I, a Reincarnation Stream Player

"Let's go. We'll head up and wait for Mai."

"Is she really going to be okay?"

Yuki paused. An ordinary girl was facing an overwhelming encirclement; any one of them could pull the trigger and take her life.

"If there's a problem, she'll have to overcome it. Do you know what the most important thing in this game is?"

Hayasaka Ai's face was tense. As an endless stream of police officers brushed past them, she shook her head slightly.

"What?"

"Growth. Growth in strength, growth in mindset." Yuki answered, realizing that he was becoming more and more relaxed despite the cinematic scene unfolding before him.

They emerged from underground on the other side of the plaza. But unlike the holiday scene they'd left behind at the Ancient Castle, this place had taken on an entirely different look.

Flashing police lights filled his vision. Police tape cordoned off every available space, and heavily armed officers were moving about everywhere. There had to be more than a hundred of them.

Was all this really necessary?

Even if Thomas was a brute, he only had a melee weapon. Li Dan had no more than a revolver. Anyone who didn't know better would think the players had brought in a tank to beat the game.

Ten in the morning.

Yuki glanced at his watch. The sun was high overhead, leaving no place to hide, but he wasn't afraid. He strolled over to the nearest police car by the exit and even asked an officer nearby for a cigarette.

The Ancient Castle was very close. Yuki almost felt like he'd gone inside and come back out again in the blink of an eye.

"Five minutes left," Hayasaka Ai reminded him.

"Yeah. We'll wait until the very last moment." Yuki knew Mai Sakurajima's Ego Trait could only last twenty minutes. If she went over that limit, she'd definitely end up full of holes.

As he admired the "scenery," he replayed his brush with death in his mind.

First, Hayasaka Ai and Mai Sakurajima's Ego Traits could affect any creature in the instance.

Second, why would they need such a huge force to deal with just a few players? Given the police announcements and their actual behavior, this was clearly a group of killers who weren't holding anything back.

It still didn't make sense. Wouldn't it be more efficient to capture us and make us give up our accomplices? Why did it feel like they were determined to kill the players?

Lastly, they'd found us way too quickly. It had only been an hour and fifty-five minutes before they showed up right in front of us. Could that be tied to Hint 2?

If so, that was a serious problem. Even if we dug a hole and buried ourselves, someone would dig us out within two hours at most.

Then what counted as a location? Was it a matter of space, or of rules? If I kept driving around, would that count as being in one location?

And what was the deal with these enemies? There were plenty of them, but all they had were pistols. Judging by the genre, shouldn't there be more guys with rifles, hollering "motherfucker" at the top of their lungs?

Yuki's mind was a mess, until Hayasaka Ai poked him in the stomach with her elbow.

"She's here."

The black-haired girl came up to ground level from the exit. Her steps were stiff, and the hand hidden behind her back was still trembling. Heavily armed officers, brimming with hostility, ran past so close that their shoulders nearly brushed hers. Their magazines were packed with bullets.

Not one of them saw her, much less stopped to question her. As time passed, Mai Sakurajima's presence grew stronger and stronger. Yuki and Hayasaka Ai could already perceive her.

She tiptoed, afraid of drawing anyone's attention, just as if she'd returned to the Ancient Castle's corridor, where grotesque monsters lurked in the shadows, ready to tear her apart at any moment.

Only when she saw Yuki and Hayasaka Ai did her anxious heart finally settle. It was her first time taking point, and seeing the two of them waiting for her as soon as she reached the surface made her feel much less afraid.

"How was it, risking your neck?" Yuki smiled. He slipped behind the officer who'd given him the cigarette, knocked him out, and casually stuffed him into the car.

"Awful. They were firing wildly, and the bullets ricocheted off the walls. I almost got hit." Mai managed a strained smile. She hadn't truly vanished from the world.

"That close? You'll have to do more combat training from now on." Yuki was a little surprised by how calm the girl was. Hayasaka Ai had already opened the car door, and he didn't dare waste another moment.

"Let's go. The crisis is only just beginning."

Mai's eyes lit up at the way he'd said "let's." Her unease at being a burden vanished.

Everyone had a role in the game, and everyone had irreplaceable value. She nodded lightly and took Yuki's outstretched hand.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Chapter 25: Everyone's Gone Mad, Everyone's Gone Mad

Crimson Moon City, one in the afternoon.

An ice cream truck sped down the road. Yuki rested his arm on the window and watched the passing streets with a frown.

