Tokyo Fall Guys beats up the supernatural

Page 79

"Ta-da!" Hayakawa Mizue opened her arms wide and exclaimed excitedly, "The Hayakawa family's board game box Ver 2.0 is here!"

The reserved Hayakawa Kanae lowered her head slightly, her long hair obscuring half her face, and pointed at the items in the box with her finger, her voice trembling with excitement: "Whether it's Dungeons & Dragons, Cthulhu tabletop RPGs, or the globally renowned Warhammer 40 series of strategy games... we have them all here!"

When Dou Tang saw the Deep One chess pieces, he immediately coughed twice, and his expression turned somewhat unpleasant.

Huaiyin gave him a strange look, but didn't take it seriously.

As they talked, Ruizhi and Xiangmiao began to introduce themselves. No wonder these two people don't have a wide social circle. They spend all their spare time at board game stores, whether it's tabletop role-playing games or strategy games, they spend a lot of time there.

Huaiyin picked up an exquisitely crafted Warhammer chess piece. On the black and red painted platform stood a Space Marine wielding a longsword gleaming with lightning. His armor was blue, and his entire body was imbued with a unique and heavy Warhammer Space Marine style.

After listening to their explanations, Huaiyin asked curiously, "How much does one of these chess pieces cost?"

Mizue thought for a moment, then frowned as she glanced at the ceiling and said, "I forgot, we bought over two hundred Ultramarines from Warhammer alone. We bought them from overseas, and it cost about 100,000 yen."

Huaiyin was so startled that her hand trembled, and she almost threw the chess piece in her hand away.

Two hundred... Although we only brought a few dozen here, there's a huge pile of chess pieces that look expensive, like tanks. How much will this whole box cost?

Dou Tang was still staring blankly at the Deep Ones pieces on the Clash of Clans side.

Xiangmiao smiled and whispered, "Games are more fun when played with friends. Money isn't important."

Changyi swallowed hard, moved closer to Doutang, and whispered, "Kiryu-kun, what are you looking at?"

"I'm wondering how I managed to... no, it's nothing, I'm just curious."

"By the way, what do Hayakawa's family do? Ordinary families wouldn't spend this much money on toys... Shouldn't we support the child's hobby?"

Nagaibuki nodded: "It is said that their family is a wealthy one."

Dou Tang narrowed his eyes.

"It's a household that needs pendant lights."

"Huh??" Nagaibuki was completely bewildered.

Ultimately, everyone decided to play Clash of Clans tabletop role-playing game because Chinatsu Kume noticed that Toudou seemed very interested in Clash of Clans.

However, this script can only accommodate four people to play, plus a host, making it only five people. Therefore, Dou Tang became the honorary... NPC actor.

But the moment Dou Tang saw the script, his face turned pale.

He slowly approached Ruizhi, who was the host, and whispered in her ear, "Why do NPCs have the ability to instantly kill Deep Ones?"

“Because according to the setting, your character is an ancient martial arts master from the East!” Ruizhi scratched her ear, Dou Tang was a little too close, making her ear ticklish.

"What ancient martial art can kill a non-human?!" Dou Tang's eyes widened.

He wants to play games, but he doesn't want to play himself!

"Oh, Kiryu-kun, don't worry about it so much!" Mizuki blushed and pushed him away, then picked up the rulebook in front of her and cleared her throat.

Immediately afterward, her expression turned serious. Xiangmiao understood immediately, jumped off the bed, and turned off the room light.

The room suddenly went dark, and Dou Tang could clearly hear Chang Yichui gasp in fright.

Then, Ruizhi turned on the flashlight in her hand and shone it on her face from below, making her look sinister.

"Friends... welcome to tonight's Clash of Clans role-playing session. Investigators, are you ready...?"

Xiangmiao turned on a new flashlight and shone it on the chessboard or map in front of her, which showed the outline of a small town.

“Welcome to…” She placed an old notebook with a dark yellow leather cover in front of her, then whispered, her eyes wide as she met the gazes of everyone in the darkness.

"The Monte Cristo attack..."

Dou Tang immediately started cursing: "Isn't that just a parody of The Count of Monte Cristo?!"

Chapter 17 Haoli, the Forgotten Underworld

The script brought by the Hayakawa sisters was rather bizarre; it was basically a heavily modified version of The Count of Monte Cristo, in which investigators played by Kawan and others were imprisoned for a wrongful conviction, and at the same time, they happened to encounter... a Deep One attacking the prison.

