"Lord Li Ke, surely you aren't actually planning to check out the Night Parade, are you?"
The instant spark of interest in Li Ke's eyes put Shinobu right on high alert. If there was anything in the world she deemed a top priority right now, it was definitely keeping tabs on him.
She had been micro-analyzing his facial expressions this entire time, which allowed her to pick up on his dangerous curiosity immediately.
"She's right, Li Ke. Even if we really do need to investigate, wouldn't it be better if the two of us properly prepared first?"
Mai crossed her arms, harboring her own fair share of curiosity about this Hyakki Yagyō. Based on Shinobu's description, these phantoms were rooted in traditional local folklore, which made her feel like she would instinctively know how to handle them far better than Li Ke would.
Still, her gut told her that this reckless scoundrel was probably plotting to charge out into the fray entirely on his own.
"Yeah, I'm definitely interested," Li Ke confirmed with a firm nod.
Analyzing the chessboard, there was a very high probability that this Night Parade was a direct byproduct of the invaders from the 7 Days to Die shard adapting to the rules of this universe. This meant two distinct possibilities: compared to the standard wasteland monsters he had already slaughtered, these entities were either vastly superior or significantly weaker.
If they were stronger, it meant they had successfully acclimatized to this world's parameters. If they were weaker, it meant they were still trapped in a volatile transitional phase.
Mapping out this exact boundary would allow him to formulate a flawless strategy for purging this realm. After all, they could actively leverage the world's mechanics to restore their stamina and grow stronger with every kill.
Even if he suspected the universe would eventually reclaim those temporary passive stat-boosts once the mission concluded, there was no harm in exploiting the gameplay buffs to streamline their operations for the time being.
"The Demon Slayer Corps already has systemic protocols in place to monitor the parade, Lord Li Ke. For now, all we need to do is bide our time. As for tonight, please focus on resting and recovering your strength."
Shinobu smoothly cut him off, deliberately derailing his train of thought. She desperately needed to step away and immediately relay Li Ke's strategic importance to High Command so they could deploy more Hashira to guarantee his absolute safety.
Glancing back at her adoptive younger sister, Kanao Tsuyuri, who was standing quietly in the corner, she gestured toward the corridor.
"Please follow me. I will guide you both to your designated quarters. Furthermore, if you require anything at all during your stay, you may approach me directly, or simply let Kanao know."
Rising to her feet, she gracefully swept her butterfly haori behind her, leading Li Ke and Mai out of the strategy room toward the residential wing of the estate.
The quarters she allocated to Li Ke couldn't strictly be described as luxurious; modest or mid-tier was a more accurate depiction. However, the moment Li Ke noticed that Shinobu's personal room was located just a short distance away, and that the neighboring doors bore nameplates like Tengen Uzui and Giyu Tomioka, it clicked that this specific wing served as the dedicated residence for the Hashira.
Furthermore, situated directly behind these living quarters loomed a massive, towering castle keep. Resting inside the upper floors was a nobleman sporting a traditional chonmage topknot.
Li Ke perceived his presence with absolute clarity. From the exact moment Shinobu had guided him out of the main strategy room, this man had been intensely tracking their movements.
But since his observation lacked even a single shred of underlying malice, Li Ke chose to simply ignore it.
Upon reaching their assigned room, Shinobu expressed mild surprise at the fact that neither Li Ke nor Mai Shiranui carried any physical luggage or travel bags. Stepping out briefly, she fetched two complete sets of futon bedding from her own quarters, carried them inside, and paused.
"Are you not going to lay out your bedding right now, Lord Li Ke?"
Shinobu looked curiously at Li Ke, who had casually tossed the futons into a corner and was currently flipping through his English vocabulary study notes.
"Is there really a need to do it this early?"
Li Ke shot a mildly perplexed look toward the sky outside the sliding window.
"The sun hasn't even completely set yet, has it?"
Shinobu gave a slow nod, but she immediately moved to explain the local survival logic.
