Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 340, Section 87: Black Rain

The once picturesque Mount Fuji has now been reduced to a lifeless wasteland of rubble.

It has also become a biological no-go zone under intense military control.

A massive circular barbed wire fence stretches to the horizon, with searchlights rotating day and night every hundred meters along the fence, their light repeatedly illuminating the scorched and broken ground.

Deeper inside the walls lies the massive crater and radiation zone left by the collapse of Mount Fuji's main peak, where one can barely make out the dark, undulating outline.

Besides the deadly radiation, it is said that if you stare at it for too long, you will hear the screams of the dead.

Although experts have repeatedly studied this point and confirmed that it is indeed a fabrication, it is merely a misconception spread under stress.

But recent events have revived this rumor.

Located at a safe distance outside the restricted area, there is a military camp, a joint US-Japan monitoring base, named Camp Watchmen.

The camp was not large, but it was heavily guarded and of a high level, with a squadron of Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force and a company of American troops stationed in each of the four directions around Mount Fuji.

Their core mission has long since shifted from assisting researchers with emergency sampling and data collection to long-term, continuous monitoring.

Monitoring radiation fluctuations and dissipation from the remains of Mount Fuji, and most importantly, ensuring the safety of the stone temple located on the edge of the radiation zone.

The camp command center was brightly lit.

The display screen showed various environmental data, all of which fluctuated within a familiar range.

The Self-Defense Force captain stood in front of the observation window, holding a freshly brewed cup of coffee, gazing at the distant outline of ruins. Perhaps he was reminiscing about the former grandeur of Mount Fuji. Only after the coffee had gone cold did he let out a deep sigh and take a sip.

"It's so bitter," he murmured.

The U.S. Army captain appeared much more relaxed, leaning back in his chair and operating a tablet computer, on which a news summary about the London events was playing.

"It's unbelievable." The squad leader muttered to himself after listening to the news. "I never imagined that the Ripper was such a terrifying being."

His tone carried a hint of relief.

Fortunately, this terrible supernatural disaster is no longer targeting Japan alone, giving the country a little breathing room.

The captain didn't even look up, casually agreeing: "Yeah. It'll take at least seven or eight years to recover from the mess in London. In comparison, Tokyo hasn't suffered as much damage."

The squad leader's lips moved, but the words stuck in his throat.

In his eyes, the destruction caused by Ashiya Dōman was the most serious supernatural disaster in history.

Yamanashi Prefecture was completely flooded, Mount Fuji collapsed, and the Kanto region was almost wiped out by radiation.
However, the Amis felt more empathy and sympathy for London's plight.

The captain paused, as if remembering something, and his tone became slightly more serious: "By the way, speaking of which, has the follow-up analysis report for that ghost incident from a few days ago been released yet?"

The company commander's brows furrowed immediately.

A few days ago, a night patrol team reported experiencing severe mass hallucinations while on duty in an area near the edge of a restricted zone.

Soldiers claimed to have seen blurry, transparent humanoid shadows drifting inside the barbed wire fence and heard eerie whispers and weeping.

Most dangerously, two soldiers, seemingly under control, attempted to force their way into the restricted area, only to be stopped by their comrades who had regained their senses.

All the soldiers involved were immediately isolated and urgently sent to the Yokota Air Base underground deep laboratory in Tokyo for comprehensive psychological and physiological testing.

"The preliminary conclusion is that it's a mental disturbance caused by some kind of leaked energy involving resentment." The squad leader knew a little about technology, but he didn't really understand these mystical concepts. "It's like some kind of toxic radioactive dust that occasionally drifts out with the air currents and affects the brains of people who get close. I've adjusted the patrol routes to avoid that area. There haven't been any similar reports in the past few days."

In fact, the authorities have not detected any of these resentful energies; it is mostly just speculation.

Just like how dark matter should theoretically exist, but has not yet been discovered.

This is the current official research on the extraordinary.

The captain shrugged. "Hopefully it's just an isolated incident. I don't want my lads to come back with something they shouldn't be thinking about."

He did not show much concern about this; after his extraordinary emergence, he had seen many more bizarre samples and reports.

And after witnessing the Battle of London, the threshold has been raised very high.

Both of them tacitly attributed the incident to an accident.

It's not that they neglected their duties, but rather that this kind of inexplicable thing has happened before.

