"How much does Yu Zhi Tang pay you?" Miss Yu Zi suddenly asked.

Qi Jiu answered truthfully: "30 wages per day."

"Oh," Miss Ikuko came straight to the point and stated the conditions, "I will give you 50 wages per day. Do you want to consider working in Yuzhiwu?"

Qi Jiu pretended to be slightly stunned: "Excuse me, what is the work content of Yu Zhiwu?"

Miss Ikuko raised her chin and pointed at the little gray cat in Qi Jiu's arms: "It's your job to raise it well."

"Meow meow meow~" the little gray cat stretched out its neck happily and kept rubbing its soft head against Qi Zu's neck.

The rub tickled Qi Chu, and the corners of his lips unconsciously raised under the mask.

There is such a good thing.

It seems that the cat raised by that guy is very important to Miss Ikuko, although Xiao Hui doesn't really want to get close to Miss Ikuko.

"Of course, no problem. When will I go to work?" Qi Jiu asked hurriedly.

Obviously, Miss Ikuko is the most important breakthrough in hiding the main plot "The truth about the Yuzhiwu fire" and the branch "The truth about the missing employees". If you can successfully enter the Yuzhiwu as a staff member, the probability of finding important clues will be greatly increased.

Moreover, Qi Gu believes that the character of that guy also lived in the "Yuzhiwu".

As the original site of the shrine, this tourist house full of bizarre ukiyo-e paintings is the connecting point of several timelines in the dungeon. There is no doubt that staying in "Ikakuya" will make it easier to dig out the abandoned plot lines of the dungeon.

"Come over tomorrow morning. I'll tell the person in charge of Tangchi and you can pack your belongings," Miss Ikuko said.

Qi Jiu: "Okay, then I will report there early tomorrow morning."

After finishing the explanation, Miss Ikuko walked along the stone stacks toward the longhouse where the person in charge of "Iku no Yu" was.

The pale moonlight illuminated the white mist, and in the dead silence, the sound of wooden clogs hitting the stone stacks was multiplied, and the "thump, thump" hit Qi Qiu's tense nerves again and again.

It wasn't until Miss Ikuko's figure disappeared into the thick fog that Qi Qiu slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

Qi Zhu also noticed something. During this brief meeting with Miss Ikuko, the will-o'-the-wisp bamboo lantern in his hand kept burning steadily, and the ghost lantern did not continue to provide him with the pleasure value of the transformation of yin energy.

This shows that the Yin Qi value around Miss Ikuko did not increase when she appeared.

On the other hand, the current Miss Ikuko is not a ghost, but probably an ordinary human being.

But if this is the case, why would Ms. Ikuko, as a human being, hurt the handyman working in the soup pool? In the shrine illusion, she expressed that she wanted to take a sip of her own blood. Is that Miss Ikuko’s need to continue her own energy after becoming an evil spirit, or is she always

What about your old hobbies?

Qi Jiu recalled the dream he had not long ago about a male courtesan. In the dream, the guy personally brewed a cup of scarlet blood wine for him.

And the long knife placed under the blood-stained screen, was it a hint from that guy?

In the fantasy, Miss Ikuko's mouth was split to the base of her ears, and thick, smelly blood continuously overflowed from her split...

——"Blood" seems to be a very important image.

Miss Ikuko worked very efficiently. After about ten minutes, the middle-aged woman in charge of hot spring recruitment and operation opened Qi Qiu's paper sliding door: "The people over at Yuzhiwu have spoken. You can go directly there tomorrow morning."

While working, we'll be there as soon as daybreak, so don't delay."

Qi Jiu nodded: "Okay, I understand."

The middle-aged woman poked her head into the room. The room was too cramped and she had no intention of entering.

At this time, Qi Jiu had already taken off the "Wanmei" mask on his face. The lights in the room were dim, but the middle-aged woman who only had a brief glimpse of Qi Jiu's face was stunned for a moment.

She didn't recognize the face, but that didn't stop her from being slightly shocked.

