Chapter 24 The Watari's Identity

"Alright...you two..." After watching for a while, Feng Bujue opened his mouth to stop the two Tsukamotos from arguing. "The monkey show ends here."

Those two were actually quite obedient, stopping immediately and turning their heads to look at Jue-ge.

From the game's perspective, the reactions of these two NPCs were reasonable—they were waiting for the "player holding the key item" to make the "final choice."

"This kind of squabble, like two shrewish women cursing at each other, won't lead to any results, no matter how long it lasts," Feng Bujue said. "Because you've been refuting each other for so long, but there's no substantive content."

"So...I'll just demonstrate it myself." He paused for two seconds and turned his gaze to Tsukamoto in the Yang Illusion. "Let's take the information you provided, for example. Several things simply don't hold up logically. For instance...you said that eliminating 'it' was your master's lifelong wish, and he was still preoccupied with it until his death."

"Heh...then I'm curious. In the twenty years between encountering 'it' and your master kicking the bucket...why didn't your master ask other onmyojis for help to deal with it? Don't tell me that you're the only Onmyōryō (Japanese ancient government agency, similar to the Chinese ancient Sitian Office; the earliest records of Onmyōryō can be traced back to 675 AD, and it was abolished in the 3rd year of Meiji, i.e. 1870; here, Jue-ge refers to those folk onmyoji organizations that still call themselves Onmyōryō after the 20th century, similar to martial arts sects) left in all of Japan... You just said that we should escape and find 'onmyojis with powerful magic,' which shows that there are many onmyojis in the world, right?"

After speaking, Feng Bujue turned to face Tsukamoto in the Yin Illusion again. "And you...your story about the government brainwashing the children is somewhat credible, but...the rest of your rhetoric has the same problem as your 'twin brother.'" Jue-ge spread his hands. "If everything you said is true, why didn't you just find four or five onmyoji colleagues to come here and take care of 'it' in those six years? If it were me...I could handle this kind of trivial matter twice in six days."

After hearing these words, the expressions of the two Tsukamotos changed.

However, according to the script's flow, the "choice" was still in the player's hands, so...

"After saying so much," the calmer Tsukamoto spoke up again, "who are you going to believe?"

This question was like a final ultimatum. Here, Jue-ge had to make a decision immediately...either choose one of the two Tsukamotos, or quickly bring the plot to the "hidden truth" line; otherwise...he might trigger the worst team wipe ending.

"I believe both of you," Feng Bujue gave the answer two seconds later, "and...I don't believe either of you."

"You...what do you mean by that?" the weaker Tsukamoto asked immediately.

"The information you two provided is not entirely false," Feng Bujue said, "but it's also mixed with false parts..."

"Hey...which one of them is real and which one is fake?" At this time, Gui Xiao couldn't help but ask from the side.

"Hehe..." Feng Bujue smiled, not answering the question directly, but continuing, "Combining the stories told by these two, and analyzing and reverse-thinking about those illogical parts and the content created 'to guide our actions,' I have roughly reconstructed the true parts..."

He leisurely paced around the room, like a detective staging a reasoning show, and...enjoying it.

"The descriptions of the causes and consequences of the '520 Massacre' by the two Tsukamoto-kun are not problematic...it can be said that they are basically the same," Feng Bujue said, "but on one issue, they both lied, and that is...was the seal created by the Nara priest twenty-six years ago...really not strong?"

As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the two Tsukamotos both seemed very puzzled.

"I think that's impossible," Feng Bujue observed their expressions and continued with a smile, "It's impossible in terms of both emotion and reason... Even if the Nara priest himself could accept it, the 'relevant departments' who invited him wouldn't accept it; therefore, I can be sure that the seal twenty-six years ago was very strong...even possibly stronger than the original seal of the Maō Shrine."

After a slight pause, Jue-ge continued, "Then...why are we trapped here by 'it' at this time and in this place?" He quickly gave the answer himself, "Obviously...behind this matter, there is a key figure—Watari."

Feng Bujue took a few more steps and turned to face his teammates. "Everyone should still remember the [Hidden Mission], right?"

