It was already past midnight, and fireworks lit up the hot spring street at night.

This will be a special and ordinary night, and tragic explosions will never happen again.

Xiaomi has been relieved of his wife's wish. The twenty passengers on the hot spring bus, after enjoying the hot natural sulfur hot spring pool, have fallen into a peaceful sleep and are ready to welcome the first morning of the new year.

The truth of the accident at the hot spring street came to light, and the story of Xiaomi and the twenty passengers ended here.

But Qi Ku’s dungeon journey is not over yet.

The main quest "The Truth About the Yuzhiwu Fire" triggered by him is still unlocked at the same level.

Qi Gu was sitting at the door of the shrine. When he was watching the last fireworks in the hot spring street, he had just finished eating the hot spring steamed buns in his bag.

He stood up and brushed off the food crumbs on his clothes, and took out his own black Ema from his yukata.

The wish "to meet Ikuko-san" is still written on the Ema.

It was late at night and the shrine was empty.

After everything fell silent, the pale moon disappeared into the clouds, and thick white mist began to fill the air.

Qi Ku crossed the torii gate again and returned to the unlit shrine.

The wind blew up in the courtyard, and the bells on the prayer rack tinkled continuously, one after another, as if they were whispering to the souls wandering in the night.

Qi Jiu tied the Ema with the words "Meet Miss Ikuko" on the prayer stand again.

It's time to meet this cracked oiran again.

*

Just like last time, after hanging the black emaji on the prayer stand again, the tinny bells sounded one after another, like the chirping of cicadas on a summer afternoon amplified a hundred times, and the soft moonlight became extremely dazzling in an instant.

.

Qi Jiu closed his eyes skillfully, knowing that time was about to go back again.

Until the hustle and bustle and bright light around him subsided, the air was filled with the pungent aroma of low-quality cosmetics, and the bustling sounds of the street gradually revived. Qi Ku opened his eyes, and an ancient and lively street market appeared in front of him.

Qi Jiu's breath was slightly suffocated. He had been here before. This was the first time he met a male courtesan on the street.

The dilapidated shrine behind him has also transformed back into the "Iku no Ya" painted in rich red with grotesque ukiyo-e paintings on the windows. This is the original appearance of the building.

Qi Jiu went back in time again, this time he came to the era of Miss Ikuko.

It seems to be the era that that guy's character lived in as well.

[Congratulations on successfully opening the dungeon hidden map. The current hidden main mission progress of "The Truth about the Yuzhiwu Fire" is: 10%]

[Obtain a hidden map identity card: a stranger who first entered the streets]

[Note! Strangers in this dungeon cannot attack the indigenous people parading in the streets, otherwise they will be deemed to have violated the dungeon rules and be eliminated]

Sure enough, only by successfully arriving at Miss Ikuko's era through the black Ema can we successfully advance the progress of the hidden main quest.

And just like the Rose Fish copy, as a stranger, he cannot directly attack the aborigines parading in the street, which is more difficult...

[Side mission update tip: Since you once again used Black Ema to complete the evil spirit deal, the mission goal of "Helping Ms. Ikuko escape" has been changed: a free branch that you can choose whether to complete based on your own preferences and abilities, and a mandatory branch that requires travelers to actively solve it.

Task】

[Attention! After the target is changed, the traveler performing the mission must complete the branch, otherwise he will not be able to leave the instance]

This makes sense. He made a deal with the evil spirit through the black ema of the shrine, and successfully went back in time to the era when Miss Ikuko lived. This is equivalent to accepting the conditions offered by the evil spirit: "Please let Miss Ikuko be freed."

To solve this side quest, he must first know what happened to Miss Ikuko in this era.

It was dusk at this time, and Qi Gu, a foreigner, was planning to stroll around the bustling streets to adapt to the local customs and look for clues as soon as possible.

Suddenly, he noticed a circle of people gathered at the street intersection not far away, making a lot of noise.

"I borrowed it, sorry." Qi Jiu walked through the crowded pedestrians on the street and walked towards the crowd.