"Statistically, tonight carries an exceptionally high probability of hosting a Night Parade. Because of this, it is highly recommended to secure as much sleep as possible beforehand. Generally speaking, as long as a person is trapped in a deep, heavy slumber, they can safely navigate the perils of the night. That is why the vast majority of the population chooses to force themselves to sleep early."
Shinobu spoke with absolute seriousness, detailing the strict, unwritten laws of this distorted world.
"That literally sounds no different from burying your head in the sand," Li Ke couldn't help but shoot back a deadpan critique.
He felt as though he had suddenly stepped right into a classic psychological horror rules-creep scenario—where survival required active daytime movement, willfully "ignoring" anomalies at night, and knocking yourself out as early as possible to guarantee safety.
"Besides, if you force yourself to go to sleep this early, won't you just wake up far easier in the middle of the night? If that happens, aren't you stuck staring at phantoms for half the night anyway?"
"But if you awaken at that hour, everyone inherently knows that dawn is rapidly approaching. The psychological framing is completely different. Conversely, if you remain awake during the early evening, knowing how many agonizing hours of darkness are left causes immense, suffocating anxiety. And the more terrified a person becomes, the more prone they are to making a fatal mistake. Relatively speaking, falling asleep early remains the absolute best method we've discovered to bypass the hours where one is forced to face the paranormal."
Shinobu delivered the hard-boiled logic calmly, speaking of rules that the Corps had systematically extracted through a heavy toll of human blood.
Staring at her placid expression for a quiet moment, Li Ke finally gave a slow nod.
"Fair enough."
Of course, he had absolutely zero intention of actually sleeping tonight. From the very beginning, his blueprint for the evening involved stepping directly out into the dark to test the raw parameters of these mythical anomalies myself.
So he gave a natural nod, stepping closer to Shinobu. He caught another whiff of the pleasing, sweet floral scent lingering around her.
Reaching for the futon bundle she had brought over, Li Ke immediately unfastened the ties and unrolled it directly onto the floor.
Shinobu, however, looked at the linen lining sheet she had specifically carried over to prevent slipping, and she couldn't help but tilt her head in mild confusion.
Laying a futon directly onto the tatami mats made it prone to sliding around. Furthermore, since they were on the ground floor, it would absorb a lot of dampness from the earth below.
That was exactly why she had gone out of her way to bring a linen under-sheet, but Li Ke had seemingly mistaken the fabric for a mere wrapping cloth.
On top of that, he hadn't even bothered to give the tatami a quick sweep before laying everything down.
"I guess he really is just a typical guy," she thought.
Letting out a quiet, internal sigh, Shinobu stood up, stepping forward to properly arrange the bed for him.
The reason she hadn't taken the initiative to make the bed for him in the first place was simple: purely because she and Li Ke were still technically "outsiders" to one another, even though they had already agreed to their transaction.
Deep down, her mind was still swirling with a heavy sense of unreality.
It wasn't that she was harboring any sudden regrets. It was just a perfectly normal psychological reaction; after all, suddenly committing the rest of your life to a man you had only met a single day ago would leave anyone feeling dazed and anxious.
Especially when that exact man had bluntly stated his intention to take multiple wives.
While it wasn't an entirely unacceptable arrangement for her, a girl like Shinobu—who had never once factored romance into her bleak future—couldn't avoid a sudden, overwhelming influx of thoughts.
She intellectually understood that she had to accept this reality. No matter how she looked at it, selling herself to Li Ke was the absolute best answer to change her family's fate. Yet, the underlying anxiety refused to fully dissipate.
So, watching Li Ke casually throw the bedding together, not even bothering to smooth out the severe creases in the fabric, she let out another silent sigh.
But she also recognized this as a critical pivot point. She knew she had to take action—not as a mindless weapon for slaying demons, and not as a walking vessel of poison, but functioning as his future wife, Shinobu Kocho.
No matter how overwhelming the thoughts were, she desperately needed to finalize her mental preparation as quickly as possible.
