Tokyoites don't have martial virtue

"Then 'Wind-Riding Tengu' is about to set off! Hold on tight to me!"

"Is 'Wind-Riding Tengu' the name of this car?" Kyushu asked.

"That's right, every racer has to name their car. My mom told me that," Karasu Saki said deliberately in a low voice.

"My mom's car is called 'Strike Eve,' doesn't that sound kind of cringey?"

"You guys are all pretty much the same..." Kyushu Makoto muttered under his breath.

Various racing cars took to the highway track one after another. At first, they moved slowly, obediently giving way to trucks or vans, just like any other normal vehicle, like the calm before the storm.

After the convoy drove lawfully for ten minutes, the number of unrelated vehicles on the road gradually decreased, and cameras and traffic police checkpoints became almost invisible.

Suddenly, the lead race car roared to life with a deafening engine roar, its speed suddenly increased, and it shot forward like an arrow.

Like pouring gasoline on a fire, the entire high-speed track became abuzz with excitement.

The roar of engines was deafening, and the vehicles, which had been moving slowly, roared forward like wild beasts released from their cages.

"Hold on tight, don't fall!" Karasu Saki leaned back, causing the front of the car to lift high.

Immediately afterwards, she turned the handlebars sharply, and the motorcycle accelerated instantly with a roar. The needle on the dashboard twitched and spun, quickly pointing to 200.

Kyushu Makoto felt like he couldn't breathe; the wind was whipping his face so hard it almost shook his head off.

"It's...it's going too fast!" He could only cling tightly to his senior's waist and shout, "It's too dangerous!"

Karasu Sakifumi, however, seemed to have entered a state of frenzy, and the car's speed continued to increase, with the speedometer needle soaring to 300 miles per hour.

What's even more terrifying is that the other vehicles around her were traveling at the same speed, almost at the same pace.

The orange streetlights flew backward one by one, and the surrounding buildings became blurry afterimages. For a moment, Makoto Kyushu felt as if he had entered another world.

The pitch-black racetrack merged with the midnight sky, the world seeming to transform into a vast, empty expanse, free for them to roam. And all of them were like birds soaring freely in this world, needing no thought, only to rush forward.

Gradually, Makoto Kyushu began to clear his mind, leaving all his worries behind. His eyes were only on the road ahead and the motorcycle girl in the front seat who was engrossed in her ride.

"Is this the allure of high-speed racing...?"

Makoto Kyushu still disliked this reckless and meaningless form of entertainment, but he gradually began to understand why people were so obsessed with it.

"Boom—" Karasu Saki twisted the handlebars, increasing the speed of the bike a few more times.

"Hey! That's enough! Stop speeding up! Damn it!" Just as Kyushu Makoto was about to shout, a gust of wind rushed into his mouth.

"Hahaha! Don't be afraid! Hold me tight! Hold me even tighter!" Karasu Saki laughed like a silver bell, completely enjoying herself.

Half an hour later, the torture finally ended.

The motorcycle slowly pulled into the rest stop. Kyushu Makoto staggered off the motorcycle, wondering whether he should tattle on her to Mr. Karasawa and forbid her from touching the motorcycle again.

"Are you alright?" Karasukawa Saki patted his back to comfort him.

"Cough cough... Ugh!" Kyushu Makoto, leaning against a telephone pole, vomited, his face ashen. "There won't be a next time..."

Several young motorcyclists saw Karasukawa Sakifumi and began to whisper among themselves:

"She was driving so fast just now, always in the front row, she's a pro!"

"She's pretty good-looking, want to go and chat her up?"

"Forget it, didn't you see her boyfriend was right next to her?"

"Her boyfriend is such a loser! I'm going to throw up!"

"Hahaha!"

Karasu Saki heard their conversation and immediately glared at them, yelling, "You bunch of clueless jerks, shut your mouths and get out of here!"

After being verbally abused by the girl, the young men had no choice but to ride away on their motorcycles in a huff.

Meanwhile, on the other side, a delivery rider was on the phone with someone, his voice sounding somewhat flustered.

"Damn it, has that 'Headless Horseman' appeared again?"

"Speeding recklessly, breaking the rules, and even hiding his head inside his clothes to scare people..." the rider complained as he drove away.

"If we don't get rid of him soon, he'll cause trouble sooner or later!"

"..."

After Kyushu Makoto recovered a bit, Karasukawa Saki drove him home.

The motorcycle stopped in front of Kyushu Makoto's house. After a few brief pleasantries, Karasukawa Saki suddenly spoke up:

"Kyushu-kun, thank you."

