Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

He then looked at Ming Yanwei, his gaze gradually sharpening. Subtle but valuable clues had appeared in his eyes. Aside from some unresolved mysteries preventing final confirmation, he was certain that this woman possessed a very serious problem.

[That's right. If we consider Ming Yanwei's own account of her experiences, other pieces of information, and the mental model I've deduced... then she will indeed clash with Brother Zhang Heng. It's even possible that they will fight to the death.]

But not now, not at this time, not in this place.

She shouldn't have dragged others into this; it doesn't fit her character... While the possibility that she was simply emotionally overwhelmed and unable to control herself cannot be ruled out, that possibility should be less than fifty percent.

We still need to find a way to test the waters.

He took a deep breath, preparing to go over and say something, when he saw Ming Yanwei snort coldly at Zhang Heng, who was rushing towards her, and then turn and leave. He and Zheng Zha were left standing there, only able to watch Zhang Heng chase after Ming Yanwei, unable to get involved in the matter any further.

“…I’ll go and make arrangements for my foot soldiers and samurai.” Xiao Honglu shook his head slightly, looked at his subordinates who were standing below the city with blank expressions, and turned to Zheng Zha, saying, “I’ll trouble you, Brother Zheng Zha, to explain the cause and effect to Sister Yingkong.”

Zheng Zha nodded.

He didn't know what to say anymore.

Author's Note:

..............................

翻页

Chapter Twenty: So what if they're allies!

Meanwhile, in Osaka, atop the castle tower, shielded by an optical barrier, the sky also turned azure.

After checking repeatedly, I can finally confirm it.

The person who plotted against me couldn't be Chu Xuan, nor could it be one of those who died in the Curse of Vengeance.

Alice, with her eyes tightly closed, awaited a reply from the cursed armor while simultaneously assessing the situation outside. In the brief moment before, she had once again checked for any potential mistakes she might have made in this world of memories. She reviewed every detail, every possible loophole, and finally, she was certain of her conclusion.

Indeed, she initiated the resurrection ritual while constructing her memory world, intending to revive those who died in the Ju-on II world to verify her deduction about the authority of the main god. However, that resurrection ritual failed.

The information is incomplete, the data is incomplete, and the position is insufficient.

In the system of information magic, to resurrect a person, that person must exhibit certain behaviors to fit into the myths of the dead and resurrected. For example, in China, myths, legends, or rural tales of resurrection can serve as vehicles for performing resurrection rituals. Take, for instance, the well-known Journey to the West, which tells the story of Liu Quan, a living man who voluntarily poisons himself to fulfill a pact between Emperor Taizong of Tang and the King of Hell, only to be resurrected by the King of Hell. Based on this concept, Alice could attempt to resurrect those who 'voluntarily died because of the ruler's orders' within Chinese territory—whether she succeeds is another matter, but doing so is certainly feasible.

Unfortunately, the deceased new reincarnators in the Ju-on world didn't do anything that could be categorized into mythology, legend, or even folklore. They were simply hunted down by Kayako and died in various forms with little resistance. Without corresponding behavioral concepts, resurrection is naturally extremely difficult.

Alice had only tried it with a half-hearted attitude, and the final failure was actually within her expectations—because she had only gathered a very small amount of information. Moreover, this information was fragmented and incomplete. Even if she managed to carry out the ritual to the end, she could only produce a hodgepodge of messy information, like a Frankenstein's monster.

and so……

[Those dead reincarnators could never be resurrected. Even if they could, it couldn't be that guy named Chu Xuan... Although there are some fragmented pieces of information, it's simply not enough to construct a complete entity.]

[But without the intervention of these reincarnators, the Nirvana Witch alone could not have broken through the monitoring spell I used without my knowledge. This would require the transcriber to possess no magical power and be proficient in magic to break through my pre-prepared setup… This is a world of memories; how could such conditions possibly be met?]

But... fragments?

She thought to herself that more cursed armor was woven and brought to life by her magic and curses, and then incorporated into her legion. Although the quality was not as good as those she had prepared for Zhan Lan, the quantity far exceeded them.