"After you mentioned it, of course we remember it..." Ruo Yu replied in an almost sarcastic tone.

"Hehe..." Jue-ge smiled at her and continued, "Let me help everyone go through the people in that Class 2-A photo again..." He raised one hand and counted on his fingers, "First, let's talk about the four adults... Principal Miyamoto, hanged himself at home; homeroom teacher Sato, mentally deranged; the unknown biology teacher and music teacher both died in the 520 Massacre, and their souls still linger in this space." Saying that, he raised another hand, "Then let's talk about the nine children... Suzuki Takayuki, died in a fire and turned into an evil spirit, and the evil spirit Suzuki was killed by 'it' again; Noguchi Eiji, died at the hands of the ghost Suzuki, and his soul is also trapped here; as for Togashi, Minamoto, Sawada, Dekomori, Sanzenin, Yamada, these six people are the six of us..."

Saying all of that in one breath, Feng Bujue put down his hands: "Have you discovered the problem? To complete this hidden mission [Investigate the whereabouts of everyone in Class 2-A], there is only one target left... and that is to figure out Watari's situation."

"Speaking of that..." Gui Xiao said at this time, "Could Watari be the ghost we first saw... the one who turned into black smoke at the staircase on the second floor and dropped a piece of equipment?"

Upon hearing this, Feng Bujue asked back, "What do you think?"

"How would I know..." Gui Xiao said, "The photo doesn't have the names of the children marked on it, so I can't even tell which child is Watari. How am I supposed to judge whether he looks like him? Besides... it's possible that his appearance changed a lot when he grew up, right?"

"Alright, it seems your thinking is still pretty clear," Feng Bujue said with a smile. Judging by his tone, this question was purely to test Gui Xiao.

Sure enough, the next second, Jue-ge continued, "I can tell you clearly that that ghost is not Watari; he's just a victim of that massacre back then, similar to those guys who stretched their arms out of the lockers..."

"You can tell?" Gui Xiao asked suspiciously.

"Yes," Feng Bujue replied, "In the 'Yang Illusion,' I have confirmed the identities of every child in the photo one by one, and I also remembered the faces of most of the dead whose corpses were still relatively intact... Therefore, I can be sure that Watari in his childhood and that ghost are not the same person."

"Then..." At this time, An Yueqin thought of something, and her gaze involuntarily shifted to the two "onmyojis", "Could he be..."

"Also not," Feng Bujue shook his head to deny An Yueqin's assumption and continued, "There is no doubt about the identities of these two. They are Tsukamoto Shota... This onmyoji does exist, but... he has already been killed by 'it'."

Because some of the words that Jue-ge said earlier involved keywords such as "missions," the content heard by the two Tsukamotos had been processed by the system, and they had no chance to interject. But at this moment, the two of them seemed to have come back online, expressing strong disapproval of Jue-ge's words...

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"Do I need you to tell me about my own life and death?"

They both seemed confident and righteous, without any trace of acting.

"You see... the truly deceptive thing is right here..." Feng Bujue ignored them and continued to say to his teammates, "Both of them... think they are real, and both of them think what they are saying is the truth."

"What exactly do you mean?" The calmer Tsukamoto seemed to have heard some clues and asked.

"It's very simple..." Feng Bujue replied, "The problem with the memories is not with us... but..." He looked left and right at the two Tsukamotos, "...with you."

Whether it was the weaker Tsukamoto or the calmer one, both of them showed surprise when they heard this conclusion.

"Although the time we've been in contact with each other hasn't been long, as someone who has studied a lot of psychology books (he read some when he was a child, trying to analyze whether he was crazy, and later did some non-systematic learning out of interest), I quickly discovered... that both of you have problems." Feng Bujue said, "In my opinion, you should be two parts of the same person's personality; you were separated by 'it,' and your memories were distorted, doing things that you thought were right."

"Impossible!" This time, the two Tsukamotos said the same sentence in unison.