Kyushu Makoto raised an eyebrow in surprise: "Why are you thanking me?"

"After Adachi Shin took me to the karaoke bar that day, he made me become the mistress of the Kazama Group's underling leader. He also tried to control me with illegal drugs, saying it was to help me get in touch with the Kazama Group." Karasukawa Saki lowered her head slightly, her eyes showing a hint of lingering fear.

"I was thinking, if Kyushu-kun had forced me to drop out of school and left me to fend for myself... I would have gladly accepted his invitation, wouldn't I?"

“Maybe,” Kyushu Makoto shook his head, “I really don’t dare to think about that…”

In his previous life, Kyushu Makoto assisted the Yanhuang police in anti-drug and anti-gang operations. He had personally witnessed the victims deeply addicted to drugs... pale and emaciated, their eyes devoid of any light, like living corpses. Perhaps ending their lives was more merciful than letting them live.

If Karasukawa Sakifumi really falls to this state, will Kyushu Makoto be sad?

Perhaps not, since she provoked him first, and whatever retribution she suffers is her own fault; perhaps he absolutely cannot bear to see a young girl in the prime of her life fall into such a state.

Humans are so contradictory and so wondrous; even they themselves cannot fathom their own thoughts. He simply followed his feelings and, in doing so, saved the misguided girl.

"Don't be so sentimental." Kyushu Makoto smiled and comforted him: "I heard that the Kazama Group is going to disband and Adachi Shin is going to jail. All these fears are unnecessary."

“Indeed…” Karasukawa Saki looked up and met Kyushu Makoto's gaze, her eyes shimmering, her lips slightly parted, and she murmured softly:

"It's so good to have met you, Kyushu-kun! I'm so happy..."

"Karasu-senpai, I'm so sorry!" Kyushu Seiya interrupted her, his mind heavy with worry.

"Huh?" Karasu Saki was startled and quickly stopped talking, asking, "Why are you apologizing?"

"You told me before not to always think about sacrificing myself, but also to learn how to use others." Kyushu Makoto frowned, his tone becoming regretful:

"But I still put you in danger, and you were almost killed by those gangsters... It's all my fault."

"Well~ Kyushu-kun said the past is the past~" Sensing the somewhat heavy atmosphere, Karasukawa Saki quickly smiled and comforted her:

"Didn't you rescue me in the end? Like a hero!"

"But this is absolutely the last time." Kyushu Makoto clenched his fists tightly and said with utmost seriousness:

"After all, you're just a high school student! In any case, please don't take any more risks for me in the future! If I'm going to do something dangerous, don't get involved!"

"I...but...you're a high school student too?" Karasukawa Saki was taken aback. For some reason, she felt a warmth in her heart, yet also a touch of loneliness:

"King of Kyushu...don't you need me anymore?"

"Not really, I still need your help sometimes, like tutoring me before exams or something~" Kyushu Makoto chuckled, scratching his head, offering a comforting reassurance:

"By the way, was there something you were trying to say to me just now?"

"No, it's nothing~ Goodnight~"

Perhaps the ambiguous atmosphere had been broken, and Karasu Sakifumi completely lost her mood. She shook her head slightly, swallowed her words, and rode away on her motorcycle.

You scared me! I suddenly put it on sale.

I just received an urgent notification from the editor saying that it will be available for purchase this Friday. You can check it out tonight. If you like this book, please consider making a first-day subscription to support it; it only costs about one cent.

After several rounds of promotion, this book's influence has essentially reached the level of a near-legendary author. Furthermore, these authors had connections within the industry to help promote and publicize their work in the early stages, while I don't know any industry professionals and don't necessarily need those connections. Therefore, you'll find virtually no comments in my comment section saying "Recommended from 'XXX'".

Besides, both of them write mainstream online novels that follow the trend, while I wrote a more rebellious and niche Tokyo-themed novel. If their performance is inferior to mine, they should reflect on whether they've been too incompetent.

After rambling on for a bit, let's get down to business, which is what I've been wanting to say since I started serializing this novel.

First, *Tokyoites Don't Defy Morals* is a magical realism novel primarily focused on humor and references; it lacks any profound themes or intention to reflect social realities. The words and actions of any character represent their fictional values ​​and are unrelated to the author. The author's aim is simply to depict a diverse and multifaceted world, creating multifaceted and complex characters, rather than a cast of uniformly good-natured individuals and inherently evil villains.

