Chapter 176: Xiao Chaomu? For some unknown reason, he called out her...
"Who are you?"
Even when they first met, this woman didn't act so unfamiliar - she was very familiar at the time, and the first thing she said was "It's you", and then she lifted that abominable toilet plunger and sucked away all of his curse spirits, including the first level... She was clearly just an ordinary monkey who couldn't even see the curse spirits...!
Geto Suguru was almost laughing at this abominable thing.
"Ha, you're just like me, playing the fool again..." Even with the barrel of a cannon pointed at his head, he showed no sign of retreating. Instead, he lowered his head, taking a closer look at the face he hadn't seen in a long time, which was still so annoying. "Stop pretending, little raccoon. Your tricks won't work in front of me—I know better than anyone what kind of... despicable woman you are."
These words were spoken with gritted teeth, pure hatred, yet tinged with an inexplicable emotion. Akai Shuichi's observations were always sharp, so naturally he couldn't fail to read the almost overflowing strangeness.
...This strange man... knew Chaomu? He even called her "Little Raccoon." What kind of... nickname is that? No, judging by the context and tone, it didn't sound like flirting, more like a simple reference...
The black-haired sniper, gun in hand, had his mind racing, almost instantly recalling a past event: besides the irrational method of transforming others into small animals, his master had apparently also transformed himself into an animal, such as a hamster. The man before him probably called her that because he had seen her transformed into a raccoon.
However, the other party seemed to know her very well, and spoke in an attitude of... "I have known her for a long time and no one else knows her better than me." But strangely, Chaomu looked confused.
She seemed completely unfamiliar with this person. Facing the other party's accusations, she simply put on an impatient look: "We'll talk about what kind of person I am later. Whether you understand me or not is none of my business. Answer my question, villain boss, what is your relationship with the people of the Hundred Demons Society?"
Looking at the fox's eyes, she knew he wasn't some mastermind incarnate, but a small-time boss with close ties to the people behind the scenes, and a deep understanding of the bombs planted by the Hundred Ghosts Society. The information was already being delivered to her face, and if she didn't get the reason from him, her trip today would be in vain.
The short-haired girl's demeanor was truly cold. Xia Yujie was met with her cold stare, and he realized that the unfamiliarity in her eyes was genuine. His pupils shrank slightly for a moment: "...You don't recognize me? How is it possible...You remember Zenin very well, but only forgot me?"
What had happened to this woman in the years she'd been gone? He looked closely and noticed that her vacuum cleaner didn't seem as shiny as it had been when he'd last seen her... Had she suffered an accidental amnesia? But how could she remember Shi'er but forget him? A curse? No, there wasn't anything like that.
Zen-in Temple—another unfamiliar name. Akai Shuichi's eyebrows twitched slightly, and he suddenly thought of the black snake avatar in the pet group chat, which didn't light up. He aligned the black snake with the robed man before him. It seemed possible, but he also felt doubtful. He could wait and see how Chaomu reacted.
Chaomu's reaction can be described as... extremely bad.
"I don't remember that actually... I don't have any memory of meeting Shi'er right now." She scratched her head innocently, and spoke in a rather scumbag-like manner. "Neither you nor Shi'er are the ones I should know right now—what's your name? If you tell me, I can go back and ask Shi'er. Maybe he's mentioned your name before, and then I'll have some idea..."
Speaking of the name mentioned by Shen'er, the player suddenly had an idea and went back to look through his notebook. "Come to think of it, he seemed to have mentioned someone before, someone from the Banking Sect... Geto Suguru? He said he'd been thinking about me a lot over the years... Was it you?"
Geto Suguru: “…………?”
He didn't have time to digest this outrageous statement. When he heard the second half of her sentence, he almost instinctively retorted: "Who would care about a weird raccoon like you? How could I..."
Halfway through his rebuttal, facing two questioning gazes in the room, he suddenly stopped talking: After all, what he said sounded too much like... the inability to argue out of anger and shame.
And Chaomu's amnesia seems to be true, otherwise she shouldn't have forgotten...
