Great, we're doomed now!

"That's impossible... I clearly saw..."

The man muttered to himself, then stopped halfway through, appearing mysterious.

He paused, adjusted his black-rimmed glasses, and smiled slightly at the receptionist—he didn't care whether the appointment would be postponed, or even much about the job.

For him, work was merely a means to maintain basic social status and avoid standing out in a crowd.

As for salary and performance... he's content with just enough to live on; he has no particular desire for them.

On the contrary, the fact that "things didn't turn out the way he expected" made him even more concerned.

"May I ask what caused the manager to change the arrangements?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not in a position to answer that question," the receptionist naturally declined.

But the man already knew the answer.

Because the moment the receptionist hears the question, the answer will flash through her mind, and if he is willing to "listen," he can know everything.

It's a very convenient ability, but I couldn't control it when I was a child, which caused me a lot of trouble. It was only after I grew up that I learned how to "shut down" my hearing so that I could live a normal life in society.

For the first time in a long time, he took the initiative to pry into someone else's secrets. A moment of self-mockery flashed through his mind, but after hearing the answer, his previously dull eyes lit up, and his whole demeanor underwent a subtle change.

[Lord Kuze Hamori is taking the up-and-coming scientist Masaki Keigo on a tour of the company; all middle and senior management are to line up to greet him.]

The man was somewhat dazed, never expecting to hear this name at this moment.

I really miss it... but how did this happen?

He had never seen this kind of "future" before!

But his abilities have almost never failed... Is there some unpredictable X factor interfering with future development?

To be honest, this made him very curious, because "accidents" are a very precious thing in his life.

"Thank you."

The man thanked the receptionist for no reason, leaving her bewildered, before picking up his suitcase and leaving.

"Huh? Aren't you going to wait anymore?"

Fearing the man had misunderstood, the receptionist quickly said, "It's four o'clock this afternoon, not tomorrow... Um, Mr. Kirino Makio?"

The man waved his hand without turning his head and calmly left through the main door.

As luck would have it, just as he was leaving, a black luxury car pulled up at the door, and Ye Shou and Zheng Mu walked out chatting and laughing.

"Ok?"

"what happened?"

"……nothing."

Ye Shoujiang withdrew his gaze. He felt that something was wrong with his surroundings, but a scan with his spiritual power didn't seem to reveal anything unusual.

"This is the Blue Dream Group that I founded. Professor Agasa happens to be here today. You are all members of TPC, so you must have common topics to discuss... By the way, have you ever thought about registering under my company?"

Don't worry, you won't be given much work, after all, you have more important responsibilities.

Besides, I don't really like bosses who exploit people, hahaha~

-

Chapter 202: The Interstellar Slave Master is Here (4.5K)

"The disappearance incident?"

In the amusement park, several girls dressed in bright casual clothes gathered together. A cheerful girl with a bow in her hair was telling the others the latest urban legend in a scary story-telling tone.

"That's right. It's said that after midnight, some people suddenly disappear while walking on the street, and it's not an isolated case. A colleague of mine went out for drinks, and the two of them were talking when one of them heard a rustling sound, turned around, and when he turned back, his companion had vanished!"

"This...this is just a rumor, right?" The silver-haired girl's eyes darted around, her tone timid.

"However, it's true that there have been more missing persons recently; you've probably seen the news, right?"

"Um……"

Yurikawa licked the ice cream in her hand and listened attentively, unlike Kei who was timid.

"But didn't the news say that it's possible the missing person left voluntarily?"

Disappearances are not uncommon in Japan's high-pressure society.

Think positively—

Maybe they just went to Aokigahara Forest (a suicide hotspot)!

“Look at this post, someone said they have experienced disappearance incidents.”

The chestnut-haired girl took out her phone, and several small heads immediately huddled together: "He and his friend went for a night run. They were attacked while passing by a park. In the chaos, he managed to escape, but his friend was arrested. They called the police, but there were no leads."

There was no blood or hair left at the scene; it was as if they had evaporated into thin air.

"How scary~"

"This man said he saw the attacker's appearance... a tengu."

"Tengu?"

"Is this some kind of fictional ghost story?"

"Tengu...how traditional."

Seeing this, the girls calmed down.

In Japanese folklore, the phenomenon of people being lured, abducted, or entertained by yokai (supernatural beings) and then disappearing is called "kamikakushi" (神隐).

This usually happens to children. Whenever a child goes missing without explanation, the villagers in the settlement will beat drums and gongs and call out the child's name to search for him. If they cannot find him, they will conclude that the child has been "disappeared by spirit" and that he has been taken away by a celestial dog or a mountain hag.

(Most of these legends arose from the high child mortality rate caused by disease or child abduction, much like the "Pied Piper" in Grimm's Fairy Tales.)

Based on this concept, many stories have been derived in later generations, and "Urashima Taro" can be considered a kind of spirit disappearance.

