Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 122, Section 120: Bureaucratic Mindset
"Are you a relative of Ping Shenglong?"

"Uh, he's a friend. I brought all the information with me."

"Okay, sign here. You can be discharged right away after you sign."

morning.

With messy hair and a disheveled appearance, Kurosaki Chimei finished the discharge procedures for Heisei Ryu, then hurriedly ran to the ward with several bags of medicine.

"Wait, why haven't you packed anything yet?! You don't expect me to pack, do you? I'm an advisor, not a personal maid!"

Rushing back to the ward, Kurosaki was surprised to see Tatsumi Heimori sitting leisurely at the tea table by the window, seemingly admiring the city as it began to awaken in the morning.

He was immediately enraged.

"Anyway, I've already completed the formalities, and you can leave by yourself. If you keep dragging your feet, I'll just leave on my own." Kurosaki was itching to rush to Hibiya Station to investigate, so he couldn't stand Taira no Tatsumi's leisurely manner.

Ping Shenglong's head was still bandaged, and after a few days in the hospital, his face seemed to have become thinner.

He turned around and looked at Kurosaki, who was looking impatient: "Hibiya Station is less than 900 meters from the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters. With the Self-Defense Forces and the US military involved, the blockade is so tight that even special agents can't get in. Even if you don't go to Hibiya Station, it's quite difficult to get into Hibiya Park. The best way is to go in under an open identity."

"I would like to use my official position, but this level of advisor is definitely not enough, let alone an advisor to a suspended section chief."

“I admit you did bet right, but betting right doesn’t necessarily mean winning. Otherwise, the Superintendent General of Police would have contacted you yesterday. I watched your phone all day yesterday, and you didn’t receive a single call from higher-ups.”

Kurosaki Chimei couldn't understand the source of Heisei Ryu's confidence.

“Your bizarre thinking doesn’t apply to the bureaucratic system.” Ping Shenglong glanced at the time, got up and started packing his luggage. “My bet was on the next few years, but I never expected it to be realized in just a few days, and in a way I never dared to imagine.”

Kurosaki quickly helped pack, including some of his own belongings that he had been taking care of for the past few days: "I know your plan, which is to gamble on the ghost stories actually appearing in the police's sights, and then make the Superintendent General remember your past overstepping of authority report. What I don't understand is, what makes you so sure that he will definitely give you a promotion?"

Ping Shenglong shook his head: "A future that can be determined is not a gamble. But at least after yesterday, I can be sure that my report can give him some reason to shirk responsibility, and that's enough."

Kurosaki Chimei was skeptical. He could understand Heisei Ryu's thoughts, but he couldn't be as confident as he was.

Or is it that they weren't confident, but pretended to be? A ruse like the Empty City Stratagem?

But this empty city stratagem was meaningless to him.

Tuk-tuk-tuk.

After they finished packing their things, someone knocked on the ward door.

Kurosaki opened the door with an unfriendly expression.

Department Head Iwaki, who was wearing a professional fake smile, almost lost his composure in a second because of Kurosaki Chimei's slovenly face.

Her smile became very stiff at one point.

Iwaki looked into the ward, but Kurosaki's body moved horizontally to block his view, and he had a smug expression.

It's hard, the fist is hard.

"Who are you?" he asked patiently in a soft voice.

Kurosaki Chimei didn't reply, turning his body away with a tense expression.

How could he not know that the person in front of him was the Minister of Criminal Investigation? He had seen photos of all the important officials and forcibly memorized them.

He knew that Iwaki's "gentle" appearance here meant that Heisei Ryu had indeed won his gamble. Perhaps this was bureaucratic thinking?

“Minister.” Ping Shenglong’s expression was normal, as if the wound on his head was something he had accidentally fallen on flat ground.

"Ugh."

Iwaki's face quickly turned into one of guilt. He ignored Kurosaki, held the bouquet, walked up to Heisei Ryu, and suddenly bowed deeply at a perfect 90-degree angle.

"Ping Sang, please forgive my rashness back then. I am truly sorry!"

Kurosaki gestured with his hand in the corner, confirming that it was indeed a genuine ninety-degree angle.

At his age, he can still perform "proper etiquette" so perfectly. No wonder he's from the Metropolitan Police Department, which gets criticized every day. He's definitely trained for it.

The fact that he apologized in this manner suggests it wasn't voluntary on his part; it must have been due to pressure from his superiors.

Sources of stress.
Two hours later.

Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters.

Kurosaki Chimei tidied himself up and lay down on the sofa in Heisei Ryu's office, using the police system to search for relevant information from yesterday.

"Centipede train, knight, white-clad mask."

These are the official code names given to the three extraordinary individuals who appeared at the scene yesterday.

Now that Ping Shenglong has been reinstated, he went to the Superintendent General of Police immediately after being invited back by Minister Iwaki. It is unknown what they are discussing now.

Knowing that he couldn't enter the sealed-off area alone, and that his status as an advisor allowed him to share the same access as Heisei Ryu, Kurosaki decided to collect all the information he could first.

The database contains not only high-resolution images of the three extraordinary beings, but also detailed analyses of their manifested abilities, potential capabilities, and origins.

It incorporates a lot of occult knowledge, and at least Kurosaki agrees with some of the content.

The centipede train can at least be associated with giant centipede legends such as the "hundred-legged god" in Japanese folklore.

The image of the "knight" is too Western fantasy, and the armor is full of personal design style, which is not entirely in line with actual combat. It seems that it has little to do with orthodox mysticism.

As for the white-robed mask, the official analysis suggests that he is a reclusive Onmyoji or cultivator. Based on the brief dialogue, it can be speculated that the centipede train is a monster or shikigami-like follower that he sealed away.

“If we want to start from the beginning, we can do two things at the same time. On the one hand, we can start with the legend of the Hibiya Line, and on the other hand, we can investigate the design and origin of that armor.”

"But if we really want to find the extraordinary, the Centipede Train is probably already dead. The white-clad mask's abilities are too powerful, and the fact that it didn't come out to stop them immediately shows that it doesn't care much about the lives of ordinary people. Therefore, the Knight who gave the Metropolitan Police Department a hint before is the best choice."

"But this also shows that knights are not a threat for the time being, while monsters are always the greatest threat to humans."

Following the clues, a clear path slowly unfolded before his eyes.

I thought that the real-life ghost story of Mr. Jiao Tan would be the only chance he would ever have.

But unexpectedly, there were even more experts, including demons and cultivators.

This is good, as it indirectly fulfills his desire to remind the world that strange tales lurk among people.

If all these things are like the Centipede Train, can they still be called ghost stories?
It's less of a ghost story and more of a monster story.

(End of this chapter)