Chapter 195, Jing Guang and No. 234
As expected, No. 234 did not ask any more questions. Along the way, he only checked the road conditions and reported the current situation of Morofushi Takaaki and Furuya Rei from time to time.
The station wasn't far from his home; it only took a short drive to get there.
Morofushi Kagemitsu pulled his hat brim down a bit, bought a newspaper at the newsstand next door, and walked into the station discreetly.
The moment he stepped through the door, he asked a question he always paid attention to when traveling through time: 'What's the date on today's calendar?'
[Anti-fraud expert #234: ...December 7th, what an unlucky day!]
So, will my death date on this timeline still be December 7th?
[Anti-fraud expert #234: That's right, you see, fate is obsessive-compulsive; even the timing of its demise has to be perfect. But don't worry, with me here, you'll be fine today.]
Morofushi Kagemitsu smiled, seriously bought a ticket from the machine, then took out his earphones, made a few gestures on his phone, and pretended to be on a call.
As he walked in, he said, "If you walk about 150 meters further ahead, you'll reach the spot where the first bomb in the bombing was detonated. It's an escape route."
[Anti-fraud expert #234: Um, this is indeed the place. Is there anything else you want to investigate? There shouldn't be any valuable clues left here.]
I know that after the joint investigation by the police and Shoichi Imanishi, there shouldn't be anything special left in the station now.
[Anti-fraud expert #234: Then why did you come out at all? Vermouth is on her way here. Who knows if she'll use some special entrance to catch us off guard?! Don't let your guard down just because you're a corpse.]
You don't need to worry about that; Vermouth won't come to this station.
He carried the newspaper and slowly walked towards the first explosion site, continuing, "Imanishi Shoichi was very well prepared and cautious enough. In that era without signal jammers, he would personally go to the scene to confirm the explosion."
[Anti-Fraud Guru #234: You...]
Surprisingly, Morobushi Kagemitsu detected a hint of inner conflict in his words.
"Next was the second location of the explosion. He deliberately chose a densely populated area, right in the seating area of the platform." He looked at the middle seat of this row of seats, and since no one was sitting there, he lifted his clothes and sat down. "At that time, the bomb was attached to the back of the seat and was covered by passengers' windbreakers, so not many people could see that something was wrong. That's how the tragedy happened."
[Anti-Fraud Guru #234: ...]
These two locations are, in a sense, the landing point where I landed when I traveled through time and space, and the weak point where I broke through the barrier of time and space. In a way, many details are not coincidences, but rather a kind of subtle hint.
Morofushi Kagemitsu took out today's newly issued newspaper, and as expected, the headline on the front page was about yesterday's shooting at the foot of the mountain. The news not only reported the news of the attack on prosecutor Kitada Yu, but also described some details of the mysterious gunman's attack on the police car. The word "explosion" was particularly eye-catching, and the layout editor had even enlarged it.
He tore off a page of the newspaper, and when he was only halfway through, number 234 called out to him.
[Anti-fraud expert #234: ...What else do you want to know? I'll tell you, just stop tearing it up.]
His movements with the newspaper only slowed down, but did not stop.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #234: ...]
Morofushi Kagemitsu continued to tear slowly, the smile on his lips remaining unchanged.
[Anti-fraud expert #234: ...Okay, okay, I'll pull you into that spatial rift now, alright? Seriously, stop tearing things up. Creating your own opportunity to get in will cost double the energy... There are 19 minutes left, that's about enough. Let's not waste this time.]
Hearing this, he obediently stopped and waited for number 234 to "teleport" next.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #234: I should have known better; even with all these tricks, I couldn't hide it from you...]
Amidst muttering complaints, the newspaper in Morofushi Kagemitsu's hand was suddenly slapped onto his face. The audible rustling of the paper gradually quieted down the surroundings.
You should be coming in now.
Morofushi Kagemitsu skillfully removed the newspaper, looked around, and saw snowflakes drifting gently in the air, but he could already feel his own body temperature.
[Anti-fraud expert #234: This is only temporary. After all, your consciousness hasn't truly returned. In a few dozen seconds, your body will come here to "receive" you.]
That's a really interesting description. Is all my sense of humor condensed into this slice of yours?
[Anti-fraud expert #234: Ha, maybe. Perhaps before you died, you took some time to make a similar wish to the undercover anti-fraud app, like, "Please, this is my lifelong request!" or something like that.]
Zhu Fujingguang: ...
Alright, let's get down to business. Since we're all the same person, let's stop beating around the bush and just say what's on our minds.
Why don't we start from the basics and talk about why you specifically kicked out number 205 and the others from this time travel?
Is there something wrong with them?
