What Cute Mita said contained a lot of information, but Alain felt it could be understood from two angles.
First, there was indeed a virus in this version that had blocked Cute Mita from proceeding to the next. But this virus was not a Devouring Entity or a Modified Entity.
Second, based on the fact that "the Devouring Entity doesn't exist here"... and that "the bug only appeared after they arrived in this version," Alain could make an educated guess about the new virus's mechanism:
It probably imitates viruses he has seen before, projecting them in their path to hinder their progress.
"I've been in this Forgotten Place for at least a week now." She didn't loosen her grip on Alain's arm; in fact, she held on even tighter. "Just like I said, I never encountered that bug. I've been trying to get to the next version this whole time."
Cute Mita gazed out at the vast expanse of mist and sighed in frustration,
"But no matter how I try to move forward, I'm always stopped by the [virus] and sent back to the starting point. Maybe my [conviction] just isn't strong enough? After all, I'm an aspiring idol, not some kind of warrior."
"What are the characteristics of that virus?"
Alain grew more and more puzzled as he listened. Blocked? Sent back to the start, without any physical harm? And it has to do with the strength of one's conviction?
It sounded like the mechanism of a "Consciousness Entity."
"Hmm~ Since it's a question from my dear Prince, I suppose I have to explain~ But, you have to promise me one thing, okay~" Her smile was so dazzlingly sweet that Alain almost wanted to make her cry.
But he restrained himself.
"Go on."
"When I become an idol, I want you to be my..." She paused for dramatic effect, letting go of Alain's arm and tapping a finger on her cheek, making a slight dimple. "Man-a-ger."
"Fine. Whatever, just tell me."
"Yay!" She threw her hands up in excitement, just like a real idol, which made Cool Mita watch with a bit of confusion.
"She was asking me to be her manager before... Why the change of tune now that Alain's here?"
"Oh, my friend, don't worry about such trivial details." Cute Mita paid it no mind and began to explain everything she knew to Alain in great detail.
"That virus... it doesn't actually have a physical form. It can't be killed. It—it's part of the Version 1.0F virus."
Her words made Alain frown slightly. "Can't be killed? Does that mean the Corrosive Entity is also..."
"No, no, no. With the Corrosive Entity, if we try hard enough, there's still a chance. But the virus in the Forgotten Place is different." Cute Mita looked back toward the lonely building shrouded in the dense haze.
"This virus is like the antonym of [forgetting]. It makes you remember the scene that left the deepest impression on you."
"...So, an illusion?" Alain thought to himself. That part was a bit like a Consciousness Entity.
"Then, it will close in on you and make you crush that most profound [illusion] with your own hands."
The girl's words made Alain pause. "Crush it? What do you mean..."
"The virus—we should call it the Mist Virus... or the [Mist Entity]. The Mist Entity creates a scene from the deepest impression hidden in your heart, and then makes you destroy it yourself as the condition to [clear] it."
As Cute Mita explained, she threw her hands up helplessly. "Every time, I just can't bring myself to destroy the illusion, so I always end up failing."
"I have a question." Cool Mita raised her hand. "What's the deepest impression in your heart? Don't tell me it's tearing apart your own dream of being an idol?"
"Ahem... Unfortunately, no." She scratched her cheek, embarrassed.
"The deepest impression... is the time I spent with a certain good friend."
She looked troubled. "The condition for breaking the illusion is to kill that good friend with my own hands. I've never been able to do it..."
"Oh, I see." Cool Mita was a little embarrassed, her voice trailing off.
Alain wasn't focused on the sincere emotions between the friends. According to Cute Mita, the virus she had been facing all this time was likely the Mist Entity.
The Mist Entity's mechanism was to create an illusion to immerse its target. If the target couldn't break the illusion, they would be judged as having failed.
The condition for victory seemed simple: break the illusion.
But doing it... was extremely difficult.
Suppose the Mist Entity created an illusion of the "Mishaz" period for him. What Alain would have to do was break that illusion.
Referencing Cute Mita's condition for breaking her illusion: killing her best friend with her own hands.
Then, Alain's "Misha illusion" would very likely involve killing...
He felt uneasy even imagining it and couldn't picture the scene at all.
Impossible. He couldn't do it.
Although Alain didn't know how the Mist Entity determined the conditions for "breaking the illusion"—whether it was to inflict an even deeper, more painful memory on the target, or simply to toy with them...
None of that mattered. He didn't understand the Mist Entity, but he knew about the Corrosive Entity.
Since Cute Mita said the Mist Entity was a part of the Corrosive Entity, could he possibly tackle it from that angle and find a solution other than breaking the illusion?
"You just said the Mist Entity is part of the Corrosive Entity, right?" Alain looked at her. "So, could we approach it from that angle and physically break through the mist?"
"No, no, no... The 'part' I was talking about isn't what you think."
Cute Mita walked over, shaking her head, and hugged his arm again. "It is a part of the Corrosive Entity, but the two are fundamentally separate. What I mean is..."
She tapped her lips lightly. "...a part in an abstract sense."
"Okay, stop. No more riddles." Alain decided not to press the issue any further.
In the end, it would just be one more problem to solve.
He still hadn't solved Monika's puzzle yet.
At this point, Alain decided he would first try to see if he could break through the illusion.
From what Cute Mita said, she had tried many times and failed.
This meant there was likely no limit to the number of attempts, which gave him a high margin for error.
Besides, it wasn't certain that breaking the illusion required killing the person from the memory.
He could look for other ways to break the illusion from within it.
