Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 353, Section 100: Emerging from the Water

"All games under heaven are plagiarisms."

After playing the beginning of "Lonely Boat on the Ice Sea," Higashiyama Shin knew that this game was another example of a hybrid genre.

K-type fishing + text selection.

Because of its easy difficulty, all the instructions are very clear and straightforward, practically telling you right up to the wall how to continue playing.

It finally looks like a modern game. Many games before had to be figured out on your own even for basic controls, and the hints were quite subtle.

The advantage of that is a strong sense of immersion, but players are only called players, which does not mean that they are actually playing games for the sake of playing games.

They would rather the rules be clearer and not so immersive; this kind of immersion has drowned them countless times.

Currently, the only players who can play games without too much of a utilitarian mindset are probably Ludu and Oshima.

They may not lack the desire to improve their strength, but it certainly isn't as intense as it is for others.

Especially for Ludu, perhaps because she has too few games to play in her daily life, and the games that were available before were not mainstream, this game may be the first "electronic" game she has ever played.

So I became completely absorbed in it, fully immersing myself in the role, and truly treating the game as just a game.

Unlike other games where you die at the drop of a hat.

The risk of death in this game is quite manageable. As long as you don't get too greedy, you can basically return to the fishing village alive.

The only thing that can restrain players is time.

Unlike the previous games where a round lasted an hour or even just a moment in real life, here game time progresses in days, with one day in the game equivalent to one hour in real life.

The time cost is enormous.

Higashiyama Shinichi was able to use his clone to get by in reality, and then devote all his time to the game. Over the course of several days, the game's days went from June to October, just after the autumn flood season ended.

Even so, it's unclear how long the game will last.

The story in the game "Lonely Boat on the Ice Sea" begins in mid-June, which is the beginner period. At this time, you lack everything and can basically only catch herring in the near sea.

The general tour can be divided into three parts: you can move around freely in the fishing village for a while in the early morning and make some choices; go out to sea to fish before dawn; and return to the fishing village around 3 pm to process the catch, repair tools or buy items, talk to people and make some more choices.

The choices are not without risk; they contain many negative options. If you choose too many, you will be forced into a non-completion ending. The camera gradually zooms out from the fishing boat that Madis is sailing out of the dock. Then, vaguely, you can see a dilapidated ship emerging from the mist and heading towards him.

Of course, it's very difficult to trigger this ending through normal gameplay.

Therefore, for most players, the biggest risk at this time is the frequent occurrence of dense fog at sea. Once they lose their way in the fog, they must frequently use their observation ability to find their way home. This can easily lead to them accidentally running out of sanity, causing their hunger to skyrocket and resulting in the game ending prematurely.

A few days after the start of the game is St. John's Day, also known as Midsummer's Day.

During the bonfire party, Madis will meet Yuri, the merchant mentioned by Kustas earlier. Yuri is a smooth-talking businessman and a skilled diver. You can go to him to buy equipment, sell golden fish, or upgrade your ship.

He spends a fixed amount of time in the village every week.

Here, Madison will receive his first important item from him: an English long cross penny.

Yuri claimed that he had acquired it from another village and was giving it to Mattis for free out of respect for Kustas.

Then a memory is triggered. The memory scene is in first person. On a rocking ship, a knight wearing plate armor, without a helmet, with disheveled hair, and a face that resembles the middle-aged Matthias but is much older, is grinning maliciously and is slashing a battle axe hard at "his" chest! The axe tears through flesh, blood spurts out, and excruciating pain is felt!
Next, Mattis's observation ability was upgraded, his sanity limit was slightly increased, and he could observe the location of "memory relics" within a certain distance.

This is roughly the main storyline of the game. By collecting memory relics, you can gradually recover your memories, especially the lost treasure.

If the relics are on the seabed and require diving, you can pay Yuri to retrieve them, or you can try to salvage them yourself, but the chances are very low.

You can even try diving yourself to save money, but be warned that this game has no save function; once you die, you have to start over.

The biggest challenge in this game is the time cost.

