As the two faced off against Ugly Mita, Alain absurdly found that his professional instincts had kicked in.
The girl sitting on the sofa had the look of a beast that had just spotted its prey.
With a few clicks, she stood up stiffly, then dropped to the ground like an animal, and with no grace whatsoever, began to "walk" toward them on all fours, one step at a time.
Alain whispered a comforting word to Misa and managed to suppress the chaotic feelings that arose from seeing such a bizarre scene.
Ugly Mita... she couldn't even walk properly, insisting on crawling. In the already spooky version 0.5, it was exceptionally strange.
In no time, she was in front of them.
Ugly Mita's vacant eyes focused on Misa for a moment, curious, like a young animal observing a new world. Then her gaze was blocked by Alain's shoulder.
"It's been a long time." He took a step forward, deliberately shielding his beloved.
As soon as he spoke, Ugly Mita's whole body tensed up and she straightened her posture, staring at him directly.
"You were looking for us—" Before he could even ask his question, a series of sounds, like static yet surprisingly intelligible, came from her teeth-grinding mouth.
"You. Last time. You said I was cute. Was that true?"
"Absolutely true." Alain observed Ugly Mita from head to toe, his eyes free of any impurity, just a normal appreciation for the opposite sex.
Her skin was pale, she had thick, dark circles under her eyes, and even her teeth were modeled with too much realism, each one distinct. Her "maintenance," however, was lacking in every aspect. Not just her skin, but her posture: including how she stood, walked, and so on.
In contrast, Ugly Mita, having gotten the answer she wanted, seemed to have her entire skeleton loosen and tense in a single wave. A chaotic black mass appeared on the surface of her body, and then little spiders crawled out from under her skirt, disappearing into the various corners of the room.
[Progress: 0% -> 5%]
The progress bar had risen.
Alain was confused. What did that mean?
The first time he met Ugly Mita, he had also called her cute, and she had the same reaction. Was she angry or happy? With her expressionless face, her emotions could seemingly only be read through her body language and tone.
Speaking of which... those little spiders that crawled out looked very similar to the juvenile Human-headed Spider Wasps he'd seen before, but they didn't have the yellow spots.
So it's true... Ugly Mita must have some kind of relationship with the viruses. But why on earth did she block the virus invasion coming from the core?
Seeing that Ugly Mita had gone silent after asking her question, Alain glanced back at his beloved to communicate with his eyes.
[What do you think? Did you notice anything?]
Misa raised her eyebrows. [You've really got some charisma, don't you?]
Alain: [???]
Was he decoding her expression wrong? Why did Misa's meaning seem completely out of context?
Misa tugged on the corner of his shirt. [From my observation, Ugly Mita seems to care a lot about your opinion of her. Especially regarding her appearance. We can use that as a starting point.]
Alain blinked. [How did you figure all that out?]
The long-haired girl sighed in exasperation. [A woman's intuition.]
She thought for two seconds, then shot him another look. [For now, our objective hasn't changed.]
[While ensuring our safety as much as possible, we need to make contact with Ugly Mita, try to retrieve the ring, and see if we can get any information.]
[So, my dear. We'll play along, using the fact that Ugly Mita seems to care about her appearance. Of course, your safety is the top priority.]
Alain nodded. He was actually able to understand such a complex series of glances. He returned one of his own. [It's our safety.]
Honestly, the plan was dangerous. The main issue was Ugly Mita's extremely unstable personality. Misa had told him before that as the Mita closest to version 0, Ugly Mita was riddled with bugs, the very definition of "unstable."
Fortunately, they had found a small, if not perfect, solution: use her concern for her appearance to keep her stable.
He hoped nothing dangerous would happen... Not to mention, the chainsaw hadn't finished downloading yet. If they really had to fight, he wasn't sure he could win against this powerful Mita even with a greatsword. And even if he himself was fine, Crazy Mita was a thousand miles away in version 1.9; it would be difficult for her to intervene here.
Seriously... why is it always me who runs into these bad women?
Feeling utterly helpless, he turned back around. At this point, all he could do was press forward. He had made it this far, one step at a time.
But as Alain's gaze returned to the long-silent Ugly Mita, his pupils suddenly contracted, and he let out an involuntary gasp.
It was the first reaction one has when startled, something even professional training can't always suppress.
The girl in the white dress, who should have been standing two meters away, still had her body in the distance, but her neck had stretched out unnaturally, bringing her head right in front of Alain's face.
His nose touched hers, and Alain could clearly smell the woody fragrance emanating from her skin.
She stared at Alain for a moment, then retracted her head, returning to her previous dazed state.
For some reason, Alain could feel an intense wave of disappointment coming from her.
Then, she hugged the little bear in her arms and reached a hand inside the plushie, as if fumbling for something.
Alain swallowed hard. From within her little bear, he saw the cold glint of a blade's tip.
"You were... afraid just now. You were startled?" she asked.
"Yes. I was startled."
Click. Her hand was slowly pulling out from inside the bear, her grip tightening on what looked like the hilt of a knife.
The surrounding room began to vibrate faintly. With Ugly Mita's movements at the epicenter, the amplitude and frequency of the vibrations steadily increased.
"But it was more surprise than fear."
Alain's words made her pause her action of drawing the dagger.
Ugly Mita looked at the young man in astonishment. There wasn't a trace of deception in his calm eyes.
And Misa realized that Alain was about to start again.
She rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on, yet also a contradictory sense of relief.
"Sigh... I really hope this ends soon."
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