Traveling was dull, so it will be skipped without mention.
After several days on the road, Shinji and Hidan finally arrived in the area suspected to be where the sacrifices had gone missing.
This was a ruined small town. During past ninja wars, it had been destroyed again and again, eventually turning into a barren zone with no governing authority.
Still, many homeless people had chosen to settle here.
To the east lay the Land of Fire, to the south the Land of Rivers, to the west the Land of Wind, and to the north the Land of Rain.
Because of its special geographical position, even relying on scams and trickery was enough to support a large number of people.
As for all kinds of illicit goods, fugitive bandits, and rogue ninjas, there were even more of them.
So it wasn't impossible that the Jashin Cult's goods had gone missing near here—perhaps they had been snatched by some blind and foolish faction.
All of this information was something Shinji had already learned from Flag Waterfall's High Priest before setting out.
At first, he also believed that it wasn't the work of the people here, but rather internal betrayal within the Land of Grass.
However, when he truly set foot in this desolate town, he suddenly felt that something was off. Perhaps the matter wasn't so simple after all.
"Do you smell that?" Shinji asked.
"Yeah. Such a heavy stench of blood couldn't have formed in just a day or two. It's intoxicating," Hidan said, taking a deep breath as an excited expression gradually appeared on his face.
"Something's wrong. Ever since we entered, we haven't seen a single living person."
"Don't tell me someone got here before us and slaughtered everyone?"
Shinji frowned. Things were getting tricky. "Search more carefully. There must be survivors."
Find someone alive, and they would naturally know what had happened here.
Yet it was unclear whether this ruined town had truly become a ghost domain, or whether their method was wrong. They had walked around for more than ten minutes without seeing a single living soul.
It was downright eerie.
"Those homeless bastards—where else could they possibly go besides here?" Hidan muttered.
His words drifted into Shinji's ears.
That's right. So many people with nowhere to go—if they had to die, they would probably die here.
So where were they?
Shinji suddenly walked into a nearby dilapidated house with bare walls. Along the way, there were many such buildings. Since the doors, windows, and even half the walls were long gone, it was usually possible to see everything inside at a glance and tell whether anyone was there.
Shinji hadn't thought much of it before, but Hidan's casual remark had given him a spark of inspiration.
Now that he checked more carefully, he indeed found something.
"What's there to see in a dump like this?" Hidan continued grumbling.
But just then, after crouching down and standing back up, Shinji spoke, "I know where everyone is hiding. Follow me."
After that, every time Shinji saw a house—no matter how broken it was—he insisted on going inside to take a look.
Finally, in the third house they checked afterward, Shinji kicked aside a pile of messy straw, revealing a wooden board underneath. He grabbed the edge and lifted it up with force.
Immediately, a pitch-black opening appeared before them.
"Underground?" Hidan said in surprise.
Shinji shook his head. "Not sure yet. But many of the houses here probably have cellars. Those people might be hiding inside them."
"That's easy—let's just go down and see!"
With confidence and courage to spare, Hidan lit a torch and jumped straight in without hesitation, not caring how deep it was or whether someone was lying in wait below.
Shinji could only shake his head at the sight.
Not long after, Hidan's voice came from below. "You can come down now. There's an old man in here—he's almost done for."
Hearing that, Shinji first tore open a small blood pack he carried with him and poured out the blood. Only then did he light a torch and jump down as well.
The cellar was no more than five meters deep. Upon landing, he immediately saw Hidan standing not far ahead.
"Where is he?" Shinji asked.
"Here."
Shinji walked over and saw an old man in his sixties slumped against the wall. His face was gaunt, his body weak, and his lips were severely cracked. He was clearly hanging on by a thread.
If they had arrived any later, they would probably have found nothing but a corpse.
"Hey, old man, wake up!" Hidan shoved him forcefully.
Seeing how rough Hidan was being, Shinji quickly stopped him, afraid that Hidan might accidentally kill the old man.
"Give me the water."
After taking the water from Hidan, Shinji carefully moistened the old man's dry lips, then slowly dripped water into his mouth.
Finally, a minute later, the old man slowly came to.
"Am I already dead? Are you… soul reapers? So soul reapers don't have eyebrows…"
The old man's voice was hoarse, but his meaning was perfectly clear.
It was a strange thing—ever since that arson incident burned off all of Hidan's hair and eyebrows, his hair had gradually grown back, but his bare eyebrows had shown no sign of returning.
So when his sore spot was mentioned, Hidan's temper immediately flared, and he very much wanted to send this old man to meet the real soul reapers.
Fortunately, at this stage, Shinji was still able to keep him in check.
After restraining Hidan, Shinji explained that they were travelers passing by. He said he had heard there were good things for sale here and had come specifically because of that.
Then, without caring whether the old man believed him or not, he directly asked what he cared about most:
"Where did everyone else go? What exactly happened here?"
At the mention of this, the old man unconsciously shuddered, as if recalling something terrifying.
"A monster… there's a monster! So many people were killed!"
Shinji and Hidan exchanged glances. As expected, there was a problem.
"Don't rush. Take your time. What kind of monster was it? Why are you hiding here alone?" Shinji asked.
The old man's face was filled with fear, his body trembling violently.
"A monster… a man-eating monster… everyone was eaten. The ones still alive only dare to hide in the cellars… I'm old, useless, so I was thrown out—to save food. If the monster eats its fill, it won't go looking for them for a while…"
The old man's speech was slurred, and under extreme fear, his words were disjointed and chaotic.
Still, Shinji managed to grasp the general picture.
Essentially, one day—no one knew when—a man-eating monster suddenly appeared. The people here couldn't fight it, so they hid.
But supplies were limited, so those deemed worthless were abandoned.
The old man before them was thrown out as bait, meant to be fed to the monster.
Unexpectedly, fate had spared him. By sheer accident, he had escaped into this cellar and managed to cling to life.
But if Shinji and Hidan hadn't arrived, even if he wasn't eaten by the monster, he would have eventually died here anyway.