Kaguya-sama: Love Is War wants me to turn myself in.

"Ahem." Natsuki Amamiya pretended not to hear and continued, "It's already nine o'clock. According to what Haimeng said before, the Shadows should take action when the tourists come down the mountain."

After a pause, Natsuki Amamiya said softly:

"Let me reiterate the operation plan: the target, 'Four Hands,' is a member of the Shadows, and seems to be a high-ranking member. He will definitely appear in tonight's operation."

"Let's observe secretly first; it would be best if we could catch them in the act."

"If the other party doesn't show up, then eliminate the other shadows to force the other party to appear."

Yukino Yukinoshita crossed her arms over her chest and whispered:

"There are still some questions that haven't been answered... According to Chika, the Shadow Mother was injured and her reproductive ability was limited, so she couldn't give birth to shadows indefinitely. Therefore, the original inhabitants on the island who were replaced by shadows were all important figures... If that's the case, why were we almost all copied?"

“It does make some sense.” Amamiya Natsuki nodded. “Logically speaking, we are just ordinary tourists and have no right to have all the shadows copied.”

Shadow Chika, Shadow Haimeng, Shadow Senior, Shadow Zhuzhu, Shadow Shoko... and the shadow of herself that Haimeng mentioned, it all feels a bit strange.

Fujiwara Chika raised her hand and said:

"Could it be that the game is behind this?"

“It shouldn’t be,” Hayasaka Ai said, shaking her head slightly. “If the game is playing tricks, there’s no need to create a fog in the shadow’s mind.”

"There's one more thing," Kaguya Shinomiya said softly, "It seems one bottle of the potion is missing."

Amamiya Natsuki looked at the young lady: "What?"

"When I checked my backpack just now, I found that one bottle of medicine was missing," Kaguya Shinomiya said softly. "You can check your backpack."

Currently, the only witch potion everyone possesses is the Night Potion, which allows one to see in the dark. As potion manufacturers, they naturally have an ample supply, with each person carrying five bottles of Night Potion in their backpacks. The effect of one bottle lasts for several hours, and there's no need for more.

After hearing Kaguya's words, everyone started checking their backpacks.

Fujiwara Chika exclaimed softly, "Eh, I only have three bottles of witch's potion left. I just drank one, so there should be four left. How come there's one less... Did I remember wrong?"

Hayasaka Ai frowned slightly and said:

“I remember clearly that when I came from Tokyo, I put five bottles of medicine in my backpack, and now there are only three left.”

Yukino Yukinoshita opened her eyes and whispered:

"I only have three bottles."

"Everyone's suddenly missing a potion!" Fujiwara Chika's eyes widened. "Could it have been pocketed by the game?"

Amamiya Natsuki raised an eyebrow and said:

"Message the senior students to ask how many potions they have left."

"Let me ask."

Fujiwara Chika quickly took out her phone and sent a message.

After a while.

Fujiwara Chika looked up and said:

"That's strange. Senior, Hai Meng, and Zhu Zhu all said there were five bottles of potion in the backpack... It seems like we're the only ones missing one? Why is that?"

The group sat together trying to figure out the reason, but unfortunately they couldn't find the answer.

If the game were to 'steal' potions, there's no reason why the senior students wouldn't have a single potion missing from their backpacks.

Unfortunately, Natsuki Amamiya only receives a notification when she sees something concrete. Right now, she only notices that one bottle of medicine has disappeared out of thin air, so no notification has appeared yet.

At this moment, Shadow Thousand Flowers suddenly stood up and calmly said:

"They've started their operation."

Chapter 598 is actually in the second playthrough.

"The shadows in the shrine have disappeared."

"Shadow Thousand Flowers said calmly."

Amamiya Natsuki stood up and said:

"They've started moving... Let's follow them."

Stepping out of the shrine, the once bustling summer festival had somehow become quiet.

A cold wind blew in, and the air was filled with a smell that made people shudder.

Kaguya Shinomiya's expression was solemn as she whispered:

"It smells like blood."

Fujiwara Chika opened her eyes wide and quickly said:

"Let's go and take a look."

Following the scent, the group quickly arrived at a corner outside the shrine, where they saw two young people in yukatas lying in a pool of blood. They were a man and a woman, and they appeared to be a couple. The stone slab beneath them was soaked with blood, which had gathered into a small stream that was meandering through the ground.

"How...how could this be?" Secretary Qianhua's eyes widened. "Could it be that they've already..."

Amamiya Natsuki frowned slightly, squatted down beside the two young men to conduct a brief examination, and then said in a deep voice:

"They've stopped breathing. The takoyaki scattered around them are still steaming. They must have just been attacked. The fatal wound is in their back, pierced through by some kind of sharp object. Neither of them even resisted or struggled... The killer must be Shadow."

