A blood-red ghost train rumbled through the space-time tunnel.
Inside Car 7, it was completely quiet. Scarcely a sound could be heard, save for the occasional rustle of fingertips brushing against turning pages.
Ke Mingqing rested his head against the window, taking a short nap.
Sitting across from him, Kuroki Hitomi had her head bowed over a collection of haiku, occasionally lifting her gaze from the book to glance at him.
In the dim light, the boy and girl sat facing each other.
About five minutes later.
With a deafening roar, the train tore out of the space-time turbulence of the tunnel, slowly grinding to a halt on a stretch of rusted tracks.
A light rain was falling from the Tokyo sky.
Sunlight and rain mingled against the windowpane, illuminating the boy's fair cheeks.
Even though the train had clearly arrived at the station, she didn't seem to want to disturb his rest. Or perhaps she simply wanted to look at his sleeping face, so she remained silent for a long time.
"The train has arrived in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Passengers, please disembark swiftly within two minutes..."
A hoarse announcement soon echoed through the carriage, waking Ke Mingqing from his slumber.
He opened his eyes, turned his head, and glanced out the window.
What met his eyes was a long-abandoned, dust-covered train station. The location was supposedly in Tokyo's Shinjuku area; although the Japanese text on the station sign had been weathered by time, he could still roughly make out the engraved characters for "Shinjuku".
The time difference between Japan and China was only an hour—Japan was one hour ahead—so the current time in Tokyo was eleven in the morning.
The sky was pale through the curtain of rain, and Car 7 remained completely silent.
"Aren't we leaving?" Ke Mingqing broke the silence after a moment.
He stretched, rose from his seat, and looked at the girl across from him. "Didn't you say we were going to find those two players you mentioned?"
Kuroki Hitomi nodded. "Yeah, let's go."
She paused, closed her collection of haiku, and reminded him, "But before that, you need to change your appearance."
"Easy enough."
Ke Mingqing spoke casually, stifling a yawn as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his shorts.
His appearance slowly began to shift. In no time at all, he transformed into a fair-skinned, handsome young man, his build growing a few inches taller.
Looking like an entirely different person, Ke Mingqing tilted his head and met the girl's gaze. "What are you staring at? Let's go."
...
...
One hour later, inside an izakaya in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
An old Showa-era song played in the izakaya, and two figures sat at the bar.
The young man seated on the left had dyed blond hair, his excessively long locks tied back into a ponytail. He wore a rather distinctive suit—the uniform of one of Shinjuku's most famous host clubs.
He had strong, handsome features. Any man who could become a host in Japan generally wasn't lacking in the looks department.
In stark contrast to his aura, the young man seated on the right looked delicate and effeminate, a strange, demonic charm lingering around his eyes and brows.
His long black hair cascaded over his shoulders, and he wore a dark red kimono. A dark red scabbard was tied at his waist.
"It seems they've found out that we killed that Shadow Warrior in Kabukicho last time. Now the Shadow Warrior organization has their eyes on us."
The blond young man spoke with a blank expression.
"This side of Japan really is an annoying place. Shadow Warriors, jujutsu sorcerers, and those baffling magical girls... You could trip over a super-human species just walking down the street," the kimono-clad young man said dismissively.
The two drank and conversed in hushed tones, their figures obscured by a folding screen printed with ukiyo-e art. They were regulars at this izakaya, and the boss would use the screen to separate them from the other patrons.
If a player were standing behind them right now, they would be able to see the player IDs floating above their heads.
The blond, ponytail-wearing youth in the host club uniform was named Kamishiro Kawa, and the young man in the dark red kimono was Kamishiro Ruri.
Kamishiro Ruri shrugged and smiled.
"Kawa-kun, Kabukicho is my territory. They targeted our guests and made a move during a kabuki performance. How could we just sit by and watch?"
Although their player identities were twin brothers, the souls residing inside those bodies were not.
Therefore, Kamishiro Ruri often called Kamishiro Kawa "Kawa-kun" instead of younger brother.
"But looking at it now, it certainly wasn't a good decision." Kamishiro Kawa sighed. "To provoke the Shadow Warrior organization just for the sake of saving face... it wasn't worth it."
He paused. "Those lunatics will strike when you're getting up to piss in the middle of the night. It's hard to even get a peaceful night's sleep."
"It can't be helped... I am the master of Kabukicho, and I must uphold justice for my guests. As for those Shadow Warriors, we'll take it one step at a time. There will always be a turning point to resolve this."
Kamishiro Ruri took a sip of his alcohol and smiled faintly. "Let's go, accompany me back... I arranged to meet those players from Leijing today."
Kamishiro Kawa nodded, hesitating for a moment. "Be careful. Other players might not be easy to deal with."
"That's exactly what's wrong with you, Kawa-kun. You always overthink things," Kamishiro Ruri said mildly.
The two set down their glasses and slid open the izakaya's door, stepping out amidst the rumbling sound of the doorframe scraping against the floor.
A light rain was falling outside the izakaya.
Kamishiro Ruri opened a blue umbrella, and Kamishiro Kawa followed by his side. The two turned and stepped into a quiet alleyway.
Puddles dotted the alley, and the rain striking them rippled into mesmerizing patterns.
The next moment, a sudden, ghostly wind swept through the entire alley. Kamishiro Kawa and Kamishiro Ruri's expressions changed slightly, and they turned their heads to look behind them in unison.
A tide of shadows suddenly surfaced on the alley floor, and pitch-black figures rose from the gloom, standing tall across the long alleyway.
