Chapter 13

If he hadn't known the content of the mission, Gongye Shengliang would have almost thought that they were really here for a paid vacation.

The group stayed in a hot spring hotel. It was the off-season and there were not many tourists, which was convenient for them.

Dazai chatted with the hotel receptionist in a serious manner and took a walk around the hotel, claiming to be surveying the terrain, but Kono Seira felt that he was truly putting on the role of a tourist. If he hadn't stopped Dazai in time, he would have abandoned his mission to watch the dolphin show.

Faced with the legitimate reason of "You are injured and it is not suitable for you to wander around. Let's go after you feel better", the black-haired boy immediately curled his lips and closed the door of the room with a lack of interest.

Kono Seira was originally quite relieved that today's Dazai was a good boss who would listen to the suggestions of his subordinates - if he had not just wanted to go in to change the bandages for him but found that the door was locked and could not be opened.

Strange, can a bullet wound to the abdomen also affect the brain?

After resting for half a day, the mafia members, who were diligently dressed in black suits even in the hot southern country, took a small boat into the cave at dusk.

If a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry were mixed in the cargo of a cargo ship, shipped from the port to a natural cave in the southernmost part of Japan without being noticed, it would be feasible except that it would be too labor-intensive.

Nearly two-thirds of the routes in the natural cave have not been explored. If there is no map and guidance, it is easy to walk into a dead end. Even more serious, no one will find you if you die in it. If the heritage is really here, it will definitely not be hidden in the developed area for the sake of concealment.

Looking at the big and bold words "Danger ahead, please stop" in front of him, Kono Seiryoshi fell silent.

Ask yourself, does he really need this job?

The answer is neither necessary nor necessary.

Gongye Shengliang sighed and looked around. The accompanying team had already put on professional equipment and their faces were serious as they carefully surveyed the surrounding cave walls.

...So why is he here? He seems to be the one holding everyone back!

The man in a black suit who was closest to him sensed his despair and comforted him in a tone full of the friendliness of a social animal: "It's okay, Mr. Kouno, we are enough." At this point, he stole a glance at a figure in front of him and whispered stealthily, "And Dazai-sama is here too!"

The subtitle is - Don't worry! If nothing unexpected happens, Dazai-sama will definitely do something unexpected!

Kono Seiryoshi: “…Okay.” Thank you, but I wasn’t comforted at all.

However, the words of the big brother in the black suit reminded him - Dazai Osamu was acting weird for some reason. He didn't say a word except for the necessary orders. At this moment, he was standing dozens of meters away from the crowd, with his head down, and no one knew what he was thinking.

Looking at Dazai Osamu's back, Kono Seiryoshi suddenly had an epiphany and realized his real mission - with his physical condition, doing detective work would only be a hindrance, but he could stop Dazai from doing things his own way!

He acted immediately, put on his gloves, touched the spare medicine in his pocket, and walked towards Dazai Osamu.

The cave has a unique geology and a tortuous terrain. Gongye Shengliang took every step carefully to avoid being tripped by rocks that appeared out of nowhere.

After he stumbled to Dazai's side, he raised his eyes and saw clearly with the help of the flashlight what was in the latter's hand: a hand-drawn map.

But after just a glance, Gongye Shengliang frowned.

One day of interrogation was too short, the information obtained was very limited, this map was too simple compared to the complex real cave, and - "Is this map credible?" he couldn't help asking.

Dazai Osamu didn't look up, but he wasn't surprised to see someone beside him. "Sixty... No, maybe fifty percent."

The probability is not low, and it is worth a gamble. Even if they make a mistake, there will be no loss. The only thing is that the people in the dungeon who provided the information will suffer.

Knowing that Dazai Osamu had already considered this, Kono Seiryoshi remained silent, sighing in his heart that to be a bad guy these days one has to be versatile. Who would have thought that the mafia would go into caves to look for treasures?

The end point on the map was not far from here. They walked and stopped along the way, leaving marks in every cave they passed by, and arrived at their destination about an hour later.

The unique geographical conditions and the cave that seemed isolated from the world in the darkness made the group's five senses numbed with every step they took.

The leader, Dazai Osamu, was as relaxed as ever. Maybe he really treated it as a real-life adventure game, but he was very interested in everything in the cave. He even tried to pry open a few rocks to see if there were any mushrooms that Super Mario liked to eat.

In stark contrast to him, this dark and gloomy environment made Kono Seiyoshi nervous all the way. There was no signal for communication, so he not only used pen and paper and his cell phone to take notes, but also used the system's map function, which was rare.

In order to prevent plug-ins from affecting the world line, the map function is actually quite useless. It can only display a circle with a real radius of 50 meters on the screen, and a small bright dot representing the contractor emits a soft fluorescence at the center of the circle.

This little bit of light makes people feel particularly at ease in the dim reality.

The system map scan was correct. Holding a flashlight, Kono Seiryoshi drew a period on his notebook and looked forward.

This is indeed the end point, but there are three branches that seem to have no bottom in front of them.

In the warm yellow light of the cave lamp, Dazai Osamu folded the map in half and put it in his pocket. As if he noticed his gaze, he half turned his head and gave a smile that made people alert, "What should I do? The situation seems to be very bad."

