Chapter 28 Life or death, I will decide after the operation
"Immediately tell the observers to stop approaching these unusual courtesans. It's best to have the relevant personnel evacuate the red-light district. I'll be back later... Never mind, you don't need to pass on the message."
Cheng Xiaoyu stood up angrily, the shadows beneath her feet spreading across the wall, converging into an area just wide enough for one person to pass through. "I'll go talk to your master directly."
When Cheng Xiaoyu emerged from the shadows, there was another person beside Ubuyashiki Yoya's bed. It was the Sound Pillar Uzui Tengen, whom he had met at the Nine Pillars Conference.
Ubuyashiki Kōya saw the crow he'd sent to report intelligence fly out from the shadows, and he understood what was going on. "It looks like the situation in the Flower Street area isn't optimistic. Do we need to evacuate those kids who were gathering intelligence?"
Cheng Xiaoyu: "Let's retreat. There's something over there looking for a lone girl to trade with. Make sure everyone evacuates in groups."
Ubuyashiki Kōya gave instructions to the purple scarf crow, and Uzui Tengen anxiously asked, "Is the thing that appeared over there in the flower street dangerous?"
During this period, Cheng Xiaoyu would regularly take time to come over and use talismans and magic to repair Ubuyashiki Yoshiya's body. Although she could not lift the curse cast by the laws of this universe, she could at least delay Ubuyashiki Yoshiya's death and make him feel better.
During this time, Jiuzhu also learned the purpose of Cheng Xiaoyu's coming here and quickly accepted her.
As for Cheng Xiaoyu's true identity? The Demon Slayer Corps is now working with two demons. Besides, Cheng Xiaoyu isn't a creature of this world and is also working to save more people. So what if she's not human?
Cheng Xiaoyu: "Yes, I now have reason to suspect that there's a place on Red Street that's looking for underage girls to sign contracts with. Based on the strength of the wishes they're trying to fulfill, I think the object of this contract is most likely a soul."
This is not difficult to guess. Anyone with a little understanding of magic contracts will come here and it will be an open-book exam.
It's simple: the transaction isn't necessarily equal, but the person proposing it certainly wouldn't want to be at a disadvantage. Those girls from the lower echelons of red-light district had nothing else to offer in exchange for such a high price, except their souls.
Uzui Tengen's face turned pale. "My Lord, can you allow me to go to the Flower Street with Miss Ghost on this mission?"
"If Miss Ghost agrees." Ubuyashiki Kōya nodded to calm Uzui Tengen and explained to Cheng Xiaoyu, "Previously, in order to investigate the intelligence of the upper-rank demons in the red-light district, Tengen's three wives sneaked into the red-light district to keep in touch with him regularly. But recently, their regular communications began to mention rumors of many courtesans with strange behavior and white creatures that can grant wishes appearing in the red-light district. Tengen was originally discussing with me whether this matter was related to the upper-rank demons."
Hearing that the man was going to rescue his wife, Cheng Xiaoyu had no objection: "Okay, you want to leave now?"
Although he was eager to save his wife, Yu Sui Tianyuan was still aware of the gap between himself and the non-humans: "No, if we act together, the target will be too big. I have not made a good battle deployment now, and I will only hinder you in the battle with the other magical creature. So I suggest that we act separately. I will be responsible for saving my wife, dealing with the evil spirits, and investigating whether Muzan Kibutsuji is involved in this soul contract incident. If it is confirmed that the evil spirits have been involved with your target, I will immediately request your support."
"Okay, since you've already made a plan, let's do it. I'll also help you keep an eye on your wives." Cheng Xiaoyu pulled out a few metal rounds of unknown material from her pocket and handed them to Yu Sui Tianyuan. "The metal block is a walkie-talkie... You don't need to worry about what a walkie-talkie is. All you need to know is that pressing the red button allows you to talk regardless of distance, and pressing the blue button is to send me an emergency call. This is a flashlight... It's already available in this era. Do you know how to use it?"
The operation of these small devices was very simple. With Cheng Xiaoyu's explanation, Yu Sui Tianyuan quickly understood how to use them. "I know. I've seen this little Western gadget at Ganlu Temple. Pressing that button will emit light without using fire."
Cheng Xiaoyu: "I got these from a colleague. Unlike the flashlights of your time, they can emit light similar to the sun, and with a wider range. Once turned on, if there's no obstruction, the area within 30 meters of the house will be as bright as day. The energy in these things is enough to last you until dawn. If you see a ghost, just point the flashlight at its face and make quick work of it."
This low-tech, everyday gadget, common in Huiyuan Xiong's era, was ubiquitous in the "company" office, similar in function to a doctor's or teacher's pen. Cheng Xiaoyu had picked up this flashlight when she went to the office to submit a report, then casually tossed it into the shadows. Since the darkness wouldn't affect Cheng Xiaoyu's vision, she hadn't remembered it until just now.
But for Uzui Tengen, these are all very important strategic props: "This... is so precious! Thank you very much, I will definitely use it carefully."
Cheng Xiaoyu was afraid that he would risk his life for a flashlight on the battlefield, so she immediately added, "These things themselves are definitely not as valuable as human life. They were already manufactured in Huiyuanxiong's time, but I only have a limited number on me. Just be aware that these things are disposable and will decompose on their own when the battery runs out."
Uzui Tengen: "I understand."
After everything that needed to be explained was said, Cheng Xiaoyu took a piece of intelligence and said goodbye to them, returning to the darkness she was familiar with.