She didn't seem to expect that this boy who came from the countryside to look for a job would be so fair and handsome. It didn't look like a face that had to be exposed to the scorching sun all year round and did heavy manual labor.

The middle-aged woman narrowed her eyes slightly, looked at Qi Jiu meaningfully for a while, and asked in an ambiguous tone: "I said, you didn't take off your employee mask in front of the oiran lady, did you?"

Qi Jiu shook his head: "Miss Yuzi is also our customer. I will abide by the rules and will never take off my mask in front of customers."

Seeing his serious explanation, the middle-aged woman couldn't help but giggle: "I didn't expect that, you kid is really capable. That difficult oiran rarely asks for help, but..."

She paused meaningfully and looked at Qi Qiu for a moment, "I advise you to be careful in everything, otherwise it would be a pity for such a beautiful face."

"Thank you for reminding me." Qi Jiu replied calmly.

After saying that, she closed the paper sliding door again for Qi Qiu.

The sound of clogs disappearing into the night.

After the lights were turned off in the house, the white mist rising from the soup pool illuminated the night brightly.

Qi Qiu, who had just been lying on the tatami, suddenly heard a sound of footsteps coming from the stone road not far away. He immediately sat up, squatted by the damaged paper door and looked out.

On the stone-stacked road leading to the women's bath, I saw Miss Ikuko holding an aristocratic man wearing a tea house-dyed yukata as she walked inside. Tiny laughter and the unsettling sound of clogs echoed in the thick fog.

In principle, "Yuzhiyu" is divided into men's and women's baths. Of course, Qi Qiu has not forgotten Article 4 of the "Employee Code of Conduct" - the baths are divided into men's and women's baths. However, if you see a male customer entering the women's bath, please choose

Ignore and vice versa.

It seems that the visiting girls at the "Ikunoyu" next door often bring male guests to the women's bath to share the bath.

Soon, the ambiguous laughter disappeared, and Qi Qiu lay back on the cold tatami again.

White mist seeped into the room through the damaged hole in the paper sliding door. Qi Ku, who was lying in the quilt, suddenly had an idea for an experiment.

The spirit-guiding stone given by the witch before was still lying in the toolbar, and I never had a chance to use it.

Since there are many speculations about Yuchi's missing employees, it is better to test it with the spirit-guiding stone. If the spirit of Uesugoshi can be successfully summoned, it means that the missing employee has encountered something unexpected, and he can also ask the person who killed him.

Who is the murderer?

After all, he is currently lying in Uesugoshi's room. The energy field here is deeply connected to Uesugoshi. Even if Qi Qiu does not have the talent for summoning spirits, with the help of the spirit-guiding stone, it will not be difficult to summon the original resident.

.

Qi Jiu hung the spirit stone on his finger, and imitated the witch's way of shaking the spirit stone in the mist.

It was very quiet near the longhouse, so quiet that you could hear the sound of dense fog flowing.

Lying on the tatami, Qi Gu felt that the air in the room was getting more humid and the temperature dropped sharply.

The will-o'-the-o'-the-o'-the-o'-the-o'-the-o'-the-o'-the-o'-o'-o'-o'-o'-o'-o'-o'-o'-o'-o'-o'-o'-o'-o' lantern' hanging on the bedside began to emit blue flames. Qi Qiu's hand shaking the spirit stone suddenly stopped. It seemed that he had succeeded.

In the darkness, he suddenly heard the faint sound of rummaging through the lockers, like mice scurrying around in the lockers in search of food late at night.

However, countless rat poisons were thrown near the soup pool, and rats were not allowed to appear in Yuzhi Tang to disturb the guests.

The will-o'-the-wisp grew stronger and stronger, dyeing the white night fog into blue.

The rustling sounds became clearer and clearer, and at the same time, Qi Zhu's pleasure level began to slowly decrease.

what is it--

"Where is my portrait? Where is the portrait of Miss Ikuko that I hid here... who took Miss Ikuko's portrait...?"

Suddenly, Qi Qiu heard vague mumbling sounds, which seemed to be ringing in his ears and seemed to be coming from a far away place.

