Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 321, Section 68: Clues Exposed

"Doctor, help me, doctor! Look at my child! Waaah, he's burned to a crisp!"

A mother, holding a child who was covered in black soot, curled up and motionless, cried and flagged down an ambulance.

The exhausted nurse rushed downstairs, shone a flashlight on it, examined it closely for a few seconds, and sighed with a complicated tone:
"Madam, is it possible that the child you are holding is a Black child?"

Mother: "Huh?"

"Jon! Hurry up! Grab all the buckets, basins, even pots and pans! Otherwise, if the water seeps down or evaporates, we'll have to pump water from the Thames!" a man yelled at his neighbor as his family frantically scraped rainwater from the depressions in the ground with various containers.

The old neighbor limped out carrying a bucket, and pounded his leg, looking regretful: "Damn it, I didn't get enough holy water on me! Only one of my rheumatic legs is better! The other one still hurts!"

London is sleepless tonight; even widespread power outages and darkness cannot extinguish the citizens' almost fanatical enthusiasm.

Countless beams of flashlights and emergency lights swayed across the streets as people searched for every puddle like gold panners, some even wrestling over a single puddle.

"What are you doing! Stop!" A passing pastor, seeing the situation and recognizing the two as acquaintances, angrily stepped forward to separate the two old men wrestling. "Those who hurt each other and harbor evil intentions, even if they obtain holy water, will never receive God's favor! Divine power will dissipate in your struggle!"

The two old men quickly calmed down after being scolded, their faces showing shame as they muttered apologies to each other.

“That’s right, that’s how it should be.” The pastor nodded in satisfaction, trying to maintain his solemnity. “We are all brothers and sisters in Christ, and we should support one another and share in His grace. Hey! You guys over there! What are you doing?!”

Before he could finish speaking, he caught a glimpse of several furtive figures not far away, carrying a small water pump and frantically pumping water out of a large puddle nearby!
Those people were clearly wearing the robes of Catholic clergy!
"This is the district under the jurisdiction of Our Lady of the Chains Church! What do you mean by having your Catholic people come here to steal our holy water?! Have you no manners?!"

The pastor was immediately enraged. He disregarded brotherly affection, grabbed the cross from his chest, and led several believers behind him to rush over and demand an explanation.

After personally experiencing the incredible healing effects of the rainstorm, almost all the clergy unhesitatingly characterized it as a miracle, a mercy and blessing from God to London.

The rainwater that falls as a result is naturally considered incredibly precious holy water, believed to have powerful effects in warding off evil, healing, and even bringing good fortune.

As a result, churches and temples stayed open all night to welcome the terrified people to pray and seek refuge. At the same time, they called on devout believers to collect holy water for the church, ostensibly to preserve God's grace for future exorcisms and healings.

There's a classic joke that goes like this: if you collected all the True Cross fragments that churches around the world claim to own, you could piece together an entire forest.

In the future, perhaps countless churches will hold up bottles of ordinary, pure water, confidently claiming it to be the holy water that fell during the miraculous night in London. If all the claimed holy water from these churches were collected, it would probably be enough to flood the entire city of London.

Of course, not everyone is in the mood to participate in this battle for holy water.

In the end, there were hundreds and thousands of unfortunate victims in the disaster, whose lives could not be saved even by the miraculous rain. They were either infected in the initial fire and then destroyed by the attack on the military, or crushed to pieces by the collapsing buildings, never to be restored to their original state.

Large numbers of police officers, military personnel, and volunteers are still working together to clear the rubble, search for possible survivors, and silently carry out mutilated bodies.

Beside the ruins of a collapsed house, Ludu controlled her breathing, sweat beading on her forehead, as she skillfully manipulated her tentacle-like spaghetti to clear away rubble and twisted metal, carving out a narrow passage.

Soon, she carefully pulled out a little boy, about three or four years old, whose voice was hoarse from crying.

"Mom, Dad, sob sob!" As soon as the boy saw the light, he opened his arms to a young couple outside who were extremely anxious.

"My child!" The mother burst into tears instantly, stumbled over, and hugged the child tightly in her arms, burying him in her body.

The father rushed to Ludu, so excited he was incoherent, his hands trembling as he didn't know how to express his gratitude: "Thank you... thank you so much! I really don't know what to say."

"Cough, it's nothing, don't be so polite." Lu Du put his hands on his hips, waved his hand casually, pretended to be relaxed, and turned to leave.

As she reached the shadows at the street corner, she couldn't help but quietly turn her head and glance back. In the dim light of the emergency lights in the distance, the figures of the family of three tightly embracing each other outlined a scene of surviving a disaster.

