After letting Sadako return to the employee dormitory, Natsuki finally turned his head to look at Yandere Kaguya.
"Kaguya…"
"I'll go with you."
Yandere Kaguya's voice was cold as she made her decision.
After her blackening, there were only a few people Yandere Kaguya truly cared about: Natsuki, Kaguya, and perhaps Hayasaka and Chika. Everyone else was like a roadside stone, not even worth a glance.
"Alright." Natsuki agreed, "Then we'll go together."
"…"
The discussion concluded.
"Kuchisake-onna, we're leaving first." Natsuki waved goodbye, "Come to the restaurant sometime and try my cooking again."
After saying that, Natsuki looked at Hachishakusama and said seriously:
"Madam, I'm entrusting Kuchisake-onna to your care."
"Leave it to me."
Hachishakusama's smile was elegant. She raised a hand to press down the white brim of her hat, saying cheerfully:
"If the recruitment is successful, I'd like a small reward."
Natsuki said without changing his expression:
"Rewards are absolutely no problem, but boys under fourteen are out of the question."
"Eh?" Hachishakusama's face showed disappointment, "Suddenly, I've lost all motivation."
Do you really want little boys under fourteen as a reward?!
With such a huge size difference, a small horse can't pull a big cart. Even if it manages to get into the driver's seat, there will be a traffic accident!
As the mastermind behind the park, Hachishakusama was the most human-like. The probability of her successfully conquering Kuchisake-onna was at least over fifty percent, so Natsuki was quite relieved.
After bidding farewell to a few employees, Natsuki took Yandere Kaguya and followed the red string's guidance to meet up with Chika.
The air quickly quieted down.
Yandere Kaguya was a person of few words but fierce actions. She silently followed by Natsuki's side, like Kaguya when they first met, exuding an aura of cold indifference that kept others at a distance.
"This won't do…"
Natsuki coughed twice, looking at Yandere Kaguya beside him, and asked:
"The temperature is a bit low… Are your hands cold?"
Yandere Kaguya said calmly:
"Not cold."
"There's a kind of cold in the world called 'I think you're cold'." Natsuki said, extending his right hand to grasp Yandere Kaguya's soft hand. Her skin felt delicate and smooth, her right hand cool and boneless, making him want to caress and play with it. "…I'll warm your hand for you, no need to thank me."
Yandere Kaguya did not pull her hand away. She merely tilted her head to look at him, and her lips parted slightly as she said:
"Natsuki-kun seems very practiced."
Natsuki: "…"
Yandere Kaguya continued:
"Have you done the same thing with that useless good-for-nothing woman?"
Natsuki: "…"
Jealousy is indeed an instinct etched into the genes of all females; even a bingjiao **Strange Tale** is no exception.
"Why aren't you speaking, Natsuki?" Yandere Kaguya said faintly, "Did I guess correctly?"
Natsuki: "…"
What could he say?
There was no way to answer that question!
Natsuki silently released her hand and looked straight ahead, saying:
"The temperature feels alright; it seems I don't need to help warm your hand."
Clap.
Just as his hand was halfway withdrawn, Yandere Kaguya re-grasped it, even actively trying a ten-finger interlocked pose.
Yandere Kaguya's voice was cold as she said:
"I still want to warm my hand."
Natsuki: "…"
Compared to the good-for-nothing Miss, Yandere Kaguya was never tsundere; she went straight for what she wanted.
They walked in silence.
Natsuki, holding Yandere Kaguya's hand, felt the buildings on both sides of the road become increasingly familiar. Soon, distant memories finally merged with the scene before him.
"I remember now."
"This is the street near the restaurant."
Natsuki's face couldn't help but show a hint of nostalgia.
The last time he entered the 'Haunted Town' instance, it was the last time. He and Juju had arrived together, solved the puzzles, successfully escaped the self-immolating **Strange Tale** apartment, and then found Chika in the restaurant—because she ate food without paying, triggering the restaurant's rules, she was turned into a fish and thrown into the restaurant's aquarium.
Fortunately, Natsuki had previously obtained a 'Dark Chef' badge. After wearing the badge, he successfully transformed into a Dark Chef, got hired at the restaurant, and then successfully rescued Chika… Unbeknownst to him, this was already two million characters ago.
Revisiting the old place, Natsuki felt quite sentimental. Since it was on the way, he looked at the faint candlelight inside the restaurant and decided to go say hello.
