"Natsuki-kun, Miss Ryuju has been located," Mitsui said softly.
Natsuki walked over to Mitsui and looked at the control device in her hand, finding that it not only had night vision but also a very clear picture, without any shaking.
"Tsk~" Natsuki praised, "The quality of the ghost drone is very good."
"If Natsuki-kun likes it, you can play with this ghost drone after we clear the instance," Mitsui said softly. "However, the notes for this drone say its primary job is to transport express deliveries."
Natsuki said in surprise, "Transport express deliveries?"
Mitsui looked over innocently: "That's what the notes say."
"…" He remembered.
He recalled a certain express company that had repeatedly boasted about its achievements in drone express delivery, claiming it would soon be put into use, only for it to be requisitioned by the military, directly converting the civilian drone into military use.
"Momo-senpai looks very calm," Chika stood on tiptoe, looking at the drone panel.
"Not only that," Kaguya said softly, her hands clasped across her chest. "Momo-senpai's strength and speed both surpass ordinary people, and she can even harm oddities with her bare hands."
"This is one of the research directions of the research group," Mitsui pushed up the glasses on her nose. "The persistently high mortality rate of new players is the main reason restricting the expansion of the player base. If a way to pass the novice period by fusing with oddities can be researched, the player base can rapidly expand."
Chika blinked upon hearing this and whispered, "But fusing with oddities will cause continuous erosion by the oddity, leading to various negative states, won't it?"
Mitsui gently exhaled, then looked up at Natsuki, her gaze gentle, and softly said, "Compared to oddity erosion, the most terrifying thing is actually the despair of being powerless to resist. Putting the two together, I believe most people would choose the former."
"That's true…" Chika nodded, then suddenly exclaimed, "Ah, Momo-senpai is fighting that incredible thing. Should we go help?"
"Not needed for now," Natsuki closed his eyes and sensed carefully. "Momo-senpai is quite calm right now; her fear value hasn't even fluctuated much."
Kaguya softly said, "Momo-senpai clearly possesses remarkably strong psychological fortitude."
That was indeed true.
Momo, who came from the apocalyptic world, had stronger psychological fortitude than most veteran players.
"Is someone missing?" Natsuki looked around and suddenly raised his eyebrows.
"Eh?" Chika put down the resentful the child she was holding, turned to look around, and quickly realized: "It's Miss Hanako. How did she suddenly disappear?"
Miss Hanako was the female player rescued from Hanako earlier, a female university student who had just graduated not long ago… No, to be precise, once she graduated, she could no longer be called a female university student, but rather a working member of society.
"I didn't notice," Mitsui also shook her head.
Yandere Kaguya said in a cold voice, "When we left the Comprehensive Building just now, that woman didn't follow."
Chika quickly looked over: "Eh, why didn't I notice at all?"
Yandere Kaguya's gaze shifted to Chika, and she mercilessly mocked, "After Natsuki came back, both of your eyes were glued to Natsuki. What else could you see?"
"I'm not! I didn't!" Chika's pretty face quickly flushed red as she stammered in protest, "My eyes weren't glued to Natsuki the whole time… I just spoke to Kaguya-chan!"
Yandere Kaguya said expressionlessly, "You did speak, but when you spoke, your eyes were still looking at Natsuki."
Chika: "…"
Kaguya: "…"
Indeed, once a man is involved, girlfriends turn into fair-weather friends.
"Let's talk about serious matters." Natsuki cleared his throat, interrupting Yandere Kaguya's spellcasting. "Since she left on her own, she probably had something urgent, so we don't need to worry about it anymore. After all, her legs are her own."
Even Chika did not refute Natsuki's decision.
Knowing that the instance was dangerous, yet leaving quietly without a word, she couldn't blame others if she encountered danger.
The first thing about becoming an adult is to put away excessive sympathy, abandon the urge to help, and respect others' destinies.
