Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 199, Section 197: Hirosue Eri

"Please follow the rules and proceed along the passage."

The researcher led the way for a new group of experimenters brought by the Japanese government, his eyes looking somewhat strange.

The gender ratio in this group is severely imbalanced, with women making up the vast majority, and they are all quite young; the youngest looks like a primary school student.

Most of them were dressed as shrine maidens, perhaps believing that this would make it easier to communicate with the gods and gain more attention from the divine flowers.

I just don't know how much of this is genuine and how much is just for show.

In the passageway, almost everyone had a solemn expression, remained silent, and nervously stared ahead, even their walking had a bit of the awkwardness of beginners.

Except someone.

She had blonde pigtails, a Western face, was a young girl, and was still wearing a school uniform.

His posture was casual, as if he were on a picnic, his gaze not entirely open, but subtly scanning his surroundings. The more he looked, the more dissatisfied he became.

When her aquamarine eyes fell upon a Japanese bellflower, her discontent reached its peak, which she suppressed entirely with reason.

"Don't you have any water?" she suddenly asked.

The researcher paused, stopped in his tracks, and turned to look at her.

This is the first time someone has made such a request.

Even if people were thirsty at this time, they wouldn't make any requests.

The others looked at this girl, who seemed out of place among them, with even more curiosity.

Out of basic courtesy, the researcher did not give a cold, dismissive reply.

"I apologize, this was my oversight. Bottled water will be provided once you enter the preparation room." The researcher nodded and continued to lead the way.

The girl secretly pursed her lips: "With such strict security here, why do you still need to plant so much greenery?"

The researcher's eyes flickered slightly: "I'm sorry, I have no comment."

He naturally knew this, and in fact, he handled many of the orders himself, because these were the orders given by Dr. Mila after she established communication with the other shore flower.

A large experimental area centered around the spider lily was filled with a batch of green plants.

The idea was to cultivate a love of nature among everyone, and they were even planning to designate an area to create an indoor forest. However, before the design drawings were completed, Dr. Millai passed away.

The girl didn't say anything more, her arms crossed over her chest, which was not rising and falling much, her twin ponytails swaying behind her with each step.

The group entered the preparation room one by one. This room was mainly for changing clothes. They were required to wear uniform clothing, which seemed to have some kind of device on the spine, probably to monitor the body's reactions.

"Can I not change? I want to wear the shrine maiden outfit for the rest of the trip?" someone asked timidly.

The researcher was adamant: "Only after changing clothes will we be qualified to proceed to the next step."

Seeing the researcher's firm stance, everyone had no choice but to comply.

The blonde girl changed her clothes without a care in the world and was the first to come out.

"Here's the water you wanted." The researcher handed her a glass jar of water with only a simple HO label.

"Oh, thank you."

The blonde girl took the water and looked at the table next to her, where there was another box of the same water.

After everyone had changed their clothes, the researchers led them through a safety valve and finally into the open space where the divine flower was located.

The blinding light instantly obscured their vision, plunging them into their own hallucinations.

The girl froze for a second, then her eyes quickly regained their clarity.

After scanning the surroundings, I saw that everyone was struggling with hallucinations, their expressions varied.

Instead of immediately following the signs to queue up at the sacred flower, she walked over to a bonsai ficus, bent down and stared at the leaves and soil for several seconds before opening the bottle of water she had gotten in the preparation room and pouring it into the bonsai.

The researcher leading the way stood in a corner, his eyes wide with shock. It was the first time he had ever seen such a scene among the test subjects, and he felt as if his brain had short-circuited.

You really don't take this extraordinary opportunity seriously!
A guard from the Talos squad stood next to the potted plant. Upon seeing this, he stepped forward and said, "Please do not damage the environmental decorations."

Upon hearing this, the blonde girl seemed to get agitated, her brows furrowed as she looked up at the steel guard who was almost twice her height.

"Huh? You think I'm causing trouble? This is to help you maintain the environment! A bunch of idiots who don't even know how to care for plants! You just leave them here and then ignore them. What's the difference between that and starting something and then abandoning it!"

?

The guard listened in a daze, tilted his head, and slowly typed a question mark through his tactical mask.

Is there something wrong with his translation system? Is this still Japanese? He seems unable to understand it.

The researcher arrived promptly, holding the girl's file. He coughed twice loudly: "The person responsible for tending the plants passed away a few days ago, and we are already arranging for a replacement. Don't waste any time. Now, please continue with the next step. Ms. Hirosue Eri."

Upon hearing this, Eri didn't say anything more. After glancing down at the condition of the Ficus microcarpa, she casually handed the empty water bottle to the researcher and walked towards the direction of the Divine Flower, swinging her ponytail.

