Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

Dr. Millai was a scientist they had painstakingly found who had a strong interest in and understanding of the mysterious, and who also had extensive knowledge in physics, biology, and chemistry, with a focus on bioengineering.

One more thing to add is that they are not held back by moral constraints and are willing to join their research.

Therefore, America can be said to have given him a great deal of autonomy.

Just a day ago, Dr. Miley was doing very well, not only leading several projects but also personally connecting with the Divine Flower.

And now, it seems he's about to be buried.

Indeed, in the world of the occult, every step can be deadly.

"What about the Divine Flower?" McCullough was more concerned about the Divine Flower. After seeing its performance today, he considered it far more important than Muramasa Taki.

“Some are not in good condition.” Leon carefully chose his words.

More accurately, it seemed to be on the verge of death; the petals were wilted and drooping. The team in charge was so frightened that they quickly arranged for someone to obtain bone powder made from giant bones, hoping to use a material that was also extraordinary to revive the divine flower. Unfortunately, it had no effect.

In reality, this "Yang Heian Flower" was just overexerting itself. Its current state was deliberately arranged by Dongshan Shen, who didn't want the authorities to think that the divine flower hadn't paid any price and that its power came easily.

Judging from the results, it was very successful. The people in the Extraordinary Countermeasures Department were in a panic, suspecting that the Divine Flower would wither as a result.

They even complained that Milei had used up the divine flower too much.

McCullough fell silent, and the atmosphere in the corridor grew heavy.

Hey.

The operating room lights were turned off.

The doctor came out anxiously and stood before Leon: "This situation has completely transcended the realm of medicine. His body is collapsing, a physical collapse, and there is absolutely no medical means to resolve it—"

“Doctor,” Leon interrupted him, putting his hand on his shoulder, “isn’t there even a single good news?”

The doctor sighed and looked at him seriously: "The patient shows signs of waking up. If all goes well, he might be able to leave a few words, but I'm not sure. Who are you planning to bring in? Someone who can get here immediately!"

Leon turned to look at McCullough: "It's just the two of us. Please ask all non-essential personnel to leave the lab. Thank you."

The doctor nodded, quickly helped them put on surgical gowns, and after disinfection, hurriedly entered the operating room.

The room was originally used for expert consultations, but now only two indispensable doctors remain.

Leon and McCullough stood to one side of the operating table, examining Miley, whose body was slightly green and whose eyelids were trembling.

At this point, his lower body had disappeared, and his skin was changing to resemble tree bark before gradually drying out and turning into powder.

Is this the price of using that kind of power?

Not only did the divine flower wither, but even the user could not escape death.

Leon was quite emotional. They hadn't spent much time together, so talking about friendship was pure nonsense, but he did like Miley's research style—it was straightforward and efficient.

McCullough stared intently at his eyelids, which seemed ready to open at any moment; the recording device was already prepared.

Mi Lai is just an ordinary person. The fact that he has managed to control the Yang Spider Lily as an ordinary person and survived until now is actually quite remarkable. He has an innate affinity with plants and life.

His current state is due to the fact that he has used too much of the divine flower's power. Even though the divine flower did not intentionally assimilate him, he has still been tainted by that power.

This kind of immersion is actually a good thing for some people, who may gain some related abilities as a result, but Dr. Millais clearly couldn't withstand it.

The doctor, with a serious expression, instructed that the last dose of medicine be injected.

"Ho-"

The effect was immediate; almost the next second, Mi Lai suddenly opened her eyes.

"Milai? Milai! Wake up! You don't have much time left. Is there something you want to tell us?" Leon took off his oxygen mask and almost pressed it against him, shouting loudly.

Miley's unfocused pupils struggled to focus, and she blinked before she could recall what had happened before and her current predicament.

No, even if it means death, I will complete the experiment!

"In the third protective experiment, the vine's power has significantly increased. In critical moments, the divine flower can overdraw its power to lend to the communicator." His voice was halting and barely audible.

Everyone shut their mouths and slowed their breathing, afraid of disturbing his whisper.

