Chapter 113, Twentieth Round (32)
At 3 p.m., Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji, who finally had some free time, arrived at the meeting place, where Date Wataru, Morofushi Kagemitsu and Furuya Rei were already there.
"You've finally arrived," Date Wataru greeted them.
"Furuya! Did you really beat the game?!" Kenji Hagiwara pounced on Furuya Rei, nearly knocking him to the ground, and shook his shoulders happily to confirm.
Matsuda Jinpei walked over, yawning. "I told you I wouldn't die, really."
Rei Furuya's hair bounced up as he chuckled helplessly, "Really, it's already saved. Matsuda's ordeal has been successfully overcome, so we don't have to worry about the world lines converging anymore."
"Yay! That's great, hahaha—" Hagiwara Kenji let go of him and happily spun around on the spot, then suddenly became serious and stared suspiciously into Furuya Rei's eyes again, "Furuya, you wouldn't be hiding the truth about how many times you've loaded the save file, would you? Like, you actually loaded the save file at this save point many times and finally succeeded, but only told us twice or something."
Morofushi Kagemitsu, who was watching them with a smile of relief and happiness, paused, and his eyes suddenly sharpened.
"How could that be? Don't overthink it." Rei Furuya's eyes were lifeless. "If that were really the case, wouldn't you have noticed something was off?"
Morofushi Kagemitsu thought about it and realized it made sense. If it really was a case of reloading save files many times, then given Zero's personality, he would definitely have done many things even more perfectly.
"So it must be because of all the changes we made to the world line over those four years that somehow caused the world line's convergence range to completely leave Matsuda, right?" Morofushi Kagemitsu pondered.
"But such a change must be no small matter, right? What exactly is it?" Date Wataru stroked his chin.
"Anything is fine, since we've already succeeded, why think so much?" Matsuda Jinpei himself was actually the least concerned of all.
Kenji Hagiwara looked up and pointed at his nose: "Is it because of me?"
The four of them looked at him.
“You see, Jinpei’s death was caused by avenging me, right?” Kenji Hagiwara sighed, then hung himself on Jinpei Matsuda’s shoulder and said with a smile, “But I’m still alive now, so I’ve fundamentally changed Jinpei’s life on this timeline. It’s normal for his death to be caused by a butterfly, isn’t it?”
"It's so heavy." Matsuda Jinpei complained but didn't push him away.
“That makes sense, or rather, it’s the most likely explanation.” Rei Furuya pondered seriously. “World line convergence is very particular about cause and effect, so generally, as long as you find the true cause at the very source, if you can change that cause, you can easily change the subsequent outcome. And once there’s no inevitable target for world line convergence, those ordinary events that were originally not difficult for us to solve now.”
The difficulty of Hiro's mission lies in the fact that the root cause of his death is actually the undercover work and the Black Organization, but both the undercover work and the Black Organization are the main storyline that the world cannot change...
Morofushi Kagemitsu seemed to be thinking: "So Hagiwara's transfer to the First Investigation Division not only changed the cause and result of his own death, but also changed the cause and result of Matsuda's death at the same time? It seems that's indeed the case. Once you're out of the inevitable death range of the world line convergence, as long as you pass the original death node, you can directly pass this hurdle."
Date Wataru exclaimed, "It's great that one person can bring two others to survive. No wonder you're childhood friends."
Kenji Hagiwara smiled but didn't say anything.
But this also means that, in the original timeline, they also died along with two others.
"Alright, alright, now that you're done celebrating, isn't it time to get down to business?" Matsuda Jinpei pushed Hagiwara Kenji away with a look of disgust, then turned to Furuya Rei with a serious expression. "Isn't it time to talk about your situation?"
The smile on Rei Furuya's face gradually disappeared.
“Besides the death calamity that Morofushi was supposed to face on December 7th, a month from now,” Matsuda Jinpei solemnly called out Morofushi Kagemitsu’s name, “you must have discovered some other problems by now, right? Tell us quickly so we can solve them together.”
Morofushi Kagemitsu walked over and put his hand on Furuya Rei's shoulder.
Rei Furuya sighed and told them about the ending CG.
The other three were also very puzzled by this ominous "Life and Death" CG.
"How did we get onto philosophy and sophistry?" Matsuda Jinpei frowned. "In that case, we can't possibly determine the system's true meaning at all."
"Maybe it means anything? I'm more inclined to the first interpretation that everything is constantly growing and dying. Maybe it just means that Matsuda's life is safe, but Morofushi's life is still in danger?" Date Wataru said. "At least it's a happy ending, right? It shouldn't be too negative."
Morofushi Kagemitsu said with a serious expression, "I've thought about this for a long time. I think the meaning of 'life and death' might be that the timeline where my undercover identity is exposed and I die is unavoidable, and this main plot cannot be changed. So in the end, I need to use methods such as faking my death to achieve the ending of 'death and life'?"
"Oh, oh, oh! That's very possible!" Matsuda Jinpei suddenly pointed at him. "This is it!"
“That’s possible,” Furuya Rei said calmly, “but it’s only a possibility. I have a feeling the system won’t let us clear the game so easily; there must be some important, dangerous clue that it missed…”
“But we’ve been investigating and checking everywhere for three hours and haven’t found anything wrong, have we?” Morofushi Kagemitsu patted his shoulder. “With our current strength, even if we encounter any danger, it shouldn’t be a problem. Besides, there’s still a month until December 7th. Zero, you’re too nervous.”
Date Kou also raised his hand and ruffled his blond hair: "Don't worry, we're here, nothing will happen."
