Chapter 919

NO. 42: Rescue Assistance

As a junk shop, the business of Gorgeous Junkshop was fairly decent, but it rarely had walk-in customers.

So Baoduo Zhi Jiang also had no habit of constantly staying in the first-floor lobby to greet guests.

She would only occasionally go to the lobby to sit, so as not to attract the attention of thieves and such.

Of course, handing this work to her college-aged son and her first-year high-school daughter would not be a problem, but that presupposes that the children are actually present in the shop.

Her college-aged son lives off-campus in rented housing, while her high-school daughter, though living at home, seems to have made many friends, and people often come to invite her out to play.

Regarding this, Baoduo Zhi Jiang was also open-minded, trusting her daughter's judgment and not imposing any restrictions on her activities.

She would only occasionally worry that her daughter's friends' personalities were too pronounced.

Yesterday, even two college students who seemed to have dropped out of work came by; although chatting with them was quite interesting, Baoduo Zhi Jiang truly never expected her daughter to let that male-female pair stay overnight.

Liuhua, though a kind child, is by no means a passionate one; issuing such an invitation… their relationship must be quite close, right?

As a mother, she simply could not fathom where her daughter had met those two young people.

Especially that silver-haired young man—the shop did have vacant rooms, and he was more than willing to sleep on a futon, yet she saw early that morning the young man named Naite sitting in the corner, asleep while clutching his prop sword.

He looked just like a warrior from a historical drama……

And she had clearly prepared a futon for him.

There were really too many problems, but Baoduo Zhi Jiang, a modern woman who knows how to lighten her own burden, let the youngsters sort out their own complexities; with that mindset, she ultimately gave them a rather speechless gaze, seeing the two young people off with Liuhua after breakfast.

Although she felt that students should indeed go out and play on weekends, she still felt a bit of empty-nest melancholy.

She felt a little nostalgic.

She missed the hustle and bustle of having a crowd of people in the shop…… had there ever been such a time?

Baoduo Zhi Jiang momentarily felt a sense of unreality.

An inexplicable palpitation made her unconsciously step downstairs, pull aside the door curtain, and enter the lobby.

She seemed to see several staggered figures standing at the first-floor counter, the old sofa, the corner of the table, and in front of the computer screen.

But those were all illusions.

Those figures did not exist; only the computer screen inexplicably lit up, even displaying a vivid rendering of the shop's interior—plus a conspicuous black line pulling closer, enlarging!

"Whoa!!"

Baoduo Zhi Jiang instinctively cried out, watching the screen burst forth with a black shadow amid the blinding light; still somewhat dazed, she saw the figure yank open the cabinet and forcibly unplug the power cord.

She instantly became a little angry.

"Hey! I'm telling you! Doing that will damage the appliance's lifespan!"

"How can you just pull the plug while the equipment is running?"—she was about to scold him when she first felt the ground shake, followed shortly by a distant rumble.

It was a thunderous roar like the heavens collapsing, then immediately intertwined with car alarm sounds, together forming a distinct, layered soundscape.

And this caused the young man, in the very next second after supporting her, to be enveloped by a spreading black mist.

"……" When did he arrive? The manager looked astonished at the youth who was supporting her, surprised both by his foreign appearance and by his enthusiasm.

"I know you have many questions, but please wait until later to ask; if you can still see me afterward."

The black mist entered her field of vision; just as she was about to say something, the mist dissipated and the figure vanished completely.

"A ghost?"

Though the manager's understanding of the world remained ordinary, witnessing this she was not fearful—indeed quite bold—but simply turned her head in bewilderment toward the pitch-black JUNK computer screen.

It seemed to crawl out of there, just like Sadako……

It couldn't be an illusion, could it?

As she thought that, she again suffered a violent ground shake, accompanied by an even more deafening roar.

This time, she steadied herself on the sofa while staggering a few steps, then, as the quake subsided, she stepped forward and ran straight for the entrance.

Thus she could gaze in the direction from which the tremendous noise came, and there loomed a massive entity.

"That is……"

——

"A monster!!"

Outside the mall cinema in the center of Cuckoo Terrace City, a blue-green-haired boy with his female companion stared in astonishment at the silver-white figure intertwined with countless shifting circuit lines.

His astonishment stemmed not only from the monster's appearance, but also because, to him, that monster was actually not unfamiliar.

The karmic-retribution monster Didabadan, once manufactured by Xintiao Qian to target the humanoid monster that slaughtered the class teacher.

Its silvery shell, like overlapping plates, is a special coating for deflecting light beams; the chest, where countless circuit diagrams converge, is both core and weak point—yet it also features extendable outer plating that bulges out, forming a dual structure for emitting light-beam ports.

Yet such a creature had already been defeated by Gulite, and indeed defeated twice!

