Chapter 62

Although he had made up his mind.

But also, just like the last time he made up his mind, the reality's development actually matched Aomo's decision... not very good.

He agonized over it for so long, finally made preparations, but then the Grim Reaper didn't come for him, and he himself didn't find any enemy.

【Kailifu, there's bad news】

【Huh? What bad news? Little Snake got kidnapped?】

【? It's not that bad...】

Even Aomo feels himself quite strong now, although to actually act he still needs to go back and redo adaptation training.

The hidden danger of damaging public property is not big, since most public facilities already use sturdy building materials, let alone this place being the long-tested Heaven's Gate City.

But compared to that, Aomo is more concerned about poking the light-screen button that doesn't need to worry about damage.

【But there's completely no harvest! No harvest!】

He even emphasized it again out of indignation.

【After those agents searched, I also went through it once, even exchanged information with the two agents in charge of sketching to supplement intel, but it was all trivial gains, no news of the key.】

【That's not strange either, after all nowadays contact methods are so diverse, the delivery system is also very convenient, it's normal for one investigation to not succeed~】

【You guys can wait a bit, wait for the people from the Divination Department and Time Department to help.】

When normal technological means fail, they use metaphysics to solve cases; everyone in this world has this common sense, Aomo is no exception, but hearing such comfort he couldn't cheer up, he felt this wasn't a problem that could be solved by turning back time or predicting the future.

Because some study prophecy, some study interfering with prophecy or even counter-prophecy, so when facing a major case, the addition of the Divination Department is usually just icing on the cake, not a timely aid.

After all, formidable criminals are willing to spend money to have things done better, whereas the Time Department...

Although this room is indeed the living quarters of those two, the signs of life are really faint; considering the already retrieved surveillance records of each of them at various time periods in the urban area, we can be confident that those two truly roamed that king, with outdoor time overwhelming indoor time.

The transfer of the secret key was also mostly done outdoors; for now we can only hope that those two had muttered some key place name or organization name or the like while talking to themselves indoors.

Perhaps there could be such a foolish fellow, after all the Monster King's performance is so poor...

【For now we can only do this, waiting for their follow-up investigation.】

【I think even if we just leave it like that, it doesn't matter; rather, Little Snake, aren't you preparing to go back to Earth? Thinking about this stuff just ruins the mood and prevents you from enjoying the vacation, right?】

【Indeed...】

Aomo was stung again by the word "vacation", hesitating whether to speak plainly.

In the past he would still pay a bit of attention to communications involving reality, but now even his name is known to the other party, plus their long-standing rapport, he just feels that his academics are done and he's already stepped into society early, so there's nothing to hide.

When we meet again next time in Heaven's Gate City, it will eventually be known.

【But I don't really have a vacation or not anymore; I signed up as a mercenary to properly take care of those two guys, and next I'll return to the Junction Gate Area to consider how to set up an agency.】

He still typed out that string of words; actually being a mercenary doesn't hinder realizing his dream, it's just that the path he had planned all along suddenly changed, leaving him somewhat empty.

Kailifu never replied, Line showed several times that ta was typing a reply but then stopped, making him also smile, thinking ta still sensed it.

Sensing the blow that Aomo's choice dealt to him, he then didn't know how to respond.

Whether to comfort or ignore, what tone to use for comfort, what topic to find for ignoring... Aomo felt ta should be agonizing over these, and it's also quite hard on ta.

He always felt Kailifu was quite smart, and largely also a student, and moreover someone who doesn't honestly complete studies, so a poor student with lots of free time.

Ta only wants to use that cleverness in researching monsters, so academics are so-so—all the above are speculation, but Aomo is eighty percent sure.

And right now, he still has full reason to suspect that Kailifu's interpersonal relations lack any other particularly easy-to-get-along-with friends, so ta's experience in dealing with this situation is desperately lacking.

But delaying sending can also be seen as valuing oneself, so Aomo smiled.

First he typed a line:

【Don't worry, I've already self-regulated; just see how the startup goes back there—if it goes smoothly, you can come to Earth for tourism any day, and if you come to the Junction Gate Area you can find me, I'll be your guide!】

Kailifu previously said something about being his own guide, whether it works is uncertain, but Aomo is quite confident given his knowledge of the Junction Gate Area; being a guide would surely be more than enough.

