Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

————————————Author's Note——————————————

Please do not do this in real life, as it could have unimaginable consequences if it were to succeed.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Anti-Shadow Project Enhanced Version

Yuri returned home unscathed, having even managed to steal some of the Repeater's essence along the way; he was now quite used to such things.

The noble person in Yuri's heart who once thought this kind of thing was immoral has been knocked to the ground and trampled underfoot.

The shadowy figures didn't reappear along the way, probably because the previous encounter had caused them too much damage, preventing them from retaliating for the time being. Did this mean that the number of shadowy figures was limited, and there were no more? Yuri couldn't make a definite judgment, but he thought it was very likely the case.

Mingmei still seemed quite excited and showed no intention of resting. After all, she hadn't done any major exercise today besides running, so she had conserved a lot of energy. In fact, if Yuri hadn't still been injured and his spiritual essence was depleted, it would have been the perfect opportunity to press his advantage. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option; what if three more appeared?

The injuries need to be treated and the wounds healed as soon as possible. This can be done by simply picking up a roadside repeater, but unfortunately, this won't work for accumulating spiritual essence.

The subsequent re-accumulation of spiritual essence required the joint efforts of Mingmei and Yuri. Yuri devised a simple plan: he would go out and continuously collect the repeater during this period, and use the repeater's spiritual essence to heal himself—while Mingmei would use a ritual that, although she didn't know how it worked, was effective to inject spiritual essence into the shrine, so that Yuri could extract it when they were about to fight the shadow again.

Another task is to find the best incendiary tool during this time. Flames are very effective, and there's no reason not to use them. Molotov cocktails have already proven effective, but they're a one-off solution anyway. Considering the possibility that new backups might appear at any time, something more durable is needed.

Furthermore, considering the environment is in the sewers, even if gasoline is used directly, it won't burn the school, so there's no need to go through the trouble of finding flammable materials—but isn't starting a fire in a confined space too suicidal? Yuri might be able to escape by becoming a spirit, but it would be troublesome for Akemi.

There was originally a concern about the possibility of an explosion if flammable gases accumulated in the sewers, but Yuri had already completed the test without anticipating it—if it were going to explode, it already had. Thanks to Mr. Shadow for conducting the test in advance, although Yuri's thought process center only received the test report a long time later.

I'll definitely be more careful next time, otherwise there might not be a next time. —Although Yuri thought again that if it would explode if there was fire, the sparks on the first fleeing shadow should have detonated before the two went down, but since he hadn't considered that beforehand, he couldn't use it to pretend that he was thorough in his thinking.

Akemi suggested that she look up information about the sewers after daybreak to determine whether lighting a fire in the sewers would cause suffocation. Yuri agreed wholeheartedly, as it seemed the shadowy figure wouldn't move during the day.

In addition, Yuri also wrote down two new future development goals in his notebook.

First, we need to determine what unknown action consumed the energy. Based on experience, this is a new ability, but if we unconsciously and recklessly activate it, it will only deplete our spiritual essence more quickly and cause us to lose control of our destiny. As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy. Knowing your enemy is very difficult, so at least we should strive to know ourselves.

Secondly, learn martial arts. This doesn't mean specific routines—those are human-developed and often require adaptation to human characteristics, making them less relevant to spirits. What you should learn is something closer to combat experience and coping strategies—random, uncontrolled punches are becoming increasingly ineffective; simply throwing punches blindly won't gain you an advantage against any enemy.

Unfortunately, one of these goals requires precious spiritual essence for research, and the other requires a considerable amount of time; neither is feasible at the moment.

Yuri calmed down and began to imagine how the battle with the shadowy figure would proceed, a process commonly known as "imagining."

Just as we thought, the main way to deal with the shadow is with fire, so Yuri and Minmei should prepare their defenses.

The shadowy figure's attack power wasn't strong, but its dagger was extremely sharp, so Yuri should find something that could block the dagger—a shield? A club? Either should work.

At the same time, being entangled by the shadows will put you in a disadvantageous situation. Yuri can ignite himself to escape, but it will be a big problem for Akemi. So it's best not to let Akemi face more than one shadow at the same time.

then……

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Around noon, Akemi returned from going out to find a map of the sewers.

