Chapter 64 About the Detective Trio

The chief tuner followed the unsuspecting L Company employees into the darkness.

This place could barely be considered a research institute. The long-haired youth looked around, while the man in front of him had stopped and was waiting for him.

"It's in this jar."

After saying that, the self-proclaimed clerical former underground doctor stepped aside, intending to observe up close how legitimate employees dealt with the anomalies.

As the humble and eager-to-learn Mori Ougai watched "Honglu's" actions, his serious expression gradually turned into confusion.

Is this process correct?

The long-haired young man, dressed in the same uniform as the head of the R&D department, casually raised his hand, and a black and gold chain suddenly appeared in the empty space in front of him, heading straight for the tank.

The dirty jar shattered with a crack, exposing the strange creature inside to the air.

The monster had the red lips of a woman, and when it discovered that its hiding place had disappeared, the red lips let out a piercing wail.

Even the cat, who was quietly crouching in the corner, instinctively stood on end. He was not young, and cats' hearing is naturally more sensitive than humans'. This wail almost took half his life.

"Honglu, is this really okay?"

The more Mori Ougai looked, the more something seemed off, and he couldn't help but interrupt. Why did that thing that seemed like an anomaly look like a vampire exposed to sunlight?

Looking at this strange creature that resembles a new work by the Ring Master, and its anthropomorphic reactions, especially its mouth that once belonged to a human, the tuner wondered, is this thing human?

Or is it actually a non-human life form?

The fur-covered monster did not attack them as the report or Natsume Soseki had said; it simply knelt down listlessly.

Mori Ōgai's probing gaze darted back and forth between the anomaly and "Honglu," almost as if he were taking notes.

While the tuner was assessing whether the thing was human or not, and Mori Ougai was carefully observing it, the monster seemed to have been restored, stood up again, and its mouth closed, no longer emitting harsh sounds.

"Mr. Mori—Mr. Mori, are you there—?" Dazai Osamu's voice, drawn out, suddenly rang out. "The supervisor told you not to move around, and absolutely not to do anything oppressive... huh?"

Holding a star-shaped staff with a girlish charm, Dazai Osamu did not meet Mori Ougai as expected, but instead met "Honglu," who was possessed by the head of the research and development department.

"Mr. Honglu, you're here too," the boy greeted him simply before walking towards Mori Ougai. This "Honglu" gave him a very bad feeling. Compared to him, the black-hearted doctor was the clear winner.

He continued on the original topic: "The supervisor said that after this anomaly has oppressed Him twice in a row, the employee who oppresses Him the second time will be turned into the next anomaly."

The tuner, still looking slightly tired in his fur cloak, showed no signs of emotional fluctuation, as if Dazai Osamu had said nothing at all.

"However, the supervisor also said that if all else fails, you can have a chat with Him temporarily, or you can stare at Him and analyze it, which can be considered as another job."

The boy looked at Beauty and the Beast, somewhat surprised: "You really didn't do anything here?"

“Dazai-kun, I think that Honglu-kun and I probably accidentally completed a task of oppression and a task of insight.”

"The supervisor said that the company's employee to retrieve the anomalies will be here shortly."

No sooner had she finished speaking than the sound of rapid footsteps came from the direction of the stairs. Her voice arrived before she could speak: "Dazai-kun, don't be afraid, I'm here!"

Don Quixote held a portable anomaly containment device in her hand. Once the anomaly was inside, she would be all set and could teleport Beauty and the Beast back to the company.

The blonde girl abruptly stopped speaking when she saw the tuner, and she froze, then gave him an "I understand" look.

"Honglu-kun, so you finally understand the subtleties of cosplay?" She circled the Tuner twice, even gently touching his cloak, her eyes sparkling as if little stars were twinkling. "Oh! This texture, did you borrow one from Minister Binah?"

"Miss Don Quixote, it's important. Don't forget the task your supervisor assigned you."

Stop focusing on that weird Honglu!

The two different voices merged together. The blond boy entered a little later than the girl; he simply couldn't keep up with the charging Don Quixote.

As soon as they entered, they found Miss Don Quixote circling around Mr. Honglu, who was dressed as Minister Binah. Judging from her appearance, she probably had already forgotten about the aliens.

The supervisor's purpose in bringing the two of them together was simple: to prevent one of them from being identified as a continuous oppressor by Beauty and the Beast due to an accident, so that the other could take action in advance and kill him or her before the transformation.

The reason he didn't choose Dazai Osamu was also this: he was afraid that the children in this world who didn't know the inside story wouldn't be able to bring themselves to do it. He couldn't gamble on whether sinners who became aliens could have their time reversed. This was the safest way.

“Little Sinclair, I haven’t forgotten the task the Administrator gave me,” she said, instantly transforming into a serious-looking blonde girl who left “cosplaying Honglu” without a second thought, throwing the portable containment device away.