Qi Jiu opened his eyes in the darkness. He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw a translucent, weak-looking spirit floating in the night mist.

This is probably the missing handyman who has turned into a spirit state - Uesugoshi.

At this time, Uesugi, who was in the spirit state, bowed in a semi-circular arc and was lying next to the storage box looking for the portrait of Miss Ikuko that had been thrown away by Qi Gu.

Sure enough, the missing employee at the hot spring resort had met with something unexpected, and escaping with money might just be a cover-up.

"You're back," Qi Qiu rested his arm on his arm and chatted with the former resident, "I'm sorry, I have thrown away those portraits, and the person in charge told me that you will not come back."

Qi Jiu had already planned. He used the spiritual stone to test the survival status of the missing employees. Once the returning spirit went berserk, he would summon the rampaging Rossetti to suppress it violently.

The rules only say that you cannot harm the aboriginal people, but they do not say that you cannot harm the ghosts that the aboriginal people have turned into.

The spirit remained in a prostrate posture for a few seconds, and then let out a low whimper: "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuu It's obviously a portrait I've collected for a long time...Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu My Miss Ikuko...How could you do this...sleep in my room?"

Throw away my baby..."

"Sorry, that's true."

Qi Jiu breathed a sigh of relief for a moment. It seemed that the spirit in front of him was the same as the filthy thing he encountered in the Tangchi last time. It was a wandering resentful spirit that would not actively attack people.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuac are you took away the wages that I had saved for a long time..."

Qi Jiu looked at him calmly: "You tell me how you died, and I will burn those portraits for you tomorrow morning."

"Really?" The spirit body raised its neck excitedly in the darkness.

Through the moonlight outside the window, Qi Jiu could vaguely see the pitiful appearance of the spirit body.

Uesugoshi seemed to have experienced tremendous pain and extreme fear before his death. His gray face had extremely distorted facial features, a pair of protruding eyes that almost popped out of their sockets, and his pupils shrunk abnormally into a tiny black dot. His head moved in a kind of way.

The strange arc tilted to the right. His right hand was pressed on his neck, and the blood seeping from between his fingers had turned black and caked.

"Really, I promise," Qi Jiu sat up and said solemnly, "Uesugi Yue, how did you die?"

Suddenly being called by name, the spirit body trembled violently.

Then he suddenly twitched violently like the filth in the soup pool, as if recalling the extreme fear and pain before death, and let out a heart-rending sob: "It's Miss Ikuko...Miss Ikuko...Miss Ikuko!"

"Miss Yuzi bit you, right?" Qi Chu asked, speaking softly, "She hurt you a lot, right?"

He remembered Tangchi Dirt saying something similar.

The fog on the spirit's face instantly dissipated, and he suddenly nodded fiercely: "Yes, it's Miss Ikuko. She bit me so much that it hurts... Wuwuwu... help me... Wuwuwu."

It seems that the filthy man from Tangchi was also one of the handymen who disappeared that year, and Miss Ikuko was the culprit of the disappearance.

Qi Jiu quickly asked: "Why did she bite you? Has she always been like this?"

"she……"

At this moment, a male's muffled scream came from the thick fog outside the house.

"Here it comes again...she started again..." The poor Uesugoshi spirit body was too weak and was startled by the screams outside. Then the whole spirit body was like a TV screen with poor contact, buzzing.

After a few flashes, the power was completely cut off and disappeared.

Qi Jiu immediately put his ear to the window and listened carefully.

A rush of footsteps came from the stone stack and disappeared into the depths of the soup pool, followed by a low-pitched quarrel. Something seemed to have happened in the direction of the female soup. Qi Qiu remembered that not long ago, Miss Ikuko held a girl on her arm.

An aristocratic male boy walked towards the female soup.

Could it be that Miss Ikuko has taken action again?

But the sounds of footsteps and quarrels were quickly suppressed, and the entire Tangchi returned to deathly silence.

Qi Jiu couldn't hear any movement anymore. He didn't know if it was an illusion. He took a deep breath, and the fishy smell in the air seemed to be stronger.

