Chapter 131: Ghost Tide
Kyoto, an ancient city, stayed in an old era compared to the half-developed Edo region, which is on its way to modernization.
Even though this place has undergone some simple electrical upgrades, it couldn't accommodate too much construction work. Many buildings here have become landmarks.
Old things are often given cultural value. Some people say that if you have a traffic accident in Kyoto, it's not lawyers or family members who will take you out of the police station, it's the Bureau of Cultural Heritage.
Old doesn't completely mean mysterious, but it is a mysterious scale.
For the people of Kyoto, they have a special sense of pride because of this oldness. They view visitors from remote places with a hint of arrogance, just like how people from the Tang Dynasty looked at envoys from barbarian lands. However, modern development is also necessary. Kyoto cannot accommodate so many modern buildings, so a modern city is being built outside of Kyoto.
Building something new is not an easy task. When you start construction on the ground, it means you are interfering with nature and damaging the environment. This will surely attract many negative consequences. Throughout history, there have been rumors of disasters caused by digging up certain buildings, and in this world, these rumors are undoubtedly more believable.
But just like knowing that we are sacrificing the environment for development and eventually having to face the bitter consequences ourselves, humans will still hesitate to cut down these trees and turn them into resources, even if it worsens the greenhouse effect, even if it causes soil erosion that takes hundreds or thousands of years to recover. People may marvel at the primitive tropical rainforest being the planet's lungs, but the locals will still mercilessly chop down those trees without any hesitation.
The nearby construction in Kyoto was going on in a similar way, with plans to level the land and build tall buildings.
Everything was happening swiftly and energetically, but suddenly came to a halt on this cold rainy day.
At first, when the workers from the nearby construction site went missing, not many people paid attention.
And then, it evolved into something else. The people passing by, some of them were heavily intoxicated commuters, started to notice that something was not right.
And then, in some places, fierce fires started burning, and living people were attacked in broad daylight. Dead bodies lay strewn along the roadside.
At that moment, the residents living on the outskirts of the newly built urban area finally realized that something was wrong.
Yuya Senshi stood by the side of the road, smoking a cigarette. The sky was drizzling with a light rain, and he wasn't wearing a waterproof raincoat. He just squinted his eyes and looked ahead at the burning construction site.
He could smell the scent of blood.
He was a police inspector in the Kyoto Police Department, 37 years old, in the prime of his life. He had a mixed heritage, which gave him a larger physique than most people and a sharper sense of smell. His ability to recover from injuries was also stronger. After serving in the military and completing his service, he joined the police department.
In the early morning today, he received a message from the shrine. It said that their mission had failed, and a large number of unknown creatures had already attacked the stationed personnel before they could act. The casualties were severe. The shrine didn't require them to rush for support, but they had to quickly build a defense line to prevent harm to the public.
This piece of information was passed down by a priest just before they died.
However, it didn't manage to draw enough attention or, in other words, the instructions in this communication weren't immediately carried out at the grassroots level.
Kyoto is an ancient city with many families, and it is ruled by the emperor. It's not surprising that it has developed some bad habits over time. Bureaucracy is like a devil that endlessly undermines the ability to take action. To those below, it feels like a matter of life and death hanging by a thread. But when it reaches those in power who make decisions, it may just seem like a small matter of a few lives lost... They naturally don't understand why there is so much panic below, and some even get angry, saying that they should make the decisions themselves.
But no one dared to make decisions without permission. The leaders at every level in the bureaucracy were most afraid of taking responsibility. So they reported and passed on messages layer by layer, which consumed time and patience. After establishing a plan, they had to obtain approval from higher-ups. In this way, without instant communication and efficiency, it would take at least a day no matter what.
The strong armed forces of the Metropolitan Police Department assembled and prepared for action urgently, just an hour after receiving the message from the shrine. However, they had to wait until the next day at noon to receive the official deployment order. Moreover, the instructions were very vague, with many missions lacking specific targets. They mainly involved setting up numerous checkpoints, with most of the authority given to the command system on the front line below.
Only God knows what Yuya Senshi felt when he saw the deployment order and the battle plan. He tried his best to control his anger and didn't let it show. He led his own department's team to the front line alone, while also quickly incorporating some temporarily reassigned personnel, such as patrol officers and traffic police, under his command. He aimed to swiftly deploy them to block the pathways.
However, when he had only walked halfway, he saw the construction site engulfed in flames. He realized that the Metropolitan Police Department had arrived late.
They wasted precious hours, and those unconfirmed creatures had already brazenly stormed in.
Everywhere, there were ordinary residents who were not prepared for what was about to happen. A group of starving and ferocious demons and wolves arrived at the buffet restaurant.
Yuya Senshi, on multiple occasions, touched the gun at his waist but resisted the temptation. He had to take responsibility for the lives of his subordinates. Besides, he was guarding a major transportation route that was less than fifteen kilometers away from the city center of Kyoto. The more densely populated areas required extra measures to protect. As for the situation before this moment, they could only wait for the shogunate to respond and deploy more manpower to reclaim control.
But in all honesty, he was unsure if he could successfully defend the pass.
"What is that thing over there!"
A police officer shouted loudly, "Be on guard!"
At the end of the line of sight, amidst the gloomy weather, a figure stumbled out from the building. He was dragging his right leg, while the other leg appeared to be broken. His body was covered in abrasions and bloodstains, exposing bone in the wounds on his leg. Judging from his attire, it was clear that he was a local resident.
