Chapter 204 Chapter 204 Shrine
In the days that followed, Morofushi Kagemitsu lived a very comfortable life.
Especially after the anti-fraud master resolved his fate of death, he only needed to impersonate Goshima Shunsuke at the appropriate time to secretly carry out his undercover activities.
He squandered the organization's funds, urging the completion of the Tokyo Drug Research Center while keeping abreast of the latest developments in the battle between Merlot and Brandy through intelligence from Kyoto. Meanwhile, Furuya Rei gave him real-time updates on Rum's impoverished state—thanks to Zero's efforts to both add water and salvage the ship, the head of the intelligence group and former second-in-command of the organization was now at his wit's end.
The most authoritative BOSS remained neutral in the chaos, only requiring Morofushi Kagemitsu to maintain the organization's normal operations during this period, and thus tacitly approved his annexation of the Hokkaido region, which was originally managed by Mello.
When he discovered that the BOSS had arranged a supply line from Tokyo to Hokkaido, he knew that the opportunity he had been waiting for had finally arrived.
It's time to go to Hokkaido.
[Anti-fraud expert #214: ...So, Jing, what exactly are you going to Hokkaido for? "Reliving our first meeting" sounds romantic, but I doubt you'd go there specifically for that.]
Huh? Don't you guys know? I actually say this every day, but unfortunately you can't hear my heartfelt words.
During this time, he tried many methods to overcome the limitations imposed by the "erasure." However, the result was obvious: the anti-fraud team not only couldn't recall any events involving Number 234 and them, but as his death faded into obscurity, the code Number 234 was subtly ignored in their conversations.
Sometimes he couldn't quite explain it, whether it was that the alpacas were unwilling to talk about a future without him, or whether the power of the rules had descended upon them.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #26: Huh? Are you sure this isn't your encrypted inner monologue? All you think about is the organization's affairs and the police's plans; you rarely even talk about forum gossip. Where are we supposed to "listen" to?]
[Anti-fraud expert #148: Exactly!]
...Well, that was my fault.
Actually, what I was thinking about was related to the anti-fraud app itself, but perhaps due to the rules, my thoughts were silenced.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #66: What on earth were you thinking?! You're actually bound by rules?! And haven't we warned you countless times? Don't think about the secrets of fate, it's easy to get into trouble. See, this time you've blocked us!]
[Anti-Fraud Guru #11: It's too late to say all this now. However, the fact that they blocked us suggests that Hokkaido might indeed be hiding some unknown secrets.]
Actually, Hokkaido isn't as mysterious as you imagine. As I just mentioned, what I'm about to do is closely related to you all.
[Anti-fraud expert #198: Hurry up and tell me, the train has already arrived at the station.]
I plan to go to the shrine.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #26: ? ? ? ]
It's the shrine that gave me my first amulet.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #19: Um, we do know about that little shrine, but why do you suddenly want to go? Is there some hidden story there that we don't know about?]
[Anti-fraud expert #205: The system tells me there isn't one.]
That's fine. I only considered that place as a potentially promising location and wanted to explore it further.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #198: Let's investigate...? Do you have a special connection to that area?]
The anti-fraud team quickly unfolded the map, zoomed in on the small area belonging to the shrine, and activated the latest version of the scanning mode.
[Anti-fraud expert #205: Still nothing... That's really strange. Could its special nature lie in another dimension?]
Another dimension?
If Morofushi Kagemitsu hadn't thought of this, aside from the time-space rift that No. 234 had taken her to, he had only ever been in contact with the illusion space.
The former is hard to find. He has mentioned it to the anti-fraud team quite a few times in the past month, but whether it will appear depends on fate, so there has been basically no success. As for the latter... the anti-fraud team should know how to get in.
He looked at bus number 205, who was flying ahead and waiting for him to exit the station, and frankly expressed his desire to go in again.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #205: ...You should remember what we told you about the fantasy world, right? It's chaotic there, and it keeps repeating events from the previous 24 hours. Leaving aside the energy we expend to enter and exit, just putting your illusion into the real world is dangerous enough.]
You don't need to worry about that. To ensure the smooth progress of this "exploration," I specifically chose to come to Hokkaido these past two days. During this time, I will be able to secretly control the movement of people around the shrine under the organization's name.
[Anti-fraud expert #148: Is this why you insisted on buying a night express train ticket?]
