Chapter 2499: Chapter 1672: Unexpected Gains (A Cat Whose Belly Faces the Sky After Eating)

The crew quickly sent the staff member to the hospital. After the doctor’s examination, it turned out he’d just been knocked out by an impact; some rest would do the trick. He himself didn’t remember what had happened. According to the other staff, he’d just been checking the equipment, then seemed to hear something, and after that he lost consciousness.

The doctor’s explanation was that something probably hit him on the head, and the crew accepted this. Even if filming was allowed there, it was still an old, long-neglected place. Most of the structure might be intact, but it’s not like you could rule out something falling down, right?

After that, everyone went back to the hotel to rest, and Duanmu Huai called Hei Chuan Chi Yin to his room.

"Did anything weird happen on set today?"

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s question, Hei Chuan Chi Yin tilted her head in puzzlement.

"Uuuh... I don’t think anything weird happened. Why?"

"When we were shooting at the research institute today, I ran into something strange."

"Something strange? Ah, I heard a crew member had an accident?"

"You could call it an accident, and it was a pretty unexpected one, but not your everyday, normal kind of accident."

Duanmu Huai waved his hand.

"Something attacked him."

"Huh?"

"It looked really bizarre, like some kind of Ghost... a big mass of writhing flesh. But I was the only one who could see it; nobody else could. It seemed to be trying to eat him while he was alone. At least, that’s how it looked when I found him."

"C-could it be an Evil Spirit?"

At Duanmu Huai’s words, Hei Chuan Chi Yin’s expression changed slightly. She still remembered what had happened when she and Duanmu Huai accidentally strayed into that past era.

"Not quite the same..."

Duanmu Huai frowned a little. Evil Spirits might be called "ghosts," but strictly speaking they were basically like Vampires or Ghouls—physical creatures. But what he’d seen earlier wasn’t like that at all; it was clearly something more along the lines of a Ghost.

He’d never seen that thing before. Was this the update the GM had talked about?

What the hell did they even update?

Well, at least it was better than some Apocalypse World of Destruction.

"Anyway, just be careful."

As he spoke, Duanmu Huai reached into his pocket and took out two phone Pendants.

"What are these?"

"Call them Amulets, I guess. You and Kana each take one. If that thing attacks you, these can protect you."

"Thank you... but..."

Hei Chuan Chi Yin accepted the phone Pendants from Duanmu Huai with a somewhat complicated look on her face. Well, you couldn’t blame her. Those two phone Pendants—put bluntly—were just two Skull Heads.

And they also had a hammer and gear emblem on them.

For a high school boy, this might be pretty cool, but for a girl... and she had to hang it on her phone, which was just...

"Don’t you have any other shapes?"

"Nope."

Duanmu Huai silently shook his head. The emblem of the Tribunal was what it was; what could he do? Swap it out for Peppa Pig or something?

"Then... let me think. Could I sew them into a plushie?"

"Should be fine."

Duanmu Huai nodded.

"Right, I’m heading out for a bit later. I’ll need you to cover for me."

"Huh?"

"I’m going to the filming site to see whether those things are still around."

Duanmu Huai picked up the guitar case beside him.

"Is that really okay?"

"Relax, they’re just small fry. I can’t let them interfere with the shoot."

At this, Duanmu Huai’s tone sank slightly.

"If there’s an accident, filming stops, but you still have to pay the staff their daily wages. Where do they think that money comes from, those damned bottom-feeders! I invested in this too—how could I just sit back and let them waste it?"

"Uh..."

Listening to Duanmu Huai grumble, Hei Chuan Chi Yin was speechless, but she had to admit he had a point. That’s how film crews worked: once the machine was assembled and running, every single day was burning money.

"Then... good luck, I guess?"

"Oh, and if anyone asks, just say I turned in for the night."

Duanmu Huai waved, slung the guitar case over his shoulder, stepped out onto the balcony, and then leapt off, disappearing into the darkness.

Even though this was the twentieth floor... but since it was Xiao Ai, it was probably fine.

Hei Chuan Chi Yin walked out onto the balcony and looked around, but couldn’t see anything at all.

"He could at least say ’I’m heading out’ or something first..."

Staring into the pitch-black night, Hei Chuan Chi Yin let out a quiet sigh.

The filming location in the dead of night felt like a ghost domain.

Which was only natural, since this place had originally been a ruin, and all the staff had already gone back to rest. Only some large pieces of equipment that couldn’t be moved were still left here, giving the place an extra eerie vibe—of course, if it weren’t like this, Director Qingshui wouldn’t have chosen it as a shooting location.

There really wasn’t anything abnormal over at the survivor camp.

But the research institute was different.

Duanmu Huai could feel that, as night fell, that strange aura was surfacing again somewhere inside the institute.

