In Tokyo, neon lights flowed like a river down the streets, drifting in the night.
Bunkyo Ward.
A tower apartment near Komagome Station.
In a pitch-black room on the twenty-eighth floor, the long silence was broken by the sound of a fingerprint lock unlocking.
Click.
Creak.
As the faint, obviously suppressed sound of a door slowly opening echoed.
Holding a soccer ball, Dongshan Du cautiously poked his head out from behind the door he had stealthily opened, glanced at the unlit living room, and let out a sigh of relief, feeling guilty.
Then he continued to quietly close the door, groping for the light switch from memory.
Click.
"Whoa!"
As soon as he turned on the light, Dongshan Du screamed in fright, leaning against the door, almost unable to catch his breath.
Because after turning on the light, he suddenly saw his elder Brother, Dongshan Shen, sitting on the sofa, deep in thought like a statue.
"Hoo hoo... phew... Brother, you're not asleep yet?"
Dongshan Du patted his chest, breathing heavily, clearly very scared.
"Mm, thinking about something. Why are you back so late?"
Dongshan Shen glanced at the soccer ball in his Brother's hand, a hint of red light flashing in his eyes.
Clean, this soccer ball was too clean, like new, no different from when Dongshan Du took it out.
Looking at his Brother's expression again, after hearing his question, his heart started to beat faster, his feet couldn't help but move back, and his eyes darted around.
"We, we were too absorbed in playing, and before we knew it, it was ten o'clock. Sorry, Brother, I'll be back earlier next time," Dongshan Du explained guiltily.
Dongshan Shen nodded slightly, not exposing his foolish Brother's lie.
He could more or less guess what Dongshan Du had gone out to do; it was nothing more than puppy love, a secret date.
"There are egg tarts on the table. If you're hungry, you can eat some before sleeping."
"Ah, okay! I'm just hungry!" Dongshan Du felt as if he had been granted a great pardon, quickly put down the soccer ball, and went to wash his hands to get something to eat.
Dongshan Shen stopped the soccer ball slowly rolling towards him with the tip of his foot, gently hooked it up, and kicked it. The soccer ball accurately bounced into Dongshan Du's room.
"Delicious! Brother, make more next time. I'll take some for my classmates to eat." Dongshan Du came out after washing his hands, wolfing down the food, not seeing the scene that had just happened.
"Okay."
After a simple reply, Dongshan Shen did not continue sitting on the sofa. He got up and walked back to his room, closing the door as usual, turning off the light, and sitting on the bed. He seemed to be staring blankly at the night view outside the window, but in reality, he was observing a screen in front of him that only he could see.
(Roughly like this)
He had transmigrated to this parallel world's Japan ten years ago.
The original owner likely died from excessive grief after his mother passed away, and then he, a lonely spirit from a disordered timeline, occupied the body.
Perhaps there was some force behind it, but he had no way of knowing.
At the beginning of his transmigration, the original owner's Father was a middle manager in a foreign trade company, leaving early and returning late, and often on business trips, rarely home at all.
His Brother was a shadow, still young, and easy to deal with.
This also allowed Dongshan Shen to better conceal the changes in his personality. With such a busy Father, a mother who died young, and a young Brother, it was understandable for him to become silent.
Furthermore, being young, it was common for one's personality to change as they grew up.
Then he slowly began to reveal his preferences and habits, not wanting to hide them for a lifetime, such as his love for cooking.
As time passed, his Father, due to his hard work, slowly rose to a senior position in the company—commonly known as a high-level worker. And because of the early maturity Dongshan Shen showed, his Father confidently entrusted the management of the household to him, not even hiring a housekeeper, and instead regularly gave Dongshan Shen the living expenses to manage himself.
Soon after, his Father resolutely took on a long-term development task, heading to the newly established branch company in Rio.
After going there, there was no sign of his return even when Dongshan Shen entered high school.
But he didn't care, instead feeling more at ease.
He lived well, was not controlled by anyone, and had a diligent and hardworking cheap Father who didn't know what it meant to relax, sending back a considerable amount of money every month, more than enough to spend without being frugal. It could be said to be a very good life.
Since he arrived in this world, in the corner of his vision, there had always been something like a game loading bar, with changes that were difficult to perceive with the naked eye. Only as year after year passed could he vaguely feel that the progress bar had moved.
Finally, when he was about to graduate from middle school and the spring break was approaching, the loading bar completed its loading. He could summon a screen, and after going through the tutorial "registration" and choosing the nickname 【Game Domain God】, he arrived at a simple interface with several options listed.
【Free This Month】
【Game Store】
【Invite Players】
【Reward Items】
Among them, "Free This Month" occupied the largest part of the screen, with an illustration, reminding him that he could play.
The other options were grayed out and could not be selected.
Without much hesitation, he found a quiet night and started the game.
The game was called Soul Exchange.
It told the story of a well-dressed, seemingly respectable man of unknown origin who came to the protagonist's village after the war, claiming he had no son and wanted to adopt a boy of a specific age and birth month.
The game process mainly progressed through dialogue, exploration, and repeating this day after day, with basically no combat.
There were no options in the dialogue; you had to combine the information in the game, then organize your language and communicate like a normal conversation.