Yes, not only that, I also used the pseudonym of psychic master Mr. Matsuno to smooth things over.
Taking advantage of the situation, Morobuchi Kagemitsu plucked hair from No. 66 for one night.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #66: Ah! So that's why you had me secretly contacting those colleagues those past few days...]
That's right. It seems to be working quite well now.
Morofushi Kagemitsu looked at the real-time satellite image provided by Anti-Fraud King with considerable satisfaction. The area around the shrine was clean and deserted.
He lifted his leg and walked in that direction, getting closer and closer to the shrine, where there were fewer and fewer people.
[Anti-fraud expert #198: Wait... you're just admitting we'll definitely take you to that illusionary space?]
Don't you want to go? I thought you were curious to know what I really wanted to say after being silenced for over a month.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #26: I really want to... but is it really necessary for us to take that risk now? We've already achieved our ultimate goal. Next, all we need to do is wait for the right opportunity and coordinate with the police to bring about the organization's destruction.]
If it weren't for what Number 234 said before disappearing, he probably would have thought the same thing.
However, both the future timeline, which clearly hasn't reached its end yet, and the "silver bullet," whose truth remains elusive, suggest that this journey of fate is far from over.
From the perspective of anti-fraud activists, ending his inevitable death represents a success in their struggle. But, as something capable of defying fate, what real purpose does the death of a human being serve?
Knowing he would be erased, Number 234 still revealed the current state of the spacetime anomaly, which must be extremely important information. He didn't think it was a simple science lesson, but rather a possibility that spacetime would malfunction again. Moreover, he specifically pointed out that this abnormal situation was caused by the Black Organization from decades ago, making the implication quite clear.
He thought that to truly put an end to everything, not only should the organization be dismantled, but the mistakes caused by those abnormal fluctuations should also be corrected in order to achieve a balance.
Otherwise, even if you take all precautions, you may still fall into a "second cycle" of time, just like your fate that has not been rewritten.
[Anti-fraud expert #11: ...Jing, your thoughts are becoming unclear. I could only barely make out the words "silver bullet" and "second playthrough."]
...Both of these things are very important to us.
I'm just thinking about what price I have to pay to satisfy Vermouth.
[Anti-fraud expert #214: Ah, it's a pity that all the data related to "Silver Bullet" was burned back then, otherwise the FBI might have actually gotten some information. However, if we really want to get the truth from Vermouth, we'll probably have to give up some information about Fate Fluctuations.]
If her attitude towards the experiments were similar to Gin and Brandy's, I definitely wouldn't say anything, and might even deliberately tell her some convincing information. However, judging from her behavior in the future timeline, this woman will become a hidden danger to the organization.
[Anti-fraud expert #198: Judging from her attitude and physical condition, we can deduce some of the effects of the "silver bullet." As you've seen, it and the modified version of APTX-4869 have similar effects in altering the body's state.]
APTX-4869.
Morobuchi Kagemitsu silently recited the drug code in his mind.
He remembered that he seemed to have an antidote for it.
Do you think Vermouth would be interested in this?
[Anti-fraud expert #66: If you actually bring out this drug, I feel she'll be more interested in you...]
[Anti-fraud expert #19: Then she'll turn all the organization's labs upside down to see who on earth managed to develop this thing.]
[Anti-Fraud Guru #205: Given her knowledge of the fluctuations in fate, it's highly likely she'll deduce that this thing was brought from the future. Once she sees through your ability to further alter and manipulate the future, even though our anti-fraud app has been upgraded to its highest form, the [Shadow] can still directly attack your face in the next moment.]
Ah, it seems that there is a great risk in doing this.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #26: Of course! So, don't push this kind of thing into the hands of organization members! Just exchange it with her through discussion, using information that doesn't involve core secrets.]
Oh? Even if we both have some understanding of the fluctuations of fate, we can't discuss it too much in reality.
He couldn't help but think of that morning when Melo revealed to him that she came from an island. He didn't dare say a word more, but the woman seemed to have no qualms about mentioning many key words.
[Anti-fraud expert #214: ...Don't judge that lunatic by normal standards. No means no! You'll see what happens to her; it won't end well.]
Okay, I understand.
Since this path has been so winding, let's focus on the present first.
For example, embarking on this mountain path leading to the shrine.
Morofushi Kagemitsu stood at the foot of the mountain, looking up slightly, just as he had when he first came to the shrine.
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