Tokyo Unnatural Forensics

Chapter 168, Evolved Mariko Hironaka

Friends who often serve as daimyo know that the best territory is one where the original lord has been completely transferred, leaving behind a large territory with only civilians but no samurai. In this way, one can take over the territory and establish rule very quickly, but it is not easy to be consumed by the complex local interest structure and face all kinds of troubles.

Many people think that Toyotomi Hideyoshi's transfer of 250 million koku of Kanto to Tokugawa Ieyasu in his later years was a bad move, but judging from the situation at the time, this move was actually flawless.

First of all, the core of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's territory was in Kinki, and the Tokaido where Tokugawa Ieyasu was located had already threatened the security of Kinki from the side. Throwing him to the unstable newly acquired land of Kanto would greatly divert Ieyasu's energy and keep him away from Osaka, the ruling center.

Secondly, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's rule over Japan was actually "united front" rather than "unification". The major forces such as the Mori in the west, the Tokugawa in the east, the Maeda in the north, the Uesugi in Echigo, and the Chosokabe in Shikoku were not eliminated but just surrendered. In a real fight, Hideyoshi, who suffered a loss in the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute, did not have the confidence to defeat Ieyasu. If he did not treat Ieyasu well, many major forces would rebel.

The relationship between Uesugi Munesetsu and Shirakawa Mai is like that between Ieyasu and Hideyoshi. The two have temporarily reached a peace with each other. Because of their different identities and status, Uesugi Munesetsu is currently indeed submissive to senior Mai. Both sides are trying to find a suitable way to get along with each other, and naturally there is no lack of testing between each other.

Mai Shirakawa was a little unsure about how big Uesugi Sosetsu's ambition was, and Uesugi Sosetsu was also not quite sure what Mai wanted, so when the two met secretly in the Odaiba building again, they both felt a little more unfamiliar than during the New Year.

When Uesugi Sosetsu saw Shirakawa Mai, she was leaning against the railing on the second floor and talking on the phone. She seemed to have just arrived. She was wearing a slim white shirt with a pointed collar, and her smooth long hair dyed brown was tied into a neat bun at the back of her head. Her proud and plump breasts made the shirt bulge out, and the collar revealed a section of her fair and delicate neck.

She was wearing a pair of hollow white stiletto heels, one of which was slightly lifted and the slender heel was pressed against the cylinder on the fence. Her beautiful legs wrapped in flesh-colored stockings were slender and long, and the thin flesh-colored stockings made the long legs look even more slender and well-proportioned. She was wearing a black knee-length formal suit on her lower body. The curve of her hips under the skirt fully showed the fullness of the national goddess, her slender waist that could be grasped with one hand, and her plump and round buttocks. The whole person standing there was a splendid landscape.

"Oh?! It's my junior!" Mai Shirakawa was obviously very happy to see Uesugi Sosetsu again after such a long time. Her bright eyes were full of teasing and smiles as she slowly came in front of Uesugi Sosetsu: "You have done a great thing recently! I know everything. The Tokyo University Alumni Association even asked me, asking if you, my junior, understand the rules?!"

"Senior has been doing a lot of great things recently." Uesugi Sosetsu said with a smile. After the New Year, senior Mai took on the most important drama, "Detective Galileo 2". Since the heroine of the previous film was unable to perform due to some matters, Shirakawa Mai took over as the heroine of Detective Galileo 2, and continued to work with the male lead, Professor Yukawa, to solve and use science to explain various supernatural cases. The two have not seen each other for several months.

The Kanto Shrine Alliance is the first to use science to explain a supernatural case... Uesugi Munesetsu is powerless to complain about it.

All I can say is that Fuji TV knows how to hype things up.

After senior Mai joined the cast, "Detective Galileo 2" soared to the top. The national goddess and the national hero's rivalry in solving the case received the greatest attention from the nation. The ratings of the first episode broke the 30% mark, giving Fuji TV unlimited expectations.

However, the subsequent ratings development was not so satisfactory. In the second episode, it quickly dropped from 30% to only 28%, and then dropped to 26% before gradually stabilizing. After that, the crew tried hard to liven up the show and got many big names to star in one episode, but the ratings never went up and remained around 26%.

For a normal drama, 20% is enough to open the champagne, but for this drama, 25% ratings can only be said to be barely worthy of the super cast of Masaharu Fukuyama and Mai Shirakawa. After all, Fuji TV spent a lot of money and resources to invite them.

However, this seems normal to Uesugi Sosetsu. The success of the first part of Detective Galileo is due to the high quality of Keigo Higashino's original novel and the excellent adaptation by Fuji TV screenwriters. At that time, Keigo Higashino himself was only a little-known author, and people were not particularly familiar with his works. After the TV series was adapted, it was naturally full of surprises and refreshing.

A few years later, when the second part of Detective Galileo was filmed, Keigo Higashino had already become a king of mystery novels. Everyone had already read the adapted cases, so naturally there were no surprises, because everyone already knew what had happened, the process of the case, who the murderer was, and what principle was used.

There is a similar example of this situation, that is Jin Yong's "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils". In fact, Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, the novel that symbolizes Jin Yong's peak, is an out-and-out "weird narrative" work. The book has a lot of suspense elements. The life experiences and complex relationships of the three protagonists, everyone's motives and purposes are hidden beneath the surface, so this book is so exciting, and the later part is full of highlights, thoroughly depicting the situation of "all living beings seeking but not getting" and "all living beings suffering" despite their different identities, nationalities and ideals.

