YukimiBotamon?
With a look of shock in his watery eyes, Chen Ze stared at himself in the mirror, suddenly feeling the urge to reach out and touch the reflection.
Wait—if I remember correctly, wasn't Agumon's Fresh form Botamon? How did I become YukimiBotamon instead?
Although more than a decade had passed, and his memories about Digimon from his past life were somewhat blurry, Chen Ze clearly remembered Botamon evolving into Koromon, then Koromon evolving into Agumon—this classic "protagonist evolution line" was deeply etched into his mind.
Even though YukimiBotamon and Botamon looked extremely similar, the entirely different fur color was enough to confirm the difference.
And if his memories weren't mistaken, YukimiBotamon's evolution line eventually led to Angewomon—another well-known protagonist route from his previous life.
Of course, reality and anime were still quite different.
The most obvious difference was that Digimon evolution routes weren't set in stone. Those so-called protagonist evolution lines from his previous life were merely popular or powerful examples among many possibilities.
Or more precisely, truly powerful Digimon weren't limited to any specific evolution line. Their strength derived from their own uniqueness, not from any fixed form.
Yet despite knowing this, Chen Ze still couldn't help but imagine himself evolving into Angewomon as he looked at the fuzzy, adorable YukimiBotamon in the mirror.
This feels like pure malice.
Shivering involuntarily, Chen Ze had no idea if the statement "Digimon have no gender" was accurate, nor did he have any interest in verifying that personally.
Is this because of the Overload Program?
Aside from the virus program he'd temporarily written himself, Chen Ze couldn't think of any other explanation for why he'd turned out like this.
Compared to the leftover fragments of Agumon's data, the program personally crafted by Chen Ze was far stronger and far more complete.
In a way, Chen Ze's current Digital Core had been restructured and rebuilt around that very Overload Program.
Unlike before, this wasn't simply adding a virus plug-in onto Agumon's original data.
What Chen Ze did was directly use the Overload Program as the core itself, restructuring and recomposing the leftover fragments that otherwise lacked any coherent logic.
Given enough time, perhaps he could've reverse-engineered these fragments to reconstruct a genuine Digital Core for Botamon—or even Agumon.
But in the urgent circumstances at the time, all Chen Ze could do was make full use of the data he already had, quickly assembling a viable Digital Core capable of running properly.
Wait… doesn't that mean I'm not really YukimiBotamon, but actually some sort of Botamon subspecies?
Chen Ze didn't realize that in the Digital World, YukimiBotamon was originally considered a variant of Botamon. He could only infer his current situation based on the information he currently had.
Fortunately, while his reasoning process wasn't exactly logical, at least his conclusion was correct.
The current Chen Ze wasn't truly a standard YukimiBotamon, but rather a new subspecies rebuilt from Botamon's original data—a unique YukimiBotamon variant inherently carrying the Overload Program.
"Yaa! Yaa!"
As he pondered this, Chen Ze suddenly felt something bubbling up inside his mouth, making him instinctively open his mouth and exhale.
Poof!
To his surprise, what he released wasn't just drool, but a swift, powerful burst of gas mixed with some unknown fluid.
Even more shocking was the speed and destructive power of this strange gust of air, completely exceeding his expectations.
Crack…
Following an almost inaudible sound, the mirror in front of Chen Ze suddenly had a hole pierced clean through—not shattered, but mysteriously disintegrated at that single spot. It was as though the mirror's glass at that precise location had been reduced to powder, while the rest of the mirror eerily remained intact.
Without needing to search his memories or think hard, Chen Ze instinctively knew that this was an inherent attack method of his current form—"Overload Impact."
Just like Agumon's Mach Jab or Sharp Claws, this was YukimiBotamon's—or rather Chen Ze's unique YukimiBotamon form's—special move.
But unlike Claw Attack or Sharp Claws, this ability wasn't inherited from Agumon's data at all. Instead, it emerged from his brand-new Digital Core, something exclusive to him alone.
He barely needed any training; after a brief adaptation period, Chen Ze already felt confident he could perfectly control this miraculous mirror-disintegrating power.
After all, directly inheriting a top-tier player's account was vastly different from laboriously leveling one yourself.
Whether it was skill proficiency, adaptability to new abilities, or overall control of one's powers, the two were simply incomparable.
"Daddy, I was telling the truth! A weird egg really did pop out of your computer!"
Just as Chen Ze was preparing to experiment further, a young, childish voice suddenly echoed from outside the room.
...
"Daddy, I was telling the truth! A weird egg really did pop out of your computer!"
While Mrs. Tachikawa was busy preparing breakfast, Mimi pulled insistently at Mr. Tachikawa's cheek, speaking very earnestly.
"And it's in my room right now!"
With a doting smile, Mr. Tachikawa seemed long accustomed to his daughter's wild and whimsical imagination, not immediately denying her words.
Having ample experience in how to handle both his wife and daughter, Mr. Tachikawa had long developed a set of principles.
And the first principle was: always play along with whatever they said, affirming even their most outlandish claims—and stepping in to smooth things over whenever necessary.
"Yes, Daddy believes you. And the two strange creatures you said you saw last night—they must've been real too. Daddy just didn't see them."
Hearing this, Mimi glanced skeptically at her father, only to see him looking at her with an utterly "sincere" expression, as if he genuinely believed her.
"I knew Daddy's the best!"
After a brief hesitation, Mimi's childish innocence quickly prevailed, and a huge smile bloomed on her face as she happily hugged her father's cheek, rubbing against it lovingly.
"Hey! Hey! Wait! Daddy hasn't shaved yet today!"
Caught off guard by his daughter's sudden affectionate attack, Mr. Tachikawa momentarily froze, then frantically pulled her away from his stubbly cheek.
"It's fine, Daddy's face is super clean today—no stubble at all!"