Love, Gun, Cupid

Jianlan reminded him, "Stand up, Lin Jiade, the battle is not over yet."

"Oh, right."

Lin Jiade got up again and climbed to the top of the mountain. The field gun had been destroyed by the kapok tree, and the remaining gunners were scattering like birds and beasts, having no courage to fight back.

Lin Jiade was chasing after a deserter. His instinct was to kill him, but when he heard the deserter begging for mercy, he softened and changed his aim from vital organs to the hands and feet.

Kapok killed all the enemies he had wounded and said, "You understand now, this is why I don't want you to come to the Mirror Realm."

Chapter 41 Asuka VII

Lin Jiade explained, "They have no grudge against me, so it's difficult for me to go... I'm sorry."

“Soon, you won’t think that way anymore,” Kapok replied. “The Wanderers will give you a valid reason to kill them through their actions.”

Lin Jiade shrugged: "Isn't that great? It allows me to set aside my moral burdens and fight the enemy..."

“Not good at all. I’m worried that killing evil people will give you the illusion that you are a champion of justice. Remember, Lin Jiade, justice and evil are not for people like us to judge.”

The drifting smoke ended the conversation, and Lin Jiade successfully racked up five passive assists. His ID "Lin Huang," registered with the Magic Registrar's Office, already had seven assists in two battles, a statistic that was enough to impress some people.

After the passion subsided, exhaustion overwhelmed him. Lin Jiade greeted Kapok, but the latter lunged at him, causing the crossbow bolt aimed at Lin Jiade's buttocks to miss. The two tumbled down the hillside together.

Seeing their artillery position destroyed, the remaining enemies lost their will to fight. The three mercenaries remaining in the Kapok team scattered the other enemies, and as they hurriedly looted the loot boxes, they were surprised to find that some of the corpses were missing soul fragments.

However, a sense of crisis led them to directly cover the retreat of the two wounded without delving into the details.

The battles in the wilderness are a recurring theme, a story of cicadas, mantises, and orioles. This conspicuous fighting easily attracts the attention of other teams, and the risks of a war of attrition outweigh the rewards. Lin Jiade and his group must rest before engaging in further combat.

After retreating some distance, Arcturus finally picked up Lin Jiade and Mumian, and the two sat silently on the Minotaur's not-so-muscular chest.

Healing spells were cast, repairing the abrasions on their bodies and the bruises at their joints. Arcturus released them, and Lin Jiade felt his legs go weak, only to be grabbed by Kapok again.

"Feeling weak in the hands and feet? Beginners always repeat the same mistakes."

Lin Jiade turned around and saw Yuki rummaging through her backpack, pulling out a jar and handing it to him, saying, "You're a bit clumsy, but your courage is commendable. Apply it to the areas where your muscles are sore; it can quickly break down lactic acid and heal wounds."

Does this mean I've been recognized?

Lin Jiade took it, rolled up his trouser leg, and applied it to his calves. He realized that in terms of sheer courage, he was no less than anyone else present, but in terms of judging the battlefield situation, allocating and planning his energy, he was far behind the veterans.

Now he could understand why Mu Mian didn't want him to be a lone wolf in the Mirror Realm.

But how can he collect the soul fragments?

Gladiolus shook her head; she had gained something tonight. These smaller fragments depicted Gladiolus's fragmented memories: her innocent appearance in a black pinafore dress and white shirt when she was in junior high school; the way she extracted souls from the heads of the living during a mission; and the way she sat on her own sofa, staring blankly at the pile of parenting books.

If there weren't so many outsiders, she would have disregarded her image and floated beside Lin Jiade, sharing this joy with him.

That's enough.

Lin Jiade understood the meaning behind Jianlan's gaze, and a faint joy spread through his chest, likely stemming from Jianlan's feelings transmitted through the will link. Mu Mian glanced at him, then lowered her head and kicked a pebble at her feet.

“Alright,” said Kapok, “let’s continue.”

When the squad moved again, they formed a 1-3-1 formation, with Lin Jiade at the very front, Arcturus behind him, Kapok and Star Flying Fish on Arcturus's left and right flanks respectively, and Yuki bringing up the rear.

Whether playing five-a-side or eleven-a-side football, Lin Jiade is usually positioned at the very front. Therefore, when he walks at the front, he doesn't show any fear, but rather a sense of familiarity.

His responsibility was to scout, and for this purpose, he pretended to use detection spells, but in reality, this work was done by Gladiolus, and he was just a ruthless repeater.

Behind him were seasoned adventurers with considerable experience, who couldn't possibly fail to notice Lin Jiade's anomaly. However, their knowledge was insufficient to explain this anomaly, just as fans of Attack on Titan couldn't explain the unfinished ending of the series.

