21st Century Necromancer-Chapter 781 - 777: Suicide (Please Subscribe, Looking for Monthly Tickets)

Letting nature take its course, this kind of answer had been anticipated by Yu Chen before, after all, Minami’s character was not the type to dare challenge authority, to disregard others for her own sake; with the admonishment of Yu Chen and his wife, as well as the presence of the deities, it was unlikely she would make the choice to pursue her own love regardless of any difficulty.

However, while the answer was as expected, it was not the one Yu Chen needed.

If Minami truly no longer had any feelings for Naoki Inomata, then Yu Chen’s plan could naturally not be carried out, and all the preparations would have been for nothing; Yu Chen, of course, would not let such a thing happen.

Moreover, Yu Chen’s method for judging Minami’s heart was not through her reply, but rather through the assessment of the Matchmaking God regarding the Red String of Fate between her and Naoki Inomata.

No matter how much Minami might act indifferent and as if she had accepted her situation, as long as the Matchmaking God did not say the Red String of Fate between her and Naoki Inomata had broken, it would not mean she had given up.

Moreover, Minami’s response was "Letting nature take its course" and "I am not human, I cannot love a human", which clearly sounded like excuses she was using to persuade herself.

Having confirmed Minami’s thoughts, Yu Chen and Hiromi Jounouchi did not linger, and after settling the bill, they left the café.

Perhaps because both had been busy with various matters recently and had not taken a walk together in a long time, they did not hurry home today but strolled leisurely along the streets, indifferent to where they were going or where they intended to end up.

"Husband, do you think Minami meant she had given up, just now?" Hiromi Jounouchi asked Yu Chen, who as a woman, was clearly able to guess Minami’s mentality, yet she still wished to hear Yu Chen’s judgement.

In response to Hiromi Jounouchi’s question, Yu Chen hummed dismissively and shook his head, "This matter is not something she can simply end by wanting to give up. Even if I could allow her to give up, to stop the current plan, the two Ghouls from Inari God and Meiji Shrine, along with others involved in this plan, would also not let her stop.

"What this involves is no longer just us, but a group of deities whose interests are closely connected with it. Even if Minami wants to give up, these deities will create opportunities for her to continue. Her own thoughts are actually not important anymore; what is important is how these deities want her to think."

"Despite that, isn’t all this your doing, husband?" Hiromi Jounouchi looked at Yu Chen, whose tone sounded like she was questioning him, but her face still wore a smile, showing no anger or dissatisfaction.

"I merely rolled a snowball, then pushed it down the slope," Yu Chen was unconcerned about Hiromi Jounouchi’s tone, and just laughed at himself, "Although it’s true that everything is under my control now, in reality, the snowball has grown bigger and turned into an unstoppable avalanche. I can only steer its direction; there’s no way to stop it."

Although the entire plan was conceived by Yu Chen, and he was the one manipulating the Red String of Fate between Minami and Naoki Inomata step by step, as soon as the Inari God became involved in this matter... no, it should be said that from the moment the Inari God approached Yu Chen, asking for his assistance to further its own goals, this matter was no longer something that Yu Chen could stop whenever he wished.

If Yu Chen carried out the entire plan step by step, then naturally everyone would benefit, and ultimately he and Hiromi Jounouchi would be able to forge Ancient Godhood and ascend to Divine Positions, while the Inari God and other deities involved in this plan would also gain promotion and benefits.

But if Yu Chen decided to abandon this plan, then it’s likely that before the barrier between life and death could be broken, and Izanami led the armies of the Land of the Dead up from Hirasaka Ridge, groups of deities would have come looking for trouble with Yu Chen.

So although Yu Chen still appeared to be in control of the whole plan, the entanglement of interests meant it could no longer simply be halted by anyone who wished to stop—it wasn’t possible for Yu Chen, the two Ghouls from the Meiji Shrine, the Inari God, nor the other deities swayed by the Inari God.

That’s what the trend dictated: individual will couldn’t defy the entire community of interests. Even if the Inari God was powerful, He wouldn’t take such a huge risk to do something like this, especially since He Himself was one of the beneficiaries, right?

Hiromi Jounouchi was well aware of what Yu Chen had said, and she might feel sympathy for Minami being used like this, but she definitely wouldn’t tell Yu Chen, "Minami is so pitiable, don’t use her, let’s give up on this plan" or anything of the sort.

The two continued walking; however, unbeknownst to them, they passed a half-built property, which was surrounded by police lines, and Officer Noguchi, whom they had seen earlier in the shop, was there with Mitsushima Akira and several other officers working.

Seeing this scene, Yu Chen couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, casting his gaze toward the unfinished building. With just a few glances, he already knew what had happened.

"How interesting, to commit suicide and then set oneself on fire," mused Yu Chen. For a Necromancer of Demigod Level to determine how a corpse died, even if the body was already taken away, was merely a matter of taking a second look.

Hiromi Jounouchi also figured out what had happened here, which made her somewhat puzzled, "If this person decided to commit suicide, why go through burning themselves too? Torturing their own corpse like this, does it hold any special meaning?"

"Perhaps there’s some purpose, like deliberately creating such a death scene to mislead the police or to draw attention. Of course, it could also be that they thought self-immolation was too painful, so they killed themselves first and then set themselves on fire to reduce the suffering," Yu Chen pondered and so replied to Hiromi Jounouchi.

Such occurrences were an everyday thing in Japan, as the Japanese live under great pressure, and a significant portion of the daily missing persons in Tokyo were suicides in various forms.

Among these people, those who were lucky might have their bodies discovered, so at least they wouldn’t be without a burial place after death, but those who were unlucky might die in some unknown corner, never to be found.

In the vast city of Tokyo, just how many people died every day was something not even Yu Chen, now a Demigod Level Necromancer, could tally. According to Japanese Official data, just in Tokyo alone there were 110,000 deaths a year, averaging over three hundred a day—and this was only official recorded data, excluding those who died by suicide or went missing.

This number of casualties was even higher than those from a war. It’s worth noting that even the Gulf War, adding up all the casualties from the coalition forces, resulted in only 223 deaths, still fewer than the number of daily deaths in Tokyo.