However, the adapted film and television dramas after this drama are of lower quality, less influential and less discussed. There is a big problem: everyone has read Jin Yong, and everyone knows from the beginning that Qiao Feng is a Khitan, Duan Yu is not his biological son, Xu Zhu's mother is Ye Erniang who wanted to return to secular life and join the Xiaoyao Sect, and Murong Fu's martial arts are fake because he wanted to restore his country. Therefore, the narrative theory and suspense of this book have been greatly weakened. Compared with other works, this loss of freshness is a huge blow to this type of suspense, reasoning and narrative method as the main selling point.

Moreover, because the first part added the love story between Professor Yukawa and Policewoman Utsumi, the diametrically opposed communication and the ambiguous love between the two, a highly intelligent professor and a stupid policewoman, were also major selling points. However, the second part had a replacement for the heroine, making it impossible to have love stories - because the audience would not accept it, and the Soul Agency did not like their top stars to often play roles that required love stories.

In fact, the agency's presidents, brothers Miyazaki Hidetaka and Miyazaki Takataka, were very dissatisfied with the New Year's scandal between Uesugi Sosetsu and Shirakawa Mai. The president personally went to Mai's office to report, and also wrote a proposal to Mai's agent for instructions to express his protest.

Unfortunately it's of no use.

"How are you doing lately?" Senior Mai gestured for Uesugi Sou to follow her: "Come on, let's go underground."

"It's okay. I have already mastered the usage of chakra." Uesugi Sosetsu followed senior Mai. As expected, due to the suppression of abilities and the sharing of a set of chakra, he would feel incoherent, his heartbeat would speed up, and he would feel dizzy when facing the national goddess. He could talk freely and even tease in front of other women, but not when facing senior Mai.

So, how strong is she?

According to her, although she has not yet reached the realm of "New God", the gap should not be too big. So how strong am I?
"Very good, then we can almost prepare for dual cultivation." Senior Mai tilted her head slightly to glance at Uesugi Sosetsu, then turned her head back after a glance, but her voice was much smoother than before: "You haven't harmed other women during this period, right?"

"What do you mean by trouble?" Uesugi Sosetsu rolled his eyes: "I just socialize normally."

"Didn't I tell you that if a woman has sex with you too many times, her body will be forcibly transformed to flow energy according to the way your chakra works. Over time, she will become dependent on you." Shirakawa Mai still looked radiant and glamorous, but there was a hint of teasing in her beautiful eyes, and her beautiful face was full of shyness: "I have been doing dual cultivation too many times, and so have I."

"Then your sacrifice is quite great?" Uesugi Sosetsu was actually quite looking forward to it, but for some reason what came out of his mouth were still a bit sarcastic.

“Please, junior, since we are cooperating, you must show some sincerity!” Senior Mai said softly, “If we always maintain this attitude of mutual suspicion, we are doomed to end up in a dead end.”

"Because you never tell me."

"That's because you didn't ask." Senior Mai smiled and said, "Besides, some things would be more harmful than helpful for you now."

"I'll trust you for now."

While chatting, the two came to the second basement floor of the Odaiba Building.

In the dim light, a steel plate wrapped in yellow sealing line had "Keep Out" written on it. An eerie atmosphere filled the air. Three entire corridors were sealed with reinforced concrete. Right on top of the steel plate was a talisman written by Shirakawa Mai herself.

Behind Uesugi Sosetsu, senior sister Mai crossed her long and straight legs in stockings and stood in an elegant posture. Her clear and bright eyes looked at Uesugi Sosetsu without blinking, somewhat curious about what Uesugi Sosetsu was going to do next.

Uesugi Sosetsu didn't bother with those empty words. He simply reached out and uncovered the talisman, summoning the Dharma image of Aizen Myo-o.

Suddenly, a strong feeling of resentment came over me, and the rustling sound of fingernails scratching came from deep inside the steel plate. The crisp cracking sounds tore tiny wounds on the eardrums.

The sealed corridor suddenly let out a rusty groan, and a shadow thicker than the night meandered down the wall. First, pale finger joints were seen clasped at the bend in a way that went against anatomy, and then a head covered with clotted black hair slowly rose up at the angle of the broken cervical vertebrae.

Mariko Hironaka appears!

The whites of the former Fuji TV anchorwoman's eyes occupied two-thirds of her eye sockets, and her black pupils were like torn cracks in the void, with all light disappearing in those two points of the abyss.

As she appeared, the entire underground of Fujitai made painful squeaks as she crawled, as if some indescribable existence was about to be born.

Hironaka Mariko, evolved?!

Shit! Uesugi Sosetsu didn't expect someone to be so annoying. His expression changed a little.

Fortunately, the Dead Soul Contract is still there, and Uesugi Sosetsu's restraint on Hironaka Mariko is still effective.

"Uesugi, my Myōou!" Hironaka Mariko opened her eyes wide with excitement the moment she saw Uesugi Sosetsu, and returned to the arms of Aizen Myōou. But even so, her terrifying and ferocious appearance remained: "You are finally here! I have a crucial news to tell you!"

Hironaka Mariko told Uesugi Sosetsu a key message.

"What?" Uesugi Sosetsu narrowed his eyes and his expression changed slightly.

"The curse of Saijo Yasue has not completely dissipated yet?!"

(End of this chapter)