"If that's the case, I'll start by fixing his bed for him."
Shinobu could feel her heart hammering rapidly against her ribs, her face flushing with a sudden warmth. She knew a poorly laid futon was a trivial matter, and that tatami mats were easy enough to manage if Li Ke had just taken an extra moment.
But this was her first step.
Her very first step in willingly becoming Li Ke's wife.
'I'm sorry... Miss Mai Shiranui.'
After whispering the apology in her heart, she stood up, walked over to where Li Ke was casually sitting, and reached down to pick up the bedding.
However, driven by a mix of nervousness and a slight, lingering reluctance, she couldn't help but let a strange comment slip out as she spoke.
"You really don't know the first thing about making a bed, do you, Lord Li Ke? No wonder you're so eager to find yourself a small army of wives."
Shinobu wasn't even entirely sure why she had said that, but she knew she was harboring a tiny bit of resentment.
It wasn't directed maliciously at Li Ke himself. It was simply the natural grievance of a girl who found herself suddenly about to marry a lecherous, multi-wife-seeking man she had only known for a single day—a man who hadn't even taken her on a proper date before wanting to take her to bed.
As for Li Ke—
His dense survival intuition ensured that the subtle sarcasm flew completely over his head.
"Ah, yeah. I really don't know much about setting up traditional Japanese bedding. Is there some kind of special trick to it?"
Li Ke honestly didn't have a clue about the finer points of sleeping on tatami mats.
Lately, his sleeping arrangements had alternated between ships on the open ocean and Princess Vivi's royal palace. Even when he returned to Erina's world, the Nakiri estate exclusively utilized modern Western beds. Despite the traditional architecture of their estate, their lifestyle was heavily Westernized!
"Don't worry about it. Let me handle it."
Shinobu simply offered a soft smile and began resetting the layers of the futon from scratch. Li Ke didn't give it a second thought, merely nodding with casual indifference.
"Thanks. Sorry for the trouble."
He truly didn't sweat these minor domestic details. In his mind, since Shinobu had already agreed to the terms, she was practically his fiancée by the historical standards of this world. If she hadn't explicitly asked for a bit of time to prepare herself mentally, it wouldn't just be the mattress lying flat on the floor right now—she would be right there under him too.
Therefore, having her make his bed felt entirely natural to Li Ke.
Shinobu knelt on the tatami mats, carefully smoothing out every wrinkle in the sheets. Because her back was turned entirely toward him, Li Ke was treated to a flawless, unobstructed view of her alluring curves, his eyes locking onto the wonderfully full, child-bearing hips hidden beneath her tailored Demon Slayer Corps uniform.
The silhouette she cast while focused on the task was elegant, her movements efficient and practiced. Despite the underlying tension of the situation, there was a certain grace in the way she moved, a stark contrast to the chaotic life Li Ke usually led.
"Honestly though… only 1.5 meters tall, yet with such massive breasts and that perfect child-bearing ass… it's really…"
Li Ke couldn't help muttering to himself, his gaze locked onto Shinobu's body without shame.
Shinobu had zero defenses against him. She continued arranging the bedding on the floor, completely allowing him to stare. Because of that, Li Ke was enjoying the view immensely. He could clearly see just how voluptuous and lewd her petite body truly was despite her small stature.
Every time she leaned forward to smooth out the sheets, her enormous, heavy breasts would swing and slap heavily against the front of her loose clothing. The soft, pillowy mounds jiggled and bounced with each movement, stretching the fabric and creating deep, mesmerizing cleavage that swayed hypnotically. The sight of those oversized tits on such a delicate, short frame was incredibly arousing.
His eyes also drifted lower, watching her small, dainty feet shift inside the white tabi socks. Her toes would curl and flex unconsciously against the fabric, the elegant arch of her foot visible with every little adjustment she made.