Therefore, they had no choice but to accept the reality and treat Lin Jiade, an apprentice-level magic researcher, as a scout.

"Pause."

Lin Jiade gestured, pointing to a five-person team about 150 meters away at the 3 o'clock position. Jianlan silently observed the team's soul flames, then said to Lin Jiade, "They've been lured by creatures from the Mirror Realm."

Yes, the truce agreement between the Mirror Realm and the Empire stipulates that the Mirror Realm is not allowed to actively harm members of the Empire, but clearly, the temptation is not in the concept of "harm".

Once they accept the offer from the Mirror Realm creatures, whether they are Homo sapiens or any other alien race, their minds will be consumed by the illusions created by the Mirror Realm creatures, and their bodies will slowly assimilate with them.

Birds devour worms, and birds can also become worms. Are you the bird that resists temptation, or the worm that accepts the offer?

New text appeared on the mirror, warning the birds and worms of their choices. Lin Jiade glanced at it only before looking away; he was now a bird, and it would be difficult for him to return to being a worm.

At the same time, he pondered the "mistaken secret" that the Kapok Squad was searching for, which was very likely the "mistake" hinted at in the text that only Lin Jiade could see.

So what exactly is it? And what is the connection between the secret of error and Gladiolus's soul?

Lin Jiade had to consider a terrible possibility: Gladiolus's soul contained a false secret, or even that she herself was the false secret, and that once her soul was restored to its full potential, it might trigger disastrous developments.

However, Lin Jiade found it hard to believe that even the Gladiolus before she lost her memory had turned him into a life-saver. After spending time with the Lich Lady, he only felt that she was a mature and gentle wife, not the kind of madwoman who would kill 80% of the world's population.

What if the worst-case scenario is true? Will he end the flight of the erroneous bird, or foster the growth of the erroneous worm?

He glanced at Jianlan with mixed feelings, and Yuki came over and tapped him on the head: "What are you spacing out for? What are the investigation results?"

Lin Jiade recounted Jianlan's findings, and Mu Mian pondered for a moment before saying, "Let's go take a look. Our mission is to retrieve the erroneous secrets."

The squad moved cautiously, fearing that the group standing there in a daze might be using some kind of bait or some terrible witchcraft. Any desperado who dared to come here to seize imperial secrets must be either a fool or someone with a secret weapon.

They moved slowly, and Kapok walked up to Lin Jiade, revealing common knowledge that was not classified but usually unknown to magic researchers outside the system.

Chapter 42 Asuka VIII (Bonus Chapter)

“The Department of Magic Registration has 650 million registered magic researchers, 5 oracle protectors, and 35 sorcerers, but according to estimates from the Special Statistics Bureau, the number of these three registered groups is only half of the actual number,” said Kapok.

"So, the empire's control isn't as strong as we ordinary folks imagine?" Lin Jiade asked.

"No, the Empire's control over its core thirteen continents is strong, so where do you think the other half, who possess witchcraft, oracles, and magic, would be?"

Lin Jiade looked around: "Here?"

"Yes, other worlds like the Mirror World, which are connected to the Empire by pathways, are one of the nests of this group of people."

The Empire has always harbored strong hostility towards those who are neither part of the official system nor registered in the Magic Registrar's Office. If given the opportunity to find them, it will undoubtedly attempt to eliminate any future threats.

“Uh, I think I can accept this setting,” Lin Jiade said.

Sword Orchid interjected: "No, what Kapok means is that if the Mirror Realm is a possible hiding place for unregistered magic researchers, divine protectors, and sorcerers, then the Empire would not send a suicide squad consisting of four intermediate magic researchers and one apprentice-level magic researcher."

"The Suicide Squad is pretty fierce..." Lin Jiade muttered.

"?" Kapok asked.

"It's nothing. Senior, do you mean that there are other empires' forces in the Mirror Realm? If so, what is the point of our existence?"

"It makes it clear that the Empire will act by exploiting loopholes in the rules while adhering to the agreement, rather than tearing up the treaty outright. Every civilization does the former, while the latter, once exposed, can easily damage diplomatic credibility."

"So, we're just tools the Empire uses to appease other civilizations? If things come to light, we're just a group of unrelated civilians, not magic researchers within the system?" Lin Jiade said.

"More than that, I suspect that there may be professionals within the system, at least those with senior professional titles, in our ranks."

Lin Jiade vaguely remembered an anime adaptation of a novel called "One of Them Is My Sister," which told the story of a girl who had feelings for the male protagonist, one of whom was his sister. Because he didn't want to be involved in orthopedic surgery, the male protagonist was quite annoyed by the girls who were throwing themselves at him.

