"2D Mita… is gone?!" Misha's voice pierced through Alain's ears. Even though she was just on the other side of a screen, her words made his heart skip a beat.
He had just had a flash of inspiration, wondering if the Safety Guard could serve as a bridge for 2D Mita to return to the game world.
Could it be... that the ill-fated girl, having just escaped the perils of the game, had accidentally been wiped out by the real world's antivirus software?
The corner of Alain's mouth twitched. He had to admit... 2D Mita had terrible luck.
"Could she be messing with us again?" Alain thought that wasn't out of the realm of possibility.
If that was the case, he would definitely join Short-Haired Mita in giving her a tag-team beatdown.
[Ding!] Just then, a notification sound from the Safety Guard popped up, but Alain was in no mood to check it.
"Misha, can you look in places like the Recycle Bin on the desktop?" he asked. "Maybe she was treated as trash."
[Ding!]
"Ah… okay." Seeing Alain's calm demeanor, Misha composed herself and opened the Recycle Bin.
It was empty.
She then tried checking other folders where someone might be "hiding," but to no avail. Not even a trace of a registry file was left.
"It's no use, Alain. I can't find her…" Misha said helplessly.
"Is she… really a goner?" Alain glanced at Short-Haired Mita's eyes. The latter didn't know whether to be sad or angry, and just leaned her head against Alain's shoulder in frustration.
"Sometimes, I just want to go back to Version 1.15. Dealing with work there feels easier than this…"
"You've worked hard, Big Sister."
[Ding!]
Speaking of which, that notification sound is so annoying… Could it be that he'd gotten a new skill and the Safety Guard wanted him to check it immediately?
He casually opened the system, only to be greeted by a middle finger.
"???"
He stared at the system interface, dazed, thinking he'd seen wrong. He rubbed his eyes, opened them again, and looked closely.
The progress bar was fine. Skills like memory optimization and the internal firewall were also fine. All the other miscellaneous functions were still running.
The only thing that was wrong was—
"So, why are you in there?" Alain felt his eye was twitching so uncontrollably he could probably fluff cotton with it.
That was it… The system interface hadn't changed at all, except for the addition of a 2D girl standing saucily in the middle, giving him the finger.
"Nothing, just making my presence known," 2D Mita said, for some reason standing inside the Safety Guard panel. She turned her head away in a huff, refusing to look at him.
"Your presence is off the charts right now…"
Alain quoted his darling: The world is a mess. It perfectly summed up his current state of mind.
He sorted out the situation…
First, 2D Mita tried to use the An 7.20 Safety Guard as a bridge to re-enter the game world.
But as soon as she touched it, she disappeared.
When Alain saw her again, 2D Mita had left the system desktop and directly integrated into his system panel…
Alright, sorted.
Alain nodded, ignored 2D Mita's pained cries, closed the panel, and zoned out for a while. He looked up at the ceiling, then silently squatted down.
"This is no good… I don't get it at all."
Ultimately, why was 2D Mita able to enter the Safety Guard panel? And in a way that made her seem like a "system fairy"?
The sheer amount of information from that one short minute nearly made his brain's CPU downclock…
"Alain, what's wrong?" Short-Haired Mita noticed his strange behavior and squatted down beside him, patting his arm.
"Whatever it is, you can tell us. We'll help you solve it together."
Misha nodded firmly. "Or, you could rely on that Millie girl. Didn't I tell you? She's noisy, but her brain is surprisingly sharp."
Hearing this, Alain pondered. He really wanted to discuss the matter of 2D Mita with them. But he had never told the Mitas about the system.
Thinking about it, it had been so long, and the Mitas had placed their complete trust in him. So he…
Perhaps he also had an element of [fear]._A
That in the Mitas' eyes, he, who was nearly omnipotent, was actually just relying on the power of a system.
He worried about how the Mitas would see him after learning this news.
He was silent for a moment, then let out a faint smile. "You're right."