If he wanted to, he could step forward right now, grab that plump, perfectly shaped ass from behind, yank her hips back, and slam his cock into her tight little pussy. He could pound that fertile, child-bearing ass mercilessly, making this cute 1.5-meter-tall woman — who looked like she belonged in junior high — moan and scream in all kinds of lewd, adorable voices.
Shinobu could clearly feel the heat of Li Ke's shameless stare crawling all over her body. For a moment, intense shame flooded her, and she instinctively wanted to run away and hide. But then she remembered this was something she had decided for herself. She took a deep breath and forced herself to stay in place.
Because she was trying to endure the embarrassment, her movements became more reserved and restrained. She moved more carefully, almost timidly, which only made her body look even more enticing.
The way she tried to suppress her own reactions created a beautiful "reluctant but inviting" charm. That shy, conflicted beauty was incredibly arousing to Li Ke.
It felt so fucking good.
His hand moved on its own, slowly reaching downward.
But right at that moment, a voice suddenly rang out. Simultaneously, a heavy object flew through the air and smacked right into his hand.
"Your gaze is far too perverted! Show some respect to Miss Shinobu, will you?!"
Li Ke turned his head, only to realize that at some point, Mai Shiranui and Kanao had already arrived in the room. They were holding several scrolls labeled with names like Flower Breathing and Flame Breathing. Looking down at the item that had just struck his palm, he found it was also a manual—this one titled Thunder Breathing.
"What is this supposed to mean..."
Li Ke didn't even bother to deny his lecherous staring. Instead, he looked at Mai with pure confusion.
"While these Breathing Styles put a heavy strain on the human body, gaining any extra combat power is always a good thing in this volatile world. Plus, you have to admit that these techniques genuinely have their merits!"
Mai spoke bluntly. She had taken a keen interest in the Demon Slayer Corps' secret martial arts, which was why she had gone to check them out with Kanao. These Breathing Styles, which used to be strictly guarded secrets of the Corps, had now been disseminated everywhere due to the cataclysmic changes breaking the world's order, so her request to view them had been granted with absolute ease.
Li Ke unrolled the Thunder Breathing scroll in his hands and gave a slow nod.
It was useless to him.
Breathing Styles were designed to unlock a human's latent physical potential, demanding exceptional lung and heart capacity. Granted, his cardiovascular system was remarkably powerful—unquestionably superior to anyone else's in this entire world.
But there was a fundamental conflict.
Both Firebending and Waterbending similarly required precise synchronization with one's breathing.
This was the exact reason he couldn't perfectly execute Firebending and Waterbending at the exact same time; his body literally couldn't handle two completely distinct breathing patterns simultaneously, forcing him to cycle between them.
Still, that didn't stop him from flipping through the pages to kill some time.
The hours bled away until night finally draped itself over the land. As the last rays of twilight bled out, Li Ke seized a flawless opportunity to slip away unnoticed, fully intent on seeing what kind of grand spectacle this so-called Night Parade of a Hundred Demons actually was.
After all, as long as he was operating solo, breaking away from danger wouldn't be an issue.
The mere fact that these phantoms hadn't outright slaughtered the remaining human population proved they were definitely bound by some underlying restrictions or taboos.
And if they were forced to hesitate based on the defensive strength gathered here, then the threat level was entirely manageable.
Even in the absolute worst-case scenario where he crossed paths with an entity far beyond his limits, his possession of conceptual lifespan currency guaranteed he could secure a total retreat—or simply dimension-hop to another universe to heal up.
The absolute worst outcome would just be a severe injury.
Because of his lack of fear, he was able to quietly observe a fascinating, grim transformation take over the district:
The bustling civilian crowds from earlier were frantically scrambling back into their homes, every single traveler moving with rigid, breathless urgency. Even those who tripped and collapsed on the cobblestones didn't dare utter a sound, completely stripping away any lingering trace of the vibrant, lively atmosphere from that afternoon.
The elite patrons who had been blissfully drowning in the embrace of geishas hours ago were now huddled tightly beneath heaps of blankets, their daytime arrogance completely evaporated. They stared cautiously out at the empty streets through tiny structural gaps, their knuckles white as they gripped their weapons.