...No, he shouldn't continue wasting time here and pestering her. The drama he wanted to see was over. Looking at her silly face after losing her memory, it should have nothing to do with Bai Lan... Come to think of it, she and Bai Lan should not be compatible.
The complex emotions of struggle flickered in the eyes of the fox-eyed young man. The more Chaomu looked at him, the more she felt that this guy seemed to be more like her ex-husband than Shen'er... Even Shen'er didn't have this kind of hatred and love. She began to wonder what she had done to him in the copy of the "past".
"Anyway, you're Geto Suguru, right?" Curiosity and the good-looking face of this dank NPC gave her a rare bit of patience. She hooked his chin, and when he looked down at her, her fingertips brushed across his jawline. "Since we know each other, you probably wouldn't mind sharing some information, right?"
Her expression showed that she was ready to make a move. Akai Shuichi's fingertips were on the trigger, intending to get rid of him before the young man in the cassock got angry and attacked his master who was flirting with him everywhere - but the young man with fox eyes only opened his eyes slightly when his chin was hooked. He didn't dodge or get angry, as if he was used to being touched.
"Don't try to be too close, we're not that familiar with each other." He snorted softly, his tone rising slightly. "Compared to me, you should be more familiar with that monkey from the Zen temple family and Wudu, right?"
"How could that be?" Sharply sensing that his attitude seemed to be softening, Chaomu deftly took advantage, intending to coax him into submission. "I'm familiar with Shinji because I 'reunited' with him first. I've never even heard of that Satoru—and now, the only one in front of me is you, Geto-kun."
Her hand just stroked the side of his face. The mysterious Panxing Sect leader looked at her with disdain, but he showed no intention of moving away. His gaze softened as he looked at her: "...You smooth-talking little raccoon...you're still so good at sophistry."
The black-haired sniper narrowed his eyes slightly, and in his mind, he raised the possibility that Geto Suguru was Black Snake. Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain why he was full of disgust but never took action... Could it be M? It's hard to say.
But no matter whether this Geto-kun is an M, or a tsundere or some other attribute... he seems to have been coaxed by Chaomu, and the probability of becoming an enemy and breaking out into a fight has been greatly reduced.
Geto Suguru was indeed coaxed... No, he had come to terms with it.
He quickly convinced himself: after all, if you think about it carefully, amnesia and other strange things happening to others are certainly suspicious, but if it happened to Chao Mu... it didn't seem so strange. After all, she was strange in her own right, so forgetting everyone didn't seem to be the most unusual thing for her.
As for the "drama" arranged by Shiran, her existence should not be included - Geto Suguru does not believe that there is anyone in this world who can include her in the plan and control her behavior, even if there really is a God, he may not be able to do it.
Considering that she just came over and said she wanted to save some monkey, this strange little raccoon was probably just being nosy... She has always been nosy, for a monkey she doesn't know... Tsk.
Thinking of the past, the young man with fox eyes drooped his eyelashes slightly. He wanted to scold her, but in the end he didn't say anything harsh.
He simply took a step back and restored a safe social distance. "Given your pitiful amnesia, it's not impossible for me to tell you... But what are you going to offer in exchange? My appearance fee is very expensive."
...Why do both of my ex-husbands always ask for money? Same with Shier and Xia Yujie.
At this stage, Chaomu is not short of in-game currency. After all, he still has Reborn's black card on him. If he doesn't have enough money, he can ask his senior brother for more. The most important thing is that she will have to reload the game after asking for information anyway. Giving him the money now is like getting something for nothing, and there is no loss in the end.
She generously slapped the black card on the monk's chest and said casually, "These are all yours. Tell me everything you know. Of course, all my money is yours too."
Akai Shuichi: "…………"
The black-haired sniper, who knew the inside story, twitched his forehead slightly, but still managed to keep a stern face.
As for Geto, who had no idea that he wouldn't be able to spend a cent of this money, and that the bridge would be demolished to the last brick left once the players crossed, he raised an eyebrow in surprise, clearly caught off guard. He'd been prepared for the stingy little raccoon to offer him empty promises, saying she was just owed a favor, but this time she was so willing to pay? Now that she'd lost her memory, she no longer had to use her money to feed that gold-eating monkey?
