Chapter 162 Fifty-Eight Weeks (10)
During the day of the buffer period, Furuya Zero thought a lot.
Once he was certain that the organization wouldn't trace his identity back to Hiro and his group, he could relax considerably and focus on his current problems.
Karasuma Renya didn't believe what he said, nor did she want to listen to him, fearing that he might accidentally say something he shouldn't and die suddenly. That's why she created this dream observation device.
Karasuma Renya raved that consciousness determines existence, and that the human spirit is the most powerful force in the world. In other words, emotions are also a factor, which indeed aligns with the system.
However, Rei Furuya felt that a large part of the reason was that he was too old and his body was no longer very functional, so he focused most of his efforts on mental strength.
Whether it's the program that has the power to influence the world, the Dream Chair, or even the robot that Karasuma Renya now prefers to control immersively with a helmet similar to a hologram, they are all researching the human mental realm.
“I was really in despair. The doctor’s experiments hadn’t been successful, and Sherry’s research hadn’t found the direction I wanted. In the end, I could only temporarily put aside the immortality of my body and think about how to make my spirit immortal.” Karasuma Renya said. “Of course, it would be boring for me to live forever in that world alone, so I will get people all over the world involved.”
Such outrageous words are all the more chilling, especially given the highly probable possibility of their occurrence.
"However, fate still favors me. After I accidentally missed one reincarnator, fifty years later I was able to meet a second one, which gave me hope of making my body immortal again."
Although it sounded terrifying, Furuya Rei wasn't scared.
He knew very well that Karasuma Renya had not succeeded in the end, and he himself had said that the current medicine and dream chair were all unfinished products. In addition, to prevent irreversible damage to him, this precious experimental subject, the mildest and gentlest generation was used, and even so, the second experiment would not begin until 24 hours later.
Therefore, there is room for maneuver.
We must strive to find a solution before more details are revealed.
For example, figure out how the machine works, and try to control what kind of dream you can capture.
If he could freely manipulate dreams, he might have a chance to fool Karasuma Renya.
However, it is very, very difficult to consciously control dreams.
Dreams are unconscious, and his dreams have always been... very unusual. Even Furuya Rei isn't sure what kind of dreams he would have under such circumstances.
Karasuma Renya said the purple potion was something like a truth serum and a hallucinogen, a semi-finished product that hadn't even been named yet. But he felt something was different; it seemed to have a stimulating effect on the brain's nerves, inducing intense emotions, which could trigger dreams related to the most memorable events before and after the injection.
As for the machine that Karasuma Renya called the Dream Chair, it probably used the original brainwashing and holographic technologies, but it's unknown what modifications it underwent to become what it is now.
The portion of the retrieved memories that could be clearly projected onto the screen was actually very small, consisting only of a few fragments where Rei Furuya's emotions were most intense, as well as some dream experiences that Rei Furuya himself clearly remembered.
Perhaps this is why it is called an "unfinished product." According to Karasuma Renya, a finished Dream Chair should be able to connect two chairs at the same time, allowing another person to directly enter the other person's memories and clearly view the entire dream process from the perspective of God or the dream owner, without forgetting those memories like the dream owner.
Even if it doesn't reach that final form, the finished product should at least project an immersive 3D image, and it should clearly capture all the fragments of the dream, allowing a person to have their most important secrets from the depths of their heart unearthed in the most unguarded and uncontrollable dream.
This was the worst nightmare for an undercover agent.
The fact that Furuya Rei had never discovered such a terrifying technology in his previous life can only mean that Karasuma Renya failed to achieve it in the end.
Of course, we can't be completely sure. Perhaps the production of too many red butterflies this time led to the early completion of the technology.
But at least, we're still a long way off.
According to Karasuma Renya, the current Dream Chair can only test the dreams of people with strong mental power; it's useless for ordinary people.
Karasuma Renya said that only some of the more powerful codenamed members in the organization could be considered as having strong mental strength, but he couldn't experiment on them with such an immature technology. Moreover, there were indeed some side effects, just not as brutal and irreversible as Rum's brainwashing technology.
Therefore, the Dream Chair has always lacked more detailed data testing.
So even if Rei Furuya successfully figured out the operating rules of the Dream Chair by repeatedly reloading save files, and thus manipulated the dream to show Renya Karasuma false memories, Renya Karasuma would not find out.
There's a good chance we can fool him.
Even though the dream that the system gave Karasuma Renya could not be changed, it was still just a dream. It could be interpreted as him having always suspected Bourbon, so he dreamt about it because he thought about it during the day.
Rei Furuya was confident he could fool the man as long as he didn't have any problems in the subsequent Dream Chair test.
