This Humble One, Reincarnation Stream Player

"If I'm not mistaken, the dungeon anomaly must have something to do with you. Both we and Li Dan were dragged into this mess because of you."

Mai and Hayasaka Ai showed no mercy, leaving the ambitious young man momentarily stunned. After a moment, the two girls exchanged glances and stood up in unison.

One patted Yuki on the shoulder, while the other ruffled his hair.

"But I admit you're an expert; that's undeniable."

"Yuki-kun, this time it was all thanks to you. Please continue to look after us in the future."

Their tone was sincere and their movements gentle. Regardless of how urgent the process had been or what personal feelings they held toward Yuki, they had seen the man's strength with their own eyes.

In the dangerous Reincarnation Game, being handsome, elegant, or gentle was worthless; only strength could provide a sense of security.

Yuki squinted, enjoying the soft touch and the faint, delicate fragrance, not to mention the black stockings and short skirts right in front of him. Beyond the joy of surviving, another thought began to sprout.

Even with the Reincarnation Game here, could I actually play a dating sim?

"Uh, I suddenly have an idea." Yuki curled his lips, smiling quite mischievously this time. "Do you two have any interest in becoming my wings?"

The moment the words left his mouth, the hands on his shoulder and head froze, quickly shifting to his cheeks and pinching them like dough.

"Don't even think about it!"

Chapter 2: Going Home! (Revised)

Tsk, so heartless. I went to great lengths to carry you both, and you won't even give me a little reward.

Yuki rubbed his face and looked at the two girls, who were now full of vigilance. A single sentence had sent them retreating three meters away—were they really that disgusted?

Of course, it was just a joke. The three-person alliance relied on mutual help; it could be said that they couldn't afford to lose a single member, and they wouldn't even have cleared the hurdle with Thomas without each other.

No one was a dead weight; everyone had contributed their full value.

"Cough, cough. Let's get back to the point. This settlement space is for preparing for the next dungeon."

"Really?"

"Otherwise? What kind of image do I have in your eyes?"

"A pig-headed boy with nothing but lewd thoughts in his brain."

Oh, so the bunny girl senior is turning her back on me now? Even though when we left the dungeon, she was nearly crying with anxiety.

Yuki couldn't forget the expressions of the two hanging from the ropes as the zombie horde flooded into the hall. In that moment, there was no pride, no masks—only the desperate wish to jump down and pull him to safety.

Forget it, there's no benefit in breaking their defenses.

Under their fierce glares, Yuki rubbed his cheeks again, deciding to plan for the long term.

"What was your mission rating?" he asked.

"S-rank."

"Me too, S-rank. Such a high completion rate."

That made sense. They had been active throughout the entire dungeon, clearing every side quest as the most important supporting characters. Based on his own 'SSS' rating, it stood to reason they would receive an S.

Yuki thought to himself, finally grasping how the final rating was calculated. It was a comprehensive evaluation of the player's performance throughout the entire dungeon.

How much you participated, whether you were a freeloader, your contribution to each side quest, and your presence during the final boss fight.

If Li Dan had survived, his rating probably wouldn't have been as high as theirs. After all, before the boss fight, he was a pure freeloader, obsessed only with infighting.

As he pondered the game mechanics, Hayasaka asked curiously, "Yuki, what was your rating?"

"S-rank."

"That's impossible." Hayasaka Ai shook her head firmly, dissatisfied. "You were the true protagonist; your rating should definitely be higher than ours."

"I'm not lying to you." Yuki opened his player panel to show her. Hayasaka Ai and Mai Sakurajima leaned in, feeling a twinge of jealousy at first.

Because the dungeon anomaly had targeted all players, Yuki's gains were still significantly higher than theirs, especially the several Chaos Items that made one's mouth water.

Not to mention, he had two full transcendent skills, while they were still blank slates.

"You—your panel is probably a cut above even Thomas's. It's like you're a veteran of two dungeons, more than the two of us combined."

"How are we all newcomers, yet you're so much stronger? Even the 'Death Knell' was something you gave up to me." Hayasaka Ai raised the silver revolver. In fairness, this should have been Yuki's loot.

A girl's awe always makes one feel satisfied. Yuki chuckled, thinking that if he hadn't been playing it safe to grow, he could have been even stronger. If he had cashed in his SSS-rank rewards, he could have soloed Li Dan—who had three dungeons' worth of experience—with just one dungeon's worth of seniority.

"Murder and arson bring golden belts, as they say. If the game doesn't give it to me, I can just take it from other players. Just look at the final rating."

Huh, it really is S-rank.

"That's right, you offended the Reincarnation Game." The two said as they backed away, leaving Yuki speechless.

This was his secret. Even if he didn't say it, Hayasaka Ai had guessed it. But unlike Li Dan, he couldn't exactly silence them.

"I was targeted by the Reincarnation Game, for unknown reasons." Yuki didn't mention being a transmigrator; the reason wasn't weighty enough anyway. "But the Reincarnation Game couldn't kill me, could it? Didn't we all come back in one piece?"

"It didn't work once, but it could happen a second time." Hayasaka Ai shook her head, her eyes filled with rationality. "We have no way to resist It."