Down at the main city gates, squads of Demon Slayer Corps members were escorting the final waves of incoming refugees. Crowds of desperate farmers clutching farming hoes and makeshift iron blades continuously flooded into the fortress walls. Within a matter of minutes, even the armored patrol guards vanished from the thoroughfares.
Yet, civilization hadn't completely shut down. Scanning the landscape several thousand meters away from the central hub, Li Ke could still pick up the flickering illumination of active fires and the movements of living humans.
Focusing his gaze, he realized it was the heavily fortified quarantine checkpoint he had crossed through earlier. He hadn't paid close attention during his initial entry, but from his current vantage point, he noted that the sector was lined with multiple rows of traditional Japanese Shinto torii gates.
Though the individuals stationed out there looked visibly uneasy, they lacked the raw, frantic terror that currently paralyzed the city center.
"Tch. And here I thought it was functional order. Turns out it's just the final, frantic madness of a collapsing society," Li Ke muttered, shaking his head. "But over there... are those Shinto gates just empty superstition, or did the invasion of those alien things actually make them effective? If the people at the checkpoint don't need to hide, does that mean a distance of a few kilometers is enough to keep those freakish ghosts away?"
Li Ke was genuinely intrigued, but as he stood atop the watchtower analyzing the perimeter, his advanced sensory perception picked up two distinct, rapid breathing patterns closing in on his position.
Turning his head, he saw Mai Shiranui and Shinobu Kocho dashing up to the platform.
"Lord Li Ke, please return to the quarters immediately," Shinobu urged the moment she reached his side, her voice tight with panic. "The phantom hour is upon us. The entities will manifest any second now."
Mai, however, cut straight to the chase, her expression fierce.
"You were actually going to leave me behind?!"
She had been patiently waiting for him to stir up trouble so she could tag along, only to discover that he had completely ditched her.
How could he look down on her like that?!
Li Ke gave a calm nod.
"Yeah. I want to test the raw parameters of this so-called Night Parade, so it's best if I operate completely solo. Bringing you along would just be dead weight. You have Qi to protect yourself, sure, but your baseline combat output is still light-years behind mine."
He knew for a fact that in this city, there was absolutely no one whose raw power surpassed his own.
Especially Mai. While she was an exceptional tournament fighter, her absolute destructive capacity couldn't compete with his. More importantly, she lacked any overwhelming supernatural traits—unlike him, who possessed the completely broken, multi-purpose, absolute offensive and defensive tool that was the Red Dragon Fire.
Li Ke dared to recklessly charge headfirst into unknown cataclysms precisely because the Red Dragon Fire was so obscenely powerful.
Furthermore, it possessed distinct Mana properties, separating it entirely from common elemental blazes and imbuing it with a myriad of mystical effects.
In almost every fantasy mythology, dragon flame was a legendary force capable of purging ghosts, slaying gods, and forging divine weapons.
In a critical life-or-death pinch, it could tightly wrap around his entire body, providing instantaneous passive healing and absolute structural defense, ensuring he remained completely immune to standard ambushes or dirty tricks.
Under these exact conditions, having Mai tag along would literally just be an added liability.
"Ha?! Don't you dare underestimate me!"
Mai jammed her hands onto her hips in pure frustration. The aggressive movement caused her massive chest—firmly restrained beneath her t-shirt—to bounce violently, instantly drawing Li Ke's eyes straight to her figure.
"Lord Li Ke, although the overall scale of the Night Parade changes with every manifestation, and sometimes it fails to appear at all, if you truly intend to scout it, you must wait until we gather sufficient manpower," Shinobu forcefully interrupted their bickering. Her sole priority right now was to drag him back to safety, ensuring an asset of his staggering strategic value remained securely locked away in a bunker.
The Demon Slayer Corps desperately needed someone with his capabilities. To Shinobu, Li Ke's absolute safety stood far above anything else!