Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

Now things are really messed up! What was originally planned as carrying Takii has now been changed to carrying the knight.

Moreover, even when they exerted their full strength, they could only manage a 30/70 split against Muramasa Takii.

“Perhaps it’s because Muramasa Taki’s image perfectly matches the Japanese people’s mindset of ‘Sailor Moon’,” Leon explained at the meeting. “Ms. Muramasa looks very gentle, even wearing a sailor uniform, but she is extremely decisive when fighting. This strong contrast makes it easy for ordinary people to become interested in her.”

"Of course, more importantly, she's beautiful."

"Sigh, what a shut-in." The Minister of Defense rubbed his temples, which were throbbing with tension.

This reasoning is reasonable, and that's what he thought too, but it felt strange to hear Leon say it out loud.

That's so superficial. Aren't knights' armor cool?

It's impossible to suppress Muramasa Takii's popularity now; it's too obvious. Unless a superhuman wearing a mecha appears in the future, it's unlikely to be able to compete with Muramasa Takii.

These past few days have been unpredictable, with rain and sunshine alternating, heat and coolness. My rhinitis has almost killed me; it's like a running faucet.

Chapter 168: No Gate to Hell

"Is she 'righteous'?"

Ethan Reynolds sat on the sofa in his apartment, watching the official press conference.

Upon seeing the publicly released portrait of Muramasa Taki, Renault immediately recalled the girl standing at the entrance of Honmyoji Temple that day.

"Muramasa, the Demon Blade, no wonder he achieved a perfect ending so far ahead of everyone else." Renault didn't think it was cheating; perhaps that was why the other party was chosen.

Because of the restriction that game nicknames must use Chinese characters from the player's name, once a suspect is identified, it is very easy to make a final deduction based on their name, even if it is not 100% successful, it is still 99% accurate.

Unless the chosen nickname is an extremely common one like 'village', 'river', or 'well'.

Being a foreigner gives one a natural advantage in this regard.

Foreigners' names are usually transliterated in Japan, but Chinese characters are not used to replace them. For example, Ethan is transliterated as イーサン (san).

Therefore, in order to complete the registration of a nickname, he must first find out how his name can be written in Chinese characters.

After learning his name, he chose Mori, a common character in Japanese names, as his nickname, making it hard to believe he was a foreigner.

Furthermore, the character '森' is mostly pronounced 'mori' and has absolutely no relation to his name.

As long as he doesn't reveal any foreign characteristics, it will significantly increase the difficulty of the official search.

"The perfect completion time was on the evening of the 15th, and on the evening of the 16th, extraordinary abilities were displayed. So is this the reward for a perfect completion? Are extraordinary abilities like the Knight and the Demon Mist also different abilities obtained through game rewards?"

Renault's interest grew as he thought about it.

I couldn't wait until evening, so I started playing the game right there.

He had already advanced to the vicinity of Edo Castle, and then died in the final siege.

He died twice more this time, finally managing a narrow victory through a burst of demonic possession.

"Your stubbornness and insatiable nature will inevitably lead to a violent death."

Fa Cheng said this before he died.

Renault didn't care at all; he had disliked this bald man for a long time, and he casually chopped his head off.

"Listen to me! What I'm doing now is for your benefit. There's no need for you to fight me for control. I'll only do it better than you!"

He stared at the restless demonic sword in his hand and shouted in a deep voice.

The trembling of the demon sword gradually subsided until it returned to calm.

Relieved, Renault glanced at the progress bar; the knife was full, and the man was almost full too.

He changed into a relatively clean set of new clothes and continued on his way.

Soon after, they arrived at the castle town of Edo, where the defenses were unusually tight, with a large number of troops deployed around the area. It seemed that Tokugawa was afraid.

Looking at the castle tower still under construction in Edo Castle, Renault wondered whether he should just storm in.

"Sword slave?"

The new ability that the demon sword unlocked made him give up the idea. If he could build an army of sword slaves, things would be much easier.

Taking advantage of available opportunities is Renault's consistent approach.

He's the type of player who has to use all the items in his inventory when fighting the final boss, leaving only a few as a precaution against potential hidden bosses later on.

He found a populated area and strolled over there.

into the night.

The riots broke out suddenly, and panicked shouts and emotions began to spread throughout the town, accompanied by fires that were lit in four different places.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, sir. There was a sudden commotion."

"Put on my armor."

The samurai, who had just returned to the samurai's territory to rest, got up and put on their armor. But as soon as they picked up their weapons, a ghostly figure flashed by and a dark red knife pierced their chests.

The sword was drawn in an instant, and the figure vanished. The samurai clutched his chest and stumbled back several steps in disbelief.

His jet-black pupils were quickly stained blood red.

He stared intently at his family members beside him.

"My lord! It's me!"

"Father!"

The samurai suddenly broke into a twisted smile, turned around, and with one stroke beheaded the servant, ripped out his ribs, and went on a killing spree in the house.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

As the alarm bells rang, a large number of garrison troops gathered near the unfinished city walls and moat.

What happened in the town?

"None of the scouts have returned, and we have no idea."

The feeling of having no idea who the enemy was infuriated the samurai, but his emotions didn't last long. He saw a large number of figures approaching him from the firelight.

"Make them stop!"

"No passage!"

