The First Wave Approaches, A Crossroads of Fate

"Why aren't these two saying a single human word."

Ririko, holding a bamboo sword dripping with thick blood, looked confusedly at the two cultists on the ground, who were beaten beyond recognition but still muttering things like "love" and "all beings suffer."

After a round of beating, her hands were numb.

But it seemed to have no effect on them; she couldn't get any useful information.

"--The reason cultists are cultists is because most of them are not mentally normal."

A voice devoid of any emotion approached rapidly, causing the two cultists to tremble instinctively, their constantly moving lips falling silent.

When they saw Nanjō Emi walking in front of them, alive and well, and no longer babbling nonsensically, their eyes suddenly cleared.

"Looks like I'm quite famous." Nanjō Emi first curled the corner of her mouth, then glanced at Ririko, "You're too gentle. Do you expect to get any information out of them like this?"

Ririko's mouth twitched, but she was indeed speechless.

She had messed up with the beating, but there was nothing she could do. She had fought with all her might but couldn't defeat cultists with mental issues.

"I heard you two ran into these cultists by chance?" Nanjō Emi snapped her fingers, and the Wet Oni, who had just finished cleaning up the corpses of the Rokurokubi, floated over. "Good job, but too reckless."

The Wet Oni hovered in mid-air, staring excitedly at the two terrified cultists, its eyes impatient.

Seeing Ririko about to retort, Uesugi Tetsu intervened in time: "I'm confident."

Nanjō Emi paused subtly and nodded, "That's good."

"Next, I'll give you two a lesson."

Facing the scrutiny of Uesugi Tetsu and Ririko, Nanjō Emi said calmly, "Being merciful to enemies is being cruel to yourself."

At some point, the exits on both sides of the alley were covered by a light rain, temporarily isolating the alley from reality.

The Hiyori Bō, having completed this arduous task, floated over unsteadily and zipped into the Wet Oni's white clothing with a whoosh.

Nanjō Emi looked down at the two silently trembling cultists, her gaze indifferent, like a chef staring at two ugly, wriggling lumps of meat.

"Don't look away, watch carefully."

She said.

--Thirty minutes later.

"Select ordinary people within Arakawa Ward who have significant emotional peaks, and directly lure them to join the club or plant the seeds. The same rhetoric, but the scope and quantity are getting larger."

"But luckily, I found another hideout."

Nanjō Emi casually threw the two white gloves, stained with fine tissue, onto the ground and stretched.

However, Uesugi Tetsu was not in the mood to admire the beautiful curves at this moment. He suppressed the churning sensation in his stomach and exchanged a glance with Ririko beside him.

He asked, "Are we still having dinner?"

Ririko's face was pale. She took a deep breath. "Yes, why wouldn't we have free dinner?"

Nanjō Emi smiled with satisfaction. She clapped her hands. "Okay, okay, enough with the flirting. I didn't interrogate them for this long just to watch this."

Uesugi Tetsu: "So, Sister Nanjō, are you telling us that Arakawa Ward will become increasingly dangerous these days and you want us to find another place to stay?"

"Bingo! Classmate Uesugi, you're indeed very smart!" Nanjō Emi smiled and ruffled Uesugi Tetsu's hair.

But the next moment, her tone turned serious.

"It's true that Arakawa Ward will be very dangerous during this period, but I've already cleared more than half of the Friendship Club's branches and members, and I've also drawn most of their attention to myself."

Nanjō Emi raised a finger. "But with the 'First Wave' approaching, no one can say for sure if the other districts, which are currently peaceful, are truly safe."

She spread her hands. "The decision is yours: stay and face known dangers, or leave and face unknown challenges."

The First Wave.

Uesugi Tetsu had heard this term before.

He looked at Nanjō Emi, wanting an answer.

Ririko frowned tightly. She had encountered too many bizarre things today; this was far more outrageous than mere urban legends and Kukuri coming true.

Nanjō Emi no longer concealed it unnecessarily and replied, "Think of it as the demons and yokai from historical legends launching a large-scale invasion into reality. The many sightings of demons and monsters on Twitter before were one of the omens."

Uesugi Tetsu thought that the White Brahma invading reality was indeed a fact, but he hadn't expected it to be a massive number of individual cases rather than a survivor bias.

Perhaps in the future, the Ten Thousand Slayer Fang Xiang might also walk into reality, even bringing the entire Edo Castle with it.

Coupled with the Laughing Brahma that hadn't finished upgrading yet, and the two or three skills he had just begun to learn, Uesugi Tetsu's palms began to sweat, and a sense of urgency arose in his heart.

Currently, apart from the one-time Nanjō doll and Oni Old Man, he had almost no means to resist demons of Rank 2 or higher.

--And looking at Nanjō Emi's Shikigami, the Wet Oni had two and a half stars above its head, and even the seemingly weak Hiyori Bō had one and a half stars, higher than the heavily injured White Brahma. Their abilities even complemented each other.

It seemed that once the Laughing Brahma finished upgrading and unlocked its Rank 1 gacha pool, he would need to accelerate his progress.

Uesugi Tetsu glanced at the remaining time—the upgrade would be completed the night after tomorrow, at which point he could use the accumulated Soul Ash for a ten-pull to significantly boost his strength.

"The timing of the wave's arrival might be in half a month, or it could be within these few days."

After delivering an amount of information that was terrifying in just two sentences, Nanjō Emi had no intention of elaborating further.

She smoked, with deep dark circles under her eyes, saying, "I have to work overtime. The more sweat now, the less blood later. You two take care of yourselves."

"If something comes up, call me and explain it clearly, and I'll get there as soon as I can."

After she finished explaining, the rain curtain on either side of the alley disappeared. Nanjō Emi quickly left, leaving behind a clean alley and an Uesugi Tetsu who seemed a bit at a loss.

After a moment of silence, Uesugi Tetsu asked, "Are we still eating dinner?"

Ririko's stomach rumbled, and she slowly nodded, "Yeah, why wouldn't I eat a free dinner?"

Having reached a mutual decision, the two walked out of the alley, which might have become a critical turning point in their lives, in silence.

They reached the street, and the passing crowds were no different from usual.

Students chatted about gossip, pushing and shoving each other as they played, while office workers hurried home from work. Elderly people could be seen everywhere in small groups, walking slowly.

The silent hum of car engines filled the air. In Japanese society, where no one wants to trouble others, piercing car horns were almost never heard.

Everything was no different from a normal evening.

Just then, the sharp cry of a crow suddenly came from the utility pole overhead. A large flock of crows flapped their wings and scattered, obscuring the setting sun like a sudden dark cloud.

Uesugi Tetsu watched this scene and remembered that this time of sunset in Japan was called Demon Hour, and the time after that was the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.

He felt like he was walking into the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.