I'm a demon in Tokyo!

Chapter 242 The Hojo Clan: A Bet's a Bet's Loss! A surge in viewership, and a deep-space airship worth 50!

A dazzling yet subtle silver light bloomed on the back of Uesugi Tetsuya's right hand.

The "Lin" technique, activated!
With the additional 10% increase in physique, Uesugi Tetsuya's speed, which was already close to its limit, increased even further, much to Fuuma Kotaro's surprise.

"Clearly, both physical and spiritual energy have been fully unleashed, so why..."

There was no time for the great ninja to think further, so he had to end his final wait and flick out the deep, dark light from his palm.

The pure black aura tightly enveloped the incoming object, making it difficult to see even with Uesugi Tetsu's analytical eyes.

Is it a hidden weapon, poison, or an explosive?

Uesugi Tetsu didn't know.

But there is only one thing that is certain.

That is, if one's body were directly struck by this black light, one's life would be in grave danger.

Fuma Kotaro wanted to use this move to force Uesugi Tetsu to retreat temporarily, giving him a moment to regroup and catch his breath.

However, Uesugi Tetsu's response made the great ninja's eyes darken even more.

—Because he not only did not retreat, but he didn't even change the direction of his steps.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Uesugi Tetsuya charged straight into the terrifying black light without any deviation!
"Ka-chan—!"

"Buzz!"

In a short, angry roar, the three defining objects in his dantian, the two cards, and Kaga Kiyomitsu all vibrated, drawing out a vast amount of qi from his dantian!
Through Kaga Kiyomitsu's blade, all of this is concentrated on its half-black, half-white tip.

Then, move forward!
The purest, simplest swordsmanship that even beginners would surely learn appeared in the arena—

Naturally Soothing Flow - Toothbrush!
The collision, which nearly exceeded the speed of sound, lasted only a moment before the black light, which had not yet been fully charged, was completely swallowed up.

This revealed the unwavering stance of Uesugi Tetsu behind him, and the Kaga Kiyomitsu sword shrouded in various colored auras.

The overwhelming aura was reduced by more than half, but Uesugi Tetsuya's speed did not decrease at all.

On the contrary, it's even faster than before!
In a flash, his muscles were already taut like steel, and Fuma Kotaro, ready to respond at any moment, subconsciously raised the claw blade on the back of his hand.

But then, as if realizing something, he relaxed his entire body with a barely perceptible sigh and took a step back.

pat.

It landed lightly and almost silently on the outskirts of the arena.

The gleaming blade tip had to stop, its reflection shimmering in Kotaro Fuuma's eyes, which had once again fallen silent and calm.

If he had been even a fraction slower, Kaga Kiyomitsu would have pierced the neck of this legendary ninja.

But that one step was an escape route that the ninja named Fuma had planned long ago before even stepping into the arena.

Now, we're just following the plan.

In the completely silent arena, Uesugi Tetsu met his gaze for two seconds before dispelling the aura emanating from Kaga Kiyomitsu, and after a simple flourish of his sword, sheathed it.

The little demon, trembling from the devastating scene, dared not speak and remained huddled under her seat.

Having witnessed everything, Hojo Ujiyasu sighed slightly, but quickly put aside this negative emotion and his eyes fell into deep thought again.

Whether viewed by others or captured by Tamamo's inexpensive single-lens camera—

Aside from a bit of sweat, Uesugi Tetsuya had no obvious injuries on his body!

He cleared two of the five-color preparations without taking any damage, and then forced the legendary ninja, Fuma Kotaro, off the stage!
Tamamo couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

At the same time, she coughed twice and said, "Everyone, please send out the free [Deep Rune]. It will automatically refresh and disappear the next day!"

The comments section was equally chaotic.

Everyone was saying how incredibly ridiculous and outrageous this was.

Soon, some people started repeating the same questions, while others pulled out several other talented young people from the real world to start a rational version of cyber cricket fighting.