But having money is also a good thing. After a brief moment of surprise, the young man with fox eyes regained his composure: "It seems that after leaving the Gold-Eating Bull, your financial situation has improved to a certain extent... A wise choice."
"Want to know about the Hundred Ghosts Society? Sure, I can tell you." He put the card away, tucked his hands back into his sleeves, and leaned lazily against the screen, regaining his calm demeanor as a leader. "Those ants wanted to 'avenge' their fallen masters, so they sought out the Panxing Sect. They hope to use my power to bring this revenge to a grand conclusion, using the souls of the dead to liberate the dead."
"I had no interest in the ants and monkeys drama. I just heard someone recommend it and said it might be interesting, so I just went along with it and came to watch the fun."
This ant-monkey thing to say was rather childish, but Chaomu was too lazy to complain for the moment. Her mind was completely focused on intelligence.
Putting aside the idiotic plot known to the Hyakkikai, the "certain people" Geto was referring to was clearly Shiran. The more Asami thought about it, the more familiar the name sounded. Sharing a glance with Akai Shuichi, he realized: Oh, Shiran is also a member of the Italian Mafia? It seems like Councilman Fujita was trying to join him before? And maybe he's even an ally of the Black Organization?
I see, this Mr. Bai Lan should be considered the villain behind the scenes... and it sounds like he's also a tax evader.
"So-called drama, do you mean watching bombs blow people up?" She asked expressionlessly, her lips curled downward. "Then some people are really quite the scoundrel."
When she thought that Hagiwara Kenji was among those blown away, she felt that this tax evader deserved to die...and the same went for the Hyakkikai's minions. She would find an opportunity to kill them all.
The murderous intent in the short-haired girl's eyes was startlingly bright. When she mentioned "people," it was clear she had someone she desperately wanted to protect. Geto Suguru glanced down at her, feeling that she was still the same as before, still so concerned with those things... Never mind.
"Although I don't know much about Mr. Bai Lan's taste, this time, his taste is indeed... quite interesting." He answered her question with his hands in his pockets, holding a rare kindness. "What he asked me to see was not some boring and low-level bloody scene, but 'fate'."
"As you can see, that corpse wasn't my work. While I can control cursed spirits, I'm not capable of making the dead move against the laws of physics. That kind of power... is more like some kind of absolute, unreasonable 'will'."
"A bomb destined to explode, a person destined to die. The monkey on the ground exists to fulfill this purpose—a 'fate' that disregards all processes in order to achieve a certain 'predestined outcome.'"
"...Fate?"
The answer of this somewhat enigmatic man was both beyond Chaomu's expectations and not entirely beyond his expectations.
She frowned, but didn't ask him to speak properly - after playing the game for so long, she had already become more familiar with the Riddler's system and could probably understand the meaning of his words.
Therefore, this game still has fixed plot kills, or mechanisms, which are what NPCs call "fate." This mechanism can be detected by NPCs and shared with players as intelligence, which means that it is within the rules of the game.
Come to think of it, the previous work of the same company, "Egypt Tour Group", seems to have a similar "fate" mechanism. Each NPC originally has a predetermined fate line, but players can change their fate through their own operations... After all, for players, the meaning of the special mechanism is to crack it.
The seemingly behind-the-scenes villain boss reveals the existence of destiny to the elite minor bosses, which sounds like a coercion. It seems the main plot of this work is tied to fate. Is it a fight against predetermined destiny? What is the villain's stance? Is he a conformist? Do they believe they are destined to be a Celestial Dragon and to obey fate and control everyone?
Listening to the tone of Geto Suguru calling humans ant monkeys, it sounds like he has that kind of middle school syndrome. I feel like the plot is probably like this... huh?
A system prompt box popped up in front of Chaomu.
[Congratulations to the player for successfully deciphering the clue - Unknown Encounter (2) - Fate Points (can be used to synthesize props to unlock hidden side quests)]
[Note: This clue is obtained through deduction. Once obtained, it is fixed in the backpack. Saving and loading the game will not affect the existence of this clue.]