He glanced back at the three mercenaries behind him and felt he could understand the protagonist's predicament—

If you do something wrong or say something wrong, it's not something that can be resolved by going to an orthopedic doctor.

"I don't know why you came to the Mirror Realm, but please be careful not to clash head-on with the behemoth that is the Empire," said Kapok.

So you still don't trust me. Do I really look like the kind of person who would do something foolish? Lin Jiade thought.

“Yes, it does,” Gladiolus said.

The young man shrugged. A man's privacy is also privacy. The lich lady's accurate guess was troubling him.

When Lin Jiade and Mu Mian ended their encrypted call, they had already reached the edge of the Wallfacer squad. The young man pretended to take out binoculars to observe the situation on the other side.

“They didn’t move at all, they were even more well-behaved than the students who were being punished by the teacher to stand in the corner,” Lin Jiade said.

What kind of description is this?

The rhinestone elf performs an undead forward roll and fires an arrow without aiming, sacrificing draw weight to achieve a rate of fire approaching the limits of a modern compound bow. On top of that, the elf archer simultaneously casts a spell to enhance the arrow, thereby compensating for its lethality.

Five arrows pierced the calves of five targets, but the five wall-facing men still did not react, much like Teacher Yang's state of being lost in a hallucination. However, these pitiful enemies were even more deeply lost than Teacher Yang.

Based on morality, Lin Jiade said, "Don't touch those mirror-like things, and don't accept their offers, or you'll end up like those people facing the wall in front of you."

"You've experienced this before?" Arcturus asked curiously. "What kind of offer can it possibly make?"

“They will read the memories of those they come into contact with, and then create an immersive illusion, giving the person they come into contact with what they crave most in their heart.”

“In that case, we should at least stick to traveling in pairs,” said Starfish. “Let me take care of Lin…”

“A team of five is already quite small; there’s no need to subdivide it further,” Mu Mian said. “Is there anything else you know?”

Lin Jiade replied, "Time seems to pass at a different rate here than it does back home."

“After all, it’s an alien planet. The mass of the planet is different, and the speed at which time passes is also different,” Yuki said.

“The gravity should be different too,” Lin Jiade stretched his body, “but I didn’t feel anything unusual.”

"The protective gear we wear helps us adjust, and in addition, your body unconsciously uses its internal energy to adjust, so that you 'feel' that the gravity environment here is the same as our home planet."

The interstellar flying fish said, "Do you feel breathless after a fight? That's because in addition to fighting, you also have to continuously fight against the gravity of this planet, which is stronger than your home planet, so your energy consumption is much greater than it was on your home planet."

Yuki added, "Luckily, the air composition of this planet is similar to that of our home planet, otherwise we would have had to add even more components to our masks... Hey, why are you covering your head?"

Lin Jiade said with some shame, "I didn't even think about any of this. I just came here like an idiot."

Arcturus patted him on the shoulder: "It's okay, I didn't think about it either."

Yuki rolled her eyes at the minotaur, annoyed. "Minotaur, with your three lungs and two stomachs, thick skin and super survival skills, don't talk! We elves and Homo sapiens are all very sophisticated species!"

With a sword in one hand, Mu Mian carefully licked the bag with crab-like steps, leaving those people completely naked after being touched by the bodysuit-clad monster.

Mu Mian took out her phone again to take pictures and compared them with the built-in database, saying, "These people seem to be suspects wanted by the Empire."

The three mercenaries raised their arms and cheered in unison. Lin Jiade, not knowing what they were so happy about, also raised his arm and shouted, "Yay!"

The five wanted criminals (suspected) were assigned to Arcturus, Yuki, Lin Jiade, and Kapok in a 2111 manner, leaving only the young T-star flying fish to lead the way.

Soon after, they returned to the place where the battle had begun, but the defeated enemies had left behind only worthless scraps.

As if sensing Lin Jiade's confusion, Mu Mian explained, "In a place like this, corpses are also a resource."

Lin Jiade didn't want to imagine what those who picked up the corpses would do to them. However, he wondered if he would be picked up and used for some strange purpose if he were to die here... Just thinking about this made his palms sweat.

There are a total of 65 chapters owed, of which 16 have been paid, leaving 49 chapters to be paid.

Chapter 43 Asuka IX

They sat down to rest for a while and replenish their water supply, while Lin Jiade, who felt he had used up the most energy, had already opened a self-heating food package. Midway through, Yuki, Arcturus, and the Flying Fish went to survey the surrounding terrain together.

Lin Jiade watched them leave, and Mu Mian asked, "Are you concerned about them?"