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Clatter.
As the Shadow elementary school student vanished, the magic rope 'clattered' onto the ground.
The rope seemed a bit bewildered, not reacting to why its bound target had suddenly disappeared. However, it immediately, driven by instinct, shot towards the nearest target for a new round of binding.
Amamiya Natsuki, quick as lightning, grabbed both ends of the rope, which was the only way to stop the binding, and then put the magic rope into his backpack.
"Vanished into thin air..." Shadow Chika tilted her head and looked over, "Is that your special ability?"
Amamiya Natsuki nodded and said, "You can consider it a kind of special ability."
Although Shadow Chika had escaped the mother body's control, it was unclear if she would be re-controlled in the future, so some information still couldn't be revealed.
"As long as you hit the Shadow, you can eliminate her?" Juju asked, "Is it that simple?"
Shadow Chika's expression was calm as she coldly said, "That's right, her data has indeed been eliminated and won't reappear. If you see her again, it will only be another Shadow's disguise, with only the appearance, but no memories."
Transformation and Imitation were common abilities for all Shadows. They could not only transform into humans but even into objects, but it was only a superficial transformation and they would not possess the other party's memories.
Fujiwara Chika pursed her pink lips and couldn't help but say, "Um... she's your kind. You don't care at all that she was eliminated right in front of you?"
She was too cold.
She herself would never be such a cold person.
Was this girl really exactly like her?
"Why should I care?" Shadow Chika tilted her head and looked over, "When dealing with enemies, you should eliminate them without hesitation. Mercy is the most foolish act."
"Hmm..." Fujiwara Chika puffed out her pink cheeks, "At least you should plead for her or try to make her turn over a new leaf?"
Shadow Chika's expression was cold as she said, "To her, I'm the Shadow who went astray."
Everyone: "..."
It was clear that although Shadow Chika and secretary had identical memories and emotions, their thought processes were not the same. It was like Kaguya and Yandere Kaguya; saying they were two independent entities seemed fine too.
After a pause, Shadow Chika continued, "We don't fear or dread death. Otherwise, she wouldn't have stayed still just now; she would have tried to escape."
Amamiya Natsuki asked curiously, "How so?"
"We can temporarily incorporate our bodies into our Shadows for high-speed movement." Shadow Chika explained, "However, the body can't breathe in the Shadow space and has to come out in less than a minute. It needs to rest for a while before it can re-enter... It's like humans diving underwater."
"I see."
Koyasu Tsubame took out a notebook and began to record the newly acquired information.
Being able to move in a Shadow state on a flat surface was like being a born assassination ninja.
"Hey, wait a minute." Sayu raised her hand and said, "I have a question... Since you can turn into a Shadow and escape, why didn't Shadow Sakurako escape when we caught her on the beach?"
"Because there was no point." Shadow Chika's tone was calm as she said, "When you were interrogating her just now, she also wanted to know your information. Besides, even if you didn't do anything to her, she would have disappeared on her own before sunset today."
Kitagawa Marin crossed her arms over her chest and asked curiously, "Why would she disappear on her own?"
"Because if the original object isn't eliminated, the data will gradually disappear." Shadow Chika calmly said, "If a replicated Shadow doesn't personally eliminate the original body, it will die due to data disappearance, ranging from three days to a week."
"..."
The girls all looked at secretary Chika.
Fujiwara Chika's eyes widened, and she bit her lip lightly, whispering, "...I'm sorry."
Sacrificing herself to let Shadow Chika remain in the world, she really couldn't do that.
"No need to apologize." Shadow Chika's tone was calm, "If I hadn't discovered the pheromones left by the elementary school student halfway through, I would have already gone and killed you."
Fujiwara Chika: "..."
The guilt in her heart suddenly vanished into thin air.
Amamiya Natsuki spoke up, "Enough idle chatter, it's time to act. Next, we'll go find Kaguya and the others."
It was still broad daylight, with many people around, and the difficulty of kidnapping several elementary school students was too high. They would first rendezvous with Kaguya and the others, concentrate their strength, and deal with some dungeon tasks.
