Chapter 185: The Beautiful Woman with Purple Eyeshadow
"Man made supernatural phenomena? What would be the point of doing something like that...?"
"For power, obviously."
Hearing Yuuki Asuna's confusion, Asagiri answered calmly.
"In ancient legends, there were people who summoned Shikigami or invited gods to possess them, right? There were also humans who merged with demons to gain power, becoming twisted existences in the process."
"Not every legend can be treated as fact, but since the world of the supernatural truly exists, a considerable number of those legends must also be true."
He paused for a moment before continuing.
"If Black Watch really is the mastermind behind the Kyozan Mental Hospital experiments, then they were already willing to sacrifice an entire city for biological weapons research. In that case, after coming into contact with the supernatural, trying to obtain that power for themselves would be the most natural thing in the world."
Just as Yuuki Asuna and the others were about to respond, they suddenly saw a strand of black mist drift in from beneath the tightly shut office door. Then, under their watchful gazes, the mist gradually condensed into the figure of a woman.
"Mm, he's right."
The moment she appeared, Yuuki Asuna drew Gleaming Light and instantly switched into the Armor of Flashing Light. She moved to shield Kato Megumi and Iwanaga Kotoko behind her, staring at the newcomer with cold vigilance.
The woman before them was tall and slender, undeniably beautiful. She wore jeans and a white shirt, with light purple eyeshadow accentuating her features. At first glance, she looked to be in her early twenties, but there was an elegant yet unnatural aura about her, along with a pressure that felt strangely suffocating.
"Who are you?"
"No need to be so nervous."
The beautiful woman shook her head. Her voice was calm to the point of sounding emotionless.
"I'm a Player too. Since we're all in the same Dungeon, there's no reason for us to be hostile, is there?"
"What do you want?"
Yuuki Asuna did not lower her guard in the slightest. Her eyes remained fixed on the woman, ready to strike the instant the other side showed any hostility or made any suspicious move.
"I only want to exchange information."
The woman's gaze bypassed Yuuki Asuna and fell directly on Asagiri.
"You're the leader of this team, aren't you? I happened to hear some of your discussion while passing by. You were talking about some kind of experiment. Could you share that information with me? In exchange, I'll give you this."
She took out a diary with a dark red bloodstain smeared across its black cover and said calmly,
"I found it on a corpse. It seems to record the riot that happened here, along with some strange things. Let's use this as the basis for the trade."
Listening to her, Iwanaga Kotoko couldn't help frowning.
This scene, these words, the whole atmosphere of it, why did it all feel so familiar?
When she had first met Asagiri, hadn't she also started with an information trade on the surface while hiding a completely different intention underneath? Calling it a transaction, but actually wanting something else entirely?
This beautiful woman with purple eyeshadow...
Could she be the same kind of person?
Not only that, but Kotoko could also feel a certain aura from the other woman, something that instinctively repelled her. She couldn't pinpoint the reason, but her intuition was clear.
This woman was definitely dangerous.
"A trade?"
Asagiri looked at the bloodstained black diary in the woman's hand and smiled faintly.
"How do we know that notebook isn't just something you brought in yourself? Maybe you wrote a bunch of nonsense in it and are using it to trick other Players into trading away real information."
"This item has a system description."
Faced with Asagiri's suspicion, the beautiful woman remained completely unfazed. She simply handed the black covered diary toward Yuuki Asuna, who was closest to her, while keeping her gaze fixed on Asagiri.
"If you don't believe me, your companion can touch it and check the prompt on her phone. Then you'll know whether I'm lying."
Yuuki Asuna turned her head and glanced at Asagiri. Only after seeing him nod slightly did she tighten her grip on Gleaming Light with her right hand and carefully extend the index finger of her left toward the diary.
The moment she touched it, she pulled out her phone and opened the eye icon app. Just as the woman had said, the item information appeared immediately.
[Kyozan Mental Hospital Experimenter's Notebook (Gray Quality, Cannot Be Appraised): A notebook left behind by a deceased individual who claimed to be an experimenter at Kyozan Mental Hospital. It records part of what he claimed to have witnessed.]
"It used the word 'claimed' twice..."