However, before that, he had something more important to test.
*
Just like last time, Rei Furuya woke up from his dream feeling weak all over, with a throbbing headache and a heavy feeling in his head.
But he woke up even faster than before and immediately looked up at the projection on the opposite wall.
However, Karasuma Renya was even faster than him.
The robot is sitting in the corner again.
An old man with a black raven perched on his shoulder and a black cat in his arms stood in front of him, looking at him closely through a transparent glass.
“Shinichi Kudo.” He suddenly laughed. “The protagonist of this world is actually a high school student who likes to play detective games, and he even took Sherry’s medicine and successfully shrunk, safely becoming a child again.”
He opened the hatch, his voice becoming clearer: "So APTX4869 was successful? Sherry is really amazing."
Rei Furuya silently watched him, carefully feeling his own heart.
Thump—thump—
The heartbeat is normal, at most a little tense, but there is no risk of sudden death.
"What? Are you surprised you didn't die of a heart attack?" Karasuma Renya released his grip, and the black cat in his arms landed lightly on the ground. "You should know about Word Power, right? When you were investigating the legend of Pandora, you wrote a research report. It was a similar power that could cause reincarnators to die suddenly. Words probably count too?"
“But—” He bent down and leaned closer to the blond youth sitting in the dream chair, reaching out to brush away a strand of hair that was damp with sweat and stuck to his face, and smiled with his eyes crinkling: “Consciousness doesn’t count.”
"Because people's hearts are unpredictable," he said.
Rei Furuya and he stared at each other silently.
“How do I know? That has to do with why I created the Dream Chair and how I obtained information about [God] from that reincarnator from fifty years ago. But I don’t want to tell you now unless you exchange it for equal information.” Karasuma Renya straightened up and stepped aside, leaning on his cane.
A man dressed in black, expressionless and like a robot, walked over and moved Furuya Rei to another operating table, but did not immediately restrain him again.
The man put the collar back on the blond youth's dark-skinned neck, but untied the gag that was binding his mouth.
Another person pushed in a small cart filled with healthy foods that didn't require much chewing and were easy to digest.
"The Dream Chair consumes a lot of mental energy. Eat more to replenish your energy and get plenty of rest so you can conduct the next experiment more quickly," Karasuma Renya said gently from his wheelchair.
"The protagonist of this world is Shinichi Kudo," Rei Furuya suddenly said, his voice hoarse.
The two men in black did not react.
Karasuma Renya smiled at him, while the crow on his shoulder let out a sharp "Ah!" as if mocking him.
The black cat gracefully walked over, rubbed against his leg, tilted its head back, meowed, and gently wagged its tail.
Rei Furuya turned his head and scoffed, unwilling to look at them anymore. He simply pursed his lips, trying to control his weak fingers as he picked up the food and began to eat, thinking as he ate.
Even with this biggest secret exposed, the world program still didn't kill him. It seems that he can't take the path of using the power of the world program to quickly kill himself.
However, the organization's boss knows that the protagonist of the world is Shinichi Kudo, and also knows that Shinichi Kudo ate APTX4869, turned into an elementary school student, and became the silver bullet that destroyed the organization. The changes to the main storyline of the world must exceed 60%, no, it should be 90%.
However, since this information was obtained by the organization's boss through strange methods, it does not comply with the rule of immediately restarting the world program. Therefore, even if Furuya Rei were to say it now, it would be useless; it would be too late.
Unless Karasuma Renya takes direct action against Kudo Shinichi now, the world's programming might react and kill one of them.
However, given Karasuma Renya's cunning and cautious nature, he wouldn't do such a thing quickly; he would at least observe carefully for a long time.
Moreover, this incident may prove one thing: a 2% worldline shift and a 90% worldline shift actually have the same result.
So, do we really have to wait for the world lines to gradually converge? How long will that take? A few days? A few months? Or a year?
He couldn't wait that long. In his dream, he could easily expose information about other undercover agents and his friends and family, which would implicate everyone.
Karasuma Renya can kill everyone except himself.
Or, torture them in a more cruel way and use it to threaten him.
Rei Furuya took a sip of water, raised his hand to touch the collar around his neck, and found that it looked very similar to the one Rum had put on them last time.
"Will it explode if you forcibly dismantle it?" he asked.
"No, it will just knock you out with electricity." Karasuma Renya, who had been watching him eat with a loving gaze that gave him goosebumps, reached out and stroked the black cat that had jumped onto his lap, then took out a cat treat from his pocket and fed it.
The crow flapped its wings and flew to Rei Furuya's shoulder, eagerly opening its sharp beak to bite his blond hair.