"Let's go!"
"..."
The abandoned Hospital Kaguya and the others were exploring was called "Rhombus Hospital," located halfway up Mount Eagle Beak. It was abandoned for unknown reasons, and the direct distance between the two parties was not far.
Amamiya Natsuki and his group left the abandoned shack and walked along the coastline, soon arriving at Eagle Beak Mountain. At the foot of the mountain stood a sign that read 'Private Property, No Entry.' Of course, while it said that, the path wasn't blocked by a barbed wire fence, so entry was easy.
"I see it," Kitagawa Marin said, standing on tiptoes and putting her hand to her forehead. "That should be the abandoned Hospital."
Amamiya Natsuki nodded, "That's right, that's the place."
The group followed the mountain path to halfway up the mountain. Standing by the railing and looking down, they saw the vast Sea and sky at the foot of the mountain, with endless blue waves. Coconut trees and banana trees grew along the edge of the beach, and seabirds circled in the sky. The scenery of a summer in the southern country was refreshing.
"How beautiful," Fujiwara Chika whispered. "This is the first time I've encountered a dungeon with such a beautiful view."
"Indeed, all the previous dungeons were eerie and the art style was frightening," Kitagawa Marin said, with her right hand on her hip. "I want to go swimming in the Sea."
Slap!
A crisp slapping sound rang out.
"Ah…!"
Kitagawa Marin exclaimed in surprise and quickly turned to look back. "Natsuki, why did you hit me?"
"You two, that's enough," Amamiya Natsuki complained. "This is a dungeon. If you want a vacation, wait until the dungeon is over. Now, be on alert."
The Succubus Girl pouted her pink cheeks upon hearing this, unhappily saying, "Then why only hit me and not Chika?"
Amamiya Natsuki's gaze shifted to secretary Chika.
"The weather is nice today… Goodbye!"
Secretary Chika turned and ran.
Before the group arrived, they had already sent messages to Kaguya and the others, so upon reaching the entrance of the abandoned Hospital, they saw three girls waiting at the Hospital entrance: Kaguya, Yukino, and Hayasaka.
"Kaguya, we're here!"
Fujiwara Chika happily shouted, about to step forward.
"Wait a moment," Amamiya Natsuki pulled Chika back and looked at the three at the entrance, saying seriously, "First, prove your identities."
"That's right," Yukinoshita Haruno stood by, chiming in. "Yukino, don't come over yet. Prove your identity first."
Yukinoshita Yukino said speechlessly, "How do I prove my identity?"
"It's simple," Amamiya Natsuki said. "Use a Skin Card for an instant costume change. Even a shadow can't imitate that."
Aside from Yukino who didn't have a Skin Card, Kaguya and Hayasaka both did. The young lady's Skin Card was the Bunny Girl Senpai, while Hayasaka Ai's Skin Card was the Little Devil Maid.
"Your intentions are already written all over your face, Senpai," Hayasaka Ai said, crossing her arms. "You clearly just want to see Kaguya change clothes, right?"
Amamiya Natsuki denied it, "I didn't. Don't talk nonsense."
Hayasaka Ai pouted, "Tch, you say it but can't own up to it."
"…"
Information about shadow duplicates had already been conveyed to Kaguya and the other two before everyone arrived. With the existence of the game's 'shielded area,' identifying players was actually very simple; shadows couldn't replicate Skin Cards, items, and so on.
After proving their identities to each other, the two groups officially merged and then explored the abandoned Hospital together.
Because it was an abandoned Hospital from several decades ago, after being deserted for a long time, it looked quite dilapidated. The courtyard was overgrown with weeds, reaching above one's knees, and some areas had even collapsed, almost turning into ruins.
"To be safe, the three of us never separated from beginning to end," Shinomiya Kaguya walked alongside Amamiya Natsuki, whispering, "And we haven't encountered the strange flashes you mentioned."