Asagiri glanced at Yuuki Asuna's phone and said evenly,
"So the system is refusing to confirm whether anything written in it is actually true."
Then he stepped forward, stopping at a distance directly facing the woman. The smile on his face remained polite and friendly.
"You're offering us information of uncertain authenticity, something that might even be a trap meant to mislead us, in exchange for information that we've already verified for ourselves. That doesn't sound like a fair trade."
"I don't think you can put it that way."
The woman remained unhurried. She merely lifted a hand to sweep back her black hair. Her dark yellow eyes were still calm.
"What I'm offering is one hundred percent confirmed to have come from this Dungeon. On the other hand, the system can't verify anything you tell me. As the other party in this exchange, I'm the one taking the risk that you might fabricate information, or deliberately feed me worthless or misleading details that send me straight into a dead end."
She paused.
"Personally, I'd say this trade is fair. If anything, it favors you."
"Then why come to us?"
Asagiri asked casually, as though the matter barely interested him.
"Were we simply the first Players you happened to run into?"
"No."
The woman shook her head.
"I already encountered two other Player teams before this."
Asagiri's smile deepened slightly.
"Then why didn't you trade with them?"
He tilted his head just a little.
"Why come to us instead?"
"Because you look strong."
Her answer came without hesitation.
"I don't need equipment or items. Information is all I care about. Those other two teams looked miserable. Their clothes were a mess, and every one of them had the cautious, shaken expression of people clinging to survival. But your team is different. When I entered this room that way, all of you became alert immediately, but none of you showed panic or fear. That tells me the three of you are very confident in your own strength. No... wait."
At that point, the woman suddenly stopped.
A strange gleam flashed through her dark yellow eyes, and her gaze shifted to Kato Megumi.
"My mistake. The four of you."
The moment those words fell, Yuuki Asuna, Kato Megumi, and Iwanaga Kotoko all felt a shock go through them.
She had noticed Kato Megumi.
At this moment, Megumi's exclusive talent was fully active, suppressing her presence to the absolute minimum.
The last person who had been able to sense Megumi under those conditions had been Sato, a monster of a man who had endured countless brutal experiments and possessed mental strength far beyond that of a normal person. But even then, what he sensed was Megumi at the very instant she was about to attack, when her killing intent and aura could no longer be fully hidden.
This time, Megumi had not moved at all.
And yet this woman had still noticed her.
Did that mean her mental strength surpassed even Sato's?
Or was it something else, some passive skill like Asagiri's, one that granted immunity to mental interference?
"All right. Let's make the trade."
Asagiri, however, showed no sign of surprise at all that the woman had detected Kato Megumi.
"Good."
Hearing his agreement, the beautiful woman simply handed the black covered diary over to him.
Asagiri accepted it, and true to his word, he did not try any tricks. He shared their deductions regarding the truth behind Kyozan Mental Hospital, as well as their encounter with Chris Walker.
Of course, he revealed none of the four team members' actual abilities.
Those were the most private secrets a Player possessed, things that absolutely could not be exposed to outsiders. Even Kaguya Shinomiya, Fujiwara Chika, and Hayasaka Ai still had not discussed such details with Asagiri's group.
"An endlessly looping supernatural zone..."
After listening to him, the beautiful woman spoke in her calm, detached tone.
"Mm. Your analysis is probably correct."
"Tch..."
Even though the woman had acknowledged the accuracy of their deduction, Iwanaga Kotoko still couldn't suppress the instinctive dislike she felt toward her. She clicked her tongue and frowned.
"The trade's done. Aren't you leaving? Or are you planning to stay here and wait for us to invite you to dinner?"
"Don't worry. I'm leaving."
Before departing, the woman gave Asagiri one long, measuring look and said quietly,
"Oh, right. On the way here, I ran into another one. It should also be one of the strange entities formed from a mental patient. The odd thing is that it didn't attack me. It just kept muttering about searching for its bride. I could tell it was very strong. If you run into it, it would be best not to fight it."
"All right. We'll be careful."
After receiving Asagiri's reply, the woman turned to leave.
But just as she was about to go, Asagiri's voice stopped her.
"Thanks for the information..."
His smile did not change.
"Miss Sakuragawa Rikka."
.....
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