Just think about how it feels to finally reach the save file at the entrance to the final boss room, only to accidentally delete it.

Aside from having terrible starting equipment, Shinichi Higashiyama had no intention of catching herrings at all. So after developing his character for a while, he focused on catching golden fish, as the rewards from them were just too great.

Compared to other fishermen, Madis's observational skills were practically cheating.

Even with a success rate of only 10%, you can still leave everyone else far behind.

He quickly saved enough money to exchange it for a small sailboat from Yuri, which greatly improved his range and efficiency.

Then, using his ability, he successfully found two more memory relics, triggering two more memories: both of which contained different victims who were killed by that knight.

These relics are all more or less related to England.

The story gradually became clear.

In the story of Anatomy of Britain, in a side quest uncovered by Ethan, the Grand Master of the English branch of the Knights Templar once entrusted a treasure to his second-in-command, Matthew.

And he made Matthew swear an oath in the name of a knight to protect this treasure.

Looking back now, it seems that ten years ago, or even earlier, this treasure was eventually taken out of England by some accident.

Meanwhile, a civil war broke out on Matthias's ship in the Baltic Sea. Matthias's father or elder—the knight from that memory fragment—intended to keep the treasure for himself and launched a bloody massacre on the ship, resulting in heavy losses for everyone on board. The treasure also fell into the sea and disappeared without a trace.

Perhaps because he was the son of a knight, Matthias survived by chance, but lost his memory and was rescued by Kustas.

His unusual behavior is likely related to that incident and the treasure itself.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, that treasure can only be the relic of gluttony—no, it should be called the relic of temperance.

By this time, the autumn fishing season had begun. As Madis frequently caught golden fish, he aroused the jealousy and covetousness of other fishermen, and some began to follow him.

Higashiyama Shin chose to keep a low profile for the time being and focus on finding the relics.

However, Indrek, the only one in the village with a large fishing boat, took the initiative to approach Madius and proposed a partnership. On the surface, he wanted to make money together by using Madius's fishing skills, but in reality, it contained a hidden threat.

What a joke! Would Shinichi Higashiyama accept threats in a game?!

He agreed immediately!
Drake had his eye on his fishing skills, and Higashiyama Shin was eyeing the fact that his big ship could sail even further.

He didn't know if he had used any unconventional methods, but since the game offered this option, he figured it was possible to complete the game this way.

These single-reward games never care about the process; as long as the final goal is achieved, that's enough.

"No! We can't go any further north!"

Just a few days after the cooperation began, Shinichi Higashiyama, seizing the opportunity presented by a golden fish, decided to take Indrek's ship further north. By then, there was already some floating ice around them, and the weather was extremely cold.

Drake's expression changed drastically. He firmly stopped the helmsman, a hint of undisguised fear flashing in his eyes. He refused to go any further.

Rarely, a dialogue option was triggered during the fishing.

Higashiyama Shin thought to himself that he had played quite a few galgames in his past life, and he could even imagine a choice box when he saw a dog on the street, so he was naturally not stumped. After some deliberation, he finally got the strong and muscular man, Indrek, to speak.

He adopted a slightly awkward demeanor, dismissed the other sailors, and led Mattis to a corner of the cabin.

"Five years ago, I also went to that godforsaken place in search of a particularly large golden fish. At the time, there were several boats with Karev, Old John, and others."

He took a deep breath of the cold air, as if only in this way could he suppress the chill in his heart:

"But in the end, I was the only one who came back alive."

Do you know what I saw?

Mattis shook his head silently.

Drake's Adam's apple bobbed, and in an almost whispered voice, he furtively uttered the word:
"Ghost Ship"

"It appeared without warning. All I knew was that the surrounding ice shards suddenly increased, and an exaggeratedly thick fog enveloped us in just a few breaths! Then the ship, that dilapidated ghost ship that looked like it had crawled out of the sea, just... just appeared silently!"

"It smashed Kalev's ship to pieces! Like crushing an egg! Nobody dared to help; we were all terrified and just ran for our lives! But..."