"Welcome…"
He lifted the curtain and entered the restaurant, and a voice sounded.
Natsuki glanced over and found that the person was not the manager, but an ordinary female employee, wearing a strange hat on her head, with something like a tail gently wagging behind her. The most exaggerated thing was her figure.
Although it was a regular employee uniform, wearing it clearly produced an explosive effect, making one worry if it would burst open the next second.
"This level… it must be beyond human limits, right?"
Natsuki began to complain inwardly.
Their eyes met.
The female employee's gaze fixed on Natsuki's face and did not move an inch.
"Natsuki, do you two know each other?"
Yandere Kaguya tilted her head and asked.
"Probably… not?"
Natsuki's voice was slightly uncertain.
Last time he worked in the instance, there didn't seem to be any other employees in the restaurant, but for some reason, this female employee, both in appearance and figure, gave him a sense of déjà vu.
Upon hearing Natsuki's voice, the female employee's chest suddenly heaved, her 'surging waves' directly transforming from an adjective to a noun. Immediately after, two thick white streams of air shot from her nostrils, and she angrily shouted:
"You damned human bastard! I've finally met you again!"
Natsuki hesitated, saying:
"Miss, do we know each other?"
"I'd recognize you even if you turned to ash!" The female employee's chest heaved with rage. The already precarious employee uniform had several buttons directly burst off, revealing an indescribably deep expanse of white. "I want to smash every single bone in your body at every moment!"
Hey, hey, what's with this immense resentment?
We're clearly strangers, aren't we?!
Natsuki clicked his tongue and said:
"Are you mistaken?"
"Mistaken?"
The female employee stepped forward, snatched off the hat on her head, revealing two curved, cute white cow horns, and behind her was a swaying cow tail. She threw a punch at Natsuki, angrily saying:
"When I crush every bone in your body, then see if you recognize me!"
Yandere Kaguya suddenly took half a step forward, gripping her exclusive weapon, the 'Blood-Stained Cleaver'. The blade brought with it a crimson light as she mercilessly swung it.
Although she possessed Kaguya's memories and body, Yandere Kaguya's essence was still that of an anomaly. She naturally had no hesitation in killing anyone who dared to attack Natsuki.
Rip!
The female employee was unable to dodge, and her employee uniform was immediately cut open by the cleaver, then it could no longer hold up and directly disintegrated into scraps.
An indescribable expanse of white instantly filled Natsuki's entire field of vision.
Cow horns.
Cow tail.
An oversized figure that could only be described as 'precarious'.
Plus, the inexplicable anger…
Distant memories suddenly emerged in Natsuki's mind.
That was his second instance shortly after becoming a player. The instance background was a fantasy hospital drawn by a girl with delusional disorder, and it was also the first instance where he met Yukino.
At that time, his strength was low and his methods were mediocre. He could only rely on cunning to clear the instance, and his game inventory was empty, basically without any stored food.
Chika had just learned the "Don the Outlaw" skill, and the Seize and Eliminate Evil combo skill had just come in handy. In order to obtain food in the instance, Natsuki used a certain inexhaustible special item to exchange for food from a certain patient, ultimately successfully helping all the players survive the food crisis.
"Let me find it…"
Natsuki searched carefully in his game inventory and finally found a long-forgotten special item in a corner.
"Found it."
Natsuki reached out and grabbed it, and a bunch of green chives appeared out of thin air in his hand.
The 'Unending Chives', one of its characteristics was that it was unending. It could absorb energy from the air to regrow, yielding crop after crop, and the harvested chives were also edible.
"Whoosh—"
Seeing the chives in Natsuki's hand, the female employee's eyes immediately turned red, and two thick streams of air suddenly jetted from her nostrils.
Natsuki looked up, finally showing a look of realization:
"I remember now, it's Miss Milk Cow."
That was a story from nearly three million characters ago; it was perfectly normal not to remember.
According to the Strange Tales Management Bureau's statistics, Strange Tale who can retain memories and travel between different instances are quite special existences.
The Miss Milk Cow before him not only retained her memories but also came from the former hand-drawn hospital to the Haunted Town, clearly making her a special Strange Tale as well.
Now that Natsuki recognized her identity, his mood was surprisingly happy.
"You damned human! I'm definitely going to kill you!"