During their escape, they also rescued Dantès, played by Dou Tang, who had been imprisoned for fourteen years. Yes, this Dantès is based on the Count of Monte Cristo, but unlike the Count, the Dantès in this script has the surname Tang because he has Chinese ancestors...

"There are so many things about your script that I don't even know where to begin," said Chinatsu Kume.

Then, in the battle to escape from prison, Doo-Tang's character, Dante, must face a duel to the death against the warden who framed him for imprisonment.

The flashlight, suspended in the air by a thin rope, flickered and illuminated the map. The three-dimensional, cold prison on the map seemed to have stepped into reality, and the swaying lights were like lightning and thunder.

An exceptionally tall human chess piece stands in the center of the map, while the other investigators are also embroiled in a fierce battle with the Deep Ones.

"Go, brother!" Huaiyin cheered, raising her little hand.

"Hmph, Kiryu-kun, even though you're an NPC, if you roll a big mistake here, it will affect the rest of the story! To help your friends clear the game, pray to the God of Dice for your good luck!" Mizue had a devilishly wicked expression on her face, arms crossed, head tilted back, and sneered.

Dou Tang remained expressionless and threw out the hit dice.

The die bounced back and forth on the ground, and finally... it became a 1.

Ruizhi opened her mouth wide.

"Alright, fine, your punch hit, great success... Come on, let's roll the damage..."

Dou Tang tossed it aside casually.

Ruizhi blinked.

Dou Tang calculated the damage, then looked at Rui Zhi, who was standing there with her mouth agape.

He said somewhat embarrassedly in a low voice, "I have a question. According to the script, should I get injured here to facilitate the plot?"

"Mmm, uh, mmm..."

"But now, shouldn't we just... kill him instantly?"

Ruizhi's eyes were red.

"That's why I don't want to play games with you bunch of European dogs. Get out, get out of here!"

The game didn't end until late at night. Dou Tang saw them off, yawned, and then felt somewhat happy.

Huaiyin noticed his eyes suddenly light up and asked in confusion, "Brother, what's wrong?"

"I yawned! I actually yawned because I stayed up all night!" Dou Tang said with a pleasant surprise.

Hearing this, Huaiyin felt a pang of heartache for some reason. She pursed her lips and tugged at Doutang's sleeve: "Then go to sleep, okay?"

"Okay, I'll sleep when I'm sleepy. This is an experience I haven't had in a long time..."

After washing up, the two naturally lay down in the same bed. Dou Tang tucked Huai Yin in, and Huai Yin snuggled closer to Dou Tang.

After the lights were turned off, Huaiyin looked up and asked, "Brother, the temple fair is tomorrow. Will you come with me?"

Dou Tang smelled the toothpaste on her breath and the faint fragrance emanating from the girl. Feeling a little uncomfortable, he turned his head away and whispered:

"Of course."

"That's good."

Feeling the girl relax because of his answer, Dou Tang breathed a sigh of relief and slowly fell asleep.

………………

Huaiyin opened her eyes, her mind clear, and instantly realized that she was dreaming.

She looked around, but saw nothing related to Dou Tang.

All around was a hazy, yellowish mist, and the ground beneath their feet was pure black. Everywhere exuded an aura of death, as if it were not a place for the living.

With her arrival, the thick fog seemed to dissipate slightly, and a wider view became possible.

Not far ahead, there is a vermilion broken bridge half-hidden in the ground, along with various scattered stone lanterns. Looking further into the distance, one can see scattered red flowers and some ancient ruins made of broken bricks and tiles, which appear to be something like a shrine.

Dilapidated, desolate, decaying, like a world after all things have died...

Huaiyin was somewhat frightened. The scene before her was unlike anything Doutang had ever experienced. In fact, this should not be something any human could experience. This world was destined to be devoid of any living beings.

She swallowed hard; the dream was so real that she could almost smell the rotten wood and mold in the damp environment.

Continuing to gaze into the distance, she finally spotted some different scenery in the distance.

In the far, far distance, there seemed to be a giant red wall. No, she couldn't be sure if it was a wall, since the red area was so vast that when she looked in that direction, the entire yellow mist was backed by a scarlet glow, as if the wall had no boundaries, infinitely high and infinitely wide.

Although everything before him exuded a dangerous aura, at least he had a direction to move forward, and based on the previous dreams, he should be safe.

Since it's safe, why not take this opportunity to explore it properly?

Huaiyin continued walking forward and started jogging.