Only Mitsui quietly pursed her lips, a hint of hesitation flashing in her eyes.
Could it be that the previous prank scared her?
Natsuki watched the 'video live stream' for a while longer. Seeing that Momo was not in danger, he stopped watching and walked over to Hanako.
A pile of food was laid out in front of Hanako, who was grunting and gobbling it down, clearly Chika's cooking.
"Pfft!" Hanako spat out the packaging in her mouth and looked up at Natsuki: "You weakling, this food isn't good at all. When are you going to give me the Dark Cuisine you promised?"
Natsuki raised an eyebrow, looking at her with an expressionless face: "What did you call me?"
"Weak—ling—!" Hanako, forgetting her pain, or rather, having a very poor memory, put her hands on her hips and shouted viciously, "You stinky weakling, that's you!"
Snap.
Natsuki raised his right hand and snapped his fingers lightly.
brat, indeed, was incredibly irritating and deserved a severe electrotherapy punishment.
Blue spiritual energy arcs immediately flowed from the collar, instantly sweeping through every corner of Hanako's body.
"Waaahhh…" Hanako's body trembled, her hands grasping the collar around her neck, her eyes quickly rolling upwards, revealing the whites slightly.
As an anomaly, this Hanako originally only had black eyes, but now that they rolled up, it made her seem more approachable.
"I… I'm a weakling!" Under the punishment of the spiritual energy current, Hanako quickly trembled and raised both hands, making two V-signs of surrender.
Natsuki ended the punishment, reached out and stroked Hanako's small head, then took out a portion of food and handed it over: "Try this sushi and see how it tastes."
Hanako took two breaths, hesitantly accepted the sushi, and after taking a bite, her eyes immediately lit up: "This is delicious!"
Natsuki said, "This is sushi with 'special ingredients,' of course it's delicious."
During the **Strange Tale** in the Nightmare Hotel, Natsuki and his group killed the final boss, the octopus monster. Its flesh was actually certified by the game as a special ingredient and could be stored in the game backpack. Natsuki had stored a lot of it at the time—one of its effects was to strengthen virility.
The male human pursuit of virility comes from genetic instinct and cannot be defied.
Strange Tales found human food tasteless, which is why Hanako said the bread Chika gave her was not good. But eating special ingredients certified by the game was no problem at all. Natsuki had collected a lot of octopus flesh and didn't mind the small consumption.
Natsuki, like a big bad wolf tempting a little white rabbit, softly said, "Do you want to be able to eat this sushi every day?"
"...I want to eat it!" Hanako answered without hesitation, frankly.
Compared to humans, Strange Tales would not be duplicitous, nor would they be tsundere.
Natsuki tempted, "As long as you sign a contract and become my employee, you can eat delicious Dark Cuisine every day from now on."
"Liar!" Hanako opened her mouth, ate the sushi in one bite, and said with a look of disdain, "I can't leave the school at all. What do you mean I can eat it every day, you stinky weakling!"
Natsuki extended his right hand and said, "I'm not lying. As long as you sign the contract and become my employee, you can leave the school and regain your freedom."
Hanako crossed her arms over her chest and said, "I don't believe it. You humans love to lie and deceive people the most."
Natsuki said, "Whether you can leave the school or not, you'll know if you try, right? Even if I'm tricking you, there's no loss, is there?"
"…" Hanako hesitated for a while, but ultimately made her choice.
It is a child's nature to be free and playful. For Hanako, the school, from which she could not leave, was like a cage, and she had long wanted to break free.
"You scum, how do I sign that contract you mentioned?"
Hanako looked up and asked.
Natsuki said:
"It's simple, just hold out your hand."
Hanako extended her small hand in confusion.
"Tsk ~"
Natsuki clicked his tongue softly.
Hanako, the idol from the mysterious anime, was delicate and soft, with snow-white skin. The Hanako in front of him had sharp, pitch-black fingernails on her small hands, completely incomparable.