Judging from the time it took to get out, it probably didn't go very smoothly.

"Stop for a moment, I found a rough map." Akemi glanced at Yuri, who was gesturing at the air, and decided to interrupt his thoughts.

Yuri didn't detect any happiness in Akemi's words.

“A rough map is still a map, and there are always some connecting lines, right? Why are you unhappy?” Yuri stopped his stagnation of fantasy and moved closer.

“You’ll understand once you see the map. It’s not that it’s useless, but…” Akemi spread the map out on the coffee table.

Yuri moved closer and stood across the coffee table from Akemi.

"This is way too dense!" A map of the entire Tokyo sewer system condensed onto a single A4 sheet of paper? Who came up with this brilliant idea? Do we need a high-powered magnifying glass to see it? Yuri had to get his face close to the map to make out its structure.

“That’s one problem. The second problem is that there are no details at all.” Mingmei’s words were tinged with resentment. “By the way, this is the only map. The bookstore owner said he had never heard of a more detailed map—maybe the city library or the city hall have them.”

Yuri stared intently as he located the school area, only to find a thin line running past the school gate; the school itself had no landmarks.

"What does this mean?" Yuri didn't understand, but Akemi must have seen it beforehand, so he could just ask Akemi.

"This shows that the person who made the map thought that the road beneath the school wasn't worth drawing at all; it was just an insignificant side road."

...What? That thing is just a trivial side street? Did you build a separate Tokyo underground?

Yuri moved to Minmei's side and carefully studied the diagram.

“Furthermore, this map lacks explanation. For example, here, the final outlet of the sewer system is Tokyo Bay,” Akemi pointed to a location on the map.

“Yes, the lines that converge here are indeed the thickest,” Yuri agreed.

“But if we dig this big, won’t we dig into the sea?” Akemi asked, puzzled. “But there’s no elevation or anything marked on the map, so we can’t figure out the specifics. I even suspect that Tokyoites themselves don’t understand the structure of the sewers.”

...The clueless Yuri said he definitely didn't know—he was new here too.

In conclusion, according to Mingmei's conclusion, if the area below the school is a small area that is not even worth marking, then the oxygen level should be guaranteed if it is connected to other larger areas.

Unless the fire is really too big.

Yuri's suggestion to create torches was a long-planned move. It would simultaneously fulfill the requirements of flame, club, and safety, avoiding large fires while efficiently directing the flames towards the shadows—making it a perfect weapon in this situation.

But specifically, how are torches made?

Half an hour later, Yuri began to regret the suggestion he had made.

Mingmei knew how to make the torch—the first step was to take gasoline out of the motorcycle, the second step was to find a candle in the corner, and the third step was to stir it constantly—this step was Yuri's responsibility.

Stir, stir, stir, stir.

According to Mingmei, the mixture needs to be stirred until the candle is completely melted in the gasoline and the product becomes viscous. Only then can the product effectively stick to the cloth strip without burning too quickly.

This was a rather boring job, and Yuri certainly couldn't ask Akemi to do it—Akemi was performing a ritual at the shrine on the other side of the living room, preparing energy for Yuri.

If only the candle could melt quickly, or the gasoline could spin and stir on its own, but unfortunately, the former means the properties of the substance need to be changed, and the latter means the substance has to move on its own.

In short, it's a supernatural influence, definitely not scientific.

Of course, the latter could also be achieved with a blender, but unfortunately, Mingmei's home doesn't have one. Normal homes don't typically have blenders designed for mixing gasoline and candles.

Yuri, who was mechanically stirring, sensed something was wrong; it seemed that the spiritual essence in his body was beginning to leak out.

Stop immediately!

Thanks to Yuri's timely intervention, which stopped the delusions, the loss of spiritual essence ceased.

Although stirring is indeed laborious, it is better to spend the effort and time than to spend spiritual essence, at least for now.

The specifics of its abilities will require further research in the future; for now, we just need to make torches.

Mastering new abilities is a good thing, but depleting one's spiritual essence in the process will obviously have a negative impact on future actions. But what kind of ability could have such an effect in this situation?