At the edge of the screen, countless free gifts [Deep Symbol] began to refresh frantically, making Tamamo so happy she couldn't help but cover her mouth.

Because on the Deep Space Online platform, every 100,000 Deep Runes is equivalent to one point of Soul Essence (which is Soul Ash)!

Even just 0.1% of the soul essence is enough to buy a good mobile phone!
—But Uesugi Tetsu knew that he had not defeated Fuma Kotaro so easily.

Instead, the other party, after weighing the pros and cons, chose to actively avoid his sharp edge.

Uesugi Tetsu didn't look at the proficiency prompts that popped up in front of him, but instead said with considerable regret,
"There are still many moves we haven't used... It's a bit of a shame."

There's no need to fight head-on.

—That's probably what this great ninja was thinking.

Fuma Kotaro didn't reply, but just looked at him deeply, as if he wanted to remember Uesugi Tetsu's appearance and aura forever.

The transparent membrane at the edge of the arena slowly faded away, signifying the end of the duel that determined the agreement between the Yagyu Dojo and the Hojo family.

The teacher's face, though rough, didn't show much expression. He simply exhaled softly, and the wrinkles softened slightly.

Beside him, the pale-faced Akiyama Mei couldn't help but slap his thigh hard and wave happily at Uesugi Tetsu, who had just turned around.

Tamamo waved just like him, leaving Uesugi Tetsuya unsure which way to look first.

He blinked.

—By the way, what is Tamamo doing with that old, beat-up phone?
—After the two had several brief but incredibly exciting exchanges in the arena, and the famous scene of Uesugi Tetsu defeating the Hojo clan without shedding blood, the popularity of the live stream skyrocketed.

The big names pushing traffic on the platform have also come to them.

With each blink of her eyes, Tamamo could see the number of people connecting in the upper right corner increase by several hundred.

In just a few seconds, her live stream, which was even blurrier than 720P, had already attracted tens of thousands of viewers at the same time!
To her right, the samurai, who had been staring in disbelief, didn't blink, not wanting to forget the slash that Uesugi Tetsu had used to kill fourteen ninjas in an instant.

No, was it one cut or fourteen cuts?

Samurai are indistinguishable.

But he felt he would never forget that dazzling, powerful strike.

At that moment, Tamamo caught a glimpse of a golden nickname entering the live stream from the entry notification at the edge of the screen.

Unfortunately, because the nickname refreshed too quickly and her phone was too laggy, the golden nickname disappeared after a brief pause.

She scratched her head, wondering to herself,
Does this platform still have high-level VIP members?

—Uesugi-kun! How did Uesugi-kun end up here?!
It was noon, yet the room was dark and gloomy.

A girl with long hair and black-rimmed glasses squatted on a chair, staring in astonishment at the slightly blurry figure in the magnified image.

She brought her whole face close to the phone, staring at it carefully for a while before confirming that she hadn't made a mistake.

Because the crimson katana at the waist is the symbol!

The girl glanced at the title of the live stream again, her eyes widening immediately, and quickly scrolled the progress bar forward.

Soon, she witnessed Uesugi Tetsuya effortlessly defeat the three members of the Hojo family, like a hurricane or a torrential downpour.

The girl instinctively raised her hand and cheered.

But soon, the girl fell to the ground along with the chair because of her excessive movements. Her glasses flew off and she crashed into the floor, leaving a mess.

But she couldn't care less about such a small matter.

The girl reached out and touched it, then immediately picked up the high-quality phone.

Just then, Tamamo saw Uesugi Tetsuya's profile as he approached, taken from a special angle, along with the somewhat forlorn Hojo family members behind him.

"handsome……"

She couldn't resist any longer, and with slightly unfamiliar fingers, she clicked on the "Recharge" page for the first time, finding a page that covered dozens of recharge methods.

After a series of back-and-forth operations, the girl mustered her courage and pressed the "Confirm Recharge" button heavily.

[The cartoonist Kisaragi has gifted me a "Deep Space Boat" x1!]