After an unknown amount of time, the surrounding scenery remained unchanged, with countless ruins and rubble deposited in the dark earth, and occasionally some blood-red flowers.

The only unusual sight before her made her stop in her tracks.

That's a person.

The man was dressed in brownish-yellow linen clothes, with a dirty animal skin wrapped around his clothes. He had a long whip around his waist as a belt and a bronze longsword without a scabbard hanging from his waist.

The man was disheveled, with a thick, unkempt beard, looking like a primitive man.

But those eyes, those calm and deep eyes, instantly captivated Huaiyin's heart—she recognized them, of course she recognized them, those were the eyes that only Doutang could have.

Is the person in front of me Ren Doutang?

The disheveled man walked with an imposing air, his shoulders hunched and back slightly bent, like a brave and fearless warrior heading to a dangerous battle.

But when he saw Huaiyin, his eyes widened, and he shouted, "Girl! Stop right there!"

Huaiyin was so frightened by the loud shout that she froze on the spot, not daring to move.

A disheveled man approached, his eyes, hidden behind his messy hair, scrutinized her closely before looking at her with a puzzled expression.

"Girl, you are a living person. If you are a living person, why are you here?"

Huaiyin swallowed hard, suppressing the oppressive feeling and fear emanating from the person in front of her, and said uncertainly in a low voice, "You, you are...you are Mr. Ren, right?"

"...Yes, I am, but you should come from the mortal world, so why are you here?"

"Where...where is this?" Huaiyin asked in confusion.

"This is... Haoli."

"This is the forgotten underworld."

Chapter 18 Bearing Two Hells

"Whose land is this, where souls gather, regardless of wisdom or folly?"

"The ghost is urging us on, and human life cannot be delayed even for a moment."

—An anonymous poem from the Western Han Dynasty.

During the Warring States period, legends of the underworld, such as the Lord of Mount Tai, which only appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty, had not yet emerged. At that time, the place where the souls of the dead gathered in people's minds was a place called Haoli.

Haoli lacked the well-developed belief system of the underworld in later generations, and it did not have the wide reach of the Taishan Lord. Ultimately, very little verifiable evidence was left for posterity.

But it still offers a glimpse into what the world of the dead looked like in an era when even the belief in gods was unclear.

Death is equal for all beings; regardless of wisdom or folly, all will return to Haoli after death. In Haoli, there are no true gods, only beings called Guibo who wander the mortal world, guiding the souls of those destined for the afterlife.

When turmoil struck and the whole world was plunged into chaos, one day, Haoli disappeared from people's sight, and another belief slowly emerged, which was fully formed during the Eastern Han Dynasty.

So where did the vanished Haoli go? That land that once carried ancient souls, that forgotten underworld, drifted like duckweed, eventually going to a place no one knows.

Until one day, a disheveled man lit a lantern to illuminate the mountains and rivers, saw demons roaming the land, and picked up a long sword.

Huaiyin already knows the rest of the story: generation after generation, every Mr. Ren will die one day, and then Haoli, drifting like an isolated island, will carry their souls down to the next generation.

This is the final resting place of Haoli, which has disappeared into the long river of history.

Huaiyin sat beside the ruins of the building with the disheveled Mr. Ren, listening to him recount the ancient poems, nodding as if he understood but not quite.

Mr. Ren drew his long sword from his waist, looked at the intricate patterns on the bronze sword, and sighed: "Girl, but just as you see now, just as Haoli once gave up the position of the Underworld, now a new world will replace Haoli's existence."

He pointed his sword at the distant red light: "There, a sweet paradise has been built. The dead are in it, washing away their resentment and grievances, and can only enjoy joy and childlike innocence. That is the new hell, the brand new underworld."

Huaiyin had heard Doutang mention the Fall Guys Paradise before, and only then did she realize that the so-called Fall Guys Paradise was actually connected to the Underworld Haoli, which resided in Doutang's body and drifted into this world.

A symbol representing Dou Tang's essence as a jelly bean, filled with dreamy candy and blissful pleasure, where the dead are purified and transformed into adorable jelly bean people playing and immersing themselves in joy.

A symbol of Dou Tang's past as Mr. Ren, where all that can be seen is desolation and death. This is an old underworld that is now empty, a place abandoned by faith.

“Girl, you should go back, go back to him.”

The elderly Mr. Ren smiled and patted her head.

Huaiyin lowered her head, deep in thought. Seeing her like this, Mr. Ren simply stood up, patted his bottom, tightened the animal skin on his body, and prepared to leave.