Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

At this point, the situation had spiraled out of control for Ri Cheng. In fact, after seeing so many of his fellow disciples' corpses, his mind was in turmoil, especially since his master had also disappeared.

Combined with the phone call made not long ago, everything is self-evident.

He didn't hide anything and told the police everything.

Since they failed to suppress the demon sword, the only hope for the future, however slim, lies with the authorities.

Based on the statements of Nichijo and Muramasa Takii, combined with the preliminary investigation, the investigation team was basically able to confirm that the perpetrator was Nichigen Shonin, the abbot of Honmyoji Temple.

A high-ranking monk in his sixties.

The fact that most of the corpses died from knife wounds indicates that the Myōhō Muramasa sword that Honmyōji Temple intended to suppress at the time indeed possessed extraordinary power.

At least the two objectives of inciting people's hearts and minds and strengthening their own power are undeniable.

It turns out that extraordinary beings have been right under their noses all along.

It goes without saying that after today, the investigation headquarters will inevitably conduct a comprehensive survey of antiquities across the country.

I really hope we can find some magical artifacts with positive significance so they can better fight against the uncontrollable supernatural beings.

"You actually have time to read a book here?" Kurosaki finally found Taira no Ryu, who was sitting outside a house, flipping through an old book.

“It’s useful,” Ping Shenglong replied. The book cover read “The Record of Subduing Demons with Wonderful Methods.” “It describes the origin of the demon sword and the details of the two times the demon sword caused trouble.”

Hearing this, Kurosaki looked at the book with some longing: "Isn't there a copy?"

“No.” Heisei Ryu handed over a tablet. “But Nissei has an electronic version.”

"."

Kurosaki silently accepted it and sat down with him to carefully peruse it.

At this point, the other members of the fifth investigation team were still questioning the monk and Muramasa Takii.

After obtaining the more important information, they began to ask some other questions.

"Isn't the Muramasa sword currently in the hands of a collector?"

"That was just a shadow weapon without any special markings; the real weapon has always been in the hands of our Muramasa family."

"As far as I know, there are also descendants of the Muramasa family active in the Ise region. Are they also descendants of the Muramasa family?"

"That's one way to put it, but only those who accepted Myōhō Muramasa's teachings can be considered direct descendants."

"Hisashi said you are the ninth Muramasa. Have you sensed any unusual power?"

"There will be a special feeling."

"Can you sense where it is right now?"

"I can't do it. I don't know why."

"."

Although the title of the ninth Muramasa sounds quite impressive.

In reality, Muramasa Takii's performance was that of an ordinary high school girl, and she did not demonstrate any extraordinary abilities.

However, one point worth noting is that she and "Knight" are in the same class, although the two have never met.

However, the Muramasa family and that cursed sword can be traced back further; they didn't just appear out of nowhere like the knights.

Of course, those legends do sound like stories, but they lack sufficient evidence.

The questioning ended temporarily. Takagi organized the documents and handed them to Taira no Ryu. Muramasa Taki stayed in her room and could not go out for the time being.

A short while later, Kurosaki and Hiramori walked in.

After staring at her for a few seconds, Ping Shenglong suddenly asked, "Where are you in the game?"

Takii frowned slightly, seemingly puzzled: "What...game?"

"Have you finished the subway game?" Ping Shenglong added.

Taki said with a slight sigh, "I was just chosen by the demon sword to become the ninth Muramasa. I don't know anything about games, but I do sometimes play some, mainly action games. Which one would you like to know about?"

Kurosaki moved the tablet in his hand in front of Heisei Ryu.

Heisei Ryu nodded and looked at Takii again: "When I mentioned games just now, your heart rate increased. Did you think of something?"

"Because I didn't know how to answer your question; it was very different from what I had expected."

"Oh, what are you thinking about?"

"I want you to know how terrifying the Demon Blade is, so take action as soon as possible."

"."

"You don't believe in the existence of the Demon Blade?"

“No, we naturally believe it. Please remember we are the investigation team from the Extraordinary Measures Division,” Kurosaki began. “But before that, I’d like to ask, Ms. Muramasa, are you aware of the experiences of the third and fourth Muramasa?”

“I know, but it’s only through the Nichiren sect’s records. Our clan’s records about them are very vague.” Taki nodded.

Kurosaki gave a soft hum: "Why did the third and fourth generations lose control, while you, as the ninth generation, didn't lose control at the beginning? Was it all thanks to the methods left behind by Master Hosei?"

“In an emergency, my blood can calm the demon sword down temporarily, and I can also get rid of its influence for a while. Most importantly, I don’t have the hatred my ancestors had for the Tokugawa Shogunate.”

"Hmm, I heard from Richeng that you come here to have your blood drawn every now and then?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever seen where Riyan uses his blood?"

".No."

“There are no records of other people using the demon sword in the book. It seems that only those with the chosen Muramasa bloodline can unleash its power. Is there a possibility that…” Kurosaki pondered, “Higan has temporarily gained control of the demon sword through your blood? Is that why you lost your sense of it?”

Taki's mouth opened slightly: "This..."