".Next."

There are only two people in the team now, and most of them haven't shaken off the hallucinations yet. Soon it will be Hirosue Eri's turn.

"Focus all your attention and try to communicate with the divine flower in front of you."

Eri, separated from the guards by an iron fence, gazed at the divine flower in its bud stage, and seemed to hear some faint, inhuman voices in her ears.

The words were unclear, but the content was clear.

They asked her if she was willing to sign a contract and become a human contractor of the Divine Flower.

"Extraordinary opportunities... you don't mean becoming a magical girl, do you?" Eri muttered softly, her eyes gradually brightening.

"Alright, next." The researcher in charge of recording saw that the Divine Flower hadn't moved and was about to tell her to leave when he was horrified to discover that the flower bud had quietly turned crimson.

The flower bud trembled slightly, and then slowly bloomed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Is that a spider lily? It's so beautiful."

Eri stared at the enchanting beauty of the Divine Flower, which could involuntarily captivate and intoxicate one's mind. Her eyes glazed over slightly, but she quickly regained her clarity. It seemed that she had a certain resistance to hallucinations.

However, everyone in the experimental site, even those who had undergone the test of hallucinations, fell into a new hallucination the moment the divine flower bloomed again.

A few seconds later, the illusion was shattered by the divine flower, and people's pupils gradually regained focus, returning them to reality.

The researcher stared intently at the blonde girl before him, his lips barely moving, his tone a mixture of respect and stiffness: "Please come with me, Ms. Hirosue."

meeting room.

Eri Hirosue's information has come into Leon's hands. "Eri Hirosue, Japanese-British, second-generation immigrant, 17 years old. She has a particular fondness for gardening. During a school camping trip in elementary school, she disappeared alone into the woods. A search of the mountains yielded no results, but she returned safely three days later, claiming she had been invited by the forest."

If such a legend were told in the past, everyone would have taken it as a childish joke.

And now, perhaps Hirosue Eri truly possesses some kind of affinity with plants, which is why she was chosen by the divine flower.

"I didn't expect to be chosen by the Japanese again." Leon had a bit of a headache.

These individuals were all screened by Leon, had no anti-American tendencies, and had signed agreements promising to prioritize cooperation with America if selected, and to support their actions and research.

But ultimately, they are not as trustworthy as people from one's own country on the surface.

The only good news is that Hirosue Eri is not Japanese in a racial sense, but a Westerner.

Having this in mind should make the president look a little better.

You can also try to persuade the other party to give up their Japanese citizenship, but this needs to be done in a dignified manner.

And—are Japanese high school students really that amazing?!
The knight is a high school student, Muramasa is even in the same class as the knight, and the current Hirosue Eri is also a high school student.

This is such a biased way of giving out superpowers; is it because they look down on older men?
Leon also wanted to experience what it felt like to become extraordinary.

This was not because Shinichi Higashiyama favored high school students; he chose Eri Hirosue simply because he could sense a faint spiritual aura and extremely high talent emanating from her.

If Dr. Millai's original talent was 1, then hers is at least 5.

Other college students were selected perhaps because they are the most passionate and obsessed with games at this age, but talent was also a major factor in their selection.

Otherwise, spending all your time playing easy AI matches, no matter how much you love someone, will be of no use.

Players can be said to have cheated through the game system in order to gain extraordinary abilities through their gaming skills.

People like Hirosue Eri are the most orthodox practitioners.

If any sects or factions still existed in this world, she would undoubtedly be the XX Holy Body, sought after by the corresponding sects.

However, given the current scarcity of spiritual energy, she can only show a slight difference in her abilities, and then as she grows older, her spiritual energy will gradually diminish.

After all, Dongshan Shen had been cultivating the Three Nine Secret Abodes for some time. Before the Yellow Springs Pavilion appeared, if he wanted to replenish his spiritual energy, he would have to rely on the slow charging provided by the game system. If he wanted to charge quickly, he would have to go to sleep.

It's practically impossible to obtain from reality; you have to exert every ounce of effort to squeeze out even a tiny bit.

Unfortunately, the supplements provided by the game system are just that—supplements—and cannot be used for cultivation.

It wasn't until the Yellow Springs Pavilion appeared, which could transform yin energy into spiritual energy, that he was able to truly experience the feeling of cultivation.

Unfortunately, he arrived too late; he had already gotten used to being the boss.

As long as his employees work hard, his "account balance" will keep increasing.

Instead of spending so much time and effort training, we should focus on unleashing the players' potential and encouraging them to contribute their share.

Alas, Shinichi Higashiyama, you have ultimately fallen.

