Pink Handwriting

Alain's hand rested on the door of version 1.9. He glanced at Misha behind him and received a reassuring nod. With a final breath, he pressed down the latch.

With a soft click, they left the strange woman's room behind.

The familiar small gray and white checkered room reappeared in their sight.

"We're back," Alain murmured.

Taking advantage of the fact that Crazy Mita was still presumably unconscious, Alain closed the door firmly, cutting off any potential risk of her following them.

Misha took his hand again, her grip firm. "Are we still going to look for helpers?"

"No," Alain replied, his gaze resolute.

He opened the security system panel. The progress bar now displayed a satisfying 90%. The three major skills, [Security Protection], [Virus Scan], and [Clean Up Speed], were all available for immediate use.

His gaze flickered towards Misha. The girl was holding a sturdy water pipe in her hand, a more than adequate weapon for self-defense.

"We're going straight to the corridor," Alain declared.

"Okay, I understand," Misha nodded, her expression serious.

She lowered her eyes, contemplating the plan they had just discussed. After a moment of thought, she looked up. "When we enter the corridor later, should we go straight to the door opposite us that leads to Cappie's room?" she asked, tightening her grip on the steel pipe in her hand.

"That's the most efficient method. However, there are some risks involved," Alain replied, his brow furrowing slightly.

"Risks?" Alain frowned in confusion, and then he followed Misha's gaze as it fell on the black sphere suspended in the center of the ceiling.

A stream of what looked like raw code occasionally drifted through the sphere, and at times it pulsed with a disturbing pitch-black aura.

Misha explained, "With the Tamperer as a precedent, we don't know… if Cappie's door will even open."

Her gaze then shifted back to meet his.

"And… we also need to prepare for the worst-case scenario: that the worms can also affect the door's effectiveness."

"My dear, I'm all ears," Alain said, squeezing her palm reassuringly.

"Mm!" Misha nodded, emboldened by his trust. She then began to explain the finer points of their plan.

After a brief discussion, Alain summarized the general outline of the plan Misha had described:

First, they would proceed directly to the door opposite them in the corridor with the utmost speed and efficiency, attempting to see if it would open as expected.

However, given the unpredictable nature of the Tamperer, this initial plan had a high likelihood of failure. At that point, they would have to immediately activate their contingency plan.

"According to theory, every door in the corridor can lead to Cappie's room under the guidance of the ring," Misha said, gently pulling his hand towards her and allowing her fingertips to brush against the dark green ring Alain wore on his middle finger.

"That corridor is very long, almost infinite, so there are also a lot of doors. Therefore, if the nearest door is affected by the worms, we will have to venture further down the corridor to find a door that hasn't been compromised yet."

"Hmm? Infinite corridor? Doesn't that mean the Devourers can never finish eating?" Alain mused.

"Indeed. In terms of sheer length, the Devourers can't possibly consume it all," Misha conceded. "But… what they devour is code and data."

The girl looked intently into Alain's eyes. "What the worms are currently eating is the modeling data and code that directly affect the corridor's physical existence. If… they were to eat the underlying code…"

Misha trailed off, leaving the ominous implication hanging in the air.

The corridor was the only known path for Alain and Misha to reach Cappie's room. If it were to be completely consumed… the best-case scenario would be a significantly longer and more dangerous detour.

The worst-case scenario would be a catastrophic fault line between different versions of reality within the game, which could have a devastating impact on the entire digital world.

"That won't do at all. I quite like this game," Alain stated firmly, clearly not wanting such a negative outcome.

"...Do you like the game or the person?" Misha asked, a hint of playful sulkiness in her voice.

"I like you—" Alain began, a sincere expression on his face.

"..." Misha blushed slightly, leaning in almost imperceptibly, eager to hear the rest of his sentence.

"'s code," Alain finished with a teasing grin.

"..." Misha's face fell, and she playfully pinched Alain's arm, pulling her hand away.

"Alright, my dear, stop being so glib," she said, patting Alain's shoulder with a fond smile.