Among the vast array of free [Deep Symbols], the pop-up notification for a paid gift in colorful colors is actually quite noticeable.

Tamamo's gaze was immediately drawn to it.

"A deep-space boat... what is that?"

It took Tamamo quite a while to find the value of this gift in the complicated gift list.

[Deep Space Boat: 10000 Deep Space Coins]

The exchange rate between Deep Space Coins and Soul Essence is 100:1.

100 doses of soul essence!
Boss atmosphere!

After quickly calculating the price in her mind, Tamamo's body immediately trembled, and she wanted to click on the online ranking to check the number one spot and thank the boss for the gift.

However, due to the phone's outdated performance, she tried several times without success; the page kept spinning in a pale white circle, making her grit her teeth in frustration.

Just as the leaderboard finished loading, a gift effect suddenly appeared, taking up most of the phone screen. A huge, dark gray spaceship rose from the bottom and soared into the sky.

[The cartoonist Kisaragi gifted me a Deep Space Spaceship x1!!!]

Tamamo opened her mouth wide and remained silent for a long time.

While she was checking the value of the small boat, she also glanced at the price tag of this luxurious spaceship.

[Deep Space Ship: 500000 Deep Space Coins]

Tamamo silently counted the zeros in her mind, then counted them again, and swallowed hard.

Five thousand portions of soul essence?
Even if Deep Space Online takes 70% of these Soul Essences for operation and maintenance fees, there will still be a huge sum of 1,500 Soul Essences left over.

Moreover, it seems that the platform also notifies users of the gift-giving feature – this can be seen from the sudden surge in the number of simultaneous users in the upper right corner.

This...this...this...

Tamamo panicked.

She just casually started a live stream, how could such an absurd situation occur!

After taking a deep breath, Tamamo finally saw the nickname of the gift-giver – [Manga Artist Kisaragi].

Why does this nickname seem so familiar?
After a very brief moment of contemplation, Tamamo immediately realized the meaning of the following two words, "Kisaragi"!
Kisaragi? Kisaragi Station?!

She stared at the gold nickname that represented her verified status, thinking to herself.

—Is this the owner of that Kisaragi Station and Kisaragi Train?!
Tamamo then recalled the strange experience she had with Uesugi Tetsu when they boarded the Kisaragi Train at the bus stop.

The eldest brother really is having an affair with the big boss of this train...

Tamamo first stammered her thanks for the gift, and then saw in the upper right corner that the number of people receiving the gift had reached 80,000.

A feeling of fear welled up inside her.

No, the live stream has to be turned off.

If Deep Space Online continues to stream, the number of concurrent viewers might easily break into the six figures.

At that time, who knows how many monsters and demons from the mortal world will pay attention to Brother Uesugi!
Whether the attention is good or bad, it doesn't matter how much soul essence I lose by immediately turning off the live stream.

After all, starting a live stream was her own decision, and the consequences shouldn't be borne by others.

"Huh? Why is it lagging? Is the internet bad?"

Tamamo immediately stopped the video feed, leaving only her voice to float in the sea of ​​question marks in the live stream chat.
"Um... everyone, my network seems to be having some problems. It's lagging so badly I can't move. I'll have to end the broadcast now."

But considering that the train owner who spent a lot of money to reward the large spaceship and also had an affair with Uesugi Tetsu.

Tamamo took two steps closer and used a cool photo that only people who knew Uesugi Tetsu could recognize him as the last thing before the live stream ended.

In the real world, the girl happily saved the picture and immediately set it as her screensaver.

[Live stream has been closed]

Upon seeing the characters appear, Tamamo breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

The immense pressure suddenly vanished.

Fortunately, I managed to brake in time.

Otherwise, who knows how things will develop after the number of people connected exceeds 100,000, or even a million...

For a long-established mega-platform like Deep Space Online, with billions of users, achieving this number of users is not difficult.

After a while, Tamamo first checked the Special Affairs Office APP.

