Chapter 49 Chapter Forty-Nine

"It's time to suffer." After the man who entered the room finished speaking, he reached out and turned off the TV that Jo Nagashima had turned on before leaving, and the room fell into silence again. "Hey, Watanabe, is anyone coming in? What kind of guy?" Gotanda Masaomi asked beside him.This is a spacious room in the hotel. The three of us were each tied to a single sofa chair, back to back.Since Oishikuranosuke had his back to the door and Gotanda Masaomi was blind, only I could see the people who entered the room. "Two men," I said.Of course the two men in front of me could hear our conversation, but I didn't deliberately lower my voice, because whispering is meaningless now.

"One of them was wearing a rabbit hood," I said. "Rabbit hood? What do you mean? You mean he's wearing a Muppet costume?" "That looks much more elaborate than a Muppet suit, and it's huge." The fluff and shape of the hood are very realistic, almost like a specimen, but it is so large that it cannot be made of a real rabbit, "it looks weird." "What now? Are we in a fairy tale world?" "It's not that cute." Because I knew it was the rabbit man in front of me who cut off Okamoto's fingers and toes, so I couldn't help but fix my eyes on the big scissors in his hand.My heart beat faster, my fingers were cold, and the blood seemed to be escaping from my fingertips and drilling deep into my body.

"Where's the other guy?" Gotanda Masaomi asked.I turned to look at the man who had just announced "time to suffer". "Don't tell me you're the rabbit breeder." The man standing next to the rabbit man is thin, like a lithe kick boxer, but upon closer inspection, he has a lot of wrinkles on his face and gray short hair. Standing straight, his standing posture is even and steady, and his demeanor is extremely disproportionate to his age, which can only be described as weird. I suddenly remembered what Jo Nagashima said just now, so I replied Gotanda Masaomi: "That's the one who reached out to us in the airport parking lot." This person is the old teacher we mentioned several times just now. square.

"The guy who crushed us?" At that time, we were trying to get close to Joshi Nagashima in the parking lot. This Ogata stood in the distance with other followers. When he stretched out his hand, we all fell to the ground. We didn’t touch a single hair, but we felt a wave. The invisible heavy pressure made us stick to the ground and couldn't move. "Super power..." I couldn't help murmuring.What he displayed at that time should be the so-called special ability, that is, superpower. "Superpower?" the old man said, stroking his rimless glasses.He stood right in front of me, his forehead and cheeks were wrinkled, and he was frowning, and the wrinkles between his brows became more obvious.

"We suddenly couldn't move in the underground parking lot, is it your fault?" Gotanda Masaoomi said.His tone was just as rude no matter who it was. "So that's it. You think I was unable to move in the parking lot just now because I used superpowers?" "Is not it?" "What if, in fact, there is a device in the underground parking lot of the airport, as long as the switch is pressed, a strong wind will be ejected from the ceiling, crushing people so that they cannot stand up?" "Huh?" I was stunned when I heard this unexpected explanation.Gotanda Masaoomi and Oishikuranosuke had the same reaction as me.I was silent for a moment before I said, "Is there such a device in the airport?"

"How? This can explain why you were pressed to the ground by an invisible force, right? You don't need to rely on superpowers to do it." The rabbit man walked towards me. As soon as I thought that he was about to rape me, a chill ran from the soles of my feet to my spine. The image of Okamoto's severed fingers replayed in my mind in a bloodier and crueler form, Okamoto As soon as his finger was cut off, he immediately wailed in pain. After the finger fell to the ground, it quickly rotted, and the root of the finger spurted out blood like water from a water pipe. Suddenly I felt a touch on my jaw.

I raised my head in shock, and the red eyes of the rabbit man were right in front of my eyes, and they were especially huge when I saw them up close. I shuddered and almost fainted. The rabbit man held my chin and looked at me carefully, as if he was evaluating which food to eat next. Then he left my side and walked towards Gotanda Masaomi, also holding his chin and staring carefully.Gotanda raised his nose and sniffed hard, and said, "Little rabbit, are you picking vegetables? I'm not a carrot." As for Oishikura Nosuke, when he saw the rabbit man approaching, he screamed: "What is this? Gotanda-senpai! Watanabe-senpai! What is this? Why is it a rabbit?"