His eyes became vacant: "When I finally broke through that fog and looked back, there was nothing on the sea. It was as quiet as if it had all been a nightmare."

"But Karev and the others will never come back. Their lives cannot be faked. They were all swallowed up by the fog, the ship, and the man-eating sea!"

When Mattis heard the descriptions of the ghost ship and Indrek, his expression changed. From Higashiyama Shin's perspective, it was as if a relatively complete fragment of the story suddenly flashed back into his mind.

The perspective remains first-person, and the person in front of us is the same knight we saw earlier who killed someone on the ship and who looks somewhat like Matthias.

He was dressed casually at home, flicking his sleeves, his face full of shock and anger.

"Damn Hugo! Insatiable greed, unworthy of being the Vice Grand Master of the Knights Templar! Has he forgotten that the full name of the Knights Templar is the Poor Knights of the Temple of Christ and Solomon, and forgotten the glory of knighthood?!"

The knight clenched his fist and slammed it on the table, knocking several ornaments off.

"Father, should we hand over the things?" A timid voice came from his own perspective.

"No, absolutely not!" The knight stared intently at "himself." "William, you must not be cowardly! That's not the character of a knight!"

"Yes! Father. I will not be cowardly!" The timid voice suddenly rose, clearly showing that the father in front of him was more terrifying than Hugo when he was in a rage.

After disciplining his son, the knight paced back and forth a few times, then gritted his teeth.

“Matthew’s ancestors swore an oath to protect the sacred relic with their lives, and that if things were not possible, they would need to keep it with them and take it with them. The oath cannot be broken. Hugo is all-powerful, and we are no match for him. We must leave England first! Then we will find an opportunity to report the truth to the master.”

The son hesitated, "Then... shall we go straight to France?"

The knight remained silent for a moment.

"No, we need to take a detour."

"Where to go?"

"East China Sea."】

My memory ends here.

The key information has been basically connected.

I didn't expect that the plantation owner Hugo would also have a role in this.

He truly deserves to be called the epitome of greed.

The Madis being manipulated now is most likely the William from our memories.

The father and son were forced to leave England in order to protect the sacred relic that their ancestors had sworn to protect, driven by Hugo's greed.

The timeline is roughly a few years before the destruction of the Knights Templar, which was when Hugo was at his most arrogant, before 1307. Therefore, we can know that Matthias is currently in the Baltic region around 1317.

On the ship, due to an accident or the bewitching power of the sacred object, infighting broke out and slaughter ensued, causing Matthias to fall into the sea and lose his memory, but he was rescued by Kustas by chance.

And that ship, at this very moment, is still drifting aimlessly at sea.

Perhaps they're waiting for the treasure to return? Or perhaps for Madis to return?

So the appearance of the golden fish was also very close in time. There aren't that many coincidences. It must be related to this treasure.

I remember someone went to that beach two months ago.

Have you ever told anyone about ghost ships?

【.】

The options have reappeared.

Dongshan carefully chose the first one.

"You mean the last two months? Hmm. A few fearless guys went there together. They were lucky, but more importantly, that ghost ship doesn't seem to be there all the time. It only appears when winter is approaching. Of course, this is just my guess. I wouldn't dare risk my life to verify it."

Drake's expression was complicated as he turned his head to look at the boundless sea.

"The legend of the ghost ship has always existed, and I used to think it was just a legend, but... anyway, if I had to say it again, if I had to go into that ghostly sea, I'd rather not have that golden fish! No matter how tempting it is, nothing is more important than my life!"

Higashiyama Shin didn't force it, nor could he force it. Now the ship was under Indrek's control, and more importantly, the options were no longer available, so he had no way to win him over.

Indrek, options such as "persuade," "threaten," and "kill" do not appear.

"Wait...did I go too far?"

Shortly after, Shinichi Higashiyama, who had quit the game, pondered for a moment and began to review the game.

Now, Drake is unwilling to enter that sea area, which is clearly a key location. However, now that he's joined, there's no option to leave. I don't know how to trigger this.
Tsk——

The file is dead.

(End of this chapter)