Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 143 Chapter 141: Naomasa Ii

There are many legends about cursed swords in Japan, including those that slay gods and demons and those that bring bad luck.

If we had to name the most famous one, it would be the Muramasa, a collective name for the swords forged by the Muramasa family. However, the story behind it is actually the most normal and closest to reality among all the legends.

It has a completely different style from other works that involve slaying ghosts and killing gods.

[New games updated monthly]

[The Demon Sword (Action, Adventure): From as far back as I can remember, my father forbade me to touch this sword, but now, it's all I have left.]

Difficulty: Moderate

[Additional number of supported players: 3]

[Points cap: 500]

Without being the first to try it out, Higashiyama Shinichi set up the rewards first.

The entry reward remains the familiar protective paper doll.

First Place: City Protection Talisman (This body is a city, passage is prohibited)

Second Place: Seven-Star Longevity Pill

Third place: Focusing Pill (improves mental concentration and enhances mental strength in a short period of time).
In gaming terms, the function of a city protection charm is to increase one's own defense while gaining the ability to taunt, thus creating a protected area.

You must prioritize attacking that "city wall".

It costs 50 points, but he sells it for 200 in the player's shop.

I also took a look at the scores of three veteran players in this game.

Hao: 85
Wisdom: 80
Month: 69
Uesugi pulled again.

Her strengths and weaknesses are far too obvious.

Let's see what new players will appear.

Dongshan Shen clicked the player invitation button.

Nighttime, Southeast University Affiliated Hospital.

Oshima Umeta (see Chapter 20) paced anxiously in the hospital waiting area, occasionally hearing painful wails coming from the examination room.

After a while, the wailing gradually subsided, and the father of the island came out with a face full of exhaustion, only to see his son leaning towards him somewhat helplessly.

How is Mom?

Oshima's father forced a smile and glanced back at the examination room: "Don't worry, the doctor is trying to find a solution. She just fell asleep, so we'd better not disturb her for now."

"it is good"

Oshima Umeta wanted to see her mother, but seeing her father's words, she could only suppress her feelings for the time being.

"Did the doctor say what the cause was?"

Oshima's father's lips moved slightly, and he sighed: "It might be an acute myocardial infarction, but it's not certain yet. We're in the hospital now, and trusting the doctors is the best option."

".yes."

Oshima Umeta lowered his head, then suddenly remembered something. He took out the snake bone pendant amulet hanging around his neck and was about to take it off when suddenly, a premonition of impending death seemed to come from nowhere and quickly entered his brain, as if waiting for an opportunity to strike.

My heart was pounding, and I didn't know what I was afraid of.

"Heh heh." Oshima Umeta took two steps back, his face pale, and leaned against the wall.

"Mrs. Mei? How are you? Are you feeling unwell?" Oshima's father supported him and asked anxiously.

"No, it's nothing."

Oshima shook his head, then absentmindedly placed the snake bone amulet back on his chest.

The strange feeling receded like the tide, and my heart slowly returned to its previous rhythm.

A terrifying conjecture has spread and taken root uncontrollably.

"By the way, Dad, I've never met Mom's relatives. She never told me either. Should we ask them to come over?" Oshima Umeta asked tentatively.

He has never met anyone from his mother's bloodline since birth. He had asked before, but each time the topic was changed, so he gradually stopped asking.

“This…” Oshima’s father looked troubled, and after thinking for a moment, he said, “Just don’t tell her about it afterward. When your mother was very young, her family all died in an accident, and now she is all alone. Remember not to mention it, especially in this situation.”

"I understand."

Umeta Oshima was at a loss, having lost even the simplest means of verification.

He told his father and went to the bathroom.

Sitting in the cubicle, he took deep breaths. After mentally preparing himself, he suddenly took out the snake bone amulet and hung it on the hook on the door.

In an instant, a pain he had never experienced before, a pain a hundred or a thousand times stronger than all his previous suffering combined, struck his heart as if it were being pierced by needles, cut by knives, and gnawed at.

"what"

At that moment, his throat was so constricted that he couldn't even make a sound. Sweat soaked his clothes completely in just a few seconds, and tears and saliva flowed uncontrollably.

With blurred vision, he instinctively reached out his hand with difficulty, swaying left and right, and finally managed to grab the snake bone amulet.

Immediately, the intense pain began to subside, and he regained some consciousness. He quickly removed the amulet and placed it over his heart. Then, as if completely exhausted, he leaned against the toilet, breathing heavily.

His eyes were vacant, and there were still tear stains at the corners of his eyes from the intense pain he had just experienced.

Is my mother enduring such terrible pain all along?
What was the reason that he was given this amulet?
As his consciousness slowly returned, he looked at the talisman in his palm, which he dared not touch any further, and his mind was engaged in a fierce struggle.

He wanted to give this to his mother and bear the pain himself.

But whenever I recall that feeling of being worse than dead, my soul trembles, and I simply don't dare to make that decision.

He pulled out his hair tightly, looking bewildered and helpless.

It hurts so much, it really hurts.
Is this amulet only meant to protect one person? Can't two people huddle together to provide relief?

As he was deep in thought, a box appeared before his eyes as if by illusion.

The "unknown" has started a game; will you, who are qualified, enter?

【accept】

【reject】

Oshima shook his head a few times, rubbed his eyes, and the box was still there.

"What is this?"

He felt this might be his imagination, so he hesitated and clicked "accept" to see if he could actually click it.

After clicking, the box flashed a few times and disappeared. Then, in the corner of the view, a line appeared: "Settings before starting the game?"