During the period when the rabbit man walked around us to judge, the old man stood upright in the same place. At his age, it seems that he should find a chair to sit and rest, but I don't think he has any intention of sitting down at all.Then he said: "Most things that can be done with superpowers can be done in other ways." Just now Jo Nagashima said similar things, is it a coincidence?Or do their ideas have common roots? The rabbit man returned to his previous position, exchanged glances with the old man, and nodded silently. The two seemed to have reached a consensus.I felt uneasy in my heart, not knowing what kind of consensus it was.

At this time, I was almost sure that the Taoist old man was Ogata. Although there was no clear basis, his standing posture as stable as Mount Tai was completely in line with the image of the old teacher in Yongdao Zhangkou's mouth. "Is there another person?" The old man who I identified as Ogata said softly. Who else?I looked at the door of the room, could there be another person wearing an animal hood coming in?Or was he referring to Jo Nagashima who had just left? "When you were caught at the airport, one of your companions escaped." It turned out he was referring to Kayoko.I have no way of knowing whether she is safe after escaping at the airport. We have been talking to Jo Nagashima since we were caught in this room.It wasn't until this moment that I suddenly worried about her.I seemed to hear Kayoko yelling at me, "Heartless guy!" Thinking of this, I was even more worried.

"Who is that person?" Ogata asked. I didn't think it was necessary to answer, and I thought it was better not to answer, so I kept silent.At this moment, the rabbit man came towards us again, and my whole body stiffened immediately, but he walked past me, circled behind, and squatted in front of Oishikura Nosuke.Oishi Kuranosuke wailed helplessly. "Say! Who is that escaped person?" The old man standing in front of me asked again. At the same time, there was a sound of metal rubbing behind me, and I realized that it was the sound of the rabbit man pulling the big scissors.

