I said you are all war criminals

Aine shook her head, "I don't know."

Akito explained calmly, "DNA technology became widespread in Japan in the 1990s. Forty years ago, in the 1980s, DNA technology didn't exist. Therefore, even if there were a body, the identity couldn't be confirmed. Even if there was a similar appearance, it would simply be 'another person who looked very similar.'"

Aine wanted to retort, staring intently at Akito, trying to find a flaw in his expression. Unfortunately, Akito didn't give Aine a chance to strike back, simply continuing, "That's the truth. If it was a resurrection, it would certainly cause a sensation. However, the case at the time wasn't officially recorded as a resurrection."

Akito's words were half-truths. In reality, police records did show a resurrection from the dead in the 1980s. However, the crucial question of "who resurrected" was far more secretive than Akito had imagined, making it impossible to investigate. Even if he asked Lenai to question the monsters, those in their teens and twenties wouldn't know what happened forty years ago. Therefore, most of what Akito told Aine and Riki was lies. He needed these lies to guide the two girls in the direction he desired.

Aine narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Are you sure? Why do I feel like you're lying to us?"

Akito shrugged, "Whether I've lied to you or not, you can check for yourself. But I'm sure you'll believe me soon enough."

He paused mysteriously, then dropped a bombshell, "The price of resurrection isn't just about filling the curse beads with residual soul."

"what!"

Li Xi raised her head, her expression changed, "Killing so many people, isn't that enough?"

For Li Xi, who wanted to revive the lantern, Qiu Ren's words were the most devastating blow. She felt like she had been punched in the face, and she felt dizzy.

"The price of resurrection, besides filling the curse beads with residual souls, also requires the curse master's own life."

Qiu Ren said.

Li Xi subconsciously touched the mantra bead in her pocket, and the cold touch made her shudder. The mantra bead had once been a source of hope for her, but now it felt like a noose around her neck. She imagined Deng coming back to life, but then realized, if it cost her her life, what was the point of resurrection?

"You mean to say that Xiangzi is prepared to sacrifice himself in order to revive her mother?"

Li Xi's voice trembled, as if it was squeezed out from between his teeth.

Akito shook his head. "I'm afraid the life originally intended to be used to revive Mother was that of Shoko's father, Toyokawa Kiyoshi, who was killed by you. In the end, Kiyoshi was killed so early, so Shoko had no choice but to use his own life to revive Mother."

Seeing the slightly dazed expressions on Aine and Riki's faces, Akito knew he needed to gather some real information. "Toyokawa Kiyoshi reported that a year ago, shortly after Shoko's mother died, Shoko suffered a massive loss of 16.8 billion yen... Perhaps back then, Shoko had already given up on his father, intending to use him as a sacrifice to revive his mother."

"Wait, you said a year ago?"

Li Xi stood up suddenly, and even walked in front of Qiu Ren in a few steps, grabbing his collar, "You said Xiangzi had already... No, it's impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

One year ago - at that time, Li Xi and Deng had just been pulled into Crychic, which was founded by Toyokawa Shoko.

If Xiangzi had already been planning all this at that time... then what was this year, no, that crychic time, about?

"Hey, hey, don't be so excited..."

Qiu Ren, who was grabbed by the collar, did not fight back, but just put his hands in front of him.

After all, for him, this kind of development is just what he wants.

"I don't know the specifics of your relationship with Toyokawa Shoko, but I imagine that if Shoko came to you after her mother's death, she might have thought you could help her revive her mother... and that's actually the case. You possess the ability to become a curse master. If you were to revive Shoko's mother, then she wouldn't even have to sacrifice her father."

"What a joke! Xiangzi is not that kind of person!"

Li Xi was practically yelling at Qiu Ren's face, "Take that back! I won't let you insult Xiangzi!"

Oh, be angrier, be angrier.

Akito planned to provoke Lixi further, so that she would reveal her weakness. Judging from the previous conversation, Lixi's magic beads should be in her pocket. If Lixi loses her mind a little more, Akito can directly steal her magic beads.

...The reason Akito didn't pull out his gun and force Riki to hand over the curse beads was because he didn't know the conditions of the other party's curse. Considering the conditions of his own curse beads, Akito speculated that the conditions of the curse were the "cause" of the death of the wronged souls who formed the curse beads. In this case, "inflicting violence" would be very dangerous. It is very likely that if the other party "violently" him, the curse beads would be destroyed.