No, he just wanted to test if he could actually click it.

"game?"

[Please enter a nickname. The nickname is limited to 1-2 Chinese characters and must be selected from your real name.] He came to his senses, so he really had encountered a supernatural event?
Is it because of this amulet or...
".island."

He didn't know what kind of game it was, but instinctively didn't want people to associate his nickname with his real name.

The character "岛" (dao, meaning island) appears quite frequently as a surname.

[Player "Island", created successfully, ID 0210]

[Note: Participating in the game and actively completing levels will earn you generous rewards, but the price of death will be the loss of your lifespan.]

[Players must participate in the game at least once a day until a perfect completion is achieved in the game initiated by "Unknown".]

[That concludes the explanation. Your character will automatically go to sleep after entering the game.]

This is no place for sleeping now.

He walked out of the cubicle with mixed feelings, washed his face to make himself look normal, and then returned to his father's side.

At that moment, Oshima's father was talking to the doctor.

"Mrs. Oshima's condition has stabilized for the time being. After examination, it was found that her heart is very healthy. We suspect that the problem is related to the nervous system, so we have temporarily transferred her to the ICU. We will keep a close eye on her."

"Okay, okay, thank you, doctor."

As Oshima Umeta watched his mother being wheeled out of the examination room, he involuntarily gripped the amulet tightly. His heart pounded and his breathing quickened. He wanted to hand the amulet over, but the pain from before seemed to be a demon lurking beside him, ready to make him taste it again at any moment.

His feet wouldn't budge.

After a while, his father came back and patted him on the shoulder.

"Let me take you home. You have school tomorrow. I'll be fine here. Too many people would be a problem."

Oshima nodded, looking confused.

"Dad, if I could take Mom's pain away from me..."

His father interrupted him.

“Don’t think about these things. It will only add to your burden and it’s unrealistic. All we can do is adjust our emotions. Maybe Mom will be fine tomorrow. Besides,” the father shook his head, “making you bear her pain will only make her suffer more.”

Oshima lowered his head, his hands hanging limply at his sides.

Sitting in the car on the way back, Oshima watched the street scenes flash by outside the window without saying a word.

After taking him downstairs, the father went back to the hospital.

Oshima returned home numbly, went into the bathroom, and looked at himself inside.

"You're such a coward, Oshima Umeta."

Snapped.

He slapped himself hard, his hand and face burning with pain, but compared to the excruciating pain in his heart, it was nothing more than a superficial itch.

Lying on the bed, he mentally prepared himself and chose to enter the game.

The white light pulled him into another world, making him become another person.

night.

putridity, hunger, pain
A variety of flavors flooded in, and the five senses gradually returned.

Oshima barely managed to open his eyes.

It was dark all around, with faint moonlight filtering through the narrow opening. Beneath him was a patch of prickly straw, which reeked of sweat and acid. In the distance, he could hear the faint sounds of breathing.

He tried to get up, but a piercing pain shot through his ankle.

Upon closer inspection, I discovered that I had been wearing shackles, and due to the prolonged time spent in them and the dirty environment, the wounds had become ulcerated.

"This is so realistic!"

He could only murmur to himself.

Because he couldn't even speak, his tongue had been cut off.

This feeling is like that of a legendary immersive virtual game.

He tried to bring up the system interface or the health bar, but there was no response.

So, how exactly do you play this game?
The environment he is in is obvious: a prison, and he is a prisoner for some unknown crime.

It's a very standard start; either something unexpected happens to give him a chance to escape, or some plot development occurs.
As he huddled in the corner, trying to immerse himself in the games he had played, the sound of conversation grew closer from afar.

"Why are you making us escort prisoners so late at night? Is it really necessary to be in such a hurry?"

"Shh, we just need to follow orders. I heard it's an order from the Tokugawa Shogun."

"Uh, oh!"

"Quickly hand the person over to the Red Guard; Lord Ii will send them to Edo."

The Tokugawa Shogunate? Ii Naomasa?
Edo period?

Click.

The cell door opened, revealing two jailers carrying lanterns.

"He's awake, that's good. Come with us." The two were somewhat surprised, but they didn't say much. They put a neck yoke on Oshima, removed the leg yokes, and led him outside.

Oshima followed the two with unsteady steps.

He was released from prison very soon.

At this moment, a group of people stood outside. The leader was wearing crimson armor with a pair of huge horn-shaped protrusions on the top of his helmet and a mask on his lower jaw, making him look ferocious.

An adjective came to mind.

Fiery red cockroach.

"Is it him?" Red Cockroach looked Oshima up and down, his unkempt appearance causing him to frown slightly.

"Yes, Lord Ii, it's him. We bring him food every day, we remember it clearly." The two jailers knelt on the ground and said obsequiously.

Seeing that Oshima refused to kneel, they were eager to force him down.

"Alright, I'm in a hurry. Get him into the prison van." Jingyi shook her head, waved her hand, and her men drove the prison van over.

"Yes Yes!"

The two men dragged Oshima onto the prison van, the kind where he could only stand and was shackled.

Oshima silently endured the pain emanating from all parts of his body, watching the plot unfold.

"Alright, let's set off. The General is waiting."

Ii Naomasa mounted his horse and led the Red Guards on their way.

Oshima, sitting in the prison van, gazed at the unknown road ahead, filled with doubt.

What exactly is his important identity that he is being personally escorted by Ii Naomasa, who is known as the Red Demon?
　Thank you to "Gerahiarabos" for the donation.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)