Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

Iwasaki crouched down beside the platform, looking at the round iron gate so close at hand. After mentally estimating the time, he sighed and was about to give up and look for another opportunity.

Just then, a loud, crisp sound came from deep within the tunnel—crack!

The sound echoed through the tunnel and platform, instantly attracting the attention of the ghost soldiers, who ran towards the end of the tunnel once again.

"Is this the help that girl in the white dress was talking about? Phew, she really was a great help."

Iwasaki didn't dare to delay. He quickly walked to the iron gate, found the position, inserted the handle into the groove, and then twisted it counterclockwise.

The rusty iron gate made a creaking noise. Iwasaki gritted his teeth, his face flushed, and kept straining as he looked at the dark tunnel where the demon soldiers were, praying that the gate would open as soon as possible.

Click click click!

The demons finally reacted, and Iwasaki could even faintly hear their roars and howls.

The officer, brandishing his katana, shouted and led a group of demon soldiers toward Iwasaki.

"That's a ghost realm that absolutely must not be opened!"

The officer's hoarse voice sounded indistinct.

But at this point, Iwasaki didn't care about anything else, *thud*.

The iron gate opened, and a putrid smell rushed out through the crack.

But the ghost soldiers were also very close.

Iwasaki quickly squeezed through the gap in the iron gate and ran straight ahead.

He didn't have time to figure out if the door could be locked from the inside, but since there was a handle switch on the outside, it was probably not possible, so there was no need to waste time here. He might as well take the opportunity to run a little further.

All around was pitch black. The only thing he could see was a subway platform that looked extremely out of place, lit by dim yellow lights. An old-looking train had its doors open, seemingly waiting for him, its passenger.

Iwasaki glanced back; the pursuers were hot on his heels, and there were no other options around him. He could only accelerate suddenly and plunge into the car.

"Huff—Ugh!"

His heart was pounding, and his head was spinning and he felt nauseous from lack of oxygen. He held onto the chair and kept dry heaving.

The train doors closed quickly after he entered, and Iwasaki could see out of the corner of his eye that the demon soldiers had stopped at the platform and were quietly staring at him.

He could seem to see deep fear and a hint of pity in the officer's thin, black-rimmed eyes.

They didn't even have the courage to approach the train.

"We're here waiting for you to come back."

The officer mouthed the words.

Iwasaki understood; they were probably still a long way from clearing the gate.

The truth was exactly what he thought.

"The Yamanote Line train bound for Shinagawa from Yoyogi Station is about to depart. Please move behind the yellow line before departure. Touching the train is extremely dangerous, please be careful."

"This is the Yamanote Line?"

Iwasaki gave a wry smile. It was like escaping one tiger's den only to fall into another.

Compared to the Hibiya Line, the Yamanote Line has left behind just as many urban legends in Tokyo, almost enough to fill a book.

The Yamanote Line is a loop line that encircles the core area of ​​Tokyo. It is divided into an inner loop and an outer loop, which run in counterclockwise and clockwise directions, respectively.

But the Yamanote Line is not a subway.

This is a surface railway!

Although there are underground sections of this line, they only account for a small portion; the majority of the line runs on the surface.

Yoyogi Station is not located in the underground section.

Chapter 62: The Camera Boy

The train started slowly.

Iwasaki watched the platform lights fade into the distance, gradually shrinking to the size of a firefly before finally disappearing into complete darkness.

Apart from the train's own lights, there was no other light around.

Iwasaki sat on the old cedar wood seat of the train, sorting out his thoughts.

The progress over the past two days has been very smooth. The biggest challenge was the maze, but after getting through it, he showed a real talent for this kind of infiltration mission and quickly mastered the techniques.

They succeeded, exceeding expectations, at the cost of only one life and a great deal of time.

He was prepared to spend all his time on this, but he never expected to only lose his life.

"The Hibiya Line and the Yamanote Line are both railway lines with many urban legends, but since the game is called Subway, the cause of everything should be the Hibiya Line."

"Considering the ghost soldiers that appeared at Hibiya Station, could it be interpreted that, in the game's setting, during wartime, a unit ordered to carry out some kind of secret work in an underground city project accidentally discovered something, ultimately leading to the annihilation of the entire unit and the formation of this eerie spacetime?"

"They were thus forever trapped underground, and this space-time occasionally intersects with reality, causing some people to inexplicably wander into it and become unable to escape, such as the character I am currently controlling."

Iwasaki felt he was getting closer to the game's setting, which might come in handy later.

Following this line of thought, the area he's entered now is a region that even those ghost soldiers dare not venture into, which means that things will be even more dangerous ahead.

"No, that's the way of thinking in reality. But in the game, according to the game's logic, the surrounding environment should become more and more dangerous as you progress through the game. So I'm on the right track."

Iwasaki reassured himself and continued to focus on observing his surroundings.

It was pitch black outside the car, a pure black, with not a single glimmer of light visible.

The train had four carriages. He walked through them and found some snack and water packaging bags on the ground.

Some of those people survived all the way to this place.

There were very few leftover packaging bags, so it's estimated that there were only one or two people left.

"How much food did they bring down?" Iwasaki noticed something strange. "It's like they anticipated working down there for quite a while."

"Shinagawa, we are about to arrive at Shinagawa Station. Passengers who are getting off, please move towards the doors in advance. The doors will close in thirty seconds."

