Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 330, Section 77: Stitched-together

"Lulu!"

On the river, the unicorn, carrying Taki, broke through the surging water and emerged from the rushing river.

By this time, they had already been swept down a distance, but as long as they looked up, they could still see the enormous water heart in the sky.

The heart beats, its blood being water, and with each contraction and relaxation, it pumps out a massive wave from the left ventricle.

The water flow was fierce, with most of it being pulled down by gravity, like a dam bursting, crashing heavily onto the already damaged bridge and the Thames below.

The deafening roar continued incessantly, comparable to the thunder of a world-class waterfall, and the spray instantly enveloped the entire river area, reducing visibility to almost zero.

Even if only a small portion of the water is sprayed extremely high into the air, it is enough to turn into a continuous, misty, cold rain that covers half of London. The rain, carrying the fishy smell of the river, falls on the silent city.

"Let's go, take me to find the knights." The previous battle was nothing more than an appetizer for Takii's stamina.

The most exhausting part was resisting the negative emotions that kept coming from the heart when the Fire-Severing Pill was inserted.

The unicorn shook its body, emitting a burst of light, and in the blink of an eye, dried its wet fur and Taki's clothes. Then it ran upstream.

The sixth round of the ceremony has been completed and is currently being evaluated.

[Ceremony Completion Rate: 30%]

Overall rating: Excellent

[All six pre-ceremony activities are now complete. Overall rating: Good]

[New Goal]

[Please stop the Ripper from completing his ultimate sacrifice. Ensure that Westminster Palace and the surrounding abbey do not fall within the time limit. If the mission fails, Britain will be dissected vertically, centered on Westminster Palace. Resentment leaking from the rift will solidify into a physical monster, making Britain, except for Northern Ireland, uninhabitable.]

[Ultimate Sacrifice: 24:00:00]

What goes around comes around. If the ultimate sacrifice really succeeds, won't it be the turn of the Union Jack-flagged English to immigrate to Ireland and beg for food?
If Northern Ireland were to secede from Britain at this time, Britain would probably only have a few islands left as its territory.

At this point, the nature of the game also changed, from puzzle-solving and combat to defending the Sword Pavilion.

The Ripper's six-wheel ritual has been planned for many years, incorporating over a century of resentment in London. It is difficult to completely stop, and no matter how hard the players try, they will eventually reach this point.

The difference lies in the extent to which the players' efforts in the first six rounds can weaken the power of the final being—perhaps its health, its aggressiveness, or some special mechanism.

Shinichi Higashiyama could have easily intervened in the first six rounds of the ceremony, which would have at least reduced the ceremony to only 10%.

The Ripper, who appears last, is severely weakened from the start, or even eliminated upon his appearance.

But this way, his gaming intuition told him that he wouldn't be able to get the platinum reward.

The platinum reward for Anatomy of Britain will most likely be the same as that for Silver Cup Manor, involving a dagger as a key item.

As things stand, the most likely explanation is that the dagger is hidden inside the Ripper himself.

Therefore, it is essential to allow the Ripper to appear in his final boss form, and it is best if he is not weakened too much.

This level is about right now, barely satisfactory.

It retains some of the Ripper's strength, but doesn't make him too powerful, so as not to cause any major casualties to the players.

This is a real-life game; there are no chances to try and fail repeatedly. If you miss it, you might really miss it.

Shinjiro Higashiyama would rather fight a full-health boss and get all the rewards than fight a weak boss and give up the highest reward. That would drive someone with OCD crazy.

Up to now, he has earned all the platinum trophies in every game he's played. If he doesn't get it here, it's like completing a no-damage challenge only to be hit by a single enemy.

It's like wiping your butt and finding the toilet paper has pierced through your fingertip—it's disgusting.

As for the unfortunate British people, he is not some devil, and will offer some compensation.

Add one more spot for new players to stay in the UK next time, and that should be enough.

As the ritual was completed, the water figure disintegrated on the spot, splashing onto the ground with a splash, and many fish that had been swept up in it thrashed about in vain in the shallow water.

Lu Du, who had been providing support from the rear and was being carefully protected by everyone, glanced around furtively. Seeing that no one was paying attention, he carefully squatted down and picked up the small fish that were thrashing about on the ground one by one, then gently tossed them back into the rising river.

