Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

In the end, Oshima won the flush toilet.

Compared to the Iwasaki squad, the Nobi squad adheres to absolute egalitarianism.

However, this is also related to the fact that they deserve equally credit for completing the game.

Their reward was six bottles of holy spring water and 210 points.

The Uesugi squad undoubtedly received the most generous reward.

The mist from the first-place prize dissipated, revealing its name.

【Shikigami: Ink Jade】

"Uh, I was hardly any help in this game, so I guess I won't participate in the reward distribution." Hayato voluntarily withdrew from the distribution of shikigami.

After all, how can one shikigami be divided among three people?

Muramasa Takii frowned slightly. While a shikigami could certainly enhance her combat power, the one who needed this enhancement the most was probably Uesugi.

She's not in much trouble protecting herself right now, while Uesugi has never actually appeared in reality, probably because of concerns about his strength.

After a moment's thought, Takii also gave up the reward.

Uesugi stared nervously at Taki until the other woman met her gaze.

"This shikigami is yours."

Upon hearing this confirmation, Uesugi couldn't hide his excitement: "R-Really?! Thank you, Takii! Thank you, Hayato!"

She took a deep breath, gritted her teeth as if her heart was bleeding, and said, "Don't worry, since you've given up the first-place prize, I won't participate in the distribution of the points. You can distribute them yourselves."

Their team's points totaled a full three hundred, which is no small amount, and it would be a lie to say they weren't heartbroken.

But this is a shikigami!

If you put it in that unscrupulous shop, it would easily cost several hundred points or more, so she definitely wouldn't lose out.

In the end, Takii got 200 points, and Hayato got 100.

(Some rewards may not be listed in detail; you can refer to the table if you are interested.)

Chapter 257: Version Update

The lavender fields in Furano are deserted with tourists.

One reason is that it's not yet late July, the peak season for flower viewing, but the main reason is that not many people are in the mood to come out and enjoy the flowers at this time.

Hokkaido is now attracting more people than ever before.

However, most of these people had come from Kanto to seek refuge earlier, and their faces showed exhaustion from escaping a disaster and anxiety about the future; they had no mood for sightseeing.

They were both glad they made their choice and worried about the situation in Tokyo.

Worried about whether their property would suffer a devastating blow, they knew that just days before the disaster struck, Tokyo insurance companies had urgently banned the purchase of fire insurance.

Even among those who had already purchased the policy, many were faced with cancellations or soaring premiums.

Earthquake insurance is supposed to be a joint venture between the government and insurance companies, but who knows if this situation is the insurance company's or the government's decision?

In Japan, a country that experiences several earthquakes daily, the public has a high willingness to purchase earthquake insurance.

To purchase earthquake insurance, you must first purchase fire insurance.

Earthquake insurance covers not only earthquakes, but also volcanoes and tsunamis.

In other words, under normal circumstances, if your home is hit by a piece of lava erupted from Mount Fuji and you have insurance, you can receive compensation.

Although the individual compensation may not be enough to cover all reconstruction costs and will likely be used as transitional funds, it is better than nothing.

At the hotel where Shin Higashiyama is currently staying, he has seen many people crying and wailing in the lobby, saying that their insurance policies were canceled or increased to a level they could no longer afford the day before Mount Fuji erupted.

Now I can't even get through on the phone to complain, and I don't even know if my house is still there.

"Looks like we'll have to find a place to stay for a while." Chiba Mizuki looked for a suitable house on her phone, feeling a bit troubled.

Hotels are not suitable for long-term stays, especially since the hotel room rates they are currently staying in have increased significantly.

However, suitable rental properties are also expensive and in short supply, and the remaining ones are either located in remote areas or are ridiculously expensive.

“Auntie, I haven’t told you this, but before I came here I rented a house and signed a six-month contract.” Dongshan put down his camera and looked at the photo he had just taken of Ziyuan.

Mizuki looked at Higashiyama in surprise, blinked, and felt a little incredulous, but then she thought about it and realized that it made perfect sense when it happened to Higashiyama Shin.

After all, in Mizuki's mind, Touyama Shin was the perfect embodiment of someone else's child, completely unlike Chiba Shion, who would probably go hungry for three days if left on the street.

Strictly speaking, Shin Higashiyama couldn't sign the contract himself, but his father, who was far away in Rio, could still complete the contract, even if he couldn't come back.