However, at least in terms of game progress, he still insisted on playing by himself, learning from other players, and then organizing and recording information.

In "Shinobi Heart", Bantou is probably the last ninja to awaken the Shinobi Heart. In order to defeat his nightmare, he brought the demon sword out of the castle tower.

Facheng completed the remaining sealing ritual and entrusted it to the Muramasa clan and his disciples.

The disciples rebuilt Honmyoji Temple, passed down the "Myoho Fuma Kōki" left by Hōsei as the most important scripture of Honmyoji Temple, and maintained contact with the Muramasa family.

Unfortunately, it still couldn't withstand the erosion of time; perhaps this is the limit that Fa Cheng can achieve.

Therefore, the identity of the person who could drive Fa Cheng to such a predicament is crucial.

The purpose of the fire, based on the clues, is not hard to guess: it was simply to create more deaths to fill the pseudo-Yellow Springs inside the demon sword.

But why would an Onmyoji wielding the Crimson Demon Slayer prevent the character from delivering the Furisode?
According to Shin Higashiyama's reasoning, the Crimson Demon Slayer should be in the hands of that Onmyoji.

"Family split?"

Higashiyama Shin deduced this possibility.

The lifespan of an Onmyoji is clearly insufficient to complete such a grand plan as rebuilding the Underworld, so it must be passed down through families or apprentices.

First, let's assume that the Onmyoji who made the five-hundred-year pact with the Great Serpent is the founder of the clan and devised the plan for the Demon Blade, controlling the Sesshoseki and integrating it into the Demon Blade.

After several generations of transmission, the term "New Jizo" was used to trick the dying Nichiren into voluntarily entering the demon sword to perform rituals for the souls within. Thus, the prototype of the pseudo-Yomi (Underworld) was born.

What's lacking is the foundation (a large number of lost souls), the other shore (for guidance), and the place responsible for the judgment of reincarnation.

Regarding the spirits of the dead, it was initially likely that the descendants of Onmyoji (yin-yang masters) accomplished this through killing, leaving behind many legends.

Until the end of the Warring States period, perhaps the descendants of the Onmyoji could no longer withstand the backlash of the demon sword, or perhaps they did not want to expose themselves, so they sought out the Muramasa family as gloves.

The so-called contract lasted until the ninth generation, but its actual purpose was only for the third generation. Once the killing started, the desire to kill would not be stopped. However, the third Muramasa did not kill a single person, only seeking to kill Tokugawa Ieyasu.

At this time, the descendants of Onmyoji still had considerable control over the demon sword.

After seeing the demon sword fall into the hands of the Tokugawa family, he took it back and handed it over to the fourth Muramasa.

From then on, the descendants of Onmyoji gradually lost control of the demon sword, and were even suppressed by Hosei.

The descendants of the Onmyoji became increasingly anxious, so they devised a plan: to awaken the demon sword with a furisaki, and incidentally destroy the entire Edo Castle, thus having a feast.

While carrying out the Demon Blade Project, the descendants of the Onmyoji were also cultivating the eggs of the Other Shore Serpent. Perhaps due to insufficient spiritual energy, the serpent eggs lacked "nutrition".

To supplement his nutrition, he somehow obtained a large centipede and began the fusion process.

Thus, in the game, there is the half-snake, half-centipede monster in the young Onmyoji's fan, which should be the form of Zhu Hai at a certain stage.

His desire to stop the players indicates that the descendants of the Onmyoji have split into two factions: one advocating for the continuation of their ancestors' plan, while the other is unwilling to do so.

They may have subsequently descended into internal strife, losing what little strength they had left. Ultimately, the dissipation of spiritual energy in the human realm became unstoppable.

Zhu Hai even lost his snake-like features; after being struck by lightning, his true form was that of a toad with a centipede tail.

Aside from the ability to regenerate flesh and blood and manipulate the soul, it has no otherworldly attributes whatsoever.

The fact that the demon sword was left unattended indicates that after the Great Fire of the Ming Dynasty, none of the descendants of the Onmyoji had the confidence to continue the plan to rebuild the Underworld.

This plan, which began around the Heian period and lasted for several hundred years until the Edo period, has thus come to an end in failure.

"Does that Onmyoji really not have any plans to take charge of the 'Yellow Springs Pavilion' for the Reincarnation Judgment?"

The Yomi-no-Kage that Higashiyama Shin mentioned is not the Yomi-no-Kage that is a reward in the game. If the pseudo-Yomi-no-Kage within the demon sword is to become the real Yomi-no-Kage, a place responsible for judging and reincarnating ghosts is indispensable. The original Onmyoji could not have imagined this.

(End of this chapter)