Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

Many people now believe that the Demon Mist is indiscriminately killing, but in Taki's opinion, this is already a result of considerable restraint. Otherwise, with Iwasaki's abilities, he could have easily destroyed the superstructure single-handedly earlier, plunging society into turmoil.

But he didn't do that, which suggests that his underlying nature is somewhere between lawful evil and neutral evil, and hasn't reached the level of chaos.

Since the other party has chosen to retain their identity in reality, it would be better to create more ties for them in reality, thereby preventing the birth of a truly invincible person as much as possible.

In the current situation where there is no certainty of success, rashly attacking Iwasaki would only shatter his last remaining concerns and cause even more deaths.

I don't know if this counts as appeasement.

Other players don't know how Taki found out, but considering her collaboration with the official team, it's quite possible that she knows crucial information that they don't.

Of course, there is another possibility: one of the five people may have lied.

Nobi suppressed his doubts and looked at Reno: "'Mori,' what did you find there?"

“I hadn’t found anything before, and now the area is cordoned off and surrounded by the police. I don’t dare to go near it. Besides, with Ms. Muramasa there, she definitely knows more than I do.” Renault shifted the question to Taki.

Taki nodded: "I was just about to tell you about this. Those monsters were originally corpses, nine in total. When they were about to be buried, they woke up and killed the people burying them."

"Based on the dashcam footage from the person who initially reported the incident, a highly suspicious vehicle was found. The person inside fought with the monsters and managed to escape. Police suspect he was the one who hired the cleaner to dispose of the bodies."

"However, according to surveillance footage, the car didn't go down the mountain; it disappeared. The police are now investigating the car's origin and whereabouts,"

Uesugi took notes: "It seems that the person who obtains the Heart of Shinobi has a high social status. He knows people like the Cleaners and can make nine people disappear without a trace. He must be a gang leader or a high-ranking official or tycoon."

"Yes, so the other party is probably not from a small place like Koka, but from places like Kyoto or Osaka. Koka is currently under martial law, so he is very likely to cause riots in other cities next, although we still don't understand what his purpose is."

“Perhaps it wasn’t for any particular purpose,” Renault said. “The monster’s heart had clearly been absorbed; there wasn’t a single drop of blood left. So even the owner of the Heart of Ninja might not have known it would cause such a thing. They simply wanted to absorb the heart’s blood to restore their power. Otherwise, why would they have the Cleaners bury it? Don’t you think so?”

“You’re right, but we can’t rule out the possibility that it was intentional. I’ll be stationed in Kyoto from now on. What are your plans?” Taki didn’t deny Renault’s guess.

“Then I’ll go to Osaka and take a look. Anyway, Shinobu has already been taken by someone else, so there’s not much point in staying in Koga,” Renault said.

Nobi thought about the map layout: "If I go to Nara, it will form a triangle, making it easy to provide quick support if any problems arise."

Then he set his save point in Kyoto so he could quickly appear if anything went wrong.

As for leaving the scene, Taki would probably be happy to cover for him.

Chapter 184: Spread in Kyoto

early morning.

The last remaining heartless monster in Koga City found its way to the nearest densely populated residential area.

It could sense that inside the house right in front of it, a large number of people were gathered together, providing an outlet for their frustrations. This was the largest group of people it could detect in the vicinity.

Kill them! Kill them all!

It could no longer contain itself, and lightly leaped onto the roof, then landed on the balcony, pouncing towards the shadowy figure behind the curtains.

"."

The curtains were torn to shreds in an instant.

What met the monster's eyes was a group of fully armed soldiers.

"surprise."

The captain's smile was more sinister than a ghost's.

Chu Chu Chu!

Unleash a barrage of firepower!

The monster's withered heart was instantly shattered under such terrifying firepower. After struggling futilely for a few moments, it peacefully fell asleep.

Even so, they still had no intention of ceasing fire, but instead slowly approached, taking turns reloading and continuously firing at the chest area.

Until the monster was riddled with holes, its once glossy skin now had a metallic sheen.

Perhaps it's because the monster is black, but they all hit it with remarkable accuracy.

"Alright, this thing shouldn't be able to stand up anymore."

