After finishing dinner, Kana eagerly went off to investigate with the money she received. Duanmu Huai gave her a lot of money, enough to cover a month's income, especially since Kana had previously complained to Duanmu Huai about how the economic downturn had made it increasingly difficult to find men to act as "daddy," and money was getting harder to earn. She also had credit card bills to pay, and her financial situation was dire.

Where she used to earn a considerable amount in a month, it had now shrunk by nearly two-thirds, which wasn't unexpected. After all, among the girls seeking "daddy," there were younger ones, prettier ones, and less choosy ones. As the saying goes, the younger generation overtakes the older, leaving the older generation in the sand. Although Kana was just a female college student, in this line of work, she was already on the verge of being washed up.

Therefore, Kana planned to continue for a little while longer, save enough money, and then quit. She had initially come to the big city for its glamour, but after staying here for a few years, she realized that even here, economic prosperity wasn't guaranteed, and surviving in a big city wasn't easy. It's better to take advantage of her youth and beauty now, save a sum of money, return to her hometown to open a store, and find a man to marry for a secure life—nothing surpasses that.

Duanmu Huai was generous, giving her a decent sum, and he wasn't asking Kana to do anything suspicious—Kana knew that big money wasn't easy to earn. Some of her girlfriends had encountered situations where a client would be generous, asking them to deliver something. Thinking nothing of it, they went to deliver, only to find out it was weapons or illegal drugs. They were then photographed and accused as accomplices, threatening them to go along with the scheme. Ultimately, they not only couldn't keep the money they earned but also ended up losing it all.

In contrast, Duanmu Huai didn't want Kana to do anything suspicious; he just wanted her to investigate a rumor. Although receiving so much money just for investigating a rumor was a bit peculiar, Kana thought that after finishing this job, she could return to her hometown to open a store and get married!

Give it a shot!

After sending Kana off, Duanmu Huai returned to the office and asked Yuko Shionji to start investigating the rumors about "Yoko of the Night." Surprisingly, there were quite a few results! The rumor was more popular than expected!

Of course, this was quite normal. Every industry has its own rumors and jokes. Often, if you're not in the industry, certain things remain unknown. While many rumors might seem like common knowledge and basic operations for insiders, for outsiders who are unaware, they appear surprisingly new, making one wonder how such things exist in the world.

The rumor about "Yoko of the Night" was just like this. Although widely spread, it generally circulated between men acting as "daddy" and the working girls, so unless you're involved in this, it's normal not to know.

Unfortunately, despite Yuko Shionji's extensive search for information on the rumor, she didn't find anything useful. On the girls' side, as Kana mentioned, it mostly involved complaints about losing their "daddy" to Yoko once contact was severed. As for the men, they seemed intrigued by the rumor but none had actually encountered Yoko.

Some claimed to have searched for the name "Yoko" on an app, only to find a 400-ton Maus tank. This blow was so disappointing that it deterred them from wanting to act as "daddy" anymore.

Overall, no effective information about Yoko was found online; it was mostly just hearsay, similar to what Kana had described.

The only useful clue was that, after Yuko Shionji filtered through IP addresses and dates, she discovered the earliest posts discussing Yoko were from Tokyo, meaning Kana still had a good chance of finding the epicenter of the rumor.

After Xie Sita returned, Duanmu Huai briefed her on the situation, leaving her quite surprised.

"That's strange, why would that monster use such a method to attack humans?"

"Who knows? Maybe it's looking for a host? Or perhaps a mate?"

Duanmu Huai recalled watching a science fiction horror movie about an alien arriving on Earth, mimicking the appearance of a human woman, and seducing men everywhere. According to the scientists in the movie, if it wanted to breed on this planet, it had to absorb the DNA of the planet's living creatures for matching, then produce a brood, which would grow rapidly, and then produce another brood…

That was indeed quite terrifying.

However, the alien in that movie was quite particular, not wanting just any man; it required them to be healthy with no bad habits... That condition alone filtered out quite a few people.

Those men who didn't meet the criteria were directly killed by the alien.

It had quite a bit of irony.

Duanmu Huai now strongly suspected that the so-called Yoko might very well be Nyarlathotep, as this entity was notorious for engaging in such seduction of humans and was known as the Obsessive Sin... No, perhaps the Obsessive Sin was even a manifestation of Nyarlathotep!

After all, the entity had done similar things before, not to mention seducing women to give birth to offspring for it.

Now it might even be interested in experiencing what it's like to have its own offspring?

Who knows what that creature is thinking!

Anyway, Duanmu Huai felt rather sorry for those men. If that Yoko was truly Nyarlathotep's manifestation... tsk tsk tsk, that's a dark scene.

At least he certainly couldn't bear to watch.

