Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

Xiao Che narrowed his eyes: "What do you mean? He Ye, did you personally take her home?"

He Ye immediately assured him urgently, "I delivered her! Master, I absolutely made sure she got home safely! Her older sister hadn't slept and was sitting in the yard! The two of them hugged each other and cried and laughed as soon as they saw each other, I saw it with my own eyes!"

"Tsk tsk tsk," Zhu Hai shook its strange head, making an annoying smacking sound, its vertical pupils filled with the filth of the world.

"Master, oh master, your eyes can easily see through demons and monsters, so why can't you see through the wickedness in people's hearts?"

"Those who commit evil are never just the high-ranking nobles and bald monks in robes. The most ordinary and inconspicuous people in this world may harbor evil in their hearts that is no less vicious than theirs."

"In the years I've been trapped in a dark and hopeless place, the excrement I've eaten the most comes from the resentment, jealousy, and fear that grow in the hearts of these so-called ordinary people, carrying the smell of earth and sweat."

"That child just went back like that, and you even taught her to say things like 'the nursing home is a demon temple,' which is utterly treasonous in the eyes of the ignorant masses. Hey, what do you think will happen to her and her family?"

Xiao Che's breath hitched slightly.

Zhu Hai had foreseen this, but he chose to speak out only at this moment, his intentions being self-evident.

However, he doesn't have time to worry about that right now.

Zhu Hai's words pierced the lingering hope he was unwilling to delve into.

He never wanted to believe in the theory that human nature is inherently evil. If he had believed in such a theory, he would not have felt guilty about the Mingli fire.

Since all living beings are evil anyway, it's good to burn them all away.

Without further hesitation, he turned and sped off towards Qiushang Village.

Qiushang Village, the main road within the village.

From afar, Xiaoche heard an unusual commotion, filled with angry shouts and commotion.

Xiao Che's heart sank, and he quickened his pace.

As he approached, he saw a large group of villagers with bloodshot eyes gathered in the middle of the village road.

Holding hoes, rakes, and wooden sticks stained with mud and dark red blood, they were cursing loudly at several blurry clumps on the ground, spitting as they spoke:

"Pah! You jinxes! A whole family of monsters!"

"Dare to slander a monk? You deserve to die!"

"Kill them, so they won't harm the village anymore!"

"They're the ones who brought the drought. Only after killing the cat demon family will the heavens open their eyes and send rain!"

The curses were vicious and noisy. Some sharp-eyed villagers saw Xiaoche rushing towards them and recognized him as the warrior who had accompanied Master Fashan yesterday. Their faces instantly filled with fear, and they dropped their farm tools and knelt down by the dirt road, burying their heads deep and trembling like leaves. This was the class distinction that had been instilled in them since childhood.

The closer he got, the slower Xiaoche slowed down. He passed through the crowd, his gaze fixed on the few scattered corpses on the dry earth.

Xiao Che couldn't recognize anyone else, only the little girl.

Their bodies were covered in blunt force wounds, their skulls were cracked, and their limbs were bent unnaturally.

The little girl and her sister embraced, their parents shielding them tightly beneath their frail bodies in a desperate and futile act of protection. Blood flowed down, but was quickly and greedily consumed by the long-parched earth.

"Master Takeshi!"

A villager kneeling on the ground mustered his courage and shouted in a trembling voice.

"No, it's not our fault! The child ran away last night on her own! We didn't bring her back! Please, sir, understand! Don't blame us!"

“Yes, yes!” someone immediately chimed in, their voice trembling with tears. “She… she was spouting nonsense! Saying the nursing home was a demonic temple and the monks were demonic monks. It’s utter utter rubbish! She’s clearly possessed by a demon! She’s even tarnished the holy names of Master Kuai Xian and Master Fa Shan! After we found out, we wanted to take her back, but her whole family refused! In order not to anger the heavens, we had no choice but to do this.”

The villagers offered their own explanations and tried to shirk responsibility, looking at Xiao Che with fear, as if this warrior, who knew Fa Shan, had come to interrogate them.

