[Time advanced to the third day. You successfully returned to the foot of Mount Gaien at Tokyo Jujutsu High.] [Before you stood an endless succession of vermilion torii gates, stretching deep into the mountain forest.] [It was three in the afternoon, with four hours remaining before the bounty on Riko Amanai expired.] [Suguru Geto sensed the familiar fluctuations of the barrier, and his nerves, taut for three days, finally relaxed a little.] [He turned around and gave Misato Kuroi and Riko Amanai behind him his trademark gentle smile.] ["We're inside Jujutsu High's barrier now. We're basically safe here."] ["Really?"] [At his words, Riko Amanai's somewhat dim eyes instantly lit up, and she cheered excitedly.] ["Yes! We finally don't have to be scared anymore!"] ["..."] [Watching Riko Amanai's retreating figure, however, Misato Kuroi couldn't smile.] [She lowered her head, her fingers clutching the hem of her skirt.] [Because she knew that this so-called "safety" also meant that Miss Riko's time as a human was about to end.] ["Thanks for all your hard work, Satoru."] [Suguru Geto patted his partner on the shoulder.] [Satoru Gojo was walking with his shoulders slumped, without a shred of dignity. Even his sunglasses had slid down his nose.] [Maintaining a fully automatic "Limitless" for three straight days without sleep or rest was an enormous strain on him as he was now.] ["Tch, I'm never taking another job babysitting some brat."] [He complained as he reached up to rub his slightly throbbing temples.] ["I'm sleeping for three days and three nights when we get back. And remember to treat me to Kikufuku."] [The mood within the team inevitably took on the laxness of a mission nearing its end.] [You alone, walking at the very rear of the group, hadn't relaxed. Instead, every muscle in your body was stretched taut.] [You also knew that the man named Toji Fushiguro, the Sorcerer Killer who alone could kill Satoru Gojo at this point in time, had yet to appear.] [The most dangerous moment was often the instant before you stepped through your own front door.] [You took a deep breath and stopped, sharply scanning the deathly silent mountain forest around you as you spoke in a low voice.] ["We still can't let our guard down. Until the merger is over, this isn't fin-"] ["Huh?"] [Satoru Gojo turned back, looking at you as though you were an idiot.] ["Shunchen, are you stupid? We're inside Jujutsu High's barrier... Shunchen!?"] [Before Satoru Gojo finished speaking, his azure eyes abruptly constricted.] [But what he saw wasn't an enemy. It was your expression suddenly freezing.] ["Shunchen!?"] [Suguru Geto's startled, terrified cry rang out beside your ears, but it sounded like a muffled noise coming through the depths of the sea.] [Your vision began to blur. You tried to speak, but your throat instantly filled with a flood of warm liquid that tasted of rust.] ["Guh... urgh..."] [Intense, incomprehensible pain instantly consumed your mind.] [It was the sensation of your heart being pierced.] [You lowered your head and stared at your chest in disbelief.] [A long blade of an archaic design, radiating an ominous aura, had stabbed into your back, precisely shredded your heart, and emerged from the front of your chest.] [There had been no fluctuation of cursed energy.] [There had been no killing intent.] [It hadn't even stirred the wind.] [That man, like a ghost, like an invisible person who had never existed in this world, had appeared out of thin air behind you.] ["Deal with... the troublesome one who can use 'Reverse Cursed Technique' first, huh..."] [A low male voice came from behind you, its tone as flat as if he were picking through rotten vegetable leaves at a market.] [You couldn't think or react, let alone mobilize your cursed energy.] [The faces of Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto, twisted with rage, froze in your gradually darkening vision.] ["You're &@￥!..."] [Your consciousness then scattered. In the final instant before death, you hadn't even managed to see the man's face, and you could no longer learn what happened afterward.] [You died.] [This simulation has ended.] [Cause of death: Heart Pierced.] [Killed by: Toji Fushiguro] [Evaluation: You experienced the Star Plasma Vessel Incident firsthand, yet failed to change the final outcome. You still knew nothing of that central truth, but this death showed you what a true hunt was.] [Calculating rewards...] [Congratulations! You have received the following inheritances:] [1. You gained over a year's worth of memories as a student at Tokyo Jujutsu High;] [2. You gained experience in Cursed Energy Manipulation, Cursed Corpse Creation, Jujutsu Release, and Barrier Technique.] [3. Your cursed energy increased. Your starting cursed energy will receive a boost based on your simulation count. Current cursed energy: 20 (5*4).] [4. You obtained the Overachiever Card [R].] [Rewards have been distributed!]
"Hah-hah-!!"
Li Shunchen leaned against the wall, both hands clamped tightly over his chest as he gasped for breath. Cold sweat instantly soaked his clothes.
There was no wound, but the phantom pain of his heart being shredded by an icy blade was so vivid it could drive him mad.
The helpless feeling of his life force being forcibly drained from his body made even his fingers tremble violently.
"I was too careless... I really was an idiot..."
Li Shunchen gritted his teeth, forcing his racing heartbeat to settle.
He had made a fatal mistake. He had thought he was merely a spectator holding the script, that all he needed to do was follow the plot and watch out for the moment Satoru Gojo was stabbed.
But he had forgotten that his involvement had already set the butterfly effect in motion.
For an assassin of Toji Fushiguro's caliber, information was everything.
If the original plot had been to attack Satoru Gojo head-on, then the addition of a healer suspected of possessing Reverse Cursed Technique would change the script to killing the healer first, then the damage dealer.
Taking a step back, if he were Toji Fushiguro and had to kill the Star Plasma Vessel under Satoru Gojo's protection, then beyond distracting and weakening Gojo himself, the people around him would also require special attention.
Someone who could pull a dying Satoru Gojo back from the brink at a crucial moment was, to an assassin, an even nastier variable than Satoru Gojo himself.
"If I don't die, Satoru Gojo won't necessarily lose... so he has to kill me first."
Li Shunchen felt a surge of lingering fear. It also reminded him of Satoru Gojo's original, discarded proposal to have Shoko disguise herself as Riko.
"If they really had sent Shoko back then... that man would've cut her head off first without a moment's hesitation, wouldn't he?"
Rather than dwelling on his soaring cursed energy, Li Shunchen was more concerned with the comment the system had left him, the line about the truth.
[You still knew nothing of the truth.]
The outcome of the Star Plasma Vessel Incident was Riko's death and Tengen's failed evolution.
But the system's words seemed to suggest that something deeper lay behind it.
Was it about Tengen's true nature? Or about a deeper power struggle behind this assassination mission?
Li Shunchen clenched his fists, feeling the cursed energy within him that had surged to 20 points.
Although he had died horribly this time, the gains were enormous too.
At least he now knew just how insignificant he was when facing Toji Fushiguro.
"Next time..." A ruthless glint flashed through Li Shunchen's eyes. "Next time, I definitely won't let you pull it off so easily."
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