This prompt box was a bit unfamiliar and not very common. The last time it popped up was when I was talking to Shen Er. Chao Mu looked at the two clue fragments in his backpack and tentatively clicked on "Synthesize", but found that they still couldn't be pieced together, and the dungeon still couldn't be opened.
However, saving and loading saves without any impact was quite user-friendly, saving her from having to look for Geto Suguru again when she returned. Currently, she knew that besides the Kujo family on the same floor, the only other place she hadn't unlocked was the "Past Dungeon" that had been tantalizing her since the beginning... and now, finally, there was some progress.
After exchanging the information with her, Geto Suguru left in a leisurely manner. Chaomu did not rush to reload the game immediately, but sat cross-legged on the carpet and began to organize his thoughts.
Akai Shuichi, whose worldview was greatly impacted and whose expression was complicated, sat beside her with a gun in his arms and sighed softly.
"Destiny...what an unexpected answer," he said. "Although reason led me to this inference, it was also reason that told me it was outrageous."
Does fate really exist? Is it beyond human control? But if you think about it, if you can really turn back time, then fate doesn't seem so abstract anymore.
"It's outrageous, but there's still room for maneuver... Now that the mechanism is laid out, there should be a solution." Chaomu put all his weight on his arm and gritted his teeth. "According to Geto Suguru's suggestion, if the bomb is bound to explode... it's just that one path is blocked."
Her original idea also included the possibility of going back to an earlier time and leaving enough time to help Hagiwara Kenji defuse the bomb, but she felt that according to the so-called nature of fate, the bomb would still explode even if it was almost defused successfully - it would be better to return to her original idea, ignore the bomb, and save people directly.
After all, she actually succeeded in saving people in her second playthrough, but only saved Hagiwara and not his teammates. This also proves the flaw in fate, indicating that even if the bomb went off, Hagiwara Kenji could have survived. All she needs to think about is how to do it more perfectly.
Negotiate with the black-faced guy and ask him to directly deal with his superiors and follow the official order to transfer Hagiwara and his entire team?
The moment this thought surfaced, Chaomu herself dismissed it. She had a strange hunch that even if Bourbon successfully dealt with the police brass, the order wouldn't be delivered directly for various inexplicable reasons. And even if the order was delivered, Hagiwara and his team wouldn't necessarily be able to evacuate in time...
She still has to go in person and find a way to lure Hagiwara and his team out of the building, or see if there is any prop protective shield in the system to cover everyone... I hope I can buy it with Raccoon Coins. Spending money on something like this is like being kidnapped by a dog planner!
She was muttering to herself while browsing the mall. Akai Shuichi, who had calmed down, listened to her and also fell into deep thought.
"Official channels are indeed very risky," he agreed gravely. "There are too many variables. Any mistake in any link will lead to the failure of the plan. Moreover, since there is such a thing as 'fate', it is very likely to achieve its goals by influencing an 'ordinary person' in the decision-making chain. It is difficult to guard against it."
If anything could defeat fate, the most crucial factor would undoubtedly be the girl before him who could repeatedly rewind time. He also believed that she should personally go to the scene and be the absolute main force.
The absolute main force is flipping through the mall, and the more they flip through, the more painful the mask.
Good news, the system doesn't seem to be trying to cheat you out of money, there are no items like teleportation scrolls or invincible shields in the krypton gold options.
The bad news is that without these things, the means of protecting people are suddenly much less... Chaomu searched everywhere but couldn't find a few defensive skill books or props. There are medical books, but they can't put the dead together.
"Since we can't cheat, we can only think of a way to get them to evacuate," she muttered. "But I feel like this is going to be incredibly troublesome. It's fine if it's just Hagiwara-kun, but there are so many ordinary people involved..."
It is easy to save people, but difficult to save them all.
"If the problem is how to get a well-trained team to abandon their mission and evacuate en masse within a short period of time... perhaps you need a 'reason' they can't refuse or question." Akai Shuichi paused and added, "A reason that's more urgent and prioritized than 'bomb disposal'."
