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"President, why did it take so long to open the door?"
Fujiwara Chika spoke as she was about to step into the house.
The door opened.
In the sunlight outside the door, there were indeed Chika, Marin, and the senpais.
Amamiya Natsuki reached out to stop them, his expression serious:
"First, the secret handshake."
"Eh?" Fujiwara Chika was stunned, "What secret handshake?"
Kitagawa Marin stood nearby, her right hand on her hip, saying:
"Natsuki, look carefully. We are not avatars."
Amamiya Natsuki said seriously, "It's because it's impossible to distinguish with the naked eye, so we need to use a secret code."
Koyasu Tsubame said speechlessly, "So, when we came over, there was no mention of a secret code, right?"
"Correct answer, but it's still not foolproof." Amamiya Natsuki turned to look at Tsubame-senpai, "As far as we know, avatars cannot use player skills. Tsubame, please perform blowing bubbles to confirm your identity."
Tsubame lightly bit her silver teeth: "...You just want to take advantage of me!"
Having no choice, Tsubame could only perform blowing bubbles, successfully passing the identity verification.
"Sayu-chan!"
"Marin-chan!"
Friends meeting each other were naturally extra happy.
Sayu happily stepped forward and hugged Marin.
Yukinoshita Haruno put away her phone and walked over with a smile to greet the girls. As a max-level socialite, her conduct was impeccable, and she could even exchange a few words with Komi, who had communication disorder.
"President, where is my clone?"
Fujiwara Chika looked left and right and asked.
She was super curious now about what her clone looked like.
"Hmm... wait a moment."
Amamiya Natsuki thought about the clone Chika next door and decided not to let the two meet for now.
"Wahh..."
A girl's painful wail faintly emanated from next door.
"Is that my voice, from next door?"
Fujiwara Chika's eyes lit up, and she quickly stepped over.
Amamiya Natsuki wanted to stop her, but it was too late.
The next second.
Fujiwara Chika's smile instantly froze, and she said in disbelief, "P-President, what exactly did you do to me?!"
The other girls also curiously gathered around, looking into the room, and all showed expressions of disgust and disdain.
In the abandoned room, there was only one sofa that had not been moved. On the sofa lay a bound secretary Chika, and she was tied in a very bad posture. Not to mention boys, even girls would blush upon seeing it.
What was even worse was that the clone Chika was only wearing underwear. Her skirt was thrown in the corner, with obvious tearing marks on it. Her whole body seemed to have just suffered some terrible cruel torture, breathing rapidly like a dehydrated fish, teary-eyed, with traces of saliva flowing from the corners of her mouth, and even her eyes were rolled back...
"Ahegao?"
In the silence, a voice suddenly sounded.
Amamiya Natsuki silently turned her head and looked at Juju.
"Pervert Natsuki, what are you looking at?" Juju shrunk her neck, then raised her chin, putting on a brave front, "Chika-chan's eyes are rolled back, she's clearly been broken by you."
I didn't even see the interrogation process, and you immediately label me as a pervert. Do you believe I'll make you show an ahegao?
Amamiya Natsuki looked helplessly at the girls and said, "Listen to my explanation..."
Upon making eye contact, Komi trembled, frantically covering her chest, not daring to meet his gaze, as if Amamiya Natsuki would turn into a demon the next second and toy with her into the state of the clone Chika before them.
"No need to explain." Kitagawa Marin put her hands on her hips and couldn't help but complain, "If we had come any later, Chika would be covered in strange fluids, wouldn't she?"
Amamiya Natsuki, with a clear conscience, said, "Sayu and Haruno are right inside the room. Could I possibly do such a thing?"
"That's not necessarily true." Juju crossed her arms, her eyes full of disdain, "After all, it's a clone Chika-chan, so you wouldn't feel bad about breaking her, right?"
Fujiwara Chika's cheeks puffed up high, and she spread her arms, blocking her clone:
"Don't play with me!"
Before, I thought the 'thirty-seven degrees' lips were just a joke, but now it seems you might have really kissed her!
Koyasu Tsubame lightly frowned. Although the appearance of the clone Chika was unsettling, she still chose to believe Amamiya Natsuki and softly said, "Natsuki-kun, how did she become like this?"
