Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

He delegated authority to his youngest son and helped him devise the Furisode Plan, using Muramasa's blood to incite the demon sword to riot and reduce Edo Castle to ashes. In this way, the number of dead souls would be just enough, and they would have given an account to their ancestors.

However, Xiaoche, who had already begun to get involved in the family's affairs, learned about this and took Zhuhai away by taking advantage of his closeness to him, along with Zhan Gui Xing Hong, in an attempt to prevent Zhenxiu from being delivered to Edo.

Ke Maoguang had anticipated this.

In the end, Xiaoche was stopped near Edo Castle. His elders threatened him with their lives, forcing him to give up his plan to enter the castle and stop the execution of the Fureiso plan.

Illuminated by the firelight, Doman Akatsuki stood for a long time, gazing at the burning Edo Castle.

With this, the three timelines are complete.

This allowed players to gain a basic and complete understanding of the origins of the Demon Blade, the Vermilion Skeleton, and the mysterious Onmyoji.

Although some questions remain, most of the previous issues have been resolved.

The only question now is: what hidden dangers did the Doman family leave behind after their plan ultimately failed? What kind of catastrophe will this lead to in reality?

Chapter 215: Bear Plague Approaches the City

[Due to frequent sightings of black bears and wild boars in Yamanashi Prefecture, and multiple reports of injuries, the prefectural government decided to invite licensed hunters to carry out culling and extermination efforts. However, this measure has sparked strong protests from animal protection groups.]

According to Yamanashi Prefecture officials, the number of black bear sightings and incidents this year is more than five times that of the same period last year, leading to increasingly serious agricultural losses. At least 20 personal injury incidents have been confirmed, far exceeding previous years. Damage to crops caused by wild boars has also been reported in various locations. In light of this situation...

However, this decision has drawn criticism from several animal rights groups and civic organizations, who argue that indiscriminate killing should not be allowed and that the balance of the ecosystem should be disregarded. This morning, protests erupted across various roads in the prefecture, with groups blocking hunters' vehicles from entering the mountains.

[The following is information regarding the earthquake. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, an earthquake occurred at approximately 17:07 PM today, centered along the coast of Shizuoka Prefecture. The maximum intensity recorded was 4 in areas including Aoi Ward, Shizuoka City. There is no risk of a tsunami.]

Yamanashi Prefecture.

Ino-no-kami Forest Road, located in the vicinity of the primeval forest belt on the northern slope of Mount Fuji.

As the sunset painted the sky, several mud-covered pickup trucks were scattered along the roadside, their engines long since turned off.

Men dressed in hunting attire gathered in twos and threes, cigarettes between their fingers, smoke curling in the cool air. They spoke in hushed tones, their faces showing extreme impatience, their eyes occasionally glancing ahead at the road ahead.

There, three brightly colored cars were parked haphazardly at an angle at the entrance to the narrow forest road, completely blocking the way.

A group of citizens wearing matching T-shirts with animal protection slogans sat on a spread-out blanket as if having a picnic.

Several municipal workers wearing vests were sandwiched in the middle, trying to communicate with them in a frantic manner, but judging from their body language and expressions, it was clear that they were not getting any results and the other party had no intention of making way.

"Tsk, we shouldn't have taken this job. It's a rare sunny day, and we wasted the whole day. Sato and the others have made quite a bit of a profit in Kofu City."

A lean, sharp-eyed elderly hunter spat on the muddy ground, stomped on it, and spoke with annoyance and disdain.

As a veteran who had spent decades navigating the mountains and forests, he looked down on these idle and bored people from the bottom of his heart.

This wasn't the first time he'd seen this scene, but this time, he was determined it would be the last.

After completing this task, he will retire and never have to deal with these people again, thus saving himself from shortening his lifespan.

"Master, look, they seem to be about to disperse!" The young apprentice next to him pointed at the crowd with a relieved smile on his face, his eyes lighting up.

"Of course we're leaving! Look at the time!" The hunter slapped his apprentice on the back of the head impatiently. "It's almost dark! How many times have I told you, the forest after dusk is the most dangerous! Are you trying to get yourself killed by going in the dark?!"

The apprentice shrank his neck, rubbed the back of his head, feeling no pain or itch, and just gave an awkward smile.

Seeing his apprentice's carefree attitude, the hunter sighed, feeling frustrated. There were too few young people willing to be hunters these days, and he also owed someone a favor; otherwise, he wouldn't have taken this apprentice in the first place. He'd been teaching him for years, yet the apprentice wasn't as experienced as he had been when he first started, and was especially lacking in composure.

"Alright, Shengdou." An old hunter he knew well stubbed out his cigarette, stretched, and patted him on the shoulder. "Anyway, you're still getting your allowance, so you're happy to have it easy."

He was referring to the daily allowance paid by the authorities for this expulsion operation, which they would continue to receive even if they were not working, except for the loss of the prey subsidy.

