In a crossover anime, do you believe that a machine spirit can defeat a fake human?

"...That's a good idea." Chen Yi thought for a moment and nodded.

......

On the third floor of the mall, there is a boutique that sells all sorts of things that you might need or not.

If it were for his own needs, Chen Yi wouldn't consider such a place; it's just something to give as a gift... Sometimes, elaborate but impractical gifts can indeed be an option.

There was a part-time worker handing out flyers at the entrance of the boutique; he looked very familiar.

"Aoyama-kun?" Chen Yi walked closer and saw that it was Aoyama Nanami, so he greeted her.

"Eh? Chen-kun?" Aoyama Nanami paused for a moment upon hearing the familiar voice and turned around.

"Why are you free to go out today, Chen-kun? You're usually busy when I try to chat with you," Aoyama Nanami replied.

"My friend's birthday is next week, so I went out to pick out a gift today... Oh, by the way, this is Kato Megumi, also a friend." Chen Yi remembered there was someone else next to him halfway through his sentence and quickly introduced them.

"Hello, Kato-kun. My name is Aoyama Nanami. Nice to meet you." Aoyama Nanami only then noticed that there was another person with Chen Yi and greeted him.

"Please give me your guidance." Kato Megumi bowed slightly; Chen Yi had already introduced her earlier.

"Aoyama Nanami?" Sakurajima Mai narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the other person with a critical gaze.

"She seems quite honest... Yi Jun, is she just a friend?"

"Why is your question so strange? Do you have any unusual friends?" Chen Yi retorted.

"Hard to say, are there other men in your social circle?" Mai Sakurajima scoffed.

"Probably so, Hachiman should be one? It's just that I can't fit into the environment here in Japan," Chen Yi explained, although he hadn't originally intended to fit in.

I'll trust you for now.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Aoyama Nanami, Chen Yi wisely refrained from disturbing her work and led Kato Megumi into the store.

"...Kato-kun, I've made my choice, what about you?" Not long after entering the boutique, Chen Yi took a liking to a simple-designed fountain pen, paid for it readily, put it in a small box, and then found Kato, who was leisurely strolling around at the other end.

"What do you think of this, Mr. Chen?" Kato Megumi was holding a cup with a cartoon dog printed on it, which looked very cute.

"Very good." Chen Yi nodded, and then Kato Megumi went to pay the bill.

When they returned to the agreed meeting place, they found that only Yukinoshita was waiting; Kasumigaoka and Yotsuya had not yet returned.

Chen Yi glanced into the shopping bag Xue was carrying and saw a fluffy rabbit.

It seems that Yukinoshita ultimately didn't buy Mr. Pan's product.

"What did you choose?" Yukinoshita picked up her oolong tea, took a sip, and asked casually.

"The pen, Kato-kun chose the cup," Chen Yi replied.

"They haven't come back yet? Should I go look for them?" Chen Yi wondered. Hadn't Yotsuya Miko already been chosen?

“…Mm.” Yukinoshita nodded.

......

"Senior, where are you now? Do you need me to come find you?" Chen Yi first sent a message to Asakagaoka, and then opened Yotsuya Miko's chat interface.

"Chen-kun, I've bought it. I'll go wait at the agreed place." Before he could even organize his thoughts, Yotsuya Miko typed it out first.

'Okay, Yukinoshita is already waiting there. I'll go find Kasumigaoka-senpai first.' Chen Yi turned off his phone screen and went upstairs.

"Junior." Kasumigaoka, carrying several bags, quickly walked over after seeing Chen Yi.

"Um... junior, the restroom here is a bit dark. Could you come with me?" Her expression didn't seem like a teasing joke; instead, it showed embarrassment.

"......I?"

"Sorry, what I meant was... the restroom is in the staff passage, but it seems there's no power in the staff passage." Realizing that her words might have been ambiguous, Kasumigaoka hurriedly added.

"I see." So it was because he was afraid of the dark. Chen Yi agreed.

"Kato-san, do you need to go back and wait with them?" Chen Yi turned to look at Kato Megumi.

"No need, I'll just follow you." Kato shook his head.

...“Squeak—” Following the mall’s signs, Chen Yi pushed open the heavy fire door and stared silently at the dark employee passage.

The green 'emergency exit' indicator light was on, casting a faint outline of the dense network of pipes on the ground.

It is indeed a bit too dark.

Chen Yi turned on his phone's flashlight and pushed the door open to walk inside.

