I was the fourth disaster in Yokohama and was loved by everyone.

"I'm leaving this to the three of you. Show them the fury of the Port Mafia."

Side Quest (In Progress): Severely damage Standard Part and force it to leave Yokohama.

[Current teammates: Osamu Dazai, Chuuya Nakahara.]

A player who had been AFK farming for a while suddenly found a side quest popping up: ? ? ?

*

After starting the side mission, the three of them were essentially on field missions, no longer having to stay inside the Port Mafia building, but able to move freely outside and search for clues.

Zhu Yu, who usually rushes to the front lines when there are missions, has returned to the dessert shop after a long absence and is engrossed in the simulation management game.

There is no other reason——

Chapter 44 A Culinary Genius Appears

Whenever a player is about to advance a side quest, the system will kindly guide the player to collect clues, but finding each clue is too tedious, and she doesn't like deduction and investigation. It's not as comfortable as just sitting around and relying on Dazai!

Dazai, a must-have companion for home and travel (thumbs up) helps you get straight to your mission objective; all she has to do is follow instructions and attack wherever you're told (completely resigned).

She was frantically remorseful for having doubted that he was an idiot!

"jingle--"

As the door was gently pushed open, the wind chimes were slightly pulled, instantly producing a crisp and melodious sound.

"Hello, what would you like to order?" Upon noticing a customer arrive, Zhu Yu reflexively uttered the greeting.

"Hmm... It's been a long time, Miss Kuzi."

Upon hearing this, she stopped cutting bread and looked at the person who had come in.

A tiny figure, completely black and wrapped in bandages.

Oh, it's Dazai.

Although his "long time no see" made her feel a little strange, since they saw each other every day on missions...

But considering that Dazai, as an NPC, couldn't be judged by common sense and was simply a game mechanic, she didn't take it to heart and calmly repeated, "Hello, Dazai. What would you like?"

Dazai, noticing that the other person didn't react in any particular way: ......

"Then please have a crab-flavored mini cake." He lowered his eyes, drooped his head, and casually found a corner against the wall to sit down.

Crab flavor? I don't think so.

Zhu Yu flipped through the dessert menu and found that there were no crab-flavored desserts, not even shrimp-flavored desserts that had a similar texture to crab.

She diligently leveled up her pastry chef profession to level eight, thinking she had unlocked almost all the desserts in the encyclopedia, but it turns out there are still new varieties of desserts she hasn't explored yet...

Her initial sense of slackness vanished instantly, and she looked at Dazai with the astonishment of someone who had discovered a new continent—could he be a genius in the culinary world!

"We don't have crab-flavored desserts right now, but please wait a moment, I'll make some right away," Zhu Yu said quickly, then turned and rushed into the kitchen.

It was just a casual remark, but I never expected her to actually become Dazai: ......

The moment Dazai noticed Zhu Yu walking away, his eyes widened instantly. He instinctively reached out to grab her wrist to stop her, but he missed, and only the hem of her clothes brushed against his fingertips.

He sat there, curled up in a ball, quietly watching her departing figure, as if he were watching her, or as if he had already drifted away to some distant and ethereal place.

Somewhat weary, he lowered his eyes, then suddenly stretched out his arms and slumped limply onto the table, lying motionless as if trying to suffocate himself with the table.

When Zhu Yu came out looking for Dazai, carrying the newly made dessert—sea salt crab chiffon cake—all she saw was someone who looked like he had turned into a puddle of black mud and was lying on the table.

【HP-10】【HP-10】【HP-10】......

Are you poisoned?!

Unfortunately, Dazai's status bar did not display the [Poison] debuff; instead, it displayed the [Suffocation] debuff.

Is it possible for a person to suffocate in air?

Zhu Yu thought in horror: Could Dazai really be a mackerel demon in disguise? No wonder Chuuya always calls him mackerel.

She hurriedly pulled the little Dazai up, fed him a blood-replenishing item, and the little man, who had been dizzy, finally opened his eyes.

"Ah... Is this the scenery of the Sanzu River? Why does it look so familiar?" Dazai opened his eyes groggily, squinting as he looked around at his surroundings.

