"Maruo, I… it seems I slept for a very long time…"
Looking at Nakano Maruo, who was noticeably older than in her memory, Reina's eyes trembled, and her gaze shifted from Nakano Yu to Itsuki.
"Oh, it's been a long time, Itsuki, Yu…"
At this moment, Reina was still somewhat weak, her voice soft, which was a bit different from the gentle but carefree mother that Nakano Yu and Itsuki remembered. But Nakano Yu and Itsuki knew, this was Reina, their Mother!
"Mo… Mother…"
Looking at the familiar face, Itsuki's voice trembled. The girl reached out her hand to touch the beloved person from her memories, but Nakano Maruo stopped her:
"The most important thing is to let your Mother rest first. It's better not to disturb her."
"Reina, are you hungry? I'll go cook you some porridge."
Turning to look at Reina, Nakano Maruo's tired face showed a smile. He knelt in front of the transparent coffin and asked with concern.
"Mm… A little. It's been a long time since I ate Maruo's porridge."
Nakano Reina rubbed her lower abdomen, looked at Maruo, and said.
"Alright! I'll go cook porridge right away!"
Hearing this, Nakano Maruo immediately brightened up. He stood up hurriedly to cook porridge for Reina, completely losing his original composure, instead looking like a fool blinded by love.
"Father! You…"
Seeing her father leaving, Itsuki wanted to stop him, but before she finished her sentence, Nakano Maruo had already left as if flying.
"Itsuki, stay here and keep Mother company for a while. I need to take care of something."
Nakano Yu pulled Itsuki's hand and said.
"What are you going to do, Yu?"
And Nakano Yu was also leaving, and Itsuki panicked a little and asked.
Now that Mother had just… been revived, she actually didn't know how to take care of someone who had just been revived. If Nakano Yu also left, Itsuki worried that she wouldn't be able to handle any problems on her own.
"Don't worry, Mother is very healthy now. Don't you want to talk to Mother, Itsuki?"
Nakano Yu patted the girl's hand and said. He was now in a hurry to clean up the mess that Nakano Maruo had made.
After reviving Reina, he used Cut Through to remove all negative states from Reina, such as hunger and lack of nutrients. So Reina was now very healthy.
"Alright then, Yu, come back early."
Hearing that, Itsuki nodded, then let go of his hand.
She turned and returned to Reina.
Seeing the two of them talking somewhat awkwardly, Itsuki looked like she wanted to hug Reina but didn't dare, which amused Nakano Yu.
Reina, who was listening to Itsuki recount everything that had happened over the past ten years, noticed Nakano Yu's gaze. She turned to look at the young man, smiled at him, and her lips moved without sound, obviously not wanting to interrupt Itsuki.
But Nakano Yu understood the meaning of Nakano Reina.
Nakano Reina was saying:
"Yu, thank you…"
Turning to leave, Nakano Yu was not quite used to such long-awaited reunion scenes, and the most important thing was to deal with the current problem.
Nakano Yu thought and waved his hand to open the task panel:
[Daily Quest: The Immortal Woman — Tomie Kawakami]
[Quest Description: Beauty, jealousy, and arrogance are her trademarks. She is immortal, but is targeted by Onmyoji to revive the legendary onmyoji — Abe no Seimei]
[Quest Target: Tomie No. 12]
[Quest Reward: Roulette Draw Chance +1]
[Ding! Quest location: Nakano Hospital Zero.]
Looking at the system panel, Nakano Yu's expression gradually became worse.
He was currently in Hospital Zero, which meant that the so-called Tomie No. 12 was here.
However, he really did not expect that Nakano Maruo and the Gokadoin family would capture Tomie for research into revival techniques.
From a biological point of view, Tomie's ability to grow into an individual from a piece of flesh or a drop of blood indeed has research value. But Nakano Yu knew that Tomie's flesh and blood have assimilative properties; no matter what kind of being, once Tomie's blood or flesh enters their body, their final outcome would be only one: to become Tomie.
It was fortunate that he did not allow Nakano Maruo to use the so-called "technology" they researched to revive Reina, otherwise, who knows what kind of monster would have been revived.
Thinking of this, Nakano Yu left Nakano Maruo's office and took the elevator directly down to the B1 floor of the hospital.
A typical hospital basement has only one purpose, the morgue!
But Nakano Maruo's Hospital Zero was not a typical hospital; it was merely a research facility disguised as a hospital.
Just now, after Nakano Yu expanded his senses, he discovered that the only people on the upper floors were nurses on one floor; everyone else was underground.
Arriving at the morgue, the elevator doors opened, and a chill washed over him.
Along with the cold came a strong smell of blood.
What appeared before Nakano Yu's eyes was not a dark morgue, but a brightly lit laboratory with bulbs, a wide space, and tables and experimental equipment everywhere.
"Hey! Who are you?! Outsiders are not allowed in here!"
At that moment, a man in a white coat and medical mask approached, frowned, and scolded Nakano Yu to leave.
Nakano Yu glanced at the man, and his gaze fell on the identification card. Hmm, he was from the Gokadoin family. In that case, kill him.
With a thought, the man immediately turned into a pillar of salt, while Nakano Yu continued to walk into the laboratory. Everyone he encountered from the Gokadoin family along the way turned into pillars of salt.
Those old men brought Maruo to research something like Tomie. If he had known, he would not have listened to Maruo's request back then and would have directly exterminated the Gokadoin family.
