Chapter 196 A Big Deal Has Happened

When Morofushi Kagemitsu returned to his desk piled high with documents, he was a little disoriented. It was the chattering of the anti-fraud squad that brought him back to reality.

At that moment, one after another, alpacas flew out of the computer screen and gathered in front of him, each wanting to speak to him as if counting off:

[Anti-Fraud Guru #26: Jing! You're finally back! You have no idea how we've been while you were gone... Waaah!]

[Anti-fraud expert #66: To ensure you can come back, we've been bringing you to the office every day these past few days, even volunteering to work overtime on your precious weekends. Even Melo asked if something's wrong! Remember to deal with her, okay?]

[Anti-fraud expert #214: Fate, that damned human trafficker, has finally released you! Hurry up and reply to Zero-kun, and agree to meet this afternoon.]

[Anti-fraud expert #205: Let's not rush to talk about your situation over there. We have plenty of time now. Let's take care of things here first. It's hard to believe you didn't come back quickly this time; we were really worried because it took five days for any news of your return.]

After the anti-fraud team finished explaining what he needed to deal with immediately, Morofushi Hiromitsu had already taken out the still-warm kettle in the office and poured himself a glass of water to calm his nerves.

He opened his phone, scrolled through his communication history with Zero over the past few days, and while composing a text message, tentatively asked, "Is it completely impossible for you to contact me from here?"

[Anti-fraud expert #11: Numbers 205 and 198 have tried many methods, but haven't been able to contact our future selves through the app. If you don't return by tonight, we're planning to try and find a time gap to contact you.]

...Not only number 11, but other anti-fraud officers never mentioned number 234 from beginning to end, and now they even say they don't know where the space-time rift is.

Does the "erasure" that Number 234 mentioned at the end mean simply removing all traces of his existence? What about that bottle of concentrated time energy he left behind...?

Morofushi Kagemitsu quickly reached for any pockets on his body that could hold something, and finally found it in the inner pocket of his left suit jacket.

When this small can of energy appeared, he could clearly feel that these alpaca skin suits, which were only simulated by electronic data, all showed visible signal fluctuations, even forgetting to simulate the exaggerated reactions of biological expressions.

[Anti-Fraud Guru #148: Wow! Jing, you earned so much energy from this mission?! Oh my god! What delicious little cakes are these?!]

Even the usually composed alpacas, numbers 198 and 205, stared wide-eyed at the small bottle. Well, to be precise, not only were their beady eyes wide, but even the drool they were simulating was filled with code they couldn't understand.

[Anti-fraud expert #205: The energy contained here is enough to offset your fate! The rest might come in handy in other ways. Let me see, this function should be usable even without using it; as for that one…]

[Anti-fraud expert #198: Don't rush to activate the data function. Save some energy for me to erase the drug's mark. That way, we won't have to worry about any other effects from the memory-erasing drug we used on Jing in Kyoto. Hmm, check if you have enough...]

[Anti-fraud expert #205: Enough, brother, enough! We've never fought such a well-funded battle before!]

Number 205 visibly became happy; it was the first time Morofushi Kagemitsu had ever seen the usually calm and reliable Number 205 exhibit such a drastic signal fluctuation.

[Anti-Fraud Guru #26: We even printed out the prediction report, thinking we'd check the answers with you as soon as you got back, but you've already exceeded our expectations... Have you finished sending the text messages?]

The little alpaca number 26 flew to his side, saw the line he had just finished editing, and urged him to send it out, clearly wanting to hear about his experiences in the future timeline.

Morofushi Kagemitsu pressed the send button, but despite being surrounded by the furry creatures in a joyful frenzy, he couldn't feel happy at all.

Number 234 has indeed been erased.

Even the anti-fraud team can no longer remember him.

If it weren't for the small energy canister in his hand proving that everything that happened in the time gap was real, he might have doubted whether he had actually developed a split personality, number 234.

[Anti-Fraud Guru #66: To be honest, when we saw the new prophecy, we all felt this was a difficult situation. After all, none of us expected that someone else would also have access to future events.]

[Anti-fraud expert #214: Yeah, we were worried about what to do if he used the information gap to his advantage. We never expected it to end in such a huge win! By the way, Jing, how long did you actually stay over there? Judging from your appearance, it didn't seem like you spent a month or two there.]

...one day, less than a day.

"I appeared at the future Nagano Station at noon and returned at 7 a.m. the next morning."

Morofushi Kagemitsu carefully calculated the time. In fact, there were only 19 hours left. Perhaps the moment No. 234 emerged from the space-time rift with himself, he was already destined to be erased.

Just as that guy said, even the timing of their demise was perfectly timed.

