Himeko could still hear faint sobbing in her ears, as though someone were weeping mournfully day and night.
Inukai, who had shamelessly refused to leave, watched as the previously smooth tiled walls suddenly turned hideous and terrifying. He also sensed extremely dangerous presences lurking everywhere in the air, frightening him into retreating several steps.
Still, anyone chosen by the National Destiny Instance was no mediocrity, even if they could not be called a genius. Highly adaptable, he soon steadied himself.
This place was indeed dangerous enough, and every action came with enormous risks. But the more dangerous it was, the better his chances of succeeding.
Sorry, Himeko. You're a good person.
After silently handing her a good-person card in his mind, Inukai sprang into action.
The surroundings made the Nine-Tailed Fox tremble. He grabbed the fox by the scruff and lifted it up.
"Stop shaking and give me your power!"
The Nine-Tailed Fox gradually merged into Inukai's body, greatly enhancing all his abilities.
Himeko ignored her and walked straight out of the Wax Museum.
Contaminated Six-Phased Ice lay scattered throughout the Amusement Park, and many barely discernible passersby stood along the roads.
Perhaps ghosts would have been a more fitting description.
These translucent people either huddled together sadly, weeping over the past, or angrily fought other translucent people. Not a single one Himeko passed along the way wore a smile.
"Are these the visitors' emotions, torn away from them?"
After encountering several translucent people with identical faces but different expressions, Himeko began to understand. She also formed a different conjecture about the Wax Museum's abilities.
The consciousnesses of those Wax Figures might not have been created solely from memories. Instead, a part might actually have been stripped from the contestants, then infused with memories that did not belong to the contestants themselves.
March 7th had countless ties to [Remembrance]. It made perfect sense for the Wax Museum to gain some memory-related abilities by eating the garbage March 7th left behind.
So... is Himechi Cat really a part of me?
No, no, no. I must have gotten it wrong. As the head of the Astral Express family and its current navigator, I should be a mature, dependable big sister, not some street thug.
Himeko shook her head, casting aside these irrelevant thoughts.
By sensing carefully, she could detect various thoughts flowing through the air. They entered people's bodies through their breathing or pores, silently influencing their minds.
If she knew how to use Clockwork, she could already declare herself invincible.
Pondering this, Himeko followed one of those emotions to the entrance of the Haunted House.
The Haunted House here had not disappeared because Himeko had demolished the Haunted House on the other side. Instead, it still stood here intact.
The difference was that a gigantic kidney enveloped the Haunted House, with Six-Phased Ice embedded in it.
"Kidney stones?" Himechi Cat tilted her head. "Why didn't March 7th Hare help break them up with ultrasound? And why is there only one kidney? Did it sell the other one to buy a phone?"
Himeko did not respond to Himechi Cat's strange ideas. Instead, she listened closely to those hidden voices.
They were furious and violent, as though they wanted to tear everything apart.
After listening for a while, Himeko even felt as though her own emotions might be affected.
"I'll chop this weird thing to pieces right now!"
Himeko remained unaffected, but Himechi Cat suddenly bared her teeth in Himeko's arms and waved her briefcase, wanting to charge forward and tear that kidney apart.
"Calm down. It's stirring up our anger."
Holding Himechi Cat down, Himeko had already begun to grasp how to deal with the Amusement Park's greatest monster.
"The system said it hasn't fully developed yet. Once the time is right, will it connect with the other organs and become a monster that human strength can barely contend with?"
Himeko speculated to herself, hoping to get more information from the system.
But the system barely acknowledged Himeko. No matter how she tried to persuade it, she failed to get any useful information.
Based on her extensive gaming experience, Himeko judged that what came next would surely involve solving puzzles tailored to each organ and defeating them one by one, severely weakening that monster before finally battling the weakened monster and claiming victory.
Along the way, she could pick up some treasure chests, collect some beetles, spirits, Aranara, and whatnot, earn rewards for a few gacha pulls, then roll around on the floor in frustration after pulling a standard character, lose it, and use the blue-and-green cheat tool.
But then again, games were games, different from reality. She could not directly apply a game's approach to reality.
After thinking for a long time, Himeko decided-to trust her extensive gaming theory.
"So you're choosing to follow the main quest and play some boring little puzzle games after all? I say we should just blast it with the Railgun and be done with it!"
Himechi Cat flailed about, determined to show this clueless kidney who was boss.
Besides Himechi Cat, Inukai, who had been following Himeko all along, also became irritable. His eyes were wide with rage and bloodshot.
"Baka yarou! What the hell are you planning to do? Don't just stand there like an idiot! If the other contestants clear the second stop before us, we'll only get their leftovers!"
Himeko did not make much of Inukai's rudeness.
He had merely lost his senses under the instance's negative influence. A little cursing was still tolerable.
Himechi Cat was already wriggling like a maggot in her arms. Compared with her, Inukai was only running his mouth, which counted as restrained.
"If you have your own ideas, you can act alone, or simply leave through the gate."
With that, Himeko stopped paying attention to Inukai and strode toward the kidney fused with the Haunted House. She wanted to study how to sever its connection to the heart.
Being ignored by Himeko made his anger even harder to suppress.
In his daze, he seemed to hear someone whispering in his ear.
She's so arrogant.
She chose to forgive even Duncan, so why does she treat you so differently?
You have to find a way to make her regret it.
The eerie voice in his ear voiced exactly what Inukai was thinking, making him nod repeatedly.
"Exactly! What gives her the right? Isn't she just relying on her luck in getting a five-star train and Guardian Deity? I have a Five-Star Guardian God too. Why can't I do it?"
Yes, yes.
But compared to talent, accomplishments achieved through hard work deserve greater praise.
You can surpass her through your own efforts and trample her underfoot.
An eerie light shone in Inukai's eyes. His throat bobbed, and even his voice carried a hint of trembling.
"What... should I do?"
Heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys.
If you absorb those organs in the park into your own body, surely you can become an existence that even Himeko fears.
That's right. Do just that.
"Do just that..."
Inukai stared at the gigantic kidney as a great deal of information appeared in his mind.
A murky haze filled his eyes.
Before you continue