Tong Gu's brain, previously blank from an overwhelming surge of information, slowly began to recover. He felt sensation returning to his body bit by bit.
No, this wasn't just a feeling—it was reality!
He looked down and saw that his current form consisted only of a head. Below his neck, his body was being rapidly generated, as if being 3D-printed right before his eyes.
This method of human regeneration was a clear indication to him: he knew exactly which world he had entered.
Scanning his surroundings, he confirmed his suspicion. Several men and women dressed in black, skin-tight, specialized suits were observing him and the others who were gradually forming.
[Box within a box, a world within a world.]
[In the darkness of the night, the Hyakki Yagyō begins!]
[Mission Activated: Current World - GANTZ Act VII, Code A604]
[Main Quest: Survive the Hyakki Yagyō Event. (Night Parade of the One Hundred Demon)]
Hyakki Yagyō? So this was the Gantz Osaka arc. While Tong Gu hadn't thoroughly studied Gantz beforehand, he had a vague recollection of this manga.
As one of the earlier works in the infinite flow genre, Gantz was groundbreaking in its scale and creativity.
Gantz, also known as The Killing City, told the story of people who, after dying in accidents, were summoned into a mysterious room. A black orb reconstructed their bodies and implanted bombs in their heads.
These resurrected individuals were forced to follow the orb's commands and were teleported to different parts of the city to battle aliens hidden in human society.
Killing an alien earned points, and the number of points varied depending on the alien's difficulty. Accumulating 100 points granted three choices:
1. Erase all memories and leave the Gantz system permanently.
2. Resurrect a person stored in the black orb's database (not limited to Gantz participants).
3. Exchange the points for a more powerful weapon.
Of course, if you were killed by an alien during a mission, you would die permanently.
And now, the Hyakki Yagyō mission he had entered was one of the most climactic arcs in the story.
The Tokyo Gantz team, clad in their black suits, would be teleported to Osaka's streets to carry out a mission to kill the alien known as Nurarihyon.
Tong Gu quickly scanned the room. The beautiful, curvaceous woman with long black hair had to be Reika Shimohira. Though technically the leader of the Tokyo team, she was a shallow character with little to offer beyond her angelic face and devilish figure.
The tall and athletic young man was Kato Masaru, the protagonist at this stage. However, he was still inexperienced and lacked combat skills, effectively a "newbie."
Among the veteran members, only the cold and detached Nishi Joichiro and the kind-hearted, bald middle-aged Suzuki Yoshikazu stood out.
Tong Gu frowned. This version of the Tokyo team lacked the barehanded martial artist who once defeated Nurarihyon and the psychic duo. This world wasn't based on the manga—it was based on the CGI movie Gantz: O.
"Great. It's the Black Orb World," Tong Gu muttered to himself.
"This is the same world where White Browed Hero died. Those Buddhist Statue aliens were terrifying."
"The Exploiter has such awful luck, getting sent to these high-death-rate worlds one after another."
Meanwhile, in the real world, Tong Gu's livestream chat was filled with cries of despair. Even Yang Yuanping and other officials, who were secretly monitoring him, frowned deeply.
These worlds, where participants were forced into battle, had the highest mortality rates. Although the black suits provided superhuman enhancements, many enemies were strong enough to bypass the suit's defenses and kill participants outright.
Unaware of the streaming chat's chaos, Tong Gu focused on his priorities. To gain the power needed to defeat Kibutsuji Muzan, he had to participate in as many Game of Fate as possible. Except for trial missions like Awakening Trials, regular Game of Fate had intervals ranging from two weeks to a month.
Therefore, Tong Gu chose to enter regular missions that suited him rather than waiting indefinitely for a special world.
"Hey! Who are you people?"
"What do you want with us?"
A few hostile voices interrupted Tong Gu's thoughts. He barely recalled which author first used the trope of rude, clueless bystanders in infinite flow stories, but he admitted it was surprisingly effective.
Without these characters stirring the pot, it was harder to convey the brutal reality of these worlds.
Reika Shimohira and the bald Suzuki Yoshikazu stepped forward to explain the situation. However, their explanations fell on deaf ears, and the tight black suit Reika wore only sparked lewd thoughts among the group of thugs.
Tong Gu didn't care about these cannon fodder characters; they contributed nothing to the plot. Taking advantage of the moment before the orb issued their mission, he examined the room's layout.
Inhaling deeply, he let the rhythm of the earth make the details around him clearer.
If he remembered correctly, the black orb's room should contain a hidden compartment with specialized weapons and vehicles.
Nishi Joichiro stood by the window, arms crossed, observing the burly man nearby. From this man, he sensed a powerful and oppressive aura.
Another former Gantz team member summoned back?
No. As the most experienced member of this team, I've never heard of such a person in the Tokyo squad.
He's dangerous.
"Ah!"
Nishi's brow furrowed as his expression grew darker. He saw Reika, the airheaded beauty, cower before the thugs. His anger flared.
Without a shred of mercy, the cold teenager pulled out his X-Gun, a high-tech weapon resembling a toy gun, and aimed at one of the thugs. He pressed both triggers without hesitation.
The bald Suzuki cried out in shock, pulling Reika back. The thugs thought the gesture indicated fear and burst into laughter.
Pop!
The targeted thug's body suddenly swelled before exploding with a wet bang.
His lower half toppled to the floor, blood and gore quickly filling the room with the stench of death.
In this world, killing teammates didn't deduct points. Tong Gu noted this fact silently.
The other two thugs screamed, slipping in the remains of their companion and wetting themselves in terror.
Nishi smirked and holstered his X-Gun. Unaffected by the act of killing, he used the overwhelming display to assert dominance and pointed the gun at Tong Gu.
"Identify yourself."
Tong Gu felt a tingle at his scalp as he faced the weapon. His breathing slowed, becoming deep and steady.
Nishi stared at Tong Gu, whose towering figure seemed to grow more imposing, like a predator eyeing its prey. A chill ran down his spine.
Kato Masaru, confused about why Nishi was targeting this newcomer, instinctively stepped between them. "Nishi-kun, maybe this is a misunderstanding? Let's put the gun down for now."
Reika also tried to mediate, speaking softly.
Tong Gu had no intention of fighting Nishi. If his guess was correct, letting these people survive the mission would significantly boost his completion rating.
Still, something about Kato's interference felt off. Yet, given the differences between the manga and CGI movie, he couldn't pinpoint what.
"New~ day~ dawning… morning~ full of~ hope…"
An eerie, singsong voice broke the tension between Nishi and Tong Gu.
The mission was starting.
Click. Whirr.
The black orb began to transform, opening on either side to reveal metallic cases labeled with each participant's name.
The orb's surface displayed the image of a sinister old man, the target of their mission.
Nurarihyon.
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