Bad girl

In the original game's setting, this was a Magic Device that operated on an unusual principle.

Rather than releasing offensive energy to destroy monsters, it consumed mana to continuously produce a special high-frequency sound that only monsters could hear.

This sound was designed to imitate the intimidating signal a powerful monster used to proclaim its territory and drive away weaker creatures, thereby dispersing lower-level monsters within a certain range.

It was typically used when someone needed to pass quickly through a dangerous area or clear a particular site.

He had never connected this item to the situation before him because Screech did not appear in the first chapter, and it was closely tied to the storyline of the fourth heroine, Catherine Roman.

At the beginning of the game's second chapter, Victoria would receive an anonymous commission from Catherine to test a new monster-repelling Magic Device in the Dungeon.

Victoria would take the item deep into the Dungeon, and after activating it in the middle levels, she would indeed succeed in driving monsters out of a large area.

But once she entered the deeper levels, she would discover that while the Magic Device drove away weaker creatures, the peculiar energy fluctuations it emitted actually attracted stronger, more dangerous monsters.

As a result, Victoria would find herself hunted by high-level monsters in the depths, escaping back to the surface by the skin of her teeth before handing the crucial test data over to her client.

It was this dangerous commission, full of unexpected developments, that first made Catherine, who was pulling the strings behind the scenes, truly notice the astonishing potential and resilience of this common-born prodigy. She would then begin calculating how much she stood to gain by bringing someone like Victoria under her command.

And so Catherine's romance route would begin.

But now, Victoria was still recovering in the hospital, and the second chapter of the original game was still a long way off.

Yet the unnatural, deathly silence in the middle levels before him was clearly identical to what Victoria had encountered in the second chapter.

Greg's mind raced, and a startling theory gradually took shape, making his heart sink.

Could Catherine have already commissioned someone else to test the Magic Device in the Dungeon before Victoria, only for those people to fail to escape?

At last, the pieces of the puzzle behind the Dungeon's abnormalities fell neatly into place in Greg's mind.

Looks like those three missing upperclassmen were the unlucky souls Catherine hired for her first private Magic Device test. No wonder even the goblins were scared into fleeing to the shallow levels.

If he could, Greg would have turned around that very instant and charged back to the shallow levels without looking back, leaving this whole mess behind.

The reason was simple: aside from Sylvia, who was a fairly good girl, the other heroines in the original game were each more troublesome and dangerous than the last.

Even at the end of Catherine's route, she had never actually fallen in love with Victoria. She had only chosen to be with her because Victoria could bring her greater benefits.

That made Greg instinctively reluctant to become too entangled with these excessively troublesome heroines.

Reality, however, offered him no option to run away.

The countdown on his life was still ticking. If he could not clear the first floor before the first chapter's story concluded, only death awaited him.

So whether a conspiracy, a trap, or something even worse lay ahead, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and keep going.

To get himself into the right frame of mind, Greg reconsidered:

Wait... maybe things aren't that bad?

Screech is still working. The middle levels have been cleared out, leaving everything deathly quiet.

That means Sylvia and I can pass through these normally dangerous middle levels quickly and practically unscathed, heading straight for the entrance to the deeper levels.

Once we're down there, all we need to do is carefully avoid any suspicious activity, refrain from investigating or making unnecessary trouble, and head straight for the first floor's core area-the boss room. Then we can complete the clear objective.

That way, we won't run into those three testers whose fates are still unknown, much less have any direct or indirect contact with Catherine, the mastermind behind all this.

Perfect!

Just as Greg felt a hint of twisted delight at his own ingenious contingency plan and prepared to put this safe, efficient strategy into action-

Sylvia, who had been curiously examining the glowing plants beside him, suddenly straightened up and shook her head hard, as though trying to cast distracting thoughts out of her mind.

"No, this isn't right..."

She murmured to herself, her pink eyes refocusing as she looked into the darkness farther down the passage. A determined expression settled over her face.

"This isn't the time to let our guard down. There are still three people... who might be trapped somewhere deeper and more dangerous, waiting to be rescued."

"Greg has clearly been worried about their safety this whole time. That's why he was in such a hurry to bring me down here... yet I've been thinking about things that don't matter..."

She turned to face Greg and gave him a solemn bow.

"I'm sorry, Greg! I got distracted. But I've pulled myself together now! Let's hurry onward and search for them in the deeper levels! Saving them comes first!"

The girl's voice was clear and full of purpose, ringing out distinctly in the silent passage.

Her pretty face brimmed with sincerity and eagerness to make up for her mistake by throwing herself into this noble rescue mission.

Greg: "..."

After a long moment, he could only silently direct one thought toward this pure, innocent pink-haired girl:

I take back what I said...

Turns out you're a bad girl too!