And it seemed like... a fight?

When Duanmu Huai reached the basement, he quickly heard noises coming from inside: impacts, and shouting.

"Why is it like this?! I was told it was a Level 2 Curse Spirit, but this is totally a Quasi-level 1!"

The one shouting was a girl who looked about sixteen or seventeen. She had long blue hair, a distinctive face and a weird slanted fringe, and she was gripping a Japanese sword. Standing opposite her was a mutated Spider Monster with a body as big as a bus. Right now this Spider was lashing out with its claws at the blue‑haired girl, who looked rather battered and clearly in a very bad way.

That is...... 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Duanmu Huai narrowed his eyes, carefully sizing up the huge Spider fighting the girl. This thing looked a lot like one of those urban‑legend creatures he’d seen in the Inner World. In other words, this thing didn’t just show up in the Inner World, it could appear in reality too? Just as he’d suspected, was the Subspace starting to encroach on the real world?

"Hyaaa!"

The girl swung her blade again, knocking aside a spider leg that stabbed toward her, but the recoil sent her stumbling back—straight into the web behind her.

"Crap!"

The girl realized things were bad and tried to break free, but her body was firmly glued to the web and she couldn’t get loose at all. At the same time, the giant Spider Monster charged right up to her, jaws gaping wide... and then was split cleanly in half from the middle.

"Eh?"

The girl stared, eyes wide, at the Spider that had been chopped in two and was now gradually disappearing, completely at a loss as to what had just happened.

Then she saw a figure walk out from behind the Spider.

"Evening, miss."

Duanmu Huai fixed his gaze on the deathly pale girl before him and showed a feral grin.

"That was pretty close just now. Since I did save your life, you won’t mind if I ask you a few questions, right?"

"Eeeek———w‑what do you want to ask?"

"First, tell me who you are and what you’re doing here."

Duanmu Huai gripped the sword in his hand and pressed the tip against the frozen girl’s neck, then slowly drew it downward.

"And what exactly was that thing you were fighting?"

"I‑I’ll talk......"

Faced with Duanmu Huai’s questioning, the girl’s face was ghastly pale, but she still forced herself to stay calm and nodded vigorously. Then she quickly explained things to Duanmu Huai.

According to the girl, her name was Mikazuki Mika, and she was a Curse Master whose specialty was exorcising Curse Spirits—that giant mutated Spider Duanmu Huai had just seen. As Mikazuki Mika explained it, Curse Spirits were supernatural beings born from the Strength of Humans’ negative emotions, but where exactly these Curses and Curse Spirits came from was something no one had ever figured out.

However, Curse Spirits attacked Humans and killed them, and Curse Masters were the professionals who protected Humans and destroyed Curse Spirits.

Supernatural beings born from Humans’ negative emotions...

Hearing this, Duanmu Huai’s expression darkened slightly.

"Such as?"

"M‑most of it is fear, and also jealousy, anger, basically all kinds of emotions. Some Curse Spirits originate from Humans’ fear of certain things, and some Curse Spirits were originally Humans’ Souls, but because they were bound by the thoughts of the living, they turned into dangerous Curse Spirits......"

"Oh, I’ve heard that one before."

Duanmu Huai did remember that there were legends about Resentful Spirits being unable to ascend because of the living’s lingering thoughts, and being forced to remain behind.

But......Curse Spirits......Monsters born from Humans’ negative emotions......the Inner World......urban legends born from the crystallization of Humans’ emotions......that Isekai lifeform Professor Ueno once encountered that communicated with Humans via fear......

Perfect, now everything lined up. If Duanmu Huai’s guess was right, that Inner World they’d gone to before was basically the womb where those Monsters were nurtured. Hm, but this was really pissing him off: Subspace Creatures born from Humans’ negative emotions—yeah, Duanmu Huai’s Judge PTSD was about to flare up.

Because that setup was pure, textbook Subspace Creature. Whatever, whether you call it a Curse Spirit or a Subspace Creature, at the end of the day it’s the same crap—see one, kill one.

"Thanks for your cooperation."

Duanmu Huai slid his Sword back into its sheath and nodded to the girl.

"If there’s nothing else, I’ll be taking my leave."

"Ah, p‑please wait a moment!"

Seeing Duanmu Huai turn to go, the girl hurriedly called out to stop him.

"Um, uh...... "

"Hm?"

"Excuse me, are you Miss Duanmu Ai?"

"Yeah, that’s me...... "

Duanmu Huai stared at the blue‑haired girl. She ducked her head, hesitated in embarrassment for a moment, then pulled a small notebook from her bosom and held it out to Duanmu Huai with both hands.

"I’m a fan of yours, could I have your autograph? And if possible, a photo together too......!"

"......Sure, no problem."