Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

Either you kill Muramasa Taki, or I'll send the entire city of Tokyo to its grave.

"."

The people in the room remained silent.

"Have you noticed that ever since Muramasa Taki and the Demon Blade's thoughts became transparent, the Demon Blade's intelligence seems to be becoming more and more like a human?"

"Did it learn this, or did it always possess this intelligence, which it has only recently regained?"

People avoided the choices offered by the demon sword and reluctantly began discussing other aspects.

There's no way to escape this, and such conditions are unacceptable.

Muramasa Taki is currently their only card that could possibly restrain the demon sword, so why discard it out of thin air?

What's the difference between this and a country suddenly announcing its voluntary abandonment of nuclear weapons during a nuclear standoff? Can we really expect another country to suddenly become kind and stop threatening with nuclear weapons?

Impossible. The Demon Blade isn't powerful enough to force them into a policy of appeasement.

"In that case, let's implement the second plan and have a head-on confrontation. We'll choose the venue."

Leon slammed his hand on the table, turned around, and dialed Ping Shenglong's number.

"I've approved your proposal. Knight, is he? I hope he won't be as often late as Justice."

Chapter 155: A Direct Declaration

Inside the Soul-Gathering Umbrella space.

The little snake that had been lying limply among the spider lilies on the riverbank suddenly stood up and began to twitch, like a cat about to vomit a hairball.

vomit--

With a vomiting sound, the spider lily inside the little snake was completely expelled, falling to the ground and swaying gently without any wind.

Its shape is larger than when it first appeared, and it looks more alluring.

When the special spider lily appeared, the other ordinary spider lilies around it all drooped their heads, as if in submission.

The special spider lily stretched out, then suddenly extended its branches and plunged into the blood river beside it, drinking voraciously. In the distance, one could vaguely see many spirit fish being sucked into it.

"Hiss!!"

The little snake from the other shore, which had just been curiously looking around, suddenly became anxious.

shut up!

Even it wouldn't dare to eat so heartily. One sip of yours is enough for three days' worth of its food. Eating this much would get you scolded!

So he quickly bit down on the branch of the spider lily and pulled it back.

The red spider lily refused to peek out, continuing to inhale deeply.

"I'm here to help you!"

Upon seeing this, Ueda Yoshi, who was resting inside, rushed over to help his good friend pull out the spider lilies.

Yes, good friend.

After spending the last ten days together, Ueda is no longer worried that the other side will eat him up.

With the combined efforts of the soul and the snake, they finally managed to pull out the spider lily after several struggles.

Wow.

After returning to the shore, the red spider lily was still somewhat reluctant to leave. The flower turned around and seemed to be drooling as it stared at Ueda, the spirit.

"Waaaaah, Bi'an, please help me!"

Upon seeing this, Ueda quickly fled, shouting as he did so.

The spider lilies chased after it with comical steps.

"Sa!"

The little snake leaped and shot in front of Ueda, its petals on the side of its neck elongating to hold the restless spider lily back into its belly, bit by bit.

"Hiccup~"

After burping, the little snake looked around and saw that Ueda had already run back to his room and locked the doors and windows.

Feeling guilty, it slipped to the bank and used its tail to measure the depth of the river.

Thankfully, the water level hasn't dropped too much.

Let's count how many fish are left. Hmm, why is one of them not moving at all? Is it suffering from heatstroke?

It's the middle of the night outside.

Shinji Higashiyama exited the game, noting down the clues.

He could sense what was happening inside the Soul-Gathering Umbrella, but it was nothing serious. He also wanted to see what special characteristics the other shore flower would have when it grew up.

After piecing together clues from the three games, it's quite clear that the Onmyoji is among them.

In the subway, he was Zhu Hai's original owner, and also the owner of that space;

On the other side, he made some kind of agreement with the giant serpent;

The third-generation Muramasa was being escorted when he was rescued and the demon sword was brought to him.

They may not be the same person, but they clearly had the same goals and plans, even though the plans ultimately failed.

At least a clue was left for Shinichi Higashiyama, and it may take two or three more games to fully understand the whole story.

"In contrast, how should we break into Edo Castle?"

In the game, following the principle of not killing, he traveled along the East China Sea route all the way to Edo.

Then it got stuck.

The demon sword granted him a new ability: he could use the accumulated progress bar to create sword slaves.

The game's premise is clearly to have you raise an army of sword slaves, launch a direct attack on Edo Castle, and then use the chaos to break into the castle.

But creating such chaos is unlikely to end well.

However, it is extremely difficult to infiltrate, as it is a place where monks, Onmyoji, samurai, and practitioners of different professions gather.

They are few in number, but their positions are crucial and cannot be bypassed. If one of them is attacked, everyone will rush over to beat them up.

Moreover, their weaknesses are very difficult to see through. The seven red lights are like teleportation, and it would be lucky to spot even one of them. To kill them instantly is simply a pipe dream.

