American Strategic Deception Bureau

　So, what reason is there to believe that after arriving in another world, you can suddenly become a powerful figure?

　But even though I think so intellectually, how can I put it? People always have to have some dreams.

　If you lose all your dreams and the ability to dream, you will completely become a walking corpse.

　Hey!

　Tom lay on the bed with his clothes on and sighed softly.

　He really wanted to hold on to his dream, which was almost the only thing he could hold on to now.

　However, under the pressure of daily life and facing an uncertain future, Tom doesn't know how long he can maintain his passion for his dream...

　Suddenly, the church bells rang outside the window again, reminding Tom of a terrible fact:

　Because he had been thinking too much and procrastinating for too long, he now only had three hours left to sleep!

　After realizing this, Tom was horrified and quickly covered his face with the greasy quilt, trying to fall asleep as soon as possible to restore his energy.

　However, the party upstairs continued with rock music and a disco, and the Filipino woman next door was screaming and crying from being fucked by her boyfriend. Add to that the barking of dogs and car horns—all these noises mixed together, echoing around Tom's bedside through the poorly soundproofed old wooden wall panels, keeping him awake for a long time. Even though he was exhausted, his limbs were stiff and cold, his mind was wandering, he was sweating, and his eyelids were so heavy he couldn't lift them, he still couldn't fall asleep.

　"Oh, may God bless me with a good dream! Otherwise, I really won't have the energy to work at the dock tomorrow!"

　Tom, suffering from severe insomnia, turned on the desk lamp and tried to find a cross to pray and find peace of mind. But after searching everywhere, he couldn't find a cross. Although Australians were generally Christian, their piety was indeed worrying.

　He only found a purple badge (the Holy Emblem of Xirik) that he had obtained from the exhibition guide when he visited the supernatural event exhibition three days ago.

　So, Tom, who was desperate, had to grab the purple badge and mutter a prayer.

　But a moment later, he didn't feel sleepy at all. Instead, he heard a faint voice beside his ear: "Congratulations on winning the prize! I'll give you a Pokémon! I wish you a sweet dream!"

　The hallucinations that appear in a trance for a tired office worker are then processed through a series of artistic techniques.

　Artists rely on alcohol and drugs to create hallucinations and pursue inspiration; office workers can also create hallucinations through endless overtime.

　So, he vaguely realized that he seemed to have encountered a supernatural event. But Tom, whose brain was already exhausted and had shut down, was too lazy to pay attention.

　No matter what the strange voice said in his mind, Tom just remained numb the whole time and did not react at all.

　Even if the light in the room suddenly came on and dimmed again after a moment, he was unaware of it, or thought it was just the headlights of a passing car.

　——Until Tom's mood, for some reason, improved a little, and the negative energy that had been pent up for a long time suddenly disappeared without a trace.

　Although the body is still weak, the mind is still tired, and the thinking is still slow, at least the brain can still function.

　So, Tom finally perked up a little, recalled his "auditory hallucination", and wanted to figure out what had just happened.

　Then, he opened his dry eyelids and immediately saw a jellyfish-like creature emitting a shimmering green light. It was floating above his head, defying gravity. It flew around in the small room, its long tentacles dancing wildly and making a constant puffing sound...

　Eh? Glowing green jellyfish? Flying through the sky by farting?

　This realization turned like a rusty gear in his slow brain for fifteen seconds before Tom finally realized that it was not an illusion.

　So, what exactly is this green jellyfish that's floating around in his room and farting non-stop?

　A monster that escaped from a military laboratory? An alien that arrived on a flying saucer? Or a magical creature that arrived through a portal?

　Did I have... a third-kind contact? No, wait, am I still on Earth?

　Tom's eyelids twitched twice, and the green afterimage of the flying jellyfish still remained on his irises, but his vision finally became focused from being distracted.

　Then, he groaned, stretched his stiff and sore arms out from under the quilt, fumbled under the pillow, and found a small rusty tinplate box. Inside was the "stimulant pills" he occasionally took to study for exams in college.

　Although it had been so long since graduation, and he didn't know if the remaining stimulants had expired, Tom didn't care at the moment. He poured out two pills and stuffed them into his mouth. A moment later, he felt as if his dull mind had been polished and rusted, becoming sharp again.

