Chapter 74: Part．11——13［Glasses' Truth］

Part．11——13［Glasses' Truth］

「Are you still not sleeping this late? 」 Stanford looked at the girl staring straight at him, feeling a bit embarrassed, he glanced at his watch and asked.

Wumei and the other ultimately didn't catch up to Molin because of their recent conversation, so after seeing them go offline, Wumei also went offline.

All she had to do now was wait for the key mentioned in Luoyang's conversation; since there was nothing for her to do, she could only sit idly, and besides, it was already very early (almost dawn), so the streets were empty, so she could only watch what Stanford was doing to relieve her boredom a bit.

However, in Stanford's view, Wumei's gaze was rather creepy.

He even muttered once, wondering if the other wanted to spy on his diary.

Although his diary didn't contain anything shameful, it was still his privacy.

「Cough cough.... 」 Stanford coughed twice, forcing himself to continue writing.

Ding dong~~!

Ding dong~~!

Ding dong ding dong ding ding ding!!!

... uh, ah! ah?! What?! I didn't sleep in!! ah!

Wumei snapped her eyes open; the doorbell was ringing noisily.

The visitor seemed very urgent, the doorbell ringing so fast it formed a continuous line.

No time to think; she just glanced and saw Stanford still asleep, so Wumei sprang out of bed to open the door, and meanwhile made four earplugs, plugging Stanford's ears on the floor mat and Mofei's ears in the other room.

With its porous interior that perfectly matched their internal structure, even hard crystal material could block sound.

「Target scanning complete. Player Jingling, hello, Glasses Robot No. 2 at your service. 」

As soon as the door opened, a «person» with bluish-gray skin, a tall black hat, thin limbs but a bulky body spoke to Wumei.

His whole body was covered in the same black trench coat, his face also wearing sunglasses, the high collar protecting his lower face; the only identifier was a G Company logo on his left chest.

「Is this the Glasses Company's robot? 」 Wumei thought, while naturally controlling her crystal dust to inspect the other's structure.

No matter how you say it, this is still a robot; although it's humanoid, it's indeed astonishing, knowing that in Wumei's previous world they had only developed robot dogs to this extent.

「If you need me to do something, just say so; hand over the item, and tell me when to go to the company. 」 Wumei waved her hand in front of him and said.

「Hello, as per our previous talk, the key will be delivered to your hand; the nightmare threat is growing, the Shattered Mirror People Organization continues to expand under the angels' deliberate protection. You will act as my final safeguard in this dangerous game; to ensure your smooth passage, I will grant your glasses the same authority as mine—this is my backup identification code, use it when needed. I'm sorry to drag you into this chaos; if possible, I hope none of this ever happens. 」

The black-clad person's body emitted Luoyang's voice; after finishing his speech, it also extended its hand, and a regular octahedral bright yellow crystal emerged from its gradually unfolding hand.

「Uh... Luoyang, do you still have these quirks? 」

Wumei pinched the «key», about the size of a fingertip joint, between two fingers, her expression strange.

This was the first time she found that her crystal dust particles could not penetrate an object, meaning the key's surface was very dense.

On the other hand, it was just a segment of audio; Luoyang's words were naturally fine, but what truly struck Wumei as odd was the other's tone.

It was strange, like the «ebullience and cadence» she had seen in some weird video on a video site.

「Please don't mind the master's voice issues; for some problems, using the full audio directly could risk interception. This passage is obtained by encoding and recalling words the master once said. And the encoder is the master. 」

After saying that, it tugged at its windbreaker.

「So cautious.... I originally thought it wouldn't be that hard... can't just blindly trust the original comic... 」

With that thought, Wumei carefully put away the «key», thanked him, and closed the door.

For this obviously important task item, Wumei directly wrapped it in crystal dust, turning it into a small pendant attached to her clothing. She also made the crystal shell structure she had wrapped herself in chaotic, so it looked turbid, giving a cheap impression.

「Having this, the ending must involve participation. Hmm, never mind, what was said yesterday was for tonight; today there are also plans, so let's go after breakfast.... That kind of thing, better not let Stanford join. 」

After finishing her considerations, Wumei waved her hand to dispel the earplugs for the two in the room; after confirming the robot had left, she went out to buy breakfast.

Not far from an abandoned factory outside Green Leaf Town, a taxi slowly stopped, a hooded figure appearing in the flying dust.

A girl who shouldn't be here took out a bottle of local-brand soda from her newly bought shoulder bag and drank it, while with her other hand she handed a bill to the driver.

「Thank you. 」

「Miss, it's not that I'm meddling, but I don't see you as a hoodlum; why would you want to come here? This factory's been abandoned who knows how long, there's nothing valuable inside, and there are plenty of ill-intentioned people. If there's nothing, just leave quickly. 」 The slightly plump middle-aged driver said while counting the bills.

「Eh, it's fine, I'm just taking a look; this rundown factory isn't scenery, I definitely won't go, and besides, your business card is all with me—I'll call you if I change my mind. 」 The girl wiped the soda residue from her mouth, shielding her eyes with one hand against the fierce autumn sun.

