Kendo training lasted from seven-thirty to eleven-thirty. Four hours of rehabilitation exercise pushed Amamiya Rin's body to its limit. He sat on the ground to rest for a moment, placed the wooden sword back into the sword bag, and returned to his Hospital Ward leaning on his cane.
"...That patient..."
"...So scary..."
"...Increased again..."
"...Heard there are some in other cities too..."
"...Is it an infectious disease?"
Passing through the corridor, Amamiya Rin's sharp ears caught the whispering of passing patients and nurses discussing some incident.
"No way..."
Amamiya Rin's expression changed slightly. His gaze swept over the nurses' faces; they looked uneasy and agitated, seemingly discussing some grotesque topic.
He had seen this situation before.
It was at Morita Hospital. On the day he just woke up, returning to his ward after his first examination, he noticed the nurses whispering to each other.
Then, about ten days later, Morita Hospital was completely wiped out.
"Don't tell me a supernatural event has occurred at this hospital too... Er, I should probably be a bit more confident. Harase Kyoko has been to this hospital, and Kayako and Saeki Toshio have also visited; supernatural events have already occurred."
Amamiya Rin suddenly realized that if he hadn't sacrificed Kawakami Tomie to stall Kayako, this hospital would likely have met the same wiped-out ending as Morita Hospital before long.
"Nurse, has something strange happened in the hospital?"
Amamiya Rin rubbed his face and walked over to the chatting nurses to strike up a conversation.
Amamiya Rin asked very directly; he wasn't good at beating around the bush.
The nurses looked at each other, seemingly communicating with their eyes about whether they could speak.
"It's not really a secret. Many people have seen it. Yesterday and this morning, many strange patients were brought in. The symptoms of those patients are extremely terrifying. Their brains, for some unknown reason, actually melted away."
After a moment, one nurse finally spoke in a mysterious tone.
"Yes, it's too terrifying. When I saw it earlier, I almost threw up!"
"I've never heard of any disease or virus that can cause that kind of harm."
"I heard similar patients appeared in the neighboring city before. Supposedly, there was an entire school where everyone died because their brains melted."
"Truly dreadful. How could such a thing happen?"
Once one person spoke up and broke the ice, the other nurses also began to speak all at once.
"Has it not been confirmed what caused it yet?"
A young boy leaned in and asked with some concern.
"Not for the time being. Because it's too bizarre, they can't determine the underlying principle."
A nurse replied.
"...Dissolving..."
Amamiya Rin's expression became grave as he spat out a word.
Although he had forgotten the specific content, just the single element of brains melting was enough to determine the situation.
Dissolving. Junji Ito's Dissolving series!
The man who signed a contract with a demon goes around apologizing. People who hear the apology will have their brains dissolve. In the final chapter of the series, that man apologizes to everyone in Japan through a press conference, wiping out the country in one breath.
One can only say that the manga artists of this country really dare to draw anything. In manga, Japan is always on the verge of destruction; sometimes it can be saved, sometimes it's thoroughly dead.
And this is Junji Ito's worldview; the ending is naturally thoroughly dead.
"Big brother, do you know the inside story?"
The boy wearing a black school uniform noticed Amamiya Rin's expression and hurriedly asked him.
"What inside story? I've just heard of similar things; it belongs to a type of urban legend."
Amamiya Rin shook his head slightly and organized his thoughts.
"Urban legend?"
The surrounding people cast curious gazes over, urging Amamiya Rin with their eyes to continue.
They also believed that a symptom like brain dissolution was more likely a supernatural phenomenon like a curse than a disease.
"Yes, a legend about an apologizing maniac. I heard there was a young man who apologized to people nearby wherever he went. The people he apologized to would eventually die from their brains dissolving. Only by immediately covering your ears when seeing him about to apologize could one escape the calamity. That school you guys mentioned just now, there was one person inside who was scared into fainting and didn't finish listening to the apology, so they were lucky enough to survive."
Amamiya Rin spoke while thinking.
The protagonist of the Dissolving series appearing in this city was truly too terrible.
However, that person seemed to be just an ordinary human in himself. Although he could cause other people's brains to dissolve by apologizing, his body was still that of a normal person, without superhuman strength.
The only thing that needed to be feared was the demon behind the protagonist.
That demon capable of killing one hundred and twenty million people at once!
(Otherwise, I should just run away, flee this country... The problem is, I don't have a passport! I don't have the predecessor's memories either; going abroad isn't something that can be done in a short time.)
Amamiya Rin felt a severe headache. He knew this world was terrible, but he had only transmigrated half a month ago, and now another world-ending existence had appeared in his vicinity. How was he supposed to withstand this?
Amamiya Rin, whose pressure had doubled, could only return to his own Hospital Ward first in the end, because it was lunch time.
Iron is necessary, food is steel; miss a meal and you'll feel hunger's squeal. What he needed most right now was to replenish the physical strength consumed by his rehabilitation.
After finishing lunch, just as he put down his chopsticks, his mobile phone suddenly started vibrating.
(Who sent a text message?)
Amamiya Rin picked up the mobile phone placed on the bedside table, flipped it open, and saw a text message from an unfamiliar number light up the screen.
[I have witnessed the true face of the serial killer in this city, but I cannot explain the complete process in a text message. However, I very much want to stop the killer's atrocities. If you are willing to assist me, please send me your phone number. If you are not willing to assist me, please also forward this text message to 10 of your friends within three days, otherwise, the next victim might be you...]
"If you don't forward this, are you not a XX person?"
The format of the text message gave Amamiya Rin a strong sense of déjà vu.
He had encountered similar things in his past life. Moments, text messages, and the like; they were basically scams or pranks.
However, he knew very clearly that this time seemed to be different.
Serial murder case—he had heard of it before.
Professor Matsuura. When he experimented with Hypnosis on Professor Matsuura last time, he heard him mention it. Recently, a serial murder case had appeared in this city. Four young women had already been victimized. Currently, it was only known that the cause of death was excessive blood loss, and the killer had not been found to this day.
"Excessive blood loss... Vampire?"
Amamiya Rin immediately thought of Fujino Terumi's encounter a few days ago.
The victims were young women, the cause of death was excessive blood loss... If the killer wasn't a Vampire, what was it?!
"Tomie modified monsters, Dissolving Demon, Vampire, how come so many anomalies popped up all at once!?"
Amamiya Rin realized that his shallow Dhyana could no longer maintain his calm.
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