Amamiya Natsuki pondered, "It's probably because after you came to the Island, you didn't stay in crowded places and came directly to the Hospital."
Shinomiya Kaguya nodded slightly, whispering, "President, have you completed your dungeon mission?"
"It's completed," Amamiya Natsuki nodded. "But a new challenge mission, 'Shadow Hunter,' has been activated. If I kill ten shadow duplicates, I can clear the dungeon."
In fact, if it weren't for the eye prompts, being a detective would not be so simple. Even if the case could be solved in the end, it wouldn't be as quick as it is now.
"It's so dark inside the building."
Entering the abandoned Hospital, everyone couldn't help but squint their eyes.
"The electrical system here is damaged," Yukinoshita Yukino took out a flashlight, turning it on as she spoke. "We'll need to use flashlights for illumination."
Fujiwara Chika asked curiously, "Why not drink the potion?"
"…"
Hearing this, Shinomiya Kaguya and Yukino both fell silent, and even Hayasaka Ai recalled the Forest Camp incident.
Why?
Of course, because the side effects were too bad!
Shinomiya Kaguya turned to look at Chika, her pink cheeks slightly puffed out: "The taste is too strange, I don't want to drink it."
Unfair!
Every time she drank the Witch Potion, she experienced side effects. Why… why had this Cancer of the Earth never experienced any side effects?!
The abandoned Hospital was dimly lit. Kaguya and the other two, for safety, did not split up and were quite cautious, so they had only just finished exploring the abandoned Hospital.
"This is a simple map of the Hospital," Yukinoshita Yukino took out a piece of paper with a hand-drawn map of the abandoned Hospital, complete with various annotations. "This Hospital only has two floors. The stairs to the second floor seem to have been intentionally damaged. After we went up, we didn't see any furniture, but there were many black marks."
"Also, there's a strange statue in this room."
"This is the director's office. We checked it carefully and found no mechanisms."
"Since entering the Hospital until now, we haven't encountered any ghosts."
"…"
Amamiya Natsuki raised an eyebrow slightly, saying, "Black marks imprinted on the ground?"
"What's wrong?" Yukinoshita Yukino looked over upon hearing this.
"Just remembering what happened earlier…" Amamiya Natsuki looked at Shadow Chika. "What do you say?"
"I don't know," Shadow Chika shook her head, her voice calm. "I'll have to go up and see."
Amamiya Natsuki nodded, "Let's go up and take a look."
The group walked to the dilapidated stairs. The wooden stairs were already damaged, making it impossible for ordinary people to go up, but it was no problem for players.
Amamiya Natsuki easily leaped up, then lowered a rope and pulled the others up. To be safe, it was better not to split up.
"It's just ahead."
Hayasaka Ai led the way.
Everyone pushed open the door and entered an abandoned room. The musty smell in the air made them frown. The room was empty, with only many old medical records and prescriptions scattered on the floor. In the corner, however, there were several black marks on the ground, as if imprinted there.
"We tried, but those black marks can't be wiped off," Shinomiya Kaguya whispered. "And from the outline, they seem to be some furniture."
"Eh?!" Kitagawa Marin widened her eyes in surprise. "Those marks… why do they look so familiar?"
Amamiya Natsuki turned to look at Shadow Chika, asking, "Did you find anything?"
"That's right, they're shadow replicas," Shadow Chika nodded lightly, and as she spoke, she pulled out a strand of hair and bent down to pick up an old medical record from the floor.
Under everyone's curious gaze, the strand of hair in Shadow Chika's hand suddenly distorted and transformed into an identical old medical record.
Amamiya Natsuki looked at the medical record; even the handwriting was identical, with no difference whatsoever.
"For a duplicate to exist permanently, the original must be eliminated. If the original is not eliminated, the data will gradually be lost, and only one can be duplicated at a time; infinite duplication is not possible," Shadow Chika said calmly. "When eliminated, if the original is in contact with the ground, it will leave black marks."
Shinomiya Kaguya crossed her arms, having understood, and whispered, "So, these black marks on the second floor are actually traces left after the original was eliminated?"