　Then, Tom, who had regained his energy by taking drugs, quickly got out of bed and looked out the window first. He found that outside the mottled window glass were still the familiar dirty streets, dim street lights, and brick walls covered with graffiti. He breathed a sigh of relief.

　Then Tom raised his head and, with the help of the street light shining into the house from the window, squinted his eyes and looked at the uninvited guest who broke into his room.

　Well, it looked like a large fluorescent jellyfish, with a plump, round, umbrella-shaped body and a bunch of translucent tentacles. But it also looked like a crab, with two large eyes on stalks. Its entire body was suspended in the air, propelled by puffing air.

　At this moment, it was lying on the shelf behind the door, eavesdropping on the passionate screams of the Filipino girl next door on the bed. The fluorescence on its body also changed from the original green to pink and emerald green...

　It seems that this thing doesn't seem very dangerous?

　So, this is my adventure? My adventure is about to begin?

　Would it transport me to another world? Or would it make me a Sydney superhero, like Batman?

　Thinking of this, Tom's breathing suddenly became heavy and his heartbeat accelerated.

　After a moment's hesitation, he raised his hand and pressed the switch of the desk lamp. The light of the lamp instantly filled the room and startled the uninvited guest.

　But this floating jellyfish didn't seem to be afraid of Tom. It just left a pink tail in the air and rushed towards him happily.

　Tom saw the jellyfish approaching and hesitated for a moment before raising his hand and waving it, wanting to say hello. But before he could even utter "hello," the floating jellyfish across from him merrily waved its tentacles, preemptively connecting with his thoughts through telepathy and issuing a lively greeting: "Uh, hello, sir? Do you understand what I'm saying? Is my grammar correct?"

　As Tom stared in amazement, the floating jellyfish swung in the air and talked to Tom incessantly.

　This jellyfish actually speaks? No, it actually speaks directly into my mind!

　Oh my God, this is really an intelligent creature! Could it really be an alien coming here in a flying saucer?

　"Um, welcome to Earth! May I ask how you learned our language?"

　Tom took a deep breath, gathered his thoughts that were about to go wild, and asked carefully in a low voice.

　"Yeah, that's easy. I just absorbed your negative emotions and, by the way, learned the language of this place from your memories."

　The eyes on the tops of the two raised eyestalks of the floating jellyfish narrowed into lines, and its body radiated a pink light that represented joy. "Your place is really interesting. Compared to the Underdark, it's so lively! There are new and strange evil thoughts everywhere! Can you take me out for a walk?"

　"...

　Absorb my negative emotions? Wait, are you trying to take my soul?"

　Tom said he didn't quite understand and was horrified. "Oh, no!!!" he shouted in horror.

　"Soul? No, no, no, we are not demons that eat souls. We feed on spiritual energy, especially the evil thoughts of the evil ones! All decent people are friends with us! How can you slander our race like this?!"

　After hearing Tom's question, the floating jellyfish shook slightly, and its body instantly turned into a deep red color representing anger.

　Tom happened to be in mental contact with the jellyfish at the time, so he immediately felt the jellyfish's anger and apologized profusely out of fear.

　"I'm sorry, I accidentally offended you. Please accept my apology. Can you forgive my recklessness?"

　"Alright, I accept your apology. After all, we just met. But please remember, when I consume spiritual energy, it basically does not affect my main body. Even if I consume your evil thoughts, if you are born evil, you will not inexplicably become kind..."

　The floating jellyfish turned from deep red to green again, raised a tentacle, tapped Tom's forehead, and scolded him.

　Tom nodded profusely, offering endless flattery. "Thank you for your generosity, dear guest! Where are you from? What is your name? Why did you come to Earth? Is there anything I can do for you?"

　"I come from another world, that's how it is for you. As for why I came here, it was just an accident..."

　The floating jellyfish retreated slightly, puffing gas. "I am a Furu, from the Underdark of Toril..."

　Author's Note: PS: The three Baltic states, the vanguard of the anti-Russian front, currently have a combined army of less than 20,000 combat troops, and they can't even muster a single tank. Estonia's army consists of only 2700 soldiers—they've never been able to fill their 15,000-man strength.

　But what is strange is that the former leaders of these three countries generally hold important positions in the European Union, using the EU to drive Germany and France, which can be described as the tail wagging the dog.

　Chapter 645: The Light of Goodness: Furu

　"Alas, there's nothing I can do, my Australian friend. Pokémon are really hard to come by, so I'll just give you a Furu!