Alain was the Mitas' sword; and the Mitas were his sword, too.
Their relationship had long since transcended that of mere comrades-in-arms.
In that case, there was nothing to hesitate about. He could use the situation with 2D Mita to reveal the information about the system, which would also add flexibility to their future plans.
He nodded, took Short-Haired Mita's hand, stood up, and then looked at Misha.
Without any reservation, he opened the system panel, ignoring the Mitas' confusion, and began to explain on his own.
Using 2D Mita's entry into the Safety Guard as a starting point, he also recounted how he had obtained the Safety Guard upon first entering the game world.
And the piece of information he got from Short-Haired Mita back then:
The virus and Alain had appeared on the same day.
He also mentioned how, after defeating the monster in Version 1.3B and nearly dying, he had met a black figure in an empty space…
He told them everything, down to the last detail.
By the time he was done speaking, his throat dry, he was met with the two Mitas' silence.
"So that's how it is…" Misha let out a breath, closed her eyes slightly, and smiled with relief.
"I always thought that my darling had secrets we didn't know about." She looked at the greatsword in Alain's hand. "That sword, or your incredible ability to resist the virus."
"Mhm." Short-Haired Mita picked up the thread, taking Alain's hand. "Thank you for letting us know."
"Uh…" Seeing that Misha and Big Sister weren't surprised in the slightest completely threw Alain off.
"You don't have anything to say? For example, about me just relying on an external tool or something."
"Are you an idiot?" The moment he finished, he received a merciless scolding from Short-Haired Mita.
"If you say that again, I won't speak to you for a whole day."
Even Misha's voice carried a hint of disappointment.
His darling sighed. "We're not idiots, and we're not blind."
The long-haired girl stared at Alain's greatsword. "A weapon, no matter how powerful, is ultimately just a weapon. It all depends on how its master uses it."
"After you got the Safety Guard, how did you use it? Don't you know?!"
Her serious gaze was fixed on Alain's face.
Short-Haired Mita spoke up. "It's like… you were on a deserted island and picked up the only sword. You didn't think about how to threaten others. Quite the opposite—
"You gripped that sword, and you threw yourself wholeheartedly into saving us, into saving the game world. Do you expect us to look down on you for that? As if."
Their words made Alain feel ashamed for a couple of seconds.
"Don't say that. I'm just an old pervert, a hopeless otaku. I'm not as noble as you make me sound."
"Then, with the power you possess, you could have easily forced us to submit, couldn't you?"
Misha glanced at him. "Instead, you took it one step at a time, risking danger to save the Mitas one by one… Oh, you."
"Indeed. If you had used the game world's safety to threaten me, I probably would have done anything under your coercion, right?" Short-Haired Mita agreed. "But you just didn't do that."
"Next time I'll definitely coerce you—"
"Shut up!" Seeing that Alain still wanted to argue, the two Mitas cut him off in unison.
"In short, you just need to know that in our eyes, you have always been a hero."
The short-haired girl started to smile, a shimmering smile brighter than Tanshou particles. "An H-hero… like Rance?"
Misha didn't deny it. "Indeed… Rance Alain. So, no more explanations needed, right? Our opinion of you won't change."
Alain felt they were all very set in their ways. He really didn't have any lofty ambitions.
It was just that this place was his sanctuary. He just wanted to protect everyone and make them happy.
"Fine, fine… whatever." He rubbed the bridge of his nose, but he couldn't hide the smile at the corners of his mouth.
"Now that we've cleared the air, we need to discuss the main topic." Alain walked over to the computer in the tiny room, opened [Paint], and sketchily displayed the Safety Guard panel for them to see.
"The functional areas of the Safety Guard panel are roughly like this." He typed out labels for the general areas and the functions he used most often. "But I've never heard of the system being able to let a Mita inside."
"Alain, you said before that the Safety Guard can also have some effect in reality, right?" Misha was referring to bringing real-world items into the game, or vice versa.