Reading in the dark was not a difficult task for Cheng Xiaoyu, but she did not flip through the manuscript immediately. Instead, she hung upside down... Perhaps it was upside down, because there was no gravity in the kingdom of shadows to judge up and down. In short, she let herself float and rubbed her eyebrows.
There have been too many unexpected events. She has never encountered anything that developed normally since she came to this world. She now needs to empty her mind temporarily so that she can organize her thoughts later.
Looking at the floating white paper, Cheng Xiaoyu's mind was empty. She recalled that every time she went to the office, medical department and other areas, the pens or other small items on her body would inexplicably disappear and appear in various places.
If a pen with special powers disappeared, it might have been taken away by a colleague, but how could an ordinary black and blue ballpoint pen disappear?
Cheng Xiaoyu poked No. 233 and said, "When you have time, have the logistics department check the reality stability index of these areas. I reasonably suspect some strange law like the law of the disappearance of gel pens has sneaked in."
No. 233 replied with a "1" immediately, then continued: [Someone has already submitted a similar application, and the feedback stated that this is part of the laws of the universe and not an anomaly. As long as it doesn't seriously hinder employees' work, it's not considered an anomaly.]
It's like the programmer's law - does the program run? If it does, then it's not a bug, it's all part of my program! Don't touch my program!
Cheng Xiaoyu stopped paying attention to this little episode. This short digression was enough for her and her partner to recover from their overheated thinking. She returned to the main topic:
"Do you think the anomalous infiltration on Flower Street is related to the multiple anomalous data we detected previously?"
[If there's no connection, I'll devour Muzan Kibutsuji! I'd recognize this wave spectrum even if it were burned to ash.] 233 forced a bit of gnashing of teeth into his robotic voice. [Do you know how I've been getting through this?!]
During this period of time, they ran around everywhere. Although they did not directly encounter the unknown infiltrant and the people or objects affected by the unknown infiltrant, they still detected multiple interference fluctuations that were different from the local space-time laws. The other party was obviously deliberately avoiding them.
Cheng Xiaoyu and No. 233 are also external interfering forces. Since they can track down the other party by detecting wavelengths that do not belong to the local world, the other party can of course use this technology to evade them in turn. This is why Cheng Xiaoyu has been empty-handed for so long.
At the beginning, Cheng Xiaoyu and No. 233 thought about it seriously. The other party was hiding their heads and showing their tails. Either they were actually a group of creatures and objects acting independently and temporarily forming a tour group to another world, or they had some conspiracy.
In order to find out the truth about No. 233, we can only use the simplest method - turn on the maximum search frequency and stare at all the data intently, and report any abnormalities immediately. It all depends on hand speed and eyesight.
No. 233 has been watching intently for so long, and today he finally understood why they have gained nothing during this period of time... That's because these "anomalies" are all freshly made, local specialties from other places!
The infiltrant used the skins of local creatures to hide the abnormal wavelengths that did not belong to this world under the normal activity frequency of local residents, sneaking in secretly.
This means that all the work done by No. 233 during this period has been in vain. If the resentment of the electronic data life could be materialized, it might have turned into an electronic ghost and come to take lives.
"What should we do next? Should we really go straight to Flower Street?" No. 233 said, "I don't think this is a good idea. This is the first time we've caught that thing in a while. If you go straight over now, it will definitely slip away again. But if we don't do anything..."
Cheng Xiaoyu: "They will inevitably cause irreversible consequences. I don't believe that the overlapping traces of Muzan Kibutsuji and that unscrupulous salesman are due to the budding of a forbidden love that spans species and universes. If we can't eliminate them both at the same time, there will be trouble ahead."
Action will alert the enemy, and inaction will miss the opportunity.
And there are those girls who were bewitched and signed a contract to sell their souls.
Save the girl and alert the enemy.
Leaving aside the moral issues of not saving the girls, there must be a reason why some of them were placed in the heart of the red-light district while others were scattered across the city. Either they were bait in a trap, or they were part of the plan, and if they weren't eliminated, there would be trouble ahead.
As for what plan... judging from the current situation, it is definitely not a plan for peace and friendship.
There are huge risks in moving or not, saving or not saving.
This seems to be a dead end.
Cheng Xiaoyu flipped through the stack of documents in her hand and asked, "So, No. 233, what is the conclusion of your intelligent deduction program?"
No. 233: [Those bewitched girls are likely capable of fighting and will refuse to cooperate with your rescue efforts. They might even fight you to protect the stowaway. You must eliminate the influence of this world from them. Their refusal to cooperate will be a huge obstacle.]
[The good news is that they are no match for you when they first gain their abilities, and this refusal to cooperate will not affect your ability to clear them.]
The calculations concluded that the most reasonable approach at this point was to simply disregard the local casualty rate, abandon the pretense and hide, and directly capture them in the red-light district, violently overcoming all obstacles in their path, with the primary goal of protecting the universe. In short, the calculations said they were doomed.
No. 233 reported calmly.
[The results are the same as those from our previous missions. As the first executor, what are your thoughts on this?]
This is the result obtained by inputting the employee's personal data, then entering it in its current form, and performing several simulations with an approximate environment simulated in the electronic world.
Rigorous, rule-compliant, and efficient.
"You said it's the same as before, so I'll do the same as before..."
After reading the precise calculation results, Cheng Xiaoyu sighed deeply, and then threw the results into the recycling bin without hesitation.
"To hell with that calculation!"
Life or death will be decided by me personally!
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