I'm in an American comic book, and all my teammates are main characters and bosses.

Chapter 10 - It's truly a pity I can't become a Red Spirit

Ron completely understood this cowardly system. According to the system, his previous incarnation was the primordial Earth, the root of the World Tree. And because of this, the Earths in the multiverses within the World Tree all bear some resemblance to the primordial universe.

Hmm... if that's the case, could there be an Epstein on Earth in an abandoned universe?

Is it possible?

As Ron thought about it, he felt a little itchy inside...

Night had just fallen, and the streets of Shinjuku were bustling with pedestrians. However, even among this large crowd, Ron, Sekiro, and their companions stood out too much. Sure enough, after only a few steps, people around them instinctively began to stare at them…

Putting everything else aside, Ron's attire, so unlike that of ordinary people, alone drew a lot of attention. However, just like the problems the Hidden Department encountered, once people's attention was taken away from Ron, they quickly forgot about his appearance.

This would cause them to pause, or even stop altogether, and look at Ron again to confirm if their memory was faulty. The surge of people and this unusual situation quickly caused some minor congestion and attracted the attention of some patrol officers.

The experienced patrolman, who had been jogging along, glanced at Ron and Sekiro's attire and quickly guessed the reason for the traffic jam. Just as he was about to offer some advice, he noticed Tanjiro's Nichirin Blade and Sekiro's Karmaru and Mortal Blade.

Seeing this, the patrol officer's face immediately turned serious, and he gripped his baton tightly, asking:

"Swords are strictly prohibited nowadays! Sir, please cooperate with our investigation."

Seeing this, Tanjiro's face showed a hint of unease, but just as the boy was about to say something, Ron stopped Tanjiro, then looked at the policeman with a smile and opened his mouth to speak a string of fluent English.

"?"

Upon hearing Ron's words, the patrolman paused slightly, slightly taken aback. Noticing the patrolman's expression, Sekiro glanced at Ron as well, then mumbled a few words in English. Ron then promptly produced his identification document—a passport from this era.

These things are free. To facilitate their operations, Ron and his team are given a verifiable temporary identity the moment they enter this world to carry out their mission. Upon seeing Ron's identification, the patrol officer, who had initially intended to take him back for questioning, immediately turned grim.

He glanced around to make sure no one noticed the information on the ID, then, with a fawning smile, he returned the ID to Ron, saying:

"Ah! I misread it! I hope you two have a great time in Shinjuku. If you need anything, please let us know and we'll be there to handle it immediately!"

Ron smiled and gave an OK sign. Then, the patrolman brandished his baton and began to aggressively drive away the pedestrians blocking the way, completely unlike his obsequious and easy-going manner towards Ron.

Ron simply lowered his profile to avoid attracting attention and prevent similar incidents from happening again. As for the patrol officers' behavior... they seemed completely unsurprised.

In other words, the Taisho era still held a degree of reverence for the emperor, who supposedly fathered a bunch of mentally challenged people through inbreeding. But in later generations—

If you're traveling in Japan and accidentally get caught by the police, shouting "My lawyer is coming right away" won't scare the officers. But if you add, "I need to make a call to my consulate," the officer's expression will definitely change on the spot.

If you then speak fluent English and show a picture of an American passport, the Japanese police will think that arresting you would be a troublesome matter, and will become very understanding, smiling and telling you that it's not necessary and hoping you have fun.

Well, if you pull out a U.S. military ID, you can take the female officer who's doing the routine questioning back to her office to process it—a man will do too.

Furthermore, if you were to smoke a corncob pipe, wear sunglasses and a military cap, you would be immediately put down and called out "Emperor Emeritus".

This is how the servant state is.

Not to mention Japan, South Korea is the same way. The US troops stationed there are openly selling drugs, and the local government can only turn a blind eye and pretend not to know.

They turn a blind eye to foreign drug traffickers, but crack down hard on their own people who use drugs.

Thinking it didn't matter, Ron calmly put away his documents and then walked towards the most bustling cafe in Shinjuku.

