Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 196, Section 194: The Day the Fire Started

The man threw down his fan, swiftly launched an attack, and quickly closed in.

He swept the fan aside and fanned himself, creating a gust of wind that stirred up a large amount of fallen leaves and dust, obscuring Uesugi's vision.

Having faced off so many times, Uesugi was well-prepared for this.

He turned sideways, inserted the knife into the tree trunk as a stepping stone, and quickly disappeared into the canopy, leaving the area exposed to the wind.

He then weaved through the tree trunks, found the right angle, and leaped out, throwing four kunai: two aimed at the fan, and two at the man's back.

The clang of metal rang out as the man turned and cleaved the kunai in two.

Just as the floating fan was about to be pierced, a giant centipede tail, as large as a python, emerged from the fan and swept across, neatly knocking down the two kunai.

Uesugi also carries a kusarigama (chain sickle).

This is the weapon that she is most proficient with on the character she is controlling.

Let's deal with this monster fan first!
Thinking this, he threw the scythe, and just as it was about to hit, the centipede's tail emerged from the fan again, this time along with its upper body.

Half of the snake was mottled with red and black flesh, bulging in varying sizes, resembling a toad's tumor.

Taken together, it resembles a bizarre monster with the upper body of a snake and the lower body of a centipede, which is quite unsettling to look at.

It was clear that this monster had a bad temper. After it came out, it stared intently at Uesugi, and in an instant, it bit the handle of the scythe and pulled her over with a sudden burst of strength.

Uesugi died.

"There must be some restriction on how this monster comes out; it won't appear unless it's absolutely necessary. But if we want to kill a man, we'll inevitably force the monster out. Could the key to this level be escaping?"

She didn't think she could be a match for this human-demon duo.

The mission objective has remained unchanged from beginning to end: to reach Edo Castle and complete the mission.

There were no mandatory requirements along the way; it all depended on individual performance.

The only thing to worry about is that the choices you make might prevent you from completing the game.

"This type of DLC game should be similar to 'The Other Shore Escape,' not caring what ending you achieve, only requiring you to complete the mission. No matter what method you use, as long as you achieve the goal in the end, that's all that matters. So there is no fixed process, and even if you make some wrong choices, it should only increase the difficulty in certain aspects."

Once she figured this out, she couldn't be bothered to continue entangled with the man.

Speedrunning games are her area of ​​expertise.

She already struggles to compete with other players for rankings and perfect completions in the actual game; if she loses in speedruns as well, she'll truly become a game-free refugee.

I'll only ever be a useless little catgirl, meowing all my life.

Not wanting to use force does not mean not wanting to use force.

You don't have to fire the gun, but you must have one!
The game continues.

Uesugi weaved through the forest, trying his best to evade the man's pursuit.

After paying the price of several deaths, they finally arrived at the castle town of Edo.

The date was the fourteenth day of the first lunar month.

The man simply vanished without a trace, and for some unknown reason, no one pursued him into the town.

"Tomorrow is the deadline, and this outfit is most likely the culprit that caused the fire." Uesugi entered the town with the prepared hand gestures and made arrangements, walking through the crowded streets and alleys. She had already hidden her weapon outside the city.

The place she was delivering the goods to was somewhere in the village, and Honmyoji Temple was nearby.

After some thought, she decided to go to Honmyoji Temple to check on the situation.

The Mingli Fire started here and spread. She would never believe that the game had nothing to do with the fire; she would bet her own bra size on it.

"Benefactor, there are important religious ceremonies taking place at the temple these days. Please come back in a few days."

The gates of Honmyoji Temple were tightly closed. After knocking, the monk who came out said the following.

"May I ask, Venerable Master, is Venerable Facheng residing at Benmiao Temple?"

The monk looked puzzled, and after thinking for a few seconds, he shook his head: "There is no monk with the name Facheng in this small temple. Perhaps you have remembered it wrong."

No?

"Does the monk know about the Demon Sword Rebellion that occurred in Koga more than twenty years ago?" Uesugi was still not giving up.

The monk, who appeared to be only in his thirties, calmly shook his head: "Never heard of it. Namo Myoho Renge Sutra. Please return, benefactor."

Uesugi frowned and left after being rebuffed.

If the records are correct, the fire was caused by a memorial service being held at Honmyoji Temple for a deceased young girl.

Even if those records cannot be entirely trusted, the general outline should be correct.

It is now the 14th, and there are still a few days until the 18th, when the fire broke out.

Therefore, the important religious ceremony mentioned by the monks should not refer to the one on the 18th.

It's decided, Uesugi will sneak into Honmyoji Temple at night.

After wandering around Honmyoji Temple, she found a ryokan (traveler's lodge) nearby to rest and prepare for tonight's operation.

late at night.

She secretly returned to the place outside the city where she had buried the weapons, took out the kusarigama, and then headed straight for Honmyoji Temple.