Shengdou gazed at the distant forest shrouded in twilight, his brow furrowed.

The subsidy was secondary; this was his last time taking on an apprentice, and he valued the hunting experience more so that he wouldn't have to act as a babysitter after he retired.

"Hunters, I'm sorry we couldn't go into the mountains today, making you wait all day for nothing." A staff member came over to greet them, glancing at the protesters who were about to leave. "Your accommodations have been arranged at a nearby hot spring hotel. Please rest well tonight and we'll officially start work tomorrow. I guarantee they won't bother you again tomorrow."

The staff were very friendly and the arrangements were quite good. The hunters were very satisfied. Anyway, the officials were definitely more anxious than they were, so they didn't doubt the other party's guarantee.

Most of these so-called protection associations are just looking for an excuse to get some funding from the government. As soon as the money is in place, they can change their tune the next day, switching sides and going from staunch opponents to staunch supporters.

Compared to Western countries, such activities in their countries are already quite restrained.

The hunters, along with their hunting dogs that had been idle all day, boarded their vehicles and left the passage. Guided by officials, they arrived at a hot spring hotel at the foot of the mountain.

Due to the rainy season, there were relatively few tourists, and even fewer people chose to stay at hot spring hotels. It was more than enough for a group of more than ten hunters to stay at the same time.

"Tsk, those conservationists are staying at that resort hotel over there, even better than we are." The old hunter recognized their car, which sped past them, leaving trails of exhaust fumes.

Sheng Dou sniffed the air around him, his expression quite grave: "It might not be a good thing. They're even deeper into the mountains there than we are. Can't you smell it? The bear smell is very strong, that's not normal."

The old hunter shook his head with a wry smile: "What kind of nose do you have? It's even more powerful than a Shikoku dog." After saying that, he pointed to a Shikoku dog he was leading.

The four dogs cautiously scanned their surroundings, but did not bark.

Shengdou doesn't really rely on smell, but rather on an emotional perception of the forest, gleaning information from the chirping of insects and birds.

The sounds of nature that should be frequent in this mountain forest are quite sparse at this moment, which is somewhat abnormal.

“There are monitoring devices nearby, so don’t worry. Besides, we have this. It’s raining, let’s go inside.” The old hunter patted the gun on the car seat, looked up at the sky, reached out to catch a few drops of rain, and followed the others to settle the hunting dogs.

Shengdou handed the hunting dog to his apprentice and let him go inside first, while he poured some of his own concoction around the car.

Work is work, and rest is rest. He didn't want to be woken up by a bear while he was sound asleep. He had experienced that before, and it wasn't a memory worth reminiscing about.

into the night.

The hunters tacitly avoided drinking too much, taking only a small sip, and then soaked in the hot springs, chatting about everything under the sun.

"Huh? What exactly happened? Really, we'll be careful."

In the changing room, the old hunter received a phone call. He stopped changing, let his companion go in first, and paced back and forth, listening to the words coming from the other end of the phone.

After the call ended, the old hunter put his phone back with a thoughtful expression, stood there for a while as if pondering, and then took a towel and headed towards the hot spring.

"What is it?" Shengdou sat by the hot spring, his apprentice rubbing his back.

"Sato encountered a rare giant bear." The old hunter squinted. "He was hit by several landmines but was fine. Two of them were injured and escaped, one of whom was seriously injured and sent for emergency treatment."

The apprentice stopped in surprise: "Even a landmine ball can't kill it?! It must weigh at least 140 kilograms."

"Judging by appearances, it's at least that number, but it's probably an extreme case. Anyway, be careful on the mountain tomorrow. The officials should be coming to inform us later; I'll talk to them first." The old hunter nodded slowly and walked towards his companions. "Everyone."

Shengdou glanced at his absent-minded disciple: "How many landmines did you bring?"

"Uh, four rounds in total. I brought more No. 3 bullets, sixteen in total, that should be enough, right?" The apprentice wasn't very confident.

The "landmine ball" refers to the 338LM bullet, which is also very lethal to giant bears.

Of course, the price is also staggering, costing tens of thousands of yen per bullet, hence the name "ten-thousand-yen bullet," a resource that you'd feel bad if you used up even one.

They typically use No. 3 projectiles, or 300WM, which is generally sufficient to threaten black bears weighing less than 120 kg.

The key is that it's cheap, less than 1,000 yen.

"Prepare the Sakho sniper rifle in advance." Shengdou trusted his intuition.

"Yes, Master!" The apprentice nodded without arguing and continued to diligently scrub Shengdou's back.

After soaking in the hot spring, night fell.

Inside the tatami room, Shengdou stared at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep no matter what he did.

Quiet.

It's so quiet.

Apart from the patter of rain on the eaves and the sound of snoring, it was eerily quiet.