Nakano Yu had a certain understanding of the Gokadoin family; it was an ancient Onmyoji family from Kyoto. Moreover, the ancestor of the Gokadoin family was Abe no Seimei, who researched the art of becoming a god!
When Abe no Seimei researched the art of becoming a god, two byproducts appeared: one was the art of eternal life, and the other the art of reincarnation.
The art of eternal life of the Gokadoin family was far weaker than its name suggested.
After all, the Gokadoin family had been passed down for hundreds of years, and the old men who survived, their strength was mediocre. They all looked energetic, but in Nakano Yu's eyes, they were only strong on the outside and weak on the inside.
He guessed that in a few years, that art of eternal life would be renamed the art of longevity.
The art of revival was a backup plan that Abe no Seimei left for himself, allowing him to be reborn into this world as a newborn and become a god.
Nakano Yu still had expectations for Abe no Seimei. The reason he did not exterminate the Gokadoin family was partly because he wanted these people and the yokai group Hagoromo-Gitsune to revive Abe no Seimei, and then he would kill Abe no Seimei. He wanted to see what kind of god the so-called deity Abe no Seimei would be.
However, at present, the progress of the Gokadoin family was much slower than that of the Hagoromo-Gitsune group.
According to the information sent back by Yosuzume, Hagoromo-Gitsune was already preparing to enter Kyoto. Once she entered the blood pool, the revival of Abe no Seimei would not be far off.
In that case, there was no need to keep the Gokadoin family. They were merely manipulators behind the scenes, and their presence or absence would not significantly affect the current situation.
Along the way, all members of the Gokadoin family in the laboratory were cleanly killed. Nakano Yu gave a way out to the research personnel who had no connection to the Gokadoin family. The fact that Nakano Maruo recruited them meant their ability, and they might be useful in the future.
Soon, Nakano Yu, who had become a god of slaughter, was unstoppable. He walked all the way to the deepest part of the laboratory…
Looking at the thick iron door in front of him, Nakano Yu could smell the scent of blood coming from behind it.
"Is it here?"
Looking at the iron door, Nakano Yu had no key, so he simply pushed it lightly, knocking it down directly as it crashed heavily onto the ground.
Passing through the iron door, Nakano Yu immediately saw a head with its skin peeled off, muscles exposed to the air, without a body, and yet still continuously breathing.
The skull was extremely beautiful; although only fresh red flesh could be seen, it still inspired admiration.
Beside the head, Tomie's limbs and pieces of her body were soaked in a pale yellow liquid, constantly wriggling.
"They really researched thoroughly."
Seeing this scene, Nakano Yu couldn't help but click his tongue and say, the Gokadoin family and Nakano Maruo truly wanted to fully understand the existence of Tomie. Although the Gokadoin family had their hidden motives, they indeed helped Nakano Maruo research technological revival techniques.
But now that Reina had been revived and Abe no Seimei would soon be revived as a god, the Gokadoin family was no longer useful. In short, it was time to discard them after use!
"Yu! What are you doing?!"
At that moment, behind Nakano Yu, came Nakano Maruo's shout.
Nakano Yu turned and saw Nakano Maruo holding onto the doorframe, panting, clearly having run all the way here.
"If I hadn't come here, how long were you planning to hide the Tomie matter from me?"
Looking calmly at Maruo, Nakano Yu asked, his voice as flat as his expression, but it sent a chill down Nakano Maruo's spine.
"Yu, you know Tomie?"
He did not answer the question. Nakano Maruo asked, Tomie was an existence he had seen in the ancient texts of the Gokadoin family, extremely beautiful, and immortal!
Because of this, he found someone to capture a Tomie in order to research revival using Tomie's immortal characteristics.
"Yes, a monster that can reproduce endlessly, and even a drop of blood can assimilate people into Tomie, even their personality will turn into Tomie."
Nakano Yu nodded slightly and said, then walked toward Tomie's head.
The head was still alive because Nakano Maruo and the Gokadoin family had given special treatment to prevent the sensation of pain.
Seeing Nakano Yu approach her head, Tomie's blood-red eyes stared at him, with curiosity and fear in her eyes.
She was curious what the young man wanted to do, and her fear was due to the research that Nakano Maruo and the Gokadoin family had conducted on her during this period.
Looking at the alcohol lamp beside him, Nakano Yu lit it, then ignited Tomie's head.
Fire was one of the few ways to kill Tomie.
"Ah!!!"
Burned by the flames, even without the sensation of pain, Tomie still let out a scream. She knew that these scorching flames could truly kill her.
Along with the scream, Tomie turned into ashes, while Nakano Maruo looked at Tomie with a strange expression, both shocked and afraid.
He was shocked that Nakano Yu knew so much about Tomie, and he was afraid that if what Nakano Yu said was true, then if he had really used a revival technique based on Tomie's genes on Reina, would the one who returned still be Reina?
After burning all of Tomie's pieces of flesh and limbs, Nakano Yu heard the notification of quest completion in his ear.
However, Nakano Yu did not feel relieved because of completing the quest.
The memories between Tomie were connected, which meant that other Tomies would know what happened here.
Nakano Yu did not know how many Tomies existed in the world, but he estimated that there were quite a few.
However, Nakano Yu had the Peeping Eye. To find out how to deal with Tomie, he only needed to ask, but it would be somewhat troublesome.
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