After about an hour, Yuri finally finished making the gasoline paste in the evening.

The work wasn't over yet; next, we needed to use strips of cloth to absorb the fumes. Luckily, Dora Minmei had also prepared strips of cloth.

The final step is to tie the soaked cloth strips to tree branches or iron rods; this step can be done at school.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

With a little time left until midnight, Yuri used the essence of the repeater to heal himself and returned home to continue waiting.

"Should we really go right away?" As they waited, Yuri began to have doubts. "Perhaps we should postpone it for two or three days until I've recovered more? We can use that time to make more preparations."

Akemi, who was sitting on the sofa with her eyes closed, opened them. "Actually, doing it this way is more reasonable and safer."

Yuri continued listening, and as is customary, there should be a "but" here.

“But—there’s more than one shadow, which means the number of shadows is increasing,” Mingmei’s voice was very calm. “If we delay for a while and then find that there are even more shadows, will the situation be better?”

That might not necessarily be better. Although Akemi only mentioned one possibility, that possibility certainly exists.

“The shadowy figure has the ability to learn. Although it may not seem as intelligent as a human, just the ability to learn is already extremely dangerous,” Akemi continued her argument. “And it’s not that nothing will happen during this time; it’s just that nothing has happened by chance. Even without considering the possibility that some students might secretly stay behind and encounter the shadowy figure, the guards are constantly in danger. Aren’t you afraid?”

"What are you afraid of?" Yuri asked, feeling a little guilty.

Aren't you afraid of not doing what you had the opportunity to do, then seeing the consequences and starting to regret it?

...Yuri asked himself honestly, and he was indeed afraid of this—but he was also afraid of failing when he went ahead without being fully prepared.

After Yuri expressed his fears, Akemi looked at him with understanding. "Thinking things through is never a bad thing, Yuri, really. But we can't just do nothing because of fear, can we? Right now, the risks of going directly or going later are both very high, so I'd rather go ahead and do it now."

Yuri wasn't completely convinced, but he had switched to neutrality. So, with one abstention and one immediate vote, he ultimately decided to go immediately.

Late at night, the two of them went out onto the street again and walked down the path they had walked many times before.

The sky is terrible tonight; the moon is almost completely shrouded in clouds, and the lighting is very poor in areas without streetlights. By the time we get to campus, it will probably be completely dark.

Although seeing this scene made me even less inclined to search for the shadowy figure in the dark, I had already come out, and going back now would only lead to a cycle of making excuses.

Keep going.

As usual, Mingmei carried the strips of cloth in a plastic bag to climb over the wall, while Yuri, in a tangible form, entered through the main entrance. At the same time, Yuri carefully observed the guard room.

There was still only the old guard there. Was the younger one too frightened to take sick leave and stay in bed? The old guard seemed to be resting. He was really dedicated to his job, still going to work alone after such an incident.

After reuniting with Akemi, the two found a tree that needed pruning—the standard for pruning was Akemi's judgment, and Yuri wondered in his heart if it was just that it was growing in the way of the eyes.

Holding the branch designated by Akemi, Yuri gently drew its life force, causing the branch to slowly wither. After Akemi called for a stop, Yuri easily broke it off—the tree itself was also affected to some extent, but it should not have been fundamentally damaged.

Yuri collected exactly what he spent. The large amount of spirit essence he absorbed from the vines last time seemed like an illusion—perhaps because those vines had enhanced vitality, so the vitality he could absorb from them was more abundant?

In any case, break the branch in half, then wrap it with strips of cloth. All that's left to make a fully-fledged torch is to light it. This step can be done later, after you've gone down into the sewer.

It was time to explore the sewers again. They removed the manhole cover, which had been closed by someone, and the two of them headed down into the underground.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Remains

Upon entering the sewer, the shadowy figure did not lie in wait. Yuri floated down the well without any problems.

In short, first light the torch. The firelight illuminates the surrounding environment. Although it is not as bright as a flashlight, it has a much wider range. At least you don't have to scan left and right to ensure your field of vision, which saves a lot of trouble.