Compared to that, it's safer to just steal the beads. Even if the curse condition of the beads is "stealing", as long as the beads are stolen, the curse won't be activated.

"Lixi! Calm down!"

Aine grabbed Ritsuki and pulled her back from Akito.

"He'll be even more proud if you do this."

Li Xi's chest heaved violently, and she glared at Qiu Ren with eyes that seemed to be spitting fire. She gritted her teeth and squeezed out a few words: "You...where did you hear this news from?"

Qiu Ren straightened his collar that was wrinkled by Li Xi and smiled pretentiously.

"Well... my source of information is very special and cannot be disclosed. However, I can assure you that my information is absolutely true and reliable."

He paused, a sly look flashing in his eyes. "Think about it, not long after Toyokawa Shoko's mother passed away, her father lost over 10 billion yen. Isn't that strange? Perhaps that 10 billion yen was the cost of the resurrection technique. Perhaps, from that moment on, Shoko had been planning to use you to achieve her goals."

Aiyin narrowed her eyes suspiciously and looked directly at Akito. "Do you have any evidence for what you're saying? Without any evidence, why should we believe you?"

Qiu Ren spread his hands, looking helpless.

"I understand your suspicions. After all, you've been with Toyokawa Shoko for so long. But wasn't Crychic founded shortly after her mother's death? Isn't this a coincidence? Perhaps, from the very beginning, she approached you in order to use your Curse Master abilities, Riki, to resurrect her mother."

"impossible!"

Li Xi interrupted him suddenly, his voice trembling slightly with excitement.

"Xiangzi... she's not that kind of person! Crychic... we built it together. We've been through so much together. She's real to us! She can't possibly..."

"Really?"

Akito raised an eyebrow, his tone tinged with sarcasm, "If she really considered you friends, why would she hide something so important? Why would she use your cursed energy? Was she really approaching you, approaching Deng, just out of friendship?"

Lixi was speechless for a moment, her mind racing back to every moment she'd spent with Xiangzi and Deng at Crychic. They'd trained together, performed together, laughed together, grieved together... Those memories were so sweet, so heartwarming. But Akito's words, like a thorn, pierced her heart, causing her to doubt and waver.

At this time, Qiu Ren quietly took two steps towards Li Xi.

Soon, a little closer, and he could steal the curse beads... No, "rob" might be a more appropriate word. But no matter what, what Akito had to do was the same, that is, to take the curse beads from these two children.

The mantra beads are too dangerous.

This thing is no different from a pistol or machine gun, and can even be compared to biological and chemical poison gas. If ordinary students were to use it, who knows how many casualties would result.

The reason why Qiu Ren appeared here now was to retrieve the curse beads.

"You should think about it carefully, Lixi. Between you and Xiangzi, is there really a—"

"bump!"

New explosions sounded.

"bump!"

The deafening roar of the explosion ripped through the evening tranquility of the park, causing Lixi's eardrums to buzz. She instinctively covered her ears and looked in the direction of the blast in horror. Smoke billowed out from the depths of the park like a gigantic gray monster, engulfing the surrounding trees and buildings. The air was filled with the acrid smell of gunpowder, mingled with a sickening stench of decay, like the scorched entrails of some living thing.

Before Li Xi could react, another roar came from the thick smoke, the voice was hoarse and distorted, full of pain and anger: "What on earth are you going to do!"

The smoke gradually cleared, and a behemoth appeared at the end of the park. It was enormous, covered in a sticky green liquid that emitted a suffocating stench. Its head resembled a giant tumor, dotted with densely packed eyes, each one flashing with a maddened light.

It opened its bloody mouth, revealing its sharp teeth, and let out a terrifying roar.

And opposite the monster, an even more shocking figure appeared.

It was a mechanical monster.

Its body structure was complex and intricate, each joint appearing meticulously designed, unlike any previous monster. Furthermore, unlike the bloated flame monster, its body was sleek and well-proportioned, like a meticulously crafted work of art. However, the most striking feature was its head—a hideous, serpentine head. Its flat, cobra-like head rose high, its snout wide open, revealing a dense mass of fangs within, a terrifying sight.

"Xiangzi..."

Li Xi muttered to himself in disbelief.

This mechanical monster, according to Akito Narumiya...she is, Shoko Toyokawa.

47

Chapter 47: The Light’s Perspective.

"wrong!"

Gao Songdeng held the quilt tightly.

This is different from her script!