The Battle of Sekigahara no longer exists. Although there are still three months until September 15th in the original timeline, both sides have already assembled their armies; all that's missing is a trigger. And even in the original timeline, this trigger would have been activated in July. That was the fall of Fushimi Castle, and Zhan Lan should have awakened around that time.

But now everything has changed.

She watched the massive army, marching in a magnificent column from Osaka Castle towards Mikawa. Undoubtedly, this army would strike at the weakest point of Tokugawa's power. The battlefield might not be Sekigahara again, but it was certainly not far from that land.

[I destroyed the stage I had prepared, causing the war that should have broken out after March to occur now. And the outcome of this war won't be like the original timeline... This war won't end in a day; it will spread across the land. And as soon as my team members are caught up in it, I can immediately pinpoint their location.]

[After all, even if they're not very skilled at their enhancements, they're still stronger than most of the warriors and monsters of this era. Even if they're defeated, they won't disappear without a trace; they'll definitely provide me with enough information to find them. And once that time comes…]

Her brow suddenly furrowed; a coordinate message coming from a distant direction caught her attention. The intervals were short, one message followed by another.

“One, two, three…tsk, all destroyed in a matter of seconds…looks like we’ve caught a fish.” She took a deep breath, and the anti-gravity field suddenly activated. “Let me see who’s meeting with Zhan Lan.”

The next moment, a strong wind swept across the sky above Osaka Castle. Accompanied by a huge, piercing shriek as something invisible tore through the air and disappeared into the distance, the previously orderly military formation on the ground instantly descended into chaos. The heavily armored foot soldiers and samurai, clad in gleaming armor, frantically looked around, wary of their surroundings, trying to find any trace of the demons lurking nearby.

—And they are destined to gain nothing.

A general shouted loudly.

"This is an auspicious sign! The gods are protecting us! We will surely achieve victory and punish the rebellious!"

His shouts had some effect, and the previously chaotic formation quickly stabilized. But Alice ignored them. She simply found her direction and then, using optical concealment, flew towards the location from which the coordinates had been sent—she knew she wouldn't have to wait long to reach her destination, because Japan wasn't large, and the place where Zhan Lan had run off from wasn't far away.

More importantly, this is the world of memories. She is strongest here.

About half an hour later, she arrived at the location from which the signal had come. She saw that the cursed armor she had created had been blasted to pieces, as if it had been hit by a truck, torn into incomplete giant chunks.

"It's not a slashing injury, nor is it energy damage... so it's just a simple physical impact effect?" She glanced at it quickly and soon got the answer.

"A technological marvel, a Gauss sniper rifle... looks like Zero. Since he saved Zhan Lan, it means he still recognizes her and hasn't lost too many memories. So..."

The next moment, she abruptly turned her head. A suit of cursed armor that had leaped up to shield her shattered into countless fragments in an instant. A Gauss bullet traveling at over ten times the speed of sound followed closely behind, instantly shattering most of the protective barrier surrounding her. A powerful gust of wind whistled past her ears; even with the barrier's protection, the terrifying shockwave still caused her ears to ring!

Without a second thought, she pressed her hands to the ground, and a circular earthen wall instantly blocked the view from all directions. More protective measures were then in place, completed in less than two seconds.

【Damn it.】

I finally understand what else in this world could kill me, and I also figure out why the guy who plotted against me blocked other people's memories. Tsk... was it a bit ill-considered to put myself directly in the villain's position?

But unfortunately...

She gently pressed her neck, quickly calming the vibrations caused by the sonic waves impacting her eardrums. The puppet strings extending from her hands swiftly switched from physical strings to magical strings. The next moment, dozens of newly crafted cursed armors pierced through the earthen wall and swarmed out!

Zero's gun was one she personally modified. Even with a faster reload speed, Zero's stamina meant it would take at least three seconds to fire a second shot. And there were a full thirty sets of Cursed Armor here!

The first strike was intended to be the most effective surprise attack, but since it failed, the second strike is unlikely to be effective either.