"If there are no lights in the employee passageway, why put the restrooms here?" Chen Yi muttered, complaining about the mall's unreasonable design.

"...Actually, there were lights installed, but they all seem to be broken." Mai Sakurajima pointed to the light bulbs on the wall.

"Then it's probably a power outage." The mall's interior and employee areas are not controlled by the same circuit, which is a design choice to avoid mutual interference.

"We're here, let's go in." Chen Yi stopped a few steps away from the women's restroom, not continuing out of politeness.

There wasn't even a light in the toilet...

"Is it really necessary to be this scared... Kato-kun, how about you go in with your senior?" Chen Yi sighed and asked Kato Megumi for her opinion.

“Okay.” Kato Megumi turned on her phone’s flashlight and followed Kasumigaoka inside.

......

"Yi-kun, aren't you tired of carrying this guitar bag around all day?" After the two of them went inside, Mai Sakurajima, who was alone with Chen Yi, spoke to him.

"Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any fake people during the day, right?"

"Hard to say." Chen Yi shook his head, indicating his disagreement. "The facts prove that the actions of the fake humans are unrelated to time, but rather to sunlight, and the evil spirits are the best proof of that. If it were a sufficiently dark place, do you think there would be fake humans active there?"

As soon as Chen Yi finished speaking, Sakurajima Mai hugged him. His body stiffened, and then he realized that she was trembling.

"Knowing we're in a place like this, why would you say such scare tactics..."

"Commander, there's movement in the ventilation ducts!" Kroos, who hadn't said much all morning, suddenly spoke up, and the notification exploded in Chen Yi's mind like a thunderclap.

P.S.: Nobody's talking in the group, come and liven things up, meow!

Adolescent Syndrome: Chapter Ninety-Two - A Close Call

Chen Yi quickly smashed the guitar case on the ground, unzipped it, took out a rifle, and cocked it in one smooth motion.

"Which direction?" Chen Yi opened the tactical equipment mounted on the rifle handguard, and a bright light illuminated the entire corridor.

A small mechanical mouse jumped out of the guitar case and quickly disappeared into the darkness.

“Yi...Yi-kun?” Sakurajima Mai froze.

"Here, take this. We're in trouble now." Chen Yi casually took a pistol out of his guitar case and handed it to the other person.

"On the left, from the direction you came from, there's a slight, intermittent noise coming from the ventilation duct opening. That rules out the exhaust fan vibrating," Krochai quickly analyzed.

"Senior, Kato! Are you still in there?" Chen Yi shouted towards the restroom, while simultaneously issuing a mental order to Kroos to scout ahead.

"W-What's wrong?" Kasumigaoka was somewhat alarmed by Chen Yi's unusual behavior.

"Check if there are any ventilation ducts in the restroom, it's not safe there!" Chen Yi disregarded formalities, grabbed a pistol, rushed into the women's restroom, and shoved it into Kato Megumi's hand.

"Take this, protect your senior and yourself later." Chen Yi quickly retreated into the corridor, took out a crowbar from his guitar case, removed the sealing plate of the ventilation vent at his feet in two quick movements, and threw the remote-controlled mechanical mouse 'Soldier Ant-2' inside.

"Miss Mai, keep an eye on the right side where we haven't been before. I'll check the ventilation duct." Chen Yi calmly gave the order, took out his phone, and skillfully accessed the control panel, where the 'Soldier Ant-2' screen popped up.

"Commander, I'm in position. There's no noticeable noise from the direction we came from on the left," Kroos said.

"Received, pipeline reconnaissance in progress." Chen Yi slung the rifle over his shoulder strap, freeing his hands to control the advance of the 'Soldier Ant-2'.

The 'Soldier Ant-2' crawled rapidly through the pipe, continuously spraying tear gas from its back.

At the same time, the control panel on Chen Yi's phone gradually drew a two-dimensional map of the ventilation ducts.

The screen displaying 'Soldier Ant-2' suddenly turned into a static image. Chen Yi frowned, and the small green dot on the 2D map stopped at a deep corner.

The distance is approximately 10 meters.

The direction is wrong; the soldier ants go to the right after entering.

Chen Yi pressed the detonation button, but there was no response.

Damn! I should have made a loose fuse!

"Klukay, biological threat confirmed in the passage, number greater than 1, highly aggressive." Realizing that 'Soldier Ant-2' was doomed, Chen Yi instantly retreated, grabbed his rifle, and aimed at the entrance.

