The Strange Adventures of Hearn the Believer

They leaned against the container, peeking out only the bare minimum of their eyes to observe the current situation of the smuggling boat and its crew.

Sure enough, even on Christmas Eve, criminal gangs engaged in the illegal human trafficking business were still working tirelessly, which seemed to highlight the darkness under the lamp on such a warm and festive day.

"As agreed, as long as these people lose their memories, it'll be fine, right?" Nobunaga Hern asked Yukinoshita beside her one last time.

“Yes.” Yukino Yukinoshita rubbed her hands together, ready to go into battle. As long as she could make these people collectively lose their memories, no one would know that she had been to Tokyo.

"Then, let's go." The believer gave the order.

Yukinoshita subconsciously took a step forward, but noticing that the person beside her hadn't followed, she looked back in confusion.

Then she saw it—a zipper-like opening suddenly appearing on the metal wall of the container, and Mr. Hern, dressed in a white suit, walking inside with an air of nonchalance—keeping one foot inside.

"???"

"Ah, don't worry about the details. I'm a hacker. The world's top hackers can change the location code in the Cyber ​​Sea at will, so it's no problem for me to open a hole in the other office and go straight to the lair. If you don't mind, you can come along."

"No, this is clearly not something that can be achieved by tampering with data. What kind of anomaly are you?" Miss Yukinoshita was shocked. Connecting this with a certain part of the crazy knowledge she had previously received and digested, she quickly made a guess in her mind, "Are you also a superhuman?"

"Hmm, does that make you feel a little more at ease, my dear client?" Mr. Hearn stood in the void passageway and opened his personal inventory in front of Yukinoshita. He retrieved a personal item named "Clothesline 07" from the category of "Household Items" - "Clothing and Tools" - "Clothesline". It was a slender ancient katana sealed by a dark blue scabbard. Visible black mist constantly emanated from the blade, and the nearby data space was extremely unstable, as if it were infected by a virus, and seemed to be on the verge of collapse at any moment.

The believer, Hern, held it in his hand as if it were nothing. He kicked it hard in one direction of the void passage. The next moment, that direction opened up like a wall, and a dimly lit interior scene appeared before the two of them. It was the room that Miss Yukinoshita had passed through when she fled after her business deal fell through a few hours earlier.

“By the way, as a basis for our cooperation, please keep my real name a secret. I have another nickname in the industry.” Nobunaga Hernée extended her hand to Yukino Yukinoshita, who was standing outside the passageway, as an invitation. “Welcome to embrace the shadow, madam.”

Yukino hesitated for a moment, her senses numbed by two completely different emotions—excitement and fear coexisting. Soon, this runaway young lady was driven by the primal desire deep in her heart to escape the daily routine, casting aside the last bit of hesitation.

“Tell me your nickname in the industry.” Yukino Yukinoshita took his hand and smoothly slipped into the tunnel. The void rift behind them closed. She was no longer troubled by these surreal phenomena, but instead dealt with them actively with an extremely calm mindset.

Thirty hours after leaving her comfort zone, Yukino Yukinoshita finally found her place in the unfamiliar environment.

"Constantine, a name given to me by my colleagues across the ocean, ever since I messed up and blew up the Hive under Yellowstone National Park."

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Chapter 24 Unheard of Fish Head

"If you give me $40, I will stand silently at your funeral on a rainy day, wearing a black suit, holding a black umbrella, and watching from a distance until you are buried. That way, your ordinary life will be shrouded in a little mystery at the end."

"what?"

"Just talking to myself." The believer ignored the question from the girl who had just taken down two big men a few steps away, and, holding the hilt of her sword, delivered a blunt blow to the back of the head of each of the writhing, rolling human pustules on the ground. "Humanity has never stopped trying to escape the ordinary."

Soon, there was no living thing standing in the entire building other than the two of them.

The believer turned around and observed the girl who was carefully checking the ground for any fish that had escaped the net.

To be fair, the process of mowing down this group of port thugs who were engaged in the human smuggling business just minutes ago, which was like a flower blooming inside an explosion, was not even worth a second glance in the rich life experience of the creature named Nobunari Hern. In contrast, the girl named Yukino Yukinoshita, who was the client, showed remarkable potential in handling this business.

Humble, cautious, calm, decisive, and swift in action, her deceptively delicate appearance hides superb jujitsu skills far beyond the reach of ordinary people. Of course, the most valuable thing, which is what she is doing, is to always hit people on the back of the head and remember to finish them off.

Talent.

Judging from the resume Charlotte compiled, she is a girl who is not good at any particular subject and has well-rounded and excellent qualities. She can easily handle both daily and non-daily tasks, except for her slightly poor physical fitness.

Furthermore, since their first meeting, Mr. Hearn had heard the word "amnesia" mentioned more than once. Hearn did not take it as a joke or a harsh statement. Combined with the chaos that followed when they entered the house, where the girl displayed various jujitsu techniques targeting the back of the head, and her calm demeanor while holding a key to the White House, Mr. Hearn could not help but have a guess.

