Old Friend?

[???] It was unknown name.

The silver-haired man with the unknown name looked into the car with a cold face, his stern brow pressed down a few notches as he indifferently pronounced the player's nickname, "Ichijō Mirai?"

"There's a police ID in the driver's seat, the target of this mission." He didn't approach the car again, standing directly a few steps before stubbing out his cigarette, seemingly aware that there was a bomb in the car, "Finish him off and you can join the organization."

Mission update in the upper left corner: [Finding the target person.]

Ichijō Mirai looked to the upper left corner, then back to the silver-haired man, sizing him up critically.

This holographic game called 'Second Life' was very real, very much in line with how holographic games were envisioned in countless novels, whether it was smell, touch, sight, or sense of pain, it was almost exactly like reality.

This realism reached the top of the burst when an NPC appeared.

Scene modeling and character modeling each have their own difficulties. It is very difficult to model an NPC that is human-like and has no uncanny valley effect, but the silver-haired man looks like a real person.

He doesn't have any fake stiffness at all, his skin is well textured, his facial expressions are vivid and natural, even changing and undulating, his movements are natural and smooth throughout, and his long trench coat is modeled with the same realistic texture.

...Probably because it's so dark around, the unrealistic parts are hidden.

As Ichijō Mirai surveyed the silver-haired man's body, several square analysis icons emerged and shattered one by one, revealing the details.

The first analysis icon: [The hem of the long black windbreaker is splattered with moisture, and there are a few strands of freshly condensed drop-shaped blood spots at the end of his long silver hair. He had killed someone at close range 30 to 5 minutes ago. ]

The second analysis icon: [There are mud spots on the back of the leather shoes and long windbreaker. Not long ago, after the rain stopped, he walked quickly through the muddy water. ]

The third analysis icon: [There are many subtle bulges in clothing on the body, and he carries multiple guns. There are long marks on the side of the windbreaker that are not consistent with normal folds during the operation, which are suspected to be stick weapons. ]

And the summary: [This is a dangerous man and not something you can deal with right now.]

His scowling was so obvious that the silver-haired man's brow furrowed for a split second, and he said in a cold voice, "Too injured to move?"

Not only does it not have the uncanny valley effect, it does not wait quietly for the player to make the next move before reacting. It is very lively and intelligent, like a real person.

...No wonder this game dares to claim the title of 'free and open world'.

Ichijō Mirai moved his body, reaching out to grab the back of the front seat and pull himself up slowly as he pushed open the half-open door and stepped out of the car.

He scanned the silver-haired man's right hand, which was stubbing out a cigarette, and his left hand, which was stuck in his pocket and most likely gripping a gun, and chose to ask the question mid-sentence, "May I ask how I can find him?"

The silver-haired man's eyes lingered on Ichijō Mirai's face for a moment, then shifted back down to a large, wet mark on the belly of his black baseball jersey.

He averted his eyes and stepped aside, pressing the cigarette butt into his black-gloved palm, and said coldly, "The men I sent are tracking him, and looking at the tracking marks will lead to his current location."

Then he gave the limit coldly: "Hurry up, one hour."

"The police are also looking for him."

"Before the police catch him and force something out," the silver-haired man said in a raw, commanding tone, "silence him."

The details of the mission emerged: [The dangerous mysterious person has focused on the target person and drove him into a complicated alley. Please find him within an hour and deal with him before he says something to the police that he should not say. ]

Quest Reward: [Low-level Painkillers+3 Pieces, Membership in Unknown Organization +1, Funds +100].

And: [Save function].

Save!

What does the save function mean to the player? It means life.

Once the player can freely save and read the file, even if the boss is hard to fight, as long as it is within the reasonable range of the game mechanism, the player can read the file once, a thousand times, ten thousand times and start over, standing on the corpse of the boss that he knows nothing about in a dashing manner, exhaling smoke rings in a deep voice, and saying, 'but that's it'.

But that's not the point, the point is: I can't believe it's not opening with its own save file?

Ichijō Mirai raised an eyebrow, grateful that he possessed the good qualities to not open the game and take full advantage of the player's fine traditions, "Okay, promise to get the job done." 

Scanning the ground around the vehicle, he spotted an analyze icon in an alleyway not far away and sauntered over to it, casually parsing it.

The icon shattered: [Traces of a fall, someone fell here not long ago and struggled to get up immediately into the alley].

The fluorescent writing lasts for about three seconds before it disperses and reconfigures itself into a chubby, fluorescent, bald human body, which struggles and falls at the entrance of the alleyway, partially hitting the corner of the alleyway with a heavy blow to its elbow, flopping around on the ground in a sorry state for a few moments, then covering its elbow and getting up again, looking back in panic as it runs deeper into the alleyway.

Run to a certain distance, the fluorescent bald human body disappeared.

It's a crime scene restoration, commonly used in crime-solving games to restore the path of the deceased's life and the killer's movements.

Seeing it now, Ichijō Mirai was a bit surprised and praised it again, "Wow, cool."

He looks in the direction the fluorescent head is looking in panic, and unsurprisingly locks eyes with the silver-haired man standing next to the car, and surmises: the target is fleeing in a panic from the car, and someone is chasing him.

The chase was hot, so the target was crawling around in a heap, not even carrying his papers or a gun.

Ichijō Mirai went deeper in the direction of the fluorescent lighthead's run and found another analytical pattern a dozen meters away.

Each analysis pattern was about a dozen meters apart, not too far, not too close, very appropriate, like someone was afraid the player would lose them.

Following one of the analysis icons, Ichijō Mirai delves deeper into the alleyway area.

And found his target deep in an alley.

The game world had probably rained not too long ago, and there was a pool of water on the ground, and the neon lights of the city were occasionally dyed into the water, blurring out a beautiful splendor.

The target was half lying in the splendor, almost exactly like his ID photo, but much more disheveled, covered in scratches and scuffles, and looking unkind and sinister.

When Ichijō Mirai arrived, he was pressing down hard on the epolice officer, depriving that officer of his right to breathe and his right to life.

At the sound of footsteps, the target looked like a panicked, hungry wolf, turning his head viciously, his eyes bursting with ferocity.

Immediately, when he touches Ichijō Mirai and sees his face, he is struck by that ferocity, which fades away in an instant, leaving only a pale fear behind.

Target: "You, you're..."

He unconsciously loosened his grip, gasping for air and backing up on his hands and knees, screaming like a ghost, "How is it you? How could it be you!"

In the upper left corner, the system prompt that triggered a new quest refreshed: [An old friend?]

Mission details:

[This Police Inspector Yamada seems to know you? But you don't know him.

Perhaps, you can try and find out from him about your parents who unfortunately died young].