I'll keep watching you, always

"What the hell happened? What's it got to do with me?!"

Inukai protested repeatedly, while the Nine-Tailed Fox pinned underfoot kept squeaking too.

Himeko waited a moment. Only after the commentator made no further move against Inukai did she have Taco release him.

The commentators on her side would not act without reason. For them to take action could only mean that their commentators had classified Duncan as an enemy.

Then what exactly had Duncan done to make the commentators consider him an enemy?

Himeko walked forward, step by step. To everyone else, each step looked forceful, brimming with murderous intent,

as though she would thrust her spear through Duncan with lightning speed the very next second.

In reality, however, even taking a step required considerable effort from Himeko.

She came up to Duncan and looked him straight in the eye.

"The clues you gave us were the problem, weren't they?"

Himeko cut straight to the truth.

"For Huaxia to act, the clues you withheld must be crucial. I think we still have room to talk."

The Monomolecular Saw against his neck felt icy cold. Before him, Himeko stood spear in hand, looking down at him.

Himeko did not choose to kill Duncan over his momentary concealment. In her view, there were more suitable ways to handle this.

"Can't we really just cut him down? He dared to give you false information. He was obviously trying to get you killed. How about we put the bleeding heart aside for a moment?"

Himechi Cat edged the Monomolecular Saw a little closer, but Himeko shook her head.

"He isn't part of the Antimatter Legion or the Denizens of Abundance. He's just an ordinary person who developed ulterior intentions because of an accident. It's perfectly normal for him to have a few ideas."

"You... this... ugh!"

Himechi Cat withdrew the saw while staring hard into Duncan's eyes.

"But don't think this is over. I'll keep watching you, always..."

Himechi Cat was frantically spouting things that were completely out of character. If the two-dimensional Teacher Ma himself had been there, he would surely have angrily denounced Himechi Cat for disrespecting the original work.

"Putting myself in your shoes, if I were an ordinary person like you and suddenly had a chance to rise above everyone else, perhaps I would pursue it at any cost too? That doesn't seem like something to be overly harsh about, so I can forgive your deception.

"Mr. Duncan, why don't we have a proper talk? The Nameless aren't stubborn old fools, but my patience has its limits too."

There was a hint of warning in Himeko's voice. Behind her, Inukai quietly poked Taco and whispered,

"Is Himeko always this arrogant?"

"Arrogant? How is she arrogant?" Taco shook his head, not seeing it. "Isn't Himeko being perfectly normal?"

"Taking it upon herself to empathize from his perspective, then taking it upon herself to forgive his actions, and even saying she's willing to help him-isn't that arrogance?"

Inukai said that Neon manga were full of scenes like this.

"Why do you care whether Himeko's arrogant? If that's how she wants to do things, let her. With her here, could you lot really turn everything upside down?"

Taco looked Inukai up and down. With that frail build, he could be pinned down with one hand, so Taco thought there was no point in him considering any of this.

"You're right." After that, Inukai did not initiate any more conversation.

Duncan, meanwhile, considered for only an instant before agreeing to Himeko's suggestion again.

"Fine, you're right. Let's talk." Out of options, Duncan got up from the floor. "This outside assistance really knows how to cause trouble."

"When you have the advantage, you won't think it's trouble."

"That's true enough."

Duncan smiled bitterly. He had never imagined that Huaxia's commentators would act without the slightest hesitation.

"I did withhold something about the clues. According to my clue, the Amusement Park doesn't have seventeen areas. It has two."

"My reason for hiding it was simple. You're a powerful opponent. If you stay alive, you'll have a greater impact on ordinary contestants like us than the Amusement Park Monsters do. If possible, I wanted to finish you off in the cage as early as I could."

"And the Amusement Park's other area hides something capable of killing you."

This time, Duncan dared not conceal anything else and truthfully disclosed everything he knew.

"The entire Amusement Park is the [area] mentioned in the clue, and the Amusement Park has another area."

As an outstanding graduate of Hui Shi Academy-a distinction that had nothing to do with her father being the headmaster-Himeko needed only an instant to understand what [area] meant.

"You mean the Amusement Park has two sides? We can reach the other side through some method. And what's hidden on that other side is where the visitors are?"

Himeko began piecing the information together.

"No, perhaps what exists on the other side isn't the visitors. That heart? The amusement park visitors' joy... Joy has never been the only human emotion. There are many others. Did the Amusement Park strip away the visitors' various emotions and turn them into different body parts?"

From just a few words, Himeko inferred a great deal of information, leaving Duncan stunned as he listened.

To be honest, all he knew was that the Amusement Park had another side, that the other organs connected to the heart were hidden there, and that it was extremely dangerous. His information was nowhere near as specific as Himeko's.

Himeko did not stop her deductions.

"If that's the case, how do we get to the Amusement Park's other side?"

Himeko thought of the clue she had received.

[Clue: The Amusement Park will close at midnight.]

Midnight. Closing time.

What would happen after it closed? Would the Amusement Park's two sides switch?

That was it. The visitors' emotions had been split into several portions and merged into the other side. Once the Amusement Park's two sides switched, outsiders like them would appear on the other side.

But those were only the visitors' emotions. What about their bodies?

"Wait."

A thought flashed through Himeko's mind.

[There are a total of 132 visitors tonight.]

What was this place?

The Wax Museum!

"Himechi Cat, excluding contestants like us, how many Wax Figures are there in the Wax Museum?"

As a creation of the Wax Museum, Himechi Cat naturally knew some of its basic settings.

"A hundred and thirty-something? You mean...?"

"Exactly what you're thinking."

Himeko thought for a moment, then went all the way to the Amusement Park's entrance and found the cup of milk tea on the bench that someone had only drunk half of.

Returning to the Wax Museum, she took the others around and soon found a Wax Figure lying on the floor in one spot.

Himeko compared her lipstick shade with the color on the milk tea straw. They matched perfectly.

"The truth is quite clear now. The visitors' bodies were brought to the Wax Museum and turned into Wax Figures. Their emotions were split into several portions. One portion was poured into the heart and left in the Darkroom. The rest were taken to the Amusement Park's other side for some unknown purpose."

Himeko then thought of the information her system had provided.

[In short: Someone picked up the Six-Phased Ice March 7th discarded and swallowed it raw. Now the thing that ate the Six-Phased Ice is burning hot all over. Before long, it'll charge out and bite everyone.]

"I think I know what they'll be used for."