Chapter 2523: Chapter 1688: Passage (Ben Meow Will Evolve Into a Meow Tank!) (Part 2)

Honda’s sudden outburst came without any warning, causing Banai to drop the shrimp crackers in her hand, and Chitanda was even more stunned, frozen in place and unable to move. Only Duanmu Huai raised an eyebrow, not speaking, but instead closely staring at Honda. The latter was pressing against the table, looking fierce and filled with bloodshot eyes, glaring venomously at them.

"Do even you not believe me? I’m not lying! Everything I said is true!"

"Alright, calm down, Honda-san."

Duanmu Huai spoke as he applied a bit of pressure on Honda, and upon feeling Duanmu’s imposing aura, the previously crazed-looking Honda suddenly woke up from a dream, immediately regaining composure and sitting down obediently again.

"Ah, I’m sorry! I don’t know what happened just now... I’m truly sorry, I seem to have lost control of myself... I’m sorry for the trouble!"

After saying this, Honda grabbed his backpack and quickly left the club, leaving the three others looking at each other in confusion.

"What was that just now?"

Banai took a bite of the shrimp cracker that fell on the table to calm herself while widening her eyes.

"I also got quite a scare, Honda-san seemed like a completely different person, so terrifying..."

Chitanda also reached out to press her chest and took a breath, then looked towards Duanmu Huai.

"Xiao Ai, what did you just ask Honda-san mean?"

"Oh, I just wanted to confirm whether anyone died in that house, and now it seems very likely someone did."

"Huh? How do you know?"

At this moment, Banai also curiously leaned in.

"Didn’t Ai Liu say earlier that real estate agents have a duty to inform?"

"That’s right, but this only applies to the ’next tenant’." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Duanmu Huai snapped his fingers.

"Actually, I’ve heard similar rumors in the industry. Many real estate agents try to sell haunted houses where someone has died, but when people hear ’haunted house’, they’re unwilling to live there. So what do they do? It’s simple, wash the house."

"Wash the house?"

Faced with Duanmu Huai’s words, the two were puzzled.

"Does it mean cleaning the room thoroughly?"

"Of course not."

Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes.

"Didn’t I just say? The duty to inform about a haunted house is only limited to the next tenant. And if this tenant experiences no issues during their stay, then when renting or selling it to the next person, there’s no need to inform them. So, many real estate companies do just that. As soon as a house becomes a haunted residence, they have their own employees sign the next rental agreement and have them live there."

"The employees are willing to live there?"

Upon hearing this, Banai widened her eyes in disbelief.

"They don’t actually need to move in, just signing the contract is enough, and usually, these are short-term leases. Although the contract says they’ve moved in, they actually haven’t. But once the contract expires, this house is no longer a haunted house on paper, so there’s no need to mention it when introducing it to customers."

Speaking of this, Duanmu Huai chuckled lightly. Japanese people just love exploiting loopholes like legal gambling in Pachinko. Japanese law strictly prohibits gambling, but as mentioned before, if there’s a policy above, there’s a countermeasure below. Since you don’t allow us to engage in legal X activities, we’ll circumvent laws and regulations with voyeurism, SM, and other abnormal X behaviors.

According to Japanese laws and regulations, if gambling involves monetary transactions, that would be illegal.

So how do the Japanese circumvent this law?

It’s simple.

When you win at pachinko, you get not money or chips, but a bunch of physical prizes. Like cigarettes, cosmetics, DVDs, various food supplements, etc. Then, you can leave the pachinko parlor with these prizes and sell them at the shop opposite to get money.

Giving money directly is illegal, but selling prizes for money, they can’t control.

The pachinko parlor isn’t breaking the law; they’re giving out physical prizes.

The shop buying prizes isn’t breaking the law; they’re purchasing goods, and of course, they pay for them.

The guest themselves definitely aren’t breaking the law; you won a prize, but if you don’t want it and sell it, that’s your own business, and the law can’t interfere.

This is the famous "Three-store Mode" of pachinko.

As for whether the prizes purchased here will return to the pachinko parlor awaiting the next lucky winner, that’s another matter.

In the future, whoever claims Japanese people strictly follow rules, Duanmu Huai would slap them straight away, because this is blatantly dancing on the edge of the law, okay? It’s like a rat, if there’s a hole, it’ll sneak in.

"Is there really such a thing?"

After hearing Duanmu Huai’s explanation, both Banai and Chitanda were shocked; it’s evident that this is their first time sensing how sinister society can be...

"So, for such standalone residential properties, there are rarely short-term leases, so when Honda-san said one month, I guessed there was a problem... But before we get into that..."

Duanmu Huai looked towards Banai and Chitanda.

"What do you think? Want to get involved?"

"This......"

Banai and Chitanda exchanged glances, then Banai raised her hand.

"Of course, I didn’t expect real estate companies could do something like this; we must expose such despicable behavior! Even if they’re not breaking the law, I won’t let them get away with it!"

"Also, I’m very curious about whether the haunted house is really haunted! I think this can become the core topic of the next issue of the club newsletter!"

Chitanda also chimed in.

"Alright then."

Duanmu Huai thought about it, then smiled slightly.

"It’s decided then, so Banai."

"Hm?"

"You go and find out about Honda-san’s situation."

Banai, although loves to eat, is yang jiao, well-liked among ordinary students, so entrusting her with investigative work is no problem.

"Okay, leave it to me."

Banai finished the remaining shrimp crackers in one go and patted her chest forcefully.

"As for Chitanda... Since the direction for the next club newsletter is decided, how about we go to a few spiritual places again?"

"Ah, am I supposed to find it in the literature records?"

"That’s right, I’m counting on you."

"Okay, what about you, Xiao Ai?"

"Me... Once Banai gathers some clues, I’ll find someone to investigate the real situation of that house."

Such matters won’t be disclosed by real estate companies.

But Duanmu can directly contact the Metropolitan Police Department.

Of course, Duanmu has his own personal interest for doing so.

He’s been wanting to find a stable passage connecting to Subspace, and after Professor Ueno’s house was sealed by the police, that connection to Subspace also vanished. So Duanmu needs to find another one, and the location of the connection to Subspace is usually a place where continuous supernatural events occur. In this sense, the Judge seems more like a Demon Hunter, searching for haunted houses to expel evil spirits and seal and destroy the connections to Subspace.

So upon receiving this commission, Duanmu had already decided on his next course of action.

Let’s start from here.