Chapter 225 Auspicious Land
Sure enough, it was the drug center that I had worked so hard to establish.
Unexpectedly, even though I'm no longer here in this different time and space, the project has still been successfully implemented. The surrounding facilities are still the same as before, and even the location of the convenience store hasn't changed.
[Anti-fraud expert #66: ...I was just about to remind you, but there were just too many alerts, so I didn't say it for now. Anyway, you'll find out soon enough.]
Number 66, who was busy fixing various bugs, also peeked in and joined the discussion. It seems that he was also curious about this location.
Indeed, given the current situation, they certainly cannot ignore some particularly prominent and unusual aspects, which may very well be clues to their mission.
Moreover, this place was not only originally chosen as a "base for defection"; in the past timeline, Gin and Mello also set a trap for themselves here.
Is this really just a coincidence?
[Anti-fraud expert #66: I don't think so. I'm afraid even your operation this time wasn't that simple. To be honest, if I hadn't calculated that it would be "a close call," I would have told you to jump out of the car and run.]
...Stop with those nonsensical ideas in the second half of your sentence, let's get down to business.
Well... in short, none of the drug centers are operating now, so this secret probably wasn't brought about by any later people or things.
[Anti-fraud expert #66: So that's because of the natural environment here? Is it because the feng shui is exceptionally good? But that's unlikely. When I calculated it for you, I only concluded that this place was suitable for drug research...]
Huh? When did you calculate that?
[Anti-fraud expert #66: I just casually cast a divination... Ugh, is this the time to talk about this? Jing, you should really think about why you chose this place in the first place.]
Morofushi Kagemitsu recalled it carefully.
He chose this location primarily for two important factors: communication and secrecy. After all, once it was built, not only could the center develop antidotes and genuine nutritional supplements, but the accompanying transportation network would also connect Tokyo with other regions.
Later on, with some further development, he might even be able to open up another transportation chain. If Melo hadn't been so reckless, he was even planning to use this connection to gain some credit. In this way, the police could gain a clearer grasp and monitoring of the organization's activities through this route, and the organization's focus would gradually shift towards police surveillance.
[Anti-fraud expert #66: You've thought of everything. I initially thought you only designated this area to accommodate those forced to participate in the organization's experiments... There's nothing wrong with your plan, but thinking about it this way, we're even less clear about Rum's intentions in choosing this place, since it's currently Gin's territory.]
Therefore, we can't guess here; Zero and I still need to investigate.
When Morofushi Kagemitsu saw Furuya Rei drive the car into an inconspicuous corner, he knew they should prepare to infiltrate.
By the way, how's the bug fixing going on your end?
[Anti-Fraud Guru No. 66: More and more are popping up... However, I'm now certain this isn't a bug, but a very sophisticated hacking attack.]
Hacking attack? Where did they attack?
They shouldn't be able to reach places like the space-time rift, and your original bodies were left in the past. Could it be that they are attacking the Black Guest in this timeline?
[Anti-fraud expert #66: That's right, I told you, the anti-fraud experts in this timeline have all gone missing for some reason. Right now, I can only remotely interfere with the app's operations. I thought the defense template #205 left for Black Guest would be enough to deal with all sorts of hacker harassment and attacks, but I never expected to encounter... huh?!]
What's wrong? !
Morofushi Kagemitsu's heart tightened, but he remained outwardly calm. The unexpected incidents involving Number 66 along the way had been far too frequent; he was already used to it. He even nodded to Furuya Rei sitting next to him when the car came to a complete stop.
[%*～/+#…]
Number 66?!
The electrical sounds in his mind fluctuated in intensity, making him feel dizzy. This direct feedback reminded him of the times he was about to travel through time.
No... we have to go back now?
[...and...in the /=# connection...]
[Anti-fraud expert #66: #…&*… has been corrected.]
Are you sure...?
[Anti-Fraud King No. 66: ...There shouldn't be any problems in the short term. Let me manually speed up our communication first, and then I'll tell you some bad news.]
It's best that nothing bad happened to you.
As for the bad news...
Moribushi Kagemitsu suppressed the dizziness that had just surged up and focused on responding to the communication fluctuations appearing in his mind. He felt that as long as he wasn't immediately "forcibly repatriated," it wasn't bad news.
[Anti-Fraud Guru #66: ...That's better than you think. Our stay here has only been reduced by 90%.]