I saw a staff member wearing a hot spring yukata style posting the "Missing Person Notice" on the street bulletin board.

Qi Qiu looked over everyone's shoulders and looked at the notice. According to the notice, a handyman named Uesugi Yue from "Iku no Yu" received half a month's salary in advance, but he disappeared a few days ago. His whereabouts are still unknown. The hot spring resort

It is believed that the handyman escaped after paying his wages in advance, and a reward of 50 coins is being offered to find the whereabouts of the escaped employee.

"Is it the second one this month? I remember that the Takahashi family also posted a missing person notice a week ago."

"The most bizarre thing is that the person who disappeared last week was also a handyman from Yu Zhiyu."

"Then Yuzhitang is too unlucky, isn't it? The handyman is getting paid every day and runs away. If this continues, it will have to close down."

"That's not what they say. If they treat the handymen well and they work well, they won't run away every day, right?"

"That's right. I don't know how Yuzhitang mistreats its employees..."

"Do you really believe that the handymen paid their wages in advance and ran away? I think the whole thing is very strange. Maybe these handymen are really missing. Maybe something happened in Yu Zhi Tang..."

"I have heard an evil theory. I have a relative who also works at a hot spring resort. He said that the missing employees either ran away or died!"

"Fuck! This is too scary!"

"How did these employees die? Did your relatives say anything?"

"That's not true. Who knows? But I think it's very likely that he's dead."

"I heard that Yuzhitang has started to recruit people again. If this continues, who would dare to work there..."

Qi Jiu, who was crowded in the crowd watching the excitement, pricked up his ears and got some information from the discussions of the casual onlookers: 1. There have been two missing persons this week, and both of them are handymen of Yuzhitang;

2. There are rumors from insiders that the missing person did not run away, but encountered an accident; 3. Yu Zhi Tang is recruiting people;

The appearance of missing persons in the dungeon is often a signal for plot clues to surface.

These fragmentary clues are pieced together and all point to Yu Zhi Tang.

[Congratulations on discovering a hidden plot point. The current hidden main task progress of "The Truth about the Yuzhiwu Fire" is: 20%]

[Unlock progress reward: Open the relevant branch line "The truth about the missing employees"]

The system's beep made Qi Qiu more certain of his guess.

Now that he is in this strange era, the only breakthrough is "Yu no Soup".

It seems that he is looking for a new job again.

The crowd watching the excitement gradually dispersed, and Qi Qiu walked towards the "Yu Zhi Tang" not far away.

A simple recruitment information was posted under the paper lantern that said "Yu no Yu". The recruitment did not specify the specific requirements for recruiting employees. It only specified the gender of "male". The best age is 16-32 years old, with sound limbs.

No infectious diseases.

After Qi Gu scrawled at the recruitment information, he turned to the hot spring gatekeeper aside: "Hello, I heard that Yuzhitang is recruiting new employees. I came here to apply. Are there any requirements for applicants here?"

The hot spring gatekeeper was a thin and pale middle-aged woman. After hearing this, she impatiently raised her eyelids and looked at Qi Qiu. She had no objection to the nengmian covering his face, and casually pointed to the recruitment notice posted on the door.

The message said: "Didn't you see? Young men with sound limbs and no obvious infectious diseases can do it."

Qi Jiu: "Then what is the job content?"

Middle-aged woman: "It's the daily maintenance of the soup pool, including serving tea and water, guiding guests and preparing things for bathing. It will be very busy at night, but you can rest during the day. If you are sure you want to come, I will give you the work rules.

.”

The job content she described was very simple and did not abuse or exploit employees as the crowd on the street had speculated.

"By the way, there is another special job." The caretaker suddenly thought of something and added, "It's best not to be allergic to cat hair. There is a cat in Yuzhiwu next door who often comes over. That cat is very special.

The staff at the hot spring occasionally need to help take care of the cat."

cat?

Under the mask, Qi Jiu unconsciously raised the corners of his lips. It seemed that the character of that guy did live in this timeline.
Chapter completed!