"Haha, congratulations, you're alive." Zhu Yu grabbed Taizai under the armpits and lifted him up.

Because Dazai is still growing and developing and is not yet 1.6 meters tall, when he is lifted up by the 1.4-meter-tall player character, his toes can still slightly dangle from the ground.

He and Zhu Yu stared at each other in mid-air.

Dazai:......

Fortunately, he was lifted up in an instant and was quickly and steadily placed on the chair.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Although Zhu Yu possessed a "shocking secret," she had no intention of spreading it around.

"W-what?" Dazai Osamu, whose little brain was always quick to work, experienced for the first time what it meant to "talk to someone who doesn't understand you."

"Sigh." Zhu Yu sighed, understanding the hardships non-humans face in human society, and quietly leaned closer to him, saying, "Of course—"

His breath tickled Dazai's ear. He struggled to resist the urge to move away, and froze on the spot the moment he heard the next sentence.

"The fact that you are actually a mackerel spirit."

!

Dazai Osamu's tone was stiff, each word seemingly squeezed out from between his teeth: "...Has [Kuroko] finally been infected by the little slug's brain circuitry?"

"Isn't that right? Then how did you suddenly suffocate just now? It must be because you didn't control yourself well on the shore and couldn't breathe."

Zhu Yu gave him a look that said, "No need to argue, I understand," and nodded solemnly.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Dazai, who had been energetically meowing, suddenly fell silent, the shadow of his eyelashes falling on his lower eyelids, obscuring the emotions in his eyes.

He said, "Because I just committed suicide."

He stood there quietly, breathing very lightly, almost inaudibly, as if even the basic instinct to sustain life had become dispensable.

The little black bandaged figure had dark clouds looming over its head, almost filling the entire status bar.

"Hmm... So it's not a mackerel spirit after all." Zhu Yu reached out and tentatively waved the little dark cloud above the Grand Tutor's head, but found that she couldn't disperse it, and her tone naturally carried a hint of disappointment.

Dazai Osamu, feeling so annoyed that he had no time to spit out the black mud, thought: ......Heh heh.

Zhu Yu was puzzled when the little dark cloud disappeared in a magical way, but since the result was good, she didn't pay much attention to it. She pushed the dessert that she had just casually put in the corner of the table toward Dazai Osamu: "Alright, come and try this sea salt crab chiffon cake."

Dazai suddenly fell silent, picked up his spoon, gently scooped up a piece and put it in his mouth—the crab roe flavor blended perfectly with the salty aroma of sea salt, the cream was whipped very finely, the taste was unique, but not unpleasant.

Then I ate it spoonful by spoonful.

He moved very politely, but ate quite quickly, finishing the cake in no time.

Having eaten and drunk my fill, it's finally time to get down to business.

Zhu Yu initiated the conversation: "Alright, you've come here because...?" Is there new progress in the mission?

"【Kuzi】Do you remember that time you met a petty thug?" Dazai suddenly spoke up, catching her off guard.

Chapter 45 How long has this been going on?

What kind of thug?

Zhu Yu's brain had short-circuited. She had beaten up at least fifty or a hundred thugs, but she couldn't remember which ones specifically...

After all, the NPCs whose names she didn't know all had "???" above their heads, just like the vast army of momos on various platforms, she really couldn't tell them apart.

As for modeling, sorry, she never remembers the faces of her defeated opponents (coolly blowing her bangs).

Perhaps because her bewildered expression was too obvious, Dazai prompted, "You once abandoned him, who was seriously injured, at the entrance of the hospital in the middle of the night. There was a surveillance camera recording you at the time."

Zhu Yu quickly went through his memories and realized—it really was that thug he encountered on the first day he entered the game.

Thanks to him, the player earned their first pot of gold in the game (hands clasped in prayer).

Only he was abandoned by Zhu Yu at the hospital entrance in the middle of the night.

After all, when she encountered other thugs later, she didn't have the patience to take them to the hospital again. She would just knock them out or reduce their blood to half, leaving them with enough strength to crawl to the hospital on their own.

She nodded in affirmation after recalling that such a person existed.

