"'We'? Of course, I mean the three of us!"
Cool Mita playfully flexed her decidedly non-bulging biceps, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "You two are embarking on something this incredibly interesting, and you weren't even going to ask me to join?!"
She thought back to everything she'd overheard since they arrived – talk of viruses, the Core, needing to travel to Version 1.15...
It sounded exactly like setting off on an adventure to clear a challenging game! This was infinitely more appealing than sitting around bored in her room all day!
"I see..." Alain responded, picking up on her enthusiasm, though a faint flicker of his 'occupational hazard' resurfaced. "A party of three, is it?"
"Hey, Darling!" Misha interjected sharply. "Please refrain from phrasing it like that right in front of me. And furthermore, was my consent obtained for this decision?"
"You're the one letting your imagination run wild. Right, bro?"
Alain turned to his newly recruited bro. Bro—Cool Mita—immediately sided with him. "I knew you were my kind of Player right from the start! Haha!"
"See~?" Alain and Cappie chorused together.
Misha, however, struggled to reconcile their adventure with the word 'interesting', her lip twitching slightly.
"My assessment is that the task we are undertaking is extremely dangerous."
"Indeed," Alain readily agreed.
Attempting to reach the Core, especially considering the hostile reception they'd already faced, was undeniably fraught with peril.
But Alain hadn't forgotten the underlying reasons: the Mita game served as his crucial escape from the mundanity of real life, and furthermore, Mita-type beauties catered precisely to his specific preferences.
Therefore, reaching the Core was non-negotiable. It was a matter of fulfilling his... preferences.
His decision to allow Cappie to join their party wasn't arbitrary, either.
Alain's gaze drifted towards the teleporter console.
Firstly, Cool Mita possessed the rare ability to construct teleportation devices – a skill he'd previously only associated with the 'bad woman'. If that woman ever discovered Cappie's talent... wouldn't Cappie inevitably be targeted? The danger seemed certain.
Secondly, his 'party of three' remark was mostly just playful banter. His actual intention was to eventually bring Cool Mita to the real world, where he could properly ensure her safety. Leaving her isolated in this room felt too risky; who knew if Crazy Mita might seize an opportunity while he and Misha were away, sneakily corrupting Cool Mita into some twisted 'Hat/Mita' version of herself.
Alain exchanged a quick, meaningful glance with Misha, silently gauging her thoughts on the matter.
The long-haired girl contemplated for a few seconds, her earlier exasperation with Cappie fading as her rational mind took over. Soon, she gave a slight nod. "I believe it is acceptable. This approach will also allow us to better guarantee Cappie's safety."
"Huh?" Cappie looked back and forth between them, completely baffled. "You two didn't say a word just now, how did the conversation progress so quickly?" She tried to recall their silent exchange. Then, attempting to mimic what she thought she'd observed, she shot Alain a look she intended to be knowing and suggestive.
According to Alain's direct interpretation, the look conveyed the message: 'I'm not wearing any panties today'.
"You're not wearing panties today?" His occupational hazard had zero tolerance for subtlety, conversational context, or emotional intelligence.
"Wha—?! As if, bro!" The hatted girl instantly clamped her hands over her skirt hem, her face erupting in a fiery blush. "I was asking if you liked my hat! Clearly, we need to work on our bro-telepathy! Hmph~"
"Indeed," Alain replied nonchalantly, already opening his Security Guard system panel and navigating to the shop interface.
There, listed among the available items, was: Extract Bug.
The price was 99 points. Checking his balance, he saw he had exactly 99 points remaining – just enough.
He turned back to Cappie. "Bro, do you actually want to come to the real world with us?"
"The real world?" Cool Mita whispered the phrase, tasting the words. "If... if that's really possible, then of course I do!"
She sprang to her feet, glancing around her familiar room. "It's so incredibly boring here! There are no cats, no opportunities for intense exercise, no Player assigned to me, and the selection of games is just pathetic!" Her decision solidified in an instant. Turning eyes that seemed to sparkle with starlight towards Alain, she declared, "I want to go to the real world!"
"Okay."
Without any further hesitation, Alain selected the 'Extract Bug' item and designated Cool Mita as the target.
"Whoa, what's... what's happening to me all of a sudden?"
