Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 81, Section 79: Born from Within (Part Two)

Ueda spoke with obvious trepidation.

These past few days, under Higashiyama Shin's arrangement, Ueda has been wandering around the activity area late at night, hoping to encounter a ghost.

Unfortunately, after several days, he didn't encounter any ghosts or even the slightest strange occurrence.

The apartment is very harmonious inside and out.

Ueda practiced for a long time to greet his peers with a smile, but he still couldn't get it right.

Dongshan Shen had actually expected this, since his Spirit-Nourishing Fire Eye was almost always active, making it a passive skill, and he couldn't detect anything evil.

From this perspective, the conditions for the birth of a spirit must be very demanding. Ueda Yoshi's existence is entirely due to Muto's array and the incomplete ritual.

Even so, after Muto was accidentally eliminated, Ueda's spiritual power also dissipated rapidly. If Higashiyama Shin hadn't taken out the Soul-Gathering Umbrella in time, he wouldn't have been able to hold on for even five minutes.

That was late at night, in a place where yin energy was concentrated.

Later, it was also bound to the Soul-Gathering Umbrella, so that Ueda's spirit would not continue to dissipate, but could instead solidify, thus allowing him to walk among humans for a longer period of time.

In Ueda's eyes, Higashiyama Shin was similar to the Onmyoji master he had heard about in his childhood.

Therefore, whenever Higashiyama Shin did something he couldn't understand, he would convince himself that it was the style of a wise man.

It was he who helped him deal with Muto and took him in, so Ueda was always eager to show his value. Besides, his parents had taught him that he should repay even the smallest kindness.

At the same time, there was a faint expectation that he was not alone and that there were others like him in the world.

However, the search over the past few days has dealt him a significant blow.

Perhaps he really is the only lonely ghost in this world.

“There must be other spirits in this world, but it’s actually good news that you haven’t discovered them, because other spirits may not be as easy to communicate with as you are.”

Higashiyama Shin didn't show any regret. He was just taking a shot anyway, and now it just confirmed his guess.

Spirits are not everywhere, and this world is not currently suitable for their existence. However, there may be some places where a group of evil spirits gather.

For example, the subway in the game, a place where outstanding people and wise men gather.

It is not an exaggeration to say that it is hell.

That was a completely different space-time, somewhat similar to a secret realm in a fantasy world, or the otherworld in a horror novel.

They intersect with reality, and are most likely Kisaragi Station, located somewhere unknown, and the passageway on the Hibiya Line that has been closed by the authorities.

Even though he hadn't reached the ending, he could still piece together the general story.

During the war, Japan constructed a considerable number of underground bunkers to relocate some of its military industrial facilities.

Construction of the Hibiya Line had not yet begun at that time, but some underground bunkers may have already been built underground.

It was around that time that a small team that had been dispatched broke through a certain space, established a connection between that node and reality, and then disappeared without a trace.

This is the origin of the former officer who called headquarters from Hibiya Station.

The military may have investigated the missing persons site later, but by then the homeland had already been attacked, and they didn't have the energy to deal with such minor matters.

After the war, the Hibiya Line utilized the underground bunkers built at that time for renovation and sealed off the excess passages.

But now that it's been opened, how can it be sealed away using ordinary methods?

Thus, the alternate dimension slowly seeped into reality. Some evil beings living in that alternate dimension fed on the abundant negative emotions of humans, and could even solidify the resentment of the real world into reality in that world.

Starting in 1947, they began to secretly take some people to other dimensions to absorb their fresher fears and flesh and blood.

It's like eating regularly.

The purpose of eating is obvious.

To maintain its existence or to be conceived and born.

Its due date is 8:00 AM on April 18, 2040.

Only God knows what will happen next.

Let's get our minds in order, there's still plenty of time and energy, let's give it another shot!
Re-enter the game.

He refreshed the status directly at the platform location, around the time he had just gotten off the train.

Without stopping, he continued toward the tunnel he had just walked through.

Although the end of the tunnel was not the ending he wanted, the cell phone was something he wanted to get his hands on.

He wanted to try calling the wife.

He quickly retrieved his phone and returned to the station via the same route.

He unlocked the screen, opened his contacts, and dialed his wife's number, which had been given a cheesy nickname.

A pleasant ringing sound rang out.

"Moshi moshi! ***? Phew, you haven't replied to my messages, I was so worried!"

"***? Why aren't you saying anything? Is it inconvenient for you?"

"Please, please don't hurt my husband. Tell me, what do you want—"

beep.

The call was disconnected.

Dongshan tried calling again, but it showed that the service area was not available.

