bookbashuk Page 66
Page 66
the most important is……
Throughout the entire process, Kato Megumi never let go of Asagiri's hand. Every time the skill was about to reach its thirty-second limit, she would activate the skill again for Asagiri, achieving a seamless transition.
Fifteen minutes, which is thirty times.
Normally, even if Kato Megumi managed to unleash so many skills, her mental and physical strength would definitely be at their limit, making her unable to even stand steadily and thus revealing an opening. However…
“Violet, your cloak; Necro, your brooch.”
Asuna Yuuki accepted the crimson cloak, while Kotoko Iwanaga accepted the small brooch. Both of them put back on the equipment that they had temporarily lent to Megumi Kato.
These two pieces of equipment are not restricted to any particular user. It's perfectly normal to lend them to teammates temporarily when needed.
As for Kato Megumi's sudden change in appearance... the Mita members didn't even notice, or rather, while waiting, they had even forgotten that Kato Megumi existed.
The team's goal was simple: to make Crazy Mita think she had the upper hand and leave Asagiri's phone. After all, they didn't know how to forcibly pull Crazy Mita out of the phone without damaging it.
There is a possibility that, following the normal procedure, Crazy Meta should have taken advantage of the chaos to attack the four members of the team when they were fighting against those hundreds of failed attempts.
Judging from what she said after she came out, the reason why she didn't choose to do so is quite simple.
Crazy Mita saw Asagiri's player profile, and then...
I was so scared that I didn't dare to face him.
That's why this plan to lure the snake out of its hole came about.
Although the plan succeeded, there were still a few doubts, which is one of the reasons why Asagiri did not kill Crazy Mita directly, but spared her life for the time being.
"first question."
Asagiri looked at the crazed Mita, who was still struggling even though he was being controlled by Shura, and whose face was completely distorted, and said in a calm tone.
“Tell me everything you see in my player panel.”
"Ha ha ha ha ha……"
Crazy Mita let out a maniacal laugh and strained to look up at Asagiri Michi.
"In the end, you're going to kill me anyway. I'm a failure. I don't feel pain like those guys. I can't feel anything. So, even if you use the cruelest and most extreme torture methods, I won't feel a thing. You want to get information from me? How naive and cute, Mr. Player~"
Hearing Crazy Mita's mocking tone, which sounded like that of a little devil, Asagiri's eyes did not change at all; in fact, a smile of interest appeared on her face.
"Really? You can't feel anything, so you're not afraid? But what if..."
Asagiri squatted down on one knee, staring directly into Crazy Mita's red-glowing eyes, and said, word by word.
“I’ll turn you into a real Mita, and then kill you again and again, wiping your data until you get bugged and fall into a pain you can never escape, just like what you want to do to those Mitas. How will you feel then? I’m really curious.”
"you!"
Upon hearing Asagiri's words, Crazy Mita's body trembled involuntarily.
"Scared? Good that you know you're scared."
Asagiri reached out and gently patted Crazy Mita's cheek, a smiley face appearing on the gray mask.
"With your God complex, and your belief that you are superior and freer than those Mitas, you can't accept this change, right? What's even more interesting is that you yourself won't even be aware of this change, since your memories will be completely erased."
Listening to Asagiri's words and seeing the smiley face pattern that appeared on his "unpredictable mask," the Mitas present, as well as Yuuki Asuna and Kato Megumi, couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts.
What is the most effective threat?
The most effective threat is one that makes the target believe that you are not just talking, but that you will actually do it.
At this moment, no one would think that Asagiri's words were just meant to scare Crazy Mita.
He would definitely do that. His tone of voice, coupled with the gray mask with the smiley face pattern, made it seem as if he was even hoping that Crazy Metta wouldn't answer his questions and would start the torture he was looking forward to.
"I...I said..."
Hearing Crazy Metta's words of succumbing to fear, Asuna Yuuki couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Indeed, it was the wonderful combination of Asagiri and a special professional diplomat that produced such a good result.
If it were any other player, facing a crazy Mita who doesn't feel pain, whose mental state is like that of a madman, and who, although wanting to live, would rather die than obediently follow orders, would have no chance of getting any information out of her.
"The information I saw was..."
