Chapter 1853: with translation of chapter title

NO. 468: Still feeling restless, I'll make a trip to the Dark Zone first.

NO. 468: Still feeling restless, I'll go to the Dark Zone first.

It's been five days since my last TV appearance and live stream.

The time spent wrangling with the police was far longer than expected, which is Omert's oversight; he didn't anticipate that, under the seemingly free and relaxed autonomous laws of Tianmen City, the 'Vigilante Reward' adjustment would attract a group of unusually rigid, stubborn individuals.

For local residents, this is naturally a good thing; having officials who stubbornly maintain a strict outward demeanor, when called upon, will give taxpayers a strong sense of security.

But for Omert, an outsider responsible for reporting, providing intelligence, serving as the main force, and a civilian vigilante who acts three times per round, this is clearly a different matter.

Moreover, he didn't even hire a professional assistant, nor did he plan to use connections—in fact, trying to use connections with this group of rigid people might be the worst move.

But even though the battle was so difficult, we still won!

The items that have been finalized will be delivered to the office in two days; although normally they'd go via postal service, Omert's plan is to have Penguin Logistics handle the receipt and then have Ghost Snake and Ten Jia take over.

After all, they were already stationed at the office, signing in and mixing evaluation hours; later they can just remotely guide the placement of those monster materials and containers. As for now……

Now he is enjoying a precious leisure time.

Although the Beast Cult's affairs aren't completely resolved, they have also become intertwined with the Digital World crisis case, rendering his urgency useless.

Since it's useless, all he can do is relax and wait.

He is waiting for the investigation by the Umibe Detective Agency represented by the Aiba siblings, waiting for Bietze and Chen to gather extra intelligence in the Dark Zone, then having the Witch Beast handle food supplies shuttling between the two locations, while he only needs to continue fulfilling his duty as a trainer: training the horse girls.

And regularly reviewing the new findings from those two information sources and analyzing them.

Of course, he also doesn't forget to feed the new discoveries and analyses into that small group of followers, sparking discussions to verify ideas. Setting aside the presence of mere spectators, this also counts as a think tank; there have been several intense discussions that gave Omert insights and ideas, helping him verify and eliminate several hypotheses, leaving few possibilities remaining.

Without a doubt, in the conspiracy theory adjudication in the Dark Zone, Omert Linton employed the most plain and classic exhaustive method.

First, enumerate a series of possibilities and directions, then, through the ever-richer intelligence from frontline investigators, eliminate them one by one until only the most likely possibility remains—that would be the final verification.

Before that, the demon did not blindly trust an individual's perspective.

He clearly understands that everything a person can speculate about and all possible directions are limited by their three views and the logical loops those views have long formed, which together constitute the 'world' the other can observe; the world is often small, often limited, and even if one consciously expands it, it's impossible to encompass the entirety of this world.

Therefore, one must constantly adjust.

And one must always expect from others.

With the think tank repeatedly proving its worth, he indeed has the confidence that he is able to exhaustively pursue the truth.

The remaining options not yet crossed out—about ten or so—should, in these two days, be narrowed down to just two or three.

He said this to Xiao Xi.

His confident, steady demeanor remains as usual, which is reassuring to see, but deep down he actually feels uneasy because the other party hasn't taken the bait.

——That unidentified opponent, even after being provoked by such a move from him, shows no sign of retaliation.

This certainly shouldn't be the case.

There are several possibilities that could cause this situation, but they all point to the same fact: the opponent insists on developing in secret.

Is it a race against time?

Is it avoiding battle due to a sense of urgency?

Does this mean the opponent is not far from completing their plan?

How long will it be?

A few weeks? A few months?

Although time in the Digital World synchronizes with the real world, the time perception of high-ranking Digimon always leans toward that of long-lived species.

Thus, the sense of urgency they represent might actually be a safe timescale for humans.

But it's also uncertain.

His unease begins here.

Although I don't think the opponent could produce something that would overturn the world, since I've intervened, it's hard to believe they would, at the final reveal, deliberately spare me and my related affairs.

That would be quite troublesome.

He dislikes trouble, so he wants to avoid giving the opponent a chance to feel triumphant.

Moreover, whenever he thinks of that possibility, he inevitably looks at one of the thirteen options that he and his associates have eliminated.

【Direction 32: In the Dark

Leveraging the network experience accumulated from the Beast Cult, the Wall of Sighs is connected not only to the Tianmen City racetrack but also to the network nodes of many prominent construction firms on Earth, and even the Fuchung racetrack is no exception.

……

……

Bad ending: During the Chrysanthemum Prize, when the venue for the undefined event is either the Jiemen District or Tianmen City's Dream Cup long-distance race, Digimon mixed with a few monsters swarm out in droves.

Perhaps this is a problem that just needs a bit more caution, and by leveraging the connections of Sunday Tranquility and Miss Dream Journey to urge the organizers to inspect the network, it could be resolved.

But if this kind of installation technology has already broken through to extremely low time consumption, allowing it to slip past inspection checks and catch people off guard, then it's another matter entirely.

For this reason, he specifically urged Taku Hai's side to pay attention to similar related information, striving to eliminate the possibility of such technology existing; otherwise, he really wouldn't have much reason to let the association pour full effort into protecting the network for these large-scale events.

To guard against that extent, the cost would naturally be extremely high.

But the issue isn't whether the association can come twice; rather, it's why they would need to come twice.

Do you have any evidence?

Even a threatening letter would do.

If there's nothing at all, how can you convince these capable large organizations to act? You could certainly act first and justify later, but there's no guarantee this kind of thing would happen, right?

If nothing happens, how would you wrap things up? How would you settle the trouble for yourself and for those who guarantee you?

Furthermore, consider that the dark spots indicated by this route are not limited to the racetrack alone; I'm just most concerned about the racetrack, but if other areas where even preemptive defense costs are covered by those equipped, what would we say about them?

So……

We must take the initiative.

To confine the battlefield to the Hei'an area, not anywhere in the real world.

But it also cannot be now, for the Hei'an area is the underworld of the digital world; the wanton slaughter and severe injuries of the nameless expedition will rebound to affect the digital world's balance, at which point the World Tree will probably have a justified reason to go berserk.

Thus the topic ultimately came down to one point:

Evidence.

More evidence.

Regarding such concerns, he did not keep them entirely to himself, but clearly informed the frontline personnel responsible for tracking and gathering evidence, and even Bi Ze was no exception.

Although sorry, this pressure buildup also serves as an explanation for the behavior; although everyone complained verbally, they all understood and accepted it, and they even turned around to comfort him, telling him not to think so negatively.

But obviously, his thoughts could not be stopped.

The more he yearned for a peaceful life, the more he wanted to nip the threatening elements that disturbed peace in the bud; in this particularly rare opportunity, where he didn't have to deal with the police or train horse-girls during vacation, he instead, after finishing checking on the puppet state together with Suzi, activated the puppet technique, causing the Star-Eating Zero to instantly open its eyes.

「Let's first manually adjust the state, then give you further adjustment trials. 」

He said, letting the Star-Eating Zero, after removing the electrode patches, put its clothes back on, pick up that simple storage equipment, and turn to head outdoors.

「Eh? Where are you letting him go? 」

「Can't we adjust it here? 」

Crimson and Suzi's gazes were both doubtful.

「Sure, but I think it should move around a bit, and in passing confirm whether I can actually play a joke on that high priest from back then. 」

(End of chapter)