The police officers lowered their guns.
"He is a commoner, hurry, quickly get someone to help!"
A young, unruly boy rushed forward anxiously. He had probably never seen someone so injured in his entire life. It was unclear whether he was in a hurry to save the person or to show off. Regardless, he boldly crossed over obstacles and dashed out. This was actually against the rules, but the other police officers didn't stop him or think much of it. It's not uncommon to find passionate and kind-hearted young people in the police force.
Yuya Senshi's brow furrowed in concern. He watched as the young boy ran a distance of ten meters, getting closer to the person in need. However, his expression suddenly changed, and he shouted loudly, "Come back quickly!"
His shout came early, actually with enough time, but the young person was slow to react by a beat.
As he reached out and grasped the resident's hands, suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his chest. A metal rod pierced through the resident's chest and also went through his own chest.
The young police officer coughed up blood, feeling a great loss of strength accompanied by intense pain as it flowed out from his wound. The metal rod had pierced his lungs and injured his heart's main artery. He quickly sensed that death was drawing near. He fell to his knees on the ground, his pupils starting to blur, paying a heavy price for his youthful recklessness.
The other police officers fell silent one after another, and the ones who were a bit slower also stopped in their tracks. They saw a dark creature over ten meters away, with greenish skin, fangs sticking out from its lips, sharp horns on its forehead, and hair that was either curled or messy. It was wearing human clothes, but it didn't seem to fit in with humans at all.
"Oni!" A police officer's fingers began to tremble. This group of monsters resembled the cannibalistic demons from the ancient legends of Yingzhou.
Yuya Senshi tossed the cigarette butt onto the ground and stomped on it with his foot. He spoke in a deep voice, saying, "What are you waiting for? Shoot!"
After being reminded, the sluggish police officers reacted one beat late, and they all began shooting at the evil demons in the distance.
They were not samurais, but they were also not ordinary people without any strength. They were skilled professionals who had undergone strict training.
Yuya Senshi watched as the demon was violently riddled with holes, shot by several people at once. Dozens of bullets instantly killed it.
The cannibalistic demon didn't appear to be that impressive after all.
But nobody felt relieved about it, because at the same time, the young police officer had already lost his life.
One person, unable to bear the thought of leaving the body behind, hesitated about moving forward to collect and arrange it. But in the next moment, his gaze froze.
"What is this...?" the police officer stepped back half a step.
Another cannibalistic demon emerged, followed closely by the second, third, fourth... up to the tenth. The numbers continued to increase, some holding steel rods and iron bars, others empty-handed. Their skin ranged from bright red to pale gray. But each one, regardless of appearance, resembled a dangerous predator driven by hunger.
He looked to his left and right, and then straight ahead. To his surprise, at some point, the checkpoint on this important road had been completely surrounded.
Though there were no cannibals behind him, there were too many cannibals ahead. There were so many of them that it would be nearly impossible to defend against if they charged all at once. There was no barbed wire fence or a Maxim machine gun here!
When the group of monsters looked over at the same time, the only action that could calm down the feeling of fear in his heart was one.
Fire! Fire! Fire!
Just like wanting to eliminate all fear, he poured out bullets as if to empty them, hoping to kill one more demon, increasing his chances of victory.
Despite the interwoven firepower, the demons were not without intelligence. One of them grabbed a companion's corpse and used it as a shield, charging head-on. His knee was pierced by bullets, yet he seemed unfazed by the pain. Even when his right leg was twisted and broken from the force, he continued to run forward, covering half of the thirty-meter distance in an instant.
Relying solely on handguns is indeed too weak. If everyone had a submachine gun or if heavy weapons were brought in, the outcome might be different.
The demon picked up a body to use as a shield, charged forward, and crashed through the makeshift barrier. He swung his right fist and smashed it into someone who was standing nearby.
The young police officer shielded his head with both hands, closed his eyes, but the expected pain didn't come. Instead, a bloody severed hand fell down.
Yuya Senshi chopped off the demon's arm and shoved the barrel of his gun into its mouth. He pulled the trigger and with a loud blast, the demon's head exploded.
"Oh no..." he said with a dark expression on his face. "I should have requested to bring my shotgun!"
He was a police officer, part of the law enforcement, so he was allowed to carry both a gun and a sword. He wasn't restricted by the ban on swords, but his swordsmanship was not very impressive. Most police officers were trained in Hokusinn Itto-ryu or Satsuma Shishi-gen-ryu, but in reality, they didn't have much experience using swords in actual combat. They mostly relied on their strength to strike with the sword and then finished off their opponents with a fatal shot from their handguns.
Only a few police officers were allowed to carry swords. Being forced to draw a sword meant that the defense line had been completely breached, and they had no choice but to engage in close combat. Yuya Senshi, with his Hokusinn Itto-ryu skills, swiftly killed several cannibals. However, he then noticed that the police officers on both sides had already been overwhelmed by the cannibals. One female police officer had her forearm bitten off, causing her to scream in pain.
We can't hold on any longer! If we keep defending, we will be completely defeated!
His forehead felt hot as he let out a loud roar and swung his sword, chopping off the demon's head. Blood was sprayed across the face of the female police officer.
"Retreat..." he struggled to utter the word through clenched teeth, when suddenly he heard the roaring sound of a motorcycle engine coming from behind.