"If this guess is correct, what do you think he wants to do?"

"I don't know." Taki shook her head. "I don't know."

“But Master Yan is a good person.”

Kurosaki sighed and nodded: "We also hope he is a good person, but the evidence shows that he killed all the disciples in the main hall. Ri Cheng said that Ri Yan was very affectionate towards each of them."

"But even so, he still made a move."

“No.” Takii looked at him. “If it was Master Riyan who was chasing them, they couldn’t all have died in the main hall. It must have been that they wanted to kill Master Riyan, and Master Riyan had no choice but to retaliate with his demon sword.”

Kurosaki was surprised that this girl had maintained a clear mind and hadn't been led astray by them.

He looked at Pyeong Sung-ryong, who then spoke.

"You are currently in a dangerous situation. We will be providing you with strict protection as part of the Extraordinary Measures Department. Please understand."

"I understand, I will cooperate."

Chapter 151: Brain-Computer Interface

Kurosaki and Hiramori asked a lot of questions.

Muramasa Taki subtly added her own "interpretations" to the Honmyoji Temple scriptures, secrets she learned from the game.

She started doing this on her second day as a player, trying to connect the dots through a fairly reasonable guess and record.

Providing this information to the authorities might be helpful, not only for others but also for her own sake, since she is indeed not safe right now.

Riyan had told her that the Demon Blade was happy to see her, its contractor, and even the entire Muramasa bloodline wiped out, so that the Demon Blade could find a new contractor and set even harsher terms.

There's no need to slaughter the entire Muramasa family bloodline; killing her alone will suffice.

The harsh terms should not apply to the number of people, but rather to control.

Even though the Muramasa family, who had previously made a contract with the government, eventually lost their reason, they at least had control for a period of time at the beginning.

Even if all else fails, one can delay the inevitable by sacrificing one's own blood.

The new contractors may only be qualified to become sword puppets.

There's no need to establish a succession from generation to generation; just replace one with another as they die. In Riyan's words, the extraordinary lineage in the world has been severed, and no one can control a being like the Demon Blade.

However, this became less certain after the appearance of the knight and the demonic mist.

It is likely that there are still extraordinary beings in this world who can limit the power of the demon sword.

Why is it so noisy outside?

Hearing the noise, Kurosaki got up and was about to go out to see what was going on.

Tuk Tuk.

Takagi knocked and came in.

"Team leader, a lot of reporters have come outside."

"And...they all seem to know about the Demon Blade."

At the entrance of Honmyoji Temple.

Outside the cordon.

"Officer, could you tell me if this case is related to the legendary 'Muramasa Demon Sword'?"

"Are the legends true? Does the demon sword really exist?"

"Why did this happen at Honmyoji Temple? Has Honmyoji Temple always been a demonic temple?"

Kurosaki leaned against the wall, listening to the reporters' chatter, his brow furrowed.

"How do these guys know so much? Who leaked it?"

"Could there be a traitor among us?"

Heisei Ryu looked at Takagi Sara.

"An investigation is underway. Reporters are saying this is an 'exclusive' message sent to them by an anonymous email address."

"This scene looks like half of Tokyo's news teams have been called in. What kind of unique situation is this?" Kurosaki remarked.

"Headquarters technicians confirmed that the email originated from Alaska, America."

"tsk"

Kurosaki looked at Heisei Ryu with a helpless expression: "Okay, that's certainly clever. Is there any way to find out the phone calls, emails, and messages made to Ami in the surrounding area within the last two hours?"

"Ahem, that's impossible." Nakajima, who was standing nearby, couldn't stand it anymore and replied on behalf of Taira no Ryu.

I wouldn't even dare to dream of such a thing.

It's always been Amei who's been listening in here; they're not qualified to listen in on Amei.

"Just asking." Kurosaki knew it was unrealistic and dismissed the idea, but then suddenly clapped his hands and leaned close to Heisei Ryu's ear, "Do you think... it could be a 'player'?"

"You mean some players are using reporters to spy on our information and reactions?"

"Yes, the movement is very obvious."

"Well, it's possible."

"Then can we directly investigate the people in the vicinity within these two hours?"

"Yes, but don't get your hopes up too high."

Ping Shenglong was well aware of this terrifying statistic. If you wanted to determine whether someone's presence here was suspicious, you would have to investigate their identity, job, relationships, and daily activities. It wasn't as simple as just opening your mouth.

After the system filters them out, a lot of manual verification is still required.

There are a lot of people here, especially because of the dense concentration of temples and the large number of tourists, including many foreigners.

Because of the frequent occurrence of supernatural events, Tokyo has actually seen an increase in tourists, as if none of them are afraid of death.

However, not all of them are "tourists" with simple purposes.

Some people are so bad that even the authorities don't dare to arrest them.

"It's just one path after all; how will you know if you don't try?"

Kurosaki was quite pleased, since he didn't have to deal with those reporters anyway, and he just got a glimpse of what the other party might have revealed for nothing.

As long as the other party continues to make these underhanded moves, he is confident that he can uncover the other person's remaining three weaknesses.

Click.