Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

It was mainly people from surrounding towns and cities who flocked in. The stationed troops looked quite intimidating, at least giving people a sense of security.

If something happens, we can't just abandon these civilians.

"Hard to say."

The already emptied city of Fujiyoshida has now become the front line.

A shopping plaza was transformed into a frontline command center.

Kurosaki Chimei gazed in the direction of Tokyo, as if he could see a chaotic scene from afar and feel the confused emotions that were a mixture of luck and blind despair.

He knew what those people were thinking, but he just felt it was unrealistic.

The monsters that emerged from Mount Fuji were impervious to swords and spears, as if they had an invincible cheat code, turning all the preliminary work done by the authorities into ruins within half an hour.

If this situation repeats itself, then preparations for relocating the capital can begin.

unless

Kurosaki recalled the mysterious white-clad mask that had suddenly appeared and then disappeared.

If he were willing to take action, the problem might be easily solved.

Although, based on that brief contact, he vaguely felt that the other party was not a messenger of justice, at most he would only lend a hand when he wanted to achieve a certain goal, and not too much trouble.

This was the case when we killed the centipede monster, and it was the same when we helped him summon the Giant Gate Node that day.

They currently know too little about the white-clad masks.

All we know is that he might be the "Cave Master," possessing a sword called the Crimson Demon Slayer, and is exceptionally powerful.

Originally, the countermeasures department had rated the threat level of the demonic mist as being on par with that of the white-robed mask, but Kurosaki, who had come into contact with both, was certain that this was pure nonsense; the two were not even in the same league.

"Yes, I understand."

Ping Shenglong's voice came from behind, carrying a hint of hidden fatigue.

He hung up the phone, glanced at Kurosaki by the window, but didn't say anything. He just continued to study the geological reports and troop deployment maps that covered the table.

"What does this have to do with me?" Kurosaki withdrew his gaze from the window, lazily threw himself onto the bed made of two sofas pushed together, stretched, and let out a muffled groan.

“The higher-ups,” Ping Sheng’s leader said without looking up, tapping his fingers on the report, “want to know if we have any groundbreaking new discoveries. Anything that can stabilize the situation or predict the next step.”

Kurosaki chuckled twice: "Anyway, what's happening now has nothing to do with me. I've done all I can. Since the authorities are unwilling to conduct a large-scale evacuation, we can only pray that our troops can hold off any more beast tides that may occur later."

He's right. He's researched everything that could help with the current situation. He almost lost his life in the Fuji River in order to activate the last method left by the mysterious Taoist.

He had done his best and had a clear conscience. After several unsuccessful attempts to evacuate Tokyo, there was nothing more he could do.

Upon hearing this, Ping Shenglong pulled out a document, placed it on the opposite side of his desk, and tapped it: "No, there is something you can do, and you haven't followed up on it for a long time."

Kurosaki raised his head, got up from the sofa, sat down, and opened the document: "What do you mean I didn't follow up? Oh, this? Didn't I say I'd give you a million dollars in exchange for writing this for me?"

“Look behind you.” Ping Shenglong said with a hint of speechlessness on his face.

That document was precisely the "Supernatural Game Theory" proposed by Kurosaki Chimei long ago.

Hei Shing-ryong told him that this theory had the potential to become one of the basic theories of the Countermeasures Department, and that there would be a prize of hundreds of millions of yen. Then, based on his oral account, Hei Shing-ryong refined it into a report and submitted it.

Kurosaki was initially quite enthusiastic about following up, but subsequent events made him feel that the possibility had greatly decreased, so he rarely followed up or added any further information.

Unexpectedly, he didn't follow up much, while Ping Shenglong kept taking this hypothesis as the best explanation and plugging a lot of information into it.

The most convincing evidence is that the superhuman seemed to have prior knowledge of some of the disasters. Furthermore, the timeline of the superhuman's first witnessing was marked, making it seem like there was a pattern at a glance.

The sample size is still too small to be certain.

“If this pattern holds true, then at this point in time,” Ping Shenglong opened the current extraordinary files, “there should already be two to four new extraordinary beings born.”

"Two to four. The first batch was Nobi Tomoyoshi and the Demon Mist, the second batch was the Ninth Muramasa, the Vigilantes, and the Red Armor Samurai, so do you think the third batch might be four?" Kurosaki knew what Taira no Ryu was thinking.