Yukinoshita Yukino let out a soft breath, frowning, "It seems this abandoned Hospital has a deep connection with shadows."
Next, the group checked the other rooms on the second floor but found no valuable information. Then they went downstairs together to the room in the furthest corner with the strange statue.
"We found a secret room in this room, but it can only be opened with a key," Shinomiya Kaguya whispered. "But we searched the entire Hospital and couldn't find the key."
"This is Hiruko no Kami," Shadow Chika said calmly. "She is the fishing goddess on the Island."
Amamiya Natsuki's gaze fell on the strange statue in the corner. This thing had a bizarre shape, no limbs, and looked somewhat like a large leech. It was covered in dust, and its material seemed to be made of bronze.
As Amamiya Natsuki gazed at it, a prompt quickly appeared before his eyes:
[Next is puzzle-solving time. After a diligent search, you finally discover a key inside the statue's belly. Only a shadow duplicate can retrieve the key.]
It actually revealed the answer directly. There's no fun in solving puzzles at all!
"The statue is very heavy; it seems to be solid," Yukinoshita Yukino whispered. "We tried turning it left and right, looking for mechanisms, and so on, but found nothing. It seems to be just an ordinary statue."
Of course, you found nothing, because this thing is an item specifically for shadow duplicates.
"This abandoned Hospital has a close connection with shadow creatures, and solving the puzzle is likely related to shadows," Amamiya Natsuki turned to look at Shadow Chika. "The statue's mouth has a small opening. Can you see what's inside?"
"I can."
Shadow Chika nodded lightly and transformed into a flat shadow, entering the statue.
Before long, Shadow Chika reappeared, calmly saying, "There's a key inside."
Hayasaka Ai suddenly realized, "No wonder we couldn't find it. It seems only shadow creatures can duplicate the key from inside… or perhaps it was even a Hospital opened by shadows."
Amamiya Natsuki said, "Can the key be duplicated?"
"Yes," Shadow Chika pulled out another strand of hair, which quickly transformed into a key in her hand.
"This key might be the key to opening the secret door," Hayasaka Ai's eyes lit up with anticipation. "Let's try it."
Amamiya Natsuki took the key and said in a deep voice, "I'll open the door."
Since everyone had gathered, Yukinoshita Haruno had been standing with Yukino, no longer speaking easily. Now, seeing Amamiya Natsuki standing at the front of the secret room, she finally understood why Amamiya Natsuki, despite wanting a harem, wasn't disliked.
When danger arose, he truly was the first to step forward.
Click.
The secret door on the wall opened.
A cold, damp air blew out, making everyone shiver involuntarily.
"There's flowing air, so it's not a sealed secret room," Shinomiya Kaguya whispered.
Inside was, of course, pitch black, and nothing could be seen. Amamiya Natsuki turned his head to look at the young lady and the others behind him, and said, "You all…"
Shinomiya Kaguya stepped forward half a step, standing with Amamiya Natsuki, and said seriously, "We'll go together."
"That's right," Fujiwara Chika followed. "Anyone who acts alone at a time like this is an idiot."
Seeing everyone unanimously decide to stick together, Amamiya Natsuki could only agree.
Everyone raised their flashlights and walked down the steps.
The air grew colder the further down they went. Before long, a vast and enormous cave system appeared before everyone's eyes. Countless stalactites hung down from the ceiling, and water droplets dripped from an unknown source.
"This is…" Amamiya Natsuki had already realized. "The Island's cave system?"
Sayu covered her pink lips, lowering her voice, "Doesn't that mean the Shadow's mother is inside?"
Amamiya Natsuki swept his flashlight around; the cave system was dark, vast, and silent. The light beam from his flashlight was quickly swallowed by the darkness. The air was cold and damp, even giving him the goosebumps.
At this moment, Shinomiya Kaguya whispered, "The game just sent an announcement. The instance quest has been completed. The next step is a follow-up quest: defeat a guy named Yote to meet the instance completion conditions."