「Okay, okay, I'm just chatting; Green Leaf Town usually gets no tourists, so running into a customer like you who doesn't haggle makes me want to add a couple of sentences, as long as I don't disturb you. Then I'll go; take your time, the trees on the mountain haven't shed all their leaves yet, there's still scenery to see. 」

The driver handed the money to the girl, nodding and smiling as he spoke.

Whoosh~~~~~

Watching the taxi gradually drive away, the girl put her money and soda aside and began warm-up exercises by the roadside.

This was Wumei after changing into a different outfit.

「Phew, fooling Stanford wasn't easy; I also don't know what he was thinking to let me out so easily. 」

While her body prepared for intense exercise, Wumei didn't want her brain to rest; she was thinking about Stanford's reaction when she suggested going out to transfer.

(Stanford: LMAO, I'm not blind or forgetful; a couple days ago I fought the Time Police, yesterday I easily flipped a glass coffee table; if I faced you I'd probably be the one getting beaten, I'm not worried about your safety—if you come back on time, what do I have to fear?)

「Is this the place you got after asking a few loiterers? Truly befitting a chuunibyou—taking such a iconic abandoned factory as a base, waiting to be challenged, right? 」 Feeling her body slightly warm, Wumei didn't rush to kick at what seemed like some figures loitering near the factory's iron gate; she then took out several pre-packed fried chicken items from her bag and started eating.

After preparations (eating and drinking), Wumei also confirmed that few people would come here to disturb her, so she packed the roadside trash into a bag she had on hand, set down her pack, and walked slowly toward her destination for this trip.

This is basically a gathering point for petty thugs; Wumei came here first to deal with it because the only information she could find on the street was about this place, so her plan was to start from this small point and then find a way into the truly dark side of society's organizations.

This is nothing; for her, her experience managing a city-level gang for a period of time is more than enough to handle the current situation.

「Sigh... Ripple, I don't know how you're doing; although for me it's been less than a week, will your time be the same as mine? 」 Thinking this, she swung her short stick outward, and a metal rod with one end thick and the other thin, tipped with a round head, appeared steadily with a clank.

This baton was requested from Officer Li, whom she had met once before when she went to the police station in the morning; Wumei gave him no benefit nor said anything nice.

「I'm going to deal with a few petty thugs; to you it's not enough to act, I just want to train myself—'fight violence with violence,' right? 」

「Take it; if there's a problem, call this number; if you can get any deeper leads, remember to call me. 」

Precisely because she was preparing in the morning, she only arrived at the location at noon.

「Full stomach, full drink, next up is work time. 」 She whispered the words, inhaling deeply.

Bang!!

Squeak~~~ squeak~~~!

The girl kicked open the rusted iron fence gate.

"People inside, listen up! You're already surrounded by me; in ten seconds, anyone who doesn't have both hands on their head, crouched on the ground, will be sent to the hospital—medical expenses not covered!!"

She shouted, pressing the activation button on her glasses.

Glasses transform!

At the outset, there were two guys roughly standing guard; if Wu Ming came to look, this group showed no professionalism whatsoever—only the two gate guards were looking around, except at the iron door where everyone was looking, and even during the few seconds she spent kicking open the iron gate and shouting, they remained dazed.

First, a stick lashed the belly of the short-sleeved guard on the left who was looking at the factory.

He curled up on the ground without making a sound.

Then Wu Ming struck another guard's right arm with a stick, the guard who had just turned his head from looking up at the sky.

"Ow!!"

A scream louder than Wu Ming's recent shout pierced the sky.

"Ah!!!"

However, Wu Ming didn't stop; while the guard still clutched his joint and screamed, she swung the stick again, striking his lower leg near the ankle, thus temporarily disabling his mobility.

"Indeed, it's a worthless group that can't even be called a gang; it's just a crew."

Wu Ming certainly wouldn't admit that it was because she's currently too short and also just a girl that the two guards didn't take her seriously.

But that doesn't matter, because more people came pouring out of the leaky factory after hearing the screams.

"Who, who are you?! State your name!" a bold yellow-haired guy shouted.

"Mm~~ mm~~, fighting alone may be unbecoming, but close-combat strength is still important; after all, one can't always rely on the magical girl form after transformation to fight, so I'll have to impose on you a bit." She said, wearing a mischievous smile, walking toward the wary crowd.

"What is she saying?"

Some people were puzzled.

"You, you don't want to live anymore?!" some people... were putting on a brave front but were actually timid?

"If, if you dare come another step, we'll, we'll... we'll kill you!" some people threatened.

But that doesn't work on Wu Ming.

She even found this gang‑styled crew somewhat cute.

They had no firearms, nor any blades like knives.

The best they had were just daggers, switchblades, pipes, and baseball bats, which Wu Ming considered truly insignificant.

"Moreover, there isn't even a player—tsk... Let's finish this quickly and call it a day; just venting, this inexplicable transmigration really pisses me off!"

Wu Ming thought, her smile widening.

"Ah!!"

"Ah ah——!!"

"Don't!!"

"Spare me, spare me ah——————!!"

At that moment, in a certain research facility.

In a certain small composite-material box, an ordinary gray-furred mouse was being cornered by three cats of different coat patterns.