【Let's talk later, but forget about being a guide】 Kailifu's reply ended with a disgusted emoticon.

【Ten out of eight sights are related to Horse Girls, you'll definitely do that.】

【……】

Aomo, who is hard to refute, typed out two ellipses.

If it were before coming to Heaven's Gate City, he might still have struggled a bit, but in the taxi shortly after arriving at Heaven's Gate City, Aomo already realized that many of his thoughts were leaning toward being a trainer, and even the references he thought of in some wavering decisions were not from novels, game plots, or TV drama developments, but from Horse Girls.

In this regard, even his favorite special effects shows were surpassed.

There's no way; he once had a period where he treated analyzing Horse Girl races as homework, and even monster research can't compare to that.

He hasn't written eight-thousand-word notes on monster research, nor prepared a whole folder full of documents, links, and bone-muscle comparison diagrams for monster research.

Even in his foster father teaching him martial arts, involving leg lifts, kicks, and sweeping practice, he tried to incorporate his understanding of Horse Girl leg training.

Being praised by the bewildered Morrison for his overpowered insight.

This is a hammer-like insight, this is the fruit of scientific research!

Those Horse Girls are each essentially innate martial artists, especially when releasing the Three Goddess system's skills, they are genuine source energy releases; Aomo pondered their state and training results, occasionally also watching trainings mentioned in interviews, and with his subconscious tendency to extract key information from them, his notes could also be fully applied to humans.

But ordinary people generally lack the physique to withstand that training method; even placed in a proper source energy curriculum, it counts as advanced training after the first year of introductory level, and only the theory aspect is independent of physique.

The theories are also what work for Aomo's training.

Seeing Morrison watch him step by step come this way, his regret over Aomo not choosing to be a trainer is profound; thanks to him being originally overly carefree, rounding off a bit also counts as an open-minded parent, basically not interfering with his choice, otherwise another family might not let Aomo leave his already-solid foundation alone and go chase dreams.

Come to think of it, has that guy Morrison disappeared for too long? Really, just like the game's deep sea, from now on eating and sleeping are just passersby, right?

That guy seems not even need to eat, already become a perfect gaming neet, can be tricked into serving as someone's practice partner.

Thinking that, he opened Morrison's Line and sent: "Wake up, help me consult", then returned to Kailifu's chat interface, unexpectedly discovering the other party had already shown as offline.

【I'll consult later on a route with less Horse Girl elements.】

Although offline, he still left a message to save face.

Aomo's move this time is purely pretending to be fat by swelling his face.

After all, in his daily life in the Junction Gate Area he feels surrounded by Horse Girl elements; even going to a doll shop he can see the shelves full of familiar Horse Girls.

What East Sea Emperor, Silent Suzuka, Especially Fat, Big Head Morning Light... squeezing those who rely on the other world's inconvenient law enforcement into corners of Mickey Mouse plushies, presenting a gangster-like boss aura of "This is the Horse Girls' turf, you lot better scram!" Those unaware might think it's the former boss of Jianlong, really sorry, sorry.

But this indeed has a backer.

The tourism promotion of Boundary Gate District directly takes Horse Girls as its main output, just like in memory how a certain Bashu region everywhere hung panda plushies and banners, even standees.

The principle is the same; the difference is that those iron-eating beasts staying in the zoo and breeding base are each like a lazy dog, unwilling to even move, whereas the Horse Girls are all active and even more numerous.

The elements aren't that strong, probably doable... Aomo thought this kind of thing would also be pretty future-ish, but never expected that just after sending the reply, within ten seconds, the other's avatar lit up again showing online:

【Great! I've finished the procedures! After summer vacation I can transfer to a university in Boundary Gate District; when the office opens and needs people, call me—I'll help you research monsters.】

"?

Is this perhaps......

Aomo felt he had weathered great storms, should be able to handle changes without surprise, but sometimes he felt as if only he were normal while everyone else was abnormal.

Isn't everyone else's rhythm a bit abnormal?

"Hey! You little brat, what do you want me to do? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I think you're kind."

"My father!"

"Zhaba, help me consult how to get discounts for tickets back to Earth; does your company have any connections? What about employee death benefits?"

"You're human? And you still want to exploit the value of the dead!"

"Are you human?"

"Even vampires can write 'human' on their ID! Everyone's a human!"