[Anti-fraud expert #234: ...They're not doing anything wrong now, but who knows what will happen in the future, especially during this period of great fluctuation in the balance of fate.]
I remember you told me that after choosing to integrate with the app, some of your self-awareness would be retained for about five years.
Are you saying this because this kind of erosion of consciousness will accelerate? And is this erosion also related to the balance of ebb and flow?
[Anti-Fraud King #234: That's right. However, the reason I'm not letting them come isn't because this time travel is anything special, but because I feel the world's fate line seems to be getting closer and closer to its end.]
"Approaching the finish line... The way you're saying that makes it sound like the end of the world is coming."
[Anti-fraud King No. 234: The end of the world is unlikely, but the end of "fate" seems inevitable. As beings whose existence is both born from and opposed to fate, we cannot avoid that day's arrival.]
...Will you disappear too?
[Anti-fraud expert #234: Yes, that's why I wanted to create a private space in the hotel to talk to you. But I didn't expect you to make the first move and even plan to return to the time-space rift, so I had no choice but to go along with your wishes.]
After he finished speaking, a white light appeared before Zhu Fujingguang's eyes, gradually shrinking into a white halo, which fell to the ground and slowly took shape.
Number 234 showed up on his own initiative.
However, this time she wasn't wearing that somewhat silly alpaca suit; instead, she transformed into a white-furred, blue-eyed ragdoll cat with a small glass bottle around her neck filled with colorful halos.
[Anti-fraud expert #234: This is the energy I've saved up. Don't be fooled by the small bottle; after decompression, it's enough to replenish the energy you consumed in modifying your "inevitable fate of death."]
The little Ragdoll cat shook its head, and the small glass bottle swayed along with it.
Morofushi Kagemitsu sat down, and the Ragdoll cat jumped onto her lap on its own initiative, behaving very obediently.
He knew himself well, so he took off the small glass bottle, and sure enough, he got the cat's nod of approval.
'That sounds a bit like you're giving your dying words.'
[Anti-fraud expert #234: From a holistic perspective, as long as you are alive, I am alive. If you still cannot avoid death, then we are truly dead.]
Morofushi Kagemitsu thought about it and agreed that it made sense, so he stopped worrying about it and continued asking questions along the lines of their previous discussion:
Does your use of "disappearance" have another meaning? If it's really what I understand it to be, then you don't seem to need to specifically avoid Number 205 and the others.
[Anti-fraud expert #234: The "disappearance" I mentioned earlier refers to the forceful influence of fate on the world. Actually, you don't need to see it as entirely "bad." It's simply a kind of "initiative" that gradually emerges to ensure the world functions properly; you can see it as the world's self-correction after reaching a certain point. The end of the fate line signifies the end of this correction in the world's course.]
From this perspective, that day wasn't the end of the world; rather, it seemed more like the beginning of a new phase.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #234: You can understand it this way. Simply put, as something that checks and balances "proactiveness," if it disappears, we naturally become useless as well. However, this is under normal spacetime conditions.]
Is spacetime abnormal now?
Morofushi Kagemitsu recalled his several time travels and the changes he made through the future, and felt a sense of guilt, thinking, "I was the mastermind behind it all."
[Anti-Fraud King #234: Of course not you. Your little fluctuation is nothing. As for its origins, this goes back several decades… but I can't go any further. Just know that this matter is inextricably linked to the Black Organization.]
Morofushi Kagemitsu recalled the organization's experiments and the length of its existence, and seemed to understand something.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #234: That's enough, no need to think about it anymore. In short, there's been a problem with spacetime, causing brief time reversals to randomly occur around the world—this is the "adventure" of the Black Organization members.]
So, in that case, I...
[Anti-Fraud Guru #234: Yes, such mistakes naturally need to be corrected. Therefore, there was that "you" who was pre-arranged using the time-travel mission.]
The Ragdoll cat seemed a little tired of standing, so it lay down on Izumi Hiromitsu's lap and put its paws inside its body.
[Anti-fraud expert #234: Remember how #205 and the others said things like "Don't do a second playthrough" so many times? This is not only because they don't want you to get stuck in a loop, but also to prevent the fate line from entering another big loop.]
The Ragdoll cat gave an adorable yawn.
[Anti-fraud expert #234: You'll discover this secret about the grand cycle later, so I won't elaborate. But I must remind you, it's best not to let #205... know. Actually, the only humanity he retains in the anti-fraud team is...]
[Anti-fraud King #234: Unfortunately, my existence violates too many rules, and I'm about to be erased...]
His heart skipped a beat, and he looked down at the cat in his arms, which was gradually turning into gibberish.
'Don't be so stubborn, don't follow in my footsteps...'
Morofushi Kagemitsu softly repeated the last words left by No. 234.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
