He didn't give up and tried a few more times.
[Loading… Loading… Loading… Loading…]
[Exit failed!]
[Exit failed!]
[Exit failed!]
The bright red warning font looked like someone grinning and laughing at him mercilessly.
System: [A system error report has been sent to the highest server. Please wait patiently. We will provide you with a solution within 72 hours. Please do not commit suicide, self-harm or other extreme behaviors in the game and try to force quit, as this will cause irreversible damage to your body.]
'Irreversible damage'.
Hojo Natsuki's expression immediately darkened.
He pinched his thigh hard, without mercy, gritting his teeth in pain, but there was no sign of returning to reality.
If it weren't for the game panel floating in the air, I would even suspect that I had traveled to another world.
This holographic game cabin probably has some energy beyond real technology and belongs to the category of supernatural power, so it is impossible to forcibly break through the system restrictions and go offline. Hojo Natsuki can hardly guess the intention of the game maker. If he wants to attack him through the game, then this game is too long and too obscure.
Who could it be and what is their purpose
Kurosawa Jin asked: "Where to?"
Hearing his question, Hojo Natsuki suddenly came back to his senses and answered casually, "Oh... either is fine."
Before the fear of "not being able to return to reality", the awkwardness when getting along with the frogman's body was nothing.
He flipped through the Void panel and found that most of the functions were disabled, then he lowered his head and looked at his phone.
Although the phone was an older model, the layout of the system interface was faithfully copied from his habits, with each app placed in a convenient place. Delivery software, Twitter, camera, games, contacts... The list was empty.
Hojo Natsuki was sensitive to numbers and could remember phone numbers at a glance. He created a contact list just to facilitate quick dialing.
He entered Mori Ogai's cell phone number and selected [Dial].
After two beeps, the electronic female voice calmly informed him: "Sorry, the number you dialed is not in service. Please check your..."
Next, enter the numbers of Nakahara Chuuya and Ozaki Koyo.
Still a reminder of an empty number.
Kurosawa Jin glanced at him.
"Who to call?"
Hojo Natsuki leaned back in his chair, like a sad fish blowing bubbles: "Call the police and turn myself in. I don't want to be the boss of this organization anymore."
Kurosawa Jin was too lazy to pay attention to him.
Hojo Natsuki stared at the road ahead for half a minute, and before his phone automatically went off, he dialed Dazai Osamu's new phone number without any hope.
To be honest, when a person projects his hope of seeking help onto Dazai, it means that this person has no way out, is extremely desperate, and is fighting for his life.
This is his current state.
[Dialing...]
I guess it will be "Sorry, the number you dialed is not in service."
The [Dialing] status lasted for a full half minute, and the call duration timer on the mobile phone interface suddenly started.
[00:00:01]
[00:00:02]
The voice on the other end was very soft, with a noisy electric current: "... Hello?..."
Hojo Natsuki: “!!!”
Surprisingly! It worked!
This sudden turn of events was so unexpected that he immediately shouted excitedly, "Hello? Dazai?"
The signal was terrible. It was like a hundred electric eels tap dancing on the other end of the phone. I could only catch the faint human voice from the crackling and irregular sound of the electric current. There was no way to tell what the other party was saying.
Hojo Natsuki endured the mental attack of the electric current sound for two minutes, hung up the phone and started sending text messages.
[Natsuki]: Dazai!
Help me!
[Xia Shu]: Where are you? Wherever you are, come to my house right now and drag me out of the holographic device cabin in the living room.
The other party's reply was also slow.
[Dazai Osamu]: Natsuki-kun, don't you see what time it is
[Dazai Osamu]: It's evening now, do you think it's working time now
[Xia Shu]: I'll give you a secondary card, you can use it as you wish within a month
[Dazai Osamu]: Unfortunately, I am not the kind of person who would bow down for money
“I won’t bow down to money”…
—I see. This bastard has tampered with Chuuya’s card again. He’s not short of money lately.
Hojo Natsuki had no choice but to tell the truth.
[Xia Shu]: There might be something wrong with this game cabin. I'm trapped in the holographic game and can't get out. Please help me.
