Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

"I'll fight you to the death."

A few gunshots rang out, then silence fell, leaving only the familiar sound of slicing meat.

"dad!"

One of the patrolmen's faces turned extremely ugly. He went crazy, hanging grenades and stun grenades on his body, abandoning his guns, and rushed forward with a grenade in hand.

The remaining two patrolmen were too exhausted to stop him, but they knew what he was going to do, so they quickly found cover and threw themselves to the ground.

A few seconds later, a deafening roar was heard.

A wave swept through, clearing out a small space on the main street that was filled with parked cars.

As the smoke cleared, the two remaining patrolmen slowly got up, climbed onto the roof of the vehicle, and looked out. It seemed that the three monsters from before had been eliminated.

But they didn't get a moment's peace. From one of the buildings, two heartless beings, stained crimson with blood, emerged.

"It's over."

The patrolman gave a bitter laugh, picked up his shotgun, and prepared to fight to the death.

They stared intently at the two patrolmen, their dark eyes seeming to clear up, the pure killing intent gone.

Just as one of them was about to let out a low growl, a silver-armored knight suddenly charged out from the other side of the corridor.

The hero's sword in his hand reflected light as it hurtled toward the monster's heart.

After receiving Muramasa's private message, Nobita immediately borrowed a car and rushed over, managing to rescue a group of people in the building.

There aren't three to five monsters here, there should be seven. Two of them just died at his hands.

chap!

The monster laboriously deflected Nobi's sword slightly, avoiding the heart that was no longer so withered.

These two monsters were significantly stronger than the two he had just encountered. Even their previously shriveled hearts were now faintly beating and glowing red. These things were clearly capable of growing stronger through killing.

"Cross cut!"

Nobi knew his swordsmanship was terrible, so he decisively used a skill card. After a flash of silver light, the monster's shrunken heart was destroyed, and after a tremor, it collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud.

The slightly smarter monster turned and fled, leaping into the air.

Nobi used another Lightning Step, almost appearing right in front of the monster.

"I am a good person."

The monster actually spoke.

Nobita laughed in exasperation.

An elbow strike sent it crashing.

Then, using gravity as leverage, he brought the sword down and pierced the man's chest.

"The longer the heart withers, the stronger its glory grows."

The monster's last words sounded like a riddle.

Nobita had a vague idea.

The appearance of Koga is inextricably linked to the sealed Heart of Shinobi.

In the game, he played similarly to Iwasaki, successfully entering the ninja village and exchanging the wooden box for Dankamaru.

Upon learning that Hosei had sealed three more Hearts of Ninja in Koga, he rushed over.

His goal was not to obtain the Heart of Forbearance, but to confirm the state of the seal and ensure that there was no risk of it breaking free.

He also wanted to see if he could find the box containing the Six Jia Secret Blessing; that was his real goal.

However, the village of ninja has undergone many changes over the centuries, and now only a general area can be determined, let alone the cemetery. We can only rely on past news reports about tombstones being unearthed due to construction work in various places, and then explore the vicinity.

The situation is now clear: the seal may have broken down over time, causing the will to be broken and bewitch an ordinary person, or it may have been broken by someone with ulterior motives.

The so-called "heart of withering and flourishing" should be one of the three hearts of forbearance that have been polluted.

He wasn't surprised that the other party could do such a thing, after all, this was the Heart of Shinobi tainted by the demon sword.

Many heroes who once thought they could control their desires have ultimately become slaves to them.

If an ordinary person obtains the Heart of Patience, that's fine. But if a player obtains it, that's not good. If the player loses control, it will be even more terrifying.

I need to find time to go into the player lobby and check it again.

After cutting off the monster's head, Nobita returned to the scene. Once he confirmed that all the monsters were dead and there was no longer any threat, he left using the save point.

Chapter 183: Opening Your Heart

late at night.

A cluster of vacant and abandoned factory buildings in Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto.

"Gentlemen, I don't know why you suddenly want to increase your 'recruitment' efforts, but our principle is not to ask our clients too many questions."

"These are the last batch of 'resumes' we have during this period."

"The major events that happened in Koga today have already affected Kyoto, and the authorities have tightened their grip on the situation. However, once things have calmed down, if you two still have needs, we can continue to cooperate. I really appreciate doing more business with such generous customers as you."

The president of Narita Company stood at the door, subtly gesturing to his subordinates behind his back, and greeted the two men dressed in black who walked in with a smile.

Today's deal is a big one. The other party originally only agreed to three people, but suddenly asked to increase it to thirty, and even hinted that they would take as many as they wanted. This puzzled him, so he only dared to send twenty people over to test the waters.

They also brought their most capable cadres, eight armed men, to escort them, ensuring that nothing went wrong.

In other words, he knew that the police definitely wouldn't have time to set a trap for him today; otherwise, he wouldn't have accepted such a deal with so many people without a few previous collaborations.

Unless it's an amount that can't be refused.

Unexpectedly, for such a large transaction, only two people came to make the handover. They were dressed very discreetly, wearing sunglasses and trying to conceal their identities. One of them was carrying a briefcase.

It doesn't seem to pose any threat.

The people on the perimeter did not find anything unusual, and as usual, there was not a single car in sight nearby.

It seems he was overthinking it; these are probably two business people who want to cooperate long-term.

The two stood in front of him, neither of them speaking, but simply staring at him silently.