　Anyway, this thing looks cute, and its character and morals are good, not much different from a real Pokémon..."

　Far away on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, in an apartment in the small town of Eden in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, the mastermind behind the scenes, Ferry, sat behind his desk, watching the projection image from the crystal ball on the table, showing the first encounter between the Australian youth Tom and the floating jellyfish "Furu" in a rental house in Sydney.

　Juanita and Zhao Qiuniang lay on his shoulders, one on each side, and watched this "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" reality show with him.

　——Although in the previous magic communication, Ferry jokingly wanted to give Tom, the Australian youth holding the Holy Emblem of Cyric, a Pokémon, he was not a trainer from the Pokémon world after all, and could not conjure up Pikachu and Bulbasaur.

　So, facing Tom, a down-and-out Australian youth surrounded by negative energy, Ferry thought for a long time and finally threw him a flying luminous jellyfish from another world - the light of goodness in the underdark, the model of kindness in the evil land, and the lovely helper of adventurers: Furu!

　Furu is a small intelligent psychic creature living in the underground world of Faerun in the DND world, or the Underdark.

　Resembling a flat, round jellyfish, it roams the Underdark using jets of air to propel it, communicating telepathically. Its thoughts are reflected in the color of its body: light pink for joy, dark blue for sadness, green for curiosity, and deep red for anger.

　Despite their jellyfish-like appearance, furus are incredibly intelligent and knowledgeable creatures. They possess the intelligence to communicate with humans and possess a wealth of exceptionally advanced religious, philosophical, mathematical, and other bizarre knowledge. Furthermore, furus are remarkably kind, practically the only intelligent creatures in the underdark, entirely dominated by evil, who are unwilling to enslave or exploit strangers. The furus passively parasitize, absorbing only the amount of spiritual energy they need. Most creatures whose emotions are absorbed by furus experience no discomfort and may even find themselves calmed by the process.

　Furu feeds on spiritual energy, especially the evil thoughts of evil beings. This allows them to understand the evil creatures' plans as they absorb them. If they encounter good adventurers, Furu will tell them about the evil plans they have learned and guide them to eliminate the source of evil.

　Even though this would leave them without food, Furu would rather starve and find a new source of food than eliminate evil.

　Therefore, this is a very kind alien creature, very suitable as the object of "third contact" for the teenagers on Earth.

　——If it is a magical girl anime, it is a wonderful pet for the girl; if it is a superhero comic, it is a guide for the righteous boy.

　No matter from which angle you look at it, Furu is a thousand times stronger than the black "Kyuubi" in "Puella Magi Madoka Magica".

　Even compared to the most traditional pet of magical girls - the magic cat, Furu has obvious advantages: it only needs to absorb emotions, does not need to eat cat food, and does not need a cat bed, which is especially suitable for those poor girls with little pocket money.

　Female.

　Let me put it this way, even those homeless girls who have become "God's Maids" in Tokyo's Okubo Park can be supported!

　Of course, as for the "Magic Maidens" who are generally suffering from sexually transmitted diseases and are not pure at all, are they still qualified to be magical girls?

　Uh... well, that's a completely different question.

　In short, for "beginners" who have just come into contact with the extraordinary, Furu is a magical creature that is very user-friendly.

　Firi was able to summon this Furu because it was facing a survival crisis. The intelligent creatures in its original habitat, such as the gray dwarves and kuo-toa, were controlled by the powerful psychic mind flayers, turning them into zombie-like slaves. Even the notorious dark elf dungeon was breached by the mind flayer army. As a result, the Furu gradually lost its evil thoughts and was almost starving.

　Unfortunately, this furuma has entered its breeding season, a time when it is in dire need of nutritional supplements.

　So, when a powerful being asked it if it was interested in visiting a fascinating place filled with evil thoughts, Furu quickly and confusedly agreed. It was then dropped into Sydney, Australia, to the home of Tom, a down-and-out young man with a penchant for the supernatural...

　So, what kind of sparks will be created in Australia through this "third kind of contact" manipulated by the mastermind behind the scenes?

　As a fun-loving person, Firi was looking forward to seeing a good show.

　Then, Fili and his personal slave girls discovered with great interest that in the image projected by the magic crystal ball, Tom and Furu had only met for less than an hour when he slipped out of the rented apartment and began his own little adventure...