"Did you find anything on your end?"

"I'm going to investigate the suicide angle further."

Xie Sita had deeper connections within the police force than Duanmu Huai; she quickly got hold of much internal information from the police.

"According to what you've said, there should be quite a few men deceived by Yoko who then committed suicide. If we investigate the records of those wealthy men's suicide cases, we should find something."

After all, most suicides are because of financial troubles. If someone with wealth decides to end their life, there's likely an issue at play.

"I'll leave it to you."

With Xie Sita, Duanmu Huai felt assured, as she was also a detective, skilled, and required no supervision.

But soon, someone was displeased.

"Brother, shouldn't this be discussed at the dinner table?"

Shajuye remarked with some helplessness. After all, they were having dinner at the moment. While Shajuye knew the nature of Duanmu Huai's work, discussing "daddy's activities" and suicides at the dinner table did put her off. Abigail next to them was silently eating without understanding a word they said, whereas Yuko Shionji was considering leaving.

"Hahaha, the teacher's getting scolded now~~~~"

Mianmu Zuoniao was as silly as ever, her main focus was not caring if others were happy, as long as she was happy.

As for the other one…

"Indeed, we should maintain etiquette at the table… Shajuye, please have another bowl."

"Speaking of etiquette, aren't you two acting a bit too familiar?"

Watching Mianmu Zuoniao patting the table and laughing, and Inaba Tsukuyo handing the bowl to Shajuye, Duanmu Huai was left speechless.

Have you two forgotten you're outsiders? Do you really think this place is your home?

Of course, despite saying that, meals are truly more lively with more people.

By the way, though Duanmu Huai was investigating, the search for the Cult was primarily handled by Abigail and Mianmu Zuoniao. The former was relying on the manifestation of Yog Sothoth, while the latter... well, Duanmu Huai just hoped she would occasionally act crazy.

As for Inaba Tsukuyo, strictly speaking, she was the least connected to Duanmu Huai. But in the previous timeline, Duanmu Huai had witnessed this girl's swordsmanship skills. They were exceptional, and coupled with her blindness, she was fundamentally immune to direct SAN value damage from viewing the Evil God, so Duanmu Huai tacitly accepted keeping her around.

As a bodyguard, she's quite good, and this bodyguard doesn't cost anything.

"Ring ring..."

Not long after Duanmu Huai finished his dinner, his phone rang. Duanmu Huai answered the call, and soon Kana's voice came from the other end.

"Ah, mister, you're still up, right?"

"No, is something wrong?"

Typically, girls wouldn't exchange phones with their dads, but strictly speaking, Duanmu Huai and Kana didn't have that kind of relationship. They were more like an employer and an employed informant. So they exchanged phone numbers to contact each other anytime. After all, Duanmu Huai also worried about Kana encountering dangers; she wouldn't use an app to call for help, right?

That would be too abstract.

"Hmm, according to what you said, I asked around my girlfriends, and I found something. This matter seems to be true!"

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Duanmu Huai immediately perked up.

"Are you sure?"

"I've been constantly asking people. Later, I found a bit of a clue, but..."

Kana sounded a bit hesitant.

"I'm not entirely sure either; it might be the other party making up a story..."

"What do you mean?"

"You still remember the story I told you about that A girl, right?"

"Yes."

"Actually, I just found out that what happened to A girl afterwards seems a bit different from the rumors..."

"Different?"

"Yes, like A girl locked herself in the bathroom, and then there was silence outside from her dad, then A girl opened the door and saw her dad had committed suicide, right?"

"Yes, that's what you said before."

Duanmu Huai remembered very clearly, just like that was the story.

"Actually... it seems things didn't just end there. A girl saw something terrifying afterwards, and she ran away scared... As for the suicide news, it seems true, but A girl apparently didn't go back to her room..."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Duanmu Huai became even more excited.

"And then?"

"Well... it's hard for me to say..."

"I'll give you an additional hundred thousand!"

"...Okay, but I heard that A girl seemed to have mental issues afterward and has been staying in a mental hospital..."

Got it! Done! No doubt! Found it!

Duanmu Huai wanted to knock on the table now.

Being in a mental hospital, saying this has nothing to do with the Evil God — no one would believe that!

"Great job. Can you find out which hospital A girl is staying at?"

"This..."

At this point, Kana suddenly started to hem and haw.

"Actually, I found one of A girl's friends, but she won't say much and insists on meeting you to talk..."

"Alright."

Duanmu Huai didn't object and agreed readily.

"Meet tomorrow, you pick the place and time, no problem?"

"Okay, leave it to me!"

Hanging up the phone, Duanmu Huai also breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn't expect to find clues so quickly; it seems that employing professionals for professional work really pays off.

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