After Crazy Mita finished telling her story, Asuna Yuuki, Megumi Kato, and Kotoko Iwanaga all noticed something that they had almost guessed long ago.
The other party revealed all of Asagiri's information as a player, including his physical stats, unique talents, equipment, and skills, but one item was missing.
The "Reversed Pocket Watch," a red epic-level one-time use item.
Come to think of it, if Crazy Metta knew that Asagiri possessed this item, he should have only appeared after confirming that the item had been used and that Asagiri was completely dead, instead of assuming that Asagiri was dead and leaving his phone simply because the "Reversed Pocket Watch" still existed.
Originally, the team members were just trying it out. Unless there was no other way and it was a last resort, they didn't want to waste such a valuable tool because of the entrapment plan. As it turned out, Crazy Metta really didn't know about the existence of this tool.
but……
why?
Crazy Mita, who was able to hack into the eye icon app to some extent and even restrict the display of dungeon completion information, was unable to "observe" the inverted pocket watch?
Does this mean that items like the "Inverted Pocket Watch" are of a higher level than the game system represented by the eye icon app?
After all...
Are the items and equipment that players obtain created by the system, or is the system just a transporter, and those items and equipment originally existed in a certain world?
There are just too many puzzles in this game.
"second question."
After confirming the first point of doubt, Asagiri immediately questioned Crazy Mita.
"How do you know that as long as you kill a player and get their phone, you can register as a player?"
107
Chapter 107 The competitive selection mechanism for the game.
"I...I also have a cell phone..."
Crazy Mita hesitated for a moment, but finally took out a cell phone from her inventory. Because she had lost her limbs, she could only hold the phone in her mouth, which made her look very disheveled.
Asagiri took her phone, and after slid to unlock the screen, he found an app with the exact same eye icon as the ones on his and Yuuki Asuna's phones. However, after clicking on it, instead of a message saying "The original player is not dead," it opened directly and displayed a message.
[Successfully killing a player and obtaining their phone number to register as a player constitutes successful completion of the level and grants official player status.]
"This is……"
Upon seeing the familiar handwriting, Asuna Yuuki frowned slightly and hesitated a bit.
"What is the objective of clearing the dungeon?"
Crazy Mita looked at her phone and answered.
"I'm not quite sure... I only know that this phone suddenly appeared on me, and then a notification popped up, telling me the pattern..."
"At first, I thought it was some kind of inexplicable system bug, but after analysis, I found that this phone is not a product of this game world at all. The bugs and code of this world cannot affect this phone."
"That's why I planned all of this, just to escape this boring world and become a real 'player' who is alive."
Asuna Yuuki felt the more she listened, the more familiar it seemed. She pursed her lips, looked at Asagiri, Megumi Kato, and Kotoko Iwanaga beside her, and spoke her mind.
"I have this feeling... she's like a new player chosen by the system, and we're not just playing 'players' in this instance, from her perspective, we're... the instance bosses invading this world?"
"That certainly seems to be the case."
Kotoko Iwanaga nodded, seemingly lost in thought.
"This instance is different from the previous ones. To be honest, it's a bit like a PVP game. If she wants to become a player, she needs to kill us, and if we want to clear the instance, she's the biggest obstacle. What word can describe this situation..."
Just as Kotoko Iwanaga was pondering how to summarize the type of this instance in simple and clear terms, Asagiri uttered an extremely precise word that almost made even the usually expressionless Megumi Kato lose her composure.
"Competitive selection for positions".
"Pfft."
Kato Megumi smiled wryly, unable to suppress her laughter.
"Leader really hit the nail on the head; it really does sound like the competitive hiring system used by big companies."
"They will give such an opportunity, which means..."
Asuna Yuuki looked at Crazy Mita lying on the ground, her brows furrowed, and said in an unhappy tone.
"According to the system's assessment, this guy also has the potential to become an excellent player? What a joke, she's just a crazy person without any normal values. Even if she becomes a player, she'll definitely do things like killing other players who enter the same instance just for fun."
Upon hearing Asuna Yuuki's words, Kotoko Iwanaga shook her head and said in a flat tone.
"The system of this game doesn't care about the morality of players, nor does it restrict the actions of players in the dungeon. The standard is very simple, which is how capable a 'player' is. Although this girl is a madwoman without any moral sense, she is very cunning, and her physical functions are far above those of ordinary people. Her strength is even able to confront a human Asura head-on. It is normal for the system to want to make her a player. It's just that she met us."
