021 Strange Visit and Curse

[Encounter with first Strange Tale visitor, the ghost doll Hanako.]

[Visitor record activated.]

On the page of "Strange Tales," a new subsection named [Visitor Record] was added next to the [Character Information] column.

Kamiyagawa clicked on it, and the information inside was as follows.

[Strange Tale Name: Ghost Doll Hanako]

[Classification: Rank D]

[Status: In the Strange Tale World]

[Visitor Progress: 53%]

(Once progress reaches 100%, this Strange Tale can freely traverse between the real world and the Strange Tale World according to its own will.)

At the bottom of [Visitor Progress], there was another entry—[Public Opinion Acceleration].

[Public Opinion Acceleration: As a well-known Strange Tale, the extensive discussion of Ghost Doll Hanako in the real world is accelerating her visitor progress.]

"What is this...?" Kamiyagawa stared blankly at the content on his phone's screen.

Visitor.

This concept was new to him.

From the information available, it seemed that once Hanako's visitor progress reached 100%, she would descend into the real world?

Strange Tales from the game world will appear in reality after meeting certain conditions?

This sounded very ominous.

Moreover, if the Strange Tales from the game did arrive in the real world, it seemed it wouldn't be Kamiyagawa's fault as a player of "Strange Tales."

Because the Visitor Record's [Public Opinion Acceleration] entry had already explained—the public opinion in the real world about a Strange Tale would accelerate its visitation.

Does this mean to say that as long as people keep spreading the ghost stories non-stop, the corresponding discussed Strange Tales will one day truly appear beside them?

"Is the recent fervor for Hanako's story at school also related to this?" Kamiyagawa felt a bit of a headache, "So, am I supposed to eliminate her before her visitor progress reaches 100%?"

Am I the invisible protector of this world?

But thankfully, for now, Hanako's visitor progress was only at 53%, so there should still be plenty of time to prepare... right?

Worrying alone would not solve the bad situation.

What Kamiyagawa could do at the moment was to first observe the growth rate of Hanako's visitor progress to see how long it would take to increase by 1%.

In the meantime, he would seriously grind in the game, striving to become stronger, and resolve the big threat of Hanako as soon as possible in the revivable Strange Tale World.

After closing the [Visitor Record], Kamiyagawa opened a new message from "Strange Tales."

[Your character has acquired a debuff status.]

[Hanako's Curse (lasting five days): Because you killed Hanako's favorite puppet father, no matter if you are dead or alive, Hanako will curse you.]

[Effect: Your presence will be more easily detected by the Strange Tales and demons around you, they are being attracted to you.]

Kamiyagawa: ?

Damn!

So, was Hanako the ghost doll coming out from the third compartment at the last moment in the Strange Tale World to lay a curse on me?

Such a spiteful brat!

I was about to die then, come on!

…

With everything that happened in the game this morning, Kamiyagawa had a rather eventful day.

He spent the whole day calming his emotions, then logged back into the Strange Tale World in the evening.

But no sooner had he stepped into the school building area, he was assaulted by a pincer attack from three headless high school students!

These three weird creatures had started off quite far from Kamiyagawa, roughly 20 meters away, positions in which they ordinarily wouldn't have noticed Kamiyagawa's presence at all.

Such an abnormal phenomenon was definitely due to "Hanako's Curse."

Kamiyagawa barely managed to defeat a Kisaki with his newly mastered Three-Foot Strike.

However, the secret technique of the body, which measures time in tenths of a second, called "fibers," exhausted his physical strength excessively; a weakened Kamiyagawa couldn't fend off the pincer attack of two Kisaki and was quickly defeated.

"No use, I have 'Hanako's Curse' on me, can't make any game progress at all. Just taking a few steps brings the Kisaki's animosity from far away."

From my current gameplay experience, the world of "Strange Tales" is still very much focused on the soul system.

Even with increased strength, you can't just carelessly slash through the small monsters along the way.

Even if I can win one-on-one, fighting two or three at once could end in a fatal mistake if I'm not careful.

"This curse seriously affects the game experience, good thing it only lasts five days. Maybe tomorrow I'll try to parkour to the Sword Dao club and just hang there brushing up on Wild Tachi Self-Manifestation Style proficiency for these five days."

Evening.

Kamiyagawa returned home not far from Kabukicho.

Looking out the window beside the bed.

Neon lights were twinkling in the distance, skyscrapers touching the sky. But just below the window presented a different scene altogether: crowded, damp, with trash everywhere.

"The disparities in this world are really stark."

It was like two different worlds.

Kamiyagawa first took a bath, which alleviated some of his fatigue. Afterward, he lay on the bed, took out his phone, and opened the "Strange Tale World Enthusiasts Exchange" forum.

In the following list, it showed that "Above the Purple" was online.

Kamiyagawa pondered for a moment, then opened the private chat and started typing on the keyboard.

[Honest Foreigner]: "Boss, may I ask you another question?"

[Above the Purple]: "Hello."

[Above the Purple]: "Please go ahead."

It was the same instantaneous reply as last time.

You really have to say, as expected of a Lv6 boss, it's like they bought a house on the forum.

[Honest Foreigner]: "Do you believe in the real existence of strange tales and specters?"

[Above the Purple]: "I believe."

The other party's reply was very straightforward.

That response rather stumped Kamiyagawa.

After hesitating for a moment, he continued to type.

[Honest Foreigner]: "I've encountered some things in the past few days, incidents that can't be explained by common sense or science. I'm not sure what to do about it."

[Above the Purple]: "I suggest you visit the nearest shrine and buy a strand of prayer beads."

The reply came just as quickly as before.

Seeing the earnest reply from the other side, Kamiyagawa couldn't help but smile.

In fact, he was just looking for someone to chat with, not really expecting someone to offer any valuable advice for his current situation.

If visiting a shrine could solve his problems, that would be too good to be true.

He really wished he could pray Hanako away.

[Above the Purple]: "For most cases of spirit encounters, this should resolve the issue."

[Honest Foreigner]: "Most cases?"

[Above the Purple]: "Yes. In most spirit encounters, you'd come across only wandering souls and residual thoughts, and that would be sufficient to deal with them."

[Honest Foreigner]: "What are wandering souls and residual thoughts?"

[Above the Purple]: "They are the unconscious projections of specters and strange tales from another world into the real world. These projections aren't truly strange entities; they are very weak. They cannot affect normal people and would be repelled or even harmed by the strong life force emanating from individuals with abundant yang energy."

[Above the Purple]: "If you've been ill recently, or your yang energy has diminished due to other reasons, you might be susceptible to entanglement by wandering souls."