"【Kuzi】Maybe he didn't expect that this person is actually an informant for a black organization. On the surface, he's just an inconspicuous thug, but in private, he secretly kidnaps orphaned children and provides them to that organization for human trafficking."

So, what audacity! Did that little NPC actually try to kidnap players that day?

Zhu Yu suddenly regretted not punching him a few more times.

"Unexpectedly, he ran into a tough nut one day and was beaten into the hospital, where he remained unconscious for several weeks. By the time he was finally about to wake up, the organization had fled, and he was silenced. It's just a pity that his most important possessions, including his cell phone and the data containing information about the organization, were nowhere to be found."

Zhu Yu proudly puffed out his chest. That's right, the players are tough nut to crack!

“Now that this organization has made a comeback, it will inevitably find you, Miss [Umekawa Kuko], who had contact with it before.” Dazai Osamu deliberately emphasized the pronunciation of “you,” as if hinting at something. “So, Kuko-chan is in danger now.”

Um... Dazai, are you serious? He's been acting really strange ever since he walked in today.

Isn't this their mission?

Zhu Yu looked at Dazai Osamu with a complicated expression, as if asking, "How long has this been going on?" Surely he couldn't have damaged his brain from suffocating just now.

Finding her would be the best option; it would allow us to wipe out the enemy all at once.

And... the real danger is the enemy... they're going to be the players' prey! (laughs)

"【Kuzi】, as an ordinary citizen of Yokohama, you must be very scared. But it's okay, as long as you..." Dazai's little man spoke faster and faster, gesturing wildly, as if he were depicting a picture that only he could see.

However, Zhu Yu discovered that the dark clouds that had dispersed above the Grand Tutor's head had gathered again.

"That's enough, Dazai." Zhu Yu frowned slightly as she looked at him, her gaze like that of a cat looking at her with concern, a pure curiosity and doubt.

Dazai opened his eyes wide, feigning innocence, and continued his rambling monologue—

The dark clouds grew larger and larger.

He was grabbed by the wrist by Zhu Yu, who had run out of patience, and was dragged into a secluded booth in the dessert shop, staggering along.

Once the door is closed, the noise outside is shut out, and it's so quiet you can hear your heart pounding.

The room was dark because it was daytime and there were no lights on or windows. The only light coming through the crack in the door was enough for the two of them to see each other's faces.

Zhu Yu pressed his shoulders down with both hands, pinning him against the wall to prevent him from suddenly escaping.

“Aren’t you happy, Dazai?” she asked.

Dazai Osamu tilted his head, his lips curving into a perfect arc: "Eh—[Kuko] Why do you say that? I had such a delicious cake today, I was so happy."

Even the tone of voice was rising.

Zhu Yu glanced at the small black cloud, everything was understood without words.

She leaned closer, gently turned his face towards her, pinched his chin with her thumb and forefinger, and forced him to look her in the eye: "You're lying!"

Don't ask why, because the player has already discovered everything with her eyes that can see through all the truth (actually, it's thanks to a cheat)!

Zhu Yu immediately spoke frankly: "Things have been strange ever since we entered today. To be honest, is the mission the leader gave us going to fail?" Otherwise, why would he be in such a bad mood?

Oh no, even the clever Dazai can't cover this up? She's really worried about whether the mission can be completed!

Sure enough, bad moods don't disappear, they just shift.

Zhu Yu subconsciously released Dazai and anxiously started spinning in circles. Still not satisfied, she threw a bunch of random punches at the air, as if she were beating up that clueless thug from afar.

Damn it, damn it!

Dazai, with his head bowed, was drawn by the strange noise. He subconsciously looked up, paused for a moment, and then, remembering what Zhu Yu had just said, the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up slightly.

A glimmer of light flashed in his originally dark eyes.

He said in a low voice, "No, it won't fail."

Zhu Yu breathed a sigh of relief, then heard him suddenly say, "Is [Socks]-chan very worried?"

She replied quite naturally, "Of course I'm worried. I'm the kind of person who aims for 100% perfect completion of tasks."

“Kuzi,” he suddenly called out.

"what?"