After experiencing a full day of dog-toting routine, it was finally time to get off work.
Natsuki got up to stretch his muscles, slowly joined the queue, and prepared to hand over today's performance commission.
"Natsuki-kun!"
The passerby player seized the opportunity, scurried closer with small steps, reached out her small hand, gently tugged Natsuki's jacket, then stood on tiptoe, and whispered:
"Deceiving people is so hard. Today, just like yesterday, I didn't have any performance. Thanks to Natsuki-kun, otherwise, I would definitely be punished… How was Natsuki-kun today?"
Natsuki casually said:
"It was alright. The evil spirits in the instance can be said to be foolish and rich."
"Eh, so amazing!"
"…"
It's a scam, yet why can you praise others with such an admiring face!
Natsuki finally understood why boys liked these types of girls.
Although it's very fake, being praised by the other party from time to time and always being looked up to with admiring eyes truly brings a lot of joy.
After that, the two handed over their daily performance and walked out of the dog-toting studio.
"President, over here, over here!"
Chika had already come out ahead of them, standing happily waving not far away.
Natsuki walked over and met up with Chika.
"Today at work, I secretly observed the others and didn't find any other players." Chika's voice was clear and she whispered, "Did President find any?"
Natsuki shook his head:
"Not yet."
Since there are these girls, there are likely other random players in the instance.
Last night, when discussing the action plan in the dormitory, Mitsui had suggested that if they could identify other players, they could offer help depending on the situation.
As fellow humans within the same instance, the girls were willing to offer appropriate assistance, both emotionally and logically.
Of course, some people believed that everyone should mind their own business, and in a place like an instance, it was enough not to kick someone when they were down. Helping others was foolish and asking for trouble.
Neither attitude was right or wrong.
After all, people can never truly understand each other; mutual respect is enough.
A moment later, Kaguya and Yukino gathered one after another. Both were alone, clearly having not encountered other players.
But when Hayasaka walked over, she clearly had a small leg attachment following her.
"Eh?" Chika widened her eyes, unable to help but whisper, "That little girl behind Hanamori-chan... is she a player?"
"Yes, she is indeed a player." Hayasaka nodded lightly and said casually, "When I was queuing to hand in performance earlier, I saw her trembling and almost crying, so I went over and exchanged the secret code, and then confirmed Mika's player identity."
"H-Hello, everyone..." The little girl behind Hayasaka spoke timidly, seeming quite shy. She bowed deeply and whispered, "My name is Sakurai Mika, and I've only cleared two instances... It's a pleasure to meet you all."
Clearly, this casual player's personality was completely different from that of the other girl.
"Mika-chan, it's a pleasure to meet you." Chika's voice was clear. "We'll help you clear the instance."
"Th-Thank you..."
Mika expressed her gratitude.
Clustering together for survival is human nature, and the little newbie naturally wouldn't refuse to group up, especially since Hayasaka had just helped her for free.
After waiting a moment longer, Mitsui, who was a beautiful dealer at the casino, finally walked over. She was empty-handed, clearly having not encountered any other players.
The team successfully converged.
However, Natsuki and the others did not leave. Instead, they stood in the distance, watching the thugs collecting money at the entrance of the Dog-Trustee Work Area.
As time passed, the dog-trustees gradually dispersed. A group of thugs gathered, putting today's sin coins into a large bag and handing it to a giant evil spirit over two and a half meters tall.
The giant evil spirit, a boss-level entity, took the money bag and then turned to leave.
Natsuki said softly:
"We can follow him now."
"Wait a moment..."
Yukino pursed her lips and took out her Future Diary, wanting to check if there were any entries about the future.
Her luck was good today. Before long, the Future Diary began to heat up, and lines of text quietly appeared on the paper.
"Is today a very important future node?"
Yukino curiously pursed her lips, looking at the diary.
The Future Diary didn't always display content. Yukino hadn't yet figured out the pattern, only being able to deduce that the content displayed in the diary was actually an important node, she just didn't know it yet.