"Watanabe-senpai! Watanabe-senpai!" Ohishura Nosuke cried, "Are they going to cut my fingers with this?" "Hey! What are you going to do with Oishi? Is it fun to pick the weakest bully?" Gotanda Masaomi was blind, but he had a clear grasp of the situation. "You don't need to threaten us with such cruel methods. I'll answer what you want to know." I couldn't help but speed up my speech, "The person who fled at the airport was my wife. She sensed danger at the time, so she ran away , that’s all.” "yes?" "Yes, she is my wife." "So it's a woman." Ogata's tone softened a little.When he learned that it was a woman who escaped, he seemed to lower his vigilance a lot. "Hey, what good are you doing to us?" Gotanda Masaomi made no secret of his impatience, "You'd better let us go home quickly. If we have any great secrets or are executing some special Quest, you still have some reason to torture us. After all, if you want to ask for information, you can’t use gentle methods. I understand that. But today we are just three ordinary office workers. What kind of terrible action is planned, we just want to talk to Jo Nagashima, there is no harm to you, at best it can be called an annoying fly." "Annoying flies?" The old man repeated in a low voice, as if he had another interpretation. "Why are you serious with a group of flies?" "You use the analogy very well." "What's the meaning?" "Everyone doesn't like flies and wants to drive them away. What should I do at this time? There is a way to kill all the flies, whether it is insecticide or fly swatter, as long as they are close Just kill all of your own flies. That's one way, right? But it's so inefficient, it's hard work to chase until the last one is killed, so another way should be chosen. " "what way?" "Pick a few flies that come close to you, make them suffer, and then let them go." "Don't kill it?" I imagined a fly with broken wings and bruises in my mind, but I couldn't feel sympathy. "That's right, just let the flies fear and not kill them, and then let the flies go away. In this way, other flies will not dare to approach." "Nonsense." Gotanda Masaomi couldn't help laughing, "I've never heard of such a theory." "It's not scientifically proven, but I'm pretty sure it's true." "Because those flies will remind other flies 'It's dangerous there, don't go there'?" I asked after a little thought. "This is also one of the reasons. But even if they go back without warning their companions, great fear and pain will naturally spread. Negative emotions and energy are contagious." "Contagion?" I repeated. "It's contagious! How is it possible?" "This phenomenon may not be scientific, but it does happen, just like people in a group will unconsciously act according to the mood of the crowd or the atmosphere of the scene, even if no one comes forward to explain the specific situation, Those present will also be pushed away by the mood of the crowd." "Where is the mass sentiment in the world of flies?" I couldn't help complaining. "The so-called crowd emotion or the atmosphere of the scene is actually a phenomenon in which one person transmits the hatred, fear or anxiety in his heart to others, which can make the whole group rough or timid." Originally, I was talking about the method of repelling annoying flies, but when it comes to Taoism, it seems that it has nothing to do with flies.This statement has nothing to do with flies, but it has everything to do with us, and it has everything to do with what happens to us next. "It's the same reason," Ogata said and raised his hand lightly, and the rabbit man behind him nodded slightly after seeing the gesture. "We have to deal with you in a cruel way, to scare you, but not to kill you, so that the fear you feel will naturally spread to others" "You mean people subconsciously think, 'Don't ask about Harimazaki or Jo Nagashima, or you'll end up miserable'? Don't be stupid, that's ridiculous." "No, it's true." The old man said: "To give a simple example, if someone sets out to investigate this matter, he is likely to meet someone who has suffered because of this matter. At this time, he will think: 'This person I ended up like this because of investigating that incident, and I can't be like him.'” That's the thing, I'm thinking, and everyone's telling me, it's all a system, and anyone who tries to find out what happened at Harimazaki is going to suffer, is that the system? "However, the situation may be reversed, right? After one person's fear and anxiety spread to many people, it might form a strong wave of dissatisfaction, and then lead the masses to take some kind of collective resistance, isn't it?" Although I Knowing that it is impossible for me to convince this old, cunning and tenacious old man in front of me, I still want to say, "In this case, the masses may overthrow the government or politicians." "Of course it's possible. In fact, it happened in the past." The old man said calmly. "Since that's the case, don't you think we are flies and torture us now? Isn't there a certain risk? How do you know what kind of results this will bring? What kind of public sentiment will it arouse?" The expression of the old man at this moment is very similar to that of Jo Nagashima just now, with a hint of helplessness on his face, as if he felt that no matter how he explained it, we could not understand it, "This mechanism does not exist to protect the government or politicians. In the process of change, the country declares its existence through such changes over and over again, that’s what it is. Even if the people revolt and overthrow the politicians, it is also a kind of national change.” I recalled the words of Takeshi Nagashima just now, "What animals or countries are most afraid of is stagnation." The old man's statement was exactly the same as that of Takeshi Nagashima. "Is this what a country should do?" Gotanda Masaoomi said.It seems that he still hasn't