As Lu Du watched, the corners of his mouth slowly tightened into a line, and he muttered softly, as if talking to himself:
"I am a firefly, a proud firefly." As if to encourage herself, she pulled a steaming plate of spaghetti bolognese from the plate above her head, and while eating it in big bites, she hummed a tuneless song.

Buzz—boom boom boom!

The familiar roar of a motorcycle grew louder as it approached. Almost the instant she heard the sound, Hayato's stylish Flame Chariot executed a cool drift and came to a stop right in front of her.

"You've got this sorted out?" Hayato nodded at her.

Ludu quickly swallowed the noodles in his mouth, patted his chest vigorously, and struck what he thought was a very cool pose: "Hmph! You can't stump me! I am the chosen savior of God! I can stand on my own now!"

"Great! You're very energetic!" Hayato gave her a thumbs up. "You've come at the perfect time. I just came across a place where someone is buried quite deep and needs some work to get out. I'm not good with my hands and can't handle it. Can you help me?"

Actually, Uesugi asked him to take care of Ludo more and involve her more in the operation. Otherwise, given Hayato's personality, he would probably have solved the problem himself by putting in more effort and wouldn't have come to her specifically.

"No problem!" Upon hearing that someone needed help, Ludu instantly became energetic, his eyes lighting up. He nimbly flipped onto the back seat of the motorcycle and gave a powerful punch forward: "Let's go! Hellfire!"

The motorcycle roared again, carrying the two of them as it sped away, disappearing into the still chaotic end of the street.

The sudden downpour extinguished Jack the Ripper's meticulously planned second ritual, leaving everyone chilled to the bone.

Players don't know what the Ripper would think, but if they were the Ripper, they'd probably be red-hot by now.

Just as the eastern sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn, the game system notification that had been hovering in the minds of all players—the countdown that had stagnated and remained unchanged since the heavy rain—finally disappeared.

The second round of the ceremony has been terminated and is currently under evaluation.

[Ceremony Completion Rate: 0%]

Overall rating: Perfect

[Countdown to the third round of ceremonies: 56:00:00]

There was no moment of mourning for the end of the second round of ceremonies; the countdown immediately began for the third round, which, barring any unforeseen circumstances, would represent freedom.

"So does anyone know who started this rain?"

The group exchanged bewildered glances, unable to provide a definitive answer. This method was beyond their current comprehension.

"I think I saw a human-shaped outline formed by dark clouds during a lightning strike. Didn't you guys think of anything?" Nobita said, looking at Taki.

Takii understood: "The one who crushed Shinobi's heart in the end during the Kyoto Giant Incident?"

“Yes, it feels very similar.” Nobi nodded. “Both are formed by clouds forming a huge shape, and both shower down a large amount of healing power.” “But there are still big differences. What was scattered that time was life force. According to the statistics of the Extraordinary Countermeasures Department, it should be the life force that was absorbed by the Heart of Shinobi but not yet used up. But this time, the rain that fell has a healing attribute, and it feels very pure.”

After a moment of contemplation, Takii could not immediately conclude that the two were the work of the same being.

"Could it be... a white-clad mask?" Uesugi Hitsuki suddenly whispered.

Upon hearing this name, the already quiet meeting room became even quieter.

Only Ludu and Hayato looked left and right, their eyes revealing clarity.

Lu Du had never seen a white-clad mask before, nor did she know much about it. The information was too long; she hadn't finished reading it even after a month.

Although Hayato was under the rubble of Mount Fuji at the time, he was unconscious and missed the scene, and did not actively seek to learn more about it afterward.

"He doesn't seem like the kind of person who cares about the lives of others," Nobita said tactfully, choosing his words carefully.

The number of times the white-clad masked figure has appeared can be counted on one hand, but each time he does appear to be doing something he is supposed to do, rather than helping others.

His appearances were also timed very carefully, as if he wouldn't bother to intervene as long as humans could barely handle the situation, even at the cost of huge casualties.

Following this logic, the Great Fire of London would probably have to burn down most of the city before it could slowly make its appearance.

Moreover, no one dares to place their hopes on a mysterious and elusive supernatural being, especially since this is abroad, and the white-clad mask has only ever appeared in Japan.

The existence of this level of existence, relying solely on their speculation while sitting in the meeting room, is destined to yield no meaningful conclusions, and the discussion quickly becomes futile.

They had to put the topic aside and begin to summarize the general outline of the second round of rituals.