Although it may sound a bit far-fetched, Shinjuku is famous for its numerous cafes that have been around since the Taisho era. However, unlike cafes elsewhere, the cafes here have completely changed their atmosphere. They are mostly dimly lit booths or private rooms, offering not only coffee but also drinks for the night, and female companions dressed in a mix of Chinese and Western maid outfits, giving them a feel reminiscent of modern maid cafes.

Ron wasn't exactly familiar with these kinds of cafes and bars, but he wasn't a complete stranger either; he just didn't frequent them often. However, Japan during the Taisho era was relatively reserved; there weren't any cafes where a bunch of girls would bend over, bow, and shout "Goshukin samo ya!" as soon as you entered—although the maid culture did indeed take shape during the Taisho era.

The coffee shop was quite crowded, mostly with ambitious young people drinking and discussing various issues and ideas.

A group of medical students, accompanied by a female escort who looked completely bewildered, were quietly discussing the future direction of medicine. Considering the historical context, perhaps even some of this world's Zhou Shuren (Lu Xun) were among their juniors.

With great interest, Ron confirmed his reservation for a booth and headed over.

The others in the café couldn't help but stare at Ron after seeing his attire, and a few even whispered among themselves about whether they should come up for a visit. Ron wasn't surprised by this.

Meiji fostered scholars, Taisho fostered the nation, Showa fostered demons, Heisei fostered pigs, and Reiwa fostered Cthulhu.

In another ten years or so, the Japanese Communist Party will also take root and sprout in this land, joining the Third International in the same year. However, they probably never imagined that this ideology would eventually flourish on the other side of the sea and become a towering tree that cannot be ignored.

Upon entering the booth, Wolf ordered a glass of water and sat there motionless, showing no intention of drinking it at all.

Although he is no longer the "ninja" he once was, the habits of a ninja still deeply influence the wolf. In unfamiliar, enclosed areas like this, where the wolf hasn't witnessed the complete process of obtaining water and food, the wolf won't even touch them.

In contrast, the princess happily ordered a glass of juice and some fried snacks. She ate very little, mostly just tasting the flavors, seemingly worried about the health of the baby in her belly.

Tanjiro seemed a bit reserved, which is understandable. Not to mention Tanjiro, any child found in the mountains and taken to such a quiet place, completely different from the traditional customs of the mountain village, would feel awkward and restrained, afraid that they might attract the attention and gossip of those around them if they were not careful.

He didn't pay much attention to it; you get used to these things. He didn't have any particular hobbies. Following Wolf's lead, he ordered a glass of water and chugdled down his accumulated gains while waiting for the Demon Slayer Corps to arrive.

The so-called gains are actually just determining how effective I and the items on the wolf can be in different worldviews.

The results were quite encouraging. The lightning runes, fire runes, and bone marrow ash on Ron's body all worked well, even proving more effective against individual targets than against the beasts of Yharnam. However, the resonating bells were completely useless…

The Resonating Bell, a huge and ancient bell discovered in underground ruins. Its sound can transcend dimensions; the first hunter used the bell as a code to summon hunters from other worlds to cooperate across time and space.

Simply put, it's about finding a good buddy to fight the boss together. Besides that, there's a small resonance bell for targeted communication, and a calamity bell specifically for invading other worlds. Unfortunately, none of these three bells are very useful; shaking them is pointless. And the clanging sound they make isn't very pleasant either.

In contrast, the "Hymn Team," the high-ranking members of the Healing Church, created hunting tools by replicating these resonating bells. The original hymn bells still produced effects. However, as replicas, their sounds could not penetrate dimensions, but they could still provide life force and healing effects to others.

This is quite good. According to Ron's observation, this healing power is different from blood healing. It is a special ritual that uses "hymns" to revitalize life energy, thereby accelerating the recovery of others.

If Ron truly wanted to recover, he could use blood therapy via injections from blood collection vials to more quickly draw energy from the blood of those in higher positions for his own recovery. Unfortunately, this is something others cannot use.