Clap.
Natsuki then extended his right hand and high-fived Hanako as a vow, saying:
"Sign the contract."
The next second.
A blue magic circle appeared on the back of their hands, lasting for a few seconds before finally imprinting itself on their hand and quietly disappearing.
"What is this?"
Hanako looked down at the back of her hand, scratching it curiously.
"It's proof of the contract," Natsuki said casually, "You are now my employee, and your future goal is to become an idol... You can try now to see if you can leave the school."
"If you dare to trick me, I'll call you scum for the rest of your life!"
Hanako bared her teeth, spitting out a threat, then quickly got up, climbed along the ceiling, and her small figure quickly disappeared into the hallway.
"It actually worked." Chika breathed a sigh of relief, clutching her chest and saying, "I thought with Hanako-chan's personality, she definitely wouldn't easily agree to be recruited."
Natsuki said casually:
"That's because I saw Hanako's weakness."
Employee contracts must be equal and voluntary, stemming from the free will of both parties. Coercion, intimidation, deception, and other such behaviors are all invalid. However, Natsuki merely cleverly utilized Hanako's 'curiosity' about the outside world, neither deceiving nor forcing her, thus easily succeeding in signing the contract.
Natsuki looked at Chika and said:
"Weren't you missing Hanako before? Now you can see her every day, so why are you unhappy instead?"
"Of course I'd be unhappy." Chika puffed out her pink cheeks, unable to help but complain, "Hanako-chan has now become an annoying brat... Maybe every time we meet from now on, she'll call me 'Cow Woman.' I don't want such a terrible nickname."
Natsuki's gaze couldn't help but fall downwards, and he subconsciously said:
"You weren't called wrong..."
Chika immediately clenched her fists, fuming like a Digimon:
"President is too mean!!!"
It hadn't changed for a long time before, but recently it suddenly started growing again. It's all the President's fault!
Kaguya asked curiously:
"President, what is Hanako's ability?"
Natsuki could borrow the abilities of recruited employees, but it was related to their intimacy. The higher the intimacy, the more abilities he could borrow.
Natsuki closed his eyes, began to sense, and then said:
"There are two abilities. The first is calling names... As long as someone calls me in an empty restroom in the manner of summoning Hanako, I can sense their presence and can also choose to instantly teleport into the toilet stall. The range is temporarily unknown."
"Eh?" Chika asked curiously, "Isn't that similar to the effect of telepathy?"
"There's still a difference." Natsuki shook his head and said, "I can only hear the other party's call, but cannot respond."
Mitsui commented:
"It feels more practical... I remember seeing a player selling a portable mobile restroom before. Perhaps Natsuki-kun could be summoned that way."
Natsuki: "..."
Sorry.
Sadako's fear-based teleportation is enough; he absolutely doesn't want to gain the title of a toilet peeping tom!
Kaguya said softly:
"President, what about the second ability?"
Natsuki said:
"The second ability is anti-gravity walking... It's the ability to crawl around on the ceiling. However, my intimacy with Hanako is very low, so I'd probably fall after two steps."
"This ability..." Chika blinked, "It doesn't seem very useful?"
Natsuki said:
"You can remove 'seems.' It's indeed not very useful."
...
There were three goals for coming to the Resentful Spirit Elementary School: one was to find the Strange Tale Madam's child, another was to recruit Hanako, and finally, Momo's observation diary.
Now that two goals had been completed, everyone immediately went to the swimming pool in one go, preparing to meet up with Momo.
Midway, a black shadow suddenly appeared out of thin air.
Bang.
Natsuki stretched out his arms and caught the falling figure in mid-air.
"Eh, it seems to be Hanako?"
Chika exclaimed softly.
"Huh?" Hanako looked left and right in surprise, her small face full of confusion, "How did I come back?"
Natsuki said:
"You are now my employee, and you can only move within a three-kilometer radius centered on me. Once you exceed this range, you will feel a sensation, and if you don't return within a short time, you will be forcibly repatriated."