My goal in writing this book is probably the same as that of 99.9% of contracted authors on Qidian: to earn royalties and, incidentally, share some of my novel and imaginative ideas. Online literature differs from traditional literature in that its core purpose is to provide entertainment and enjoyment, not to disseminate or express any strong personal opinions. Therefore, I hope readers will not take this personally, nor feel indignant.

When planning this book, I originally intended to write a Tokyo romance novel, so I played games like *Sifu*, *Persona 5*, *Yakuza 7*, and *Judgment*. However, it's essentially based on the 2008 Akihabara random murder case. Then a group of patriotic young people emerged, vehemently criticizing the protagonist for saving Japanese people as an idiot, saying he'd be better off saving a Chinese person crossing the street and getting hit by a truck. It's rare to see people bringing up World War II history to condemn the author as ungrateful.

These days, there is indeed a group of so-called "patriotic youths" who, upon reading a novel set in Japan, can't wait for the protagonist to recite, "Heaven creates all things to nourish humankind." Ideally, there would be some scenes like "Sun Wukong wreaking havoc in Takamagahara," which would excite them to the point of ecstasy.

I firmly believe in the statement: "The Chinese and Japanese people have only one enemy: Japanese militarism and the traitors to the Chinese nation." If some readers consider themselves more patriotic than the person who said this, I think you should put down your novels and do more meaningful things, instead of using actions like "smashing Nissan cars" to harass a struggling author and then running around telling everyone, "I've done a great job! I've succeeded!"

Let's leave this topic here; I'm afraid things will get out of hand if we keep going...

The rest are just some minor opinions. For example, some people think the protagonist's behavior is not violent or extreme enough, some think the protagonist is too extreme, some think that minor villains cannot be redeemed and must be sentenced to death, and some think that the protagonist sparing the senior's life is licking her boots (if you dare to "lick" a woman like that in real life, no one will mess with you in the future)... In short, I think these problems are caused by the book's imperfections, but the bigger reason is that this is a "magical realism" book, so it is easier to nitpick.

Besides, my book has another major problem: it's rather "anti-mainstream" and too rebellious.

Popular online novels today mainly fall into two categories: one is the "flying" style, which focuses solely on plot and imaginative ideas, downplaying the significance of characters and making them serve the plot; the other is the traditional online novel style, which, while emphasizing plot and setting, places greater emphasis on character development.

Regardless of the various styles employed, most authors choose to create a "selfish" protagonist. This is because such protagonists are sufficiently ordinary, allowing readers to better empathize with them. For example, the protagonist of *Lord of Mysteries* starts out thinking about finding a good job and a powerful backer, and worrying about his family's basic needs; the protagonist of *The Mysterious Immortal* starts out thinking about curing his mental illness and protecting his family and friends. Even if they later become great heroes who save the world, they are initially selfish and insignificant individuals.

Some clever authors, in order to satisfy readers with high moral standards, will deliberately arrange for the protagonist to "incidentally" save a few people without affecting their own interests, or to gain greater benefits while helping others, achieving a win-win situation. This allows readers to proudly proclaim to others: "Look, the protagonist of this book is a benevolent and charitable person, with absolutely positive values!"

In short, the basic logic of bestselling novels is that "the protagonist helps others in order to profit." But the logic of my book is the opposite: "The protagonist profits because he helps others." I have indeed created a protagonist who is somewhat detached from ordinary people and is obsessed with his own path. There are no obvious cheat codes (like a system), nor are there any very obvious gains (the gains are mainly connections and fame). He is an altruist, and he is the protagonist purely because he is very capable and not stupid, and he knows how to keep a backup plan to avoid being taken advantage of. Moreover, due to the common structure of online novels, I will design it so that he gains something after each act of kindness, so that readers do not feel that the protagonist's actions are meaningless.

I believe this book truly defies the established order, which explains why many readers have expressed strong opinions and find it difficult to read. I understand this point; rather, I would say that I myself have taken a somewhat unconventional approach, which is why I haven't written a novel that is "popular with the people."

My purpose in writing this book is simple. I just felt it was time to inject some fresh blood, even though this blood might be rejected (meaning the general public wouldn't accept it), I just wanted to experience that thrill. Originally, I planned to write a lighthearted fantasy novel, with a similar plot to my previous post-apocalyptic romance, but I felt that if I didn't try new things and push my limits, even if I became a great author, I would become stagnant and eventually fade into obscurity.

The biggest mistake I made in the early stages of this book was that I paid too much attention to readers' comments and opinions, to the point that I became overwhelmed. After finishing the first volume (the Newsroom Incident), I started to feel out of sorts. I didn't know how to continue writing, and I kept trying to satisfy all readers' expectations, which made me hesitate.