"I'll make a long story short..."
Amamiya Natsuki quickly explained what had happened.
"I see."
"We misunderstood."
"That's right." Sayu testified, "Haruno and I were right next door, and we heard every sound clearly. Natsuki-sama didn't do anything."
Fujiwara Chika was still somewhat skeptical, tilting her head and saying, "President really didn't do anything strange to me?"
Amamiya Natsuki said, "She's not human, so it wouldn't matter if something strange was done, right?"
Koyasu Tsubame couldn't help but retort, "Knowing she's not human, and still wanting to do strange things, President should reflect on himself properly."
"..."
At this moment, the clone Chika's breathing gradually quieted down, no longer as rapid as before, and her eyes no longer rolled back, but instead regained their liveliness and vivacity. She tearfully said, "H-How mean, President was too rough just now."
Amamiya Natsuki: "..."
Hey, hey, I didn't even touch you with a single finger, how was that rough?
Don't slander my good name!
The clone Chika sniffled, her voice full of grievance: "You didn't give me any time to prepare at all. Such an excessive thing was directly shoved into my body. It hurt so much, I almost died from the pain just now."
"President..."
"...You really didn't do anything strange?"
The girls silently turned to look at Amamiya Natsuki, suspicion reappearing in their eyes.
Amamiya Natsuki didn't pay attention to the girls' gazes, but instead lightly raised an eyebrow, his eyes falling on the clone Chika.
A prompt quietly appeared before him:
[The title ability and the mother's will collide and are extinguished simultaneously. The connection between Shadow Chika and the mother is severed, and free will controls the body.]
"Is this considered a successful defection after torture?"
Amamiya Natsuki shook his head with some regret.
The cooldown time for the title skill was extremely long, otherwise, he could have incited everyone else to defect as well.
"It's so uncomfortable." Shadow Chika looked over pitifully, "President, quickly help me untie the ropes."
Amamiya Natsuki pondered for a moment, then said, "Alright, I'll help you untie the ropes."
"Eh, eh?" Sayu looked over in surprise, and quickly whispered, "Natsuki-sama, don't be impulsive."
When Shadow Chika stabbed people with a knife before, she showed no mercy at all. Being merciful to an enemy at a time like this is being cruel to oneself. Only someone whose head was caught in a door would do that.
Kitagawa Marin asked in confusion, "Natsuki, what are you going to do?"
Tsubame also said, "Natsuki-kun, we were just joking, don't act on impulse."
This was a dungeon space, and the Shadow Chika on the sofa wasn't even a real human. Even if Amamiya Natsuki had truly committed extremely excessive acts of torture, it wouldn't make people disgusted.
"I'm not impulsive." Amamiya Natsuki quietly explained the situation, then said, "It might be a successful defection, it's worth a try."
"...Alright then."
Except for the Kaguya trio, everyone else was in the room, so there was no need to worry about Shadow Chika suddenly attacking.
Amamiya Natsuki came before Shadow Chika and untied and put away the magic ropes.
"Finally untied." Shadow Chika got up and stretched her body, then rubbed her chest, her voice cold, "The ropes were so tight, I felt like they were going to burst just now."
Fujiwara Chika couldn't bear to watch anymore and shouted, "There are boys here, don't do strange things!"
"Strange things?" Shadow Chika tilted her head and looked over, her hands still moving, "What is that?"
Fujiwara Chika said, "It's your current actions!"
"What does it matter if there are others here?" Shadow Chika's expression was cold. Although she had broken free from the control of her mother, her personality was not as lively as Chika's; she remained quite aloof. At this moment, she said in a puzzled tone, "It's not like I haven't let the President touch me before."
The girls showed expressions of curiosity, all looking at secretary Chika.
"Y-You're talking nonsense!"
Fujiwara Chika's pretty face quickly flushed red, and she stammered in denial, "I never let the President do such a thing!"
Unfortunately, her shifting gaze and flushed cheeks had no persuasive power whatsoever.