Hanako jumped to the ground:
"I pretty much understand. It means I can't be too far from you, right?"
Natsuki nodded and said:
"That's right."
Hanako put her hands on her hips, not daring to call Natsuki scum, and turned to look at Chika, shouting arrogantly:
"Hey, Cow Woman, what does radius mean?"
Chika's cheeks immediately puffed out, and she retorted:
"Hanako-chan, don't call me Cow Woman!"
Hanako was quite arrogant: "You're a cow anyway, and you won't let others call you that?"
"Ahhh! Hanako-chan isn't cute at all anymore!"
...
Hanako, who had been trapped in the school for a long time, was now like a wild horse unbridled, running around wildly. After only a few words, she quickly disappeared again.
Natsuki didn't care at all and wasn't worried about Hanako's safety. As a well-known Strange Tale with a name, Hanako, though small, was not weak in strength and firmly held the top seat among the school's Seven Mysteries.
"Natsuki-kun." Mitsui's solemn voice suddenly came from beside him, "Ryuju Momo seems to be a bit off."
"Hmm?"
Natsuki's gaze shifted, looking at the device in Mitsui's hand. On the screen, Momo was kneeling on one knee, her right hand clutching her throat, seemingly coughing hard. Then she swayed to her feet, her steps stiff as she walked towards the swimming pool.
The few of them held their breath, watching nervously. However, the next second, the drone's footage directly cut out.
"What's going on?" Chika quickly said, "Why is the screen gone?"
Mitsui furrowed her delicate brows and said:
"The drone must have run out of power."
Chika couldn't help but complain:
"This drone's battery life is too short!"
"President." Kaguya turned to look, "To be safe, you go check the situation first."
"Leave it to me."
Natsuki nodded lightly, took a step, and his figure instantly disappeared.
At the same time.
In the swimming pool.
"D-damn it... I was careless!"
Momo gritted her silver teeth, wanting to regain control of her body, but it was impossible. Under the bizarre control, she had involuntarily walked into the swimming pool.
The water in the swimming pool was bone-chillingly cold and as black as ink, almost freezing people stiff.
"What should I do?"
"How do I escape?"
"Could it be that I can only use the instance escape card?"
Momo nervously pondered countermeasures.
Before entering the instance, Tsubame had secretly given her an instance exemption card, telling her to use it at a critical moment. She had thought it would be impossible to use, but she didn't expect to encounter a dangerous predicament so soon after entering the instance.
"Damn it... I underestimated this bizarreness..."
Momo's entry point into the instance was the swimming pool. There was only her in the swimming pool, and the main mission was to solve the Seven Mysteries Strange Tale in the swimming pool.
As someone from the apocalypse, Momo was naturally not an ordinary person. Her mind could be said to be quite strong. She calmly and rationally searched for clues, quickly deciphering the bizarre truth in the swimming pool, and even wanted to successfully kill the bizarreness—the instance reward was related to performance, and successfully killing the bizarreness would definitely yield more rewards.
However, she was momentarily careless and had her body controlled by the Strange Tale, leading to a complete failure.
"I wonder where the scumbag Natsuki is... Will he be worried about me?"
At the last moment, a subtle thought suddenly arose in Momo's mind.
In dangerous and desperate environments, people instinctively crave help from others.
"That guy doesn't even know where I am."
"Even if he did, he probably wouldn't worry about me... right?"
Momo took a deep breath, dispelling the hope in her heart.
"In this world, one can only rely on oneself. Placing hope in others will only lead to despair..."
Splash!
The sound of splashing water suddenly rang out behind Momo.
"What is it?"
Momo's body stiffened, unable to turn her head to look back, only feeling some heavy object falling into the swimming pool behind her.
The next second.
A rather annoying yet reassuring voice sounded behind Momo:
"...Momo-senpai, do you need help?"