"After use, the communicator will find it unbearable, and the divine flower will close."

"Until the next suitable communicator is found."

"Faith and kindness are favored by nature."

At this point, Mila suddenly widened her eyes, her remaining half of her body sprang up, and a withered bark hand gripped Leon's hand tightly, staring straight at him.

"Seven days. Only seven days! Remember that! Otherwise, the divine flower will go out of control."

"That concludes the experiment. Presenter: Miley."

Leaving behind these last words, the bark that had spread up to her neck quickly invaded her head, swallowing up the last trace of human life in Milai in the blink of an eye.

Then, the bark rotted and turned into ash, leaving only embers in Leon's hands.

Leon held that pose for several seconds before raising his head and looking at McCullough.

The latter simply nodded to him, gestured towards the outside, and then turned and left.

Leon glanced at the other two people present: "I suppose you two doctors wouldn't mind switching to a higher-paying job?"

The two exchanged a glance, having no other choice.

Chapter 195: The Great Fire of Mingli

In the corridor, McCullough listened to Millais's last words in the recording, then led Leon out of the hospital and into a military vehicle parked at the entrance.

Did you hear Dr. Millais's last words clearly?

"Not a single word was missed."

"Alright, I will inform the Grand Commander about the selection of suitable candidates. Dr. Millai's last words should not be revealed for the time being."

McCullough's meaning was clear: America would also organize a group of people to come and see if they could be chosen by the Divine Flower.

If they are selected, then there's no need to worry about the Japanese government. After all, the US military was the first to seize the "God Flower," and the person chosen by the "God Flower" before them, Milei, was also an Amis. It's not Japan's place to interfere.

Sharing some information with them already shows consideration for the feelings of our allies.

However, due to time and location constraints, and fearing that something unusual might happen after taking the divine flower away, they had no choice but to bring the person from Amei.

Organizing them is far less convenient than in Japan. If time does not permit, in order to prevent the Shinhwa from getting out of control, they can only conduct the screening within Japan.

"I know what to do."

This is the significance of Leon's trip to Japan: to strive for extraordinary power for Ame as much as possible.

The two returned to the nearby base, where the divine flower was temporarily placed.

"Minister Leon, you're back just in time! The Divine Flower has just developed a strange condition." As soon as he returned, Dr. Miley's assistant rushed over, covered in sweat, and led him forward.

Inside the enclosed room, the petals of the divine flower were slowly closing, the bright red fading to a bluish-green. It seemed that it would soon return to its bud state.

Leon glanced at the time; it was 10:30.

He didn't know whether the seven days Miley mentioned started from today or after midnight.

But it's just a difference between six days and seven days, which doesn't make much difference to him.

"Take the Divine Flower back to the Yokota underground base. From now on, any transfer of the Divine Flower will require the Grand Commander's permission."

McCullough circled the divine flower, left a single sentence, and departed.

Milai was able to conduct the third experiment alone because they did not yet have a direct understanding of the power contained in the divine flower.

Furthermore, Mila has a high degree of autonomy and has never done anything out of line. Their research results are good, which is why they allowed her to participate.

They had already prepared the divine flower to stop the giants, failed, and then, after testing another round of weapons, finally applied to throw mushrooms.

Even if Muramasa Taki was inside at the time, after the complete loss of contact, they could not and would not wait indefinitely.

Currently, the status of the extraordinary is quite high, but the power system has no intention of accepting them into its ranks. Instead, they are used more as a high-level tool to study the origin of this power and the possibility of replicating it.

Combat is secondary.

However, those with combat power as formidable as the Divine Flower, and who are quite "controllable" and have not been tainted by the risks of power, are naturally another matter entirely.

Watching McCullough leave, Leon patted his assistant, Mila, on the shoulder: "Did you hear that? Pack your things, it's time to go back to Tokyo."

Dr. Namilai

"His current condition makes it inconvenient to move him."

The assistant sighed, nodded in disappointment, and went to assign tasks.

Leon stared at the divine flower before him, but his thoughts were on the knights and warriors who had appeared at the scene earlier that day.

