"This zoo is truly... quite astonishing."
Medea couldn't help but exclaim.
Her Mystic Eyes didn't perceive any top sects from a fantasy cultivation world.
Instead, the Chiba Zoo in Medea's Mystic Eyes looked no different from what her naked eyes saw.
The ticket office was bustling with people, quite busy.
A red-backed, gold-lettered welcome banner hung over the main gate, and a notice on the wall read, "Half price for seniors and children, free Chiba Zoo tour guide upon entry."
Everything seemed so normal, yet her lifelong knowledge of magic told Medea of the horror within.
The next moment, the [Perpetual Motion Machine] of the Third Law and the [Breaking Ten Thousand Laws] of the Sixth Law roared like machines.
Medea tried to apply the rule of Breaking Ten Thousand Laws to her Mystic Eyes, using them to shatter the facade of Chiba Zoo and see its true structure.
And with this, she finally saw a hint of something different.
Was that... a golden fish?
Just then, a cute voice sounded at their feet.
"Hey, stop looking."
Kisaragi Rin pulled Medea, indicating that their peeking had been discovered.
"Ugh... I only saw a little bit."
Medea was a bit regretful; the moment she saw that fish, she had a feeling of enlightenment, but she was interrupted before she could figure out what it was.
The Plump Orange Cat that came to stop them explained helplessly, "Chiba Zoo isn't a building; it's a giant creature currently in slumber. Although it has contained its own mystery, if you insist on trying to see it clearly, you'll easily go mad."
Medea: "..."
She thought of Yuusuke, whom Kisaragi Rin had dragged to see an Evil God with the [Evil Gaze of the Abyss].
Although slightly surprised by Medea's Mystic Eyes, the Plump Orange Cat was more interested in Kisaragi Rin.
With a flick of its tail, the fat cat sat on the ground and asked reservedly, "Are you Sir Kisaragi?"
"I am," Kisaragi Rin replied.
Looking at this fat cat, he remembered it was the one Kanroji Mitsuri fed fries to, and at the time, he had wondered if his Destructive Kill could catch it.
"It really is you!"
The fat cat's tone was surprised, admiring, and also somewhat gleeful.
This left Kisaragi Rin with a question mark.
"Is something wrong?" Kisaragi Rin probed.
"Nothing." The fat cat shook its head.
"Then what was that tone just now?"
With Chiba Zoo's cognitive rewrite in effect, Kisaragi Rin squatted down and began to look directly at the fat cat.
"Hmm... I mean I'm fine, but you, brother, have a big problem."
At this point, the fat cat yawned, then raised its front paw to look at its claws.
It looked very busy.
"You just called me Sir Kisaragi."
Kisaragi Rin reminded it.
"I also call Shikanoko 'Sir'."
The fat cat retorted.
"So this guy wants a bribe?" Medea understood its meaning.
Chiba Zoo had cognitive rewriting; when Kanroji Mitsuri came here before, the animal players couldn't detect anything amiss about the animals inside. Even the most outrageous behavior would instinctively be treated as normal behavior for ordinary animals. However, Medea was not affected now, which, of course, wasn't due to Medea's magical attainments, but a "teammate protection mechanism."
After Kisaragi Rin joined Chiba Zoo yesterday, he had already discovered that Shikanoko Noko no longer applied cognitive rewriting to him and the people in the apartment.
The specific principle... just like Kisaragi Rin could never understand Shikanoko Noko's strength, Medea only had a few guesses about this cognitive rewrite.
But there was no need to think about it himself; Kisaragi Rin came to Chiba Zoo today precisely to ask Shikanoko Noko about some things.
"Medea, I'll be gone for a moment."
Sighing, Kisaragi Rin chose to get up.
When he returned, Medea saw Kisaragi Rin hand a medium order of fries to the fat cat.
"...Why not a large order?"
The fat cat was a bit displeased.
Medea: "..."
"Are all the animals in Chiba Zoo crazy?"
"But Master can actually keep up with these animals' thought processes?"
Medea was still doubting life, while the fat cat, having received its bribe, spoke again: "Kisaragi's player nickname should be Darwin, right?"
"Huh? This matter?" Kisaragi Rin frowned.
On the way to buy fries, he had already guessed that this fat cat would tell him some melodramatic story like, "Shikanoko Noko has many suitors, and now this group of suitors is unhappy with you and is preparing to deal with you."
In the end... you're talking about player nicknames?
Wait, how does this orange cat know my player nickname?
Kisaragi Rin stared at the fat cat, which then pulled out a Weekly Magazine from behind itself.
"Here, Sir Kisaragi's deeds have spread throughout the player community."
"..." Kisaragi Rin took the Weekly Magazine; it was thin, with only a few pages of content.
The name on the cover was simply [Weekly Magazine].
Below it were two more sentences:
We observe, we record, we use extraordinary means to be the frontier journalists of the Paradise.
Weekly Magazine recruiting journalists... Five insurances and one housing fund, high benefits, pre-employment training included... fat cat: "Although it says 'journalists' above, everyone calls them paparazzi."
Kisaragi Rin: "..."
Medea: "..."
Turning to the first page, Kisaragi Rin understood the reason for the fat cat's schadenfreude.
There, in bold black letters, was some kind of sensational headline typical of a news agency trying to save itself.
[Shocking! New S-class emerges! A Workshop mentor slain!]
[Nickname willingly surrendered yet still not spared! The Ultimate Evolution given such a humiliating title!]
[Oh, Curly-haired Baboon from the Infinite! Is it a distortion of human nature! Or a collapse of morality!]
Kisaragi Rin stiffly looked down at the main text.
Half of it was baseless speculation about his identity, and the other half was an introduction and praise of that "mentor."
Although the entire report used a lot of "possibly," "perhaps," and "this reporter believes," it ultimately conveyed only one thing:
That is: A expert from America's Eternal Universe Workshop had their player nickname stolen by a new S-class, and the modified nickname was the extremely humiliating "Curly-haired Baboon." Everyone, come and mock!
The article also included the source of the information at the end.
In the photo, an old man with a white beard was secretly telling another man about this matter.
Information Provider: Richard von Romanoff
Reporter: Barbossa
Weekly Magazine Message: Our most tenacious reporter, Barbossa, is continuously tracking and documenting this fun event. Please subscribe and support us...
Kisaragi Rin: "...Isn't this just paparazzi?"
This wasn't a Weekly Magazine at all; it was clearly some kind of entertainment show put together by troublemakers!
Now the problem was.
The S-class who "slayed the mentor," "still didn't spare them," and was "humiliating" in the paparazzi's words was Kisaragi Rin.
The Paradise giving him a chance to change his nickname didn't say it was directly stealing from someone else!
And even if you stole it, you should have just made the robbed person's nickname blank and let them choose a new one. Instead, you directly swapped my nickname with theirs?
Darwin really became a Curly-haired Baboon, didn't he?