Ping Shenglong nodded: "It's also possible that not all of the first batch of extraordinary beings have shown up. Their abilities are different, so it's not surprising that some of them are not good at fighting."

“Muramasa Taki is indeed suspicious.” Kurosaki knew that Muramasa was definitely hiding something from them.

However, Leon granted them considerable authority and didn't allow them to delve too deeply into the matter, so the matter was dropped.

"No wonder you sent Nakajima and Takagi back to Tokyo; you were looking for a new superhuman." Kurosaki suddenly realized.

“I suggest you go back to Tokyo and join them,” Taira no Ryu said earnestly, looking at him.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Kurosaki laughed and said, "Come on, you're all alone here. If something happens, there's no one to lend a hand. Besides, I'm actually more concerned about the threat of monsters than the extraordinary ones, as you know."

"If, and I mean if, you were to fall into the water again, someone would have to come out to get you. We can't always expect Chaofan to have time."

Heisei Ryu stared at Kurosaki for a moment, nodded slightly, and said nothing more.

National Center for Neuropsychiatric Medical Research Hospital.

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor.

Several doctors in white coats, looking serious, hurried toward the ward at the end of the corridor.

Leading the group was Chief Physician Yusuke Takeda, his brow furrowed, his eyes behind his glasses revealing hidden irritation.

He was followed by two doctors, a senior head nurse, and a regular nursing assistant.

"Saki, the caregiver, tell them more about Mr. Ashikaga's condition, especially when it started and what specific abnormal symptoms he showed," Dr. Takeda ordered without turning his head.

"Yes, yes!" Following at the end of the line, Saki, wearing a light blue caregiver uniform, jogged a few steps nervously, her voice trembling slightly. "The situation started yesterday around noon during rounds."

"According to people in the same ward, Mr. Ashikaga suddenly refused to drink water! It wasn't a tantrum; he stopped others from drinking water. He stared at the water glass and said there was something in it, that the water was poison and that even a little bit would kill him!"

"No matter how we tried to persuade him, it was no use. When we tried to force it into his mouth, he would desperately turn his head away, as if we were trying to kill him."

Saki swallowed hard, recalling the scene, his face still showing shock and helplessness: "I immediately reported it to the on-duty doctor. The doctor came to see me and did some basic examinations. Everything was basically normal. Apart from being emotionally agitated, no obvious problems were found in my body."

"At the time, I thought it wouldn't be a big problem if he didn't drink water for half a day, so I just observed him. But then things got even worse! He wouldn't even swallow his own saliva! He kept spitting it out, nonstop. He was curled up in the corner, his eyes were blank, like he was terrified! And he was talking nonsense."

"What did he say?" Dr. Takeda continued walking.

"One minute he was crying and shouting that there was a water ghost staring at him from the water glass, and the next minute he was begging the air, 'Don't come any closer.' The scariest thing was last night!"

Saki's voice trembled even more, and he shrank his neck.

"When he was urinating, he suddenly screamed like he'd seen a ghost, scratching and clawing at his genitals, crying out, 'It's coming out! It's coming out!' Then, he somehow found a piece of hard plastic and almost, almost, cut it off!"

"Luckily, our people found him in time and subdued him. It was terrifying!" Saki, the caregiver, described with lingering fear, as if the insane scene was still vivid in his mind.

The group quickened their pace, and the two doctors exchanged opinions in hushed tones: "Acute delirium? Organic brain disease syndrome?"

"It's more like paranoia caused by schizophrenia, with terrifying hallucinations about specific objects."

"The possibility of paranoia cannot be ruled out; the trigger could be immense psychological stress."

"But everything looks normal up ahead!"

As Yusuke Takeda listened to the discussion behind him, his face was ashen, but his mind was churning with completely different thoughts.

Ashikaga is mentally ill?! What a joke, Tokyo!

This guy is a master conman! The reason he can comfortably lie in one of the top mental hospitals in Japan instead of being in prison is all thanks to his "old friend" who used his professional knowledge and connections to meticulously craft a diagnosis report for mental illness.

He knew better than anyone that Ashikaga was perfectly clear-headed and had come here to escape legal punishment and enjoy legitimate protection.

There was nothing we could do; the other party's family had given us just too much.

Could it be that staying in this place for too long has made the fake seem real? Or has he been influenced by the real mental patients around him and fallen into the trap himself?