In mid-June, it was already early summer. As a hotel near the foot of the mountain, it was impossible not to hear the chirping of insects, given the lights there. Besides, the rain wasn't heavy enough to stop it from escaping.

He simply sat up, and just as he was about to stand up, he saw the old hunter also sit up.

"I knew you couldn't sleep either." The old hunter pointed outside the door. "Want a smoke?"

Shengdou nodded.

The two slowed their pace and came to the side corridor, gazing at the courtyard shrouded in drizzle.

"Is your child alright?" Shengdou knew that his son was in the hunting team in Kofu City.

"He's alright, just quite frightened. It's the first time I've seen a bear that can withstand such a strong attack. By the way, I have a little inside information, would you like to hear it?" The old hunter said hesitantly, puffing out a cloud of smoke.

Sheng Dou looked at him strangely: "What news do you need to tell only me?"

"I'm not sure if it's true or not, because it's a bit far-fetched. Telling others would just cause trouble." The old hunter pointed in the direction of Mount Fuji, which was out of sight. "Recently, the number of people going missing in Mount Fuji has been unusually high. Some people claim to have seen a mountain path they've never seen before, and they saw tourists going up it, but after a short while, when they went to look for that path again, they found that it had disappeared."

"Some people claimed that their companions went into a hotel and never came out. But the police investigation found that the hotel they mentioned did not exist at all; it was just a wooded area, and there was no way a hotel could exist there."

Shengdou glanced sideways at the hot spring inn behind him, where the wind chimes swayed gently.

Great, now I'll have even less time to sleep.

"I really appreciate your exclusive news."

It wasn't that he was afraid of ghosts, but because he had been to the mountains a lot and had come into contact with many supernatural things, he had developed a certain sense of awe towards them.

"Heh, doesn't this sound like those childhood stories about raccoons and foxes?" The old hunter grinned, then quickly composed himself. "My son didn't dare tell anyone about that bear, but he told me he was absolutely certain he hit its head. I trust my son's marksmanship. But the bear didn't die. Do you know what that means?"

Shengdou naturally knew what this meant.

He's so stubborn he can take a landmine and not die.

Is this the Terminator?

"Monster?" Shengdou uttered the word, his Adam's apple bobbing.

If the timeline were rolled back three months, he wouldn't have had the absurd mentality of taking such folk tales seriously.

But it was precisely in these short three months that the world's worldview was significantly impacted, and he was naturally among those affected.

The old hunter gave a soft hum, neither confirming nor denying.

The two fell silent as the rain pattered down.

"Woof!"

Suddenly, a dog's bark pierced the misty night.

"Wang Wang!"

"Roar~ Woof woof woof!!"

Immediately afterwards, the dogs went from a few scattered barks to extremely frantic and noisy chatter, their loud barking completely drowning out the sound of the rain, alarming the entire hot spring inn.

Chapter 216: The Battle Between Man and Bear

Shengdou and the old hunter exchanged a glance, then with a flick of his wrist, he tossed the cigarette butt into the courtyard and sprinted toward the car.

When his apprentice ran out in a panic, Shengdou had already taken the gun out of the car and casually tossed it to his apprentice.

"Follow!"

"Ah? Yes!"

The group jogged to the area where the hunting dogs were. The pack was pacing back and forth anxiously, barking and howling wildly in the same direction, and pulling desperately on the leash.

“That direction.” Shengdou’s gaze swept past the dark wall and the shadowy outline of the forest in the distance, and he immediately determined, “It’s in the direction of the resort hotel where those people are staying. Kobayashi, call the police!”

Upon hearing this, the apprentice quickly took out his phone and dialed the number with trembling fingers.

"Hey! This is us, a dozen or so hunters from the neighborhood. Yes, we can hunt bears."

After hanging up the phone, Xiaolin looked even more nervous: "The police said they have received reports from multiple people that a large number of black bears have appeared at the hotel. They need some time to deploy police forces and are requesting our assistance."

“I hate working the night shift.” The old hunter shook his head, deftly loading ammunition into his shotgun. “But to be honest, I dreamed of this scene when I was young, but I never thought I’d have to wait until I’m old to see it come true.”

Sheng Dou had no time to pay attention to his old friend who was trying to show off. He untied the hunting dog's leash and growled, "Let's go!"

"Hey! Wait for me!"

The old hunter quickly brought out his hunting dog to follow.

In less than ten minutes, the hunter team, mainly composed of the old man, had assembled.

They already understood the gravity of the situation, and no one cared that the people they were going to rescue were the same protesters who had stopped them during the day.

Their only enemy is the bear!

Hunting prey—that's the very reason for a hunter's existence!

The pickup truck, whose age is not to be underestimated, sensed its owner's heartbeat and roared with its engine, leaving a deep rut on the ground and splashing up a lot of mud before speeding off.