[Dazai Osamu]: Is there such a good thing
[Natsuki]: ... You bastard, I really can't get out!
[Dazai Osamu]: It sounds a bit like a supernatural power that can bring people into a fantasy space.
[Dazai Osamu]: Even I can only make you immune to the ability before it takes effect, but if it has already taken effect, you have to find a way to escape it yourself.
[Xia Shu]: I'm looking for a solution, please come quickly
[Dazai Osamu]: I am dating a beautiful lady
[Dazai Osamu]: Tomorrow for sure
[Dazai Osamu]: Bye~Keep working hard~
Hojo Natsuki: “…”
Not surprising.
It's not like I haven't heard of similar supernatural effects. For example, Edgar Allan Poe's supernatural power is called "The Black Cat of the Rue Morgue", which can forcibly lead readers of his works into the world of his novels. In the world of the book, no matter how powerful the supernatural power is, it will be disabled, and only those who meet the "clearance conditions" can leave.
It's probably a similar situation at the moment, but no specific events have happened yet, so there's no way to guess what the 'clearance conditions' are.
However, being able to contact friends in the real world made Hojo Natsuki feel much better and his tense nerves relaxed.
The message for help has been successfully sent to Dazai Osamu. If the problem is not solved after one or two days, and the game system does not provide a solution after 72 hours, then Dazai will have to help no matter how unreliable he is. If he cannot spare the time himself, he will at least notify Port Mafia.
Besides, when he doesn't go to work, it's not him who's panicking, but Mr. Mori.
The pressure will not go away, it will just be transferred from the Hojo cadres to others.
Thinking of this, Hojo Natsuki felt that there was nothing to worry about. His mentality changed rapidly. Instead of being nervous, he even felt a little bit of enjoyment as if he were on vacation.
—How can the holographic world not be considered a kind of isolation from the world
The time flow rate between reality and the game is 1:3. If he goes to work at nine in the morning, then he still has more than a day in the game.
"I'm going to the toy factory tomorrow morning." He even started planning how to entertain himself.
Kurosawa Jin: “Oh.”
"Go to the clover plantation this afternoon."
Kurosawa: “Oh.”
"… "
The indifferent Kurosawa-kun did not answer and concentrated on driving.
The sky was covered with dark clouds, the night was thick, and the world outside the car window was blurry. With such visibility, Hojo Natsuki certainly couldn't connect the street scene with the buildings in the game. He looked curiously and let Kurosawa drive and take him wherever he wanted.
Kurosawa Jin's silver hair was really long, and a few strands of it were draped over the central storage box. In the dim light and shadow, it looked moist and bright.
As the car moved, the ends of his hair swayed gently. Hojo Natsuki stared at the small end of his hair, his eyes following it left and right, like a stupid cat who had unknowingly been attracted by a laser pen.
He stretched out his hand tentatively, touched it, and quickly withdrew it, seriously observing Kurosawa Zhen's reaction.
Kurosawa Jin glanced at him but didn't scold him.
This tacit consent undoubtedly greatly emboldened Hojo Natsuki. He became even more presumptuous, bringing up that
He had a lot of fun playing with a strand of silver hair, twisting it, looking it up to the light, and then looking at it on the back of his hand, a lifeless end of hair.
For some reason, Kurosawa Jin looked like he was used to it.
About half an hour later, the Porsche drove into the underground garage and stopped.
Hojo Natsuki got out of the car and followed the other person closely. Then when he was at the door, he suddenly realized: Frog took him home.
If it's a mobile game, that would be great.
If it is a holographic...
The soles of my shoes seemed to be glued to the door, and something as simple as "taking a step into the house" became a little difficult.
Hojo Natsuki thought, "It's not appropriate to go to someone's house when we meet for the first time, right?"
He knew that his idea was unfounded. After all, in the 2D form, the puppy Boss had come to his son's house to play several times, and the ending was usually to be kicked out.
Kurosawa looked back at him, his eyes seemed to silently urge him.
The opponent put one hand on the door handle, and before he could say anything, Hojo Natsuki obediently raised his leg and walked in.