Rei Furuya swatted the crow away expressionlessly, but it nimbly dodged and moved to the other side to continue playing with his blond hair.
Karasuma Renya laughed: "Crows like to take shiny things back and hide them as treasures."
“Zero, you know you’re now the crow’s treasure.” He said meaningfully, “The crow will not allow any creature to take its treasure away, otherwise it will only suffer the crow’s relentless revenge.”
"Oh, I'm full, I need to go to the bathroom." Furuya Rei said coldly, as if he had completely given up on acting obedient in front of him.
"Can you walk? Do you need help?" Karasuma Renya asked with concern.
With a dark expression, Furuya Rei leaned against the wall and slowly walked towards the door marked "WC," demonstrating his determination through his actions.
"They're so hard to raise. I wish they were as obedient as you." Karasuma Renya sighed, stroking the chin of the black cat in his arms, receiving a series of comfortable purrs.
Rei Furuya ignored him completely, and paid no attention to the black-clad man behind him who had clearly been brainwashed into being a tool. He slowly made his way to the toilet door.
He opened the door, then slammed it shut, leaving everyone outside.
He quickly turned around to observe the toilet, and after confirming that there was a surveillance camera above the sink at the entrance, he slowly walked into the inner toilet stall.
There were no windows, mirrors, or other fragile items. All sharp edges were carefully secured with protective film, which he couldn't tear off with his current strength.
Rei Furuya had already slowed things down enough, and by the time the people outside started banging on the door, Renya Karasuma told him to stop playing dangerous games and come out quickly, but he still hadn't recovered his strength.
He stood in front of the sink, turned on the tap, bent down and splashed water on his face, biting his tongue hard the moment he covered his face.
Although he is not strong enough to bite off his tongue, the main reason for committing suicide by biting off one's tongue is to suffocate by a large amount of blood and bits of flesh blocking the throat, so it is still possible if there is enough bleeding.
But just as the sharp teeth had barely pierced the tongue, a red light flashed from the collar around Rei Furuya's neck, and the anesthetic needle instantly pierced his neck.
The dose of anesthetic was so large that Furuya Rei immediately lost her balance.
In the few seconds before his consciousness completely disappeared into darkness, his mind raced, and he understood the reason.
The collar that fits tightly around his neck can tell what dangerous things he's doing by observing his muscle movements.
It seems he really has a hard time committing suicide and reloading his save file here.
*
April 3rd.
Kenji Hagiwara called Hiromitsu Morofushi.
“No, I know you’re in a hurry, but don’t rush. Don’t do anything stupid! Think about it, if something happens to you, even if Zero is okay, he’ll end up reloading the save file with you, right? Let’s wait another day, work hard to find some clues, and then take action, okay?” he said.
Date Wataru leaned in and said seriously, "Yes, we're still not sure what Furuya's situation is, but I believe in his abilities. If we act rashly, we might disrupt his plans. At the very least, he certainly doesn't want you to walk right into the organization's boss's hands and become a suspect. You understand? If something happens to you, that would be the most painful thing for Furuya."
Matsuda Jinpei didn't speak, his brows furrowed in annoyance.
He actually agreed to rush over to find them, but he also knew that it was very dangerous and could very well lead to Morofushi Kagemitsu's death, with the three of them being completely unable to help.
At this moment, I can truly understand why Morofushi Kagemitsu was so determined and unquestionable to infiltrate the organization with Furuya Rei.
Morofushi Kagemitsu spoke only after they finished speaking, his voice surprisingly calm: "I know, but Zero has been missing for three days. It's the third day now, and we haven't found any trace of him. In extraordinary times, we have to use extraordinary measures. After I use my Scottish identity to find the organization's BOSS, you continue to investigate where Zero might be. We'll operate on two fronts simultaneously."
“But you—” Matsuda Jinpei suddenly raised his voice.
Morofushi Kagemitsu interrupted him: "I'm very worried that Zero might have encountered something terrible without our knowledge. I can't imagine what the organization's boss would do to Zero, whose undercover identity has been exposed. My mind is filled with all sorts of terrifying methods within the organization, inhuman methods that you've never seen before. I can't imagine any of them being used on Zero. I have to find him as soon as possible to confirm his situation."
After he finished speaking, his voice, which had been praised by countless people for its pleasant sound, paused for a moment, as if he were making a very difficult decision, yet so resolute.
“Even if I die, in my last second before I die, I will send Zero back to the time before everything happened, so that he can end his suffering and have a chance to start over,” said Morofushi Kagemitsu.
Even if it means he has to kill Zero with his own hands.
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