Amamiya Natsuki looked at Yukino and Hayasaka upon hearing this, and asked in a low voice, "What about your quests?"
Yukinoshita Yukino nodded gently, "Completed."
Hayasaka Ai followed, "I also completed it."
Amamiya Natsuki decided immediately, "Let's retreat. We're leaving here."
"Eh?" Fujiwara Chika was startled, whispering, "We're going out already?"
"This is the Shadow mother's lair. It's definitely more dangerous than we imagine, and we know nothing about it," Amamiya Natsuki said in a low voice. "Perhaps we could catch them off guard, but we would also be in great danger, so there's no need."
The mother in the cave must be a Boss-level creature. Reality isn't a game where you can restart indefinitely if you lose, so caution is essential. The instance quest didn't require everyone to fight the Boss; only an idiot would rush in headfirst.
"Natsuki is right," Kitagawa Marin whispered. "Should we go out?"
The others all expressed agreement.
So, everyone turned and walked back the way they came. Fortunately, the exit didn't disappear, and it didn't take long before they successfully left the cave system.
"Hoo..." Kitagawa Marin patted her chest, relieved, "Finally out."
Looking at the sunlight outside the Hospital, the others also relaxed.
Everyone has nyctophobia. If given a choice, no one would truly want to fight unknown terrifying monsters in a cave.
Amamiya Natsuki put away his flashlight and said, "Let's go down the mountain. We're leaving here."
"..."
The group didn't linger and left the abandoned Hospital along the mountain road.
After descending the mountain, to avoid being discovered, Shadow Chika used her transformation ability to turn into a bracelet, appearing on Amamiya Natsuki's wrist.
The journey was silent.
Leaving Eagle Beak Mountain, the group arrived at the Commercial Street and rented a room to rest. During this time, they couldn't help but deliberately observe the pedestrians on the street, wondering if they were humans or Shadow replicas. The result was naturally nothing; their eyes simply couldn't tell.
"It's boiling, turn on the air conditioning quickly!" Fujiwara Chika plopped onto the sofa. "I want a Coke."
Shadow Chika materialized, sat on a chair, and looked towards Amamiya Natsuki, saying, "I also want a Coke, and grilled fish, dango, yakitori, mitarashi dango, takoyaki, yakisoba..."
Amamiya Natsuki said speechlessly, "Stop talking. In short, you want to try all the food on the Commercial Street, right?"
As expected of Chika's Shadow replica, her foodie nature was on full display.
"Yes," Shadow Chika said calmly. "Although I have the taste of food in my memory, I haven't eaten it myself, so I want to try it."
Fujiwara Chika asked curiously, "Aren't you afraid of getting fat if you eat so much?"
"No, I won't get fat no matter how much I eat," Shadow Chika's tone was calm. "And I sweat, I bleed, but I don't need to excrete."
Kitagawa Marin rested her right hand on her chin and said, "Besides food, what else do you want to experience?"
"..."
Shadow Chika tilted her head, thought for two seconds, and then said, "I want to know what a boy tastes like."
"Eh eh eh?!" Fujiwara Chika's pretty face quickly flushed red, and she shouted in panic, "Wh-what are you saying?!"
Shadow Chika said calmly, "I probably only have three days of life left, so of course I want to experience things I haven't tried, like that day in the dream with the President, doing this and that."
"..."
The hotel room instantly fell silent.
Everyone looked towards Shadow Chika and secretary Chika.
Curiosity was normal, but to say it in front of everyone, what kind of strong mental fortitude was that?
"Ahhhhhh! Don't talk nonsense!" Secretary Chika's face was fiery red, and she quickly shouted to stop her, "I never had a dream like that!"
Shadow Chika tilted her head and looked over, saying something that would cause social death in a calm tone:
"Impossible, I remember after waking up, I even got up and changed..."
"W-Wahhh... Please, please don't say anymore!"
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars for advance chapters|Every 100 powerstones=1 extra chapter|Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr | There's 16 novels being updated, I can't read your comments