"You're lying." Shadow Chika's expression was cold, completely unconcerned with her body's embarrassment, and she said nonchalantly, "Except for why you came to the Island and the memory loss of your strange abilities, I remember everything else clearly. The first intimate contact was on the night of Golden Week when I stayed at the President's house..."
"Eh, eh, eh?" Kitagawa Marin's eyes widened, looking at Chika in shock, and she couldn't help but say, "I was also at Natsuki's house during Golden Week, how come I didn't know anything?"
Shadow Chika said coldly, "Marin-chan was already asleep at the time, of course she wouldn't know what the President and I did."
"Don't, don't say anymore!" Even the fearless Cancer of the Earth had a sense of shame. At this moment, her pretty face was flushed, and she couldn't help but want to find a crack in the ground to crawl into, shouting in shame, "At that time, I was just restless in my sleep, rolling around on the tatami, and finally rolled into the President's arms. We just slept together, we didn't do anything else!"
Amamiya Natsuki coughed twice, looked at Shadow Chika, and said, "This topic ends here, don't say anymore."
If you keep talking, Chika will be too ashamed to face anyone and will run away hiding her face!
Even if Chika was a bit slow, she wasn't that slow. Plus, she was teary-eyed and aggrieved just now, but now her expression is cold. Without a doubt, the Shadow Chika in front of them is a pink-haired girl who is black inside; when you cut her open, she's completely black.
"Then I won't say anymore." Shadow Chika nodded in agreement, then asked, "President, can I put on my clothes first? Even I would be shy being naked."
You say you're shy, but why aren't you blushing?!
"Chika-chan, here you go." Sayu picked up the clothes and handed them over.
Shadow Chika took the clothes and said while putting them on, "President, next time you take off my skirt, don't be so rough."
That's enough of you! When you were stabbing people at the door just now, you weren't gentle either!
Amamiya Natsuki decisively changed the subject and asked, "How do you clone humans?"
"We emit a flash to scan the human body." Shadow Chika said while getting dressed, "After scanning, we can create a clone."
"Eh, a flash?" Yukinoshita Haruno suddenly said softly, "Speaking of which, when we left Sakurako's house, we encountered an unknown flash."
"I remember now, we did encounter a flash, just like those old cameras in movies, with a very large flash range." Sayu's eyes widened, "So... Natsuki-sama, Haruno, and I have all been cloned already?"
Koyasu Tsubame lightly frowned and said, "I also encountered a strange flash, but I didn't pay attention to it at the time."
Kitagawa Marin nodded in agreement, saying, "I encountered it too."
Juju bit her lower lip, "Komi and I also encountered it."
"Mm-hmm."
Komi quickly nodded.
After asking around, everyone had encountered the strange flash, and it was highly likely that all of them had already produced Shadow Replicas.
Amamiya Natsuki thought of a possibility, raising his eyebrow slightly as he asked, "How many Shadow Replicas are on the Island? Or has everyone on the Island been replicated?"
"I don't know." Facing this question, Shadow Chika shook her head, "I was only born recently, so I don't know how many Shadow creatures are on the Island."
Kitagawa Marin asked, "Chika-chan, do your Shadow memories synchronize?"
"Of course not." Shadow Chika shook her head, "If too many memories were mixed together, my head would break."
Marin nodded, "That makes sense."
Koyasu Tsubame asked curiously, "Um, what exactly do you replicate?"
"Everything." Shadow Chika's voice was calm as she said, "Body, memories, personality, secrets deep in the heart... I am no different from you."
Upon hearing this, Juju immediately panicked.
All her memories had been replicated?
In other words, the things she was coaxed into doing by Stupid Natsuki in her room that day, and the memories of Stupid Natsuki toying with her in the Chiba Prefecture hotel bathroom... another entity in the world knew all of it clearly?
Thinking of this, Juju's little face flushed, and she felt like her brain was about to crash.
No!
She absolutely couldn't let her Shadow Replica speak!
When she encountered her Shadow Replica, she must immediately cover her mouth and absolutely not let her blurt out everything like Shadow Chika.
If everyone knew about those things she had done, she would never be able to face anyone again!
"But it's strange." Shadow Chika clenched her right hand into a fist and gently tapped her head, "Regarding why you came to the Island, and your strange abilities, my memories are blurry, as if something is blocking them."