understood the concept put forward by Takeshi Nagashima and the old man. At this moment, Oishikura Nosuke suddenly screamed: "Senior Watanabe!" "What's the matter? What's the matter?" I twisted my bound body desperately, turned my head and shouted, but I couldn't see what happened behind me. "My fingers...will be scissors..." he moaned. "Hey! Stop!" I changed my previous respectful tone and shouted loudly: "Mr. Ogata! Stop!" When the old man heard this, his face changed slightly, as if he was a little surprised that I knew his name. "Ogata? Is this guy Ogata?" Gotanda Masaomi asked loudly. "Probably, I guessed right." "Hey, hey, so you're a famous person? Are you the famous Mr. Ogata?" Gotanda Masaomi said sarcastically, "Just now Jo Nagashima told you a lot about your heroic deeds." At this time, I found a puddle of water under my feet. I thought it was a black shadow gradually extending towards my feet. After a closer look, I found that Oishi Kuranosuke was incontinent, and the urine flowed down the floor. . With tears in his eyes, Oishikura nosuke murmured something I couldn't understand. "Oishi! Calm down. Calm down!" There was nothing I could do but comfort him. You have the same name as Oishi Neizusuke who leads Ako Roshi, and you will definitely be able to save the day!But I didn't say that because it wouldn't make him feel any better. "Oishi, don't worry, you'll be fine." Although Gotanda Masaomi didn't know that Oishi Kuranosuke was frightened into incontinence, he felt that the atmosphere was not right, and he was a little panicked. "Don't worry, this is Japan, a country ruled by law, and you will be fine. This is Japan. This is a country ruled by law." He said casually. The confusion and anxiety left me at a loss as to what to do. I desperately told myself to "think fast, think fast", but my intestinal bag seemed to be shrouded in a sandstorm, and even the idea of ​​"think fast" was immediately scraped away.I really want to help Oishikura Nosuke, but I can't do anything. There was a slight laugh from behind, although the sound was vague, but full of contempt, it was from the rabbit man.He muttered: "This guy peed out of fear, it's really dirty." Although his voice was very low, I could hear it clearly for some reason. At this moment, I felt my chest was pulled into a ball, the blood vessels in my internal organs seemed to be crushed, and all the blood rushed to the top of my head. The sandstorm stopped suddenly, my mind became clear and bright, the annoying noise disappeared, and the surroundings were peaceful and quiet.Then I saw a man and a woman I had never seen before. The woman was wearing a hospital gown, sitting on the edge of the bed, holding a baby. The exhaustion of giving birth had left dark circles under her eyes, but she still had a gentle smile on her face.The man sat next to the woman with an outdated hairstyle, and his face was a bit tired.He squinted his eyes and looked down at the baby with an expression as if facing a warm stove.The whole picture is soft milky white, brimming with happiness.I was a little puzzled at first, but I quickly guessed that this was the scene when Oishikura Nosuke was born.Although there is no basis or reason, I just know that the baby in the white swaddle is Oishikura Nosuke. I don't know why such a scene appeared in my mind, but before I had time to think about it, the picture was distorted and replaced by Oishikura Nosuke at this moment.I seemed to see Nosuke Oishikura who was sobbing, trembling, and incontinent with fright behind me.In an instant, my eyes were dark, and I heard the sound of something breaking, and then my head became hot, as if it had been poured into magma. I don't know what happened. I just know I'm angry. The rabbit man's contemptuous laughter and words irritated me. "Cut mine." I said. The whole room was suddenly silent. "Let go of Oishikura Nosuke, if you want to cut your fingers, cut mine." "Hi, Watanabe." Gotanda Masaomi said anxiously. "Hey, cut my fingers." I could no longer suppress my excitement. "Don't worry, you will experience fear after a while. That's it." Ogata said in a calm and compassionate tone.Of course I understood what he said, but I couldn't help but reply: "That's it? I'm fed up! You keep talking about the system, what parts, what this is work! Maybe these are facts, but don't you enjoy it? You are playing a high-sounding sign, and to put it bluntly just put Have fun torturing others! Don't play with other people's self-esteem!" This was the first time in my life that I spoke in such a tone. I was gasping for breath, my chest heaving violently as I tried to breathe evenly. When I came back to my senses, the rabbit man was standing in front of me. Huge red eyes stared at me without emotion. I seem to hear a voice coming from under the hood accompanied by disorganized breathing: "You are very courageous. Since you wish so much, let's start with you." As he spoke, he pulled up my right hand and placed the scissors on my fingers. "Cut it." Ogata said. I was terrified, but my mind was so full of anger that I couldn't hold any more fear.I just wanted to withdraw my hand reflexively, but then I thought, and I placed my fingers firmly on the blades of the scissors. "Isn't it better for you to cut it?" The rabbit man looked at me. I remembered the scene when Okamoto was tortured by him, and I imitated Okamoto and said: "Anyway, you must cut your toes after you cut your fingers, and then your penis after you cut your toes, right? It's really uncreative." Although I was afraid, But at this time I was too excited to think calmly. "Hey, Watanabe, what's the matter with you?" Gotanda Masaomi asked.He probably thought I was crazy. I seem to hear Okamoto whispering in my ear: "Do you have the courage?" And my wife Kayoko said in my other ear: "I think you have special abilities." At this moment, a ray of light bloomed deep in my head.