When she was scouting the location today, she found a large tree in the yard near the wall, threw her scythe, wedged it into the trunk, and used it as a grappling hook.

Upon climbing up, only the main hall of the temple was lit by candlelight; the rest of the temple was dark.

The moment she lightly stepped down from the tree, the surrounding scenery changed instantly. The sky was painted and swallowed by white light, and daylight rushed towards her.

"Enchantment?"

Uesugi murmured something, his gaze falling from the rising sunlight. Directly in front of him appeared an elderly monk, who seemed to have been sitting there the whole time, his eyes closed, yet it was as if nothing could escape his notice.

"Master Facheng?" Uesugi asked tentatively.

The old monk's eyelids twitched, and he slowly raised them, his slightly cloudy eyes calmly gazing at her.

“Facheng, this is a Dharma name I haven’t used in a long time. Are you a ninja from the Koga school? They paid a heavy price to quell the demon sword rebellion back then, and I have great respect for them.”

"What brings you to this humble temple tonight to see me, benefactor?

Uesugi could vaguely recognize the aged-looking Hosei, after all, she had been defeated by Hosei many times in "The Demon Sword", and the memory was still fresh.

"Someone entrusted me to bring this furisode to Edo, but I sensed an aura similar to that of a demon sword." Uesugi's words were half-truths as he walked up to Hosei and opened the furisode's box.

Hosei didn't determine whether Uesugi was telling the truth or not; he simply stared at the furisode and finally shook his head slowly.

"This is just an exquisite Wu-style garment, and it has nothing to do with the demon sword."

Uesugi's face froze.

Irrelevant? Master, are you seeing things because you're old and blind?
Was her being chased by that Onmyoji all this time just a joke?

"But I was being chased by an Onmyoji along the way, and his goal was this outfit." Uesugi added more information.

Fa Cheng's expression turned slightly serious: "Is that Onmyoji accompanied by a toad shikigami?"

"No, it's a fan, and inside the fan is a monster that's half snake and half centipede," Uesugi said truthfully.

"Is that so?" Fa Cheng pondered. "Thank you for the information, benefactor, but this Wu-style clothing is indeed unrelated to the demon sword; it's just an ordinary garment."

Seeing this, Uesugi was about to activate his prophetic abilities.

“I had a dream in which the temple was holding a religious ceremony for a young girl, and she was wearing this dress. A gust of wind blew away the furisode, and as a result, a fire spread throughout Edo Castle.”

Fa Cheng's expression remained unchanged: "Namo Myoho Renge. Benefactor, you have no need to lie to me."

Uesugi's lies couldn't fool him at all.

"Master Facheng, I want to know if the demon sword is in Benmiao Temple."

"Please return, benefactor." Fa Cheng shook his head and waved his hand gently, causing everything in front of Uesugi to rapidly recede.

*Thud.* The light receded, and darkness returned. When she came to her senses, she was already outside the wall.

She heard hurried footsteps approaching from not far away, so she had to leave quickly, passing by the eaves and alleyways, and returned to her lodging.

"It seems this won't work. Could it be that this garment really has nothing to do with the demon sword and the great fire?"

Uesugi reluctantly went to sleep and began planning his schedule for the next day.

However, perhaps because we had already arrived at our destination, the map did not appear, the itinerary no longer needed to be planned, and all the time was free, with the option to fast forward.

After sleeping, the first thing to do is organize your inventory and take a look.
Why did I do that today? Why did I say those things? Am I still myself?

The character's thoughts drifted out, and Uesugi was struck dumb.

She had been subconsciously ignoring the fact that her actions had to be deemed reasonable by Ban Deng!
Today's actions clearly contradicted any information Ban Deng had, as if a deus ex machina had told her something she had never experienced, making it impossible for her to believe it.

The thought that occasionally floats out from the lamp not only affects the text, but the existence of the thought itself is also a kind of prompt, indicating that the lamp and the player are one, and that her will has not been completely replaced.

So, what consequences would this lead to?

She nervously clicked to confirm.

Day 15

Its daybreak.

Uesugi tried to move, but a feeling of resistance came over him. What used to be as smooth as operating his own body now felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, and he could hardly lift his arm.

That's it, she's lost control of the character.

Ban Deng sat up, looked at his hands, picked up the goods, and went out.

On this day, Uesugi became an observer, watching as Banto delivered the goods to the wealthy merchant who was the target of his mission, and then left Edo without lingering in the city.

Uesugi's vision gradually dimmed as the calendar pages swiped rapidly.

[Day 18]

The Great Fire of Edo (present-day Tokyo) claimed countless lives.

game over.

Uesugi loaded the save file and returned to the time before his night raid on Honmyoji Temple.

She could certainly continue to go to Honmyoji Temple as the companion lantern and say things that fit the character's persona.