Once this node was changed, the future would quietly shift.
And for unimportant, peaceful daily life, the diary would not generate content.
The first line of text quickly caught her eye.
[After the night raid incident, your favorability towards Natsuki increased...]
"Wait, what's with this favorability? Why does it increase every day?!"
Yukino secretly bit her silver teeth.
Night raid incident... that was last night, right?
She was clearly very angry, so why would her favorability increase?!
"Hmph..."
Yukino exhaled lightly and quickly calmed down.
She could deceive others, but she couldn't deceive herself.
Angry is angry, but whether her favorability had increased or not... Yukino was actually very clear in her heart.
If it were anyone else, they wouldn't have just endured it. Even if it meant waking Chika and making it public, they would never compromise.
New content quietly appeared in the diary.
[Tonight, Natsuki raided you again. You did not refuse, but were passionately proactive, and you spent the night together.]
[The next morning, you woke up to find all your underwear soaked...]
Crack!
Yukino slammed the Future Diary shut.
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
She would actually actively cooperate? That kind of thing could never happen!
Besides, this is an instance. Everyone stays in the dormitory at night, with so many people around. How could such a terrible thing happen?!
"Yukino, is the news from the future bad?"
Natsuki asked curiously.
"There's nothing in the diary." Yukino tightened her pretty face, took a deep breath, and said with embarrassed anger in her eyes, "You can go and follow him!"
The future still wanted to night raid her, so it was clear that the current tracking action would not be dangerous.
"Alright." Natsuki shrugged helplessly and waved, "Let's go."
...
The group quickly moved, following far behind the giant evil spirit boss, and soon arrived in front of a detached warehouse.
Around the building, there were seven or eight fully armed evil spirits guarding it, making it impenetrable; not even a fly could get in.
After waiting quietly for a while, the giant evil spirit boss walked out empty-handed. The warehouse door closed, the evil spirit boss left, and the other evil spirit thugs continued to patrol around the warehouse without any slack.
"It should be inside." Natsuki narrowed his eyes slightly, turned to look at Kaguya beside him, and whispered, "Kaguya, prepare to act."
"Okay."
Kaguya nodded lightly, then walked to a corner, took out her Shadow Cloak, covered herself, and after a short while, returned wearing a Skin Card.
"Eh, eh, why did she change clothes?"
The other girl looked completely bewildered.
"It's a Skin Card," Chika explained. "We can't wear clothes during the operation later, so we have to prepare in advance."
The other player was full of curiosity: "Um, what is a Skin Card?"
"It's a special item that allows for instant costume changes and also provides certain attribute bonuses..." Chika held up a finger and explained, "Just like the character skins in games."
...I see.
After changing into the Bunny Girl Skin Card, Kaguya's figure flickered and instantly disappeared, transforming into a leg attachment.
Natsuki equipped the leg attachment, then activated Kaguya's Dark Shadow, directly entering the shadows.
"Eh, eh, eh?" The other girl was startled and quickly said, "Clothes! Natsuki-kun is gone, only his clothes are left!"
"Stay calm, don't panic." Chika lifted her chin. "You can't bring clothes with you when you're invisible. You'll get used to it."
...
This operation was a secret infiltration, mainly to steal the sin coins to make the park supervisor come early, not for fighting, so secret infiltration was very necessary. It was mainly carried out by Natsuki and Kaguya working together, with the others responsible for outside support.
"Hmph... infiltration successful."
In the dim and eerie corner of the warehouse, the darkness suddenly fluctuated, rippling in circles, followed by a figure quietly appearing.
Natsuki half-squatted in the corner, narrowing his eyes to observe carefully, making sure there were no other guards in the warehouse before removing the leg attachment and releasing Kaguya.
"President, put your clothes on first!"
Kaguya's figure appeared out of thin air, still wearing her bunny girl uniform. Her gaze couldn't help but drop, glancing at Natsuki, then her pretty face flushed slightly, and she quickly averted her eyes.