The captain ordered a ceasefire, and the ground was littered with rolling shell casings.

This was an ambush.

They used patrol drones, surveillance, and eyewitness accounts to pinpoint the last monster's area of ​​activity, then quickly emptied all the residents and filled several houses with heavily armed soldiers.

In fact, the monster had already been detected when it approached the residential area. Just as they thought, the monster did not have much intelligence, and its instinctive killing instincts took precedence.

Some houses housed Self-Defense Force personnel, while others housed America soldiers who had come from nearby garrisons.

The monster opened a blind box and got the most powerful, god-tier item.

"In that case, the Koga are basically safe, unless there are more than nine of these monsters."

"But compared to that, finding out who's behind it is more important."

The seventh investigation team was dispatched to Koga to assist in finding out as soon as possible who created the monster.

Now, Genji has made quite a few discoveries by following the Cleaner's clues.

Near the wild mountain where the monster appeared, three relatively fresh corpses were unearthed. The scavenger had clearly been lazy, burying the two groups of corpses quite close together.

"The information is out. These three people were treasure hunters for a period of time, but were later imprisoned for illegal excavation. Analysis shows that these three corpses were handled by the same scavenger involved in the monster incident."

"The reconstruction of the bodies revealed that the three people killed each other, with only one person being shot by a fourth person. The sequence of events was that B killed A, C killed B, D killed C, and finally D hired a cleaner to dispose of the body."

"It fits my stereotypes about this group quite well."

On the mountain, after listening to her subordinates' report, Genji had gained more insights.

This murderous relationship is like two people fighting over a treasure.

"Investigate the projects Koga is currently working on and the companies behind them, and request a surprise inspection."

Not long after she made the arrangements, her subordinates made progress.

A new company called Chuan Shang Real Estate quickly came into view. After some investigation, it was found that many of its qualifications were not in compliance with regulations. Even the legal representative was a farmer who farmed nearby. Currently, it was only operating one project, making it highly suspicious.

"A shell company among shell companies."

Genjiro was confident that she could use the information left behind by the other party to further investigate, but the question was whether the other party would give her time.

The construction site was immediately and completely sealed off. Although the excavation site inside the warehouse was leveled, some very obvious traces could still be seen by lifting the plastic sheeting.

Excavators worked through the night and quickly removed the messy tombstones from inside.

The next morning, the findings were compiled and sent to Muramasa Taki in Kyoto.

Without a doubt, this is the cemetery of the Ninja Village. Someone, through some unknown clue, determined that there was something extraordinary beneath it, so they founded a leather suit company and, under the guise of construction, hired three grave robbers to secretly excavate it.

The marks indicate the extent and depth of their excavation, suggesting it couldn't have been accomplished by just three people in a short time. Experienced individuals estimate that it would have taken at least ten days of digging to create something of this scale, without the use of heavy machinery.

Ten days ago, even the game "Heart of the Ninja" was not yet available. It seems that players will not only have to compete with each other in the future, but also with people all over the world who yearn for the extraordinary as the craze for the extraordinary spreads.

However, this did make one of Takii's original ideas a reality, which was to make the official stance on the "extraordinary game theory" less firm.

The Extraordinary Countermeasures Department didn't reveal much about this to her, but she could still sense that the official acceptance of the "spiritual energy revival theory" was now higher.

The "Supernatural Games" theory is more of a supplement, and the only evidence currently available is the communication between Nobita and his friends.

No extraordinary individual has ever admitted to this personally.

Although the theory of spiritual energy revival has not been verified by the supernatural, at least the appearance of those monsters is traceable. For example, the subway incident began to occur decades ago, and the demon sword can also be found in ancient books.

This explains why those monsters disappeared for some unknown reason for a period of time before returning to the human world, which fits the theory of spiritual energy revival.

Those extraordinary individuals who emerged were the most talented and fortunate participants in this wave.

According to this hypothesis, the revival of spiritual energy will become increasingly apparent, with both supernatural beings and monsters increasing in number.

That seems reasonable, since the number of players and the games they experience will also increase.

It's just that the magnitude of the increase doesn't fit the pattern of spiritual energy revival.