With Muramasa Takii added in, these extraordinary beings seem to have some kind of tacit understanding or real communication, able to appear in the place of extraordinary calamity in advance, as if they know something.

The fact that the Knights had previously notified the police of the disaster on the Hibiya Line and appeared at the scene of the Higanbana disaster also corroborates this.

This is the biggest flaw in the Reiki Revival hypothesis, and also the most convincing evidence for the Extraordinary Games hypothesis.

Perhaps the two are not in conflict, but rather coexist.

Leon stood there, having built a bridge between the two hypotheses, lost in thought.

"Previously, the official attitude of various countries towards the extraordinary was quite cautious, but the light dust that the giant hand swung down could make some elderly people who were not long for life look several years younger. I can imagine how anxious those rich people will be when they find out."

In the player lobby, Uesugi Hitomi was chatting with Muramasa Takii; the others were not there.

"Originally, they weren't sure if the extraordinary could reverse aging or cure their terminal illnesses. Now, this is practically proof that the extraordinary has the ability to do all of these things."

"The powerful and wealthy will most likely put pressure on the authorities on the one hand, and on the other hand, they will try to find known and unknown extraordinary beings to seek cooperation."

"My biggest worry is that a similar incident to the Oshino Heart incident in Kyoto will happen again."

“This time, before we even started our tour, Takatsuki had already begun digging based on the information he had found.”

"Many people will definitely follow suit. If an event occurs that we have never experienced in the game, then there will be a lot of trouble."

It was mostly Uesugi talking, and Taki listening.

"By the way, you need to be careful. From today onwards, there will be no shortage of people looking for you, both openly and secretly, and they will definitely test you more than usual."

"I'll be careful, thank you."

That's about it. Is Uesugi and Taki's relationship still good enough for me to offer further advice?

Takii mentioned a piece of information she knew: "Those light dusts only have the effect of healing and restoring physical and mental strength for most people. Only for the elderly who are about to die, and those who have aged because their lifespan has been absorbed by the giants, can they replenish their lifespan."

"Therefore, the official view is that those specks of light are part of the lifespan that the Heart of Ninja plundered, which were forcibly returned to the human world by the giant hand."

"The extra parts are simply because the original owner is already dead, so we started making up for it from the people with the shortest lifespan."

Uesugi rested his chin on his hand, suddenly realizing, "The way you're saying it makes me feel like a programmer went out and fixed a bug."

Both of them secretly wondered whether the owner of that hand was "unknown," but neither of them spoke up about it.

This incredible power, like the game they were experiencing, gave off an unreal feeling.

As the clock struck twelve, Takii left the hall, and Uesugi returned to reality.

"Hopefully, after completing the game, we won't discover any hidden troubles that haven't yet erupted."

Uesugi, get ready and enter the game.

Although she didn't know how to get into the ninja village at first, after thinking it over and over again, she finally figured it out and successfully entered the village, exchanging the wooden box for the sword Dankamaru.

Then they took to a deserted path, and because they were not good at fighting head-on, they were killed by bandits several times along the way.

Later, they became more skilled. They would first find caravans, spend some money to find out roughly where the thieves' dens were, and then use their own lightness and endurance to quickly pass through those dangerous places.

Then, they encountered a very strange man.

He was dressed in a dark blue short-sleeved kimono to conceal his face, holding a fan, with a sword at his waist and a bow behind him, blocking Uesugi's only way of passing.

"Ninja, the goods you have are very important to me. Please hand them over, and I'm willing to compensate you for breach of contract."

Even if Uesugi had a pig's brain, he would know that such a crucial mission item could not be handed over so easily.

But she still tried to do it.

The result was that the game ended immediately.

She only dares to try this in DLC-type games. If it were a regular game like "Subway" or "Demon Blade," doing so would likely unlock the first-play ending, wasting her reward opportunity, which she would never give.

The reason why she tried to offer that furisode kimono is quite simple.

Because it was the 18th day of the first month of the third year of the Ming Dynasty.