Just a couple of steps ahead is the spot where I encountered the shadowy figure last time. Burn marks are visible on the ground; no one has cleaned them up. Of course no one would clean them up—who in their right mind would go into the sewers?

There was no shadowy figure in sight, but the possibility that it was hiding in the shadows could not be ruled out.

Maintaining each other's visibility, the two separated. This expanded the search area, while the cross-beaming firelight from different angles effectively reduced the number of shadows where the shadow could hide.

Yuri used his physical advantages to survey his surroundings.

The reason for choosing this location was that it was closer to the pool of water that the shadowy figure had tried to use to extinguish the fire last time. However, once Yuri got closer, he discovered that the pool of water was only a thin layer, and he estimated that the shadowy figure would have to roll around a few more times to put out the fire.

At the entrance, below the manhole cover, the depth is about three meters. Further on, as you walk into a wider area, you are walking downhill, and the slope is quite steep.

After entering a relatively spacious area—which is now about three meters high—it's clear that the top, or ground level, gradually thickens. Based on this, while some supporting pillars are in place, a very large space is left for a sewer system.

It's many times larger than Mingmei's house. Probably... ten to twenty times the size of Mingmei's house?

In the vast space, which was tens of meters long and wide—Yuri mentally compared it to the area beneath the plaza between the school gate and the teaching building—there were no special facilities, and a large amount of space was left unused.

Of course, there must be standing water on the ground; otherwise, it wouldn't be called a sewer. There are grooves dug in the ground to divert water when the amount is small, but right now the water is so little that you can't even touch the grooves.

The recessed area itself is normal; many sewers have this feature, and the non-recessed sections allow maintenance personnel to stand and walk comfortably. The abnormal part is that the recessed area occupies only a tiny fraction of the total space, with most of the area being flat ground – a clear waste of space.

The supporting pillars were covered with fungi that Yuri didn't recognize, and it seemed no one came to clean them regularly. Against this backdrop of fungi, the place looked like a ruin that had stood there for decades.

Could it be that, excluding the shadowy figure and Yuri Akemi, no one has really been here for decades? That can't be the case.

In the darkness, in a place unknown to anyone, all sorts of strange things began to grow... Yuri banished his imagination from his mind. That was unlikely; surely someone would maintain it regularly, right?

Yuri discovered a waterway here, its direction unclear, but it was likely meant to connect with other areas. The waterway made a sharp turn, and without entering, it was impossible to know where it led.

Did Akemi discover anything? He began to move closer to Akemi.

As he approached, he noticed Yuri's Akemi beckoning him closer and pointed to another waterway beside Akemi, saying, "There seems to be a strange smell coming from this direction."

Yuri couldn't smell anything; even in physical form, his sense of smell and taste remained at the level of "existence."

"I didn't smell anything, but it's normal to have strange smells in the sewers, right?" Yuri could only guess in response. "After all, this is a sewer, it's normal to have rotting things here."

"I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but it's probably not just ordinary rotten stuff." Akemi frowned, seemingly trying hard to figure out what the smell was.

"Let's go check it out. Maybe it's coming from the thing that's creating the shadows," Yuri said casually, then immediately frightened himself. The thing that's creating shadows?

After a wide, open space that resembled a plaza, the waterway was also quite wide, not as wide as a plaza where cars could drive, but at least wide enough for four people to walk through.

Yuri took the lead and walked over, turning, turning, turning, and then came to another vast space.

Something's not right. Why are the waterways so winding and twisting? Does this really help with drainage? Yuri felt he was gradually getting used to the designer's madness.

If there are no calculation errors, we should have already moved outside the school grounds and arrived at the location marked on the map, which is the main street in front of the school.

The structure here is similar to before, with supporting columns and a large space, but even Yuri felt a different atmosphere this time.

Yuri, who was about to lead the way, was stopped by Akemi, "The torch is almost burned out, you should wrap it with new strips of cloth first."

I glanced at the torch in my hand. He was right; it was almost burned out. I hadn't realized that I had been down there for more than fifteen minutes. It was already quite an achievement that the hastily made torch had lasted this long.