It's not that it's completely unusable, but the side effects might be quite significant...

Perhaps, one could use their own blood?

In addition, there's the matter of the mission's objective. Initially, while Muzan Kibutsuji was also a target Roon suspected, it wasn't confirmed. This was because Tanjiro reported Kagura Ubuyashiki, whose prefix was "suspected parasite." In other words, the parasite wasn't him, but rather someone connected to him.

In this situation, the people suspected of being infected by the global virus are not only Muzan Kibutsuji, but also Teruya Ubuyashiki's parents and sisters.

Later, when determining the effects of items in different worldviews, Ron reaffirmed that his target was indeed Muzan Kibutsuji—he had been too busy testing his sword when he encountered Hantengu to notice him earlier. After noticing him, he realized that almost every demon carried the aura of a parasitic host.

Especially those who were recently turned into demons by Muzan, their viral aura was much stronger. In contrast, people like Kiriya, apart from the system being able to find some connection between the parasitized person and him through the search program, did not have data on being parasitized by the virus or even fused with it.

As for ordinary people and even common evil spirits... the world virus isn't that cheap. If they want to parasitize, they'll actively choose those who have a significant impact on the world's narrative. Only in this way can they infect and disease the entire world with the smallest amount of virus the fastest.

In the original timeline, DIO was an ordinary, unremarkable nobody, so even if he were parasitized, it wouldn't be of much use to him.

As he pondered this, Ron released his senses to confirm whether the Demon Slayer Corps, whom he had arranged to come here, had arrived. Just as Ron sensed the aura of the Demon Slayer Corps, an eyebrow twitched, and a playful glint appeared in his eyes.

Just like playing Souls-like games, sometimes you'll suddenly discover a hidden shortcut.

Speedrunning was created in this way.

Just as Ron was still thinking, several strong young men carrying wooden boxes walked in from outside, accompanied by footsteps.

"Excuse me! Where is Mr. Ron's booth? I'm Kyojuro Rengoku! I'm here to find you!"

"I can't breathe!" Rengoku Kyojuro asked in a loud voice, which quickly attracted the attention of many people in the coffee shop. Some found the loud-voiced young man amusing, while others thought it was an insult to civility.

Following closely behind the fiery Rengoku Kyojuro was a pink-haired Love Pillar named Kanroji Mitsuri, whose extraordinary development and curvaceous figure could not be concealed even in her school uniform.

And there's the top-tier eligible bachelor, Sound Hashira Tengen, dressed in a suit, with silver hair flowing down his back, handsome, and adorned with expensive gems on his hands, clothes, and neck, yet without a trace of nouveau riche vulgarity; and the Insect Hashira Shinobu Kocho and the Water Hashira Giyu Tomioka, whose temperament and attire are somewhat unremarkable compared to the other three.

It's not that Shinobu Kocho and Giyu Tomioka were particularly plain-looking. On the contrary, just by looking at her, you could feel the gentle and graceful demeanor of a Yamato Nadeshiko, and she looked like a well-read and sensible woman, not a country bumpkin, which was quite desirable in the Taisho era.

While Giyu Tomioka appears aloof and indifferent, seemingly uninterested in anything, his facial features are equally striking, and his upright posture suggests regular training. However, both men possess a rather mild temperament and demeanor. Compared to Kyojuro Rengoku's fiery passion, Mitsuri Kanroji's naturally full figure, and the dazzling array of precious gems adorning Tengen Uzui's body, they do indeed appear somewhat ordinary…

Just like leafy greens in Chongqing hot pot, apart from pea shoots, the others are not unimportant in hot pot, but most of the time they serve as a colorful accompaniment.

And just to fool my own stomach—I ate vegetables today, so my bottom won't hurt tomorrow.

……

Dried gongcai (a type of vegetable) doesn't count either.

As he spoke, Ron waved his hand and gestured, "Here."

(End of this chapter)