Natsuki said speechlessly:
"I don't have a suitable Skin Card. If I put clothes on now, I'll have to take them off later anyway..."
Kaguya puffed out her pink cheeks and said:
"That's still no reason not to wear clothes! Hurry up and put them on!"
"Yes, yes."
...
Natsuki raised his hands and obediently put on his shorts.
"Let's check the warehouse first." Kaguya then looked over and said softly, "President, be careful. There might be traps in the warehouse."
Natsuki said seriously:
"Come here, behind me."
Kaguya was startled: "Eh?"
Natsuki said with a serious expression:
"Until I fall, I won't let any trap harm Kaguya."
"President, move away." Kaguya folded her arms across her chest and glared at him with bright eyes. "I can take care of myself."
...
The two talked while carefully checking the warehouse.
"Tsk~" Natsuki's tone was regretful. "There aren't any traps at all."
"You should be happy that there are no traps, right?" Kaguya couldn't help but complain, "President, don't sigh there."
The park was already dilapidated, and the warehouse was only a temporary storage place for sin coins, not a rich man's private collection. With seven or eight thugs patrolling day and night outside, there was no need to set up traps or insurance.
The box containing the sin coins was openly placed in the center of the warehouse, with some random clutter nearby. The only security measure was probably a lock on the box.
Unfortunately, this kind of wooden box was only for honest people, not for villains.
Natsuki took out a universal tool, a wire, fiddled with it for a bit, and quickly opened the lock.
Click.
Opening the box, it contained half a box of sin coins, roughly several thousand.
Natsuki casually grabbed a handful of sin coins and sighed:
"Money obtained through fraud, every coin is stained with sin."
"There's too much money." Kaguya lightly furrowed her delicate brows. "We can't take it out."
sin coins cannot be put into the game backpack and can only be carried on the body, so how to deal with them was a problem.
Natsuki and Kaguya secretly infiltrated to search, and to exit, they would naturally have to use Dark Shadow. They couldn't even wear regular clothes, let alone carry sin coins.
"Then we won't take them out." Natsuki pondered for a few seconds and quickly made a decision. "Our real goal isn't the sin coins, but to create a situation where the sin coins are stolen, and then have the park supervisor come early, so... we'll just dig a pit and bury the sin coins."
Kaguya nodded lightly, her gaze dropping:
"But... it would be very difficult to dig a pit in a concrete floor, right?"
"Digging a pit is easy enough to say, but it's harder to do without disturbing the thugs outside." Natsuki stomped his foot on the concrete floor and shook his head helplessly.
Concrete had to be smashed open, but if the noise was too loud, it would inevitably be discovered by the guards outside.
At this moment, Kaguya suddenly said softly:
"If the floor can't be dug, what about the wall?"
"Hmm?"
"In that movie we watched, 'The Shawshank Redemption,' the protagonist Andi dug through the wall to escape." Kaguya said softly, "The floor is paved with concrete, but the wall isn't."
Natsuki raised his right hand, touched the wall, and quickly said:
"It's indeed not concrete... It's a good thing Kaguya is here, otherwise I really wouldn't have thought of it."
Kaguya's lips curved upwards slightly, but she quickly pursed them.
The battle wasn't over yet; of course, she couldn't let the perverted president get carried away!
No sooner said than done.
Both of their game backpacks contained entrenching tools produced by the game, for unexpected needs, and they came in handy now.
There was no cement on the wall; it was actually filled with dirt, and with Natsuki's strength, it was not much different from tofu.
As Natsuki dug the hole, he casually said, "Speaking of which, there's a crime in criminal law called 'escape crime,' which refers to escaping from institutions like prisons… In The Shawshank Redemption, did Andi's escape from prison constitute an escape crime?"
Kaguya frowned upon hearing this and mused, "I don't think so… It's normal for an innocent person to want to escape when they've been wrongly accused, isn't it?"
