the cavern was mixed with a screeching sound like a whip whipping through the air.

It seems that it is not only Shikijiro who is attracted by the requiem candle in the mine.

(End of chapter)