There was one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.

The good news was that the city outside the Ancient Castle belonged to the modern world. The three of them had no shortage of supplies and no longer had to fight on empty stomachs. He'd also confirmed that "location" referred to a spatial concept: as long as they kept moving, they wouldn't be punished.

Stealing that police car had been the right call. The whole city was under lockdown and in chaos, so a police car constantly patrolling the streets fit right in. After driving around the city aimlessly for over two hours, Yuki had confirmed what Hint 2 meant and abandoned the police car in a deserted Parking Lot. Then he stole an ice cream truck.

Then he discovered the bad news.

As they passed an intersection, Yuki ducked his head a little and spotted a white bar above the traffic light. There was a camera mounted on it.

"So you're saying the city's evolving, tightening the noose around our necks?" Mai Sakurajima leaned halfway out of the window, a chocolate-dipped cone in her hand.

Perhaps because she'd returned to modern society, she seemed more relaxed. The soldiers and police had lethal weapons, but they weren't nearly as frightening as the grotesque Living Corpses.

"Could it be a coincidence?"

"Impossible. I didn't see a single camera two hours ago. A crowded place like a subway station would definitely have them if they'd been here, and Hayasaka couldn't find any information about them online." Yuki offered three pieces of evidence in a row, snuffing out their last trace of wishful thinking. "These things appeared out of nowhere. Just like the Ancient Castle, this city doesn't follow common sense."

Yuki gave a bitter laugh. He'd actually expected this. There was no way they could sit in a car and safely make it through the whole day. The Reincarnation Game wouldn't leave such a huge loophole.

"Is it Hint 3 or Hint 5?" Hayasaka Ai kept her eyes on the road. As an all-around maid, she drove fast and steady.

[Hint 3: Time will keep passing, just like your lives and hopes]

[Hint 5: Everyone has the right to bathe in moonlight]

Screeech—

The truck suddenly braked and turned into an alley. A few seconds later, a convoy of police cars roared past outside.

"I don't know. Those two hints interfere with each other, and these enemies are strange too." Yuki shook his head slightly and took out a note covered in writing. "Two hours ago, we ran into patrol officers with shotguns and bulletproof vests. Forty-five minutes ago, SWAT officers with rifles showed up."

"But the police are divided into a lot of different units. What's strange about that?"

"Hard to say. I think their equipment is getting upgraded, and it's appearing out of nowhere. With equipment, there's no way everyone just forgot to put theirs on."

Yuki rubbed his chin. He couldn't shake the feeling that a flashing wanted-star hovered above his head like in some video game, so he turned up the volume on the radio he'd removed from the police car.

[Suspects are heading toward East Wutong Road]

[Officers down in an exchange of fire. Requesting backup!]

[Another group of suspects spotted on Andes Avenue. Set up a roadblock up ahead.]

The radio crackled with a jumble of voices. Yuki had told Li Dan his analysis and sent the veteran player off to draw fire. It seemed that hadn't helped much.

"Thomas is moving around too. Didn't he split up from Li Dan?"

"He might have figured it out himself. He's not stupid, but there's one thing that's strange."

"What?"

"Why do those two veteran players keep splitting up?"

Yuki rubbed his furrowed brow. From their earlier contact, he already knew Li Dan hadn't managed to talk Thomas into coming back. Once the side effects of his Chaos Item had worn off, Thomas had fled on his own with Kathy, the housewife.

"Li Dan didn't trust Thomas to begin with, and in that kind of emergency, he couldn't keep covering him forever." Hayasaka Ai thought for a moment, then offered a reasonable explanation:

"The side effects of Thomas's Chainsaw Sword probably don't distinguish between friend and foe. Going with him is too risky."

It was reasonable, perhaps a little too reasonable.

Yuki nodded, accepting the explanation. Their main concern now was how to get away. There was no point overthinking the two veteran players.

"Let's go meet up at the coordinates Li Dan gave us. At the city's current rate of evolution, we won't be able to hide for two hours. Have you gotten familiar with the area?"

The lull beforehand hadn't gone to waste. Under the pretext of patrolling, Hayasaka Ai had already familiarized herself with the area.

She gave a quiet "Mm," just as a police car backed into view at the alley entrance. Someone was shining a flashlight into the alley, and her whole body tensed.

They found us already? Those cameras really weren't just for show.

"Buckle up."

Screeech...

