"Counting from when we entered the Dungeon, it's already been over two hours."
Kotoko's eyes brightened, as if sothing in her mind finally clicked into place.
"I get it now. That diary at the very beginning was both a crucial clue, and a trap ant to mislead us."
"Mislead?" Asuna asked, puzzled.
"Yes. Mislead."
Kotoko was practically buzzing with excitent, words spilling out faster as she closed in on the answer.
"Do you rember? The diary's last entry was on the sixteenth day after the apocalypse. But that Revenant said the infected appeared about a month and a half ago. No, it should be even longer than that. He didn't even realize he was dead, and for Revenants, the sense of ti gets blurry. So from the day the disaster began to our current point in this world, it has to be more than a month and a half."
Asuna frowned. "But we examined the corpse in the apartnt. None of us are professionals, but we should at least be able to tell the difference between soone dead for a few days and soone dead for more than a month, right?"
"This is where the trap is the most vicious," Kotoko said, raising a slim finger as she explained carefully.
"The diary's owner didn't lie. But everything he wrote was only based on his own judgnt. He said he didn't 'turn into those things,' but does that really an he wasn't infected? Zombie viruses across different stories share one common feature. Even when bodily functions stop, the corpse doesn't rot normally. In fact, look at the Special Infected in this Dungeon. Their bodies show almost no decay at all."
Kotoko's gaze sharpened, her tone steady now, as if laying out evidence on a table.
"The diary describes the city half a month after the outbreak. At that ti, he still ran into infected just going downstairs to the supermarket. But when we left the apartnt, we only encountered one Special Infected. That completely contradicts the scene he described."
She took a breath, then continued, building the tiline piece by piece.
"So if we organize it properly, it should be: outbreak begins, then the diary's records, then the diary owner dies. After that, the mysterious army enters the city and starts clearing out normal infected. Then Doctor Robin Diaz from this hospital dies. Then the virus mutates again, triggering evolution among the infected. Special Infected were likely born during that stage. Finally, that army, or maybe another organization, implanted locators into Special Infected and turned the entire city into an experintal field."
Asuna's eyes widened as she followed the logic to its conclusion.
"So the diary's trap is that it makes Players think they entered the Dungeon only a few days after the diary owner died. Like it's still the first stage of the apocalypse. But in reality, we're already in the second stage, where the virus has evolved again, normal infected can move fast, and Special Infected have appeared."
"Exactly," Kotoko said, satisfied.
Beside them, gumi's brows knit tightly, her gaze complicated.
"Why would they deliberately set up misleading information like that…?"
"Because this ga works like that," Asagiri said calmly.
"The diary misleads you, but it still pushes you toward a correct conclusion. If you avoid Special Infected, the route from the spawn point to rcy Hospital is almost risk free. At least at first. But as ti passes, and the sky drifts toward night, that safety disappears."
His voice stayed even, as if he were describing a chanic in a familiar genre.
"The first objective looks easy: survive until the ti limit ends. But it's actually the hardest. The second objective looks hard: find the reagent. But it's actually the simple one."
He continued, listing the filters without emotion, and that was what made it heavier.
"Players who are too cautious and too slow get eliminated. Players who can't think calmly in unfamiliar environnts, gather information efficiently, and find the route to the hospital get eliminated. Players who refuse to face danger and just hide at the spawn point to wait out the Dungeon get eliminated."
"And after arriving at this hospital," he added, "Players who trust the early misinformation too much, see infected, assu they're slow and harmless, and charge in recklessly, get eliminated too."
gumi and Asuna both felt their chests tighten.
This wasn't a ga that cared about rcy.
Asagiri's conclusion was flat, almost indifferent.
"The system isn't cruel, and it isn't kind. It simply enforces its standards. It filters for the best Players through Dungeon after Dungeon. That's all."
…
Ten minutes later, they reached a ward on the top floor of Inpatient Building Two.
"So this is the antibody reagent…"
Kotoko stared at two neat rows of glass tubes filled with pale green liquid. She reached out and lightly touched one.
Her phone imdiately chid. The eye icon APP displayed a ssage.