The slightly distorted words came through the brass megaphone, containing little information. Through the car window, Iwasaki finally saw a glimmer of light ahead.

The train pulled into the station, and the doors slowly opened.

Iwasaki cautiously and quickly observed the outside of the train. It was a very fragmented scene. The entire station seemed to be isolated from the world, as if it had been forcibly dug out from the real world. In many places, there was only a deep darkness, without any information or details.

It's even difficult to tell whether it's underground or not.

It's more like the game developers were being lazy and just presented an unfinished miniature garden.

However, judging from the platform's structure, the ground is paved with gravel, and the edges are inlaid with 20-centimeter-wide yellow warning tape. An enamel station sign hangs on the pillar, with the words "Shinagawa" in white on a black background, and there is also a round mechanical clock that is no longer running.

There is a kerosene lamp every 10 meters or so on the platform, which is the only light source besides the train.

There are also faint wooden beams on the top, so this should be a platform on the ground, but the complete darkness around it makes it look like it is still underground.

Boom boom boom!

As the bronze bell rang, Iwasaki quickly squeezed out in the few seconds before the doors closed, then watched as the train continued forward, slowly swallowed up by the darkness.

"This is probably already the Taisho era. If we go any further, wouldn't we be going back to the Meiji era?"

Iwasaki muttered to himself for a moment, then carefully searched the platform for new clues.

"."

He quickly stopped.

Because the clues are obvious.

On a wooden waiting bench, a thin-looking boy sat holding an instant camera that seemed out of place for the station's era, pointing it at what appeared to be the dark tracks, seemingly taking pictures of something.

The entire platform had only this one spot that was highly suspicious at first glance.

Iwasaki pondered for a moment, then decided to go forward and talk to him.

"Excuse me, do you know how to leave here?"

The little boy, sitting in the chair, heard Iwasaki's words, slowly put down his camera, and turned his head away.

"."

Iwasaki took a deep breath as discreetly as possible.

Despite his preparation, he still instinctively felt a sense of horror when he actually saw the face missing one of its features.

The boy had no eyes, or rather, where his eyes should have been, there was a continuous piece of skin, as if he was born without eye sockets.

"Brother, aren't you afraid of me?" The little boy got off the chair, holding a camera, and walked towards Iwasaki, seemingly asking curiously.

"I just feel that you wouldn't harm people casually." Iwasaki squatted down and communicated with the other person in an as equal manner as possible.

The little boy smiled.

"Does brother want to leave here?"

"That's right, my wife is still waiting for me, I have to leave."

"It's so nice to have someone waiting for me. I'm waiting for my dad too, but I'm afraid if I wander off, he won't see me when he comes back. Look, this is the camera Dad bought for me. With the camera, I can see what the outside world is like again."

After speaking, the little boy suddenly fell silent and turned to face Iwasaki.

"Brother, could you take my camera and help me find all the stations along this route? Just take a picture of any place you think looks unusual at each station, and I'll be able to see if my dad is lost and stuck somewhere."

"I need to stay where I am, so that my dad won't be able to come back and not find me."

Are you looking for anomalies?

Iwasaki now understood the main storyline of the upcoming mission.

"it is good."

"Thank you, brother! Thank you, brother!"

The little boy seemed very happy, carefully took a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, and handed it to Iwasaki.

"Brother, this is the train ticket Dad gave me. Don't lose it! You need it to get on the train."

Iwasaki took the ticket, but remained silent.

This is a cigarette pack slip with the words "Yamanotori" scrawled on it in a crooked hand.

Then, the little boy solemnly handed the precious camera to Iwasaki.

The moment Iwasaki touched it, he sensed something was wrong; it was too light.

Looking at it more closely, it has a very plasticky feel. It's clearly a toy that imitates an instant camera. It shouldn't have any photo-taking function at all, only a few pre-set photos for children to see.

However, it's not impossible for it to come true in the game.

Chapter 63 All Fear Stems from Insufficient Updates

I've read all the comments, so I'll just update ten chapters tomorrow and use up all the saved drafts.

Then, I'll try to perfectly complete the "Subway" dungeon this week to trigger the extraordinary real-world storyline.

Thank you for the suggestion.

I've never written a dungeon-crawler story before, and I couldn't quite capture the emotion, plus the plot dragged on. Sigh.

Chapter 64: Detecting the Anomaly

"Brother, you have to be careful. There are some really scary bad guys at some stations, but the train is safe, and it's mostly safe around the lights. In the end, whether or not you find my dad, I will help you get out of this station."

The boy “looked” at the camera in Iwasaki’s hand.

“If it’s really dangerous, you can use your camera to photograph those ‘they’ who want to harm you, and I’ll help you delay them for a while. But every time you photograph them, it will damage your eyes. If you use it too much, you’ll become blind like me.”

The little boy shared a lot of information, and Iwasaki knew that there was still much he would need to figure out on his own, but at least he had a starting point to support his thinking.

"I'll pay attention."

"Yes! I'll wait for you here, brother!"

The little boy obediently sat back down in his original seat, and even though he had no eyes, you could see a hint of expectation in the corner of his mouth.

In the distance, a bright light broke through the darkness; the train was preparing to enter the station.

It had been less than ten minutes since he got off the train. Could it be because he had a "ticket" in his hand?