After all, in a place like Mount Fuji, it wouldn't be surprising if any inexplicable phenomena occurred. As long as Jizo is unharmed and they don't do anything reckless, the greatest threat is confined to their current location.

They would never have imagined that the ghost incident was not an energy leak, but rather a mental test for Yui.

The purpose of the test has been achieved.

Now it's time to reap the rewards.

The chill before dawn is the most biting. This year, Japan may be affected by the outbreak, but the cold wave came particularly quickly. The white breath exhaled by the soldiers was especially noticeable under the bright light of the searchlights.

The night shift sentries looked slightly tired, but their eyes still habitually scanned the dark areas they were responsible for.

The Self-Defense Force squad that was taking over the first shift of the morning had assembled and lined up in front of their squad leader.

The squad leader, a meticulous young officer, was currently conducting a final roll call with the roster in hand.

In this region, many electronic devices are restricted, and even drones are prone to malfunction, making paper documents particularly reliable.

"Yoshida!"

"To!"

"Nakamura!"

"To!"

"Suzuki!"

"Here." The reply was slightly hesitant, and the voice was somewhat low.

Kobayashi glanced up at Private First Class Suzuki standing in the middle of the line, frowned, but said nothing and continued calling roll.

After taking attendance, Kobayashi closed the roster and began his routine address, his voice exceptionally clear in the quiet of the early morning: "Gentlemen, a new day has begun. Stay alert, strictly adhere to the rules in the manual, and report any unusual activity immediately. Understand?"

"Understood, sir!" the crowd responded in unison, though their voices were not very loud.

The team began to disperse and head to their respective posts. The night shift sentries breathed a sigh of relief, stretched their frozen hands and feet, and prepared to quickly grab a hot coffee after their shift ended.

The two men walked toward the watchtower on the east side of the camp. One of them yawned widely and complained to his companion, "Ugh, this awful weather again, freezing cold. I really hope I can be transferred to the rear next time we're rotated."

The man smiled but didn't reply; he simply tightened his collar.

Meanwhile, Suzuki and the other two soldiers whose minds had been corrupted by Yui headed towards the core area of ​​the camp, a key outpost near the Ishijizo control zone, as planned. The three of them walked together, unusually silent.

The night shift sentry paced back and forth to ward off the cold. When he saw the three people coming off duty, a smile appeared on his face: "Hey, Suzuki, it's you guys. Hurry up, this godforsaken place is freezing us to the bone." Suzuki forced a somewhat stiff smile: "Thank you for your hard work, Yamamoto-senpai." When his eyes met Yamamoto's, a flicker of empty fanaticism flashed across his face.

The other two had almost no expression, simply nodding silently and standing in their designated positions.

Yamamoto didn't notice anything unusual, only that these people seemed unusually quiet today.

He handed over the equipment and instructions, then rubbed his hands together and walked briskly toward the barracks with his companions, thinking about the steaming miso soup.

It was 6:00 AM.

Most of the night shift sentries had already left their posts and were heading towards the assembly point. The rotating sentries had just taken over and were not yet fully focused, leaving the camp in a very brief defensive vacuum.

Right now.

Suzuki looked at the two men, picked up his gun, released the safety, and wore a ferocious grin.
"For Lord Doman's great cause! Purify this world!"

boom! ! !
Explosions and flames suddenly erupted from the peaceful camp.

These explosions did not originate from one place! Almost simultaneously, deafening roars and towering flames erupted from three different directions: the camp's generator room, the communications center base, and the parking lot.

This sudden attack from within the camp stunned most of the people.

The night shift sentries, who had just finished their shift and were heading to the barracks, instinctively threw themselves to the ground, then quickly searched for the nearest cover, staring in horror at the direction of the explosion.

The troops that could be mobilized here were mostly elites. After the initial shock, they immediately took up their guns and stood guard, but for a moment they could not determine where the attack came from or where the enemy was.

Inside the command center, amidst the piercing alarm, the squadron leader jumped to his feet and rushed to the monitoring screens, only to find that multiple screens had turned into static.

"Report the situation! Where were the explosions located?!"

The captain reacted even faster, grabbing the tactical radio and roaring, "All units! This is not a drill! The camp has been attacked from within! Establish defensive lines and identify the attackers! Non-duty personnel, immediately move to combat positions!"

However, this was merely a feint.

