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Chapter 196 Octopus Xiao Xiangzi

"No, no, that's impossible. Even if it's not a coincidence, let's assume, for the worst, that the president of the game's metaphysics club is some kind of cosmic superman, Buddha, evil god, otherworldly being, parallel universe being, Grim Reaper, Naruto, One Piece, or some other being..."

"While these rituals may have been used to predict or interfere with the development of reality through abnormal means, it cannot be guaranteed that they are genuine."

"Don't think too much."

……

Some people thought it was too far-fetched, but others believed that the first thing to do was to control Toyokawa Shoko and the other girls.

This kind of future becoming reality is happening right under our noses, and it feels like a huge loss if we don't do anything about it.

Thanks to the game, they all know who meets the criteria.

Besides Xiangzi, the remaining nine girls capable of performing the dark ritual are—

Takamatsu Akari, Chihaya Aine, Kaname Rakuna, Nagasaki Motoyo, Shiina Tatsuki, Wakaba Mutsumi, Misumi Hatsuka? Hachiman Kairin, Yutenji Wakanagi.

It's probably not Junda Mana.

There's also Chu Hua and Hatsune Miku. There's a spoiler online that says Chu Hua isn't actually Chu Hua; there's another Chu Hua, and the current singer Chu Hua is actually Xiangzi's aunt.

If it's true, it's a huge weakness. How dare this lowly son-in-law do that?!

……

……

On the other hand, Gu Meng learned that not only did Toyokawa Shoko have the same name, but his experiences and the personalities of the people around him also matched the plot of Mygo and a small part of the Mother Hen Card (from his perspective, only a small part of the Mother Hen Card's personalities matched, but Mygo had many coincidences), which piqued his interest.

Having traveled through so many years, he was quite certain that apart from the differences between parallel worlds, there shouldn't be any other unscientific things, so why would his work become reality?

First, I sensed the editorial department.

Three seconds later—

The memory showed no signs of being tampered with; it was entirely due to natural inspiration. If it had been instructed by someone, it would have been reported.

If someone is orchestrating things, and the employee's mental realm is their domain, then it would require a "person" with a mental strength level far exceeding their own to intrude seamlessly without the employee noticing.

After several years of evolution, Gu Meng felt that even if he didn't reach the level of an evil god, he should at least be half-human and half-god... Could he really be that kind of person?

Moreover, Tongzi didn't give any hints. If even Tongzi didn't notice, then it must be at the level of a divine strike from a higher dimension. Gu Meng instinctively felt that it was probably just a coincidence of the world itself.

If there really is such a coincidence that doesn't seem like a coincidence... could it be that there was a version of those girl bands called "Mother Hen" in a previous life, and all the girl bands in this world are corresponding to them?

But why would it appear in Youxuan's game?

Because the lone rock star of this world doesn't have a corresponding counterpart, Gu Meng hasn't yet realized that he's transmigrated to a world where the main disagreement is about games, with some everyday band anime characters added in the details.

Some anime characters' experiences don't match up at all, while others do.

If he searches carefully, he will find some K-On! characters who are over thirty years old, have similar names and interpersonal relationships, and have similar but different experiences.

These ordinary yet somewhat unconventional anime characters naturally appear in Subaru's works due to a certain aggregation theorem.

Gu Meng temporarily ruled out the company's involvement, feeling that things weren't so simple. He thought the existence of the Mother Hen Card character was strange.

I was thinking of sending someone to investigate, but never mind, I'll just send myself to investigate.

Gu Meng released his self-imposed limitations, and his spirit was projected across thousands of kilometers to Japan, forming a human figure.

If he wanted, he could split into countless spirits like the multi-headed monster Wakaba Mutsumi in a certain version of the Mother Hen Card Abandoned Case, and each spirit could adapt to do different things at any time. He could master the skills of ordinary humans using different personalities.

Furthermore, he can materialize his spiritual body into a real existence, but it requires distraction to control, just like playing a game.

That version of the Mother Hen storyline was too outrageous; everyone was acting strangely.

Suddenly, Gu Meng had a strange inspiration: could those discarded cases contain real events that Toyokawa Shoko and his missions would experience?
Gu Meng, who thought he knew the world very well, suddenly felt something, which he couldn't quite put his finger on—curiosity or worry.

So this world isn't just a world of everyday life outside of games? He always had a lot of faith in his intuition.

It's not that extreme, just some strange mental illnesses, or... is there really an evil god in this world, and what darkness is hidden in the Toyokawa family?
The scrapped cases only depicted mental illnesses, which were neither twisted nor reasonable enough, especially considering that MyGo has already come true.

