Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 121, Page 119: Like Coming Home

The game starts, and a familiar white light fills the field of vision before slowly fading away.

When Higashiyama Shin opened his eyes, it was pitch black all around, so dark that he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face.

[You disturbed the giant serpent as you ventured deep into the cave of the other shore, and despite your best efforts, you were unable to defeat it and were thus wounded. Now, your only way to survive is to escape the other shore, but the giant serpent is hot on your heels, and you have little time to waste.]

The single line of text briefly describes the current situation of the character controlled by Shinji Higashiyama.

Unlike ordinary people, the body he is now controlling has spiritual power, although it is not much left, but it can at least make him run faster or drive certain magical artifacts.

Using spiritual power to fill his eyes, the scene before him quickly became clear. It was a somewhat unnatural cave, sloping downwards and slightly higher than the mine shaft.

Then, the things on my body
Before he could even rummage through his belongings, a deathly gaze came from behind him.

run!
Without any hesitation or looking back, Dongshan immediately started running.

Boom!
"Swoosh!"

Immediately behind them came tremors and the hissing of a giant snake, along with a pungent, fishy stench that surged forth like waves.

"Temple escape, is that it!"

After running only a few steps, a line of numbers appeared in front of Dongshan's eyes, and the number kept increasing as he ran.

Fortunately, Shin Higashiyama possesses spiritual power, so he is experienced in how to use it and can allocate it more efficiently.

The main problem now is that if you run too slowly, you will be caught up, and in the dark, you are prone to falling or hitting the wall.

Therefore, he had to carefully allocate his limited spiritual power to his legs and eyes, and constantly be aware of whether the giant snake behind him would suddenly accelerate or burrow into a hole. He also needed to take the time to check what equipment he had on him.

It's less of an escape game and more of a resource management game.

However, with such limited spiritual energy, unless the exit is very close, it will definitely be exhausted before escaping. Therefore, there is probably a mechanism in the game to replenish spiritual energy.

In those few seconds of distraction, he was caught off guard when a large hole suddenly appeared in front of him, almost causing him to fall through.

Then, the next second, the giant snake slid out of the hole and continued its relentless pursuit.

"found it!"

Higashiyama Shin pulled out a handful of talismans and several jade pendants.

One sealing talisman, one explosion talisman, and one earth element talisman.

The magatama seems to be able to restore spiritual power through absorption, similar to the function of spirit stones, but it cannot mobilize spiritual power in the eyes and legs when absorbing it.

Okay, the rest of the game is simple: use these items wisely and escape alive from this cave called the Other Shore.

In his first game, before he had run very far, Shinichi Higashiyama turned around and tried to fight Orochi.

"Hah!"

The giant snake was also furious, not expecting that this audacious human would dare to turn back, so it used all its strength to fight him.

Dongshan Shen exchanged several blows with it, using both explosive talismans and earth-moving talismans, but failed to inflict much damage. The sealing talisman contained something unknown, and it would take half a minute to unseal it, which was impossible to do in the heat of battle.

Finally, he was slammed against the wall by the snake's tail and couldn't be pried out.

"Based on this feeling, it is indeed a mini-game, the kind with almost no plot."

In that case, let's just open it up to the players.

This time, it's not about solving puzzles, but more about controlling spiritual energy and having a sense of direction?
[Purchasing the game does not allow you to invite additional players; you can only invite existing players.]

[This exclusive reward is only available to you.]

The remaining players will compete to be the first to complete the level and receive a regular reward (which will be automatically copied to you).

[You need to prepare entry rewards for players; ranking rewards are not required.] [Players will still earn points based on their performance.]

[Optional Players:]
0121: Uesugi Hitomi (88 points)
0111: Kosuke Iwasaki (72 points)
0131: Chira Nobi (70 points)]

He could understand that the number had changed; the last digit represented the number of games completed, and it would change accordingly.

But why did the score change?
An increase can be interpreted as a player's progress, but what about a decrease?
Each player has their own preferred game genre; this score applies only to this game.

Higashiyama Shin understood.

In this game, Uesugi Hitomi will find her way around as easily as if she were going home.

However, after the previous game, it's clear that scores don't represent everything.

Nobita's performance in the subway game wasn't without a chance to turn things around; blame it on Iwasaki's sister's sacrifice, which brought boundless power.

Last time the entry reward was a red paper doll amulet, so this time it'll be a yellow paper doll amulet. Its effect is to negate one instance of soul damage, and it only costs 30 points for three people.

No matter what, he's not at a loss.

Confirmed to be open.

Higashiyama Shin didn't sit idle; he also entered the game to continue exploring the path to victory.

The new game "Escape from the Other Shore" is now available, and you have been assigned to participate.

Aside from the entry bonus, only the first player to complete the game will receive a reward.

Nobi and Iwasaki were still catching up on sleep and were not in the player lobby; they were asleep when they received the notification.

Only Uesugi thought that since staying in the player lobby was the same as his main body sleeping, he might as well come and sit in the player lobby during his sleeping time, even if it was a little boring.

So she was the first player to receive the news that the new game was open, and she immediately perked up from her boredom.

"Only the first player to complete the level gets the reward. Why has it suddenly become so cruel? Is this the norm, and all those previous rewards were just a treat for us?"

"Wait a minute, does this mean the game doesn't have any of those ridiculous multiple endings, there's only one ending! Good news for speedrunners?"

Uesugi was overjoyed. Instead of rushing into the game, he carefully read through the game's description.

Dewa Country, Mogami River, Orochi Village, and the other side.
The place names are given in considerable detail.

At least Dewa Province is the area of ​​Yamagata Prefecture, and the Mogami River still has the same name and is a tourist attraction.

The only place that might be hard to find is the Great Serpent Village, which probably no longer exists. But if we find the Great Serpent Village, we should be able to pinpoint the location of the other side.

So, are we going to risk going there to see if we can find any remaining benefits in reality?
After some deliberation, she gave up.

"Take it easy, take it easy. I don't need to rush to increase my strength; I can take it slow."

After giving herself these instructions, she entered the game.

After the white light, all that followed was deep black.

She didn't realize she was actually in the game until the game notification popped up.

"Wow, it's so dark. What is this power?"

She tried to regulate the spiritual energy within her body, and everything around her became clearer.

"This place!" Uesugi exclaimed with delight, gazing at the labyrinthine forks in the cave ahead, and opened his arms wide. "It feels like coming home!"

"Hah!"

The angry hiss of the large snake behind her reminded her—this was its home.

(End of this chapter)