However, all they ever worried about was the girl slandering the monk and angering Heaven; they never actually believed what the girl said.

Xiao Che didn't speak. He squatted down, reached out, and checked the breaths of the several cold bodies.

The parents and the little girl were already lifeless.

Only the older sister's chest was still rising and falling slightly.

However, that was only the last moment of his life; his organs had ruptured, and even a miracle couldn't save him.

However, he seemed to hear what the girl's older sister was saying.

Xiao Che leaned down and put his ear close.

"No. Apricot. Monster"

A pale white bolt of lightning suddenly struck down, plunging the world into darkness in an instant, followed by a deafening roar of thunder.

Even though there were no dark clouds, a torrential downpour suddenly began, as if the Milky Way had been reversed and was pouring down.

Dense, soybean-sized raindrops pounded down relentlessly, striking the parched, scorching earth and stirring up swirling, murky white mists of water vapor that instantly enveloped the entire world in a torrential downpour.

"It's raining! It's really raining!"

"Thank God!"

"It's a miracle! The sorcerer's exorcism has worked! Killing that cat demon family was definitely the right thing to do; this is God's approval of us!!"

"There's hope! The crops are saved! We won't starve to death!!"

The deafening cheers instantly drowned out the thunder. The villagers, as if driven mad, jumped up from the ground, abandoning all restraint and shouting excitedly.

They spread their arms, roared to the sky, and danced wildly in the mud, their faces contorted with ecstatic joy.

They cheered and jumped, recklessly treading across the pool of red mud, which had been wildly washed by the rain and seeped into the wounds of the corpse.

They turned a blind eye, as if the heavens had bestowed the sweet dew only because they had promptly killed the girl's family.

He Ye sensed Xiao Che's agitated aura and couldn't help but let out a soft, fearful whimper.

From within the folding fan, Zhu Hai let out a sneer that only he could hear.

Daoman Xiaoche stood up in the heavy rain, raised his head and looked up at the sky.

The rain was so heavy, so dense, that it blocked out the view like a thick curtain.

If you looked down at this land from the sky, at this small village and family in the rain, you probably wouldn't be able to see anything clearly.

Rainwater can wash away the bloodstains on the ground and temporarily fill the cracked gullies.

But it cannot wash away all the evils of this world.

Chapter 236: Dao Man Xiao Che

Shinichi Higashiyama probably understands a bit about Akatsuki Doman's mental journey.

Initially, he felt tormented by the injustice of his family and sought refuge in the world, hoping to cleanse himself of his guilt by vanquishing demons and monsters.

But in the end, he discovered that demons were not necessarily all evil, and that the evil in people's hearts was far beyond imagination, which plunged him into a hopeless despair.

Of course, the deeper despair lay in his realization that Heaven and Earth are ruthless, completely indiscriminate in their distinction between good and evil, or rather...

Heaven doesn't care.

The good and evil in the human world have no effect on heaven and earth.

If that's the case, then the countless Buddhas and deities that mortals worship, who claim to guide people towards goodness, do not actually exist.

What is the point of his insistence on exorcising demons and monsters in the human world?

This is the downside of not having studied dialectics; it makes one prone to extremes.

The gameplay focuses on understanding the protagonist's psychology, and then guiding his actions with logic that the protagonist can accept, based on the information the player knows.

The player's role is like the inner voice of the protagonist, functioning similarly to the inner voice within.

Based on the clues about the escape cave and the seal on Mount Fuji in "Subway", it can be inferred that Doman Akatsuki will enter the escape cave for an unknown period of time and then set up a sealing formation on Mount Fuji.

The trigger for this is likely the current state of mind of Doman Akatsuki, who is deeply affected by the events.

"Wait a minute. I think we should guide him to go home first."

Team Iwasaki.

Unlike Shin Higashiyama's single-player game, they need to gather three people, or a team, to officially play the main game.

Correspondingly, each of them has their own level of suspicion, which is calculated individually.

But if even one person's suspicion level goes up, then all three of them will go up together, meaning all three of them will lose a life at the same time.

Therefore, each time you provide guidance, you need to be extremely careful and carefully consider your wording.