Short-Haired Mita continued, "Which means… the Safety Guard can actually affect reality, too. It's not just an electronic system."
She thought for a long while, her brow furrowed. "No, I can't figure out the principle behind it at all."
"That's it!" Misha seemed to have thought of something. "Since 2D Mita is inside the Safety Guard, can we have her check the system for anything unusual?"
The long-haired girl looked at the panel Alain had drawn on the computer screen inside the computer. "Since she has entered the Safety Guard system, she should be able to see things beyond your field of vision."
"Like—the code." A spark of insight hit Short-Haired Mita. "That's right!"
"I'll give it a try." Alain looked at 2D Mita in the center of the system panel. "You heard them, you bad Mita who played with our feelings. What you need to do now is check if there's anything strange about the Safety Guard."
Short-Haired Mita added, "At the code level. Got it? You bad Mita who played with our feelings."
"Aaaah, what's with all the 'bad Mita' this and 'bad Mita' that?! I know, I get it already!!!"
The Mita inside the Safety Guard screamed in frustration and vanished from Alain's sight.
While she was gone, Alain discussed things with the other two for a while longer. The conversation only ended when 2D Mita reappeared.
"I just went to check the underlying code of the Safety Guard, and just as you said—"
Her gaze was exceptionally serious. "It's very strange."
"How so?" Alain sat by the computer. Since 2D Mita was inside the Safety Guard, Misha and the others certainly couldn't hear her voice. So, Alain planned to type her words into Notepad for the two Mitas to see.
"I can understand all of the code."
"Is that strange?" Alain was confused. What was so strange about a Mita being able to read code? Wasn't that a common skill by now?
"No, Alain." Misha looked at the contents of the Notepad and shook her head. "Actually, when it comes to code, every programmer has different habits. What we Mitas can understand are the coding conventions of the game world. If we switched to another program, we might only have a partial understanding."
"Right. Just as Misha said," 2D Mita continued. "Whether it's the code comments, the programming language… or anything else."
Her next sentence made Alain a little sad.
"Your Safety Guard's code can be almost perfectly applied to the Mita world."
He typed these words on the computer for the Mitas to see.
"Well, that can only lead to one conclusion," Short-Haired Mita stated. "The one who programmed the 7.20 Safety Guard is very likely the developer of the 'Mita' game."
"Then, taking a more radical leap from that—"
Misha narrowed her eyes slightly. "The Safety Guard is a derivative of 'Mita,' or a part of it."
"I'd say that's a bit too radical…" Alain felt like these two Mitas could be detectives.
The kind of detectives who would find out the second he and his buddy snuck a snack…
"Actually, we didn't just pull this conclusion out of thin air, Alain." Misha looked at him, then reconsidered.
"You said it earlier, didn't you? You arrived in the game world on the same day as the virus."
"Right." Alain didn't deny it.
"Well, have you ever thought—" a battle-ready smile appeared on the long-haired girl's lips, "—that on the day you came to the game world, you didn't just arrive with the virus…"
"But also the Safety Guard," Short-Haired Mita said calmly.
"!"
Alain's breath caught in his throat as he thought back to the scenes of his first entry into the game world…
Back then, the Safety Guard seemed to have sent him a warning about a virus invasion, which is what led him into the game world…
[A virus has been detected on your computer. Do you wish to clean it?]
It all started with that sentence. Its pop-up.
At the time, Alain thought the [virus] the Safety Guard was talking about was the bad woman—Crazy Mita.
But looking at it now…
Could this [virus] have been the real electronic kind, like the Modified Entity and Devouring Entity?
And what Misha and Short-Haired Mita were saying… was it the Safety Guard that brought him to this world?
"Then, to be even more radical…" Misha's words made his shoulders tense for a second.
"Don't say it, don't say it… No more radical theories…"
He felt like he was about to be drowned by the massive amount of information.
"Could the Safety Guard possibly be the core's antivirus program?"
___
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