"Ms. Yukinoshita."

"Ok?"

Have you ever explored Hive at least once and survived? And gained something from it?

"Why do you think so?"

"You're too skilled and too calm, that's all."

The believer leaned against the wall, holding the scabbard, her gaze lightly sweeping across the girl's face, observing her expression.

"If Mr. Hearn believes this is also the basis for cooperation, then..."

"Don't get me wrong, I have no interest in your past experiences. I just want to remind you that if it was just a one-off abnormal experience that made you want to run away from home and then you actually did it, then I advise you to go back as soon as possible."

"I made this choice after careful consideration."

"is it?"

After saying this, the believer ignored the girl in front of her, picked up her knife, turned around, and walked into the dimly lit corridor.

I could hear a girl's footsteps hurrying up behind me, very close.

“Mr. Hearn, I hope you understand that I am not addicted to this world in the shadows because of an unusual experience.”

"Oh."

"I would choose to flee my family simply because I have deduced an unavoidable crisis in the future."

"You looked like you were already in crisis, not long ago."

"That was a fate more unbearable than death."

"cool."

"Mr. Hearn."

"What? High school syndrome?"

""

The footsteps behind paused briefly, then quickly caught up again with a series of hurried little steps. This time, the distance was even closer than before. If their paces were out of sync, the two people walking one after the other might even bump toes.

Why don't young people understand the value of family?

The believer, Hearn, was slightly uneasy.

Perhaps because of his NEET older sister, Nobunaga Hearn's personality does indeed contain a "motherly" element that Touma Kazusa once jokingly mentioned, which makes him naturally nag a bit when facing lost lambs, or more accurately, lost little ewes.

Nobun cherishes her family very much, so she naturally felt a little puzzled by Yukino Yukinoshita's decision to run away from home. The girl had just mentioned a future that was even more unacceptable than death. Taking the second daughter of a politician's family as the starting point, the answer is actually quite simple to understand - she was forced to choose a university major she didn't like, the boy she had a crush on in high school married her best friend, and after graduating from university, she was unable to make a name for herself in the workplace and instead became a full-time housewife.

To put it more succinctly, it boils down to seven words: lost, cheated on, went home.

Even though they were blessed by heaven, like Dongma and Sha, who had one of the three, they still cried their hearts out and got completely drunk.

The advent of what love is?

But this is not a reason to choose loneliness or to escape.

In this era teeming with demons and monsters, how simple it is to change the "tragedies" of the three ordinary people mentioned above. Yukino Yukinoshita has already stepped one foot through the door of the dark side of the electronic sea. Even if she returns to the family that suffocates her, there is still a chance for a change.

She is an excellent person with few weaknesses, but her excellence does not reach the level of being outstanding; otherwise, she would not have to worry about the future she foresaw.

Mr. Hearn had already seen through her predicament. The reason he suggested going to the White House together after this little episode in the port area was twofold: firstly, to discover some rare knowledge that he had been seeking, and secondly, to take the girl there to try her luck.

The "Beloved One" is undoubtedly the core character in this hidden "Hive". As long as you are lucky enough to win all the way to the end, Yukino Yukinoshita, as the "Beloved One", will definitely reap a lot, and this reap will often change the fate of her life.

The countermeasures office of the Land of the Rising Sun seems to regard [Hive] as a cancer of the world—this is also the view held by most political systems around the world regarding [Hive]. In Mr. Hearn's view, this view is not wrong, but it is a bit too conservative. [Hive] is indeed an unknown existence lurking in the chaotic void and other subspaces, attempting to further penetrate reality through the sea of ​​electrons. However, risks always go hand in hand with benefits.

It's 2097 now, and humanity has already accepted that staying at home and generating income in the electronic world can cover all the expenses of a sedentary lifestyle. So why can't we accept another, riskier investment method?

As the first to try something new, extraordinary individuals emerged.

Therefore, rather than dealing with the stubborn human guardians of the Far East Countermeasures Office, the half-romantic Hearn preferred to associate with some secret societies active in the Pan-European region, the most prominent of which was a group of extraordinary individuals called the Golden Dawn who had repeatedly extended olive branches to her.

The footsteps behind him were getting closer and closer, and they had already stepped on Mr. Hearn's heels once or twice.

Although he wasn't a germaphobe, he always felt uncomfortable being stepped on, and stepping on people was also very impolite. Anyway, Mr. Hearn stopped without warning and then suddenly turned around.

Fortunately, the little tail following behind was equally quick-witted, stopping at the same time Mr. Hearn stopped, thus avoiding an embarrassing rear-end collision.

It was a figure dressed in a light blue kimono, roughly the same height as Mr. Hearn. His exposed skin was a smooth, shiny gray-green, his back was covered in scales, his body was hunched, and his forelimbs were long and almost reached the ground, giving him some ape-like features. Above his neck was a huge fish head, with a pair of huge, bulging, never-closing eyes staring at Mr. Hearn without moving.

"Wa ...