Needless to say, the key memories of the replicas were definitely blocked by the game.
If they knew about the existence of the game and the dungeon, all players would instantly be on their knees—these Shadow Replicas possessed great strength and speed. While Amamiya Natsuki could easily defeat them, it didn't mean other players could.
Leaving others aside, taking Yukinoshita Haruno as an example, even against the elementary school student Sakurako, she would have no power to fight back.
Furthermore, there were many Shadow Replicas on the Island. Once they knew the players' memories and objectives, dozens or even hundreds of Shadow Replicas would swarm them, resulting in a 100% player wipeout, with no other possibility.
The questioning continued.
Yukinoshita Haruno curiously raised her hand and asked, "Excuse me, can Shadows be replicated infinitely?"
"No." Shadow Chika's tone was cold, "Once a Shadow Replica is killed, that person can no longer be replicated."
Amamiya Natsuki asked, "Where is the mother body?"
Shadow Chika now possessed free will, and influenced by her memories and personality, she naturally stood by Amamiya Natsuki and the others. Upon hearing the question, she replied, "Underground. There's a huge cave beneath the Island."
Amamiya Natsuki then said, "What's the exact location of the mother body?"
"I don't know." Shadow Chika shook her head, "There's no specific location of the mother body in my memories."
Kitagawa Marin asked curiously, "How do you distinguish between a Shadow and a replica?"
"We distinguish through information." Shadow Chika calmly replied, "You humans can't do it."
"..."
After a round of questioning, everyone successfully obtained a large amount of valuable information.
Beneath the Island, there was a huge cave containing a creature called the 'mother body.' It was confirmed that this creature was not human. The mother body was injured for an unknown reason and urgently needed to feed to recover from its injuries. The indigenous people and tourists on the Island were emergency food.
In other words, players and Shadow creatures were natural enemies, with no possibility of peaceful coexistence.
There were many Shadow Replicas on the Island, their exact number unknown.
The mother body could remotely control and influence Shadow Replicas. It was currently unclear whether it could share the Shadow Replicas' vision and memories. Shadow Replicas were independent individuals and did not share memories, but they could transmit key information to other Shadow Replicas through pheromones.
"That's all for now." All the necessary information had been gathered. Amamiya Natsuki finished recording, sent a copy to Kaguya, Yukino, and Hayasaka, and then said, "Let's leave here first."
Having provided so much information, Shadow Chika was temporarily accepted by everyone and listed as being in the same faction.
As the group walked out of the room, they saw the elementary school student Sakurako still tied to the chair.
"Oh no." Sayu stuck out her pink tongue, "We forgot about Little Sakurako."
Amamiya Natsuki stepped over to the Shadow elementary school student and looked down, saying, "Did you hear everything just now?"
The Shadow elementary school student didn't answer. Instead, she turned to look at Shadow Chika, asking in confusion, "What did you encounter?"
"I just became my true self." Shadow Chika calmly replied, then turned to Amamiya Natsuki and revealed the Shadow elementary school student's weakness, "President, you just need to strike the Shadow's body on the ground to eliminate the Shadow Replica."
Clearly, Shadow creatures did not have a sense of kinship or camaraderie.
The girls all looked at Amamiya Natsuki, waiting for his decision.
Amamiya Natsuki pondered for a moment, then took out a hammer weapon from his game backpack.
His title ability still had a long cooldown, so he couldn't turn this elementary school student. And she had heard so many important conversations, so...
"Do you have anything else to say?"
Amamiya Natsuki asked.
The Shadow elementary school student was expressionless, as if completely indifferent to her own life or death: "No."
"Then... goodbye."
Bang.
The hammer in Amamiya Natsuki's hand slammed down, directly hitting the elementary school student's Shadow body on the ground.
The dilapidated wooden floor shattered with a crash.
Facing the heavy blow, the Shadow elementary school student's body immediately distorted, and under everyone's gaze, transformed into a puddle of black liquid, like sludge. The liquid then disappeared, leaving only a black mark.
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars for advance chapters|Every 100 powerstones=1 extra chapter|Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr | There's 16 novels being updated, I can't read your comments