"In any case, the second round of the ceremony is over." Kosuke Iwasaki steered the conversation back on track, glancing around at everyone. "The only clue we can confirm now related to the second round of the ceremony is that the location might be connected to a park. But that's too broad a scope and has limited significance. And now that the second round of the ceremony has been terminated, no more clues will emerge."

He paused, then asked, "Whose crystal cooldown has ended? The fixed node at Whitechapel should have already refreshed the content of the third round of rituals, so we can activate it now."

In fact, his crystal had already cooled down, but he did not offer to go.

Based on the timeline, most players' crystals should have already refreshed by now.

"I'll go, I'm nearby!" Uesugi Hitomi volunteered, as she hadn't personally seen the scenes inside the node yet.

No one objected, since the Whitechapel node is a fixed spawn point. As long as it's within the same ritual cycle, the scene content seen after activation is the same for all players.

What's truly captivating are those one-off key moments, like the one at the British Museum, but unfortunately they've only found one so far.

Uesugi exits the game and opens his eyes in the real world.

She skillfully transformed into cat form, slipped silently out of her hiding place, and nimbly ran towards the Whitechapel ruins.

However, when she arrived, she found that two people had already arrived. She didn't recognize their faces, but they were either Sen, Arthur, or Park.

Uesugi immediately hid in the shadows, holding her breath to observe. She saw one of them activate the node, then touch the water sphere, their figure pausing slightly, clearly having entered an illusion.

But soon, as the screen disappeared, another person took out their own crystal and reactivated the node.

Repeated activation?
Uesugi began to have doubts.

Don't they share information internally? That doesn't make sense; the efficiency is too low. Even if confirmation is needed, they should wait until the first person has described their experience before proceeding with the activation. Activating twice in a row seems unreasonable. Unless...
After activating the device, the two left quickly without lingering.

If the game hadn't ended so suddenly and unexpectedly, Ethan, true to his style, would have chosen to wait here much earlier to ensure he was the first to activate.

The reason he activated it twice now is because the scene he saw contained clues related to the Knight side quest, so he asked Park to activate it again.

After confirming that they were far away, Uesugi emerged from his hiding place, lightly leaped to the location of the node, transformed back into human form, and activated his crystal.

The illusion that appeared this time was simple in content, but it allowed for free movement.

Basically, Alan was reprimanded by the pastor. He tried to explain that he hadn't broken the damaged candlestick, but the pastor didn't believe him at all. After repeatedly questioning him to no avail, the pastor angrily locked him in a small dark room.

“You stay here and reflect on your actions! I will not give you any food or water for the next three days! After three days, I want to hear you confess your sins before God!” the pastor said from outside the door.

Jack, standing outside the door, seemed a little reluctant and sighed, advising, "Priest, isn't this too harsh? How about I pay for the compensation myself? After all, I did handle that candlestick."

“Jack, you’re just too kind-hearted.” The pastor’s tone softened slightly, but he still insisted, “Yes, the Lord teaches us to be kind, but not everyone deserves that forgiveness, especially those who are incorrigible and full of lies!”

“I… I’m just worried that your strictness, Pastor, might cause trouble. After all, he’s a free man.” Jack’s voice carried a hint of concern.

"Heh. A free man."

The pastor repeated the word one last time, his tone strange, carrying a mixture of sarcasm, pity, and perhaps a hint of disgust.

The illusion slowly dissipated with his meaningful repetition.

Allen huddled in the corner of the dark room, tears streaming down his face, his lips bleeding from being bitten, his fists clenched tightly.

Uesugi noted down all the details, immediately found a safe place, returned to the player lobby, and recounted everything she had seen, including the unusual behavior of Ethan's team, to everyone.

"Twice in a row?" Iwasaki pressed.

“Yes, it was twice in a row!” Uesugi whispered, describing it in a low voice, “It was just like…”

“It’s like they can see two different scenes.” Yui, who was usually quiet, suddenly spoke up, calmly completing the second half of the sentence for her.

Uesugi looked at Yui with some surprise; they had hardly ever spoken to each other.

Nobi analyzed thoughtfully: "If I remember correctly, the first player to activate that node in Whitechapel should have been Mori and his group. Could it be that they discovered during the first activation that, for example, in a new round of rituals, the illusions seen by the first player to activate a fixed node would differ from those seen by subsequent players?"
different?"

Everyone was speechless. If that were true, wouldn't they have completely missed three crucial clues?!
　Patch: Players who don't speak the same language can use automatic translation in private messages for real-world communication.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)