"Junior...I'm ready." Kasumigaoka and Kato Megumi came out of the restroom, their faces pale as they looked at Chen Yi, who was on high alert.

"Get out of here, then call the police." Chen Yi quickly pointed in one direction with one hand. While Sakurajima Mai was guarding the ventilation duct entrance, he quickly packed up his guitar bag, slung it over his shoulder, and organized the team to exit through the employee passage.

"Commander, there are ventilation ducts overhead too, be careful." Kroos emerged from the shadows, holding a rifle, and raised her hand to signal Chen Yi to be careful of the dense network of ducts above.

"Everyone, move forward along the right side of the wall." Chen Yi nodded and gave the order.

Although Kasumigaoka in the middle of the group was panicked, he remained relatively calm, without shouting or disrupting the formation, which is commendable in a crisis.

Chen Yi didn't make any demands on them; he was just grateful if they didn't hold him back.

"Bang—!" A screw hanging from the ventilation duct fell down, and before Chen Yi could react, Mai Sakurajima quickly fired a shot.

"Hehe..." The ventilation duct broke in the middle and crashed to the ground, and a twisted 'giant snake' crawled out of the ventilation duct.

Chen Yi, Sakurajima Mai, and Kato Megumi fired in succession, instantly riddling the monster with bullets.

Kruka, at the very back of the group, raised her gun the fastest, but no matter how she pulled the trigger, no bullets came out, and she couldn't help but curse.

“Snake demon.” Chen Yi shone his tactical flashlight on its dark green skin, sparse fur, and ape-like face, recognizing what kind of variant it was.

"Its nature is limited to small spaces, and it has no special abilities," Kato Megumi recalled, explaining to Kasumigaoka.

“Not only that, they are also social animals,” Chen Yi said, giving Kasumigaoka a push.

"Don't just stand there! It's only a few steps away, run out of there!"

Gunshots rang out, and the snake demon from the ventilation shaft at the back emerged, only to be killed by Chen Yi's precise pinpoint shots.

If only I hadn't worn high heels today! Kasumigaoka nearly twisted her ankle while running, and thought with a hint of regret, holding back tears.

The group quickly arrived at the fire door, worked together to open it, and swiftly returned to the mall.

"Call...call the police." Kasumigaoka nervously took out his phone and awkwardly dialed the emergency number.

When the other customers in the mall saw the group's disheveled appearance, they realized what was happening, their expressions changed, they exchanged a message, and quickly headed towards the exit.

"There are fake people in the mall!" someone shouted, and everyone immediately panicked, the scene becoming quite chaotic.

Chen Yi pressed his stethoscope against the door, listening to the rustling sounds behind it. He was anxious but showed no intention of attacking.

"They won't be coming out for the time being," Chen Yi said to the people behind him.

"Is it because...the sunlight shines through from outside?" Mai Sakurajima looked around and saw the huge fountain and transparent skylight in the center of the mall.

You can just see the azure sky.

"Very likely." Chen Yi frowned, feeling a sense of unease.

What if they continue to lurk? I'll never come to this mall again.

The phone in his pocket vibrated twice, but Chen Yi didn't have time to pay attention to it. He took it out and handed it to Mai Sakurajima.

"The password is... let's see whose message it is." Chen Yi took off his backpack and rummaged through the available tools.

Spy camera... No, the fire door didn't have any gaps to begin with.

Search and rescue radar...that's a good option.

Chen Yi unfolded the search and rescue radar, which was about the size of a laptop, and stuck it to the door to turn it on.

The green screen lit up, and then a semicircle unfolded in the area directly in front of the center...

—The dense array of bright spots was enough to make even Chen Yi, who doesn't have trypophobia, feel his scalp tingle.

"It's a message from Yukinoshita. She said she and Yotsuya Miko ran into Yuihama, and told us to go straight ahead without meeting up," Sakurajima Mai replied after glancing at her phone.

"Let them evacuate first." Chen Yi didn't turn around, folded up the search and rescue radar, put it back in his guitar bag, and then took out an oil-based pen to mark the door.

"Junior, what are you doing?" Kasumigaoka looked at Chen Yi, who was drawing on the door instead of leaving, and was both anxious and puzzled.

Standing next to her, Kato Megumi also watched with curious eyes.

“Remind the officials.” Chen Yi drew several large, conspicuous black circles and arrows, and wrote the words ‘Breaching Charge’ next to them.

"Placing breaching explosives in this location would theoretically maximize the damage—if they don't scatter and escape back into the ventilation ducts, but instead remain in the employee passageway."