"God?"
Regarding the game manager mentioned by the emotional aggregate, Alister, assuming "this world is a game," tentatively spoke up.
"Anger (50% → 25%)"
"Happiness (0% → 20%)"
"Disgust (20% → 25%)"
"Uh... uh... God?"
However, the emotional aggregate emitted electronic malfunction noises, with garbled code flickering and misaligning. Its physical composition changed once again, revealing a fleeting aura of superiority.
"But you're just a sinner with 'authority'... You and I are on the same side in this battle..."
"The enemy of the game manager is someone we acknowledge." The emotional aggregate seemed to be giving a parting request, "By shattering this sequence game, everything will return to reality..."
Then...
"Anger (25% → 0%)"
"Fear (2% → 27%)"
Leaving this sentence lingering on the streets of the late night, the emotional aggregate glanced at the game rules, then vanished from space, voluntarily exiting the game.
The chaotic code of the void consumed it, restoring everything to its original state—a voluntary surrender capable of erasing space at will.
In the next moment, a light blue system prompt appeared, indicating that the current game event had ended.
"I can't feel happy about this..." Alister dispelled the shadows, clearly feeling troubled.
Claiming to be a bug, proclaiming the world as a game program, and then the supposed god-like game manager becoming an enemy... However, all of this was just one side of the emotional aggregate's story and couldn't be completely trusted.
Perhaps it was all lies, who knows.
"Evaluating player performance... ￥# data deletion?*"
Then, Alister noticed an abnormal game settlement, and the system interface also displayed garbled code related to the emotional aggregate...
"Player ranking... %& data deletion"
An existence capable of erasing space and even interfering with the sequence game system, the true strength of the other party was still unknown...
"Data deletion, data deletion, data deletion"
Immediately after, all records of this game event were deleted, and no observer could know about the conversation between Alister and the emotional aggregate.
"Data deletion"
As the final garbled code disappeared, the sequence game returned to normal, and the rules were converging.
"Updating reality, assessing the actions of real-world targets"
"Fear (27%), Disgust (25%), Happiness (20%), Sadness (4%), Confusion (4%), (Anger 0%), Other (20%)"
The real world returned, with a pale blue data retrogression night. The four youths and the blue-haired girl resembled sculptures frozen in time.
"Update complete"
The yellow-haired youth, who had clenched his fists, suddenly lost his anger in the next instant when the game updated reality. It was replaced by fear and disgust towards those who recorded videos of others meddling in their affairs...
In today's era, such actions would undoubtedly spread widely on the internet... he thought to himself.
At the same time... an inexplicable excitement... a complex feeling of suspecting that he had unusual preferences enveloped him...
"You wait for me!"
So he left those words behind and instinctively ran away, disappearing.
Leaving the other three companions staring at each other, they felt concerned about the yellow-haired youth's sudden change of heart.
How quickly he changed his attitude! Wasn't he angry just a moment ago? Didn't we agree to become gang leaders together?!
Then they went to chase after the yellow-haired youth, no longer caring whether or not they should approach him.
The shadows of the trees swayed and rustled, watching as the four people disappeared into the night...
The blue-haired girl in a clean white dress patted her soft chest, exhaled a breath, and finally felt relieved.
"That's it."
Alister, who had dealt with the incident, waved goodbye and began walking towards Fujitani Nisuke's direction.
But the blue-haired girl suddenly ran over, panting, and caught up with Alister, supporting her knees as she thanked him:
"Um, thank you. By the way, what's your name?"
Alister stopped in his tracks, glanced at her, and summarized that she was a lovely and kind girl.
However, Alister had someone he had feelings for, so he didn't have any emotional fluctuations and casually answered her:
"Alister. Also, next time, don't walk alone at night."
After giving a simple reminder, Alister continued walking towards the sports stadium.
But the blue-haired girl blinked her eyes a few times, seeming puzzled. Then she took out her phone, unlocked it with her fingerprint, and searched for the chat records from this afternoon.
"I've arranged a new colleague for you, they'll probably start working tomorrow. Their name is Alister," the chat record from Minister Ji Yi appeared before her eyes.