"Heh... don't believe it?" Feng Bujue continued, "I'll give you a test and you'll understand..." Saying that, he immediately looked at the weaker Tsukamoto and said, "Besides your parents, say the name of any relative." Before the other party could answer, he looked at the calmer Tsukamoto again, "As for you... what did you eat for breakfast today?"

After the words fell, the whole place was silent for a full thirty seconds...

"Look... real tests are easy to do," Feng Bujue said, "In short... your memories lack details, because 'it' can't do that level of detail."

At this time, the expressions of the two Tsukamotos became very strange, and both of them supported their foreheads with their hands, as if they suddenly had a headache...

"Then... let's go back to the previous question now," Feng Bujue said unhurriedly, "How did we get to this point?" He asked and answered himself, "The answer to all of this... lies in Watari."

Zzzzzz...

Just as Jue-ge said the word "Watari," the red light bulb on the ceiling suddenly went out.

Pa—

In less than a second, Feng Bujue very decisively and calmly turned on the flashlight in his hand.

Two seconds later, his teammates also turned on their flashlights one after another. At this point, they no longer cared about the battery consumption... because this script was clearly nearing its end.

"Uh... those two... where did they go?" Xiao Tan was the first to bring this up after the lighting was restored.

The others naturally noticed as well—at this moment, the two Tsukamoto Shotas were gone, and only the six players were left in the dim room.

"Look! There's something there!" Xiao Ling was still sharp-eyed, and she immediately noticed that there was a small piece of glowing fragment in the place where one of the Tsukamotos had been standing.

"There's also something here..." Ruo Yu also reacted quickly, and she immediately turned her flashlight to the previous location of the other Tsukamoto, and found that there was also a piece of fragment there.

Five seconds later, Feng Bujue picked up the two pieces of fragment very quickly and showed the item descriptions to his teammates.

And the descriptions of these two items were completely the same—

[Name: "It's" Kidney]

[Type: Plot Related]

[Quality: Normal]

[Function: Can be embedded in "It's" body.]

[Whether it can be taken out of this script: No]

[Remarks: A miniature organ made of green jade, faintly revealing spiritual energy.]

"Hmph..." Jue-ge put the two jade stones into his pocket, snorted coldly, and then tilted his head and said to his teammates, "Let's go, let's go downstairs."

No one asked any questions, and everyone just silently followed Jue-ge out of the warehouse and back to the corridor on the first floor through the stairs...

Just as they were about to move towards the "exit door," they found that... in the middle of the corridor, there was already a figure waiting here.

That was a bloodless man, looking around thirty years old, with a center part hairstyle, wearing a very ordinary t-shirt and pants, and... holding a puppet in front of his chest.

"Do you want to die that much? Traveler from another world." The voice came directly from the man's chest, and it was a hoarse female voice.

"Hmm... let me think..." Feng Bujue pretended to think, "On one side... is revealing the truth at the risk of dying." He paused, "On the other side... is pretending to be fooled by you, making a harmless choice, and then leaving here in 'false victory'... hmm... it's really hard to choose~"

Jue-ge's tone was full of ridicule, extremely arrogant.

"What's the difference between the two for you?" the voice replied, "Even if this world is completely destroyed after you leave, it won't have any impact on you, will it?" Its tone seemed slightly agitated, "Just to block my way, are you willing to let all the efforts of you and your companions so far go to waste?"

"Don't flatter yourself," Feng Bujue replied weakly, narrowing his eyes, "I'm not interested in deliberately 'blocking your way,' I'm just acting according to my own principles and interests. If you have to say I'm blocking the way... you're the one who's blocking mine."

"You'll regret it..." The voice became cold and violent, "You don't even know who you're dealing with."

"Ha! Hahahaha..." At this moment, Jue-ge laughed, laughing almost maniacally, "I... hahahaha... don't know who... hahahahaha!" He was laughing so hard that he could barely speak.

After a full half a minute, Feng Bujue suppressed his laughter and stepped forward... Approaching the other party while saying, "I'm not sure what you're thinking, but... I'm very sure that the person who 'doesn't even know who he's dealing with'... is you." At this point, his eyes flashed with excitement, "But... don't worry, I'll let you get to know me right now."