"Fire a warning shot at them."

Several gunshots rang out, and only a few dark figures could be vaguely seen pausing for a moment before continuing their charge towards them as if nothing had happened.

"That's the enemy! Prepare to fight!"

Renault walked in the darkness, taking advantage of the chaos caused by the army of sword slaves, and entered the citadel with great ease.

But before he knew it, the progress bar of the demon sword had already reached its maximum, and he could feel himself gradually losing control.

So at least before things get out of control, let's take down Tokugawa.

He bit his tongue until it bled, forcing himself to concentrate on finding that old fox, Tokugawa.

But more and more people were coming to kill him, while Tokugawa was nowhere to be found.

After slaying another person, the demon sword burst forth with a scarlet light, completely engulfing his consciousness. A red glow covered his eyes, and all he could hear were muffled screams and wails.

Finally, all was suddenly plunged into silence and darkness.

A few seconds later, lines of text silently appeared before my eyes.

You have successfully completed the ending - Hell Has No Gates.

[Ending Evaluation: Demonic Possession Ending. From this point onward, the legend of the Muramasa sword is deeply etched in the hearts of every Japanese person.]

[First-time completion score: B]

[Final Reward: Ability - Crimson Lord (Blood is your nourishment, and also your shackle)]

[Potential: B, Growth Requirements: Greed, Cruelty, Narcissism, Growth Abilities: Corpse Bomb, Infection Chain, Blood Night Domain]

After staring blankly at the words for a long time, Renault slowly came back to his senses and pulled himself out of the game.

"Extraordinary. Is this the origin of the extraordinary? Are we all just pawns for that 'unknown' to amuse himself? But even if we are pawns, who wouldn't willingly accept such power?"

What used to give Renault a sense of intoxication was only the ink on banknotes, but now there are two more things: the sweet and pungent taste of blood, and the power that distinguishes him from ordinary people.

After carefully feeling the power, he roughly understood how to put it into practice.

He can consume 'blood energy' to gain bonuses to his various attributes, which is the most basic and core ability.

Blood energy can be replenished by collecting fresh blood or by slowly recovering; the higher the quality of the blood, the more blood energy it can provide.

If you really need an analogy, you can think of it as the difference between refueling a car with 92 and 95 octane gasoline.

However, there is a limit to the amount of blood energy one can hold, so the best way is to replenish that limit with high-quality blood. This way, one can maintain combat mode for longer and unleash greater power.

However, it should be noted that even without using their abilities, their blood energy will slowly deplete and needs to be replenished periodically, similar to that of vampires.

His current potential is very low. With his own blood, he can probably only fight at full strength for about ten minutes, and if he saves his energy and enters the endurance mode, it will only last for half an hour.

If we can find higher quality blood, it should be able to boost the battery to full power for up to half an hour and provide an additional hour of continuous use.

To break through the blood energy limit, one needs to absorb extraordinary or special blood with higher potential than oneself.

To improve basic attributes, one needs to absorb the blood of other extraordinary beings, but there are no requirements regarding potential.

He also has two initial abilities: bloodletting (manipulating blood in wounds to exacerbate blood loss) and bloodwing levitation (brief flight).

Looking out at the bright sunshine, he felt no comfort as usual, but rather an instinctive aversion.

"Is this one of the costs?"

"It feels similar to a vampire. I should try the silver cross and garlic to see if they have any effect in restraining it."

Renault drew the curtains, blocking out the sunlight, and he felt much better instantly.

He returned to the sofa, pondering the qualities required for growth, all of which were negative. Was he really that bad?

He killed a lot of people in the game, but in reality, he has never killed a single person.

Why get your hands stained with blood and leave yourself vulnerable if you can solve things with money?

However, indiscriminate killing will inevitably attract official crackdown.

It will also arouse the disgust of those who want to maintain order, setting a precedent for him so that he can only cooperate with people like Yaowu in the future.

If he had a choice, he would be quite unwilling to cooperate with someone like himself.

However, if his abilities were to grow, he would inevitably become enemies with most of the extraordinary beings.

Renault glanced at the player list, his thoughts gradually becoming clearer.

"Who said I'm a bad person?"

"At least for now, I can be a good person."

Chapter 169: Time-Limited Hero

Southeast University Affiliated Hospital.

High-dependency wards.

The smell of disinfectant lingered, the instruments beeped, and Oshima's mother's eyelashes fluttered as she slowly awoke from her coma.

Blinking, her memories returned. She knew very well that waking up was not a good thing; it would only bring endless torment.

She had already summarized it herself: the excruciating pain fluctuates, reaching its peak at midnight, then decreasing until 6 p.m., before slowly climbing back up.

Even the mildest pain is unbearable, making every minute and every second feel like torture.

But just as she was bracing herself for another wave of excruciating pain, her heart remained remarkably calm for quite some time, free from the tearing, stabbing agony.

She was so calm that she could feel her heart beating steadily and strongly.

She turned her head and saw her husband asleep on the folding bed next to her.

This level of ward generally does not allow for extended stays, but considering the special circumstances of Oshima's mother, who may need more support from her family, an exception was made.

Once the excruciating pain subsided, her body immediately returned to normal, and she was able to slowly get up on her own, staring blankly into space.

"Am I okay now?"