Seeing such a tragic and bloody scene, Kaguya Shinomiya and Yukino both frowned. Although this was a dungeon, even players would feel sorrow upon seeing their fellow beings being brutally murdered.

Only Shadow Thousand Flowers remained unmoved, sniffed the air, and calmly said:

"I smelled blood again up ahead."

Amamiya Natsuki stood up and said:

"Let's go take a look."

Several girls bit their lips and followed closely behind Amamiya Natsuki.

Tens of meters away.

Another pool of blood appeared before them.

This time it wasn't a couple, but two elderly people and a child, presumably an elder and a grandchild. Both elderly people had penetrating wounds and had stopped breathing. The old woman was holding the child in her arms, but unfortunately, she too succumbed to her injuries.

"It's too much, it's too much!"

Fujiwara Chika clenched her fists, more angry than she had ever been in her life.

Hayasaka Ai frowned as well: "Those shadows don't even spare elementary school students."

The first killing...

The second killing...

The Shadows' plans were no longer a matter of speculation; they were clearly a primitive and brutal massacre.

Yukino Yukinoshita frowned deeply and said:

"Are those shadows planning to kill everyone at the summer festival?"

“It seems so now.” Shadow Thousand Flowers remained calm, unaffected by the bloody scene before her, and said indifferently, “When the Mother feeds, she needs the other party to be unable to move. Even if a human dies, the information will not disappear immediately and can continue to exist for several hours. Therefore, killing all the humans on the island is the most correct way to feed.”

"..."

Upon hearing this, the girls fell silent, including the older students who were monitoring the situation via their phones.

After most of a peaceful day, the brutal reality of the dungeon was finally revealed.

No matter how much those shadows resemble humans, they are fundamentally different beings from humans. In the eyes of shadow creatures, killing a human is as simple as a human killing an ant, without any pity or hesitation.

At that moment, screams and cries for help suddenly came from afar.

"go!"

The group exchanged glances and quickly ran over. Soon, they came across the crime scene in a bamboo forest. A middle-aged man in a suit and gold-rimmed glasses was wielding a sharp knife and was relentlessly killing people. He was undoubtedly a shadow clone. In front of them, four or five tourists were screaming for help and running away in panic. People living in peacetime would not have the courage to resist such a bloody and cruel killer. In fact, even if all of them rushed at him, they would not be a match for the shadow creature.

Kaguya Shinomiya frowned, turned to look at Natsuki Amamiya, and whispered:

"President?"

Amamiya Natsuki said in a deep voice:

"Deal with that shadow."

According to the action plan that everyone had previously formulated, the best option was to hide in the shadows and wait for the Four Hands to appear before launching a sudden attack to carry out a decapitation strike.

But now... even those of the same kind in the instance can't be so cold-blooded as to sit idly by and watch them being slaughtered.

boom!

In the escape of the couple, the girl suddenly lost her footing and fell to the ground. She couldn't get up for a while and frantically reached out to her boyfriend.

The boy stopped and turned around to help the girl up. However, when he saw the devil in the suit walking straight towards him, a hesitant expression appeared on his face. His courage vanished instantly, and fear filled his heart. He said sorry and turned to run away.

Watching helplessly as the boy turned and ran away, tears welled up in the girl's eyes. Just as she was about to despair, the shadowy man in the suit appeared beside her, his voice cold as he said:

"According to general theory, your boyfriend has no legal obligation to come back and save you... Hmm? Who are you?"

Hearing footsteps, the girl thought her boyfriend had run back. She looked up in surprise, only to find that the person standing in front of her was not her boyfriend, but a cute girl.

“Zhang San, the outlaw, it’s you!” Secretary Qianhua pointed angrily at him.

"What do you mean?"

The man in the shadow suit felt completely bewildered, then raised his butcher knife without hesitation, preparing to strike Secretary Qianhua.

next second.

To the girl's astonishment, a naked boy appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the shoulder of the shadowy man in the suit:

"You're under arrest."

Shadow creatures all possess the ability to escape into the shadows. To prevent the shadowy man in the suit from escaping into the shadows when things go wrong, Natsuki Amamiya chose the safest method—transforming into a leg accessory and attacking together with Chika.

Shadow creatures are not wary of ordinary people, so Natsuki Amamiya and Chika successfully got close and captured their target by surprise.

Immediately afterwards, Kaguya and Yukino, who had been hiding in the shadows, walked over and, without any further words, struck the shadows on the ground.

boom!

Mud splashes.

The shadow, fatally wounded, twisted instantly, and its body on the ground followed suit, quickly turning into a clump of mud that melted into the ground, leaving only a black, humanoid trace.