The two of them dropped their usual lighthearted banter and focused their serious gazes on the door leading to the potentially perilous corridor.

Alain looked down at the security system panel and gently tapped the skill icon for [Security Protection]. In the next instant, the familiar weight of the large, mosaic greatsword materialized in his hand.

Misha looked at Alain's imposing weapon, her eyes widening slightly. "Alain, did you use a cheat?" she asked, a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"What are you talking about? I would never cheat when playing Mita," Alain replied with mock indignation.

Standing in front of the door, Alain took a deep breath, his gaze returning to the unsettling black sphere in the center of the room.

Tamperer, and Devourer… what exactly are they? What is the purpose of that door? He knew he would need to find the answers to these questions eventually.

But what he needed to do right now was to face the immediate threat and hopefully overcome it.

Finally, his gaze lingered on the doorframe, behind which he could almost sense a smoke-filled battlefield awaiting them.

"?"

While turning his head, Alain's peripheral vision caught something unexpected on the ground near his feet.

"What's wrong, Alain?" Misha asked, noticing his sudden pause.

"..." He didn't answer, his gaze fixed on the gray and white checkered floor—specifically on a line of text that had inexplicably appeared.

[It's very dangerous ahead, are you sure you want to go?]

The pink font was written in a delicate, almost childlike handwriting, conveying a sense of genuine concern. Next to the text was also drawn a simple, slightly lopsided heart.

For some reason, Alain found the unexpected message rather endearing.

He tried nodding his head, and then deliberately blinked. Sure enough, the content of the text instantly changed.

[Okay then, you two be careful]

The moment the text shifted, a sudden "thump, clang" sound echoed from the corner of the room, immediately attracting both Alain and Misha's attention.

The two exchanged a curious glance and walked side by side towards the source of the noise.

"This is…" Misha murmured, looking at something that definitely shouldn't have been present in the otherwise empty room.

Alain temporarily released Misha's hand and bent down to pick up the two extra items that had seemingly materialized on the floor.

The first item was a baseball bat. Its surprisingly light texture suggested that it might be capable of unleashing an unexpected amount of explosive force.

"Misha, you take this," Alain said, offering her the bat.

"Okay," she replied, putting down the somewhat cumbersome steel pipe and switching to the more wieldy weapon. She tentatively swung it at a nearby chair. With a resounding "thump," the chair splintered and fell apart.

"..." Alain silently retracted his previous generalization that all Mitas were weak girls.

He couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of worry about his own future prospects.

Then, his gaze fell on the second item. This one was clearly tailor-made for him.

It was a pair of gloves or gauntlets. The texture of his fingertips rubbing against them felt strangely like smooth wood. After trying them on, he found that they weren't heavy at all and wouldn't hinder the effectiveness of his Clean Up Speed.

And the moment he put them on, three lines of pink text instantly appeared on the wall.

[Gauntlets of Failure]

[There's a button inside that will make your strength in the next second explode to a level slightly weaker than Crazy Mita's. Of course, it's a one-time use]

[This is a gift from me and my sister]

"?" Alain stared at the text, a mixture of confusion and suspicion swirling in his mind.

Putting aside the highly likely implication of "sister flowers" for the moment, the sudden appearance of such a powerful item felt suspiciously like a pie falling from the sky. Alain immediately sounded the mental alarm bells.

"Why are you helping me?" He looked around the empty room and spoke aloud, trying to detect any sign of the mysterious benefactor. Sure enough, the next moment, more text appeared at his feet.

[You are my player]

"Eh eh?!" Misha exclaimed angrily, pointing at the newly appeared text. "This, this… this?!"

"Misha, what's wrong?" Alain asked in confusion, seeing the girl's flustered reaction.

"Nothing…" Misha said, her tone somewhat subdued.

She looked sullenly towards the corner of the room and saw a new painting had appeared on the wall.

[Cheating Cat → [Misha's Simple Drawing]]

[Hehe.jpg]

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