"I heard that in countries like Germany and Sweden, prison breaks are not illegal, because it's human nature to pursue freedom."
"I don't know if Andi was breaking the law," Natsuki complained, "but we are definitely doing something illegal and disorderly right now."
Kaguya: "…"
A moment later.
A head-sized black hole had been dug in the wall; the two of them didn't need to escape through the hole, so a hole this size was enough.
After putting the entrenching tool back into his game backpack, Natsuki walked over, picked up the box, and then, with Kaguya's cooperation, stealthily hid the sin coins inside the wall.
After hiding them, Natsuki sealed the hole with dirt again, and the remaining dirt that couldn't be dealt with was scattered at the base of the wall; it was impossible to tell without looking closely, and even if dirt was found, it probably wouldn't be associated with The Shawshank Redemption.
"Done," Natsuki clapped his hands, looking at their criminal masterpiece, and said with satisfaction, "It's a locked-room theft crime; even if Conan came, he wouldn't find the truth."
Kaguya's bright eyes glared over:
"Perverted president, don't boast, quickly wipe your hands, we can go out now."
Although some clues were left in the room, a careful inspection might reveal the truth, but the possibility was not very high.
When ordinary people discover that their finances have been stolen from their home, they will certainly think that the money has been stolen, and will not suspect that the thief has hidden it inside the wall.
Natsuki washed his hands clean, then took off his shorts.
According to the original plan, if there was a trap in the warehouse and they accidentally triggered an alarm, Chika would use her Pickpocket skill to take them out.
Since no alarm was triggered, they would use a stealthy method, where it was Natsuki's turn to transform into a leg attachment, and then Kaguya would stealthily leave the warehouse by submerging into the shadows.
Therefore, incriminating evidence like shorts, which could expose their identity, had to be put away.
Kaguya glanced at him, quickly turned her pretty face away, and said shyly, "Perverted president, turn around!"
"It's not like you haven't seen it…"
"Huh?!"
"Next time, definitely."
"…"
After putting his shorts into his game backpack, Natsuki came to Kaguya's side and, instead of immediately transforming into a leg attachment, whispered, "Do you know what kind of consequences those stealthy investigators face once they are caught?"
"Eh?"
Kaguya was slightly startled; although she didn't know the consequences, she instinctively felt that Natsuki had ill intentions. "What do you mean, perverted president?"
"Of course, it's to let you know the seriousness of the consequences." Natsuki suddenly reached out and pulled the Young Lady, who was wearing a bunny girl uniform, into his embrace, saying seriously, "Knowing how serious the consequences are will naturally make you more vigilant."
Perverted president!
Looking at Natsuki's undisguised burning gaze, the Young Lady's pretty face quickly flushed, and she immediately knew what Natsuki wanted to do.
He was doing such a dangerous thing, and the perverted president still wanted to take advantage of her?
At least look at the situation!
Refuse!
One hundred percent refusal!
Kaguya didn't intend to be obediently taken advantage of today; instead, she was prepared to firmly refuse.
The perverted president and Yukino have already made their relationship public, and now he's acting as if nothing happened, wanting to kiss her without even apologizing. I won't let you kiss me whenever you want!
Unfortunately, having lived together for two months, and with him even helping Kaguya with massages to promote development in the mornings, Natsuki had long mastered all of Kaguya's 'weaknesses.' With just a gentle squeeze of his right hand, he immediately dispelled the Young Lady's resistance into thin air
"Mm…"
Her soft waist flesh was suddenly attacked, and Kaguya's body trembled slightly, her tightly clenched teeth involuntarily parting slightly.
Natsuki seized the opportunity and directly invaded.
"Perverted president, you're too much!"
Kaguya's long eyelashes trembled slightly, and she couldn't help but close her eyes in annoyance and shame, determined not to respond in any way to show her attitude.
However, not long after, Kaguya felt her head become dizzy, and then her body's instincts surpassed her willpower, her arms involuntarily rising to tightly embrace Natsuki's neck…