But if his inference is correct, as a human being, why would Ms. Ikuko bite people and drink blood?

It seems that more cause and effect and clues can only be explored by entering Yuzhiwu.

[Congratulations on successfully completing the side mission "The Truth about the Missing Employee" and unlocking Survival Coin*200]

[Complete the side quest to unlock additional props and rewards: "Blessings from Yuzhitang's missing employees"]

Qi Gu clicked on the newly obtained props to view——

[Prop description: Auxiliary props, condensed from the regrets of missing handymen in Yuzhiyu. It can make nearby invisible ghosts appear in their true form, thus helping the user to attack more accurately]

It turns out to be an auxiliary prop.

Qi Ku thought for a moment, and he thought that the method of using the props recommended by the system was a bit wasteful, and this prop might be of greater value.

Qi Gu felt sorry for Uesugi Yue who "left without saying goodbye".

He opened the paper door and took back the trash he had left outside the door before throwing it away. Inside the trash was the portrait of Miss Ikuko that he had originally thrown away. He dug out the portrait again and planned to go to Yuzhiwu tomorrow morning.

Burn this poor Ikuko fan before reporting.

However, Qi Gu is now a little unsure. After recalling everything before his death, does Uesugi Yue still want the portrait of the murderer who bit him to death?

*

The rest of the night was quiet, and Qi Qiu fell asleep while lying on the tatami.

Perhaps because he had been busy in the soup pool all night, Qi Chu also found himself in the white mist-filled soup pool in his dream.

He took off his bathrobe and walked toward the milky white pool water. The temperature in the pool was just right, and the rich smell of natural sulfur filled his nose. A small oil lamp swayed in the night.

The moon rose to the middle of the sky, and its pale moonlight silently illuminated the steaming white mist.

It was very quiet, as if time had stopped flowing.

Until the thick white water surface of the soup pool stirred up small waves, and through the thick fog, Qi Qiu felt a pair of eyes staring at him from behind.

The smell of danger is approaching.

At this moment, Qi Jiu was unable to move, just like the night he was shot and killed, he was unable to turn back when he was standing at the crossroads.

But Qi Jiu was not panicked. He knew who the guy who was quietly approaching was without looking back.

The absolute silence made his senses extremely sensitive. The other person seemed to be very close, and a familiar aura enveloped him.

It is a unique fragrance that is different from the cheap powder on the street. The cold and gloomy background hides a seductive feeling that makes you want to resist but welcome.

The night fog and moonlight flowed quietly, and they remained in a stalemate in silence for half a minute.

"What do you want to tell me?" Qi Jiu finally broke the silence.

After all, the other party never comes "empty-handed" when dreaming.

"Shh."

The other party's breath lightly tickled Qi Qiu's ear, where there was a scar and a pair of marks similar to bite marks.

Qi Jiu fell silent. He even closed his eyes and waited patiently for the answer.

The other party seemed to laugh softly: "Don't close your eyes. Look, the moonlight is so beautiful tonight."

Qi Jiu raised his head following his words. On this clear winter night, the moonlight illuminated the sky pale and bright.

With his neck raised, Qi Ku's Adam's apple slid slightly, and the moonlight poured onto his face unreservedly.

His eyelashes trembled slightly, and at this moment, he felt a distant yet familiar feeling of loneliness.

It was as if he had lived here alone for hundreds of years. On countless such winter nights, he stood in the mist-filled soup pool, looking up at the distant and desolate moon.

It's too quiet. Sometimes absolute silence makes people feel noisy.

An indescribable sense of desolation grew in his blood.

Is this really his emotion?

Or who is in tune with him?

Is it the person behind you?

"Did you see that?" The person behind him came closer and made a murmur-like voice, "On a night when the moon is pale, there are always people who are sad."

Then, a cold touch wrapped around Qi Qiu's Adam's apple, "There are always people who are afraid."

Suddenly, a sharp tingling sensation penetrated Qi Ku's neck, and he frowned slightly——
Chapter completed!