While most people's attention was drawn to the three violent explosions and the resulting fires, power outages, and disruptions to external communications,

The three Suzukis, who were originally on guard posts in the Ishijizo control area, along with two other soldiers who were also mentally corrupted and were mixed in with other guard posts, had mad eyes. Taking advantage of this precious gap in the chaos, they pulled out the bombs they had prepared from under their tactical vests and sprinted towards the last barbed wire barrier in the Ishijizo control area.

boom!
Two gaps were blown open in the barbed wire, and smoke and dust filled the air.

Using the passage opened up by their companions at the cost of their lives, the three Suzukis fearlessly rushed through the gap and entered a concrete building on the edge of the restricted area.

After firing at several unsuspecting researchers and guards, they tacitly rushed towards the nearby stone statue.

"For the rebirth of Lord Ashiya Dōman!" Suzuki cried out in a heart-wrenching voice.

The other two soldiers shouted in unison, "Long live!!!"

boom! boom! ! !
They brazenly detonated the bombs on their bodies at the base of the stone statue!

With the explosions occurring one after another, the first to be hit was the stone Jizo statue that had been guarding this land for months.

The surface of the stone Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, which was over ten meters tall and emitting a faint light, developed numerous fine cracks during the explosion. These cracks instantly expanded and spread, eventually reaching the compassionate, closed-eye face of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.

Ugh.
With a faint sigh that seemed to come from the depths of the earth, the stone Ksitigarbha could no longer hold on and collapsed with a crash, turning into a pile of shimmering, eerie stones that gradually dimmed.

The stone statue of Jizang is broken.

"No—!!!" Inside the command center, the squad leader watched the monitor screen disappear and heard the explosion that had reached his ears. He let out a desperate wail and collapsed to the ground.

The captain froze on the spot, his pupils contracted, and the communicator in his hand fell to the ground with a thud.

The whole world seemed to freeze for a moment.

then
Buzz————

A deep, resonant hum, so profound it surpassed the limits of human hearing yet could send shivers down one's spine, rumbled from the depths of the ruins of Mount Fuji.

It was as if some terrifying being, imprisoned for countless years, had finally broken free of its final shackles.

Without the suppression of Jizo statue, the extremely high-intensity, deadly radiation field that had been forcibly contained around the remains of Mount Fuji suddenly spread outwards at a terrifying speed, like a flood that had lost its dam.

Visible grayish-white radioactive dust formed a deadly tsunami, surging and rushing in all directions!

The already limited equipment suddenly burst into a shower of sparks and became completely paralyzed.

"Retreat! Everyone retreat! High alert!" The captain reacted and roared with all his might.

But it's too late.

The radiation spread far faster than any vehicle could. The camp was instantly engulfed in a deathly gray. Almost simultaneously, the screen turned to static, and then the last circuit broke.

The last thing heard on the communication channel was the soldiers' piercing screams, so shrill they were almost inhuman, before it abruptly stopped.

Four Watchers camps, gone in the blink of an eye, no one survived.

This is not over yet.

Immediately afterwards, a second eruption began in the center of the wreckage of Mount Fuji, in that bottomless crater.

Instead of spewing out molten lava, a thick, black jet of liquid, as viscous as crude oil, shot upwards.

This black torrent, resembling both water and clouds, surged to a height of a thousand meters before bursting apart, transforming into a vast expanse of black rain that exuded a strong stench of sulfur and decay!

The black, greasy raindrops first pattered down from around the ruins of Mount Fuji, staining everything they touched—the land, rocks, remaining buildings, and living creatures that hadn't been completely evacuated—with a deep, writhing black hue.

Even more chillingly, as the black rain fell, a sound like the wailing of ten thousand ghosts seemed to emanate from the deep pit at Mount Fuji.

Countless translucent, distorted shadows, like ghosts released from hell, swarmed out of the deep pit of Mount Fuji!

They come in all shapes and sizes, but they are all filled with endless hatred for the living.

After encountering this black rain, the illusory body gradually materialized, becoming grotesque and terrifying, transforming into a beastly monster that is a nightmare for humans.

This black rain was not limited to the area around Mount Fuji.

Under the influence of high-altitude air currents, the black fog gathered into black clouds and began to drift in all directions toward the Japanese archipelago.

The age of demons cannot appear overnight.

But its prelude has already begun.

While still in London, Hamasaki Yui revealed a smile that was not at all stiff.

She smiled like the slender, fair-skinned girl next door who liked to wear white dresses.

"If we don't unite, we'll die."

(End of this chapter)