Miss Milk Cow roared, not caring about her exposure at all. She unleashed a mental attack on Natsuki while charging at him again.
Yandere Kaguya was expressionless, holding her cleaver, and stood in front of Natsuki.
"If you're going to help a human, then I'll beat you too!"
Miss Milk Cow activated her 'Savage Charge' ability and quickly collided with Yandere Kaguya.
Bang!
A figure quickly flew backward.
Natsuki stretched out his hands, embracing Yandere Kaguya, and said softly:
"Let me handle this."
Yandere Kaguya's ability was blackening. If she saw Natsuki being messed with until he was bruised and covered in unknown liquids, Yandere Kaguya could become infinitely stronger and easily handle the Miss Milk Cow, but that was clearly not the case now.
"Mm."
Yandere Kaguya softly assented, not forcing herself, and retreated half a step to stand behind Natsuki.
Natsuki looked at Miss Milk Cow and said sincerely, "It's all my fault. Is it okay if I apologize?"
Miss Milk Cow sneered, "It's too late to apologize now."
Natsuki said helplessly, "So, there's no room for discussion?"
"Exactly." Miss Milk Cow crossed her arms over her chest. "Unless I break every single bone in your body, this grudge cannot be settled."
Natsuki sighed helplessly and turned his head, saying, "Store manager, your employee is assaulting a customer!"
Miss Milk Cow: "..."
"What are you shouting about, you guy?"
Miss Milk Cow instantly became enraged, clenching her fist and swinging it towards Natsuki.
Unfortunately, Natsuki was no longer the simpleton he once was. He had at least a dozen ways to easily defuse this punch, and even counter-kill without any problem.
However, he ultimately couldn't bring himself to do it.
Firstly, his past behavior of trading leeks for food was indeed very excessive.
Secondly... Miss Milk Cow was simply too big.
Big is justice.
With Miss Milk Cow's justice in mind, it would be better to resolve the animosity and then recruit her as his employee.
Bang!
Natsuki took a punch, stumbled back several steps, and clutched his arm, saying, "My, my shoulder is broken."
Miss Milk Cow's face showed a look of confusion as she looked down at her fist, but it was quickly replaced by excitement:
"You deserve it! All your other bones should be broken too!"
At this moment, the old store manager finally walked out from the back kitchen.
"Minos," the store manager said in a low voice, "No matter what happens, you cannot assault customers in the store."
Natsuki looked at Miss Milk Cow and smiled, "So it's Miss Minos. Nice to meet you for the first time, please guide me."
"Guide my big head!" Miss Minos gritted her teeth and said, "Store manager, you don't know what terrible things this human has done..."
"No matter what he has done, it's not a reason to assault a customer," the old store manager said calmly. "Minos, apologize."
"..."
Miss Minos immediately snorted out two streams of thick air from her nostrils, then gritted her teeth and angrily turned her head away.
Apologize?
She would rather die than apologize!
"It's alright, Miss Minos and I haven't seen each other for a long time, we were just greeting each other," Natsuki rotated his shoulder and then said, "Uncle store manager, long time no see, do you still remember me?"
The old store manager looked over, a nostalgic expression on his face:
"It has indeed been a long time since we last met."
Natsuki casually took out some ingredients and handed them over, saying, "I'm just passing through the Haunted Town on a trip this time. This is a gift, thank you for your previous care, Uncle store manager."
The old store manager didn't refuse, taking the gift and saying, "Since you left, I haven't eaten real Dark Cuisine anymore. If you have time, would you like to come and be a chef for a few days again?"
"I'll definitely come once I finish what I'm currently busy with," Natsuki promised, looking at Miss Milk Cow, "At that time, I'll definitely make the most perfect Dark Cuisine to apologize to Minos."
Miss Minos crossed her arms over her chest and glared fiercely:
"I'll never eat anything you make, even if I die!"
"Don't speak too soon..." Natsuki pondered for a moment, then took out a slip of paper from his pocket and asked the old store manager, "Store manager, I found a slip of paper in my pocket that says I've been involved in a mysterious game. Do you have any clues?"
The restaurant was quite popular in the Haunted Town, and with the identity of the old store manager, he should know a lot of information.
So Natsuki chose to ask directly.
As for whether his identity would be exposed...
He wasn't afraid at all.
His confidence came from his strength.
The night was his home ground, and Natsuki was now fearless of any challenge.