Her gaze shifted between the boy and the chat record, and under the radiant golden light of the streetlamp, she asked in a ethereal voice:
"Excuse me, are you the Alister who recently joined the Psychological Rehabilitation Department of the Ji Group?"
"...," Alister stopped walking again, thinking that this "+1 Lucky Value" had quite an impact...
"You're from the Psychological Rehabilitation Department of the Ji Group?" Alister looked at her and replied.
"Yes."
After confirming that she was his new colleague who would accompany him tomorrow, the blue-haired girl revealed a smile more gentle than an angel, introducing herself seriously.
"Perhaps it's fate. My name is Luorou, and I'm also a staff member of the Psychological Rehabilitation Department. Let's take care of each other from now on~"
She stood still, like a little rabbit poking its head out of the snow.
Luorou
Seeing Luorou as such a sunny and gentle girl, Alister turned his head and glanced at Fujitani Nisuke, who looked melancholic and smoked. The extreme contrast struck him.
But there was still one question left unanswered.
Alister withdrew his gaze from observing Fujitani Nisuke and scrutinized Luorou. He asked with concern:
"Why were you walking alone on a night like this? It's probably your first time here, right?"
A cute girl like her should be aware of the dangers of walking alone at night.
"Well...," Luorou looked a bit embarrassed and averted her gaze, scratching her cheek with her finger.
After pausing for a second, she gave a small bitter smile. "Well... it's just that I've been working alone for a long time, so I was really happy to have a new colleague..."
"Are you really that happy?" Alister looked at her conflicted expression and determined through his "Heightened Senses" that she wasn't lying.
Taking a deep breath, Luorou lightly pursed her lips and bowed deeply to Alister, apologizing nervously:
"I'm sorry. I won't walk alone at night next time. It's just that I was genuinely happy..."
Time passed second by second...
Alister didn't answer, and Luorou didn't raise her head. Her light blue braided hair fell, contrasting with her legs wrapped in white stockings, like the blue sky and white clouds.
"...Be careful when you're alone. There's no need to apologize so much." Alister sighed, breaking the silence.
Hearing this, Luorou raised her head again, revealing a smile as radiant as an angel. The background seemed to have a warm morning glow, dazzling the eyes.
"I understand, I'll remember. Just like I remember the words my grandmother entrusted to me!" She said with great vitality.
Then, humming a cheerful and refreshing tune, Luorou approached Alister and opened the add friend interface, saying to him:
"Mr. Alister, let's be friends! We'll be working together from now on!"
Alister didn't have a reason to refuse, so he took out his phone and accepted her friend request.
Ding-dong, the sound of successful friend request acceptance rang out.
With a beaming smile, Luorou, her fair fingers moving, sent Alister a cute emoticon saying, "Nice to meet you!"
Her every move was like that of a kind and innocent angel. Alister had never seen such a pure and healing girl before.
Then, Luorou placed her finger on her lips and looked at the desolate Japanese office worker filled with negative energy.
"Is that person your friend?" Alister glanced over and replied, "That person's name is Fujitani Nisuke, I suppose you could say he's my friend."
At that moment, Alister noticed Luorou's reaction. She nodded as if she had realized something, seemingly encountering such a negative person for the first time.
"He seems quite unwell." Luorou looked at Alister with concern, speaking in the tone of a serious and responsible psychological counselor.
"He's probably not physically ill; his personality is just like that..." Alister tried to salvage Fujitani Nisuke's image.
Meanwhile, as if driven by a sixth sense...
Fujitani Nisuke, who was smoking, suddenly looked at Alister... and at Luorou, who was as warm as the sun. The cigarette in his mouth fell to the ground, and it no longer smelled fragrant.
Like a ghost seeing a Buddha, Fujitani Nisuke took a sharp intake of breath, twitched in place for a second, then abruptly stood up, assuming a fighting stance.
"Don't come near me?! I'm not afraid of you—don't come near!"
I will protect my negative energy! Don't come near me!!!
The desolate traveler from the land of the rising sun, fearing the mind-soothing chicken soup within..."