Nikke, something’s seriously wrong with this evacuation point! Chapter 127 127: Hero, Please Begin Your Adventure

"So, what exactly was the deal with those robots?" Charon switched back from the sniper rifle. "Like, almost everything we've encountered so far had so kind of taphor behind it. So what about those robots?"

「Actually, the answer is probably simpler than you think,」 Rose explained. 「Those things were the 'debt collectors' of Abydos Academy. The database doesn't contain the full details, though. So of the data may have been lost.」

"Debt collectors, huh…" Charon muttered before sighing. "Whatever. Let's keep moving."

For so reason, Charon was in a rather bad mood now, especially after hearing the words debt collectors.

Sensing that, Rose tactfully stopped teasing him. Quietly accompanying him, she followed him to the completely out-of-place sliding door.

Nothing unexpected happened during the final stretch across the blood-red desert, but Charon could tell soone was secretly watching him from the shadows.

Still, the gaze didn't seem malicious. It felt more like that of a re observer.

Honestly, if Charon hadn't been wearing Tier-6 gear, alarm bells would already have been screaming in his head. But the sheer defensive confidence the armor gave him let him calmly wait and see.

"..."

Standing before the sliding door, Charon placed a hand on it but didn't move.

「What's wrong? Why aren't you opening it?」 Rose asked in confusion after about ten seconds.

"...Nothing. Probably just overthinking it."

Charon had been waiting for whoever was spying on him to show themselves, but even now, there was still no reaction.

He slid the door open.

Beyond it was pure white light.

Charon stepped directly inside.

The door shut behind him, returning the desert to silence.

Only then did a pitch-black silhouette erge from behind a collapsed ruin. After confirming Charon had completely disappeared, it revealed itself once more.

A gust of crimson sand swept through the air. The figure transford into a streak of light and shot into the sliding door after him.

…

When Charon ca back to his senses, he realized the environnt had changed drastically again.

This ti, he found himself inside an ordinary countryside wooden cabin. The kind with only a single room, though the interior was surprisingly spacious–enough for four or five people to live comfortably.

And strangely enough, there was background music playing.

Warm, cozy 8-bit music.

The kind of lody you'd hear throughout an old-school retro ga.

Now ca the important part.

Inside the cabin were arcade machines identical to the ones in the entertainnt room–and more than one of them, too. Beside them stood a massive flat-screen TV over sixty inches wide, surrounded by ga consoles Charon had never seen before, along with stacks of discs and cartridges.

Near the wool carpet sat five beanbag chairs tossed around ssily, as if soone had been lounging there just monts ago.

Several gaming posters hung on the walls. One of them depicted a pixel-art hero wielding a longsword, with a bold line beneath it:

"Whoever pulls the sword from the stone shall beco king."

The most ridiculous thing was that directly beneath the poster stood an actual stone pillar with a glowing pixel sword embedded in it–exactly identical to the one in the poster.

"Rose, use that unbeatable database of yours to look up information related to this place, would you?"

For now, Charon refrained from touching anything in the room. Who knew what weird event it might trigger?

This place had an overwhelmingly strong gaming atmosphere, which honestly suited Charon perfectly. After all, he himself was basically a player of extraction gas in real life.

「Hold on. There's a problem with the Shittim Chest,」 Rose said, sounding confused. 「The amount of stored data has inexplicably increased.」

Charon froze. "Can you figure out what got added?"

「I'll need ti to sort through the fragnts. It's impossible right now. The Shittim Chest contains far too much data. If I organized it piece by piece, it could easily take over a year.」

"…Then we'll shelve that for now. Help figure out what's going on here first."

Even if there was a problem, it was probably related to the Shittim Chest itself. Right now, his priority was obtaining the repair materials, not worrying about redundant data. Once she was fixed, they'd have all the ti in the world to deal with that stuff.

「Hmm… rember the main quest this ti?」 Rose asked. 「The first required item should be obtainable on this floor.」

「If nothing unexpected happens, this should be the territory of Millennium Science School. The aesthetic almost perfectly matches the interests of the Ga Developnt Departnt kids.」

"Ga developers, huh… I kinda want to et them now."

Looking around, Charon had to admit this place really did make him want to lie down and play gas all day. Unfortunately, he didn't have the luxury of ti. Maybe next ti.

He walked toward the cabin's only wooden door and reached for the handle–

But it wouldn't budge.

At that mont, a line of text appeared in Charon's vision.

[The door will not budge.]

[It seems there are still things left to do.]

「As expected,」 Rose said, sounding amused. 「When it cos to gas, this kind of thing is unavoidable.」

A plot lock.

The classic RPG design where you can't move on to the next area until certain events are completed.

At this point, Charon could only turn his attention toward the other objects in the cabin.

「Think carefully about what you can safely touch… Wait, what are you doing?」

"No. If this place follows RPG logic," Charon grinned, "then there's only one correct course of action."

「…」

"That's right–interact with literally every object you can!"

「...」

Honestly, true.

So Charon began poking around every corner of the cabin, triggering all kinds of bizarre reactions.

For example, the Sword in the Stone displayed an attack power of 999 when examined. But the mont Charon pulled it out, he imdiately received a debuff called:

[You Got Scamd]

The effect: all monsters would focus aggro on him for the next thirty minutes.

Not that it mattered. He was the only player here anyway.

「Pfft–」

"What are you laughing at?"

「I just thought of sothing funny.」

"What funny–actually never mind. That joke's ancient. Next one, next one."

There were tons of these "traps" hidden throughout the cabin. Charon stopped counting after ten or so. None caused actual damage, but the irritation steadily piled up.

"Damn it. Is the Ga Developnt Departnt specialized in making garbage gas like this?"

Charon wiped tomato juice off his face–the result of a refrigerator trap–and spat expressionlessly.

「Honestly? Yeah. Pff– I'm not laughing.」

"You're obviously laughing at ! You haven't stopped once!"

「Alright, alright, don't be mad anymore. Once my body's repaired, how about I let you use my lap as a pillow?」

"Deal."

Charon's expression instantly turned solemn.

「Uh… y-you do your best then.」

For so reason, her voice beca noticeably quieter.

See? She should've just offered that from the beginning. Would've saved him all this frustration.

If they were going to rely on each other from now on, what was wrong with a little reward?

Click.

And at that exact mont, this garbage ga finally gave him the next prompt.

[The door has opened.]

[Hero, please begin your adventure!]

Seeing the ssage, Charon didn't imdiately head for the door.

Instead, he stopped.

「Now what?」

"Still haven't explored everything yet. There's one trash can left."

「...The door's already open. There's no need anymore, right?」

"No. After eating this much bullshit already, I'm finishing the entire damn pile today."

Expressionless, Charon walked toward the final piece of furniture in the room he hadn't interacted with yet–the trash can.

"Anyway, this should be the last one… probably."

The mont his hand touched the trash can, another ga prompt popped up.

[There is a sticky note attached to the side.]

[Only those who carry a "BUG" all the way to the end can see the backside of the world. –By a Certain Genius Ga Designer]