Dazai Osamu quickened his pace and the distance between them was shortened. He pressed Kouno Seira's shoulders, his eyes shining brightly in the darkness, "So, should we go through any road or just die here?" When he said the latter option, he didn't hide the excitement on his face at all.

Gongye Shengliang took a deep breath and thought that the test that life had given him had finally come.

He took Dazai's hand away with a serious look, put it in his pocket, turned around and walked towards the team members and whispered something. After a group of mafia members nodded, he returned to Dazai's side.

"If we divide into four teams, three people will enter the cave separately, marking every fifty meters. If we encounter a new fork, we will repeat. If one person encounters a fork again during the journey, he will return to the previous intersection. If there is no fork, he will go back after 200 meters and wait for the meeting. The rest of the people will stay here and wait for instructions - is this okay?"

Kono Seiryoshi drew a simple diagram using lines to represent the path, and felt that there was still room for improvement in the plan. "Mr. Dazai, do you want to change the number of people and the combination?"

He waited for a few seconds but heard no response, and raised his head in confusion.

However, Dazai Osamu was seen with his arms folded across his chest, and his expression could not be seen clearly in the dim light. One could only see the corners of his mouth pursed up, with the curve slightly downward.

Kono Seira was shocked - was his proposal so bad? The client looked very unhappy! Or was it because he was overstepping his authority and making his boss unhappy? !

His heart suddenly sank, and Gongye Shengliang's hand holding the notebook trembled slightly.

"Just do as you say." Just as he was about to explain something, Dazai Osamu suddenly spoke, leaving a word and turning around, his calm voice reached Kono Seira's ears, "Tell them the time limit is one hour, and retreat when the time is up."

This is... consent?

Kono Seira breathed a sigh of relief and made a gesture to the captain opposite him, who immediately understood.

The mafia members moved quickly. In less than a minute, only the two of them and the guard standing at the entrance of the cave were left.

Inside the cave, the sound of water drops slowly hitting stalactites is infinitely amplified in the silence.

After putting away the timer, Seiryo Kono put his eyes away for a while, but he couldn't help but look at Dazai Osamu.

The snow-white bandage on the latter's face was particularly eye-catching in the dim cave.

It seems that since the plane, Dazai Osamu's emotions have been more sensitive and changeable than usual. Kono Seira lacks experience in communicating with such emotionally delicate minors, and is also very scared at the moment, not knowing whether he should go over.

He was a little afraid that if he went over now, he would disturb the other person. Everyone has times when they want to be alone. What if Dazai is in this period? Wouldn't he be self-defeating?

But if he turned a blind eye... he would feel guilty because he had promised to take care of the injured.

Two contradictory thoughts were fighting in his mind, and Kono Seiryoshi was fiddling with his phone in annoyance. As his thoughts were wandering, a picture suddenly popped up on the screen and caught his attention.

It was the last rainy day when he took the photo of the mushroom umbrella of Dazai Osamu.

Why.

Kouno Seiryoshi sighed and walked along the stone wall towards another person.

Just think of it as watering the mushroom.

On the other side, the human-shaped mushroom was sitting lazily on a flat stone with its legs bent. It can be seen how boring the environment is without network signal. Dazai Osamu fumbled for the small stones beside him and threw them one by one into the stalactite puddle opposite.

Seeing him coming, she glanced at him casually and then turned her eyes back.

Kono Seiryoshi stood silently by the side, watching him play with blinking eyes.

He didn't know if it was because of limited vision or because he simply didn't want to play seriously, but based on the sound, Kono Seira estimated that Dazai threw the ball more than ten times, and none of them went into the goal.

This primitive way of killing time obviously did not meet Dazai Osamu's requirements. He quickly lost interest and leaned back in boredom, sighing: "Kuno-kun, how much time has passed?"

"Thirteen minutes," Kono Seiryoshi answered. He paused and asked tentatively, "If it's too boring, how about we play some other games?"

"Hmm?" The voice on the other side seemed to be interested. "What game?"

Kono Seiryoshi searched his memory for a game that could relieve boredom without tools, and asked hesitantly, "How do you think 'finding prime numbers' sounds?"

“…” There was silence on the other side.

……All right!

Of course, he knew that this sounded strange at first, but this was the result of careful selection! And he had heard that prime numbers can soothe emotions, so now it could come in handy!

The light ball was so embarrassed that he couldn't bear to watch it anymore, and couldn't help but jump out and suggest: [Actually, you can tell ghost stories. This environment is so suitable. By the way, I have a lot of horror materials about cave exploration in my database. If you need them, please deduct 1.]

Kono Seiryoshi: [222222 Stay away from me! ]

"Kuno-kun," Dazai Osamu sighed helplessly, adding to the awkward atmosphere, "Are you joking?"

This complaint hit him right on the head. Gongye Shengliang choked up and punched the wall in sorrow.

Just as he hit it, the system map in front of him suddenly burst into red light.

Kono Seiryoshi was shocked: [What's wrong? Did I use too much force?]

[No.] The sound of the light ball had never been so serious before, and it came into his mind in an increasingly glaring red alarm, [This place is going to explode.]

The author has something to say:

A refreshing game, finger explosion

"Kuno-kun, are you telling a joke?" - It immediately turned into a joke! Hahahahaha!