However, since the game cannot be paused, the window of time available for them to discuss the matter is extremely short.

Compared to missing key plot points and ending up in an irreversible DC-level bad ending, Iwasaki believes that sacrificing one's life is a more bearable price.

It's important to know that the first completion reward is the most significant reward in the game.

Therefore, his strategy was to make everyone empathize with Doman Akatsuki as much as possible.

If you have time, please state in advance what kind of guidance you plan to provide. If you don't have time, just type it in directly and don't worry about others.

They've now reached the scene where Xiaoche is getting rained on at the village entrance, and they have plenty of time. The three of them are discussing whether they should guide Xiaoche towards digging a cave underground in Hibiya and building an escape cave to live in seclusion.

This seems to be the most logical development path.

Iwasaki and Yui both thought it was feasible, but Oshima hesitated for a moment before making the suggestion he had just made.

"Going home? What's the reason?" Yui was the first to ask.

Oshima couldn't very well say that his family had passed down that snake bone amulet, and since the snake bone was still on Doman Akatsuki, his ancestor must have passed it down to his descendants. He could only rack his brains to come up with an explanation.

"Think about it, when people are in the most pain and confused, don't they all miss home?" Oshima managed to come up with a reason.

But the two did not buy this reason.

“Given Doman Akatsuki’s experiences, home is something he needs to escape from,” Iwasaki said calmly. “He has almost no feelings for the Doman family. His wife was forced into marriage by his father, and after the child was born, he only saw her a few times.”

“But the situation is different now. He’s clearly experiencing what’s known as a breakdown of his Dao heart. Perhaps his inner world will change?” Oshima said, trying his best.

Iwasaki looked at Doman Akatsuki, who was gradually taking steps toward some unknown place: "There is a possibility that he is going home, but it should not be for the reason you mentioned. Rather, it is that he is going home one last time before he prepares to withdraw from the world."

"Yes! That's it!" Oshima breathed a sigh of relief and quickly agreed.

Yui didn't say anything; there was complete silence, as if she had logged off.

Of course, this is just a joke. When you quit the game, there are only two options: failure or success.

But after returning, will Xiaoche take the initiative to give the snake bone amulet to the family? Or will he have to guide them again?

But it's hard to find a suitable reason for this behavior.

“You can carefully consider your words and guide him at the right time. It seems he wants to do something right now,” Iwasaki concluded. Since it was Oshima who brought it up, he would think of a way to guide him.

Oshima fell silent and began to ponder.

In the game, Xiaoche arrived at the village lord's house, but the door was tightly closed, and even though it was like a long-awaited rain after a drought, the lord did not open the door with joy.

"T-Samurai-sama?"

Xiao Che knocked a few times before the door was carefully opened. The master, wearing a raincoat and hat, opened the door with a bitter expression. Upon seeing Xiao Che, his face changed drastically, and he hurriedly knelt down.

"Do you have a handcart and a shovel at home?" Xiaoche asked.

"Yes, yes!"

The master, feeling uneasy, carefully got up, went to the back of the courtyard, and pushed out a cart.

Next, the two collected the little girl's family's bodies, pushed them to a nearby cemetery, dug a pit, and buried them.

The two buried the family in silence, and then Xiaoche left a money bag and turned to leave Qiushang Village.

It seems that my existence is unnecessary in this world.

Daoman Xiaoche's ideas rarely appear before players, so his emergence now suggests he has indeed been significantly influenced.

Because he showed exceptional talent from a young age, he came into contact with the family's secrets at an early age and was instilled with the idea of ​​rebuilding the Yellow Springs and not letting the family's name fall. The embellished legends of the family's past heads also inspired him.

People all over the world need to fill their homes with virtue.

This idea stayed with him as he grew up.

Until it was completely burned down by a great fire during the Ming Dynasty.

He fell into self-doubt and self-criticism.

Do people all over the world really need to fill their families with Tao?

It took him a long time and a great deal of effort to finally manage to walk out.

People don't need to be virtuous all over the world, but at the very least, he can make the world a better place.