The fish mouth emitted a noisy sound, seemingly an ancient and complex language, containing an obscure and murky emotion.

"My God, Yukinoshita, you're so ugly!"

With a fluid motion, she drew her sword, swung it, and sheathed it, slicing the fish's head into the ceiling with a single stroke. Then, she leaped over the slowly collapsing headless fish carcass and charged into the darkness she had come from.

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Chapter 25 RushB

The believer's soul contains about a teaspoon of obsessive-compulsive disorder, so if Yukino Yukinoshita were to become mentally disabled here before heading to the White House as promised, he would probably have trouble sleeping for several days and feel restless.

He hates cats.

The journey hadn't been fast, and the distance to the room they had initially left wasn't far. Nobunaga hurried back along the same path, intending to search for any clues left behind by the missing Yukino Yukinoshita. Unfortunately, reality thwarted his plans.

The brief journey back was over in an instant. He returned to the office door he had just left, kicked it open, and was greeted by a completely different, magnificent scene.

"Damn it!" the believer cursed, paused for less than a second to think, and then charged straight in.

Just a door away, it feels like another world.

The moment the believer stepped through the door, a twisted, inverted sensation washed over him. His back foot was still outside the door, and he felt the gravity coming from beneath his feet. As his front foot stepped through the door, the oncoming gravity instantly pulled him forward.

His vision spun, and after leaping through the doorway, the woman felt as if she were experiencing an unexpected fall from a great height. The damp air rushed by, turning into a gust of wind that brushed past her ears, her dark hair billowing. She opened her eyes and saw a still pool of water a hundred meters below, resembling a natural underground lake. The water was azure, reflecting the moonlight. But the surrounding area didn't resemble a karst cave, but rather a Japanese-style building. Redwood ridges, gold paper walls, and warm yellow paper lanterns hanging from the eaves all around. The walls were painted with mysterious and ancient ukiyo-e depictions—sea creatures, clam mothers, mermaids, yakshas, ​​and giant sea monsters existing only in legends.

Dragon.

However, the believer had no time to appreciate the scenery, as she was falling towards the tranquil lake.

The direction of gravity in the world behind this door is a full 90 degrees different from before!

At the last moment before touching the water, the woman opened her private contact list.

Human rationality and emotion both have thresholds. When something is wavering between 0 and 1, the person involved is often determined, self-disciplined, and unwavering. But once it exceeds 1, most of them let themselves go.

That phrase, "something only has zero times and countless times," probably means something like that.

The believer leisurely followed the current towards the bottom of the lake, occasionally wiggling like a dolphin.

Although there were various uncertainties about the underwater conditions before entering the water, most of these uncertainties were pessimistic. Therefore, Mr. Hearn thought more about how not to fall in than how to float up after falling in.

Who knows what strange things might be lurking underwater? What if it's a mouth waiting to be fed?

However, judging from the current situation, he is probably overthinking things, at least that's the case for now.

A few minutes later, the believer slowly descended to the bottom of the lake.

Rather than being the bottom of a lake, there is no soil structure such as silt at all; instead, it is a flat tatami floor.

The entire enclosed space resembles a giant Japanese-style building filled with water, at least in this currently partitioned room.

The woman lifted her foot and tried stepping on the warm yellow tatami floor, which responded with a deep, metallic clang.

""

What the heck is this? This floor, which looks like bamboo tatami mats, feels like kicking a steel plate when you stomp on it! What kind of incompetent renovation contractor did this?

Standing at the bottom of the lake, Hearn scratched his head and reluctantly opened the minimized window of his private communication terminal.

"Moxi moxi."

"【Do you want to accelerate to an even higher level?】"

""

""

"Sorry, wrong number."

"Wait a minute! I just turned on Do Not Disturb mode. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes, I need to ask you for a favor, but before that, I suspect you of distributing prohibited electronic addictive products."

"Please ignore that message, Mr. Scones."

"Okay, let's put that aside for now. First, you need to pronounce my name correctly."

“Mr. Constantine…”

Good evening, Lotus.

"Receiving a private message from Mr. Constantine on Christmas Eve, a sweet, warm, and highly ritualistic time, and thinking that Mr. Scones might be right outside the door, Lotus's heart was pounding so hard that her fingers couldn't help but want to dial 110."

"Please tame the rampaging deer in your heart immediately. I have important business with you at this time, Lotus."

What kind of "serious business" could happen between a notorious "gentleman" and a fourteen-year-old "lady" on Christmas Eve? Mr. Scones, are you really not at my door? The first "1" has already been pressed.

"Please make sure to press '0' all the way through, then call the police to take that hopeless shut-in from the house across the street to the hospital for a few days. I'm afraid she'll starve to death before I get home."

"There's no need to worry about Miss Kaguya. I visit her every day after school and cook some meals for her. Actually, Mr. Scones has been out of ingredients in the refrigerator for over a week."

"Thank you very much, I will remember it."

"So what exactly is the matter, Mr. Scones? There's no such thing as staying up late on a top student's schedule."