Previously, he had seen Frog's room from both the player's perspective and the dog boss's perspective, so after entering, he had an inexplicable sense of familiarity. After all, this place was similar to what was displayed on the mobile phone, except that the simple and cute style was expressed in reality.
The standard 1SLDK apartment has one bedroom and one living room, with a small storage room. Needless to say, the storage room is full of weapons and equipment, and perhaps a small amount of high-calorie fast food.
Hojo Natsuki put on slippers and took a quick walk around. Everything was pretty much the same as he had imagined.
Then, he saw a pink hairband in front of the bathroom mirror.
Xia Shu was a little surprised, but after a few seconds, he was relieved. Frog kept the hair band he bought, and Kurosawa also kept it. Although the reason was definitely just "I'm too lazy to change it if it's still usable", this subtle detail finally allowed him to connect "Qin Frog" and Kurosawa Jin together.
"Gin-chan." Hojo Natsuki called out tentatively, "... I'm hungry."
- The pronunciation of "Gin-chan" is close to "Ajin". This dreaded code name rolled around in the mouth and turned into a soft name.
The other party replied lazily: "Don't be hungry."
Xia Shu: “?”
That's too much! It's worthy of being called Qin Frog!
"I'm a guest," he said confidently, "I'm hungry, I want to eat buttered potatoes."
Kurosawa: “No.”
"Kanto cooking?"
"No."
"I want some coffee too."
"… "
"I'm really hungry."
Kurosawa Jin was annoyed by him and finally looked up and replied: "It's only a convenience store, what to eat?"
Hojo Natsuki answered in a hurry: "Coffee. Oden. Ice cream."
Kurosawa: “No ice cream.”
Hojo Natsuki: “?”
How can there be no ice cream in a convenience store
However, the other party did not seem to want to give him a chance to bargain. He stood up, put on his windbreaker again very neatly, and looked like he was ready to go out.
Kurosawa said in a hoarse voice with a hint of warning: "Wait here, don't run around."
Hojo Natsuki was confused: "?"
After saying that, before he went out, he looked back again. His eyes met Xia Shu's profile, and then he raised his hand and closed the door as if he had confirmed something.
Hojo Natsuki was a little bored, so he turned on the TV and randomly chose a channel to watch.
As a result, I just browsed casually and saw "Tokyo Got Talent".
He became interested and wondered if he would see Jing Wang. What would Jing Wang perform
A young girl was performing magic on TV, and Hojo Natsuki was about to search in which episode Jing Wang would appear.
What is Jingwang’s name… Jingguang? What Jingguang? Uh…
He is stuck.
Hojo Natsuki propped up his chin and began to recall, when he suddenly saw the straight-handled black umbrella placed at the entrance. Kurosawa Jin had held the umbrella for him several times at night, so the umbrella was still wet.
The - wait, he didn't take it with him when he went out.
His first reaction was of course to chase after him and remind him, but suddenly he hesitated because he remembered the other person's advice before leaving: "Don't run around."
It seems like I've been out for a minute or two. I should be downstairs now, right
Thinking of this, Hojo Natsuki walked to the window in his slippers.
The window was slightly opened, and the crisp smell of rain was tinged with the subtle fragrance of osmanthus.
The first light is on the far right side of the path downstairs.
He saw Kurosawa Jin, wearing a windbreaker, stepping onto the path covered with osmanthus flowers.
The other party's footsteps were very light.
The light shone on his silver hair, like moonlight falling from the dome.
The raindrops were clearly visible in the warm light, and the swaying shadows of the trees and the transparent rain complemented each other, creating a gentle night scene like a painting. Kurosawa Jin crossed the road quickly like a sneaking cat.
Hojo Natsuki blinked.
Later he realized it and remembered it.
The harp frog has no habit of holding an umbrella, no matter how heavy the rain is. Most of the time, in the picture, it is the only little frog getting caught in the rain, while other small animals are holding colorful umbrellas.
In Kurosawa's eyes, this might be a weak and useless behavior, "Only fools would get sick from the rain." - He probably thought so and never brought an umbrella when going out.
That black umbrella was not originally prepared for him.
(End of this chapter)