"Counting from when we entered the instance, it's already been over two hours." Kotoko seemed to have grasped a key clue, her eyes flashing with inspiration. "I understand now. Actually, that diary at the very beginning was both an important clue providing information to the Player, and also a misleading trap!"
"Misleading?" Asuna questioned.
"That's right, misleading."
Kotoko, nearing the truth, spoke eagerly. "Do you remember? The last information left by the diary's owner was on the sixteenth day after the apocalypse, but according to the wraith just now, the infected individuals appeared about a month and a half ago... No, considering he didn't even know he was dead, and wraiths' perception of the flow of time becomes blurred, the time from when this disaster first occurred to our current time must be more than a month and a half."
Hearing this, Asuna couldn't help but ask doubtfully. "But... we observed the corpse in the apartment. Although none of us four are professionals, we should at least be able to distinguish between a corpse that's been dead for a few days and one that's been dead for over a month, right?"
"This is where the misleading part is most severe." Kotoko raised her fair and tender index finger. "The diary's owner didn't lie, but everything he recorded was just based on his own analysis. He said he didn't 'turn into those things,' but was he really not infected with the virus? Zombie viruses in various genres all have one characteristic: even if the infected person's bodily functions stop, they don't excessively rot. In fact, like the Special Infected individuals in this instance, their bodies show no signs of decay at all."
"The information written in the diary describes the city half a month after the apocalypse arrived. At that time, he would still encounter those things when he went to the supermarket downstairs. However, after we left the apartment, we only encountered one Special Infected individual, which completely contradicts the scene he described."
"So, if we start organizing the timeline now, it should be: Apocalypse outbreak - Diary owner's record - Diary owner's death - That mysterious army enters the city and starts clearing out normal infected individuals - Doctor Robin Dias of this hospital dies - The virus mutates, causing the evolution of infected individuals. Special Infected individuals were likely born during this stage. Finally, that army, or possibly another organization, placed implanted locators inside the Special Infected individuals, turning the entire city into an experimental field."
Hearing Kotoko's analysis, Asuna, already quite intelligent, immediately reacted with sudden realization. "The misleading part of the diary is that it makes the Player think they entered the instance during the period just a few days after the diary owner died, the first stage of the apocalypse. But in reality, the time point in this instance is already the second stage, where the virus has undergone secondary evolution, normal infected individuals can move quickly, and Special Infected individuals have been born."
"Exactly." Megumi, beside them, frowned tightly, a complex look in her eyes. "Why would they deliberately arrange such misleading information..."
"Because this game is like this," Asagiri spoke calmly. "Although the information in the diary will mislead the Player, the incorrect information will lead to a correct conclusion: as long as you carefully avoid Special Infected individuals, there will be almost no danger on the road from the spawn point to Mochizuki Hospital. However, as time passes and the sky gradually approaches night, it's hard to say. The seemingly simple first objective, surviving until the instance time limit ends, is actually the most difficult. The seemingly difficult second objective is actually the simple one."
"Those who are too cautious and not quick enough are eliminated. Those who cannot think calmly in an unfamiliar environment, have too low an information gathering efficiency, and cannot find the route to the hospital are eliminated. Those who dare not face any danger and just want to hide in the spawn point to get through the instance are eliminated. After arriving at this hospital, those who are too trusting of the misleading information collected at the spawn point at the beginning, and therefore see infected individuals and think they are the slow-moving, non-threatening type, and charge straight into combat, are also eliminated."
Following Asagiri's words, both Megumi and Asuna felt a little heavy in their hearts. "This game's system is neither cruel nor benevolent towards the Player. It simply strictly enforces its own set of standards, filtering out the best Players through one instance assessment after another, nothing more."
Ten minutes later, in a ward on the top floor of Inpatient Building 2.
"So this is the so-called antibody reagent..." Kotoko looked at the two rows of glass tube containers filled with light green liquid and tentatively reached out to touch one. Sure enough, the eye icon APP on her phone immediately emitted a notification sound, and a line of text appeared on the screen.
[You have obtained one tube of ?? Virus Antibody Reagent. Do you confirm submission? Upon submission, the dungeon completion is considered finished, and you will begin returning to the real world for dungeon settlement.]