As Kotoko Iwanaga said, Crazy Mita's physical abilities far exceed those of ordinary people. On the one hand, because she failed the game's review mechanism and did not become the real Mita, she was not subject to any physical limitations.
On the other hand, the kind Mita and the hat Mita, these real Mitas, after passing the review and officially becoming Mitas, seem to be wearing an outer skin, but in reality, their bodies have also been replaced with real human bodies through some kind of strange technology.
Crazy Mita is different. Her inner self is still a failed mechanical creation, so even if she is shot through the abdomen by a sniper bullet and her limbs are severed, she will not bleed or feel pain. Her combat power far exceeds that of those qualified Mita.
If she were to actually complete her original plan and kill the four players—Asagiri, Asuna Yuuki, Megumi Kato, and Kotoko Iwanaga—what kind of monster would she create?
As a newly registered player, Crazy Mita can inherit all the equipment and items of one person in the team. Putting aside everything else, as long as she can obtain Asagiri's sniper rifle, she can start indiscriminate slaughter in dungeons.
Unfortunately, she encountered the strongest team in the game at this stage.
Despite having the home advantage, intelligence advantage, and advantage of early planning, Crazy Mita still lost. Moreover, because Asagiri had the "Reversed Pocket Watch," she had no hope of victory from beginning to end.
They encountered a monster squad and, despite their best efforts, could not defeat them.
"last question."
Asagiri looked at Crazy Mita, who was lying on the ground with no limbs, and slowly spoke.
"Did you create those bugs? I don't believe you have that ability, so you must have assistants on your side, right?"
Faced with this question, Crazy Mita chose to remain silent, while Kind Mita seemed to remember something, and her expression changed.
"I've heard a rumor that somewhere in this game world, there exists an original Mita... She looks completely different from us, and because she was the prototype created in the early days of the game, she's practically a collection of bugs... Could it be that you received her help?"
"As expected, you are very smart..."
Crazy Mita stared at Kind Mita, a twisted look of hatred suddenly appearing on her face.
"But that's precisely why I despise you the most. Even knowing this world is just a game, you still live here with a clear conscience, and even try to stop me! You...you're just livestock!"
Hearing Crazy Mita's accusations, Kind Mita remained unmoved, simply shaking her head and saying softly.
"No, you're wrong."
"This world may have been born because of games, but this world is no longer a virtual video game. Everything is real. The pain and torment you brought to those Mitas are real. The joy and happiness we feel when we meet Mr. Player and spend time with him are also real."
"Even if you believe this world is fake, even if you think you are superior to us, and that we are just a bunch of meaningless programs that only act and feel according to a set program, it does not change the sins you have committed because of your madness and distortion."
“You are not Mita, and you are not qualified to be Mita.”
After the kind-hearted Mita finished speaking, Asagiri, Yuuki Asuna, Iwanaga Kotoko, and Kato Megumi all took out their phones.
As expected, after Crazy Mita left Asagiri's phone, the eye-shaped app returned to normal, displaying the complete information for this instance.
[The location of this instance is: the game]
The time limit for this instance is eight hours.
The objective of this "player's" mission is: to survive until the time limit expires, or to eliminate the source of the anomaly in this world.
[Public Hint: Some details in the game world differ from those in the real world]
After reviewing the publicly available information, the four of them checked the special tips they had each received.
Kato Megumi's special tip is, "Don't underestimate their fighting power because of Mita's appearance," while Iwanaga Kotoko's tip is, "Don't easily go through the 'doors' in the game world," and Yuuki Asuna's tip is, "Mita, who is wearing a hat and gloves, might become an ally."
Because Crazy Metta interfered with the app, these three special prompts that should have popped up from the beginning, as well as the public prompts for the instance, had already lost their value at this point, since all four members of the team already knew about these things.
However, Asagiri's special note was something more relevant to him personally than the instance itself.
[Under certain special conditions, this game world, and all the objects within it, may become your Persona.]
"Eliminate the source of the anomaly in this world..."
Asuna Yuuki put her phone away and looked at Crazy Mita on the ground.
"You mean her? If we kill her, we can clear the game?"
"No, I don't think so."