Kenji Hagiwara touched his chin and moved closer to his face, reaching out to touch the dark circles under his eyes that even his dark skin couldn't hide: "Furuya, you haven't had a proper rest lately, have you? Your dark circles are very noticeable."
Matsuda Jinpei punched him directly: "What did you tell me yesterday? You said you'd get a good rest after this was resolved? That some blond bastard wasn't just lying to me, was he?"
Jianggu Ling: "..."
Rei Furuya couldn't help but let out a helpless smile.
“You guys are really something…” he protested loudly, “I really did get a good rest! Hiro can vouch for it! I slept for a full six hours last night!”
"With your workload, you should get at least eight hours of sleep, right?" Matsuda Jinpei rolled his eyes. "I don't know what you're so arrogant about, having only slept a mere six hours a day."
"I wasn't being arrogant at all!"
"You're clearly very arrogant!"
"I don't!"
You have it!
Watching their two friends argue like elementary school kids, the other three felt as if they had returned to their police academy days and burst into laughter.
In short, Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda were indeed saved, which is something to celebrate and be happy about.
With their joint efforts, things are gradually moving in a positive direction, and hope is becoming increasingly bright.
Therefore, they will eventually succeed in achieving a happy ending where everyone survives.
*
People generally refer to the time between 5 pm and 7 pm as the "twilight hour".
Yin-Yang Dao believes that this period is the boundary between day and night, the time when demons and monsters begin to appear, and the time when the worlds of humans and ghosts intersect and the two sides are likely to meet.
In fact, many of the Black Organization's missions also begin at this time, and they are quite familiar with going out during this period.
However, Bourbon and Scotland have no missions today, and the impatient Bourbon also tricked Rye into leaving the country and not returning for the time being.
And so far, no problems have been found.
Therefore, for the time being, they can be Furuya Rei and Morofushi Kagemitsu.
At six o'clock in the afternoon, both office workers and students had finished their day's work and returned home. The park was secluded and quiet in the twilight.
It's perfect for relaxing.
Morofushi Kagemitsu deliberately took this route to the park to take his overly anxious childhood friend for a walk.
"I miss it so much. When was the last time we played here?" Morofushi Kagemitsu sat happily on the low swing specially built for children, trying to position his long legs comfortably on the ground, and even tried to rock them a couple of times.
“Middle school, I think.” Rei Furuya recalled for a moment, a nostalgic smile appearing on his face. “I used to come here to play after elementary school. The last time was… when we were in the third year of middle school, discussing our entrance exams and graduation aspirations, and deciding to become police officers together.”
Rei Furuya walked over and stood next to his childhood friend, looking at him. Although Hiro had grown up quite a bit, he could still see the blue cat-eyed boy who was happily playing on the swing.
In the sunlight, his round, blue cat eyes shone brightly, and the smile on the child's fair face was exceptionally dazzling. A warm and innocent joy permeated the air, soaking him in his sullen mood from the fight, making him unable to help but laugh happily.
His only friend during his childhood and adolescence, his most important childhood friend, was the best person in the world and should not have died so young in that way.
"Time flies." Morofushi Kagemitsu stopped fiddling with the swing, took off his slightly warm jacket, put his legs on the ground, and rested his hands on his knees.
Although the black-haired youth wore a smile, his blue eyes, gazing at the distant sunset, were filled with quiet contemplation and sighs. The golden-red sunset even blurred his features slightly.
“It’s really rare and precious to have friends like us who have stayed together through elementary school, middle school, high school, university, and even police academy and after we started working.” Morofushi Hiromitsu smiled. “We’re really lucky.”
Rei Furuya was momentarily dazed.
This sentence, this park at dusk, and Hiro sitting on the swing in a black shirt under the setting sun, are just like before.
The park at dusk, the night before Hiro's accident, was the last time they saw each other while they were still alive.
"Actually, I'm quite happy that Zero told me about that." Morofushi Kagemitsu turned to look at him, his eyes crinkling with happiness. "It must be easier to say it out loud, right?"
Jianggu Ling: "..."
Rei Furuya tilted his head and mumbled softly, "...Mmm."
He clenched his fist, then relaxed it, and finally smiled again. He took two steps forward and sat on the swing next to him, watching the sunset gradually sink into darkness on the opposite horizon with his childhood friend.
“Hiro,” Rei Furuya said, “You won’t commit suicide, right? As long as you don’t, I’ll definitely find a way to save you.”
Morofushi Kagemitsu looked at him helplessly: "Of course, I won't keep my phone in my chest pocket anymore either."
He said earnestly, "I promise you, no matter what happens, I will not give up my life. I believe Zero will come to save me, and I will never leave Zero alone again."
Rei Furuya's body gradually warmed up, and he was about to speak when he was interrupted by the sudden flight of a flock of crows.
Under the setting sun, the eyes of the crows, which looked somewhat red, opened their beaks and emitted sharp, unpleasant cries, instantly shattering the originally warm and quiet atmosphere.
The crows' black wings obscured the setting sun, and what fell upon them was no longer the warm sunlight, but the cold shadows of winter.
Several jet-black crow feathers drifted slowly down from the sky.
Rei Furuya frowned as he watched the flock of crows flying around. Feeling his phone vibrating wildly in his pocket, he temporarily suppressed his other thoughts, but when he took out his phone, he froze and suddenly tightened his grip on it.
Seeing that his reaction was off, Morofushi Kagemitsu immediately leaned closer and asked, "Zero? What's wrong?"
Furuya Rei made no attempt to dodge, so Morofushi Kagemitsu simply looked directly at him.
But he didn't see anything strange on the phone.
“hiro…”
Rei Furuya stiffly and slowly raised his head to meet his gaze.
"The time in the reincarnation group is synchronized," he said.
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