He knew that the chaos in Tokyo would last for at least three months, which is why he rented a house in advance.

"Lord Dongshan, are you Zhuge Liang reincarnated?"

If it weren't for the fact that Shinichi Higashiyama is too old now, Mizuki would really like to hug him tightly in her arms like before, and then look at Shinichi Higashiyama's always serious face with a helpless sigh, feeling very satisfied!

"Mom, what do you want to do?"

Ziyuan silently approached the two of them. Seeing her mother's restless hands, she warned her in time with a wary look in her eyes.

Mizuki narrowed her eyes, getting angrier the more she looked at Shion. That unlucky kid.

What's the use of just being possessive of food? You still have to eat! She clearly created a ton of opportunities, even poked holes in the condom, all that was missing was her helping to put it on and then pushing it from behind!

"This one's alright." Higashiyama Shin interrupted the awkward atmosphere between the two, handing her the camera so she could see the photo he had just taken.

Ziyuan shifted her gaze to the camera and nodded absentmindedly.

Actually, she wasn't very interested in taking photos; she just enjoyed the feeling of working together.

The book says this helps cultivate understanding and affection.

"The colors of your clothes don't match today. You should change into a gray-blue or soft pink long dress."

Higashiyama Shin glanced at Shion's attire, which was quite minimalist, a style she always maintained. She didn't pay much attention to matching outfits, and she rarely wore skirts unless she was going to school.

However, her figure and face can match most styles without looking out of place, except for sweet styles.

"No." The answer was concise and to the point.

"."

"Then let's go buy a few sets. I also need to buy some changes of clothes. My hotel room lease expires tomorrow, so I can buy some toiletries for the apartment I'm renting while I'm at it," Meiyue interjected.

The two of them naturally had no objections.

Today, his younger brother, Dongshan Du, didn't come out with them. These past few days, he's been so worried about his girlfriend that he couldn't eat or sleep, sighing constantly. He accidentally drank a bottle of sake instead of water and passed out. When he woke up, he looked completely listless and had no mood to go out and have fun with them.

Moreover, if it's just for taking photos, Shin Higashiyama doesn't need a bag carrier; there's no pressure about it.

After a busy day, back at the hotel, Higashiyama's demeanor was completely different from before he left home; he was flushed and had just hung up the phone.

"elder brother!!"

Dongshan Shen dodged Dongshan Du who was rushing towards him, and asked knowingly, "Get to the point."

"Aba aba! Wai bi ba bu!" Higashiyama Doku casually rubbed his forehead where he had bumped into the door, excitedly waving his arms and legs. His words were illogical, and only Higashiyama Shin could understand what he was saying.

"Yes, that's good. Now you can rest assured."

Higashiyama Doku contacted his girlfriend, who was in Nagoya. The communication network there was also slightly affected, but it was fixed in two or three days, and then she got in touch with him.

After dealing with his ecstatic younger brother, Higashiyama Shin went to the bathroom to relieve himself and began to soak in the bath, while his soul entered the Soul-Gathering Umbrella space.

The Land of the Dead is now a completely different place.

The Sanzu River remains blood-red, its flow varying in speed, but at its end, a lake appears where the water becomes clear and clean, just like in reality.

In the middle of the lake is a small island, and on the island is a huge rock with the words "Yellow Springs" engraved on it.

Multiple chains extend from the boulder, piercing the sky, and at the end of the chains hangs a bound "sun" high in the sky.

That was the headless winged man who had been sucked into the Soul-Gathering Umbrella. He was bound tightly by chains and had no power to resist. He hung in the sky like a giant light bulb, illuminating the lake area as if it were daytime in the real world.

It was because of this stone that the Soul-Gathering Umbrella was able to transform into a colossal umbrella on Mount Fuji, capable of swallowing the headless winged man, whose soul was now incomplete.

That Yellow Spring Stone is the platinum reward of "The Covenant of the Yellow Springs". Its function is to guide the souls of the dead to this place, and then conduct a preliminary screening by the Yellow Springs Pavilion.

The virtuous become birds, the ordinary become beasts, the petty become insects, and the wicked are cast into fish, all to be baptized in the River of Three Crossings.

Furthermore, based on the degree of severity, it is automatically distributed to watersheds with varying flow rates.

If one can cleanse their sins, one can gradually go from urgent to gentle, and finally enter the lake, where the torment is the least.

