Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

He paused slightly as he saw a corpse lying face down on the ground, its head covered by a hood.

He didn't approach rashly. He first went around to the side of the van and observed the body package inside through the broken glass.

The thing was like a pupa, which was broken free from the inside out by some force.

Without any hesitation, he made no attempt to get any closer and slowly moved his body backward toward his parked car.

He didn't step on any dry branches in the usual way, but it seemed to have attracted the attention of something.

Behind a few trees, a series of dark figures emerged. They were entirely black, with a metallic sheen, their hearts exposed, and their hollow eyes exuded greed and ferocity. They let out strange growls, opened their grotesque hands, and pounced on him.

Bang bang!

The man in the suit fired a few shots decisively and quickened his pace to retreat.

But the bullets seemed to spark at the target, only slightly slowing him down. And behind him, several unsuspecting individuals appeared, charging towards him with clear intent.

He quickened his pace, wasting no more time firing, and swiftly jumped into the car and started the engine.

Bang!

The driver's side window was shattered by a punch, and a dark arm almost grazed the forehead of the man in the suit as he jerked his head back.

Reversing, flooring the accelerator, a black arm was flung out, and everything around was rushing backward.

The black, heartless beings seemed unwilling to escape such a delicious meal, and roared as they relentlessly pursued him.

The man in the suit was extremely focused, gripping the steering wheel tightly. Trees flashed past on both sides, and some even grazed the sides, making a sickening scraping sound.

Click.

Arriving at a relatively spacious open area, he immediately turned the steering wheel all the way, turned the car around, and shook off the group of monsters that were trying to close the distance again.

After ten minutes, he returned to the roadbed, feeling his heart pounding wildly, and gasped for breath.

The rearview mirror no longer showed those dark figures.

The mountain road was narrow, and as soon as he slowed down, he noticed a car coming towards him.

He put the passenger's hat on his head and pulled the brim down.

As the two cars passed each other, he could even hear the playful noises coming from the car next to him.

"Dad, Mom said she's hungry, are we there yet?"

"Are you hungry? You're almost there. I remember it's around here, a very beautiful place."

That was probably a family of three camping.

The man in the suit paused on the brake pedal, but ultimately did not press it down, and continued driving back the mountain road he had come from.

"Hey, Ah Jun, did that car's window get broken just now?" The woman in the back seat looked away and asked curiously.

"There might be falling rocks, everyone be careful." The husband driving nodded; he had seen it too, but didn't pay much attention.

"Dad! Am I safe like this?" The girl lay down in the back seat, protecting her head. "This is what the teacher taught me."

"You're doing this to avoid an earthquake. Don't worry, Dad will be safe driving; even falling rocks won't hit you."

After driving for a few more minutes, the man in the suit made a phone call: "I have a car that needs urgent processing."

"Place."

"136.14, 34.9."

"Wait a minute. Okay, I've sent you the location. It's in the southwest. There are three bodies of water. There's a wild path in the nearby woods that leads directly there. Just sink in. There's a car in the garage of the farm next door. The key is in the haystack by the entrance. If you need to process the bio-information, there will be an extra charge."

"No, I understand."

The man in the suit quickly found his way, sprayed something into the car, then let it sink into one of the small lakes. He then went to the farm, drove away in one of the inconspicuous cars there.

More than an hour later, he returned to the company looking exhausted and changed his clothes.

You're doing something unnecessary.

After listening to his report, Takatsukasa Tetsuto calmly gazed at his adopted son.

The man in the suit lowered his head: "I'm sorry, Father."

He wanted to ensure everything was perfect, but he himself slipped and became the biggest vulnerability.

After a few seconds of silence, Takatsukasa let out a long breath and patted the person opposite him lightly: "Come on, sit down."

After his adopted son sat down, he pointed to his heart and spoke.

"That thing is trying to control me all the time."

"But at least for now, I have the upper hand."

"Those corpses are the residue after I absorbed the 'blood of the heart'. As for why they turned into monsters, it's because I separated the killing intent of that heart into them."

"Only by doing this can I ensure that my consciousness remains dominant. Do you understand?"

The man in the suit nodded: "Can't it be incinerated?"

“It’s not that simple. That killing intent can only be released through cruelty, and the part that can’t be released will eventually come back to me. I can’t do it myself, otherwise it will corrupt my will, but if I let those walking corpses do it, then there’s no problem.” Takatsukasa shook his head.

"If the Extraordinary Measures Department conducts a full investigation..."

"That would require them to have the resources. They only have one extraordinary being at their disposal, and by the time they traced it back to me, I think I had already completely controlled this 'Heart of Withering and Flourishing'."

Moreover, I did not commit any open and aboveboard killings. Those things will disappear once I have killed enough. They can attribute the credit to themselves and give the public an explanation. If necessary, I can also put on a heroic act.

"If the Ninth Muramasa can cooperate with them, why can't I?"

Have you killed enough?

How many should we kill?

Moreover, his father did not mention how many "remnants" he needed to completely expel his murderous intent.

If a hundred or a thousand of those things came, who could stop them?

Will Koga, and even Kyoto, become a ghost town?