"We could consider filing a false alarm, saying there were other bombs planted elsewhere," Chaomu suggested, but then rejected his own suggestion. "But in that case, the entire team wouldn't evacuate. There must be someone left behind."
She thought about it over and over again, turning it over repeatedly: "The advantage of doing this is that if there are only two or three people left in there, I think we can rush over together to rescue them. The rescue difficulty is a little lower than rescuing the entire team, and it doesn't seem completely impossible."
But she always felt that this idea was not right. It didn't seem like the official solution... Moreover, after the personnel were dispersed, her pressure actually increased. "The bomb will definitely explode, and people will definitely die." Even if she personally intervened, the probability of people dying was very high...
This is not right.
Chaomu bit his nails and thought.
Her thoughts seemed to have strayed. It wasn't like she was playing a game, but more like she was considering a logical solution... How annoying! Isn't this just a trash-picking game? Why can't they just rub people together and take them away like garbage?
……Um?
People are bound to die, but can garbage die? What is the status of an NPC that is stuffed into a trash can and not picked up by the player? Is it considered a pet card or an item?
Her gaze fell on Akai Shuichi, who was pondering with her beside her. Mimi was the first person she had knocked unconscious and thrown into the trash can, only to be picked up and become a player's pet. She remembered the system prompt at the time saying, "Congratulations to the player for unlocking a special recycling item."
And she doesn't have a pet stall right now, so she doesn't have to worry about taking up space if she fishes people out...
The more Chaomu thought about it, the more he felt it was feasible: This solution felt more reliable than brute force! It even used the core mechanics of the game. Could this be the official solution?
"What an idiot I am!" She scratched her hair in frustration, then clenched her fists excitedly, her eyes gleaming with the thought, "Am I really a genius?" "Why didn't I think of that? You have to play games like you're playing games. You can't think like you're solving a serious puzzle game. You have to make full use of the game's mechanics!"
Akai Shuichi: "…………?"
He looked at the girl who stood up, and had a vague feeling that it was quite bad: although he felt that he did not keep up with her train of thought and did not understand what shocking "solution" she had come up with, for some reason, he always felt that he should know this solution... What a strange feeling.
But this time he didn't have time to ask, because his master had already loaded the file with full confidence - and then time flowed back again, to the fifth round where everyone felt a strong sense of déjà vu.
This time, Chaomu still ignored other NPCs, but chose to get straight to the point and verify his own guess.
Including him, the team led by Hagiwara Kenji had ten members in total, with three others in a small group. She quietly slipped into the corridor, picked up a lightweight trash can from the street, and locked onto the positions of the police officers.
Although it was unknown how strong the officers of the Explosives Squad were in combat, Chao Mu's stealth skills and strength were considered quite extraordinary - and the enemy was in the open while she was in the dark, which created good conditions for a sneak attack. Therefore, her plan was carried out unexpectedly smoothly.
How to stuff the explosive police into the trash can?
He flashed behind the opponent, knocked him down from behind with a thud, and stuffed him into the trash can, all in one go, smoothly and effortlessly.
The first targets were the two officers guarding the passage at the end of the east corridor on the third floor. Standing back to back, they vigilantly observed their surroundings, unaware that a gray shadow had silently moved along the ceiling ventilation duct to directly above their heads.
Chaomu stuck his head out of the vent, confirmed the position and posture of the two people, then holding the plastic trash can he had taken from the cleaning room, he landed upside down and silently in a blind spot behind the two people in a completely anti-gravity posture.
She didn't give the two officers any time to react. The moment she jumped, her arms flexed with muscles, and she launched two precise, sharp blows, striking the backs of their necks cleanly. The two sturdy members of the explosive squad didn't even have time to groan before their bodies collapsed.
The sturdy player lifted them both, one in each hand, effortlessly, as if they were two weightless bags of cotton. He then deftly folded them in half, curled them, and tucked them neatly into the trash can, closing the lid. The entire process was incredibly smooth, taking no more than three seconds.
It was easy, the quality of the Neon police was still as good as ever - she had thought that Hagiwara's subordinates would be different.