"We finally cleared the instance." Seeing the prompt on her phone screen, Kotoko rubbed her eyes, yawned, and stretched, looking a bit tired. The duration from entering the instance to completing the objective this time was similar to the previous Hotel instance, but during the Hotel instance, they were mostly sitting and resting, and they didn't move such a long distance as they did this time.
"1, 2, 3, 4, are there a total of ten tubes of reagent? So, besides us, there are six other Players who entered this instance?" Kotoko asked.
"Not necessarily," Asagiri replied indifferently. "It's possible that antibody reagents are stored elsewhere in the hospital. Otherwise, wouldn't the Player who finds the antibody reagents first have the lifeline of the other Players in their hands?"
"That's true." Kotoko nodded, then said with a smile, "Then let's start now..."
"You and Phantom go out first. Violet and I will explore for a bit longer."
"Huh?" Hearing Asagiri say he wanted to continue exploring alone with Asuna, Kotoko puffed up her cheeks. "You're showing favoritism. I want to stay too."
"Do you think we're on a date here?"
Asagiri reached out and gently patted Kotoko's head, smiling. "Violet can gain speed, agility, and enhanced reflexes by killing Special Infected individuals, so even if delaying the instance completion time leads to a lower completion evaluation level, she shouldn't lose out, and might even profit. As for me, I want to continue exploring to see if I can find other valuable items in this hospital. There's no need for you two to delay with me. The decrease in the completion evaluation level is one thing, but more importantly, both you and Phantom have consumed some of your status."
Kotoko, who was originally pouting and wanting to stay, had a blush appear on her fair and cute cheeks after Asagiri gently patted her head with a gesture like coaxing a child. She mumbled softly,
"Hmph, are you trying to coax a child? But you have a point. Then Phantom and I will go back first. You two be careful, understood?"
"OK." After Kotoko and Megumi each took a tube of antibody reagent, clicked confirm submission, and their figures instantly disappeared, Asagiri lay down directly on the nearby hospital bed and said in a lazy tone, "Alright, let's rest for a while, then continue exploring."
Asuna first nodded, sat down on another hospital bed, then rested her chin on one hand, looked at Asagiri lying there, and couldn't help but smile slightly. "What you just said about wanting to continue collecting valuable items wasn't the main reason you wanted to stay in the dungeon, was it?"
"Oh, you guessed it?"
"Of course, don't I know you?" Asuna's tone seemed a bit helpless, but the smile on her face was very gentle.
"You definitely want to see what kind of changes will appear in this dungeon as time passes, what kind of dangers will arise that cause the Players hiding at the spawn point to die, thus preventing them from clearing it, right?"
"As expected, you understand me the best."
Hearing Asagiri's smiling voice, Asuna pursed her lips, her eyes flickering, and finally couldn't help but ask softly, "Regarding Kotoko... what are you planning to do?"
Asagiri looked slightly confused. "What do you mean, what do I plan to do?"
Hearing this, Asuna's expression turned a bit displeased. "Are you playing dumb with me here? Don't tell me you still can't see that she really likes you."
"Oh, you mean that." Asagiri smiled and replied casually, "I like her too."
Asuna heard this answer, and even though she had been prepared for it, a sour feeling still inevitably rose in her chest. She took a deep breath and forced a smile.
"If that's the case..."
Before she could finish, Asagiri said something surprising. "I like you, too."
"Huh?" Asuna was stunned for several seconds before finally reacting, her brows tightly furrowed. "What do you mean? If I understood correctly... you're saying you like both me and her?"
"Yeah." Seeing Asagiri's righteous appearance, Asuna was almost angered into laughter. "Hey, isn't it a bit too much for you to so openly declare yourself a scumbag...?"
"Hey, look at what you're saying. How can you slander someone's innocence out of thin air?" Facing Asuna's accusation, Asagiri suddenly changed his approach. "The so-called 'scumbag' refers to men who cannot reciprocate the feelings of those who like them, or who accept the other person on the surface but then abandon them and betray their feelings."
Speaking up to this point, Asagiri paused slightly, then sat up in the bed, looked directly into Asuna's eyes, and said with a smile, "And this of mine is a declaration of a harem, out in the open."
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