　-

　In this world, most people are born and raised in ordinary ways, find jobs, marry, and have children in a uneventful manner. They gradually mature from youth to middle age, continuing their monotonous lives. Finally, they grow old, spend a decade or so in a dull retirement, and finally, on a hospital bed, surrounded by their children and grandchildren, gasping and struggling to watch this dull world. But they slowly, reluctantly, close their eyes.

　But there are also many people who are not willing to be ordinary and want to experience an exciting alternative life.

　So, some people became extreme athletes, skydiving, diving, climbing snow-capped mountains, digging caves, playing racing cars, and looking for excitement all over the world.

　Some people work hard and try their best to climb up the ladder, trying to succeed in politics and business, and become workaholics and strivers.

　Some people have started all kinds of weird artistic creations, some of which have become famous, some have become laughing stock, but most of them have just been forgotten by the crowd.

　Others have fallen into depravity, becoming addicted to nightclubs, drugs, gambling, and constantly changing partners... eventually becoming criminals or homeless people.

　There's no way around it; most teenagers go through a rebellious phase. Even mature, middle-aged and older adults can occasionally experience a rebellious streak.

　However, when the impulse to be unwilling to be ordinary is just beginning to sprout, when the little boy is still holding a toy gun and dreaming of becoming a hero, and the little girl is still holding a doll and dreaming of being a princess, the earliest act of rebellion of the child is often just a late-night stroll out of the house without telling the sleeping parents.

　- You don't need to do anything special, nor do you need to risk going into casinos and nightclubs. Just looking at the street scenes under the dark night, which are different from those during the day, is enough to make people feel a kind of excitement and impulse that breaks the routine, and even make their hearts beat fast.

　How should I put it? It felt like I had become the legendary "urban explorer."

　Tom originally thought that he was in his twenties and was no longer at the age where he would be excited about a night out.

　Who would have thought that today's adventure would transform him into a "night city explorer" and allow him to sneak out of the apartment under the cover of darkness...

　At 3:30 in the morning, the poor streets and alleys in Sydney's southern suburbs were filled with the sour smell of spoiled beer and sea salt. The neon tubes on the street corners spelled out the incomplete word "BAR", and blue-purple electric sparks crawled and flashed on the damp brick walls.

　The chill of the winter night, wrapped in the salty smell of the sea breeze, seeped into Tom's worn burgundy jacket, making him shiver in exhaustion.

　A thin rope extended from Tom's hand, reaching the luminous jellyfish in mid-air, which it grasped firmly with one of its tentacles. In the evening breeze, it resembled a crumpled piece of glass candy wrapper, its translucent umbrella-shaped body slowly expanding, its edges reflecting the colorful light of neon lights.

　In order to allow Furu to follow him out without causing a stir, Tom tried to disguise it as a jellyfish-shaped glowing balloon.

　But even if it was a real "jellyfish-shaped glowing balloon", it would be very strange to go out with such a thing in the middle of the night. In order to make the play complete, Tom rummaged through the boxes and found the mask and costume he wore to the masquerade in college and dressed himself up as a circus clown.

　Wait? Why did Tom have to go out for a stroll with this floating jellyfish at 3:30 in the morning?

　It's very simple. In order to entertain this guest from another world, let the hungry "Furu" have a good meal!

　——As a psychic creature that relies on spiritual energy to survive, the food of "Furu" is the emotions of intelligent life.

　So, for Furu, the populous city of Sydney is like a huge buffet restaurant with food everywhere.

　But the problem is that if Furu wants to use "Mind Siphon" to absorb emotions, it must get close to the target.

　It stretched its tentacles near their heads, and it was impossible for it to just stay in Tom's rental house and suck the minds of the people in the whole city directly through the walls and streets.

　Tom originally wanted this "Furu" to move quietly in the apartment building, not go out casually, and just suck the tenants nearby.

　However, it was already three in the morning, and even the students who were partying were already drunk and high. The rest of the tenants in the apartment had already fallen asleep—and sleeping people usually couldn't provide much mental energy for Furu.

　According to this "Furu", although people in sleep are also thinking, it is difficult and messy to breathe, so it is not worth it to breathe it.

　As for Tom himself? Even if he completely sucked out the little emotion he could provide, it wouldn't be enough for this "Furu" to fill its teeth!