"This is the last risk we're taking. From now on, our Takatsukasa family will be at the forefront of the times and become an extraordinary family. Tadaya, at that time, no one will care what we did; they will elevate us to godhood."

Takatsukasa stood up, patted his adopted son's shoulder heavily, and spoke earnestly.

"The success of one general is built on the bones of ten thousand. If we don't become generals, we will only become withered bones to be trampled on. I think you understand this."

“Father, I understand. I will continue to be your most useful tool.”

"Haha, you're not my tool, you're my child, my only child. I'll handle things. You continue gathering talent. Now that the first batch of heartless people has been exposed, let's create more chaos and keep the countermeasures department busy."

Takashi held a cup of coffee, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and savored it.

Chapter 181: The Koga Rebellion Begins

in the afternoon.

The mountain path in the ordinary wilderness where Takatsukasa Tetsuo's adopted son left.

Two police cars drove one after the other.

"We're getting close to the location of the person who reported the incident. Are there any roads nearby leading into the forest?"

"Yes, there are some rough, unpaved paths. Don't you remember? We once caught a guy whose body was buried in these places, scattered here and there, and it took us days to find it."

"We're close, about fifty to one hundred meters apart. We'll launch a drone for reconnaissance."

Two police cars were parked on the side of the road.

The rooftop base station was opened, and several drones searched the designated area.

"Found it, getting closer." The pilot spotted something unusual, intervened, and flew towards a small clearing in the woods. Slowly, a car with its headlights crashed into a tree could be seen.

But when the field of vision expanded, with no obstacles in sight, and everything on the scene was faithfully transmitted back by the drone, the terrifying scene made those who saw it forget to breathe for several seconds.

"They've found the person who called the police."

Suppressing his discomfort, after confirming that there were no other signs of activity around, the drone continued to approach the ground, zooming in on one spot.

The drone pilot could see a severed hand on the ground holding a cell phone, which was still in use.

These pieces of limbs were scattered around the car, and even the torso had been cut open, leaving a scene of utter devastation.

Are there any suspicious individuals nearby?

"Nothing has been found yet."

"Leave two people to operate the drone to provide visual cover and maintain communication. The rest of you take your weapons, get out of the vehicle, and check the situation on site. Inform headquarters and notify the nearby mountain garrison to prepare for a mountain closure."

There were six people in two police cars: three patrol officers and three criminal investigators.

After leaving two behind, the four drew their weapons and headed into the woods.

The captain approached a tree and carefully examined the scratches on it: "There are quite a few scratches on the tree. It's clear that the driver was in a panic when he drove in here, probably because he was frightened by something."

Broken glass remains on the ground, stretching all the way down.

After making a mark, the group continued forward, slowly approaching the car.

"hiss"

Even though they were mentally prepared and had seen the footage beforehand, they were still quite shocked by the scene.

At a glance, they could tell that there weren't many victims, maybe three or four, but the parts were densely scattered all over the ground.

Suppressing their urge to vomit, they split into two groups: one group kept watch around the area, while the other carefully avoided the wreckage and approached the car.

The car's windows were almost completely shattered, and bloodstains inside the car were splattered everywhere.

In the driver's seat, the lower half of the driver's body was still inside, with blood pooling into a dark red, congealed pool.

Biting his lip and holding his breath, the captain clearly removed the dashcam.

"We have obtained the dashcam footage."

He already had a bad feeling; this scene was definitely not caused by a brown bear or a person.

"Notify the headquarters' mobile unit and the supernatural countermeasures department that I suspect this case is related to supernatural existence."

"Yes."

"Retreat first, establish a cordon, we'll wait—"

"careful!"

Plop.

A sound like chopping meat came from one side, almost simultaneously followed by a bloodcurdling scream.

One of his colleagues was pinned down by a black figure that appeared out of nowhere, relentlessly tearing out his heart and lungs. Organs and blood splattered everywhere, and his shrill screams echoed through the jungle.

Gunshots rang out, and the officers, disregarding their teammates below, frantically emptied their magazines at the dark figure. However, given the haste and the weak power of their pistols, it was wishful thinking to expect them to cause any damage.

The monster let out a low growl, leaped into the treetops, and disappeared.

The attacked police officer had his internal organs ripped out and was only twitching slightly.

"Kishimoto! Don't run away!"

Only then did the captain notice that another patrolman seemed to have collapsed, running away back the way he came without looking back.

Just as I was about to chase after him, even louder noises came through my headphones.

"Don't come over! Don't come over!"

"You drive! I'll drive the gun—"

Clang!

That was the sound of breaking glass and the voices of two police officers guarding the police car.

Then, there was silence from both of them.

That's it, their route of arrival has been cut off.

"excuse me!"

The captain gritted his teeth, suddenly opened the driver's side door of the car he had instinctively used as cover, ripped off the half-driver's body, and sat in it: "Ryuta, what are you standing there for! Get in the car!"

My colleague snapped out of his daze, hurriedly opened the passenger door, got in, gripped his gun tightly, and tried to change the magazine again and again with trembling hands. He finally succeeded after several attempts.

The captain prayed inwardly that the car would start. In the distance, the screams of the patrolmen who had just fled and hadn't gone far could be heard.