The second defeat was due to Xintiao Qian's comeback, but after that, Xintiao Qian should have been sent back to her own world!

Why would we see it a third time?

Could it be that Xintiao Qian has returned again?

Hey hey hey, how could that be!

Is the goddess's spirit really that fragile?

His mind was filled with confusion, yet it did not prevent the inner sea from realizing a serious fact.

That is——the distance between his position and that monster is too close!

It was so close that he could clearly see the electronic circuitry integrated into the cracks on the opponent's abdomen, prompting him to instinctively pull his female companion and run toward the mall's downstairs exit.

"We have to run faster, Lian!" With one hand gripping his female companion and the other still holding the shopping bag, he hadn't forgotten his promise to Aomo to buy the "Spaceship" magazine.

Originally a belly‑fat otaku's body, after two months of dating his girlfriend and diligent training, this is now exactly the moment it can be put to use.

But his running like this, the female side may not necessarily be able to keep up.

"I, I know... but...!"

In this date, Miss Yecun Lian rarely took off her mask, even the blue shawl she always wore was stuffed into her shoulder bag, with absolutely nothing to hinder her run.

But as a YTB streamer who often does indoor live broadcasts, she obviously also lacked excellent stamina.

After being led by Neihai to abandon the elevator and head for the stairwell, going straight down three floors, she had already begun to gasp violently.

"I, I already... can't run anymore..."

Before truly reaching the first-floor exit, the girl had already uttered words that forced him to stop.

"Run, I can't run... then I'll carry you... no, even carrying you won't get us far..." Neihai, who still had some self-awareness of his stamina, after thinking to no avail, could only look angrily at the foot sole visible through the glass door of the distant exit.

"Damn, why is it so close..."

We need to find Gulite... find Yuta? But Yuta has forgotten, and how could we let him...?

Just then, as Neihai was anxious and frantic, his phone suddenly rang, the caller ID showing Yuta's note.

"Yuta!" Looking at the poorly conditioned Lian, Neihai, like a sick person desperately seeking any doctor, immediately answered the phone.

"Neihai! Have you seen the monster?!"

"I'm right in front of him!"

"What? Then, then you run away quickly! Get far away from there! Liuhua said Anqi is already in the past!"

"Anqi..." Neihai had just been a bit surprised when Lian raised her hand and tugged at his sleeve.

This made Neihai look again toward the direction of the foot sole outside the distant exit, as if... it was facing this way.

"I..." In a voice suddenly lowered by an octave, he shouted softly, "I also want to escape! But the mall I'm in is right next to it!"

"In that case, you—"

Boom!!!

Violent trembling and an explosion loud enough to deafen filled the void in an instant.

Faced with the collapsing, shattered ceiling, Neihai only had time to urgently raise his arms to embrace Lian beside him, then he saw black mist eroding his vision, and moreover that unforgettable pain struck him again.

"Miss Yecun Lian, I apologize."

"..." Lian, who instinctively closed her eyes in the face of disaster, heard her boyfriend's voice drastically change, and without even noticing the strangeness in his words, she simply opened her eyes in astonishment.

Watching him hold her, running step by step through countless falling stones, it seemed as if they narrowly escaped death by miraculous luck amidst countless dangers, forcibly running out of the disaster zone.

At this very moment, she instinctively asked:

"Who are you?"

Although she didn't notice the strangeness, looking at his indifferent demeanor made her feel extremely unfamiliar.

Once she noticed this, she even realized that whether it was his coat or inner clothing, they had turned into cold tones, and even the wool sweater lining the coat had become a suit.

It was practically like... the so-called transformation mentioned in his favorite tokusatsu topic.

"No no no, transformation doesn't mean that, and no one's transformation is just changing into everyday clothes."

Seeing his gaze fixed on her clothes, "Neihai" hurriedly denied.

"You..."

"Please rest assured, this is not mind reading, I am merely guessing."

"I guess Neihai will talk to you about his favorite topic, since he probably never dated before meeting you, and his way of interacting with girls is still being explored; of course, I may not even have the right to say that about him."

"In short, I am Aomo Lindun, an outsider who can only access this world by being lodged within Neihai's body."

"I will bring you two to safety; please do not resist or struggle... ah, the monster is looking over here."

"Neihai" with hands as steady as iron, horizontally embraced Lian, his fingertips still hanging a tote bag, running on the sidewalk, then at a corner, he snatched a bicycle whose owner was unknown.

"Can you ride a bicycle? If so, please use it to leave here as much as possible."

He said: "I will try to lead it away as much as possible."

"No, this is the body of the one who will!"

"I'm glad your first reaction wasn't about how I would lure it away, but this remark," Neihai said after setting Lian down, gently twisting off the hand that grabbed his coat, "please rest assured, I will cherish this body as I would my own; don't forget my self-introduction."

"I will bring you two to safety."