Morning and evening, I complain without any burden.
But this is also good for her, making her recycling work go quite smoothly...she is not picky.
She carried the heavy trash can with several more names on it in the card pool introduction and rushed to her final destination.
At the same time, in the men's restroom on the third floor.
Kenji Hagiwara, who had been feeling uneasy since some time and wanted to defuse the bomb first, frowned.
Something was wrong… The voice in his headset reporting the situation at each location was abruptly interrupted a few seconds ago.
At first he thought it was signal interference, but when he switched channels and called Group A in the east corridor and Group B at the west stairwell, all he got in response was a dead silence.
"Group A? Group B? Got it, please reply!" The half-long-haired young man lowered his voice, his relaxed expression instantly shrouded in a solemn shadow. He immediately made a warning gesture to the last two team members beside him, "The situation has changed. Everyone, stay alert. There may be an intruder..."
Tick, tick.
It seemed as if rain was falling from above, and his movement of turning back became extremely slow.
...When did the ceiling start... leaking?
Swifts flew by, chirping joyfully. A gray figure passed through his field of vision. Two muffled thuds echoed from the side, and the two teammates who had just been by his side vanished, as if they had been snatched away by a demon.
The goal was achieved, and only Hagiwara-kun was left - although he was discovered, with the help of Swift, it should be easy to take down the target.
This was probably the closest she had ever come to success. Chaomu's lips curled up in delight when she heard a sharp "beep!" She looked up suddenly and saw the bomb's countdown ticking again... as if it had been specifically designed to take his life.
But this time it's different—damn it, don't even think about competing with other players for him! Hagiwara-kun is hers! The skill book, the wallet... in short, everything is hers!
But in that moment of distraction, Hagiwara Kenji had already turned around, gun drawn. For some reason, Asamura shrank back a little, feeling a bit guilty, and before he could see her, she transformed back into a raccoon.
It’s so troublesome and a waste of time to explain, so it’s better to be an emotionless raccoon and cut the Gordian knot.
She quickly found a reason for her actions—it definitely wasn't because she felt guilty about her current villain image. Sacrificing a little image to save someone didn't seem to matter, since players were already D-rated anyway... Damn it, she really didn't like the feeling of being cast as a villain after sacrificing her image to save someone! She also didn't want to be misunderstood by Hagiwara-kun! It was so frustrating!
The dusty little raccoon, clutching a trash can, finally landed in front of Hagiwara Kenji and met his gaze. The semi-long-haired police officer, wearing the uniform she'd previously praised as beautiful, his muscles tense and murderous as he drew his gun, his chest muscles constricted by the straps.
The cold muzzle of the gun should have been pointed directly at her vitals, but when he met her gaze, the murderous intent in Hagiwara Kenji's eyes suddenly dissipated completely like morning mist illuminated by the sun.
His training had urged him to pull the trigger, and his reason urged him to recognize the suspicious animal before him, a monster that had taken his teammates. But a heavier and unspeakable force, stemming from his own heart, held him tightly, leaving him unable to move.
It seemed like many times before tears welled up in his eyes. He dropped the gun at his feet, reached out, and hugged the furry, gray, dirty... and trash-can-carrying little animal tightly.
"...Xiao Chaomu?" He called out her name for some unknown reason. "You...are here after all."
It was as if she had come for him countless times, reaching out to him. He embraced her as if embracing a brand new... destiny and destination.
Destiny hesitated for a moment, then stretched out its claws and gently hugged his body back.
This time, she succeeded.
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The author has something to say: Little Raccoon puffs out his chest: This is the official solution! Absolutely the official solution!
I've finally finished writing Dumpling Vinegar. The next few chapters will probably be all sweet. Fate has pointed it out, and the poor little raccoon will have to find the ending by chance next (X)
A previous commenter guessed it: the game company hired Little Raccoon specifically to fix bugs and save people, and they'll pay her enough later. What's guaranteed is that the game will always be Little Raccoon's game, she won't lose the joy of being a player, and she'll successfully save the world and have a happy ending.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