A puppeteer would never allow himself to be hit a second time.

Section Twenty-One: ██ Sword

Bullet marks crisscrossed the sky, burning pale red lines into the atmosphere. Each bullet from the Gauss sniper rifle could shatter hills, destroy boulders, and carve massive furrows across plains. Even cursed armor reinforced with curses and magic could be easily pierced with a single shot, reduced to shattered leather and iron.

The Gauss sniper rifle has a firing rate of one shot every three seconds, and its maximum range is close to ten kilometers. Based on Zero's enhanced physique and mental strength after the end of the God and Demon World, he would probably be exhausted after firing ten Gauss sniper rounds.

There were thirty Cursed Armor suits, and Alice, the operator, was hidden beneath a moving, thick earthen wall. Even with Zhan Lan, a psychic, locating and adjusting the armor for him, defeating Alice within ten gauss bullets was absurd.

Victory was impossible, so their only objective was to retreat. When the Cursed Armor, with a quarter of its armor destroyed, reached Zero's hideout, a violent explosion awaited them. Then... the presence of Zhan Lan and Zero vanished without a trace.

“Mental shielding… Was it created by Zhan Lan herself? I remember she shouldn’t have that many reward points to exchange for this kind of enhancement.” Alice stopped and looked in the distance towards the direction where Zhan Lan and Zero had disappeared—she could still use the tracking spell attached to Zhan Lan to keep up with them. But it wouldn’t make much difference.

After all, her goal wasn't to kill her two teammates here.

"Fine, let's give them a little breathing space," Alice thought to herself as she breathed a sigh of relief.

If Zero Point is their strongest weapon, then I must admit they did have the potential to defeat me. But that was only in the past. The first strike failed, so the second will be ineffective. Because this is my world, my barrier, and here, as long as I don't want to lose, I won't lose. As long as I don't want to die, I won't die.

[If it were an unexpected, fatal blow, and my subconscious confirmed my defeat before I could even react... then I might indeed be killed. And with Patches gone, the power of the 'Tower' would shift, giving the opponent a chance to win.]

“However, you used your pieces too hastily. I was already prepared that I wouldn’t be able to be defeated by something like this afterward… unless you have another trump card.” The girl pursed her lips, expending a little energy to recover at a speed several times faster than in reality. She gently swayed the puppet strings in her hand, pulling the remaining cursed armor to her side.

Of the thirty cursed armors, sixteen remained, and even those were all wounded, their combat strength reduced by roughly half. But this was insignificant, because given time and raw materials, she could quickly replenish the lost forces. And the next time she confronted the fleeing Zero and Zhan Lan, the number of controlled cursed armors would only be greater.

One mystery has been solved, but many questions remain. She still can't understand how the other party managed to awaken the sleeping members of the Central Continent Team without triggering her alarm spell against all supernatural powers, and then completely corrupt and modify the concealing magic circle, leaving her completely unaware during the long process of fixing the flaws. It wasn't until Patchouli left, and she finally mustered her attention, that she discovered the oversight during a meticulous review.

This is neither science nor magic. Even after exhausting all possibilities, she couldn't figure out what methods the other party had used.

She slowly exhaled and looked up at the sky, where an imperceptible giant hand seemed to be blocking her view at the end of her line of sight.

[The memory world can only exist with either me or Patchouli as its foundation. So, as long as I don't want the others who lack the ability to detach themselves to become brain-dead, I can't leave directly now—I must say, the other side really found a good opportunity, trapping me here at this moment, unable to communicate with Patchouli and therefore unable to let her awaken everyone else from the outside world… Tsk, if I could take the others out and directly format the entire memory world from reality, I'd like to see which troublemaker could survive.]

However, now... I'm forced to play hide-and-seek with this rat in the gutter. Damn it, their methods and goals aren't fully clear. Even if I find everyone else, I don't dare directly activate the 'Tower' to send them out of the memory world... These last moments are the most prone to problems, and I can't afford to take that risk.

[So all we can do is wait for Patchouli to come down... Damn it.]

Alice gritted her teeth and made a decision in her heart.