She discovered that even though she ended the broadcast early, topics related to the live stream and Uesugi Tetsu had already occupied the top three spots on the trending searches.

It seems the message has spread too widely...

"I have to tell Uesugi-nii afterwards, there's no way I won't tell him."

Tamamo muttered to herself, already knowing how she was going to get scolded.

But when she turned her attention to the revenue from this live stream, Tamamo's eyes lit up again.

"How can you approve my application? I'm just helping my brother earn money..."

……

Hojo Ujiyasu nodded to Fuuma Kotaro, who had re-emerged into the shadows, without saying anything more.

He simply rested his chin on his fan, contemplating the consequences of losing the bet.

The most direct and natural thing is to abide by the bet and not attack Shizuoka Prefecture when the second wave comes.

We need to find a new place.

Okay, let's go a bit to the west.

I heard that the Yin-Yang Bureau is in charge there, and its system is much less rigorous than that of the Special Affairs Bureau in the east.

Moreover, they still have to fight the Imagawa family in Shizuoka Prefecture, so if they can't, they can't, and they can accumulate more strength because of it.

The Imagawa family, the Imagawa family... they're really a difficult family to deal with.

Speaking of which, is the current head of the Imagawa family still that woman?

Hojo Ujiyasu lowered his eyes, and couldn't help but think of that peerless, arrogant female daimyo from five hundred years ago who dared to call herself the ruler of the world before even entering Kyoto.

Unfortunately, fate is cruel to those with great talent.

Forget it, don’t think about this anymore.

If she were there, she would have known immediately, and she wouldn't have chosen to remain silent in this turbulent world.

Hojo Ujiyasu considered many things regarding the internal power struggle within the family... those elders were really too arrogant, and it would be good to use the Black Guard factor to suppress them.

In a way, it indirectly helped me out.

Thinking about it this way, Uesugi Tetsuya, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, is actually quite good.

Hojo Ujiyasu adjusted his mindset quickly, and when he saw the teacher walking towards them from a distance, he got up and went over to him.

The two had a brief conversation and confirmed that the contract containing the bet was valid.

“By the way, Lord Saionji.” Hojo Ujiyasu suddenly spoke, taking out a badge bearing his family crest from his clothes. “Uesugi-kun is quite good. Please give this badge to him on my behalf.”

He smiled and said, "Just consider it as making friends."

"I will."

Teacher Fan responded in a hoarse voice, his face expressionless.

Turning around, their eyes were as calm as a lake.

……

"I thought he wanted to kill me on the spot."

As he fiddled with the exquisitely crafted keepsake of the Hojo family, Uesugi Tetsu raised an eyebrow with a rather puzzled expression.

"That's not true." Shifan Dai snorted coldly. "Hojo Ujiyasu isn't that stupid."

That makes sense.

Uesugi Tetsu recalled the Hojo clan lord, who was almost never showing his emotions, and clicked his tongue thoughtfully.

Gazing at the departing members of the Hojo clan in the distance, Uesugi Tetsu saw Shirobe, who was one step behind Hojo Ujiyasu, turn around and bow slightly to him.

Uesugi Tetsu smiled and waved back at the other person.

This white-clad... Kasahara Yasukatsu, is quite an interesting fellow.

"Now you can move around freely, right?"

After receiving a nod from the teacher, Uesugi Tetsu was already planning in his mind who he should ask the great Onmyoji Tetsu about the strange events from five hundred years ago.

But before that, he saw Tamamo quietly wave at him.

"Brother Uesugi, over here!"

Uesugi Tetsu silently murmured "Oh" to himself.

—By the way, earlier when he was fighting, Tamamo was taking pictures with her phone, I don’t know what she was filming.

Perfect, I'll ask her.

When Uesugi Tetsu reached her, he saw Tamamo raise her head, looking at him nervously, and speak in a very serious tone.
"Brother Uesugi... do you know that you've become famous?"

She then held up her phone, showing a long string of account balances.
"You count how many zeros are at the top."

(End of this chapter)