500-800 meters.
Luo Jie's pupils sharply contracted. He rapidly calculated the approximate distance between the helicopter and the black Slime on the map.
If that was the boss-form Hirano Kouta's standard attack... then every player in this instance was about to face a massive problem—a 360-degree, fortress-like multi-barrel turret, unaffected by terrain or ammunition limitations, with pinpoint accuracy.
Luo Jie observed the black multi-tubed Slime carefully through the high-altitude drone's camera feed for a while. He noticed it wasn't crawling aimlessly. Instead, it moved with slow, deliberate determination towards a fixed direction, exhibiting a snail-like tenacity.
It feels like something in the distance is drawing it in.
Could it be...?
Luo Jie quickly pulled up a map of Makuro City on his visual display. He traced a straight line along the path the boss-form Hirano Kouta had crawled and extended it backwards.
His finger finally stopped on a cluster of buildings atop a small hill dozens of kilometers away.
"The Takagi residence?" This puzzled Luo Jie.
If the boss-form Hirano Kouta could sense Takagi Saeko's location, their temporary hideout was significantly closer than the distant Takagi mansion, miles away. Furthermore, Juri Sayako and Miyamoto Rei were together, meaning a stronger signal presence.
That doesn't make sense... Unless...
A sudden possibility struck Luo Jie. In the original story, the otaku Hirano Kouta had secretly harbored a crush on Takagi Saeko. Even the protagonist, Komuro Takashi, had admitted to Saeko's father, Takagi Souichirou, that it was Hirano, not himself, who had protected Saeko throughout their journey.
Therefore... the direction this black multi-barrel Slime is crawling might not be driven by sensing an NPC dozens of kilometers away. Perhaps it's simply the final lingering attachment—or more aptly, given the circumstances, the resentment*—of Hirano Kouta's unrequited feelings for Takagi Saeko, acting on the creature formed from his corpse.*
Under the drone's lens, the black multi-barrel Slime slowly crawled down the side of the building, finally losing line of sight towards the Makuro River.
Luo Jie cautiously raised his head from the all-terrain vehicle. He waited a moment, confirming the creature hadn't somehow evolved artillery-like high-angle parabolic attack capabilities, before finally letting out a long sigh of relief.
Despite dying inexplicably earlier, it yielded some good news. With the boss-form Hirano Kouta heading towards the Takagi mansion, the danger of facing two boss-level NPCs simultaneously was gone.
Otherwise, I'd really need to reconsider whether pushing on to Marikawa Shizuka's villa was still a wise choice.
After another ten minutes or so, the eight-wheeled all-terrain vehicle stopped on a shallow riverbank.
Less than five hundred meters from Marikawa Shizuka's villa, Luo Jie shut off the engine and stowed the vehicle back into his storage space to avoid alerting the other boss-level entity, Hirasawa Rika.
Perhaps his earlier death had burned through all his bad luck, because his fortune seemed remarkably good this time. He encountered no inexplicable deaths and easily reached the front gate of Marikawa Shizuka's villa.
As depicted in the original story, Marikawa Shizuka's villa was substantial. The two-story structure spanned roughly four to five hundred square meters, surrounded by expansive green lawns and even featuring a small outdoor swimming pool.
It couldn't rival the Takagi mansion's grandeur, occupying half a hillside, but in the land-scarce city of Makuro, the annual rent for such a well-equipped standalone villa would easily run into the millions of yen.
Marikawa Shizuka's rank was merely that of a SAT squad Inspector, with a monthly salary unlikely to exceed a few hundred thousand yen. The discrepancy was... interesting.
In the original story, Hirano Kouta had speculated about Marikawa Shizuka's lifestyle: either her family was wealthy, her partner was wealthy, or she was embezzling. Considering the snippets of information Juri Sayako had revealed about Marikawa Shizuka's personality, the first option seemed most probable to Luo Jie.
Moreover, Marikawa Shizuka's family likely held considerable influence as well. How else could she, barely thirty, hold the significant position of Inspector in the notoriously seniority-bound police system? Not to mention the large collection of firearms in her home, a clear exploitation of legal loopholes.
So, digging deeper into the lore would reveal Marikawa Shizuka, much like Takagi Saeyo, was a hidden "white rich beauty"—or perhaps a "dark rich beauty."
Of course, Marikawa Shizuka's hidden background was irrelevant to Luo Jie. Players only had ten days in this instance. Escorting seven protection targets was challenging enough; he had no time to delve into the backstory of a non-mission-critical NPC like Marikawa Shizuka.
The immediate priority was finding all the hidden equipment here.
The challenge of the Marikawa Shizuka villa treasure spot was locating the villa itself. The hiding place for the gear, however, wasn't difficult to find. The original story gave a clear hint: inside the storage locker by the bed in the second-floor master bedroom.
Yet, when Luo Jie ascended the spiral staircase to the second-floor master bedroom, he discovered this treasure spot wasn't nearly as straightforward as anticipated.
In the original story, all the weapons and ammo were stored in a simple metal storage locker by the bed, easily pried open by Komuro Takashi and Hirano Kouta with a crowbar.
What greeted Luo Jie now was no flimsy metal locker. Embedded solidly within the wall was a heavy-duty safe. Forget a crowbar; even a hand grenade probably wouldn't breach it.
Luo Jie felt a wave of profound malice emanating from the system towards the players.
One could easily imagine the scene: a player, thrilled after getting the villa's location from Juri Sayako, arriving eagerly to claim the weapons, only to be confronted by this impenetrable safe. That "what the hell" feeling must be utterly infuriating...
Treasure spots are never easy, it seems.
Fortunately, Luo Jie had already completed the hidden quest unlocking the treasure spot in the Southtown Shopping Center. He'd successfully obtained the key item from Marikawa Shizuka herself—the key to this very safe.
Without that serendipitous encounter, he'd be just like the other players, helplessly staring at this metal monolith.
Inserting the key and inputting the code, the heavy safe door swung open with a satisfying clunk.
Three long guns, radiating a cold metallic sheen, and one folding crossbow rested quietly on a custom-made gun rack. The shelf below was densely packed with various types of ammunition, easily numbering over a thousand rounds.