However, she soon didn't need to pick them up anymore. The amount of water pumped out by her heart was too astonishing. The river was rising rapidly at a visible speed, quickly submerging the lower riverbanks and the road surface.

As soon as the small fish touched the deep water, they immediately regained their vitality, flicked their tails, and hid in the shadows of the underwater corner.

The thunderous roar, like a waterfall, continued to shake the entire city, even drowning out the sound of artillery fire.

"What should we do next?" Hayato rode back in a disheveled state, wiping the sweat and river water from his face, and shouted loudly at Nobita. The noise was too loud; normal speech was impossible to hear.

Also returning were Taki and the Unicorn.

Nobita withdrew his gaze from the still frantically pumping heart, looking at Hayato and Taki. His lips moved, and he uttered two concise words:

"Take a break."

Even if they can't hear the words, they can understand just by reading the lip movements. According to the previous pattern, there will be a short period of calm after the ritual is completed, during which they need to take advantage of the time to recover.

Rumble.
A deep, muffled roar, unlike the sound of water, came from the direction of the City of London not far away.

Immediately afterwards, billowing clouds of dust rose into the sky, as if some enormous thing was breaking through the soil in that steel jungle.

The sound was deafening, like the whole of London was wailing.

In the air, Iwasaki reacted quickly, and Nobi and the others only saw a cloud of black mist flying rapidly towards the financial district.

"Uh, should we rest now?" Hayato cracked his knuckles and asked.

"Hao and I will go check the situation. Hayato, you take the other players to Westminster Palace and hurry up and recover. Taki, you keep an eye on Mori and the others, and while you're at it, discuss with Yue what mechanisms we can use to deal with this final boss, based on the clues we've gathered so far."

Nobita sighed and looked at the unicorn, who seemed ready to end the summoning and run away.

"Please, work overtime."

The unicorn grunted twice, but didn't refuse.

Not far away, in the now-empty City of London, only the Lloyds Tower, one of the iconic buildings known for its unique exposed steel structure and high-tech architectural style, was shrouded in dust and smoke, with sparks occasionally flashing through the smoke.

Its silver supporting frame, now as if touched by the spark of Transformers, has begun to conjure up some mechanical structures that were not originally there, for folding and interlocking.

Huge steel bars, like silver snakes, peeled off the building's structure, dancing and intertwining in the air; thick alloy plates curled and deformed like pieces of paper. Amidst the continuous metallic wailing, a metal assembly process accelerated a million times over unfolded.

Using the metal of the Lloyds Tower as the main body, along with materials forcibly extracted from other nearby office buildings, and even the metal frame of the glass curtain wall, everything is pieced together along the connecting metal links.

Swish!
Iwasaki, who arrived first, swung his invisible hand down and tore off a metal link, spraying a large amount of oil from who-knows-where onto the ground. The oil was ignited by sparks, and the fire spread rapidly.

However, it appears that it did not have any impact on the main structure.

Even amidst the fire, the transformation and assembly process continued in an orderly manner.

Iwasaki disconnected several metal links, and soon countless more metal lines were connected and transported, with even the damaged metal not being wasted, but integrated into them.

After a while, Iwasaki stopped what he was doing when Nobi arrived.

"What is this thing?" Nobita looked at Iwasaki.

"It's absorbing the metal materials here." Iwasaki glanced around at the haphazardly demolished buildings, then vaporized again and burrowed into the metal body, searching for a way out.

Nobi tried to swing his sword, and just like the previous attack ritual, he didn't even have a health bar left.

This indicates that it is something very pure, and for the time being, it has no aggressive desires whatsoever; it can't even be considered a living being.

The two men's destruction only slightly slowed down the process; the creation was gradually taking shape, and it was clear that the ultimate goal was to assemble an enormous metal human skeleton.

First comes the rudimentary spine, then the ribs unfold one by one in an arc, followed by the long bones of the limbs. The whole process is similar to an assembly line, carrying a mechanical and cold sense of ritual.

In just a few minutes, a giant human skeleton, nearly 200 meters tall and gleaming with a cold metallic luster, was already sitting on the metal ruins of the financial city.

Its hollow eye sockets overlook the model-like streets below, exuding a pure sense of oppressive colossus.

The final assembly was complete. It stiffly and haltingly shook its head, then slowly rose, its shadow spreading and blotting out the sky, like a Terminator magnified a hundredfold, making it hard to breathe. Humans before it were truly like ants and bees.

