On the other side.
By the river at a hotel in Mount Fuji.
“Looks like a fighter jet. That should be the Sakura Country’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, huh? So they’re on routine patrol at this hour.” Zhang Wei muttered.
With the system points bolstering Tiga and Melba, he knew what was happening on the other side and was the first to notice the patrol aircraft. However, he paid it no mind. Let them look; it wasn’t the first time he’d been observed. Besides, it wouldn’t affect him, who was far away in Mount Fuji.
Then.
Seeing that it was getting late, Zhang Wei patted his backside, got up, and yawned, “Time to sleep. I have to wake up early to fleece the next sheep.”
With that said.
Zhang Wei pocketed the alien figurine in his hand and walked into the hotel.
…
Time flew by.
The next morning, as dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight stretched across the land from the east.
At this time.
Sakura Country, Kyushu, Kumamoto Prefecture.
This was one of Sakura Country’s famous tourist destinations. Besides the attractions, its most renowned feature was the Kumamoto Prefecture’s mascot, ‘Kumamon,’ widely known even in Great Xia and immortalized in numerous memes.
“Huh? What’s all the racket outside? Can’t a person sleep?”
A resident of Kumamoto Prefecture spoke.
As he spoke.
He glanced at the digital clock on the table beside him. It showed 5 AM. Seeing this and listening to the clatter and bang from outside, his temper flared.
Immediately.
Without a word, he got up and walked to the window. He pulled open the window, looked towards the source of the noise outside, and was about to curse:
“You…”
But before he could utter the first word, his voice cut off abruptly. His eyes widened, and the sleepiness on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a look of stunned bewilderment.
He saw.
At the street corner in front of his building, precisely at the furthest visible point from his second-floor window, two figures were fighting.
One was a woman, her long hair unbound, dressed in a fiery red yukata. Her skin was as pale as a corpse, her mouth agape, her tongue long and serpentine. However, this was not the most striking feature. The most remarkable were her eyes. Her entire body—face, hands, arms, legs, neck—was covered in eyes.
Her appearance.
Was strikingly similar to the Hyakume (Hundred-Eyed Demon) from Sakura Country’s ghost legends.
However.
Compared to seeing the Hyakume, what truly stunned the resident was the other figure fighting the Hyakume.
It was a pitch-black bear doll, with red circular blush marks on its cheeks. Its eyes were white, with a single white dot for the pupils. It looked quite adorable. The bear doll was wielding a toy knife and fighting the Hyakume.
Despite its chubby physique, it was remarkably agile, deftly dodging the Hyakume’s attacks. The toy knife swung, and though it was a toy, it actually produced a blade aura, which, like a crescent moon, flew towards the Hyakume.
In response.
The Hyakume dodged the blade aura with a flash. With a bang, the blade aura struck a nearby trash can, creating a clatter.
“Is this… a movie being filmed?”
The resident peeked out, utterly bewildered, his gaze fixed on the bear doll:
“That’s Kumamon, right? Damn, who’s the suit actor inside? They’re so damn agile. Is this a promotional video for Kumamon?”
He recognized the bear doll. Wasn’t that the prefecture’s mascot, Kumamon?
However.
Before he could wonder why there were no notifications from neighbors about a promotional filming, he watched the fight between Kumamon and the Hyakume, his expression growing increasingly strange.
How did that blade aura appear?
He saw it clearly. With a casual swing of Kumamon’s toy knife, sharp blade auras were unleashed. Not only did they split the nearby trash can, but they also carved paths into the concrete ground. Upon closer inspection, the knife marks on the ground were sharp, and demolition techniques couldn’t produce such smooth cuts.
More than that.
He noticed that as Kumamon continued to attack, the Hyakume grew angry. It pulled open its sleeves, revealing all the eyes on its arms.
It could be seen.
Those arms, like Danzo’s, with their eyes exposed, all opened. Not only did the eyeballs move, but they even began to wander on the arms before all of them glowed, shining towards Kumamon in front.
Seeing this.
Kumamon leaped into the air, soaring ten meters high, evading the sweeping beams of light from the eyes. Then, mid-air, it unleashed another toy knife aura.
“Holy crap!”
Witnessing this, the resident exclaimed in shock, staring at Kumamon in disbelief, as if he had seen a ghost. He repeatedly looked up and turned his head, scanning around Kumamon from all directions. After a thorough inspection:
“No wires? No rigging? How the hell did it do that?!”
He found no wires attached to Kumamon, nor any rigging lines or platforms nearby. The area was empty and clear, indicating that Kumamon’s leap was not aided by external forces; it had jumped on its own.
The series of events made the resident’s heart pound, and an unbelievable thought surfaced in his mind…
Could this not be a promotional filming?
But real?
Was that Hyakume real? And that Kumamon?
Just as the thought emerged.
Bang!
The Hyakume struck again, its face revealing four more eyes, staring directly at Kumamon.
With this stare.
An astonishing scene unfolded.
Kumamon, suspended in mid-air, was frozen as if in a still frame. Then, with the Hyakume’s cold sneer, an eye appeared on its chest, emitting a beam of light that struck Kumamon’s arm directly.
Hiss!
Blood splattered.
Kumamon’s arm, mid-air, traced a parabolic arc and landed on the street in front of the resident’s house.
Looking at the bloody arm, the flowing blood, and the strong smell of gore, the resident’s heart trembled.
Holy crap!!
The arm…
That arm had flesh and blood?!
He was stunned. Looking at the Kumamon arm that had fallen to the ground, its flesh, blood, and bones were plump. It wasn’t like a human arm falling out of Kumamon’s costume as he might have imagined. Even though the resident was still groggy from sleep, he was now completely awake, realizing that his unbelievable thought was indeed true.
“That’s the real Kumamon?! The mascot… came to life?!”
At the same time.
Not only was he shocked, but the Hyakume was also stunned, its entire body of eyes fixed on the distant Kumamon arm that had fallen:
[Ding! Hyakume… Holy crap? That’s a real arm? Not a suit actor?]
[Host gains System Points +90]
Just then.
Taking advantage of the Hyakume’s daze, Kumamon regained its mobility. It descended from the air, performing a classic Kumamon backflip, but more agile than in the memes, not clumsy. It flipped directly to the fallen arm.
Then.
Under the watchful eyes of the resident and the Hyakume, who were both exclaiming “Holy crap!” in their minds.
Kumamon picked up the fallen arm and pressed it against its severed limb. Instantly, thread-like strands shot out from the severed limb, stitching the detached arm back to its body.
When they looked again.
Its arm was as good as new, reattached to Kumamon. It looked perfectly intact. If not for the bloodstains on the ground, it was as if the previous incident of the severed arm had never happened.
…