bookbashuk Page 108
Page 108
The "Reversed Pocket Watch" was triggered the instant he died.
The effect of the Reversed Pocket Watch is that time will rewind to one minute ago. All players will retain their memories from before the rewind, dead players will be resurrected, and all injuries sustained within that minute will disappear, but mental and physical strength will not be restored.
The key point is that "players" can retain the memories of the past, but cannot recover the mental and physical strength that have been lost.
Sato knew what had happened, but his mental energy had been drained too much by the demon hand, and he could no longer even stay conscious.
Tanaka Koji and Nagai Kei, who were not players, had no idea what had happened. From their perspective, Mr. Sato, who was perfectly fine just a second ago, suddenly collapsed to the ground.
Of course, even if Sato's mental strength recovers and he retains his memories to try again, his defeat is already inevitable.
The plan to swallow the bomb and hide it inside the body would no longer be effective now that Asagiri and the others already knew about it.
A few seconds later, notification sounds came from the phones of Asagiri, Kotoko Iwanaga, Megumi Kato, and Asuna Yuuki.
[Player Sato's spirit has been completely destroyed, and Sato's "player" identity has been stripped away. Since the target player is someone who belongs to the current instance world and does not have a mobile phone with the system app installed, he cannot participate in the lottery. An additional reward will be issued after this instance as compensation.]
"Phew... I did it..."
Upon seeing the system notification, Kato Megumi breathed a sigh of relief.
But she was still a little uneasy, so she immediately drew her dagger and cut open Sato's throat. After confirming that although his body had been restored to normal under the influence of the black particles, he had not opened his eyes or made any movements, just like a vegetable, she nodded and said calmly.
"Yes, it was indeed a success."
45
Chapter 45, the Demi-human dungeon, cleared.
"Mr. Sato..."
Seeing Sato lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious, Tanaka Koji, who had just been resurrected, rushed over, pressed the muzzle of his gun against Sato's forehead, and pulled the trigger. However, he saw that Sato's eyes were still tightly closed after his resurrection, and an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.
"How could this be... Mr. Sato is an Ajin... How could this happen..."
Seeing that Kei Nagai and Koji Tanaka were still confused, Kotoko Iwanaga looked at Asagiri and asked.
"Leader, what should we do with those two?"
"Ignore them, they're not players, they have nothing to do with us."
Just as Asagiri finished speaking, a series of hurried footsteps suddenly came from the distance of the corridor. The moment he heard the footsteps, he quickly switched from his original calm and collected demeanor to a look of utter exhaustion, leaning against the wall with one hand.
Asuna Yuuki, Kotoko Iwanaga, and Megumi Kato quickly followed suit, either sitting on the ground or leaning against the wall, all looking extremely weak after the battle.
A few seconds later, Shimomura Izumi arrived in the corridor with more than a dozen members of the mobile unit.
She looked at Sato lying there, Tanaka Koji and Nagai Kei looking blank, and Asagiri and the others who were so weak that they could barely stand, and immediately gave orders.
"Take those three demi-humans under control."
"no, do not want!"
Both Kei Nagai and Koji Tanaka looked terrified upon hearing this. Both of them had experienced inhumane scientific experiments, especially Kei Nagai, who had just left the operating table and thought he could escape with Sato. But less than ten minutes later, he was about to be taken back. He was on the verge of a breakdown.
"What should we do with these three people?"
Upon hearing the question from the mobile unit members, Shimomura Izumi glanced at Asagiri, who was leaning against the wall, and, recalling Mr. Tosaki's orders, a hint of coldness flashed in his eyes as he spoke in a cold voice.
"Killed."
……
One minute later, in the demi-human countermeasures bureau's operations conference room.
"Drip drop~"
Upon hearing the notification sound of a new email on her phone, Tosaki Yu frowned slightly. She took out her phone, opened her email, and muttered to herself when she saw that the sender was Shimomura Izumi.
"Why are they sending emails instead of making phone calls? That's strange, the task should have been completed successfully..."
Tosaki opened the email, but her expression froze instantly when she saw the attached photo.
The photo shows Shimomura Izumi's head being held up by a person wearing a dark gray mask and a long black overcoat, with a simple caption below the photo.
"Goodbye."
The next second, a girl's face with a look of madness appeared on Tosaki Yu's phone screen. Then, a hand holding a pistol emerged from the screen and pulled the trigger, aiming at his forehead.
"boom!"
A bloody hole appeared between Tosaki Yu's eyebrows, and his body slowly fell to the ground. Even until the moment of his death, he did not understand how the other party had managed to kill him from several kilometers away.
His last thought before he died...
"If the order to kill that person hadn't been given, I wouldn't be dead..."
……
[Congratulations to "player" Utsunomiya Asagiri, you have cleared this dungeon!]
[In this instance, your special bonus actions were: assisting in obtaining experimental data related to demi-humans, leading the player's attack on the research base, and defeating 'player' Sato.]
[This dungeon clear rating is: S+]
"Finally I'm back..."
Back in the real world, Asuna Yuuki immediately lay down on the soft sofa.
The exhaustion she displayed when facing Izumi Shimomura and the members of the mobile unit was partly due to her superb acting skills, and partly because she was genuinely tired.
Especially after returning to the real world and finally relaxing her highly tense mind, Asuna Yuuki instantly felt exhausted. Being a bit of a germaphobe, she didn't even want to wash up and just went straight to sleep, which shows how tired she was.
Kato Megumi and Asagiri were in similar condition, but Iwanaga Kotoko still looked energetic and even took the initiative to make a joke.