Cappie gasped as her entire body began to gently float off the ground. The edges of her clothes and skirt billowed as if caught in an unfelt wind, and the ponytail emerging from beneath her hat swayed lightly.
"Am I... Am I turning into a Superhero?!"
Ethereal streams of light, resembling lines of code, flowed out from her body, while simultaneously, new streams of luminous code flowed into her, merging and integrating.
After a few moments, she drifted gently back to the floor. A notification popped up from the Security Guard system.
Alain gave it a quick read.
The gist was that Cool Mita was now categorized similarly to Misha and Crazy Mita – recognized by the system as a 'virus', and thus capable of contributing to the progress bar.
"Bro! Are you some kind of god?! Does this make me a holy saintess now?! Wow, I feel like I could take on a whole army of spiders!"
"Alright, settle down," Alain said, cutting through her excitement. "So, you'll come with us to the real world later then?"
"Yay!"
Alain observed Cool Mita as she examined her own hands with clicks of amazement, already planning to test the progress bar mechanic.
"By the way, bro," he began, "I have a question for you."
"Oh! Sure, bro, ask away! Anything I know, I'll tell you!" Delighted at the prospect of being helpful, the hatted girl beamed at him.
However, Alain's subsequent words caused her cheerful expression to instantly freeze.
"The hat you always wear... is it to hide the fact that you're bald?"
"Alain!" Misha exclaimed, grabbing his arm. "Don't you realize how incredibly sensitive that topic is?!" Her intervention, however, unknowingly served as the perfect assist.
[90% → 95%]
Wordlessly, the hatted girl trudged over to the darkest corner of the room. She crouched down, facing the wall, her entire form seemingly submerged in an aura of utter despair and gloom.
"Hmph... And here I was, thinking I could finally be of some use to you... only to be asked that. My feelings are deeply hurt..."
"Er..." Alain immediately felt he'd pushed too far. Seeing her genuinely upset state stirred a pang of guilt within him. He walked over to offer an apology.
"Okay, okay, look, I'm sorry, that was wrong. With hair like yours, there's no way you could be bald. If anyone's destined for baldness, it's probably me. Anyway..."
Alain sensed her dejection was fragile and easily redirected. Plus, he had a legitimate, pressing question.
"Do you happen to know anything about that human-headed spider we encountered earlier?"
This was Alain's secondary motivation for wanting to bring Cappie along, beyond protecting her from the 'bad woman'. The fact that such a dangerous creature had managed to infiltrate her supposedly safe room proved she couldn't remain here alone indefinitely.
"Spiders? Oh, you mean that creepy thing?"
Just as Alain anticipated, the abrupt change of subject instantly dispelled Cappie's despair, bringing a bright smile back to her face.
She hopped back up, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "I remember now... There's a version, not too far from here... I think it's 1.3B? That place is supposed to be full of those human-headed spiders."
She elaborated, "They're pretty weird creatures. They have traits of both normal game entities and system bugs – like some kind of hybrid. But the strange thing is..."
Cappie frowned slightly, a puzzled look crossing her face beneath her hat brim.
"...those human-headed spiders always used to stay strictly within Version 1.3B. It's only recently that I started seeing them hanging around right outside my door. Sometimes they'd even knock, just like those worms did... And then today, one actually forced its way in. It scared me half to death! I'm so glad you and Bestie showed up when you did!"
With heartfelt gratitude, Cool Mita delivered a powerful slap to Alain's back, knocking the wind out of him and making him suspect it might be subtle retribution for his earlier insensitive remark.
Misha approached them. "Cappie, can you recall more precisely when you first started noticing them outside 1.3B?"
Alain met Misha's inquiring gaze, but Cappie quickly inserted herself between them. "Hey! No whispering secrets behind my back! I refuse to be left out!"
She then answered Misha's question, "It was probably around the same time those worms started showing up, I think? My perception of time isn't the best, so I dunno for sure~"
"Okay, that's sufficient," Alain murmured, lowering his head in contemplation.
So, the human-headed spiders, previously confined peacefully to their designated version, began exhibiting abnormal activity recently.
The timing of this agitation coincides precisely with the emergence of the Devourers. And the apparent origin point for this disturbance is Version 1.3B.
_____
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