President Narita's smile remained unchanged, and he showed no embarrassment: "Would you two like to inspect the goods first? I can assure you that all twenty men sent are quite young and have no hidden illnesses."

One of the people opposite him didn't listen to him finish speaking. Instead, he opened his briefcase, revealing neatly stacked US dollars inside, and presented them to him with both hands.

"This is my sincerity, and I hope to see your sincerity in return, President Narita." The speaker was another person, who was wearing sunglasses and looked at Narita's men who were guarding the perimeter.

They've already been discovered? They're definitely got some skills.

"Haha, don't take it personally, I was just trying to avoid anyone disturbing the transaction. Since the customer doesn't like it, let's take it all back."

Narita's smile widened as he looked at the gleaming green banknotes. He gestured behind him, and his subordinate picked up a walkie-talkie and spoke into it.

Soon, the three henchmen who had been hiding nearby broke free and jogged back.

Narita also briefly checked the box of banknotes and found them to be genuine.

"I hope our cooperation will be 'inseparable' and 'open-hearted'." The mysterious man showed no intention of taking the money box back.

“Yes, yes, that’s a wonderful phrase, inseparable! Open your hearts! Come, come, please, both of you.” When Narita saw the other party casually hand him the box of banknotes, he knew he had met a super big client.

If you maintain good relationships with such a large client, the profits from a single transaction can be more substantial than in the previous three months.

"You wait here," the mysterious man said to the person beside him, turning his head slightly.

"Ahem, you two, wait here too. If the guests have any requests, you must do your best to fulfill them!" Narita called out two people and warned them.

"Yes!"

Narita and his group entered the abandoned factory.

He had already converted it into one of his shipping points, and those people were hiding in the basement below.

The two people left at the door saw that the other person didn't seem to be a talkative person, so they didn't say much. They stood quietly to the side, seemingly chatting casually, but their eyes were always on the person and their surroundings.

Furthermore, the earpiece also carried the sounds of Narita and the others talking, ensuring that they could know the situation inside immediately.

However, they weren't the only ones wearing headphones.

"This batch of goods is very good, I like it very much."

After hearing his father's words, Tadashi silently took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket and lit them.

The two men almost simultaneously put their hands on their waists, and only after seeing that the other was smoking did they secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

Tadashi twirled the lighter around and put it back in his pocket.

But when he pulled his hand out, he found he had a gun.

"You, you are a monster—Gu!" The screams coming through the earpiece rang out simultaneously with the gunshots from the scene.

Boom!

"Ugh! You!"

Tadashi quickly hid in the darkness and swiftly shot the two men several times, rendering them unable to resist. He then approached and fired a final shot into each of their heads before dragging the bodies to a dark spot. He appeared to be quite well-trained.

"Help, help!"

"What the hell is this!"

"Ahhh!! Let me go, let me go, I can get you more!"

The cries coming through the headphones grew increasingly exaggerated, reaching a peak before abruptly stopping and returning to calm.

All that remained were some strange, sticky noises and crackling sounds.

They were inseparable and opened their hearts to each other.

After waiting for about half an hour, the small door was opened from the inside.

Takatsukasa Tetsuto emerged covered in blood.

He passed by Tadashi, walked to the two still relatively fresh corpses, reached out and inserted his hands into the center of the corpses' chests, and then pried them open.

The ribs were irrationally flared outwards.

With practiced ease, Takatsukasa gripped the heart tightly, and then the heart began to beat. A surge of reddish-black energy flowed through his arm. The heart gradually withered and shriveled, the corpse became tainted with a deep black, and the skin slowly began to harden and harden.

Tadashi silently watched all of this unfold before moving the two transformed corpses into the abandoned factory.

After finishing everything, he looked at his father's back, his clothes stretched taut as if something was writhing beneath his skin: "Father, won't having so many people with you at once have an impact on you?"

"Don't worry, I can control it."

Takatsukasa's heavy breathing gradually subsided. He turned around, and the distortion on his skin had disappeared, but his body still looked bloated, as if he had suddenly gained dozens of pounds.

"I underestimated their extraordinary reaction speed, as if they knew about my plans in advance."

"The first batch of people killed was too few, far from achieving the effect I wanted. Therefore, I need more people to bear that malice and control it."

"Child, I need you to do something for me, but you will die."

Tadashi lowered his head: "Please give your orders, Father."

“You’ve been working tirelessly all year without a break. Take a day off. Tomorrow night, I’ll tell you what to do.” Takatsukasa patted his adopted son’s shoulder, his eyes swirling with struggle.

"Yes, I understand."

The two disappeared into the darkness.

Player Lobby.

"So, the one who obtained the Heart of Endurance wasn't a player?"

Uesugi Hitomi summarized the results of their discussion.

"Is it really not 'Hao'?" The most common supernatural news I see on Oshima News is about where the demonic mist appeared and how many deaths it caused. It's almost become a psychological imprint.

Muramasa Taki shook his head: "I'm sure it's not."

Based on the access granted to her by the police, she has roughly confirmed Iwasaki Kosuke's true identity.

The name 'Hao' is the biggest flaw.

If he had used 'Iwa' or 'Saki' instead, Taki wouldn't have been so certain that the list of suspects would most likely have been the same as the official one, with Iwasaki Miyabi as the main suspect.

But after thinking it over, she decided not to expose it for the time being, and she didn't even intend to tell the other players.