[You have obtained one tube of ?? Virus Antibody Reagent. Do you confirm submission? Upon submission, Dungeon completion will be finalized, and you will begin returning to the real world for settlent.]
"We finally cleared the Dungeon," Kotoko murmured.
She rubbed her eyes, yawned, and stretched, exhaustion finally catching up.
The ti it took this run was similar to the Hotel Dungeon, but that one had involved long waits and short bursts. This ti, they'd been moving constantly, covering distance and fighting without rest.
Kotoko counted the tubes quickly. "One, two, three, four… ten tubes total. So besides us, there were six other Players in this Dungeon?"
"Not necessarily," Asagiri said, unmoved. "There could be other storage points in the hospital. Otherwise the first team to find these would be holding the lifeline of every other Player."
"That's true." Kotoko nodded, then smiled. "Then let's begin—"
"You and Phantom go first," Asagiri cut in. "Violet and I will explore a bit longer."
"Huh?"
Kotoko puffed out her cheeks imdiately, glaring at him.
"That's favoritism. I want to stay too."
"Do you think we're on a date?" Asagiri asked, then reached out and patted her head like he was calming a child.
"Violet gets speed, agility, and reflex gains from killing Special Infected. Even if delaying completion drops the evaluation score, she won't lose out. She might even profit. As for , I want to keep searching this hospital for anything valuable."
His tone stayed casual, but his reasoning was clean.
"There's no need for you two to delay with us. A lower evaluation is one thing, but more importantly, both you and Phantom have already spent so of your status."
Kotoko's cheeks flushed where his hand had patted her. She mumbled, still pouting, but her voice softened.
"Hmph. Trying to coax like a kid… Fine. You have a point."
She straightened her beret with a huff, then pointed sternly at both of them.
"Phantom and I will return first. You two be careful, understood?"
"Okay," Asagiri said.
Kotoko and gumi each took a tube, tapped confirm submission, and vanished instantly.
The room fell quiet.
Asagiri imdiately flopped onto a nearby bed, voice lazy.
"Alright. Let's rest for a bit, then keep exploring."
Asuna nodded and sat on another bed. She propped her chin on one hand, watching him, and a faint smile slipped onto her lips.
"What you said about collecting more valuable items isn't the main reason you wanted to stay, is it?"
"Oh?" Asagiri's brows lifted. "You figured it out?"
"Of course." Asuna's tone was helpless, but her smile stayed soft. "Don't I know you?"
She leaned back slightly, eyes steady.
"You want to see what changes as ti passes. You want to see what danger shows up that kills the Players hiding at the spawn point, so they can't clear the Dungeon."
"As expected," Asagiri said with a light laugh. "You understand the best."
Asuna's smile wavered. Her eyes flickered, and after a mont, she spoke quietly.
"About Kotoko… what are you planning to do?"
Asagiri looked genuinely puzzled. "What do you an, what am I planning to do?"
Asuna's expression tightened, irritation slipping into her voice.
"Don't play dumb. Don't tell you can't see she really likes you."
"Oh. That." Asagiri smiled, completely unbothered. "I like her too."
Even though Asuna had braced herself for it, sothing sour still rose in her chest. She inhaled, forcing her expression to hold.
"If that's the case…"
Before she could finish, Asagiri added, like he was stating sothing obvious.
"I like you too."
"Huh?"
Asuna froze for several seconds. Then her brows snapped down, confusion turning sharp.
"What do you an? If I understood correctly… you're saying you like both and her?"
"Yeah."
The sheer matter of fact way he said it nearly made her laugh from anger.
"Hey. Isn't it a little much to announce you're a scumbag this openly?"
Asagiri clicked his tongue like she'd said sothing absurd.
"Look at you, slandering an innocent man out of thin air."
He shifted, as if switching into lecture mode with perfect seriousness.
"A 'scumbag' is a guy who can't return soone's feelings, or who accepts them on the surface and then abandons them, betraying their trust."
He paused, then sat up, eting her gaze directly.
"And what I'm doing is different."
His smile widened, bright and shaless.
"This is a harem declaration. Out in the open."
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