Chapter 45: I'm Exploiting Myself
Early the next morning, Ryū rubbed his bleary eyes. The jet lag between worlds was taking some getting used to.
He'd been in that frustrating state where it was clearly nighttime but he simply couldn't fall asleep.
And then, the moment daylight arrived…
The drowsiness hit.
Of course, with his current constitution and mental fortitude…
Even going several days and nights without sleep wouldn't be a real problem. There was certainly no risk of dropping dead from exhaustion.
At most, he'd show signs of…
A bit of mental fatigue. That was all.
Ryū, Yukari, Kaguya, and Wolffy had assembled early. As for the search within H City for someone named "Meyu Inkyo," they'd already turned up three people with that exact name during the small hours of last night.
Two were male, one female. Of the two men, one was sixty-eight and the other twenty-three.
The woman sharing the name was… not yet five years old.
Ryū set the intelligence report — compiled by the Shinomiya Zaibatsu's people — on the table, thought for a moment, then spoke. "The most likely candidate is the twenty-three-year-old Meyu Inkyo."
After all, the other two were sixty-eight and under five.
No matter how you looked at it, neither of them was a strong candidate.
Three people in all of H City sharing the same name.
That put the twenty-three-year-old at roughly an eighty percent probability.
The sixty-eight-year-old at around fifteen percent.
And the remaining five percent…
Belonged to the girl who wasn't even five.
After a brief pause, Ryū continued: "We can't completely rule out the other two, so we'll need to check each one individually. But we have plenty of time — thirty days, after all."
Yukari, seated nearby, gave a small nod of agreement. "Thirty days to investigate three people in a single city should be more than enough."
There was, however, one critical complication: H City's public order had already begun to deteriorate thanks to the spreading zombie virus. Things were sliding toward outright chaos.
Finding three specific people under those conditions was like searching for needles in a haystack.
Which meant they'd need to leverage the Shinomiya Zaibatsu's resources once again.
Yukari's abilities would also play a major role, of course.
She'd mentioned having a power that worked something like… a human-shaped radar.
And then there was Wolffy's high-tech equipment to assist.
With all of that combined, locating a single person wouldn't be terribly difficult — especially since they already had photographs of all three suspects in hand.
"If killing the traverser nets 2,000 Points — that's 1,000 less than Blackbeard Teach. Meaning his combat ability is far below Teach's. The bounty might even be that high mainly because of the sheer destructive impact he's having on the world."
Ryū analyzed silently: "In other words… the real difficulty is just tracking him down. Actually killing the traverser, given the chat group's combined strength, shouldn't be all that hard."
The genuinely difficult part was figuring out how to stop the zombie virus from spreading for good.
But that was a problem for later.
They hadn't even found the traverser yet.
Overthinking at this stage was pointless.
Wolffy, bulky in his layers of high-tech gear, scratched his head awkwardly. "If I go out looking like this… won't I draw a bit too much attention?!"
Ryū's gaze settled on him, and the corner of his eye twitched.
Honestly, even without all that bulky gear…
Given that Wolffy's silhouette was that of a wolf walking upright like a human being…
And that he could speak human language as naturally as breathing…
He was already going to attract an extraordinary amount of attention.
Just then, Kaguya spoke up. "Yukari-nee-sama and I have already arranged two cars. If we stay inside the vehicles, nobody will notice."
Ryū nodded. "If there are no other issues, let's move out."
Before departing, Ryū switched on the chat group's camera feed.
He had, after all, promised them last night.
And while he was at it…
He pinged everyone.
RawrSoFierce: @Everyone — Camera's on. Starting the traverser hunt today. Target: H City, Japan. Target name: Meyu Inkyo.
RawrSoFierce: Come to think of it, I'm only just now realizing… that name is really something.
Crazy Diamond: I can see the feed! Admin-dono is the best!
The Little Wandering Planet: Also seeing the feed +1! Admin-dono is the best!
We, Ying Zheng: So this is what another world looks like? The style is entirely unlike the Great Qin's. And there are so many bizarre objects… the architecture, the clothing — nothing is the same.
Crazy Diamond: Well, your era WAS two thousand years ago!
We, Ying Zheng: That is a fair point, We suppose. We had not imagined that a mere two millennia could change so much.
Edward Newgate: Gurararara! Got the feed. Crystal clear, as expected.
"…"
The moment Ryū pinged everyone, every lurker surfaced. After all, being able to spectate a Group Quest from the chat wasn't an everyday opportunity.
This was especially true for Ying Zheng, who had only joined the group recently.
And in fact, Whitebeard had never watched through the camera feed either.
Last time, he'd been a direct participant in the quest.
Participating in a quest and watching the livestream from the chat at the same time?
That would be a bit much, even for him.
Kaguya-sama: [Image] [Image] [Image] — We've set off toward H City. The drive should take roughly two to three hours.
Kaguya-sama: Also, Yukari-nee-sama and I used the Shinomiya Zaibatsu's resources to obtain a few… items that will let us enter and exit H City freely.
Crazy Diamond: Impressive!… Wait, hold on. You ARE the Shinomiya Zaibatsu's young lady. So using your own family's resources is technically just… something feels off about that…
Kaguya-sama: *Ahem* — Mission requirements. Mission requirements. Ahaha.
Kaguya-sama: Besides, Yukari-nee-sama's psychic control doesn't have any side effects.
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden: Indeed, there are no side effects whatsoever.
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden: The only side effect is that the person under control will feel mentally exhausted for several days afterward.
RawrSoFierce: …Didn't you literally just say there were no side effects? Isn't that a contradiction?
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden: Ara? This one made a contradiction? Impossible. That simply cannot be. This one is the Yōkai Sage, after all — contradictions do not exist in this one's vocabulary.
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