Most wore black cloth garments and donned the demon masks of asuras and rakshasas from Japanese mythology.
At the same time, super-human species panels materialized above their heads, reflecting in the eyes of Kamishiro Kawa and Kamishiro Ruri.
Kamishiro Kawa furrowed his brow. "Every single one of them is rated C Rank or above. To think the Shadow Warriors would send such a massive lineup?"
"I heard the Shadow Warrior organization repays every grudge. It seems the rumors are true."
Kamishiro Ruri spoke casually as he gazed at the figures.
"You go first... I'll hold them off and find a way to meet up with you later," Kamishiro Kawa said in a low voice.
At this point in time, the players' combat prowess was still highly limited. Fighting one or two C Rank super-human species at the same time was already their limit, not to mention there were more than ten Shadow Warriors right in front of them.
"Are you joking, Kawa-kun? How could I ever abandon you?"
As he spoke, Kamishiro Ruri drew his blade from its scabbard, the corners of his lips curling into a smile. The raindrops falling from the sky suddenly gathered on his longsword, gradually manifesting into a dragon of water.
The young man's dark red kimono whipped up in the wind and rain, snapping loudly in the air.
[C Rank Skill — Rain Control Swordsmanship: Manipulate rainwater, infusing the ultimate, freezing, and piercing water into your longsword or blade.]
In the next instant, the figures of the dozen or so Shadow Warriors suddenly flickered.
No one could see their movements clearly; they appeared only as a blur of black. Like wandering ghosts, they gripped their tachis and swarmed forward to slaughter the two of them together.
But right at that moment, another anomaly occurred in the alley.
Suddenly, a figure wearing a T-shirt and shorts, looking entirely aloof and unbothered, dropped down from above the alley, stepping between the Shadow Warriors and the Kamishiro duo.
Kamishiro Kawa and Kamishiro Ruri froze slightly, halting their counterattack.
Ke Mingqing descended from the sky. He lifted his gaze toward the group of Shadow Warriors, gave his arm a slight twist, and made a pushing motion forward.
And yet... this single, casual gesture triggered a cataclysmic reaction, as if mountains were collapsing and the earth was tearing apart.
[B Rank Skill: Wall of Ten Thousand Armies! (Push forward a massive wall composed of statues of ancient soldiers made of human flesh, dealing a colossal impact.)]
A golden wall built from dozens of armored soldier statues materialized out of thin air. With the unstoppable momentum of a toppling mountain and roaring seas, it aggressively pushed forward!
"Boom—!"
The blades of the dozen or so Shadow Warriors slashed against this unstoppable, magnificent wall. In a flash, they shattered, turning into a spray of fractured silver shards that sliced into their faces.
In that moment, the screech of snapping longswords echoed in every direction.
The Wall of Ten Thousand Armies continued its thunderous advance, like Mount Tai crushing forward. The howling gale whipped against the faces of everyone in the alley, causing even the curtain of rain to freeze in place.
The dozen Shadow Warriors were knocked back in unison. Their backs crashed into the walls deep within the alley, leaving behind a series of cracked craters in the stone.
Kamishiro Kawa was stunned. "This is..."
"It seems the players from Leijing have arrived. Talk about a timely rain." Kamishiro Ruri paused in surprise before a smirk touched his lips.
In the next second, a miniature, solitary moon suddenly appeared directly above the alley.
Clear, bright moonlight drifted down, washing over several of the Shadow Warriors. They were instantly immobilized; this layer of moonlight enveloped every inch of their bodies like frost.
[Sun and Moon Wheel (C Rank Skill): Create a miniature sun or moon. When sunlight strikes enemies, it burns them; when moonlight strikes enemies, it immobilizes them.]
Immediately after, magnificent roses began to drift through the air.
Chaotic blossoms danced in the wind, their petals cascading like a waterfall, spiraling downward.
The dazzling roses transformed into the sharpest of blades in that moment. The Shadow Warriors, pinned in place by the moonlight, were shredded to death by the chaotic blossoms, their black clothes dyed scarlet with blood.
[Rose Echo (B Rank Skill): Select a target and summon a rain of roses, causing the opponent to be slaughtered by chaotic blossoms.]
At this moment, blood flew wildly through the cramped, gloomy alley. The number of Shadow Warriors was halved in the blink of an eye. The remaining five exchanged a glance, then vanished into the shadows beneath their feet, disappearing from the alley entirely.
Afterward, a girl wearing a black dress walked in from outside the alley. A single beauty mark dotted the corner of her eye.
That solitary moon and those blade-like chaotic blossoms from just now were clearly her doing.
With the retreat of the Shadow Warriors, the entire alley fell silent. Above them, seagulls arriving from the sea swept past.
Kamishiro Kawa was slightly stunned, while Kamishiro Ruri raised an eyebrow.
It took the two of them a moment to recover. They looked behind them at the girl in the black dress, whose player ID was floating above her head.
[Player ID: Kuroki Hitomi]
Ke Mingqing looked at the corpses of the Shadow Warriors in the alley. "Heh... I thought there were only one or two Shadow Warriors. Turns out they're such a huge faction?"
Following the sound of this casual remark, Kamishiro Kawa and Kamishiro Ruri turned their heads slightly, looking at the handsome youth who had single-handedly repelled over a dozen Shadow Warriors.
As they stared at his back, they suddenly saw clearly the blood-red, eye-catching letters hovering above his head...
A red player ID. Any player understood exactly what that meant.
"A red name... player?" Kamishiro Kawa's pupils contracted, his tone filled with shock.