He tried to talk about what 234 did in the future, but he didn't expect that the words he said would all become his own arrangements. Even the function of simulating historical scenes was a technology that Black Guest in that world had already developed.

"...After confirming that Zero and Kitada Yu both had people who could clean up the mess, I timed it and returned to the station where I first landed. Then I was hit in the face with a newspaper and successfully returned."

He couldn't even reveal what No. 234 looked like when he finally transformed into a Ragdoll cat; he was severely restricted in every aspect.

[Anti-fraud expert #11: That was really close! Luckily, Kitada Yu didn't know Zero's true identity, otherwise it would have been a disaster.]

[Anti-Fraud King #205: Fortunately, Jing's choices and actions were correct, and she even got to see her brother. Even without the huge energy reward, it was worth it. I'll take this can of time energy for now; it needs a corresponding program to decompress it and then be used to offset it. Starting tomorrow, I'll borrow #198 for a few days~]

As it spoke, Alpaca No. 205 flew towards the Time Energy Tank, opened its mouth, and swallowed the energy tank like it was eating grass. It then flew back into the computer with the resentful bubble frame of Alpaca No. 198 saying, "I have to work overtime again..."

As Morofushi Kagemitsu watched the energy left behind by Number 234 being taken away, he vaguely felt that a part of himself seemed to have truly disappeared from this world.

Before he could even savor this subtle feeling, the little alpaca number 19 let out a very obvious "Eek!" and started stammering when it looked at him again.

This obvious sign that he had caused trouble again made his heart skip a beat. He had no choice but to put aside his worries and first cheer himself up to ensure that he could withstand the possible blows that might come his way.

[Anti-fraud expert #19: Um, there's one more thing, Jing... remember you're supposed to meet Akai Shuichi tonight.]

...Wait, Shuichi Akai?

I thought he was supposed to be involved in both the legal and illegal worlds in America? Why am I suddenly being asked to see him? Am I still in Japan?!

and……

Morofushi Kagemitsu looked down at the text message he had just sent to Zero:

See you at Poirot Cafe at 6 PM.

He and Zero already have a date!

Besides, I remember seeing the text message on the 26th before it was sent, right? Why didn't you stop me then?

[Anti-fraud expert #26: Um, that... the Akai Shuichi matter was something we just dealt with on the 19th after detecting the spacetime fluctuation five minutes ago. I figured the schedule didn't conflict, so I just added it to my to-do list...]

Zhu Fujingguang: ...

Next time, you'd better change the code related to Zero and Shuichi Akai to be mutually exclusive and incompatible, otherwise even I might have a hard time getting out of this mess.

[Anti-fraud King #148: I know... Um, why don't you squeeze in some time to watch it? We agreed with Shuichi Akai to meet at 7:30 pm at the site of the project we're about to start working on. It's not too far away, so you should be able to make it...]

...Didn't you just say that Zero had already sensed something was wrong? Based on the text messages I've seen so far, I'm afraid I'll have to make him prove that I'm indeed alright to reassure him.

From this perspective, even considering the fastest commute time, about an hour is simply not enough. And that doesn't even take into account the possibility that Zero might suggest going somewhere else…

[Anti-fraud expert #66: Well, there's nothing we can do then. We'll just have to cancel on Shuichi Akai.]

[Anti-fraud expert #19: That's not a good idea... Look, the location we chose clearly indicates we're here to discuss serious matters. This is crucial to whether our subsequent network can reach "international waters." Giving up like this would make us seem very dishonest.]

Morofushi Kagemitsu began exporting the recordings of his conversations with Zero over the past few days, hoping to find a shortcut that could directly dispel his suspicions.

[Anti-fraud expert #11: Um, besides dealing with things in Tottori, Zero has been inquiring about lab sites in Tokyo lately. If our people hadn't stopped him, he almost would have traced it back to Sherry...]

Zhu Fujingguang: ? ? ? !!! !

What's going on here? Why is Sulli being dragged into this?

[Anti-Fraud Guru #148: Do you remember the last time you two had a heart-to-heart talk? He's picked up his baggage again, keeping a close eye on the organization's lab.]

You might as well just say it directly. This little bit of coaxing is like squeezing toothpaste, it's like you're slowly torturing me.

[Anti-fraud expert #214: He suspects you've been brainwashed by an organization.]

He couldn't help but close his eyes, genuinely afraid that he would see stars from anger.

No, he really didn't understand. In just five days, what exactly did these little devils do to make Zero suspect that he had been brainwashed by the organization?

[Anti-fraud expert #66: It's not that we're deliberately shirking responsibility, we just really didn't expect things to happen so coincidentally...]