Tokyo, but I'm a deceitful scumbag.

She hurriedly retraced her steps and arrived at the hole where the fox had hidden in the second round.

He reached inside and rummaged around.

I didn't find anything...

No, this hole seems much deeper than I imagined...

With time running out, the beautiful woman pressed her five fingers together and gently pressed them against the ground. Her slender arm transmitted a strong vibration, and in an instant, a seven- or eight-meter-long section of soil and rocks was turned upside down.

However, the cave still had no bottom!

actually……

A strange premonition arose in her heart, and Ryoko Senjougahara raised her head to look at something several dozen meters away.

The ground collapsed, creating a small hole. A strange mole with a drill-shaped head emerged from it and transformed back into Hideyuki Hoshino.

And standing within half a meter in front of him...

It's that door with the bell hanging on it!

It turns out that this time, he was performing a play about feigning an attack on one side while secretly advancing on another.

Human thinking is prone to making assumptions, and even great monsters are no exception.

Because Hoshino Hideyuki released two Rikishi in the second game, it was assumed that he would also release two Rikishi in the third game.

Since that hole had already been used in the second game, I naturally assumed that it would be used in a different location later.

Because the hole in the second round was very shallow, I naturally assumed that this hole would be just as shallow.

But all of this is wrong.

In fact, at the beginning of this round, Hoshino Hideyuki released the three strongest warriors of the limit to run out, while he himself hid back in the original cave—because it was a used cave, the residual smell was reasonable and would not arouse suspicion.

As soon as Senjougahara Ryoko left, he immediately began digging.

The location of the hole wasn't chosen randomly; it was a spot he deliberately circled back to after the second round, very close to the door with the bell hanging at the starting point!

Of course, "close" is relative; in order not to arouse Ryoko Senjougahara's suspicion, they were still more than 30 meters apart.

One hundred numbers shouldn't be enough for him to dig over.

But in reality, he was already digging deeper in the latter half of the second round. When Ryoko Senjougahara found the hole, he deliberately climbed back to the entrance and used his fat mole-like butt to hide the true depth of the cave.

Before emerging from the cave, he secretly summoned a strongman who transformed into a weasel and dug underground for several dozen seconds.

When the third round began, he replaced the strongman and continued digging.

Finally, taking into account the time it took Ryoko Senjougahara to find him, he dug underground for a total of 15 minutes!

He then transformed the mole's head into a drill, further increasing its speed!

So by the time Ryoko Senjougahara realized something was wrong, Hideyuki Hoshino had already arrived at the door!

Ok……

It seems it's too late to stop it...

Ryoko Senjougahara smiled faintly and decided not to chase after him. She simply waved to Hideyuki Hoshino from afar and said, "Little fox, you're about to win. Why leave now? Don't you want your reward?"

Hoshino Hideyuki ignored her and, seizing the moment, lunged forward.

Jingle Bell.

The door was pushed open smoothly, revealing the street scene of the real world behind it.

Thank goodness, the door wasn't locked or tampered with.

You won the gamble!

He breathed a sigh of relief and then shouted his reply:

"I, the fox, am not so naive as to believe the promise of a wicked cat!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he passed through the door and escaped from the peach grove.

Chapter 19 The Fox Almost Got Back into the Cage

The bell stopped ringing, the door closed again, and peach petals drifted down in the wind. In this beautiful scene, only the fox was missing.

Ryoko Senjougahara approached, remained silent for a few seconds, and then laughed heartily, looking even happier than before.

As she laughed, she gently clapped her hands:

"It was my carelessness. What an interesting little fox."

"However, after playing three games and then forcibly breaking through the boundary gate, your demonic power should be almost depleted, right?"

"I originally wanted to personally replenish your demonic power, but I didn't expect you to be so unromantic... Did you think that by working so hard you would abandon me?"

"You've made a complete mess of my precious paradise by digging holes everywhere. You can't leave it uncompensated!"

She rubbed the fox fur between her palms with a smile:

"Although the effect is worse than a whole tail, it's still usable."

"Hehe, little fox, we'll see each other again soon~"

at the same time.

[Successful deception, gained 10 cultivation points]

With the appearance of the prompt in front of him, Hideyuki Hoshino returned to the streets of Tokyo.

Judging from the surroundings, it should still be near the Abe Shopping Mall, but it seems like quite a while has passed, and the sun is already setting.

"That was close..."

He caught his breath, tore down a few lost cat posters from a nearby utility pole, and carefully wrapped the bell again, layer upon layer.

Still not satisfied, he went to the convenience store next door and bought a large bottle of beverage. After emptying it, he threw the bell into it.

Now, there's no need to worry about blood accidentally splattering on it.

He'll wait a while, then find a secluded spot to bury it in the ground; that should be safe.

The reason he went to all this trouble was mainly because he still had some thoughts about Senjougahara Ryoko—such as her background and the method she used to set up illusionary barriers, which he really wanted to know.

Unfortunately, our current strength is too weak, and both trading and extracting information are too risky.

We'll just have to put this bell away for now.

When we become stronger...

hum!

I'm going to trick you, you wicked cat, until you're completely swindled!

hiss……

The fox, who was standing with his hands on his hips, suddenly felt a splitting headache.

This...this is a depletion of demonic power?

Since transmigrating, the system has never given Hoshino Hideyuki any cultivation methods, only adding a little bit of demonic power when giving him spells and skills.

Therefore, his demonic power was never much, only barely enough, making him a typical mana-deficient mage.

The constant transformations and summoning of warriors in the previous three games had already depleted his demonic power. The final door-pushing accident also consumed a large amount of demonic power, completely draining his internal organs!

not good!

Even now, maintaining my human form consumes my demonic energy!

Hoshino Hideyuki quickly ducked into a nearby alley, hoping to find a safe place to rest.

But the situation was worse than he had imagined.

As soon as he went inside, his whole body felt weak and he collapsed...

She turned back into a pink-furred little fox.

Its four legs are spread out, its tail hangs on the ground, its eyes are crossed out, and half of its tongue is sticking out of its mouth.

In his last moments before losing consciousness, he cried out in his heart:

Spicy balls!

Let's rewind to a few hours earlier.

The countermeasures team entered the Abe Department Store, claiming to be police officers. They took control of the situation and questioned and recorded all the defrauded students.

Ichikiku, unaware of the truth, only felt that these people were quite strange, always pointing at the textbooks and the words on the wall, not like real police officers.

But she didn't say anything. Instead, she followed the script that Hoshino Hideyuki had taught her beforehand, blended in with the other trainees, and was eventually released.

With this, she was finally free from this nightmare.

But she couldn't laugh; instead, she felt lost and dejected.

Because she realized that she might never see that guy again.

The phone number was invalid, the name was fake, and I've forgotten most of the face, only vaguely remembering it. I don't know if I was drugged or hypnotized or something...

Fraudsters are terrifying.

Or perhaps it should be said that this is how con artists survive.

After calming down, Kikuri Ijichi's rationality told her that this was the best outcome for both parties.

She got her money back, and the conman slipped away without leaving a trace, thus severing all ties and allowing both parties to move on with their lives.

But emotionally... I really dislike it.

She couldn't tell whether it was because she hadn't been able to repay the debt of gratitude, or because of something else.

"At least let me sing you a song..."

Remembering the promise she made last week, she laughed self-deprecatingly.

After hesitating for a moment, she turned and walked to the convenience store on the street, bought a box of Higashino-style Oni Slayer Sake, and drank it all in one go.

"...Ugh! Really!"

As the wine went down her throat, Ichikiku finally felt a little better. She stomped her foot, looked up again, and strode forward.