Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

Zhu Hai, you're too dangerous.

You're ugly as hell; even Thomas the Tank Engine is better looking than you. You absolutely can't be kept alive, so you might as well be dead.

Although Nobita did not contribute to eliminating the Akane, without him, none of the people on either train would have escaped.

He essentially saved hundreds of lives.

However, this also increases the risk of exposure, which Dongshan welcomes.

If a player could become an official, they could also plant an eye on him, allowing him to maintain a sense of security that everything is under control.

Although in his opinion, Nobita was not suitable to be the candidate.

Kosuke Iwasaki is actually the most suitable person because he is unlikely to be led by the authorities.

However, the possibility of Iwasaki joining the official team is very low, and Higashiyama doesn't really want to forcibly interfere with the players' development. After all, as players, it's essential to have unconventional thinking; at most, he can provide guidance in certain aspects.

He might pay more attention now that there are fewer players, but once there are more players and he doesn't have to worry about the speed of clearing the game, then there won't be a shortage of players.

As long as no one comes along who "makes the world suffer" or "has to carry a bag of rice up several flights of stairs," it's fine.

He doesn't consider himself that extreme.

Judging from Zhu Hai's situation, there are clearly monsters in this world, but they all seem to be trapped for various reasons, but they are also being freed from their predicament.

In this era of human lineage extinction, it seems that only the player and he are capable of confronting the mystical forces of humanity.

If he doesn't want to be bothered by these things too much, what methods can he use to guide players to feel that defeating these monsters is profitable?

Looking at the token in his hand, Higashiyama Shin slowly began to have some ideas.

Chapter 114: Exposing Risks

"I'm sorry, senior, due to an accident—yes, you know, I can't come today. Okay, thank you. I'll come to your house next time."

Nobi hung up the phone and slowly sat down on the tatami mat, grinning.

pain!

It seemed as if his entire body was wailing.

But right now, what he cares about most isn't that issue, but rather what's actually happening on the ground.

After returning home using the save point, the first thing he did was turn on his phone.

Then I received a call from Asano-senpai. It was obvious that the other party knew about what happened on the Hibiya route, so he called to confirm the situation, since his excuse for going out today was to go to his house.

After letting everyone know he was safe, he quickly sat down against the wall, opened a video website, and looked for a live stream.

Soon, they found a streamer who was rapidly approaching the scene and confirmed what had happened after he left through the chat window and the streamer's words.

He wasn't mistaken; the unusual cloud formations he saw when he used the save point card were a harbinger of something.

Unfortunately, just as the streamer received a large amount of donations and risked his life to charge towards the cave entrance, the live stream was suddenly cut off.

The audience felt cheated and started yelling at them, saying they had taken the money and run!

Nobi left the live stream and continued searching for related live stream locations. Only some locations that were relatively far from the scene were still broadcasting. The area near Hibiya Station was probably blocked by some means.

However, he had already obtained the information he wanted.

"Was the monster struck by lightning and killed?"

Nobita breathed a long sigh of relief.

Although many people were still killed or injured in the process, at least things did not develop into the worst possible situation.

Could that mysterious figure in white robes be another player?

Nobi thought it was unlikely. There were only three players at the moment, and considering the abilities he had acquired, even if [Hao] achieved a perfect ending, there shouldn't be such a large gap in strength between them.

Could it be—"unknowable"?

However, the chat window of the live stream said that they heard the monster address the white-robed man as "Cave Master".

And after he broke into the driver's seat, Zhu Hai talked incessantly to himself, mentioning the title of "Cave Master".

"So, that otherworldly space-time in our game was actually created by the Cave Master, and Zhu Hai was once that Cave Master's... well, a pet or something?"

Player Lobby.

Nobita shared what he knew about Shukuro.

Uesugi pondered the existing information and pieced together the development of events with Nobi little by little.

That space was created by the cave master. Initially, Zhu Hai was a follower or pet of His.

Later, for some reason, the cave owner left or disappeared.

Furthermore, the space was damaged due to subway construction.

The game they experienced was merely a result of negative human emotions seeping into that alternate dimension. Some of the souls, unable to leave for various reasons, were captured and exploited by Zhu Hai.

However, since this space is not entirely under Zhu Hai's control, even Zhu Hai must abide by certain rules within it.

This is why Nobita was able to survive and reach the ending.

The reason why Zhu Hai has become like this is probably related to the disappearance of the cave master.

Its shock at the time showed that it had not expected the cave master to appear.

Therefore, the authenticity of the cave owner who appeared at the scene is also questionable.

"However, we still don't know what the game's true ending is."

Nobita felt a bit disappointed; the protagonist he controlled in that game appeared at the worst possible time, making it impossible for him to ask a bunch of questions in that situation.

This isn't a pre-battle storyline in a game.

With time running out, he had no choice but to resort to drastic measures to stop the train, making stopping it his top priority.

"I don't think the perfect ending was the character's choice; it just doesn't make sense."

