Fabricating Origins (Major Revision)

The Faker walked up to the unconscious Ito Seigo, pulled a curtain-like piece of fabric from nowhere, and casually wrapped him up in it.

No sooner had he finished bundling him up and hoisting him onto his shoulder than he seemed to sense something, looking up toward a certain rooftop.

"Drones, follow his line of sight," Noguchi Yuji ordered.

The personnel below immediately executed the command and dispatched more drones.

As the camera lens focused and zoomed in, he quickly realized what The Faker was looking at.

Standing on the rooftop The Faker was staring at was none other than one of Noguchi Yuji's "old acquaintances"—the Ninth Guardian.

"When did he appear there?" Noguchi Yuji asked in a low voice.

The others shook their heads hesitantly; their attention had been entirely on The Faker, so none of them had noticed the figure on the roof. Besides, there had been no camera pointed in that direction, so they would likely have to wait for a review of the satellite footage to find out.

The Faker revealed a "radiant smile" once again, a sight that made the viewers shudder, as if he were an alien learning human expressions.

The Ninth Guardian remained expressionless. Or rather, one could at least detect a hint of disgust.

It was unclear whether there had been any history or grievances between the two.

The Faker did not linger, turning around and disappearing after a few leaps.

The Ninth Guardian remained where he was, seemingly lost in thought.

However, he did not stay long, walking straight down the stairs and never reappearing.

Only then did the Self-Defense Force, the fire department, and the investigation teams dare to step into the devastated battlefield to carry out the complex cleanup work.

Without a doubt, this place would be the center of a global news vortex for the next few days, if not the entire month.

Supernatural power had officially stepped onto the stage of history in such a shocking manner.

Several days later, the Special Incident Countermeasures Bureau was officially established, with the Minister of Defense serving concurrently as the Director, reporting directly to the Prime Minister.

There were three Deputy Directors, each transferred from high-ranking positions within the Metropolitan Police Department, the National Police Agency, and the Public Prosecutors Office.

Under its jurisdiction was the Special Intelligence Division, headed by Tristan William, who had been urgently discharged from the U.S. military and fast-tracked for Japanese citizenship. Its First Section was primarily responsible for the collection and analysis of domestic supernatural intelligence, while the Second Section handled foreign intelligence.

The Special Investigation Division was headed by Kuroki Niizumi, with multiple investigative sections divided based on the region of intelligence, the identity of the subjects, and the strength of the targets.

The Special Operations Division was headed by Noguchi Yuji, overseeing various mobile units and the Special Assault Force modeled after the SAT, which was planned to be composed of superpowered individuals or exceptionally skilled ordinary people.

In addition to these main departments, there were logistics units such as the Forensic Research Institute and the Security Division.

After the Tokyo Fire Giant incident, the authorities were in urgent need of such news to stabilize public sentiment and boost confidence. Consequently, Kuroki Niizumi, Noguchi Yuji, and William were suddenly pushed to the forefront as mascots, their past achievements touted repeatedly by major media outlets.

They were showered with free, nonsensical nicknames: the "Majestic Iron Lady" of the General Affairs Division, the "Hero of Case-Solving" from the Criminal Investigation Department, and the "Iai Undertaker" who could go toe-to-toe with the Fire Giant before it transformed.

It must be said that after being bombarded with such hype, the public did indeed regain a bit of confidence. Furthermore, the previous incident had a strange, positive effect on the tourism industry, with countless foreigners arriving every day with professional equipment to "film the battlefield" and go on "pilgrimages to holy sites."

Although the stock market and economy had crashed for a moment, they quickly rebounded. Many institutions even considered Tokyo the easiest city in the world to encounter the supernatural, a sentiment that boosted real estate sales. Wealthy individuals, even if they didn't live there, rushed to buy property in Tokyo. For a time, tourism, stocks, and real estate all became red-hot!

Even Akihabara began to feature supernatural-themed cafes! Rumor had it they collected a large number of old items that had survived supernatural battles—all guaranteed authentic—attracting a large number of tourists to stop by.

Economists dubbed this phenomenon "Supernatural Economics," claiming it was the perfect opportunity for Japan to emerge from its slump!

Shiraishi Wataru could only say that they were overthinking it.

If a few more scenes like this occurred, the Japanese economy would likely be the first to collapse, as capitalists certainly wouldn't care about national borders.

If it weren't for the fact that he still lived here and wanted a relatively stable environment, he could have replicated another Fire Giant incident right now.

However, the good-humored Shiraishi Wataru didn't dwell on it too much.

Ito Seigo had already proven to him that people on the verge of collapse, burdened with severe negative emotions, seemed more prone to mutating abilities.

Thus, he had a goal: find such people, bestow symbiosis upon them, and continue collecting data. Some excellent seeds could be preserved when the time was right, while the useless ones could still provide residual value before they died, potentially stimulating others to mutate again.

It was just difficult to select candidates; after all, everyone had a different mindset. Faced with the same event, some might try to smile and sleep it off, while others would fall into a total breakdown.

He wasn't entirely sure which group accumulated more negative emotions.

The best method was to try both.

But before that, he had to settle Ito Seigo.

Currently, Shiraishi Wataru was multitasking; his main body was contemplating the gains and losses of this incident, while a portion of his consciousness was focused on The Faker, who had already brought Ito Seigo to a dilapidated temple in the Central Forest Sea.

Looking down from the mountain, it was essentially an endless expanse of dense jungle, with a faint path visible, along with a cluster of low-rise buildings that had been abandoned for at least several decades.

Perhaps there had once been a small village here, but for some reason, the people had collectively moved away, leaving behind houses that couldn't be taken, waiting quietly for the erosion of nature.

The Faker was the second "supernatural" entity he had designed to descend from a high-energy plane. He was a lone wolf, at odds with the Holy Infant and even most other factions. He was a chaos-loving type who acted on whim, capable of cooperating or trading at any moment, only to turn around and stab someone in the back just as easily.

His main purpose for coming to this plane was to search for the "Wheel of Wisdom" and the "Inheritance" left behind by a certain Pioneer millions of years ago. In Shiraishi Wataru's fabricated lore, the Wheel of Wisdom was a supreme treasure capable of accelerating the evolution of civilization in biological entities; even in high-energy planes, it was an extremely precious item.

This was the motivation for the descent of the supernatural factions—most were after the Pioneer's Wheel of Wisdom and Inheritance. As for what the Inheritance actually was, that was improvised on the fly. If someone happened to mutate an earth-shattering ability one day, that ability could simply be labeled as the Inheritance.

In any case, the final right of interpretation belonged to Shiraishi Wataru.

Not convinced? Deal with it.