Chapter Seventy-One: A Day in the Life of Muramasa (Part Ten)

Luo Hanya once again felt herself losing control over her body. Her final impression was the Grim Reaper’s eerie grin and the abrupt, shattering fragments of a taxi.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! How many more scenes do I have to jump through before this ends?” Luo Hanya rolled her eyes, too exhausted to even complain.

Endless darkness. When Luo Hanya opened her eyes again, she found herself in a strange place—apparently a corridor, its walls etched with grotesque, monstrous beasts. Wisps of ghostly fire floated in the air, casting a faint light along the hallway.

“Where is this?” Luo Hanya muttered, glancing around in confusion as she moved slowly through the darkness.

“Muramasa, come here for a moment,” called a voice not far away—the voice of Hirata, who should have been dead.

“What is it, Hirata? Weren’t you dead?” Luo Hanya looked at him with a trace of pity. Hirata’s entire body was covered in cracks, as if he would crumble into a pile of flesh at any moment.

“Come here, I have a question for you.” Hirata’s expression was stiff, the corners of his mouth twisting into a strange, unsettling smile.

“Alright, ask away.” Luo Hanya knew this must be the final trial. With a sigh, she approached Hirata.

“Do you know what I am?” Hirata forced out the words.

“You’re the kind and steady side of Kimura’s personality,” Luo Hanya replied, her gaze tinged with sympathy. “Most of the time, you were in control. But after that incident, you were completely suppressed, which is why Kimura did so many bewildering things.”

Blood seeped from every crack in Hirata’s body. He managed a final, fleeting smile. “It’s enough that you understand, Muramasa.” As soon as the words left his mouth, his body split apart, splattering Luo Hanya with blood.

“Rest in peace, Hirata.”

No sooner had Hirata vanished than a chilling voice sounded behind Luo Hanya. “Muramasa.”

Her heart clenched as she spun around to see the female corpse she had encountered earlier in the captain’s cabin. Under the ghostly fire, her wounds appeared even more gruesome, and a wheel mark was visible on her body—her flesh mangled as though she’d been run over by a car.

“Muramasa, do you know who I am and how I died?” the woman’s corpse asked in a haunting whisper.

“You’re Minako—Kimura’s wife!” Luo Hanya felt the hairs on her arms stand up. He knew survival depended on satisfying this ghost. Steeling himself against her penetrating gaze, he continued, “You were murdered by Kimura for your infidelity. Afterwards, he put your body in the trunk, but while disposing of it, he got into a car accident—explaining why you’re so mangled.”

Luo Hanya blurted out all he had deduced, staring intently at the woman’s corpse, his heart pounding wildly. “Damn it, I’ve exposed everything about you—are you going to kill me just to keep me quiet?”

“How…how do you know?” Minako’s voice trembled, as if she couldn’t believe Luo Hanya knew so much.

“You’re Yamamoto’s wife. That mysterious figure mentioned earlier that you’d died long ago, so I deduced you didn’t die in the car accident,” Luo Hanya replied. “But you still bear the marks of a vehicle, so you must have been involved in the crash while your body was in the trunk—hence, Kimura must have killed you, intending to destroy the evidence, but fate intervened.”

He paused. “And as for Kimura’s character, there’s no need to elaborate. For Kimura—usually led by Hirata—to do such a thing, your infidelity must have been the cause. I suppose you were with your lover in bed when Kimura caught you.”

“Stop! Don’t say another word!” Minako screamed in a frenzy, her eyes fixed on Luo Hanya, as if she wished to devour him whole.

“Keep going, don’t stop! Try laying a hand on Muramasa if you dare, you wretched woman!” Yamamoto stepped from the shadows, laughing heartily as if Luo Hanya had voiced all his innermost thoughts.

“Yamamoto! Don’t forget who’s responsible for all this!” Minako shrieked.

“It’s all because of me, so what? If it weren’t for you, none of this would have happened! I worked so hard to provide for us, gave up so many opportunities for you, and what did I get in return? I thought you wanted to stay in this small city out of love for your hometown, but you were really staying for your lover!” Yamamoto’s voice bordered on madness. “I’ve returned everything I wasn’t meant to possess—I don’t regret a thing!”

Luo Hanya couldn’t help but draw a sharp breath at the sight of Yamamoto—he seemed nothing but a shell, as if he had truly given everything back, leaving only his skin behind.

“Yamamoto!” Minako shrieked in madness, flinging herself at him.

“Wretched woman! I’ll make you die a second time!”

As the two figures grappled and vanished into the darkness, Luo Hanya fell silent, sighing inwardly. “Yamamoto, Hirata, Minako… Next, could it be Watanabe?”

“You guessed right—it’s me,” came Watanabe’s cheerful reply as he stepped forward, blood streaming from the holes in his head and body.

“So, what do you want to ask this time?” Luo Hanya laughed as well, as if reminiscing with an old friend.

“Why do I have to be stuck with someone like you, even after death?” Watanabe sounded slightly resigned.

“Idiot! You’re not here to chat!” Before Watanabe could say more, a shadowy figure emerged from the darkness.

“Mysterious One!” Luo Hanya exclaimed, eyeing this troublesome figure warily.

“Relax, I won’t do anything to you. I’ll only do what’s fitting in this corridor of death,” the Mysterious One waved a hand dismissively, easing Luo Hanya’s fears.

He barely had time to breathe before the Mysterious One flung Watanabe back into the shadows and asked, in a chilling tone, “The same question—who am I?”

“You—you’re not human. You’re not even a thing, really,” Luo Hanya replied, his expression complex. “You’re merely an accident’s byproduct—a car crash created you. You obey the will of death, harvesting those fated to die. You’ve done nothing wrong; it’s just that you crossed paths with me.”

“Well said. Indeed, I’ve done nothing wrong. It’s you rule-breakers who are at fault,” the Mysterious One replied, seemingly satisfied, before fading once more into the shadows.

“And who am I?” Just as the Mysterious One vanished, a figure identical to Muramasa in every way emerged from the end of the corridor.

“Kimura—full name Kimura Masashi?”