The two sides weren't even in the same dimension. The dungeon was structured by the Reincarnation Game; how could they possibly resist? The most troublesome part was that the game didn't care about collateral damage.

"If it really comes to that, I'll just find a place to wait for death. Senior, do you remember what I asked you?"

Mai Sakurajima thought for a moment before answering, "You mean, when unlocking traits, you had one more choice than we did?"

"In fact, I had a choice just now: whether to obtain an SSS-rank evaluation or to disable the tracking." Yuki Sorajima told them frankly. There were some things that needed to be made clear now; he had to bind these two to him to have a second option beyond killing them to silence them.

Disable the tracking?

"Are you trying to say someone is interfering with the Reincarnation Game's hostility toward you?" Hayasaka Ai immediately caught on. Such interference was, in itself, another dimension of the game.

"Exactly. Haven't you noticed that although there weren't many rewards afterward, the Reincarnation Game didn't spawn a super Boss to crush us directly?"

It was true. The Reincarnation Game had ten thousand ways to kill players, yet the difficulty always remained just below the threshold of despair. It was hard to believe the Reincarnation Game had simply changed its mind.

"No wonder you got an S-rank evaluation; that makes sense. But can this kind of interference really be effective?"

"I don't know. We won't have the answer until the second dungeon." Yuki Sorajima spread his hands and gave a wry smile. "By the way, could you two move a little closer? You're acting like I have a contagious disease."

Being caught in the crossfire was far more terrifying than a contagious disease!

Mai Sakurajima and Hayasaka Ai exchanged a glance. After some thought, they decided to believe the man's story, as the result—their survival—was impossible to argue with.

Without Yuki Sorajima, there might not have been a dungeon anomaly, and even without the anomaly, who among them could guarantee they would have returned alive?

Phew, stabilized for now. I don't want to go dark either.

Yuki Sorajima breathed a sigh of relief. This trust was forged between life and death; Hayasaka Ai and Mai Sakurajima were not just his 2D wives, but comrades who had shared his fate.

He didn't know what he would face after returning, but from a purely rational perspective, only the dead could keep secrets.

"Let's summarize the settings. The Reincarnation Game belongs to the growth-oriented infinite genre. Rewards come from two sources: one is that players can continuously grow stronger while clearing dungeons; the other is the summary evaluation obtained after finishing a dungeon."

"Hmm, but there was a problem with this dungeon. Li Dan must have realized that the rewards during the dungeon clearing process were too scarce." Hayasaka Ai nodded. Looking back now, she found Yuki Sorajima's suspicion was indeed obvious.

With the unlocking of traits as a dividing line, the gap between before and after was too large. Such changes in game settings could not be hidden from veteran players.

"This is a good thing. Growth means having more trump cards. In the end, I used the power of the dungeon to kill him." A flash of ruthlessness crossed Yuki Sorajima's eyes. Certain things had been set like clockwork, and he began to summarize the detailed settings.

Hayasaka Ai pursed her lips. She didn't know what Mai Sakurajima was thinking, but for her part, besides trust, there was also a wariness of this ruthlessness.

Yuki Sorajima was definitely a ruthless man; he had already proven with his actions that teaming up with him meant survival, while opposing him meant death. When dealing with such a person, one could not afford to be ambiguous about their stance.

But when it involved struggles at the game's dimensional level, she found herself in a dilemma and could only listen quietly to Yuki Sorajima's lecture.

"First, the fact that firearms and bulletproof vests disappeared shows that, except for Chaos Items, things from the dungeon cannot be brought out. And there are many sources for Chaos Items."

"Drawing, looting, picking up, or achieving milestones—all work. Furthermore, each item doesn't pick its user, and their abilities and side effects are bizarre and varied."

Hayasaka Ai and Mai Sakurajima nodded simultaneously. Both had used Chaos Items many times, though the 'Frontal Lobe Fragment' had been lost, leaving each of them with only one item now.

Hayasaka Ai raised the Death Knell Revolver and couldn't help but grin. "Even among Chaos Items, there are strengths and weaknesses within the same level. This is much more useful than the Frontal Lobe Fragment."

It had infinite ammunition for normal shots, with power comparable to a large-caliber pistol. The enhanced shot generated one bullet every two hours, with a maximum capacity of six. Each shot was more powerful, but the side effects stacked accordingly.

Luck truly existed in the Reincarnation Game's settings. For instance, Li Dan, who had fired five bullets in a row, was crushed by a chain from a sightless Giant from dozens of meters away. That was the game judging him to be unlucky, making it inevitable that he would be hit.

"It is indeed a good weapon, even better than my Chainsaw Sword." Yuki Sorajima also looked on with approval, then looked away. "So, aside from items like the Chainsaw Sword and Quiet Dew that can complement each other, having more Chaos Items isn't necessarily better."

"Hmm, being plagued by bad luck, suffering from splitting headaches, and falling into a berserk state or cognitive errors—you wouldn't need anyone else to finish you off; you'd be done for on your own." Mai Sakurajima counted on her fingers and tilted her head slightly.

"But aren't the extras useless? And they're easy to get stolen if you keep them on you."