According to Deng's scenario, Riki and Aine will tentatively form a loose alliance with Narumiya and Akito, and together they will investigate the truth behind the cursed beads. At this point, Rakuna, Akito's teammate, can also join the team. A few days later, Nagasaki Suyo will be persuaded by Okabe Rintaro to join Riki's team, and continue to mislead Riki... Only then will it be time for Kamiki Hikaru to appear.

Shenmu Guang was supposed to be the stepping stone used to consolidate the team's morale after the team assembled... Why would she appear now?

No, not before that.

What on earth is going on with that mechanical monster?

According to the information I just saw from Yukino, Yukino was not involved in the script at all. So, who is this unexpected participant?

Deng subconsciously chewed his thumb.

Things didn't develop as she wished, and Deng began to feel unhappy.

Although we didn’t have too much time to prepare for this simulation, we still arranged a script.

To put it simply, it is to feed Toyokawa Seika, Kamiki Hikaru, Okabe Rintaro, Hakuno and another character holding the curse beads to Ritsuki in turn, so that he can realize the power he possesses... However, problems arose from the very beginning.

The initial problem was that the final character, Shinomiya Gan'an, was unable to appear from the start due to the lack of a curse bead. Then, Toyokawa Kiyoshi's unexpected vulnerability had to be dealt with early. And then, Kamiki Hikaru appeared in front of Riki before the team assembled...

These were all things that were beyond our plan.

"No...no..."

Deng bit his thumb.

The more she thought about it, the more irritated she became. Her long eyebrows twisted into a knot and her thumb was almost bitten to bleed.

What went wrong? Shinomiya Gan'an's absence was barely acceptable, and Toyokawa Kiyoshi's early departure could be considered unexpected, but Kamiki Hikaru... no, more importantly, that mechanical monster was not part of her plan at all!

"No...no..."

Deng murmured softly, his tone filled with anxiety and uneasiness.

Suddenly, a pair of warm arms wrapped around her from behind, enveloping her in a reassuring embrace.

"Deng, don't worry."

Hakuno's voice was gentle.

He gently pulled the thumb that Deng was biting unconsciously out of her mouth. There were deep teeth marks on the fingertip, and even a trace of blood was seeping out.

Hakuno gently held the lamp's thumb in his hand, examining it carefully. "Simulation is reality, not a script. Going beyond the script is part of the fun of simulation... Don't be impatient."

Deng raised his head and wanted to refute, but couldn't find a suitable reason.

"Does it hurt?"

Bai Ye gently rubbed Deng's wound with the tip of his thumb, and the warm touch made Deng tremble unconsciously.

Deng shook his head, but his eyes remained on the screen. The mechanical monster was still wreaking havoc, and the roar of collapsing buildings could be heard from the screen.

"I know what you're thinking,"

Hakuno gently wrapped Deng's hand in his own. "This simulation did have a lot of unexpected situations, but that's life, isn't it?"

Deng bit her lower lip and said nothing. She knew Bai Ye was right, but this loss of control made her feel uneasy.

She didn't like the feeling of being out of control.

"The preparations this time were indeed insufficient,"

Deng whispered, a hint of self-blame in his tone, "I'll do better next time."

Her mistake was that she didn't prepare in advance... She waited until the simulation began before taking action, which was like waiting until she was in the exam room to start memorizing.

This will of course fail miserably.

Next time, Deng will begin preparations before the simulation even begins... to identify the participating characters, find out what they're thinking, understand their desires, and then give them motivation... Yes, before everything begins, Deng will arrange the ending. Only then will everything be as Deng wishes.

"We'll talk about it next time... Deng, what do you want to do this time?"

Hakuno held onto the tip of the lamp and asked, "Do you want to just give up? Or should we keep fighting?"

To use the phrase "keep fighting" is too serious.

Light thought.

Ultimately, this is just a simulation. Even if the memories can be passed on to others, even if it is reality for those who are inside, to the simulator, it is just a game that can be turned off at any time.

Therefore, this simulation itself does not need to be so... serious.

"continue."

The light finally said.

No longer clinging to the original plan, Deng decided to turn this simulation into an experiment.

Observe, that's what she has to do now.

Deng controlled the simulated character, Toyokawa Shoko, and jumped into the air.

She used the Quincy's key technique to create a foothold under her feet... This is the technique called Fei Lian Kyaku.

From here, the entire city looked like a giant sandbox, and the people running through the streets looked like tiny ants. The mechanical monsters and the monsters transformed by Shenmu Guang were the center of this chaos and the focus of Deng's attention.