Unless you raise your demonic possession level, accumulate enough demonic sword energy, and enter a burst state, there is almost no way to solve it.

Muramasa Takii also got stuck at this hurdle, but even so, he was still a few days ahead of the others.

Shinichi Higashiyama couldn't have copied it; he borrowed Takii's game ideas.

It can only be said that ratings don't determine everything, but ratings really don't lie.

This kind of rating isn't called alienation, it's called standardization.

He wondered if anyone could actually achieve a perfect score, but he figured even those who had personally experienced it probably wouldn't reach that level.

In the real world, he must have known about the huge commotion caused by the appearance of the demon sword.

It also took a lot of spiritual energy to use the abilities of the Diviner to divine the outcome, which confirmed that the matter would turn from danger to safety. This means that the players or the official authorities will eventually be able to resolve the Demon Blade incident.

This eliminates the need for him to take action.

Moreover, he himself indicated auspiciousness, meaning that entrusting the matter to them would ultimately yield a favorable outcome for him.

He likes to win without lifting a finger.

After categorizing his thoughts, he closed his notebook and entered a meditative state.

Under the moonlight, many people find it difficult to fall asleep.

Nobita sat blankly on the rooftop, gazing at the moonlight, Uesugi's words echoing over and over again.

Iwasaki, now in the form of black mist, carefully flips through the last photo he took with his sister, taken almost ten years ago at his graduation ceremony.

Uesugi Uesugi is still live streaming.

She owes her fans a lot of live streaming time.

The next day.

Muramasa Taki woke up in a closed room.

Last night she still couldn't find a way to pass the level, but it seemed she had noticed someone following her.

But he never made a move against her.

Was it the mysterious person who gave her the demon sword, or someone else entirely?

[Ms. Muramasa, please tell the Demon Blade for us: "Even if you send all of Tokyo to the underworld, we will not compromise. The day after tomorrow, we will take Muramasa Takii to a place. If you are confident, you are welcome to come."]

Sound came from the loudspeaker in the room.

Takii: "."

Although she would be willing to die if it could quell the chaos caused by the demon sword.

But hearing others so openly use her as bait, I felt a strange mix of emotions.

Ms. Muramasa, please rest assured that we will do our utmost to ensure your safety.

"I believe."

The day after tomorrow, which means she has two more nights to finish the game.

She wasn't sure what effect completing the game would have on the demon sword, but since the game appeared at this point in time, it must signify something.

All she needs to do is complete the level and get the game's rewards.

"Has the setup started?"

"Yes, after consideration, within the Tokyo city area, only the port area around Umi no Mori Park is suitable, as there is still a lot of undeveloped land there."

"Is there any way to let the knight know in the next two days that we will be waiting for the Demon Blade there, without the Demon Blade knowing?"

"."

"Forget it, let's just leave this problem to the fifth investigation team that raised it."

Leon rubbed his temples and said this.

Chapter 156: A Two-Faced Blade

Muramasa Taki found the inspiration to break through the barrier while recalling the contents of "The Tale of Subduing Demons with Wonderful Method".

This book records the stories of the third and fourth Muramasa and the demon sword, but there is a gap in the timeline.

After Facheng clashed with the demon sword, the story jumps abruptly to him returning to Kuonji Temple with the third-generation corpse for burial, and then living a secluded life, researching ways to break the demon sword's legacy.

Then he embarked on a new journey to find the demon sword, witnessing the fourth generation's madness in 1630, and finally joined forces with the Koga ninja to help him pass on.

From then on, Hosei took away the demon sword and the direct descendants of the Muramasa family, and arranged methods to escape the contract, allowing them to live peacefully through generation after generation of new Muramasa.

The texts do not specify how the Third Generation died, or who had the demon sword at that time. Why did Hosei deliberately avoid this part?

Of course, it's also possible that he didn't deliberately avoid it, but rather that later generations deleted this section for some unknown reason.

The inspiration lies here: since the content is sensitive, it may indicate a close relationship with Hosei. Therefore, the first thing to do when you arrive near Edo Castle in the game is not to think about how to break in, but to find Hosei.

This is the answer to this route.

As for how to find Facheng, Takii recalled the feeling of being followed and had a general idea.

A bamboo grove near Edo Castle.

Takii knelt in the clearing surrounded by bamboo grove, silently resisting the indistinct whispers of the demon sword.

She couldn't hear what the demon sword was saying, but there was a strange rhythm in its words. Once you became engrossed in it, you could easily lose your true self and be willingly manipulated.

Amidst the rustling of bamboo leaves, the person she was waiting for arrived.

"Have you come to a realization, benefactor?"

It's springtime in the game, but it feels a bit colder than springtime in reality, possibly due to the Little Ice Age.

Facheng knelt before Takii, his palms pressed together, his face filled with compassion.