The small, square box, upon contact with the alien entity, seemed to recognize its target and automatically began to transform, enveloping the beauty and the beast within.

In the end, all that remained was a large, semi-transparent box, with the Lobotomy Corporation logo engraved on it, depicting a nail driven into the brain.

Seeing that the matter had been resolved without any unexpected incidents, Sinclair breathed a sigh of relief. But he knew he had let his breath off too soon.

The blond boy frowned. He finally realized where the unease came from: why was Mr. Honglu here?

It was obvious that the supervisor was unaware of the situation; otherwise, he could have simply sent Miss Don Quixote or come alone to meet Mr. Honglu instead of using two employees at once.

The blond boy asked in confusion, "Mr. Honglu, why are you here?"

He thought for a moment, then asked, "Does the supervisor know you're here?"

The tuner, as if he had seen something interesting, slowly spoke: "Emil, I am very happy to see such a lively person like you here."

The blond boy, who had initially only had some doubts, became even more puzzled after hearing these words. Just as he was about to ask for more details, he suddenly seemed to remember something and showed an expression of sudden realization.

Ah! This Mr. Honglu is actually Mr. Honglu from another mirror world, isn't he?

“You’re not surprised at all by my state,” the tuner concluded as the boy observed him, observing this successor from a different world. “You’ve seen me in this state before.”

Sinclair deduced from "Honglu's" clothes that he was actually Minister Binah from the Mirror World.

As an employee of an upper-level department, he didn't really have a deep impression of the department head of the lower-level department. He only knew that the department seemed to be responsible for very important work. Even Dazai Osamu, who was on good terms with him, had only worked in the records department.

"Are you Minister Binah in your world?" he asked tentatively.

The kid's taken the bait. He's still so naive and easily fooled. The tuner, with a faint smile on his lips, looked at Sinclair, who was completely unaware that he'd been tricked into revealing information.

Actually, he wasn't the first person to leak information; the first one to let it slip was that white-haired supervisor.

He glanced at himself first, then at the bespectacled researcher beside him. His expression remained unchanged, but the tuner could sense a fleeting, slight disappointment in him.

“Binah, welcome to the new world,” the white-haired man said.

He only said one sentence, and then talked to the researcher next to him. Their conversation was completely unreserved, which allowed the tuner, who had been inexplicably given the codename "Binah," to obtain the information he needed.

This includes the possibility that his own counterpart actually works for Company L.

The leader works for Yi? Is it true?

"The person in this world seems very different from me," Jia Baoyu said ambiguously, intending to elicit more information.

"Little Sinclair, little Sinclair..." Don Quixote stood by the box containing the alien and waved to him, signaling him to come over quickly.

"Mr. Honglu, I'll go over there for a moment."

The tuner simply nodded at him.

Dazai Osamu was standing next to Don Quixote. When the blond boy came over, they immediately pulled him into this small group of people who were not very tall.

“Dazai-kun said that he saw Honglu-kun come out of the supervisor’s office and walk out alone.”

Her eyes shone brightly, as if she had discovered some earth-shattering secret, and her voice barely contained the laughter that was about to escape her throat.

"Ahem..." She suppressed her laughter, but the corners of her mouth quietly turned up. "Little Sinclair, you've noticed Honglu's unusual behavior too, haven't you?"

The blond boy pondered for a moment, then retorted, "But what if it's a personality from the mirror world..."

Sinclair was interrupted by Dazai Osamu: "Sinclair-kun! We don't mean that Mr. Honglu is strange, but rather that what he said is strange."

“That’s right,” Don Quixote chimed in, “Little Sinclair, he’s trying to trick you into talking!”

"Huh? He's not Minister Binah's personality, and he wants to understand the differences between the worlds?"

“Sinclair, I’ve worked at the lower levels. Minister Binah is nothing like him.” Dazai Osamu ended the debate that had just begun.

Of the three, one was in the upper control department, one was in the central headquarters, and he was the only one closest to the center of the topic.

"Minister Binah, although she sometimes says strange things, but..." The boy seemed to be recalling something, and after a short while, he said, "This Mr. Honglu seems even more empty than the minister. He seems to be separated from the world by a layer."

Upon hearing this, the three fell silent, until Sinclair broke the suddenly somber atmosphere.

He said, "Since Mr. Honglu might have a problem, why don't we just go and ask the supervisor directly?"

"Sinclair, are you a genius?"

Dazai Osamu suddenly said, "He's in charge, but he might be a little busy right now."

He's probably dealing with a WAW-sized grapefruit apple and another supervisor right now.

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Author's Note: Thank you for your support, my little angels! [heart][heart]

I might update again tomorrow morning [sparkling eyes]

The participants this time are:

Newcomer to cosplay – Honglu (Jialiweng)

A trio of famous detectives with exceptional intelligence who can spot things in time.

And Mr. Mori, who inexplicably disappeared from the public eye, and the little cat on the street.