90%...
What level of attack is this? I remember that hackers in this world can't do anything to you.
[Anti-Fraud Master No. 66: Logically speaking, that's true. However, if the hacker attack incorporates a significant amount of fate energy, our response will be very difficult. Furthermore, I'm not an expert in this area like No. 205 and No. 198, and there's another barrier between us. If I weren't a cyber being, it's questionable whether we could have withstood this attack.]
If you weren't there, given Black Guest's current defenses, they would probably be overwhelmed, right? There's even some element of fate involved... So, the enemy only made their move because they knew Black Guest's defenses were currently weak.
[Anti-Fraud King No. 66: In this timeline where the anti-fraud kings are silent, the defense network is indeed unable to withstand it. It's only because, aside from the Nagano incident, we, having traveled here, were able to take over the defenses in time that we weren't targeted and breached like this. It must be said, the timing of their attack... was perfect.]
...Are you suspecting that our information has been leaked?
However, currently, only we know about this time-traveling mission. I won't tell you, and neither will you. Who else would know? Could it be that the organization was able to detect some fluctuations in fate and that's why they detected us?
[Anti-Fraud Master No. 66: The fluctuations they can detect likely emanate from a major, special event, and have a certain distance limitation. Furthermore, No. 205 speculates that something likely has extremely stringent activation conditions… In short, at our level now, it won't be effective.]
So it was... a coincidence?
[Anti-Fraud King No. 66: I probably would have thought the same way before, but now... I'm not so sure. I suspect someone has already noticed that we've traveled through time and space, and has been observing us in secret for a long time before seizing this opportunity. As for why fate didn't react significantly... I guess that person must have something special about them.]
Special... to be honest, there are quite a few special people in the current timeline.
[Anti-Fraud King No. 66: So, who do you think would be an enemy with a special destiny, living on two timelines?]
...Karasuma Renya? No, if he knew, I wouldn't be alive now.
That leaves only... Vermouth.
[Anti-fraud expert #66: It's very likely her. She didn't appear in the previous series of events, but Shuichi Akai once said that he met with her privately before Mello died. Even if Vermouth intended for him to hear some of it, they have plenty of ways to exchange information in other ways.]
...Given Melo's hidden intent to kill me at the time, it was indeed quite possible that he would have planted a seed of death on Vermouth. However, after Melo's death, many things changed, which made Vermouth less eager to take action against me.
However, in this timeline, many things did not happen, and my feud with Vermouth was never brought up again.
[Anti-Fraud King No. 66: This is another point I wanted to make that we've overlooked. You can travel through time and space with our power, and even now, though weakened, you can still communicate across time and space. So why can't Vermouth? You know, you're not the only special person.]
...If, as you say, she can also travel through time, then considering the timeline, she likely knew about it when I went to Nagano. That would explain why our connection was suddenly severed that time. However, because she didn't interfere, the reaction from time and fate wasn't as significant.
So, that phone call earlier...
[Anti-Fraud Guru No. 66: I'm afraid that at that time, we weren't the only ones conducting cross-temporal communication; it's just that the details were masked by the static.]
Morofushi Hiromitsu recalled their previous conversation and felt that Vermouth must have realized it at the time, which is why she brought up the electrical noise, so that they could find a reason to deny the suspicion in a very short time, in order to hide her own unusual intentions.
[Anti-fraud expert #66: This woman is far too cunning...]
Speaking of which...
"The next patrol will arrive in five minutes, so we need to be ready at any time."
Rei Furuya glanced at the time and reminded him.
Because No. 66 had accelerated, their conversation didn't take long. He and Rei Furuya had just gotten off the train and found a place to hide.
[Anti-fraud expert #66: You should set an alarm first, lest you two get too engrossed in your chat.]
Not that bad = =
"I understand." Morofushi Kagemitsu nodded, indicating that he had remembered, and seized the brief moment to ask, "By the way, Mr. Amuro, where did you get this intelligence from?"
Morofushi Kagemitsu, who hadn't originally intended to pry into Zero's background, suddenly asked this question with utmost sincerity in his eyes.
Rei Furuya paused, then looked in the direction of Kagemitsu Morofushi, his gaze meeting those eyes that were strikingly similar to Hiro's. The mocking words that had been on the tip of his tongue changed:
"It's Vermouth..."
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