If we're eliminating options, we should exclude the rejected version that only addresses mental illness.

The possibility of an evil god storyline is not low.

We need to be careful. If the Toyokawa family isn't just an ordinary conglomerate, but some kind of successor to an evil god, then things could get a bit dangerous.

Gu Meng was still unsure of how his current abilities ranked within the hierarchy of evil gods.

……

Well, he's overthinking it. Actually, if we don't interfere, a parallel world version of the band girl with a similar character setting as Mother Hen Card would probably just evolve into a split personality.

Or perhaps because it has become part of the real world, behavior has become more reasonable, and everyone has become more normal.

Gu Meng was scaring himself.

It won't be that extreme.

……

Tokyo.

Damp rainwater streamed down the tin roof, and Xiangzi held his canvas bag to his chest.

He stepped over the threshold, head down, counting the puddles.

do not wanna go Home.

When I get home, it'll probably be another pile of beer cans.

But we cannot admit defeat.

During this period, Xiangzi, a migrant worker, was trying to defy fate.

Because of the differences between parallel worlds, her life is, in some ways, more realistic than in the anime.

Because the "dark" Toyokawa family noticed her existence and maintained a "objective" observation, she did not receive any secret assistance and her life became even more difficult. It might not be long before she was taken away from them.

She's about to break down.

The streetlights suddenly turned on, and some small animal scurried into the crack in the wall.

The plastic bag in the convenience store was stained with dark water; it contained a discounted bento box.

Xiangzi has no money left.

She calculated her remaining balance. The izakaya owner had already refused her during the day: "Minor? This isn't a daycare."

This kind of rejection has happened many times.

The customer service company has already fired her because she was too old; more reputable companies like theirs were unwilling to take the risk.

Even if Xiao Xiang is willing to lower his salary, it won't work.

In the distance came the sound of a drunkard kicking over a soda can. Xiangzi looked over sharply, but it wasn't his father.

The rain grew heavier in the darkness; she was almost home.

I opened the door to the room, but my old man wasn't there.

Where did he go?

Forget it.

Curled up on a bed made of cardboard boxes from express delivery, she had already pawned her silk pajamas to a secondhand shop in exchange for the start-up capital she had previously used to make a living.

Xiao Xiang is now wearing cheap clothes.

And so another day passed.

It's early morning, time to go to work.

She has not yet been dismissed from her newspaper delivery job.

Wearing my PE uniform, I went out.

Xiangzi felt a chill run down his spine, unsure whether it was from the cold or a bad premonition.
The sound of splashing water stopped at the utility pole at the alley entrance. It was an ominous premonition.

She gripped the anti-wolf scissors in her bag, counted her heartbeats, and turned into the side road—the tin fence of the abandoned factory area on the left trembled as the raindrops hit it, but the footsteps behind her became two, no, three.

This time, it's definitely aimed at me.

Her wet shoes were slippery, so she slipped and squeezed into the gap between two buildings.

The rotten wooden window frame pressed against my shoulder blade, and the sharp sound of some metal object scraping against the concrete was close at hand.

Xiangzi held his breath and reached into the garbage heap for a glass bottle.

The moment the shadow drew near, the girl smashed the glass bottle against the metal wall.

A tremendous sound, and a flurry of footsteps.

Xiangzi confirmed that it was not his hallucination and knew that he could not stay where he was. Perhaps someone wanted to kidnap him.

After all, she is the eldest daughter of the Toyokawa family, so this is a possibility.

It could be something even crueler, like kidnapping a beautiful young girl from the slums to be used as a tool for powerful figures, something she knows all about at her age.

During her most difficult time, she even considered going to a brothel.

Of course, this is just a thought; there are no such brothels in reality.

Maybe so, but Xiangzi wasn't found? Besides, if he really did that, he might as well go back to the Toyokawa family.

She wasn't kicked out.

She was simply unhappy with her grandfather's decision, wanted to take care of her father, and also couldn't admit defeat.

This part of the experience is actually almost the same in the game. Unlike Xiao Mao and Momoka, who are similar in appearance, hairstyle and name, Xiangzi's experience is almost entirely the same.

However, the storyline of the Mother Hen Card will later branch into two completely different paths. The plot in the game is much better written than that of the Mother Hen Card. Although it is also an unexpected development, it is not incomprehensible at all.

It's possible that the original version of Yu Gen's Bang Bang is a storyline that Kakimoto Hiroshi himself presented in his fantasy.

Back in reality, the glass shards refracted an eerie silver light under the moonlight.

Xiangzi saw the people coming in the moonlight—one of them was someone she recognized.

I saw it when I went back to my ancestral home as a child.

