Chapter 63: You Two Sneaky Bastards
The otaku below the stage instantly erupted.
Various vulgar phrases mixed with mineral water bottles rained down on the stage like hailstones.
Several hot-tempered guys in the front row had already rolled up their sleeves, preparing to rush up for real-life PVP.
Just then, Chiba, who'd stepped onto the stage afterward, performed a simple action that forcibly suppressed all the violence about to erupt.
Several gold bars were casually tossed onto the ground.
"I know you're anxious, but don't be anxious just yet."
"Now, we're going to play a prize quiz game. As long as someone can tell me what month, what date, and what day of the week it is today—"
"Whoever answers correctly gets this stuff."
This was naked humiliation.
Using money to trample their dignity.
But... it smelled so good!
Under heavy rewards, there would always be brave men—and absolutely zero integrity.
Before the golden physical persuasion power, the otaku's fury instantly evaporated.
A chubby guy in the front row wearing thick-bottomed glasses reacted fastest, shouting out almost without thinking.
"Saturday! Today is Saturday, May 10th!"
Chiba didn't waste words or even verify if he was right. With a kick, that heavy gold bar smashed into the fat guy's arms.
The guy staggered from the impact, but he didn't care about the pain at all.
With trembling hands, he brought that gold bar to his mouth and bit down hard.
It left a clear tooth mark.
"It's real! Holy crap! It's real gold!"
That shriek became the final straw that broke the camel's back.
The people who'd been watching skeptically completely lost their minds.
"No way! It really is gold!"
"Wrong! He's lying! It's obviously Wednesday, May 4th!"
"Bullshit! Today is May 7th! I swear on my grandfather's name!"
To prove they were the ones qualified to take the gold bars, the crowd that had only been arguing verbally began pushing and shoving each other, with some even throwing punches.
The entire inner hall descended into complete chaos.
Standing on stage, Chiba ignored the crowd about to start brawling over gold and reopened his spiritual vision.
In that bizarre and colorful world—
As so many people began realizing the time was wrong, the magical power lines in the air that had been flowing steadily began trembling violently.
Kerberos on his shoulder suddenly bristled, its entire body tensing.
"Chiba, the magic response is off the charts! The Time card is about to force another correction!"
Without needing the reminder, Chiba had already seen it.
In the northwest corner of the lobby, a surge of green light, like a tsunami, radiated outward from that point as its center, attempting to forcibly smooth out these chaotic timelines again.
"Over there..."
Chiba's gaze traced backward against the current, piercing through layers upon layers of figures, finally locking onto the original epicenter where the ripples emerged.
Then that familiar white light that made one feel their soul being stripped away flashed again.
...
"How is it? Isn't it amazing?"
The world reset once more.
The clamor receded, the arguments disappeared.
Shinjou Akane's enlarged smiling face appeared before Chiba yet again.
She still held that sketchbook, still wore that expression waiting for praise.
"Hey, student? Are you listening?"
"I'm listening."
Not only was Chiba not frustrated, he actually curled his lips into a confident smile.
Then he ignored Shinjou Akane and headed toward the locked target with Kerberos.
Kerberos still looked confused.
"Where are we going, Chiba? Aren't we looking for The Time card anymore?"
"I've already found it."
"Huh? You... you know where it is?"
Kerberos rubbed its eyes, hardly daring to believe.
"How did you figure it out?"
"Very simple."
Chiba walked while pointing at the laughing and chatting people around them.
"Ever heard of nuclear radiation?"
"Huh?"
"You just said time magic is like seawater rushing in, so I figured time reversal probably isn't completed in an instant, but rather spreads outward from a central point like radiation."
"I thought it was strange before—why these people had red magical glow on them. I originally thought it was The Move card's smokescreen to interfere with my vision."
"But now it seems The Move card shouldn't have that ability. The red magic on them should be magical residue left behind after being reset by time magic."
"So as long as I trace the source of that reset ripple when The Time card activates its ability and observe which people's magical fluctuations deepen first, that's all I need."
"And just now when The Time card activated, I saw that ripple's starting line."
Kerberos had a sudden realization.
"I see!"
"Mm, looks like your intelligence is catching up to mine, Chiba."
"Kerberos... now's not the time for jokes."
Following the guidance of magical residue, Kazama Chiba arrived at a certain corner of the convention and discovered this was actually the Elden Ring exhibition booth.
On a chair in front of the booth sat an elder draped in a gray tattered cloak, looking like withered wood, holding an hourglass in his hands as he sat there.
Without a doubt, this was the mastermind—The Time card.
This getup would definitely be mistaken for a homeless person or weird old man on the streets outside, but this was a manga convention.
The surrounding cosplayers dressed as "Tarnished" or carrying giant swords not only didn't find him out of place but instead cast admiring gazes, probably thinking this old man's cosplay accuracy had broken through the heavens, even capturing that "one foot in the grave" aura perfectly.
Found him.
Chiba stopped ten meters away from the elder, deactivating his spiritual vision and seeing the hourglass in the other's hand still flowing—
Kerberos reminded him:
"Looks like The Time card's ability hasn't cooled down yet!"
"Hurry up, Chiba!"
Opportunity knocks but once. Seeing this, Chiba immediately burst into action.
Say nothing—eat my two staff strikes first!
He shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, chanting the incantation as he charged.
"Return to your original form! Clow Card!"
Ten meters, five meters, three meters...
Just as Chiba's staff was about to smack this old guy's forehead and end this looping game—
That elder who'd been sitting with his head lowered as if asleep suddenly raised his head, revealing an extremely mocking smile.
That was the unique expression of a hunter watching prey step into a trap.
An intense sense of crisis exploded instantly.
Suddenly, Chiba felt something heavy in his hands.
An ancient-looking book appeared in his arms out of nowhere.
Kerberos's voice cracked as it shrieked.
"It's The Move card! Chiba, throw it away!!"
The next second—
The convention hall's clamorous voices, the blinding overhead spotlights, and that old man's mocking smile—all vanished instantly.
In their place came a deafening roar.
"BOOM—!!!"
Intense weightlessness struck. Chiba felt his internal organs getting thrown to his throat.
When his vision refocused, what he saw was no longer the convention floor, but a straight asphalt road—
And ahead, a heavy-duty truck charging toward his face at the fastest speed of its life...
"Shit!"
Chiba didn't even have time to curse those two sneaky bastards.
At this distance, at this speed—
Dodging was absolutely impossible.
"Wind Thunder!"
Chiba made a split-second decision, using The Thunder card to summon lightning that attached to his arm, condensing into a massive lightning blade.
Then he slashed down viciously at the truck.
The high temperature instantly vaporized matter.
That lightning blade cut through the heavy truck's hood like tofu, smoothly slicing through the cab, penetrating the cargo hold, and finally emerging from the rear.
The two halves of the vehicle body slid past both sides of Chiba's body with their momentum.
In that instant, Chiba could even clearly see the bearded driver's face in the cab—twisted with extreme terror—and the sandwich in his hand he hadn't had time to drop.
With The Windy card's assistance, both vehicle halves safely stopped.
The driver was unharmed.
"Huff... huff..."
Chiba lowered his hand, the thunder dissipating. His palms were covered in cold sweat.
No matter how calm he was, this was still a trip to death's door.
If his reaction had been half a second slower, he'd already be a puddle of meat paste on this highway.
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