This skeleton seems to have no intelligence, only instinct.

After it took shape, it paused briefly, as if it were positioning itself, before finally moving a few seconds later.

With its legs made of giant steel beams, it walked towards London Bridge, each step heavy and causing violent tremors on the streets. No building could withstand its weight and crumbled into deep craters.

"His target is the heart of London Bridge, so to speak."

Nobi's expression turned serious, and he sent the message to Taki.

If his guess is correct, this steel body is now about to absorb all the organs created by the previous ritual.

In this case, the route will inevitably pass through areas where residents remain, and these areas must be forcibly evacuated.

"I will pass on the message: be careful. The military has initiated a strike plan and does not rule out the use of thermite and thermobaric weapons."

Taki replied that Nobi had just finished reading when the sound of gunfire resumed.

Boom boom boom!
Military firepower deployed in various locations has already opened fire.

Naval guns, electromagnetic railguns, missiles, and even machine guns from attack helicopters rained down on the massive metal structure.

The helicopter pilots, completely disregarding their own safety, flew around the steel behemoth, trying to find the so-called weak point.

"Fuck! That's my home!"

One driver's eyes turned red as he watched helplessly as his home and his neighbor's house were trampled to pieces.

Although my family has already evacuated, the value of the things inside is immeasurable, damn it!

However, this relentless, all-out attack did not yield ideal results.

When a shell hits the hard alloy skeleton, it usually only produces a flash of fire and a dent, but does not cause structural damage.

What's even more disheartening is that the metal fragments scattered after the surrounding buildings are destroyed are picked up by the metal tentacles shot out from its body and then quickly filled and repaired those wounds.

In the city, it's like a fortress with unlimited repair resources. Unless you can destroy it instantly, conventional firepower is practically just tickling it.

The players had just gone through a fierce battle and were exhausted, so they were powerless to stop it and had no good way to stop it.

Hayato led most of the players to Westminster Palace for rest and recovery. Now, only Nobita, Iwasaki, and Ethan, who had just arrived, are still by the side of this behemoth.

Nobita won't last much longer; his battle time is almost over.

Iwasaki's black mist emerged from within the giant object: "I can't find any effective weaknesses inside. I suspect we'll have to wait until it absorbs all its internal organs before we can deal with it."

"So, is this considered a scene from the story?" Nobita gave an example.

“We really can’t take it down. This thing is supplied with metal from the whole city. If it has no weaknesses, firepower should be more effective than ours.” Ethan dodged the debris and shockwaves kicked up by the skeleton as it moved and sheathed his katana.

In the end, Nobi and Ethan chose to retreat, with Iwasaki in charge of surveillance. He was the most suitable person to do so, as the military's artillery fire would not harm him much; he only needed to be careful of the flames.

The metal-skeleton giant ignored all attacks and resolutely walked to the swollen Thames, wading deeper into the water until it reached the London Bridge.

Its empty eye sockets looked at the huge water heart that was still pulsating and pumping water, suspended above the bridge at the same level as its chest.

Its metal ribs contracted segment by segment, partially opening up. And the water heart seemed to be summoned, extending dozens of water tendrils, like flexible cables, precisely connecting to the open chest cavity of the metal skeleton.

Immediately afterwards, the entire massive water heart began to move along these water tendrils into the thoracic cavity of the skeleton.

The process was not brutal; on the contrary, it carried a strange, life-like rhythm.

Finally, surrounded by the ribs of the skeleton, a huge heart made of concentrated Thames water, its surface covered with water-like patterns, was put back in place.

thump.
The heartbeat emanated from the skeletal chest cavity, clearer than the previous sounds, the sound waves spreading like a tangible entity, causing the remaining glass to hum.

Boom, boom, boom.

The heartbeat, which had been erratic, began to become regular and strong.

With each jump, a powerful flow of water is pumped into the metal pipes of the skeletal body.

As the heart returned to its place and started functioning, two faint, eerie blue lights suddenly shone from the previously empty eye sockets of the skeletal giant.

It was no longer a lifeless skeleton, but rather as if a soul was struggling to awaken. It looked down at its hands, its deep blue gaze sweeping across its surroundings, and then... took a new step.

It turned and headed toward Burgess Park.

(End of this chapter)