Are these cadres from my hometown?
So they also work as kidnappers?

Our Toyokawa family was originally a Yakuza family—

No, no, it must be bodyguards. Are they here to arrest me?
Could it be my grandfather's will?

No, no, no, if it were my grandfather, he would definitely have driven the Maybach over directly and let her get in the car to chat.

She suddenly recalled what her grandfather had said: "You have no idea about the darkness of the Toyokawa family."

Could it be that?
Xiangzi had heard of that game.

After all, they are very similar.

I've also vaguely heard classmates mention that the Toyokawa family had an evil ritual in the abandoned case, but of course, everyone was just joking.

Furthermore, the names of the characters in the main story are all censored, and the Toyokawa family is not mentioned, but she has indeed heard of that story.

How could someone possibly worship an octopus-themed evil god in their own home?

But then she suddenly made a connection.

An unpleasant smell emanated from the rotten drain.

In an instant, she transformed into a soft and gentle Xiaoxiang, too afraid to jump out and question loudly. She just wanted to hide under a rock and become an insect.

"Come out, young lady."

The order the visitor received was actually to take Toyokawa Shoko back to the old house.

Logically speaking, Xiangzi is the only direct heir, and her grandfather is no pushover either; after so many years of being a live-in son-in-law, he would have long since turned against his master.

They wouldn't actually take action themselves.

If Xiangzi weren't currently separated from his grandfather, they wouldn't even have had the chance to make this attempt.

However, Xiangzi had already assumed that he was doomed this time, and that after being captured, he would definitely be used as a sacrifice in the evil god's ritual.

The things in that scrapped case might actually be true.

There might really be gods in the world.

The fact that Kuresiku's fate is almost identical to the virtual game world is proof of this.

I should have realized it sooner; perhaps my own mother was also sacrificed.

Just as she was thinking this on her own, Gu Meng, a true miracle walking among humans and the only truly extraordinary being in this world, appeared.

He materialized from the water's reflection, appearing under the moon in a JOJO pose.

He was accompanied by Wakaba Mutsu, who had green hair.

Xiangzi recognized the person again, "Ah~ that's Gu Meng, the president of Game Metaphysics!"

Gu Meng's fame in this game-centric world is probably greater than that of several prime ministers of Japan combined, so Toyokawa Shoko could certainly recognize him.

"Things are getting interesting."

Gu Meng scanned the brainwaves of everyone present and discovered that the Toyokawa family really did have elders, and they had even ordered the control of the girl with the hen card.

My first reaction was, "Holy crap, the Toyokawa family really does have an evil god."

What was that scrapped draft about again...?

Thinking back, it was roughly similar to the Darkest Dungeon series.

Although he didn't appear directly in the scrapped plan, the protagonists all died after the Toyokawa family completed their plan, resulting in an immediate and tragic ending.

However, if we refer to the Dark Dungeon, which the writers say is a reference point, its expressive power might also be chaotic, representing the true form of the planet, a being at the level of a true god, and one that might not be able to imitate.

Just how much divine power has the Toyokawa family mastered? They've wiped out all the enemies or brought them close to their base. Could the rebuilt old house, because of this other extraordinary being, directly awaken the evil god?

As for the Toyokawa family's subordinates, they are just ordinary people, and it's perfectly reasonable that they don't know the inside story.

Perhaps only those old folks of the Toyokawa family, who pretended to be mortals and lived for who knows how long through evil rituals, knew that everyone else was simply kept in the dark.

Just like You Xuan, no one knew that Gu Meng was actually a demigod, even though Gu Meng's behavior was particularly unusual.

Speaking of the BanG Dream! universe and its collaborations, if Subaru's game is actually a retelling of reality...

So there were so many abnormal things hidden beneath the surface of this world, and why didn't we discover them all?

The Otherworld is actually real? What happened to the promise that I was the only one with extraordinary abilities?

Hey, Tongzi, say something!

Honey, say something!
Damn it, they're ignoring me.

The system's intelligence level is too low; it can only think for itself.

On the bright side, perhaps it's just unauthorized diversion, and the world is actually quite normal, but we must be prepared for any eventuality.

First, everyone, including Xiangzi, Ruoye Mutsu, Gaosong Deng, Sheng Aiyin, and the two cats, must be strictly controlled.

As for that old house, we'll discuss how to cautiously explore it while minimizing risks.

Try to use mortals to test the waters. This will prevent supernatural factors from accidentally awakening the ancient gods. Ordinary mortals should not be able to be used as sacrificial elements, otherwise the Toyokawa family would have done whatever they wanted long ago.

Since the situation is still calm, there is no need to worry too much for the time being.

……

(End of this chapter)