"The reason why the worker left such an excited message was because he got through to his family on the phone. Although he couldn't communicate directly, hearing his loved ones' voices rekindled his hope."

So, did that worker eventually follow in his footsteps and fall into the cycle of reincarnation?
Since we can't go forward, we can only go backward.

"However, the logic is clearly contradictory."

First of all, this is the final stop, and a final stop that is close to the human world and even where you can make a phone call.

That means we're very close to the actual exit.

Then there are two directions here.

First, the route he came from was the direction he left via the Yamanote Line, so going back would obviously not make sense.

Secondly, the route he just took led him back to Tsukiji Station, which means that the passage over there leads to the Hibiya Line.
After standing there with his eyes closed for several seconds, Dongshan slowly opened his eyes.

He made up his mind and turned back.

The clues are hidden in the details.

When he boarded the train, the announcement read, "The next stop is #%#￥% (noise) Kisaragi Station, towards the final destination. The doors are about to close, please be careful."

But when I got off the bus, the announcement said that we had arrived at the final stop.

Yes, this is not Kisaragi Station, this is the terminal station. Kisaragi Station and the terminal station are two different stations!
No wonder there isn't even a platform sign.

The train timetable also shows "Kisaragi Line" instead of Kisaragi Station.

For some reason, the train that brought him skipped Kisaragi Station.

Therefore, Kisaragi Station is the previous station, so you should go back.

The reason there's a signal here is because it's close to Kisaragi Station; it has nothing to do with the terminal station itself.

In Japanese urban legends, Kisaragi Station is the entrance to the spirit world, and according to the origin of this legend, the person who experienced it disappeared after leaving Kisaragi Station.

Having figured out the key points, Dongshan felt much more relaxed and decided to go to the opposite platform to check the situation.

He turned on his flashlight, crossed the railway tracks, and arrived at the pitch-black platform on the other side.

The platform structure here is almost identical to the one opposite, except there's no timetable.
As Dongshan Shin spun his flashlight, a white figure suddenly appeared directly in front of him.

It's that girl in the white dress.

Just like she appeared in the previous two levels, she appeared in this final level.

She had her back to Higashiyama Shin, her long, black hair cascading down, somewhat resembling the classic Sadako look.

The direction of the shoes proves that this is her back.

"In my hazy memory, I've seen many people who, like you, have successfully made it here."

"But none of them managed to escape." "Do you know why?"

The girl in the white dress spoke softly.

Higashiyama Shin didn't reply. If he knew, he wouldn't be standing here like an idiot.

"Because the ticket to board the train is to sell a person's soul, so that he, like the little boy you saw, will forever wander in this hell."

"I try in vain to recall certain things, but when I actually do, I am filled with fear."

To sell one's soul. But what if you're all alone?
Doesn't it mean that only if two people arrive at this space at the same time, successfully overcome numerous tribulations, and one of them is willing to sacrifice themselves in the end, can they leave?

That's very much in line with the behavior of evil spirits, who enjoy watching humans kill each other for a chance to survive.

Finally, they offer hope, then bestow despair.

From this perspective, the only ones who had a chance to escape were those two workers.

"Isn't there any other way?" Shinichi Higashiyama pressed.

The girl in the white dress turned around, her face appearing deathly pale in the flashlight beam.

She didn't speak, but just stared intently at the pitch-black track.

clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang
A train emerged from the tunnel in front of Higashiyama Shin and slowly came to a stop on the dark platform.

Countless black humanoid figures surged down, almost instantly obscuring Dongshan's view. Amidst the chaotic and disordered figures, the girl in the white dress vanished from the spot.

Without dwelling on it too much, Higashiyama Shin turned around and carefully scanned the human figures with his flashlight, looking for the worker wearing a hard hat.

Soon, Dongshan found the worker's shadowy figure, who was noticeably larger than him.

This time, however, he showed no reaction to Higashiyama's bouquet. Like the other androids, he numbly bent over, carrying his briefcase, and headed towards the tunnel at the other end.

Higashiyama tried to hand the phone to the worker's shadowy figure as well. This time, the figure paused for a moment, but quickly resumed his original state and walked past Higashiyama Shin.

"The phone is working, but only slightly. Is it because I've already made the call?"

Higashiyama Shin had some ideas.

A mobile phone might only have one chance to make a call.

That's why the worker didn't stop.

But he had already used up his chance, and he couldn't afford to waste his life.

So he mingled with them and followed them toward the other end of the tunnel.

He walked numbly for an unknown amount of time before finally emerging from the tunnel and seeing a glimmer of light at the end.