The NPCs inside each had their own thoughts and were completely living people. If your words were inconsistent, it would inevitably arouse suspicion.
The game had one month of free time, but even so, Dongshan Shen only managed to thoroughly understand the beginning and end of this Soul Exchange game and collect enough clue items to achieve the perfect ending, successfully counter-killing, when there were only two days left in the rotation time.
Based on the synthesis of clues collected from various sources, the following interpretation can be roughly made:
The middle-aged man's name was Wuteng Zhelang. This name might be false. He once studied under possibly the last Onmyoji in Japan, but because he was not skilled enough and had a wicked heart, he was expelled from the school by the Onmyoji, who felt his time was running out, before his death.
After that, he traveled around, using his rudimentary Onmyoji techniques to swindle people. Although he was not highly skilled, in this era of declining dharma, he was considered one of the top talents, and few could surpass him. Because of this, he accumulated a lot of wealth, but also offended many people.
During one escape, he accidentally found the Three Nine Secret Lodgings and the Soul Nurturing Sutra in a ruined temple in a forest. Thus, he immediately changed his path and began to study the way of the constellations.
And after achieving minor success, he chose to change his identity and re-emerge, extensively divining for the rich and powerful to ward off misfortune. Because his predictions were extremely accurate, he was treated as a distinguished guest by many people and enjoyed a period of glory.
But as the saying goes, 'the more you climb the mountain, the more likely you are to encounter a tiger.' He divined a death calamity for himself that he could not avoid through foresight, so he did not hesitate to forcefully change his death calamity using secret techniques.
Coupled with the divinations he had done for others before, he leaked too many heavenly secrets, almost exhausting his lifespan.
After that, to avoid the pursuit of those rich and powerful people, he chose to plunge into the deep mountains and wild forests.
And he hid there until after the war. During this time, he dedicated himself to studying the Soul Nurturing Sutra, trying to find a way to defy fate.
Finally, he didn't find a way to change fate, but a forbidden technique called Soul Exchange attracted his attention.
Then came the scene that occurred a few days into the game's beginning.
The character controlled by the player, the main quest, was to be chosen by Muteng and then avoid being subjected to Soul Exchange.
But because the game's NPCs, especially Wuteng Zhelang, were too deep in thought, and the controlled character was a child, Dongshan Shen had to put in a lot of effort to complete the strategy.
For example, regarding the birth date at the beginning, Dongshan Shen summarized three choices after playing. One was to give a conflicting birth date, upon which Muteng would turn around and leave without saying anything else, leading to a quick ending with the fewest points.
Another was to tell the truth according to the actual situation, giving the protagonist's birth date that was neither conflicting nor compatible. In this case, Muteng would also take the protagonist away, but only as a backup, with much less importance, unable to access the important clue of the Soul Nurturing Sutra, and unable to know Wuteng Zhelang's life story.
If this option was chosen, the best ending would be that Muteng, unable to find a more suitable candidate, could only reluctantly choose the protagonist for Soul Exchange, and then based on the clues and items collected by the player, they would ultimately perish together. This was the normal ending.
Finally, there was giving a highly compatible birth date. Muteng would be overjoyed and treat the protagonist like his own son for the next few months. This would also allow access to more clues and Muteng's diary, thus enabling a counter-kill at the critical moment.
However, although the protagonist's parents were deceased and he was an orphan, there was a book in the village that recorded everyone's birth dates. To pass the level, this book had to be destroyed or modified in advance.
Then, the village chief and others had to be hinted at in advance with words, so that a definite false answer could be given when Muteng arrived.
If any suspicion was aroused during this time, Muteng would forcefully expend his already limited lifespan to divine for the protagonist later, at which point everything would be over, leading to the worst ending, death by slicing.
This guy, Wuteng Zhelang, was not a kind person.
The pain brought about by his approaching death had tormented him for several years, and the pent-up anger in his heart was also extremely intense. Encountering the player's behavior of giving hope first and then disappointment, he would instantly lose his mind, and it would not be strange for him to do anything.
After organizing his thoughts, he found an inconspicuous notebook on the bookshelf and, using the moonlight streaming in, wrote down the plot summarized from today's game session.
"The 188th playthrough, perfect ending achieved, but the hint says perfect does not mean real... and the haiku that appeared at the end: Stealing shadows to extend life, the divination board burned to summer ash, bones covered in cold frost..."
"The first line is easy to understand. 'Shadow' can refer to Ueda, whom Muteng adopted. Muteng is preparing to possess Ueda's body to escape death due to his approaching lifespan."
"The divination board burned to summer ash... what does this have to do with fire? There was no plot related to fire in the story, but the time when the plot occurred was indeed summer."
"Bones covered in cold frost' likely refers to Muteng's corpse ultimately being left unburied."
His memory was good, but he couldn't guarantee remembering all the details of the game. So, after each playthrough, he would piece together and record the detailed plot in his notebook, like completing a puzzle.
Although the game had already achieved the perfect ending, who could guarantee that this plot data would not be useful in the future?
Of course, what he recorded was only the plot. Things like rewards, points, game system, etc., were impossible to record. He would only keep these things in his mind.
Putting down the pen and putting away the notebook, Dongshan Shen summoned the screen again and clicked on 【Reward Items】.
It was time to tally the gains.