"Ishikawa Shiro, twenty-six years old, a postgraduate student majoring in forensics at Kyoto University. During my ti in school, I worked as an intern at the Kyoto Prefectural Police Scientific Investigation Research Institute. I was a forr mber of the Kyoto University Mystery Fiction Research Club and even won the Student Presentation Award at the annual law conference. My resu is actually quite impressive," Bai Mu remarked as he carefully read through his curriculum vitae.
"Mine is pretty similar," Misty Rain Traveler said. "But I haven't acquired any skills related to autopsy or corpse examination. Do you have any?"
"No," Bai Mu replied, shaking his head. "I guess we'll just have to rely on our own abilities to bluff our way through this job."
"This is going to be tough," Misty Rain Traveler said, tapping her head. "But looking at the streets, it's pretty lively. Adults and kids are all playing outside. It doesn't look like there's a serial killer running around murdering people. I hope we don't get too many cases after we join. Without any corpses, we won't expose ourselves."
"It's highly unlikely that no one will die," Bai Mu said, closing his resu folder. "The Script's introduction explicitly stated that we are Forensic Doctors drafted in for an ergency due to a shortage of police manpower. In these ten days, we have to solve at least one case. Or perhaps, there's already a backlog of cases waiting for us."
"What should we do then?" Misty Rain Traveler asked. "Are we supposed to look up technical terms online and just forge an autopsy report?"
"That's not out of the question," Bai Mu replied. "But we still need to head to the Police Headquarters, assess the specific situation, and improvise as we go."
"I suppose that's our only option," Misty Rain Traveler agreed with a nod. "Anyway, let's go report in at the Police Headquarters first. Let see, there seems to be a map on the offer letter. We should head this way."
Misty Rain Traveler figured out the right direction, and the two of them headed toward the Police Headquarters to report for duty, following the requirents of their Main Quest.
They walked to the nearest Subway Station. Taking the subway would take them directly to the Police Headquarters.
Along the way, Bai Mu observed the surrounding buildings and layouts. There were telephone booths spaced out along the street, many of which were in use. The pedestrians passing by were almost all holding old-school push-button phones. Even flip phones were a rare sight. Judging by this, the era of this Script was set quite early.
Inside their respective satchels, he and Misty Rain Traveler each had a small mobile phone. However, they lacked internet access and could only be used to make calls and send text ssages.
Their contact lists contained each other's phone numbers. Aside from that, the only other entry was the number for the Beika Town Police Headquarters.
The combined starting funds for both of them amounted to 200,000 yen. In early-era Japan, 200,000 yen held considerable value—more than enough to comfortably last them for ten days.
However, Bai Mu noticed that his phone did not display the year or the date. It only read "2:23 PM". Misty Rain Traveler's phone was exactly the sa. They could only see the current ti, but not the specific year or date.
"Excuse , sir," Bai Mu said, stopping a passing pedestrian. "Could you tell what today's date is?"
"The date?" The pedestrian paused, taken aback. "Asking such a question out of nowhere... I'm not entirely sure either. But I rember Valentine's Day was just a few days ago."
"Valentine's Day? Isn't that February 14th?" Misty Rain Traveler muttered under her breath. "Shouldn't it be winter then?"
Bai Mu looked up at the sky above. The sun was shining brightly, casting a blazing heat against his face.
It was unmistakably the height of a scorching sumr. Just monts ago, he had been enjoying the cool air conditioning inside the train car.
Sensing that sothing was deeply wrong, he approached a few more pedestrians to ask the sa question.
"What month and day? What a weirdo. Why are you asking that? Can't you look at a calendar yourself?"
"I recall the New Year passed just a couple of days ago, so it should be around January."
"Eh, is it sumr right now? Then maybe I rembered wrong. A couple of days ago should have been Children's Day. Right, June 1st, Children's Day."
"You guys don't even know that? Our junior high school festival is coming up right away. The school festival is held around this ti every year. By the way, mister, miss, do you want to co visit our class's maid cafe? Outsiders can get in for free, you know!"
They asked twelve people in total. Every single date and year given was vague and completely contradictory. So claid they had just celebrated Valentine's Day, while others said they had gone to the temple to pray for the New Year just yesterday.
These chaotic testimonies left Misty Rain Traveler's head spinning. At first, she had tried to calculate the tiline using pen and paper, but all those dates had quickly turned into a tangled, nonsensical ss.
"Are the residents here just completely devoid of mory?" Misty Rain Traveler couldn't help but complain. "Do they all have Alzheir's?"
"To so extent, saying they have Alzheir's isn't wrong. Beika Town likely has a rule that prevents its residents from perceiving the accurate ti within this Script," Bai Mu replied.
"Could it be that the tiline here is completely jumbled?" Misty Rain Traveler furrowed her brows. "Like it's winter one mont and sumr the next?"
Suddenly thinking of sothing, Bai Mu pulled out his phone.
"How much ti has passed on your phone?"
"Thirteen minutes," Misty Rain Traveler answered. "Why? Hasn't it been thirteen minutes on yours?"
"How much ti do you feel has passed for us?"
"Just about thirteen minutes or so." Misty Rain Traveler looked over at him in confusion. "What exactly did you discover?"
"I have a skill that shows its cooldown tir," Bai Mu explained. "From the mont we entered the Script until now, that cooldown has only decreased by two minutes."
Misty Rain Traveler froze in surprise.
"The flow of ti in this Script is different from the true flow of ti." Bai Mu's phone screen went black. "The ratio is about ten to one. For every ten minutes we experience, only one actual minute has passed."
"It's not just the residents' perception that's confused in Beika Town; the tiline itself is likely a ss. This Script might appear to last only ten days on the surface, but for the Players participating in it, that duration should be multiplied by ten—aning a hundred days."
"A hundred days!" Misty Rain Traveler gasped, suddenly unsure if she had struck gold or drawn the short straw.
If calculated by Community Ti, she figured she had definitely profited, and massively so. This was equivalent to expanding 240 hours of safe ti into 2,400 hours.
However, she also felt that beneath the seemingly peaceful surface of Beika Town lurked a spine-chilling eeriness. It was as if a coercive force was invisibly manipulating everything from the shadows.
She had a sinking feeling that if she stayed here for too long, she would be assimilated by that unseen power. One day, she might even forget who she was.
"Is the danger level of this place really only F-grade?"
"The danger rating shouldn't be a lie," Bai Mu replied. "But I feel that only the life-threatening danger is F
-grade. As for everything else, it's hard to say. It's better to stay vigilant. Since Beika Town operates on its own independent temporal rules, it's highly likely that there are other inexplicable rules hidden elsewhere. We definitely shouldn't treat this place like an ordinary Japanese city."
Reviews
All reviews (0)