"We didn't encounter any danger."

Higashiyama isn't a masochist, but having experienced the increasingly dangerous stations on the Yamanote Line, the sudden absence of such obstacles feels a bit strange.

As he approached, Higashiyama could already see the 【きさらぎ駅】station sign hanging under the lights, which was Kisaragi Station.

Next to the station, there was an extremely old-fashioned steam locomotive.

This is not an ordinary steam locomotive.

Have you ever seen Thomas the Tank Engine?
That's right, the horror version.

It was like a distorted, swollen human face forcibly sewn onto the front of a car, with the flesh at the edges acting like clumps of adhesive, firmly fixing the face to the front of the car.

And then, tendons extend backward.

The thing had its eyes closed and was breathing slowly, as if it were asleep.

Although the car body is an old antique, it doesn't look dilapidated at all; on the contrary, it looks brand new, provided you ignore the flesh and blood that spread like colonies on the car walls.

"What the hell is this thing?"

Dongshan Shen frowned deeply.

He kept walking, following the shadowy figure of the worker, step by step up to Kisaragi Station, and then joined the queue.

Dongshan could see that the doors of the steam train were tightly closed, and outside the doors stood a guy wearing an old conductor's uniform who, apart from being thin and sallow-faced, looked no different from a normal person.

He was watching as each of the black humanoid figures opened their briefcases, then threw the writhing, maggot-like, disgusting clumps of flesh inside into a grotesque mouth growing from flesh and blood on the side of the car.

A thin, black humanoid figure opened a briefcase and rummaged through it, but could only pull out a few black, viscous, worm-like things. It carefully reached out its hand, wanting to put them into the gaping, ugly mouth.

"Ha-hmm—click, click. Glug."

But the giant mouth was not satisfied with such a small scrap. It directly picked up the thin, black humanoid upper body in one bite, leaving half of the humanoid's legs sticking out and struggling. With each chewing sound, the humanoid quickly went limp and was swallowed by the strange mouth in a few bites.

The other black figures remained completely unmoved and continued to queue in an orderly fashion.

The second humanoid picked up the former's briefcase and threw it into the monster's mouth along with the clump of viscous substance the former had taken out of the briefcase.

After finishing its meal, the strange-mouthed creature licked its "lips" with satisfaction.

"The purpose of these dark, humanoid beings is to collect the resentment from the human world at various sites."

"Then feed these resentments to this evil thing."

Without a doubt, the monstrous steam locomotive in front of us is the culprit behind everything.

The source of this strange space.

Is the perfect ending going to involve killing this thing?

This character has already gone through a lot of hardship to get here, and the monster is clearly not awake yet, so he's not taking it seriously.

The difference in strength is too great; killing him is probably impossible.

The worker in the shadowy figure in front of Shin Higashiyama opened his briefcase, emptied its contents into the freak's mouth, and then seemed to shrink a little, his back bending even lower.

He completely ignored Higashiyama Shin behind him and followed the dark figures in front of him away.

Next up is Shin Higashiyama.

The thin flight attendant stared at him with an inscrutable expression, then slowly spoke, her voice rough and hoarse.

"If you want to leave here, you need to offer a complete soul to Lord Zhu Hai in exchange for a ticket to leave."

As he spoke, he pulled a stack of train tickets from his pocket, tore off one, and waved it in front of Higashiyama Shin—

instant!
Without any hesitation, Higashiyama Shin grabbed it and ran!

The flight attendants were completely bewildered.

No! You didn't hesitate at all?!

So skilled! What did you do before, you bastard?! You must be a repeat offender!

"Beep beep—beep!"

The urgent whistle immediately resounded throughout the entire platform.

A large group of rotten old soldiers, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, roared and surrounded and intercepted Shen of Dongshan.

Higashiyama Shin glanced back briefly, and thankfully, the monster hadn't woken up.

Even though the so-called Lord Zhu Hai did not awaken, those ferocious old soldiers easily blocked his escape route.

Soon, Dongshan Shen was captured.

"Those who break the rules have no right to leave."

After the flight attendant finished speaking through gritted teeth, he ordered the former soldiers to throw him directly into the monster's mouth.

Crunchy, tastes like human flesh.

"vomit--"

Waking up in reality, Shinichi Higashiyama felt nauseous. Even being eaten alive at the Yamanote Line station hadn't made him feel this disgusted.

Shinichi Higashiyama can accept different forms of death in the game, but he cannot accept being eaten whole like this.

"I'd better not run into you in real life, Hajito Locomotive."

Dongshan Shen will remember this grudge.

(End of this chapter)