Or has this guy caught wind of something and is up to some new trick? Logically, his family should have notified him in advance via a secret email address.

Until he made the call, the other party's family was completely bewildered, seemingly unaware of anything.

Takeda sighed, his mind filled with doubt.

boom.

The ward door was pushed open.

Ashikaga was firmly secured to the hospital bed with strong restraints, and there were two caregivers monitoring him from the side.

His eyes were wide open and empty, staring straight at the pale white ceiling, as if they were a magnet that could attract attention.

His lips were dry, cracked, and peeling due to dehydration, giving them an unhealthy grayish-white color.

However, clear saliva bubbles kept uncontrollably overflowing and flowing from the corners of his mouth, accumulating in a small wet patch on his chin and neck. He seemed to be using all his strength to resist this most instinctive physiological reaction of swallowing.

Like a fish that's been slapped on the shore and is blowing bubbles.

Takeda and the others walked to the bedside and carefully examined the patient.

Takeda looked at the man with a complicated expression. He leaned down and spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear, with a hint of probing: "Ashikaga, look at me. Do you still recognize me? Is there some news circulating outside?"

Ashikaga's eyes moved extremely slowly, his gaze sweeping blankly across Takeda's face without any focus or response, as if he were looking at thin air.

If one had to pinpoint what was in those empty eyes, it would only be a deep-seated fear.

Takeda's heart sank. After making contact, based on his experience, he almost immediately judged that this was not acting at all.

This kind of tremor, originating from the depths of his soul, couldn't be faked. He gritted his teeth and gestured to the head nurse, "Temporarily loosen the restraints on your upper limbs, be careful."

The group, prepared to press down again at any moment, untied the restraints.

Ashikaga's arm hung limply by the bedside, with several deep red marks on his wrist from the struggle.

Takeda patiently softened his voice, as if coaxing a real patient: "Ashikaga, don't be afraid, look at me. We're friends, right? Tell me, what are you afraid of? What's wrong with the water?"

Ashikaga's gaze remained unfocused, his lips moving as he uttered incoherent, breathy sounds.

He slowly sat up, his gaze wandering aimlessly, passing over the white sheets, over Takeda's cautious expression, and finally settling on his newly freed arms.

On the inside of my arm, there was a shallow cut that had appeared sometime during the day, from which a bead of bright red blood oozed.

The moment that drop of blood came into Ashikaga's view.

His unfocused pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpoints, as if he had seen the most terrifying thing in the world!

"water!!"

A piercing, inhuman scream, like a throat being torn apart, suddenly erupted!

With his chilling screams that seemed to come from hell, he frightened the doctor next to him so much that he instinctively cried out and backed away.

He frantically scratched at his bleeding arm, his nails digging deep into his flesh, as if trying to rip out the drop of blood along with the veins underneath!

"It's water! Inside my body! She...she's inside!! She's coming out! Ahhh—no! Please don't come out! No—click!!"

The screams stopped abruptly.

Ashikaga's body seemed to have its soul ripped out in an instant, falling straight backward in an extremely stiff and contorted posture, crashing heavily against the bed railing.

His eyes were wide open, his eyeballs almost bulging out of their sockets, filled with extreme fear.

His mouth was wide open, maintaining the shape of his final shout.

he died.

He was terrified to death by the blood flowing from his own body.

"What the hell is going on?"

Takeda's lips twitched as he muttered to himself.

My gaze traveled up and up the floors, until I reached the intensive care unit on the sixth floor.

Hamasaki Yui, lying on the bed, stared at the floor with a stiff smile, subtly raising her hand in a waving goodbye gesture.

"Thank you for your help, Mr. Experiment."

Chapter 240: The Blazing Chariot

[You have successfully completed the ending - Bao Yong Eruption]

[Ending Evaluation: Excellent ending. The seal was barely activated, but it couldn't conceal the overwhelming rage. The rest is detailed in historical records.]

[First-time completion rating: B+]

Difficult, too difficult.

He died countless times.

Uesugi felt like she was about to burn out. In reality, her physical strength seemed to be declining, and even her cat ears were listless. She was so scared that she quickly exchanged for a small longevity pill to replenish herself, fearing that she would kick the bucket and rot in the rented room.

Finally, their hard work paid off, and their team successfully cleared the level!

And the first playthrough ends in an excellent ending!