Li Ang hung up the phone and made calls to several other TV stations to confirm that the news about Yiji Shrine would be broadcast. Then, he pushed Fushen Xiulai into the sedan they had arrived in.

"Now, only one question remains."

Li Ang grasped the steering wheel with both hands. Looking at his reflection in the rearview mirror, he calmly said, "You still remember the secret message Fushen Pingyuan's second personality wrote to the main personality, right? They chose this method to exchange information to avoid family members who were part of the organization and to evade the third personality hidden within Fushen Pingyuan. If Fushen Pingyuan's main personality murdered the entire family and kidnapped Weimen Ziyuan, then where did the third and second personalities go? And why would the main personality be in such a daze, ending up caught after inexplicably driving around?"

Liu Wu Dai frowned slightly and said softly, "Perhaps it was indeed Fushen Pingyuan's main personality who took action, but killing his own family severely shook his already unsteady sanity. When Xing Changguan was manipulating Fushen Pingyuan's body earlier, we heard crying and banging on the door from the second-floor Japanese-style room before we opened the compartment's sliding doors. Those cries and bangs didn't come from the four corpses, but from Weimen Ziyuan, who was hidden in the lower level of the compartment."

"Weimen Ziyuan was hiding in the lower level of the compartment?"

Wanli Fengdao was taken aback. After thinking carefully about the layout of the Japanese-style room, he said, "The edges of both the upper and lower levels of the compartment were covered with blue cloths. Indeed, just sliding the doors open wouldn't reveal the inside of either level. But why did Weimen Ziyuan hide in there?"

Liu Wu Dai corrected, "It wasn't that she hid; she was concealed. At that time, Fushen Pingyuan's main personality had killed the family and was extremely disoriented. The third personality took the opportunity to surface and try to seize control. Thus, a struggle against the main and second personalities ensued in his mind. The second personality could only hide Weimen Ziyuan first, to prevent the third personality from overpowering them, taking control of the body, and taking Weimen Ziyuan away. As we know from what happened subsequently, neither the main, second, nor third personality managed to take control of the body. Instead, the Yiji Shrine Organization found Fushen Pingyuan while he was in a dazed state."

「Within the Pitch Black Space」

Liu Wu Dai looked down at the wooden chair he was sitting on. He slowly turned his head and looked towards the small hill made of chair fragments at the back of the space.

"There must be something inside that hill."

Li Ang, who was in the car, nodded. He started the engine and drove eastward. "I'll trouble you all to search it."

"No problem," Wanli Fengdao replied without hesitation, drawing his Dragon-Slaying Sword with an eager expression.

Within Fushen Pingyuan's mind, the players' abilities weren't sealed.

Concerned that causing a great commotion in the mental world might affect Fushen Pingyuan's sanity, the three players simply took out their tools. They began clearing the hill of chair fragments and soon found a chair at its base.

This chair was as ordinary as the ones the other players were sitting on, except that on its seat was a face... the face of Fushen Pingyuan.

"Don't kill me," the chair slowly opened its eyes and said weakly. "I am what you call Fushen Pingyuan's second personality."

"Is that so?" Li Ang smiled. "Using Hesiod's 'God Catalogue' as a standard, recite the names and deeds of all the primordial gods, Titans, and third-generation deities from Greek mythology."

The wooden chair: "..."

"Can't recite them, can you?" Li Ang shook his head. "The true second personality must have perished in its struggle against you. That's why you're so weak, unable to control Fushen Pingyuan's body, and had to hide in Chair Mountain, a place symbolizing Fushen Pingyuan's fragmented memories. The Yiji Shrine Organization, the interrogating doctors, and Fushen Pingyuan's son-in-law must all be aware of your existence. That's why the psychologist repeatedly called out 'Fushen' instead of 'Fushen Pingyuan' when we were reading the memory fragments—they wanted you to come out. You took a surname with Shinto significance to distinguish yourself from Fushen Pingyuan."

The wooden chair was speechless.

Li Ang sighed. "Dismantle it."

This last sentence was directed to his three teammates in the Pitch Black Space.

"Wait! Wait!" the wooden chair cried out loudly. "If you kill me, you'll never find out Weimen Ziyuan's location!"

Wanli Fengdao, who was about to strike, stopped his Longsword in mid-air. He squinted and asked, "What did you say?"

The face on the chair swallowed hard. After hesitating for a moment, it said, "Alright, I am indeed Fushen Pingyuan's third personality. I've been hiding here the whole time, listening to your conversation. Earlier, I also witnessed Fushen Pingyuan strangling his entire family to death with a tie."

Xing Hechou frowned. "Wait a minute. You watched Fushen Pingyuan kill his entire family and did nothing to stop him? Fushen Miyoshi and Fushen Rihui should be devotees of Tennyo Yiji, just like you, right?"

The chair's eyes flickered slightly. "That's correct. But I am a bit different from them."

Li Ang said indifferently, "By 'different,' do you mean your form of devotion to Tennyo Yiji? According to the diary, you can occasionally surface and take control of Fushen Pingyuan's body. The reason you didn't interfere when he acted was that you had your own plans for Weimen Ziyuan, who was set to become the next Shrine Maiden. For example, imprisoning her to conduct the ritual track by yourself, making her a Shrine Maiden who belongs only to you."

Fushen Pingyuan's main personality could have hidden his granddaughter anywhere, Li Ang thought, shaking his head. But considering his own mental state, he had to choose a hideout that was extremely secret and one he could never forget, no matter what. Like the secret base he built as a child.

Acting on this deduction, Li Ang started the vehicle and headed to the mountains east of the Wakayama City Yiji Shrine. Finally, on a hillside near Qifeng Village, he found some unusual marks.

He walked straight onto an unremarkable patch of grass. After searching for a bit, he grabbed a brass handle of a wooden trapdoor embedded in the ground. With some effort, he pulled open the trapdoor, which was covered with a thick layer of dirt.

The light of the setting sun shone through the trapdoor opening into the low-ceilinged space below. It dimly revealed old newspapers spread on the floor, along with small fluorescent night lights, drinking water, snacks, and canned goods.

A timid little face peered out from the darkness. "...Grandpa?"

"It's me," In the sunset, Fushen Pingyuan showed a faint smile. He bent down and took Weimen Ziyuan's hand. "Everything's been taken care of. Grandpa is here to pick you up."

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