"That relates to the third hint. After clearing the novice dungeon, the permissions were adjusted. Take a look for yourselves first."

Seeing the two women concentrate, their expressions quickly becoming fascinating, Yuki Sorajima sighed softly.

This Reincarnation Game was more complex and terrifying than he had imagined. He had originally thought it was just selecting players from the main world and cycling through 'dungeon-reality' loops. Now, that seemed too naive. Even the task categories were split into three types:

Random Tasks: Triggered by touching special objects. Success brings rewards; failure has no penalty.

Routine Tasks: Mandatory completion; failure results in erasure.

Epic Tasks: Invisible.

No wonder the first sentence of the prompt in the Ancient Castle hall had the restriction [Routine Task, Bloodthirsty Red Moon]. What did the ellipsis mean? Were there other types of tasks?

"Understand now? By passing the novice task, we've only uncovered the tip of the iceberg. Take this Random Task, for example..." Yuki Sorajima paused and asked slowly, "Do you think these are hidden within the dungeons, or in our real world?"

No one could answer; they didn't even want to guess. This meant the game would interact with reality, and it meant that people around them could potentially be dragged into the mess.

"Insufficient clues. Let's set that aside for now and resolve three important matters." Yuki Sorajima scared them first, then put on a relaxed smile.

"First, there's good news. After passing the novice task, we've unlocked the team mode. Cooperation can continue; from now on, we share the hardships and the fortunes."

The tone was relaxed, but the atmosphere suddenly became heavy. No one was a fool; they knew the next choice concerned life and death.

If they had known this secret at the beginning, Mai Sakurajima might have been hesitant, but Hayasaka Ai would definitely have helped Li Dan eliminate Yuki Sorajima.

But now, having experienced a nightmare and returned safely with rich rewards—and many memories etched into their marrow that they couldn't forget even if they wanted to—things were different.

"If I say 'no', will you make me shut up forever?" Hayasaka Ai said coldly.

"No."

"Based solely on trust?"

"Yes. I trust you. Besides, if it leaks out, it will only attract the attention of some curious players. I'll just kill them one by one." Yuki Sorajima was completely calm, clearly having prepared a contingency plan long ago.

"But following you is dangerous. No one knows if your choices will actually work." Mai Sakurajima wasn't as dark or cynical as Hayasaka Ai.

"That is indeed beyond my control, but I think comrades whose backs I can entrust are precious. People like Li Dan are far more dangerous." Yuki Sorajima remained calm, looking at the pure white space, and muttered to himself:

"An anomaly is not necessarily a bad thing; mediocrity is what truly represents despair. There will eventually be an answer to what has happened to me, and perhaps that answer can resolve the core issue."

"What issue?"

"How to escape the Reincarnation Game. To this day, we haven't received any information regarding that."

Hayasaka Ai and Mai Sakurajima were taken aback, suddenly realizing a problem they had overlooked. Indeed, the Reincarnation Game had never stated how many instances one had to complete or what achievements were required to break free.

Neither of them had any interest in supernatural power; the Bloodthirsty Red Moon felt more like a nightmare, something that made one instinctively weary, leaving them only with the desire to return to their former daily lives.

Yuki's self-reflection made sense; his secrets were rooted in the game's dimension, which corroborated the idea that 'mediocrity is what truly represents despair.'

Should they gamble?

The two hesitated. Experiencing a nightmare once was enough, but looking back on these two heart-pounding days, the decision didn't seem that difficult to make.

This had nothing to do with Yuki's personality, nor did it have a single cent to do with his smooth talk; it wasn't even about some heroic rescue or a promise to never abandon one another. It was simply because—

This man was truly capable. If he could lead people out of purgatory once, he had the ability to lead them out a second time.

If his choices were effective, his rate of growth would be nothing short of shocking. If he could surpass Li Dan in a single instance, then how many Li Dans would two instances equal?

"Fine, I will wait until the second instance to see. If your choices prove ineffective, we will part ways then." Hayasaka Ai nodded gently, deciding to take the gamble after rational consideration.

"Same here, I'll trust you one more time." Mai Sakurajima was more straightforward. After one instance, she still lacked any real offensive power, and she wasn't as shrewd as Hayasaka. If she ran into a villain like Li Dan, she would likely meet an even more miserable end.

"Very well, thank you both for your trust. I look forward to working with you."

Yuki finally smiled. He had been waiting; if they hadn't been willing, he wouldn't have forced them. He would have used the Soil-Offering Contract to bind them and then lived as a happy lone wolf.

But how to put it? No one could refuse a bunny girl upperclassman and a blonde maid. Besides, the three of them had genuine chemistry, which was perfect for someone like him—a seasoned schemer—to play to his strengths.

"Ahem, are you going to be the team leader?" Mai Sakurajima asked in a low voice, feeling as though she had boarded a pirate ship and that getting off wouldn't be so easy.

"No need. The three of us are in an equal partnership. However, keep in mind that when someone is undertaking other tasks, they won't be able to join the team." Yuki put away his smile; time was limited, and he had no intention of teasing the upperclassman at a time like this.

"Oh, you mean random tasks?"