If the deceased is a virtuous person, they can directly enter the Yellow Springs Pavilion and chant scriptures with the nameless monk, transforming the yin energy of the Yellow Springs into spiritual energy.

Forget about this and that, if you're dead, come in here!

Previously, no one cared, and most souls rotted in corpses. Now, if Dongshan wants to manage it, theoretically, all souls can be absorbed into the Yellow Springs space of the Soul-Gathering Umbrella.

Even without actively absorbing it, the soul will subconsciously return to the underworld. Only some souls with rudimentary intelligence can resist this instinct and remain in the human world.

It all depends on whether Dongshan Shen is willing to accept it.

However, this will also lead to a small side effect: with the revival of the underworld, the human world may actually become haunted.

The days when Ueda Hiroshi could wander through most of Tokyo without encountering anyone like him are gone forever.

However, Japan's Yomi system has limited influence on souls outside of Japan; the souls of the dead from other countries do not return voluntarily.

He tried it out when he had a spare moment, and it did suck things up, but he didn't want to be a vacuum cleaner and have to go abroad to vacuum every now and then.

Of course, none of that matters, and no ghost dares to linger in front of him.

Higashiyama Shin stood on the Yellow Spring Stone and looked around.

There is a forest surrounding the lake, where the beasts, birds, fish and insects that the dead have transformed into live in harmony with each other, and there is no food chain relationship between them.

You can see foxes and rabbits resting together, birds flying side by side with insects, a scene full of vitality and all things thriving.

In addition to the Yellow Spring Stone, the rewards for this game include...

There's also the Golden Trophy, the Nine Formations of Jizo, and those Jizo statues that appeared in cities around Mount Fuji and deflected radiation—these were all the work of Shin Higashiyama's formations.

To be precise, it's not about eliminating it, but rather about concentrating the nearby radiation at the core of the array, specifically at the remnants of Mount Fuji.

This also increased the radiation concentration in the Mount Fuji area to an instantaneous level, making it a veritable no-man's land, where almost no protective suits could withstand it.

The silver trophy is for the Moyu Shikigami.

This is a shikigami that resembles a tadpole. Its main functions are to blind, create a shadow area, or blacken the host's skin to make it easier to hide in the dark.

However, these functions were not very useful to him, so he simply took them as a reward.

The brass trophy is a small boat called the Boat of the River Sanzu. True to its name, it is a boat that can be rowed on the River Sanzu and is guaranteed not to capsize. Other than that, it seems to have no other use.

Not even a boatman was included.

The only use it might be for Ueda and Higanbana to play with.

And the achievement for completing the game on Hard difficulty for the first time: Facing Challenges Head-on.

He was rewarded with a gun of kindness; firing it is a judgment, judging not only the person the gun is aimed at, but also himself.

The general idea is that only good people can use this gun, but it can only be used against bad people.

It's even less useful to him, so I'm thinking of just finding an opportunity to sell it to a player.

Players are practically treated like junk collectors by him.

"On the other side, you can only eat fish, not the animals on land," Shin Higashiyama warned the little snake on the other side, who was chasing a wolf.

The snake flicked its tongue and made a salute with its tail, probably something it learned from watching anime with Ueda.

The calico fox, which was panting and desperately cooling down, perked up instantly upon hearing Higashiyama Shin's words. It quickly stood up and whimpered a few times, indicating that it would keep a close eye on the other side.

Now, whenever Shinichi Higashiyama enters the Soul-Gathering Umbrella space, the Three-Flower Fox will try every means to stick to him, attempting to gain his favor and then carry out its grand plan of being second only to one person and above all other souls.

However, most of the time Higashiyama didn't care. This time, when it saw Higashiyama Shinfly fly to the island in the middle of the lake, it quickly boarded the boat of the Sanzu River and rowed with great effort. It almost died from exhaustion, but finally arrived at the island in the middle of the lake before Higashiyama Shinfly left.

A perfect opportunity! As long as it can catch the snake stealing food from the other side, it can take revenge on that greedy snake.

"You row the boat quite well," said Shinichi Higashiyama, patting its head.

"Waaaaah (I haven't even used my full strength yet)"

The three flowers, with a very comfortable expression, rolled over, indicating that they wanted more.

Higashiyama Shin withdrew his hand and sat on the boat: "Is that so? Then let me see your full strength. Come on, take me around this lake."