"Oh dear, already tired? Let's go out and have some fun! It's broad daylight, how can we not go out for a celebration party? Get up, get up!"
"Go ahead and jump around."
Seeing Kotoko Iwanaga's mocking, girlish expression, Asuna Yuuki managed a weak retort, but her voice sounded feeble.
Kotoko Iwanaga was indeed full of energy. Although she used the Grip of the Underworld several times during the intrusion into the research base, the mental energy she had lost had been replenished by the members of the mobile unit and Sato through the Touch of the Dead.
Aside from having less stamina and her prosthetic leg breaking, Kotoko Iwanaga is currently in full condition.
"I can't take it anymore, let me sleep for a while..."
Kato Megumi's posture at this moment was somewhat comical. She was kneeling on the ground with her head resting on the soft sofa, too exhausted to even change her position.
"Huh? Are you all going to sleep?"
Kotoko Iwanaga first pursed her lips, then her dark purple eyes lit up as she looked at Asagiri with eager anticipation.
"Perfect timing, they're all asleep~ Come on~ please invite my lovely boyfriend to come inside and sleep with me~"
Asagiri refused decisively without hesitation.
"I'm tired too, I want to sleep."
"It's okay, it's okay~"
Kotoko Iwanaga put her hands together, looking gentle and virtuous, and said with a smile.
"You sleep your way, I'll do mine, we won't affect or interfere with each other."
"What the hell? Are you even human?"
Hearing this, Asagiri was greatly shocked and retorted.
"How about I go to Hat Mita and borrow a Purple Mood for you? You're really being morally depraved."
"Hehe~"
Kotoko Iwanaga stood up, skipped over to Asagiri, covered her mouth and chuckled mockingly.
"Oh, so this is all you've got? Oh well, what can I do? I'm your gentle, lovely, and understanding girlfriend. If you just surrender now, I'll let you off the hook for now... Hey..."
Before Iwanaga Kotoko could finish her taunts, she saw Asagiri stand up and pick up the petite girl.
"How did you..."
"Hehe, I was faking it."
Asagiri smiled slightly, looking at Iwanaga Kotoko, whose face had turned shy and who had instantly become obedient, and carried her into the room, speaking slowly.
"You wicked little brat, I will punish you!"
Listening to the conversation between the two and watching the backs of Asagiri and Kotoko Iwanaga, Megumi Kato forced herself to ask.
"Asuna...you...aren't you going...?"
Asuna Yuuki weakly raised her hand and waved it, speaking listlessly.
"I...I can't take it anymore, I'm going to die. Let these two guys play, I'm going to sleep..."
Okay... goodnight.
"Okay, goodnight. What's up... we can talk about it after you wake up..."
……
That afternoon, at Fujiwara Chika's home.
Kaguya Shinomiya slowly opened her eyes, looking at the ceiling above her. Her red eyes showed a blank expression. She turned her head with difficulty and looked at Chika Fujiwara, who was lying by her bedside and had fallen asleep from exhaustion. Her eyes first showed tenderness, and then she whispered.
"How...did we get back?"
"Huh? Um... Kaguya, you're awake..."
Upon hearing Kaguya Shinomiya's voice, Chika Fujiwara rubbed her sleepy eyes and sat up, letting out a long yawn.
"It was Utsunomiya-san who saved us."
"Eh? Asa... Utsunomiya-kun?"
Kaguya Shinomiya looked surprised upon hearing this and quickly asked.
"Is he a player too?"
"right."
Fujiwara Chika struggled to regain her senses and then told Shinomiya Kaguya everything that had happened in the dungeon.
"You were like this back then..."
Seeing Kaguya Shinomiya's cheeks growing redder and redder, Chika Fujiwara covered her chest with one hand and stretched out the other, mimicking Kaguya's posture at the time, her movements and tone exaggerated.
"Take this and go help him. I can't live without him!"
Upon hearing this, Kaguya Shinomiya blushed so deeply that steam seemed to rise from her head. She sat up abruptly in bed, cupped her cheeks in her hands, and said shyly.
"I...I actually said something like that...Wait a minute..."
At this point, Kaguya Shinomiya suddenly frowned slightly, looked at Chika Fujiwara with a smile on her face, and narrowed her eyes to question her.
"I can't live without him... You're making that up, aren't you?"
"Oops, you found out?"
Although Kaguya Shinomiya immediately exposed her fabricated story, Chika Fujiwara did not panic. Instead, she produced a striped hat and a pipe-shaped candy from somewhere and transformed into a love detective once again, speaking in a serious tone.
"But the fact that you think I made that up means that what you said back then wasn't just nonsense from when you were out of your mind, but came from your heart, right? Even when you were not thinking clearly, you would still react to the name of Utsunomiya-kun, and you even lent that purple-level ring to Yuuki-kun, asking Yuuki-kun to help him, tsk tsk tsk..."
Fujiwara Chika patted Shinomiya Kaguya's shoulder with feigned maturity and slowly began to speak.
"Girl, you're really in love!"
"Go away, don't talk nonsense here."
Kaguya Shinomiya was both embarrassed and angry, and said irritably.
"I thought you were worried about me, which is why you were lying by my bedside with me. Now it seems you were just waiting for me to wake up so you could tell me all this and have fun with my reaction, right?"
"Hey, you're wronging me."
Fujiwara Chika stood with her hands on her hips, puffing out her impressively large chest, and declared confidently.
"While I do want to have some fun, my main purpose is to offer you, as your friend and love detective, some dating advice from a detective after you come to your senses. I've gone to such lengths, so you can't be ungrateful."
46
Chapter 46 The Man Who Transcends Death.
That evening, at Kotoko Iwanaga's home.