It's clear that Fa Cheng is unwilling to reveal the Demon Blade to others, and given his seclusion these past few days, he might be at a crucial moment, so this question is destined to remain unanswered.

"How about we try a different approach and search that wealthy businessman's house?"

That very day, she went straight to see the wealthy businessman.

The person receiving the audience should be two servants, one male and one female.

The woman was in charge of inspecting the goods, while the man served them.

After this process, Uesugi received two silver coins as an extra reward.

Objective: Return to Kyoto and collect your reward.

The fire is going to happen on the 18th, so what reason do I have to stay until then?

Uesugi carefully recalled that the Onmyoji he encountered on his journey could be considered a serendipitous encounter.

She took his strange remarks to heart, so it's reasonable for her to deliberately try to find out who owned the dress.

[Objective: Investigate the owner of the purple furisode]

After thinking it over, my goal actually changed.

The companion character is responsible for issuing tasks, and Uesugi needs to make good use of these tasks to achieve his own goals.

That evening, Uesugi investigated the household but found almost nothing, unable to discern any connection between them and the Onmyoji.

They waited until the morning of the 18th.

She arrived at Honmyoji Temple, where a procession dressed in mourning clothes carried a coffin into the temple.

"I heard he was preparing for his wedding when he suddenly fell ill and couldn't get out of bed. Oh, poor child."

"I've seen that child before, she's very pretty."

The gates of Honmyoji Temple closed again, and Uesugi did not try to stop them.

She roughly understood the role the dress she had given away played in the fire.

Blindfold.

The real furisode has already been sent.

She was merely bait to attract the attention of that Onmyoji.

No wonder they were so confident in sending a rogue ninja to deliver the key item that caused the fire.

In fact, the sender never cared whether the delivery would be successful.

Inside the temple, Buddhist chants resounded, and incense smoke curled upwards.

As expected, a fire suddenly broke out.

It first spread from inside the temple, and then a fireball shot out of the temple. The outline of the purple furisode could be barely seen. It set fire to the buildings along the street and swept towards Edo Castle.

Chaos reigned all around, with people jostling each other like blind flies scurrying about in the narrow streets, layer upon layer.

No one was paying attention to Uesugi anymore. She leaped up the wall and saw the temple and the monks still trying to put out the fire.

Among them, the elderly Facheng was supported by some young monks, leaning against the wall, his face solemn and anxious.

"Master Facheng."

Uesugi leaped to his side and said softly.

Fa Cheng, with blood at the corner of his mouth, was slightly taken aback when he saw Uesugi, his gaze quickly sweeping over the kusarigama in her hand: "Are you a Koga ninja?"

“That’s right, my name is Banto, an orphan from the Koga’s Demon Sword Rebellion.” Uesugi breathed a sigh of relief; Hosei’s condition was alright, and he should be out of danger.

Upon hearing her name, Fa Cheng nodded gently: "So you are the Lamp-Bearer. It seems you have endured much hardship over the years."

Does Facheng know Ban Deng?

Uesugi never expected there to be such a connection.

"The young girl who came to perform the ritual today was wearing a Wu-style robe that was adorned with a talisman. When it came into contact with fire, it ignited the demon sword that was about to be sealed, but it couldn't get far. As long as this humble monk binds it with shackles, the final seal can be completed," Fa Cheng explained the origin of the matter.

A monk knelt down, weeping bitterly, and kowtowed repeatedly: "It's all my fault for being so negligent, which led to this disaster. I can only atone with my death!"

Having said that, he was about to throw himself into the sea of ​​fire.

“Come back.” Fa Cheng sighed, and the void pulled him back. “The spiritual energy of heaven and earth is scarce now. You are not a cultivator, so it is not your fault that you cannot recognize it.”

Fa Cheng struggled to his feet, gazing at the five-story fortress of Edo Castle in the distance.

"The remnant soul of the Muramasa lineage has affected the demon sword, and that is where it most desires to go. I will bring it back and complete the final seal."

Before Uesugi's eyes, the words of the target were changing rapidly, like a series of garbled characters.

“Master Hosei, I will go and bring back the demon sword.” Uesugi said with a determined look.

Fa Cheng looked at her, his expression hesitant: "If I am not mistaken, Benefactor Ban Deng has not awakened the heart of forbearance."

“Yes.” Uesugi nodded.

Fa Cheng shook his head: "Even if you have awakened the heart of forbearance, this journey is still extremely risky. The Koga ninjas have already sacrificed their future to fight the demon sword, including the last ninja with the heart of forbearance. I cannot let you bleed any more. Namo Myoho Renge Kyo. If you wish to help, please guide my disciple away from this place."

After saying this, he wrapped the sealing chains around his hands and disappeared from the spot in an instant.

Uesugi's outstretched hand froze in place; something was wrong with how the plot was unfolding!
(End of this chapter)