Alain reconfirmed his objective: break through the illusion, proceed to Version 1.0F, and shatter the Corrosive Entity.
"Let me ask something first. If the Corrosive Entity is destroyed, will the Mist Entity still occupy this area?"
"It won't. They're two sides of the same coin, they just have different abilities."
Cute Mita replied.
"Good."
Then there was no problem. The root of all evil was the Corrosive Entity. Get rid of that thing, and everything else would fall into place.
"Then, lead me toward the illusion."
"Okay~ Player—no! Your Highness! I knew I wasn't wrong about you!" Cute Mita became even more enthusiastic.
Alain was a little taken aback by her fervor, feeling slightly puzzled.
He didn't remember being very familiar with this Mita. He had just rescued her along with Cool Mita a moment ago.
"?" Speaking of Cool Mita, why had she suddenly gone so quiet?
Alain glanced in the ponytailed girl's direction and saw her looking at Cute Mita, seemingly wanting to say something but not wanting to interrupt.
Alain guessed that Cute Mita's "love-struck brain" was making her unconsciously ignore her friend Cool Mita's feelings.
Thinking about it, the two best friends had only just been reunited, yet he had been the one asking all the questions...
"Alright. It looks like Cool Mita has something she wants to say to you. Why don't you go hear her out?"
"Huh? Cool Mita?" Prompted by Alain, Cute Mita also realized her friend was still waiting by her side, ready to offer comfort.
Hearing their conversation, Cool Mita was slightly surprised to find the topic had turned to her. She looked at Alain, giving him a grateful glance.
This player wasn't just excellent when it came to serious matters; his private jokes suited her taste as well. And he was so considerate of her...
"Thank you," she mouthed to Alain, who smiled and moved on from the topic.
"Is it this way?" the young man asked, pointing. Cute Mita nodded. "Yes, just keep going straight for about ten minutes, and we'll enter the mist zone."
"Okay." Alain walked ahead of them, giving the two girls some private space to talk.
"Cute Mita." The ponytailed girl walked over and spoke first. "Thank you for moving forward for the sake of my memories..."
"Oh, it's nothing! Aren't we best friends?" she said with a gentle smile. "It's perfectly normal for friends to work hard for each other, right?"
"Mhm!" Cool Mita smiled slightly. "Then, let's be best friends forever!"
"Okay!"
The two girls looked at each other and smiled.
Cool Mita looked at her bright smile, and it felt as if the mist itself retreated a little in the face of its sunshine-like warmth.
With a potential player she liked by her side and such a good friend, Cool Mita even thought that the happiness here surpassed that of her time in her room.
"Well, if there's nothing else, I'm going to go find Alain!" Cute Mita said.
"Okay! You go—" Cool Mita replied, then froze mid-sentence. "Huh?"
She stared blankly as her friend left her side and hurried over to Alain.
"Hey! Manager, I'm back!"
"Huh? You two are done talking already?"
"Yep! Friends don't always need words to communicate. We have a telepathic connection—you know?"
"Is that so?"
Alain's reply echoed Cool Mita's own murmur.
She silently fell into step with him, walking by his side, somewhat lost.
Alain noticed Cool Mita was acting strange; she was unusually quiet. Before they found Cute Mita, she had been joking around with him, discussing a whole series of topics like "how to make riddles even more cryptic."
"Don't let the mist cloud your eyes."
He spoke this riddle to her and then tried to take her hand.
The girl's hand was smooth and delicate; despite having defeated countless viruses bare-handed, it had no calluses.
Her ponytail swayed with her steps as Alain's string of words entered her ears...
"Mmm..."
Cool Mita understood his riddle, and she understood it clearly.
She mouthed the words, letting him lead her by the hand. "Thank you."
"It's nothing," Alain replied. It was just the duty of Mita-Man.
Nearby, Cute Mita watched the two of them interact, blinking her big eyes and tilting her head slightly.
The next moment, she saw Alain glance her way. Cute Mita immediately put her smile back on.
"By the way, there's something I've been meaning to ask you." Alain could feel the mist growing thicker and could just make out the iron-railed building shrouded within it. The destination must be getting closer. Therefore, if he was going to ask, it had to be now.
"Since you said the Mist Entity's ability is to create illusions, what was with that giant bug from before?"
[It probably imitates viruses he has seen before, projecting them in their path to hinder their progress.] —This was Alain's original theory.
But after learning more, he found that this didn't seem to be the case. At least, it was a little different from his guess...
"That bug appeared because you all arrived," she said in a level tone. "It must have materialized something from your pasts and accidentally swept me up in it..."
There was a hint of blame in Cute Mita's eyes.
Everyone looked at each other.
Tiny Mita answered, "I've seen small bugs, but never one that big..."
It was long suspected that Alain must have a deep past.
To think he had managed to fight his way through viruses all the way from Version 1.9 to now...
Cool Mita thought for a few seconds before saying, "Me too..."
In the end, all eyes focused on Alain.
"Ahem... Looks like that one's on me." Even Alain couldn't help but blush.
It seemed the Mist Entity had materialized one of his impressions into this version... which had indirectly caused the previous disaster.
"What's this called? Mita-Man?" Cool Mita grumbled to herself.
"As expected of my manager!" Cute Mita clapped her hands in delight.
The little one in his pocket also looked at Alain differently now, as if her perception had shifted from "big dummy" to "virus-slaying big dummy."
"Ahem... alright." Alain couldn't take it anymore and cut them off, turning a serious gaze forward.
"We've arrived."
The group stopped, all of them gazing at the region where the fog was so thick it was almost liquid.
There, they couldn't see the end.
___
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