"Bear with it. I need to divine again." Bella made another cut on Max's wrist.
She made the blood float in the air and performed a divination about anyone connected to this droplet of blood seven days from now. The result was shockingly disturbing—it still showed death!
She was somewhat surprised.
Watching Max get beaten black and blue was one thing; watching him die right in front of her was another matter entirely.
He was, after all, once her employee. She couldn't just stand by and do nothing.
Bella reviewed the cause and effect of the entire situation. Only then did she realize she had no idea what the actual causes and consequences were... It was just his bad luck that he'd run into her. In reality, the two of them had no connection whatsoever.
"Alright, here's what we'll do... Tell me everything—the cause and the whole sequence of events. Don't let your emotions color the story. You won't die. I know several methods of immortality. Even if you do die, I can bring you back. Now tell me the truth about this matter, bit by bit."
Max rubbed his eyes. Knowing he was going to die, his eyes had turned red from crying. Part of it was an act, but most of it was genuine regret.
He shouldn't have bragged so much. That whole "Sorcerer Supreme" title—better not use it again next time...
Seeing that he'd gained Bella's guarantee, he finally felt a shred of confidence.
Organizing his thoughts, he began recounting the origin of the entire affair: "Twelve years ago, Shingen Yashida was working under the alias Ryuji Takayama as a reporter for his family's media conglomerate..."
Bella listened while nodding. Family heirs didn't just inherit the company right off the bat.
Many large Western conglomerates required their heirs to work their way up from the bottom, familiarizing themselves with every aspect of the business so they could smoothly take over the family enterprise in the future. Japanese family businesses were even more common, with even stricter requirements. Without producing results and gaining a certain degree of recognition, it simply wouldn't work.
The whole "my dad is so-and-so" or "my grandfather is so-and-so" routine wasn't useless—you could pull it once or twice. But use it too often? Then you might as well go home, focus on continuing the bloodline, and concentrate on raising the next generation.
Max continued: "At that time, Mr. Yashida met a female reporter named Reiko Asakawa. The two began dating. Later, Reiko Asakawa found a videotape that involved an even older incident...
In 1947, Dr. Heihachiro Ikuma married Shizuko Yamamura. That same year, they had a daughter named Sadako Yamamura...
In 1965, Sadako Yamamura graduated from high school. She joined a theater troupe and met her first love, Hiroshi Toyama.
In the summer of 1966, Sadako Yamamura was killed by her father, Heihachiro Ikuma, and her body was thrown into a well and buried.
On October 12, 1990, Mr. Shingen Yashida and Miss Reiko Asakawa watched that videotape together..."
Max hadn't memorized all the details completely. He kept checking his notebook, speaking intermittently.
Bella's expression shifted from initial caution to shock. Sadako Yamamura?! This was a famous figure indeed. No wonder she was so formidable!
She'd been puzzled earlier—such a persistent, vengeful ghost with such immense resentment, impossible to exorcise, was truly rare. Turned out she was a "celebrity."
She quickly raised a question: "Death within seven days? Where did that conclusion come from? According to your account, anyone who watches the videotape must die seven days later. So how is this Shingen Yashida still alive today?"
Max shook his head repeatedly, indicating he didn't know.
Bella closed her eyes to divine. Divination had its limits, primarily depending on her own limitations, the spell's limitations, and various detailed connections.
She had absolutely no connection to Shingen Yashida—they were complete strangers who'd never even met. If she tried to divine directly, the results would be extremely vague. Fortunately, she had Max and Sadako Yamamura as intermediary "people" to bridge the gap.
What Bella wanted to divine wasn't the future but the past. The future held infinite variations, but there was only one past. After spending a bit of time, she divined a rough result.
"Hahahaha—" Bella couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.
Max looked at her curiously, but she didn't explain.
In public, Bella was very mindful of her demeanor. She covered her mouth with a light laugh, though internally she was about to explode with laughter.
Despite the somewhat blurry images, she still saw how Shingen Yashida had dealt with the videotape.
This gentleman could be elected Japan's number one dutiful son!
Upon learning that as long as someone else watched the videotape's contents, the curse could be transferred, Shingen Yashida had barely hesitated before giving the videotape to his own father...
The gist was that his father asked if he had anything "good to watch"; he said yes and immediately handed over the videotape.
Old Man Yashida had been quite pleased, watching the tape with great interest. He'd even pulled down his pants, but then a white-clothed female ghost crawled out of the television. The old man was so terrified he sprayed blood everywhere.
It had to be said, the old man had some skills and connections. He seemed to have made some kind of deal with The Hand, using various secret arts to save his life. However, half his body was left paralyzed, forcing him to let his dutiful son inherit the family business.
Shaking off the curse while conveniently taking out his own father and inheriting the family business—Shingen Yashida's scheme could absolutely be called ruthless and merciless.
Seeing her laugh so happily, Max also gave a couple of sycophantic laughs.
Bella thought about Sadako Yamamura's past. Comparatively speaking, this entity was similar to Alessa.
However, unlike Alessa who stayed hidden and caused no trouble, Sadako Yamamura had been constantly spreading videotapes containing her resentful curse and genetic fragments over recent years.
The reason the commotion wasn't too large was mainly due to rapidly advancing technology...
In Sadako Yamamura's era, videotapes were still prevalent. Now it was different—now they'd entered the age of optical discs.
The streets were full of "Hey buddy, want a disc?" and "Hey buddy, got so-and-so's latest disc?" Nobody used those hopelessly outdated videotapes anymore.
If Sadako had kept pace with the times, enriched herself, and taken the time to learn advanced cultural knowledge, replacing the videotape medium with optical discs, then perhaps the streets of Tokyo would be empty by now!
Unfortunately, Sadako Yamamura had no idea about changes in the outside world. Like a small family workshop, she hid alone at the bottom of the well manufacturing videotapes.
No holidays, no year-end bonuses. She made tape after tape, expending massive amounts of resentment and her own vital essence.
And the result? She'd painstakingly spread out quite a few videotapes, but unfortunately, many had been disposed of as hazardous waste by Japan's sanitation workers...
Bella sighed repeatedly. Even being a ghost these days required keeping up with your studies. Sadako was lacking in this area—she'd suffered from a lack of education. Hating heaven and earth, but in reality, after all that effort, it was all wasted work!