“Ms. Muramasa, just now, heartless monsters have appeared in many parts of Kyoto.”

"Preliminary assessment indicates the number is at least thirty."

Those monsters aren't difficult to deal with, but in the city, they're like cockroaches.

You know they exist, and you roughly know where they're hidden, but killing them one by one is too much trouble.

Taki took out the equipment he had just finished yesterday, a grappling hook weapon.

Holding it in his hand, at this moment, Muramasa Takii is a master of the human grappling hook domain.

Body flexibility, arm strength, and reaction speed UPUP↑↑

Then attach a portable hang glider, and there you have it, a budget Spider-Man!

If we can move around quickly in a small area like this, we won't have to rely on helicopters all the time.

"Is this a case of 'what's the use of trying,' or an attempt to create chaos and buy time? Don't they know that the more they do, the more they expose themselves?"

She opened the hotel's floor-to-ceiling window, and a gust of wind tousled her hair. Before her was a helicopter slowly descending and hovering in front of Taki.

"Leave the oil-covered areas to me. As for the heartless monsters in the other areas, the Talos Squad can handle them."

"Understood, we express our gratitude to you on behalf of the citizens of Kyoto."

Takii swung out the grappling hook and pulled sharply, causing the helicopter to shake violently and nearly giving the pilot a heart attack.

Using the force of the pull, Takii landed precisely inside the helicopter.

Chapter 185: Good Deeds Go Unrewarded

An old commercial street with densely packed buildings.

Tourists gathered around a plaque that read "Most Beijing Style" to take photos.

This is a trend that has become popular in recent months, starting with short videos.

Originally, this was just an ordinary plaque, but after a certain blogger took the lead, it inexplicably became a must-visit tourist attraction, and there was even a saying that not visiting here was equivalent to not having been to Kyoto at all.

This also boosted the popularity of the adjacent food street, which is bustling with diners even outside of restaurant hours.

And clearly, such a densely populated place is also a food street for the heartless monsters. Although they don't actually eat people, they do have an extraordinary love for anatomy.

So, when the first splash of pinkish-red liquid landed on a diner's skewer of raw fish, the commotion spread as quickly as ripples in a pond after a boulder has been thrown in.

"Monster! Monster!"

The crowd scrambled to escape, until a new wave of chaos erupted ahead, clearly indicating that monsters had also appeared in that direction. As a result, the two groups collided, and for a moment, no one knew where to run.

"It's safe inside, everyone come in and take refuge!"

A middle-aged man wearing an apron came out of a ramen shop and waved to them.

He didn't know what had happened, but subconsciously thought that the inside of the building would be safer, so he planned to let everyone inside to take refuge.

Hearing the increasingly loud screams behind them, the large, bewildered crowd rushed into the shop. In just a few dozen seconds, the already small ramen shop was packed with people.

Some clever people realized that people couldn't keep coming in like this, so they quickly moved some clutter to block the doors and windows. Those outside, with nowhere to escape, pounded on the doors for help, but no one inside dared to open them.

"Open the door! There are still many people who haven't gotten in, open the door now! You can't be this cruel!"

The shop owner and a group of people were desperately banging and shouting outside the door.

"Damn it, this is my family's shop! My father is still outside, you guys open the door!"

Inside the ramen shop, the owner's son panicked when he saw the crowds blocking the door.

His father was the first to let people in for refuge, and now he hasn't even come in yet, and these bastards are trying to block the door?!

He jumped onto the food counter and was about to rush over and open the door.

"Don't let him open the door!"

"There are monsters outside the door!"

The crowd, intentionally or unintentionally, blocked the shopkeeper's son from opening the door.

A man who had just witnessed a monster killing someone and whose legs went weak and who had no courage to resist suddenly unleashed astonishing strength from who knows where. He grabbed a chair and smashed it down on the shopkeeper's son.

Bang!

"Ah! What are you doing?"

The shopkeeper's son, his head covered in blood, lay on the ground, one hand covering the wound on his forehead, blood dripping to the ground. His vision became somewhat blurred, and he reached out his hand, pleading with the people around him.