The Fist Fighter was a man of few words, but exceptionally observant and thoughtful. When he spoke, it was always to the point.
Luo Jie didn't answer him directly. Instead, he posed a question.
"What are the three major treasure vaults in this instance?"
"I know," The Dancer replied promptly, having memorized this from multiple mission briefings. "They're the Nanjo Residence, the Takagi Estate, and the Higashi-machi Police Station."
"Do you remember the original story's plot involving the Higashi-machi Police Station?" Luo Jie asked again.
Everyone nodded. Studying the original plot was mandatory homework for all players before entering an instance.
"In the original story, after the protagonists, led by Takashi Komuro, escaped the Higashi-machi Shopping Mall and reached the police station, what happened?"
Again, The Dancer was the first to answer. "They broke into the armory only to find the firearms and ammo had been taken by officers on duty. Then, Kohta Hirano remembered the evidence room on the third floor might have smuggled weapons seized from the docks. They went there and found the guns and ammo they needed."
Luo Jie nodded. "We all know that to unlock the item authentication restrictions of a treasure vault, you must complete a specific task, usually related to the vault's original owner."
"Take the Takagi Estate, for example. Everyone knows its hidden unlock task is 'Escort Takagi Saya.'"
"At mission completion, the higher Takagi Saya's favorability, the richer the rewards from the Takagi family. If you max out her favorability, it triggers another hidden task: 'Takagi Soichiro's Test.' Pass that, and you get the Murata Blade – the E-rank, Purple-quality katana Kendo Girl used later in the original story."
Luo Jie was referring to details explicitly stated in the Japan Defense Ministry's mission briefing. Though their motives for releasing such classified intel were unclear, it had catapulted Takagi Saya from a minor NPC into the second most sought-after character after Kendo Girl.
"But while the Takagi Estate's task is known, the unlock tasks for the other two vaults remain a mystery."
Luo Jie actually knew the unlock task for the Nanjo Residence – it was the task he'd completed earlier helping Nanjo search for someone at the Minami-machi Shopping Mall. Explaining how he knew that, however, would require explaining why he was at the mall miles away in the middle of the night. He decided to keep that secret for now.
"Based on the Takagi Estate's rules, we can infer the unlock mechanism for vaults in this instance likely requires permission from the original owner – like Takagi Soichiro's gift."
"This leads to a problem. In the original story, when Takashi Komuro's group reached the Higashi-machi Police Station, it was completely deserted. So, who grants the permission to unlock it?"
"Could it be Miyamoto Rei's father?" suggested Sapphire, offering a seemingly logical guess. Aside from the officers guarding the bridge to contain the outbreak, the only other significant police character was Rei's father, who spoke with her briefly in the first episode.
"That's certainly possible," Luo Jie conceded. Tasks in instances often had multiple completion paths. "But unlocking the police station vault via Miyamoto Rei's father would be troublesome." He pulled up a 3D map of Fujimi City in his visual projection, sharing it with the group, and pointed to two locations. "From the final chapters updated before the original author's untimely passing, we know Miyamoto Rei's father was likely assisting the military with refugee evacuation at Fujimi City Third Elementary School. That school is very far from Higashi-machi Police Station."
"If he is the key, players would face a massive, time-consuming detour to get permission… meaning this would be an option designed to lower the task difficulty by extending the mission duration."
The route between the station and the school followed main roads, with complex terrain and side streets offering ample strategic depth – making Luo Jie's point about trading time for reduced difficulty valid.
"But what if someone doesn't want to waste that time? That led me to a bold hypothesis…"
While others still looked puzzled, The Fist Fighter grasped it instantly. "You mean Nakaoka Mami?"
Most players knew Highschool of the Dead only from its 12-episode anime, which ended abruptly after the Takagi Estate fell and the protagonists fled again. The subsequent manga arc, however, took place at the Higashi-machi Shopping Mall.
There, Takashi Komuro's group encountered survivors who'd taken refuge, maintained by a rookie policewoman – Nakaoka Mami.
She played a significant role throughout this arc. Luo Jie, reading it for the first time, had even thought this naive policewoman might join the KFC bucket brigade... er, the main party as part of Kohta Hirano's potential harem.
Instead, during the escape, she got trapped by zombies while trying to save some idiot who'd gotten himself killed. In her final moments, she begged Kohta Hirano, with whom she'd shared a mutual attraction, to shoot her – preserving her dignity as a human.
Reading that, Luo Jie felt the author's deep-seated malice towards otaku. Guess fat nerds just aren't allowed girlfriends. Stick to providing covering fire for the popular guys.
Back on topic.
"While Nakaoka Mami is a minor character, her identity is crucial: she's a real police officer assigned to the Higashi-machi Station's Traffic Division. More importantly, she's the only named NPC in the original story who is both a police officer and has significant screen time."
"Generally, major named NPCs like this carry unique quests. Given her connection to the station, I suspect the unlock task for the Higashi-machi Police Station treasure vault is tied directly to her."