“He clearly cares more about his wife, unless the train that appears in reality a few years from now will threaten his family’s lives—but as long as he can get out, can’t he take his family away?”

“I originally thought he might have survived, but since you saw his soul, it means he was also captured by Zhu Hai.”

"So I'm more inclined to believe that he failed in his attempt to survive."

Since Uesugi neither needs revenge nor can he provide any help to Nobita, he has the most free time to ponder the plot.

But she actually somewhat agreed with Iwasaki's words: a game that has already had a perfect ending, it seems that there is no point in discussing it any further.

The more you know, the more troubles you have; ultimately, it's because your sense of morality is too strong.

"Moreover, instead of worrying about the protagonist, you should worry about yourself."

Uesugi then changed the subject, focusing on Nobita.

Nobita was taken aback, but quickly understood what she meant.

No matter how careful he is, once he's entered the subway station, he can't avoid the data.

Even if he used an anonymous paper subway ticket.

As long as someone looks in this direction, it's only a matter of time before they find him.

Then, his search history was pulled up, which contained a large amount of information about subways and trains, which was almost conclusive evidence.

If he had set the save point inside the train, he might have been able to appear directly on the derailed train. But that's hindsight; who could have predicted how things would turn out, and the risks would have been even greater.

"Let's take it one step at a time. Even if they find out about me, I don't want to work for them."

"At that time, I might have to go into exile. I'll let them know that they can't threaten me with their families."

Nobita looked resolute.

I'm also planning to find an opportunity to set up save points in remote, desolate areas so I can easily escape whenever I want.

Uesugi understands Nobita's troubles, which is why she is determined to hide herself.

She has a weakness: her parents in the countryside.

We respected her wishes without rushing her growth. We gave her a healthy childhood and chose the right education for her.

Although she didn't know why she suddenly developed social anxiety after starting work, it was probably because the gap between her ideals and society was too big.

She didn't want their peaceful life to be disrupted; she just wanted to save up enough money to go back to the countryside and live with her parents to support them in their old age.

She would get furious if anyone tried to ruin everything.

"The only way now is to take advantage of the time difference to try to get more rewards in the game and grow up as quickly as possible. However, even though I say this, I will not give up my ranking."

Uesugi gave a fairly objective suggestion.

Nobita nodded: "Thank you."

He also has a way to grow outside of the game, which is to get to know more people and acquire cards.

This was not his forte at all, but now that things had come to this, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it.

"Although I'm very tired, I'll still go find my senior and see if I can get some cards from him."

"By the way, let's move the save point to a different location."

Chapter 115: Indistinguishable from Gods

Tokyo, night.

Inside the ward, Goto glanced at the news broadcast and then couldn't help but look at Iwasaki lying on the hospital bed.

He rubbed his fingers together, lost in thought.

“You can say whatever you want to say,” Iwasaki said.

Goto was so startled that he stood up straight, looking at Iwasaki with a bit of helplessness, and quietly pointed to the monitor.

pat.

In Goto's eyes, the power had automatically turned off.

However, this was not the first time she had seen something so strange, so she didn't seem particularly surprised.

"I checked my phone today and a lot of people are saying they saw monsters and even gods. Is that true?"

Goto asked curiously.

"I don't know," Iwasaki replied succinctly.

Goto nodded regretfully, with a hint of self-deprecation: "It just occurred to me that if these incredible monsters exist, then perhaps gods also exist."

"Hard to say."

Iwasaki remained silent for a few seconds, recalling the feeling of being stared at during his sacrifice, as if his soul had been stripped bare.

Such an existence is no different from a god.

Even what happened this morning seemed to have caused a huge commotion, affecting half of Chiyoda, with a large hole appearing in the ground.

But in his eyes, it was nothing compared to the mystery and power that touched the soul.

Only the white-robed man in the blurry video that Goto showed him, taken by someone else, who easily suppressed the monster and summoned terrifying lightning, could barely give him a similar sense of oppression.

Upon hearing Iwasaki's words, Goto's eyes lit up with longing again, but that hope was shattered by Iwasaki the next second.

"But even if there is a God, we are either dispensable in His eyes, or He will not protect believers who cannot even believe in His existence."

Goto opened his mouth wide and slowly lowered his head.

"Actually, you're right. My mother believes in God, but it's also for profit; she hopes to find some spiritual comfort. I don't really believe, but if it really exists, I wonder if believing would be any good. Ha, I'm such a terrible believer, aren't I?"

Iwasaki's gaze remained calm: "That's the kind of thinking a normal person would have."

"You don't need to believe in God anymore, believing in me is enough."

"I'll bring you money back tonight. All you need to do is turn that money into your own legal income."

Iwasaki's calm and even demeanor seemed to be stating a fact.

If a devout person were to hear this, they would surely come and try to convert him.

However, if Iwasaki could truly bring real money to every believer...

Goto could picture a scene that made him chuckle.