It has also had some influence on modern popular culture. For example, Genmu Satsuki (the Book of False Gods) in "Karakuri" is someone who has experienced a British version of disappearance.

The Japanese have a great fondness for urban legends and detective stories. Almost every city, village, and school has its own unique ghost stories, and such posts are constantly appearing on online forums, making it difficult to distinguish between truth and fiction.

Superpowered individuals, aliens, ghosts, time travelers, subterranean people... it's no wonder that the subculture industry is so developed.

In particular, the previous "Tanuki Monster Incident" brought traditional monsters like Obik and the giant tanuki to the world's attention, sparking a frenzy in society and attracting many attention-seekers.

So the girls' reactions weren't too strong—except for Chika and Miko.

These two people actually saw Obik, and in human form, not the giant monster in the video.

The kind of monster that sets up a soba noodle stall in the middle of the night is definitely capable of causing a disappearance incident, it just so happens that Obik is not an evil creature, so nothing bad happened.

The two women exchanged a glance, and Chika turned to her best friends and gave them a serious lecture, advising them not to go out at night recently. Asuna, Kei, and Hana, though not quite convinced, couldn't help but seriously agree when they saw the usually cheerful Chika being so serious.

"Speaking of which, if the disappearance is true, then what does the 'Tengu' look like?"

Asuna leaned closer with interest and continued swiping the screen: "Does this person... oh, this is an image... can this be considered a tengu? It looks like some other kind of youkai."

Everyone looked over and saw an image that had clearly been restored using AI technology, depicting the "Tengu" as a humanoid creature dressed in black and wearing a crow's beak mask.

"...More like the Western Grim Reaper, isn't he?"

"Even among novel illustrations, this is considered poorly detailed; the author's design was too arbitrary."

"Yes, yes, the light novels these days are really amazing, the illustrations are getting better and better."

"After all, we can now paint in virtual space, which is as convenient as directly extracting the inspiration from our minds."

"I heard that thanks to this, many long-abandoned projects have started to be re-serialized, such as 'Guyver,' 'Hunter x Hunter,' and 'Reign of Assassins.' The famous 'One-Kick Man' has also been remade, and the art style is amazing!"

"There are more and more doujinshi now, and even fans with a little bit of experience can make their own..."

"【RECT】it seems they've released a professional version of their drawing equipment. Has Asuna used it?"

"I don't know much about the family business..."

—But it was just casual conversation, and the girls' attention quickly shifted to other topics.

The Jiushi Group was already a behemoth, but since the "SAO server crash incident," it has transformed into a pioneer in the high-tech industry, launching a series of amazing products that have greatly changed people's lives.

This is like the revolution that Apple brought to the mobile phone industry, and more than once!

Recently, the most popular products are the general-purpose power suit and the power armor that requires professional certification to purchase. The latter has a very high barrier to entry and is basically a special supply for police officers and firefighters.

As they chatted, the girls noticed that the conversation seemed to always revolve around "Kuze." Suddenly, the silver-haired girl seemed to remember something and asked, "Chika-nee, why haven't we seen you at school these past few days? Is something wrong?"

"Hmm, he's just a little guardian after all~"

Chika replied nonchalantly, "He's always like this. He gets easily engrossed in things that interest him, like school... At this point, we can't expect him to be a good student."

"Could it be that ALO is going to release a new version?" Gui was quite excited. The game equipment Ye Shou gave her back then wasn't a waste of time. This girl has invested countless spare time in it and has begun to show her potential as a gamer girl.

Qianhua shook her head. Although Ye Shou was the company boss, he didn't need to care about things like game updates.

"It's a scientist named 'Masaki Keigo' who just joined his team. The two of them are like-minded... but they've been cooped up in the lab for days without making any progress. I don't know what they're researching."

Chika paused, then slightly pursed her lips: "Only Ruri-chan knows what he's doing."

"Sister Qianhua?"

"Of course, I'm not saying I absolutely need to know his situation. In fact, I don't care where Mamoru is at all, and I won't be resentful because of Ruri-chan's special treatment. As long as he ends up by my side... Anyway, let's ignore him and have some fun!"

She's jealous.

Is he jealous?

When did Chika develop a tsundere personality?

The girls remained silent, each with their own thoughts.

The two least stressed were Asuna Yuuki and Hana Yurikawa, who either had no ideas or ambitions and did not join the battle.

Gui is experiencing the stirrings of teenage love, but she's too shy to take any real action. She's content with keeping her feelings a secret and beautiful one.

Seeing that Zi Ze felt utterly helpless about Qian Hua's attitude:

She knew very well what her best friend was really thinking, but judging from the current situation... Qianhua was at a huge disadvantage, even worse than the female supporting character in a light novel, because she already looked defeated before she even declared war!

"Um... Chika-chan, do you still read shoujo manga?"