Before the words had even left her mouth, the tires shrieked against the road. A violent burst of acceleration shoved Yuki back into his seat. He quickly reached out and pulled Mai Sakurajima against his chest.

Before she could cry out, the truck shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.

Bang!

The police car blocking the alley entrance was sent tumbling. Hayasaka Ai threw the truck into reverse, shifted gears, then wrenched the steering wheel around. She drifted through the turn and slammed her foot on the gas.

Vrooom—

The engine roared, and the speedometer climbed like crazy.

A powerful burst of acceleration slammed them back into their seats. The scenery blurred past on both sides. Yuki clenched even his toes, too busy to pay attention to Mai Sakurajima's muffled cries for help.

The truck tore down the street at over 120 kilometers per hour, swerving through traffic. Horns blared in a deafening chorus, and then the long wail of sirens pierced their ears.

In less than two minutes, their pursuers had caught up. Yuki leaned out the window and looked behind them. Someone stuck out a hand and immediately pulled the trigger.

Bang, bang, bang, bang...

Bullets mingled with the traffic, turning the street into chaos. Cars rammed into each other, collided, and exploded, while stray bullets killed passersby.

Yuki watched someone crossing the street. Even Hayasaka Ai swerved instinctively, but the pursuers didn't care. They sent the pedestrian flying through the air.

I fucking knew this wasn't a normal world!

Where in the world would the police ignore civilians' safety and focus only on gunning down criminals? Was there any justice? Any law?

No, they acted normally when dealing with criminals who weren't players. They were trying to kill us.

What was the difference? What was the difference?

Yuki thought back to the scene when they'd escaped the Ancient Castle. There had been police in the plaza too, but they'd handled things normally and hadn't drawn their guns.

Was it because Thomas had killed a few people? No, that wasn't enough to overturn their logic!

He thought of what had happened when he unlocked his Trait.

That sigh, that gaze, that choice. But there were too few clues. He couldn't figure anything out.

Screeech—

Hayasaka Ai wrenched the steering wheel around, her right foot planted firmly on the accelerator. She drifted onto the avenue to their left, only to see two police cars heading straight toward them. She gritted her teeth.

"Get down!"

Gunshots rang out at once, punching several holes in the windshield. The girl ducked her head, yanked the handbrake just seconds before the two sides collided, and sent the truck smashing through the guardrail and onto the sidewalk.

Bang! Bang!

A tremendous crash came from behind them. The two police cars swept past and slammed head-on into their comrades coming up behind.

At that speed, steel crumpled inward like a biscuit. The backs of the cars lifted into the air, and the vehicles turned into a heap of wreckage rolling along the road.

Yuki kept his eyes on the rearview mirror. Not a single car stopped to help their comrades. They sped right past the twisted wreckage.

They were completely out of control, like a pack of Living Corpses behind the wheel. They only had eyes for us and had lost every bit of reason.

"How many minutes until the River Bridge goes up?" Hayasaka Ai kept her eyes fixed on the road, as if she'd lost herself in her role as a seasoned driver.

According to the information they'd gathered during Reconnaissance, a canal ran through the center of Crimson Moon City. There were no boats to be seen on it, but the bridges would still rise on schedule.

"Five minutes. Go faster. They're already blocking us up ahead." Yuki leaned back and saw the cars on the road pulling over to make way. Some couldn't stop in time and simply rammed into walls.

The road instantly cleared, and Yuki spotted the iron bridge slowly lifting in the distance. Police lights flashed ahead of it as officers jogged around, laying down tire spikes.

The roadblock was already in place. SWAT officers in black uniforms were climbing out of their vehicles. Farther behind them, dozens of police cars raced toward them at full speed, as if they meant to smash both them and their own comrades to pieces.

"Floor it! Drive right through!"

Yuki had no other choice. He pulled the seat belt with his left hand, strapping himself to Mai Sakurajima, and pressed his right hand against the underside of the seat.

Reinforcement Magecraft. Full power.

He pushed the skill to its limit, reinforcing all kinds of concepts in the battered truck. But because it was so large, the reinforcement inevitably had to be spread thin.

Yuki had no idea whether it would hold. He could only hunch down and listen to the rattling gunfire.

Tat-tat-tat-tat...

Shards of glass flew everywhere. The truck's body was riddled with holes in an instant. Hayasaka Ai buried her head against the steering wheel, feeling the Incandescence of bullets graze past her hair.