Just as the mouse's life was about to end, a nimble mechanical arm suddenly shot out, placing a pair of tiny glasses—like those only given to animals in comics—on the mouse's face.

In an instant, some subtle things changed.

The next moment, the mouse, with nowhere left to retreat, lunged at one of the three cats surrounding it; its movement was so swift it seemed as if, earlier, being forced into a corner by the cats had merely been because it hadn't unleashed its full power.

In just a few breaths, the offense and defense reversed.

Those glasses seemed to have miraculous power, making the mouse—whose reflexes and physique were vastly inferior to the cats—now become the predator.

Charging, sprinting, biting, a back‑and‑forth cycle.

The faint sound of cracking bones was drowned out by the animals' hissing during the fight.

In just two minutes, the only living creature left in the box was the mouse wearing the glasses.

"Look, what perfect explosive power. This kind of performance is so impressive I could watch it over and over without getting bored," said a young person observing the scene.

"Yes, Mr. Ye Gong." replied another person with a steadier voice.

"Hey, Yiren, this is reality—just use normal forms of address."

The person called Ye Gong turned and said, his face revealing that he was actually Luo Song, a new transfer student from Morin Academy!

"Revealing one's true identity is quite dangerous." he emphasized.

Although in this facility there were only the two of them and a live mouse.

"Ha, sorry, Luo Song." Yiren laughed, his tone shifting to how he usually speaks with Morin.

"In ancient Rome, in the life‑or‑death desperation of the arena, a gladiator's potential can be maximally aroused."

"..."

"If the mouse hides, the cats will soon have nothing to play with, right? So I provoked it so it can't leave school, turning that place into a 'gladiatorial arena'."

"Young master, you...." Yiren reacted, his tone hesitant.

"Yiren, you're always too kind—that's your weakness. But it's fine; believe me, this game won't kill anyone. I've already made arrangements for Morin." He said, holding his hands out in the air, wearing an inexplicable smile.

Elsewhere.

"Is it really okay to run that far alone? With the glasses and that kind of power at hand, even if we ran into an armed thug there'd be no problem, and besides, this country bans guns. Wu Ming is just a little girl, so she probably wouldn't run into anything serious..."

"Master? Master? Master, I've fixed it! Mas——ter——!!!"

"Ah! What's wrong? Ah, oh, all right, all right then let's begin."

In the glasses' space, Stanford was interrupted in his thoughts by his own cat ball.

Having heard the girl's many terms and that conversation yesterday, based on his usual social experience he could tell that the player whose glasses are named 'Hydrodog' was interested in Wu Ming's proposal, so today he decided to both brush up on the basics of the glasses game and prepare in advance for the possible team‑based PVP that might happen later, and also take advantage of the glasses' ability to speed up his brain's thinking to try to get his paper written early so he could apply for more vacation time to explore more anomalies.

After all, Stanford also knew they had to return to their original world.

"Then, master, do you want to first understand the glasses game, or first play the personal game?" Cat Ball had a pile of cards floating beside it, on which were Stanford's various plans he made for himself.

His Cat Ball was a card enthusiast, not using cards for games, but simply liked to use cards to perform various operations.

It unexpectedly suited Stanford well.

"First, tell me what mirror power is." Stanford, who would lose track of time once he started learning, first chose something relatively simple.

"Understood, then master, please look, I will use these cards to represent a person's mirror power level." It said, and ten cards almost the same size as it appeared before Stanford.

"Mirror power, simply put, is the same kind of level setting as in other games. However, because the glasses game has trans-era attributes, the glasses themselves exert greater pressure on the user than ordinary gaming equipment. The human brain is inherently an extremely delicate organ, and when using glasses, it is actually the microscopic circuits on the glasses interacting with the brain through the nerves on the eyes. The mirror power level determines the degree to which the glasses can interact with the brain."

Cat Ball explained, and a side-sectional diagram of a figure wearing glasses "squeezed" open the cards inscribed with mirror power.

"Everyone's brain is different, and as the player uses the glasses, they can collect more and more data, allowing finer interaction with deeper parts of the brain, thus enabling the player to unleash greater potential in reality. The existence of mirror power serves both as a staged goal to stimulate players to advance toward higher targets, and as a standard for the glasses themselves to judge how to interact with the user's brain. Master, you must be clear: the glasses are also electronic products, and a little carelessness could damage the brain's neural network formed by countless tiny currents."

At the end of its explanation, Cat Ball's tone was extremely solemn.

"In other words, to increase mirror power, one must use the glasses more." Stanford concluded.

"There is also another method." Cat Ball looked at him solemnly.

"That is to fall into danger; under pressure, the brain operates rapidly, and in this state, the glasses gather information the fastest, and it is also the condition most prone to mirror power burst."

"Mirror power burst?" Stanford repeated.

"That's right; in a crisis, the human body's potential will be actively stimulated, at which time the body will extremely cooperatively carry out the brain's commands, and at this time the interaction efficiency between the glasses and the brain is also highest, so whenever a player experiences this state, their mirror power will leap up several levels, this is called 'mirror power burst'!"