[Fine, at worst I'll just drag this memory world out until the thirty-day stay ends, then return to the Main God Space and rely on the Main God's ability to erase everything. Anyway, I'm already invincible, so what is there to fear?]

She thought to herself, "They really are recklessly planting flags for themselves." But she was fearless because everything she planned was based on the logic of facts, and there was no falsehood in it.

This world is her world, her barrier, a dream she constructed with numerous rules and logics. And within this dream that belongs to her, aside from the few restrictions used to maintain the existence of the memory world, she can naturally have whatever she wants—to defeat her in her dream is no less difficult than defeating the creator of a strictly hierarchical transcendent world.

It was precisely because she knew just how powerful she was in this world of memories that she found it hard to understand—how could that opponent, whose true identity she still couldn't discern, have schemed against her to this extent? To make a 'creator' bound by the world she created, trapped in a dilemma… How could such an outrageously powerful enemy possibly emerge from this mere remote town in Japan?

She didn't understand, and that's precisely why she was even more wary.

In the world of memories, she was invincible, like Reimu in the Great Barrier. As the 'Creator,' controlling the Tower, she also possessed most of the world's hidden information and the world's loopholes known only to her and Patchouli. Yet, even with all this, the opponent still managed to push the situation to this extent despite being at such a disadvantage.

So, if they leave this world of memories where they almost have an absolute advantage and victory is assured simply by finding the opponent's true form, what are their chances of winning in the real world?

One-tenth? One-hundredth? Or none at all?

She couldn't think of it, and didn't want to think about it.

[Am I left with no choice but to play it by ear...? Although I won't lose, there's always the possibility of being forced into a draw... If all else fails, I'll just drag it out until the very end and return to the Main God Space from the Memory World. Go ahead and try to outwit the Main God too!]

Alice lowered her eyes and silently made up her mind. In the short time she was thinking, the cursed armor, damaged by Zero's impulsive outburst before leaving, was completely repaired by her will and regained its combat capability.

"Anyway, let's figure out how to find everyone first."

She took another step in the direction where Zero and the others had left.

Author's Note:

....................................

The next section will conclude the plot and explain all the mysteries.

Section 22: The Answer to Everything (End of Volume)

Patchouli gently tapped her forehead, releasing the surveillance of the memory world—everything in the dream was progressing smoothly as she had planned. There were no problems, and no omissions.

She floated in the center of the main control room of the Great Library. In her perception, everyone in the Central Continent team, including Alice, lay quietly in the accommodation area of ​​the Great Library—they were connected to the world of memories, constructed the world of memories, and were also bound by the world of memories. Until the end of their thirty days in this world, they could not leave the world of memories.

Today is the twenty-third day.

She turned her head, and a flicker of light appeared on the screen beside her—a figure immediately came into view. Behind that figure, however, was a sky full of artillery fire.

“Saito Hajime.” She looked at the 'person' whose only distinguishing feature was his appearance. She asked in a calm tone, “Contacting me at this time, is there a problem with the advance of the front lines? I remember your troop deployment should be sufficient. Has something unexpected happened?”

Her gaze passed over the figure behind the screen, watching the flames and explosions behind it. Laser beams flew everywhere, the Statue of Liberty collapsed, and the translucent, pale red tentacles hanging from the sky.

That was North America, one of the largest cities in North America. And now it is nearing destruction, which also means that the regime to which this city belongs is nearing its end.

"The situation in South America is largely resolved, but there have been some obstacles in North America." The person on the screen 'smiled' and replied gently, "They used nuclear weapons on the mainland when they attacked New Orleans and Los Angeles. So unfortunately, I've lost six corps of armored forces, and I need your reinforcements."

“Using their own city as bait…that’s really ruthless. But then again, communications are cut off; they can’t even launch missiles.” Patchouli lowered her eyes. Within her control, the numerous industrial cities in Japan that she had taken over on the third day after the Central Plains Team and the others were trapped in the world of memories were rapidly coming to life. Large quantities of steel, polymer materials, and many rare metals were immediately transported to the production lines.