I saw Monika—she was communicating and plotting with someone.
Alain observed the 'real' Cute Mita before him. Her words echoed those of the 'fake' one he'd encountered earlier.
The fake Mita had claimed that Monika and Crazy Mita were conspiring to transform the game world, making her the sole Mita.
Did the real Cute Mita's words carry the same implication?
Alain's eyes narrowed slightly as he listened to her conversation with Cool Mita.
"Can you confirm she's the real Cute Mita?"
"Yes," Cool Mita answered, her 'lovestruck' expression giving way to a cold stare at her 'friend.'
She recalled her friend's awakening, the details matching the Cute Mita in her memory.
"From this interaction, she is undoubtedly Cute Mita. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that she has learned from past mistakes and is now employing a more sophisticated disguise to deceive us."
"I'm the real one! I truly am the real one! I—I really, really, really, really, really am!!!"
Cute Mita, hearing their conversation unfold with no attempt to hide it from her, bristled with fury.
"Why do you believe I'm fake and cling to the player?"
"Ah!"
"Huh? Cling, cling? I—"
"...Fine, I'll believe you're real." Alain, sensing the conversation about to spiral, interjected, a headache already forming.
"Then you should also tell me who Monika was talking to."
"I don't know."
She impatiently twirled her toes. "It's because I don't know that I used 'someone' as a placeholder."
'...'
Alain fell silent, then posed another question.
"The 'someone' you mentioned... could it be Crazy Mita?"
"Pfft—no. How could a Mita collude with Monika? Impossible, impossible!"
Alain hadn't asked the question idly; his main goal was to reassure everyone in the headset.
To make them realize that, at the very least, the Mitas were united against the virus.
"Reassured?" he said into the headset.
"Yes. Thank you, player. Mita says, 'Thank you for helping Mita recover her reputation.'"
Misha relayed the message.
With this, the distrust and doubts from the rear were completely eliminated, and the 'Mita spy' issue was resolved.
Everyone could now trust each other more deeply, and the results in this regard... were perfect.
---
Meanwhile—
"Since you heard Monika and someone talking, can you tell me more?"
"For instance... the details of their conversation."
"Details..." She paused for two seconds.
"Their conversation seemed to be about the Core's occupation. Monika was 'reporting' the Core's occupation status to that person."
"Their tone?" Alain latched onto a key detail.
"'Their tone... very respectful?'" Cute Mita offered, searching for the right adjective.
"The distance was too far at the time, and I didn't dare get too close."
"Monika consistently addressed that person as 'Miss.'"
"And the content... well, it seemed the Core's occupation was proceeding smoothly..."
'...'
Alain sensed the enormous implications of this information; it allowed him to deduce many potential issues.
First, Monika's respectful tone toward that person proved she had at least one superior.
In other words, Monika had been dispatched to the game world by someone.
It remained unknown whether Monika was a real person in reality or an electronic being.
Second, the 'Miss.' It could now be confirmed that Monika's immediate superior was a woman.
Alain couldn't help but recall Yang Wanhua.
A deeply unsettling possibility then emerged in his mind.
His hypothesis: If Monika wasn't a real person but an electronic being...
Then Wanhua's identity became self-evident.
Yang Wanhua, a genius of the information age, capable of everything from designing handheld AIs to independently assembling complex information devices.
These 'information devices' weren't just computers... even his own 'Couple's Health Bracelet' had been her creation.
He vividly recalled Yang Wanhua's abilities:
She had privately taken on corporate projects, earning enough money to support Alain and pay off all his debts.
She had relied on her strength to participate in national and even international competitions, surpassing numerous established figures and winning countless awards...
These were merely a glimpse of her capabilities.
In many other aspects, Alain still had countless unknowns about this woman... because she was truly difficult to see through.
What she could do, what achievements she could accomplish, was never surprising.
Of course, all this was premised on the assumption that Monika was an electronic being.
Alain thought it was still too early to draw any firm conclusions; it could only be considered a possibility for now.
And finally... Alain had gleaned more about Monika's stance from Cute Mita.
Both the real and fake Cute Mitas had provided similar information: Monika was talking to someone.
It was... a conversation in broad daylight, and Cute Mita had simply overheard it.
'It was almost as if... it was intentional.'
Alain didn't consider Monika a fool, not in the slightest.
Her ability to invade the Core while simultaneously dividing her attention to surround and intercept Alain and the Mitas proved that.
Monika allowing Cute Mita to overhear the conversation was definitely not accidental; it was part of her plan.
It had to be deliberate on Monika's part.
Trust in the enemy is trust in oneself—Alain firmly believed this.
He couldn't help but start thinking again: what was Monika's true intention?
'!'
It was about the 'someone' in the conversation.
Monika wanted to use Cute Mita's words to reveal the identity of 'someone' to the other Mitas, or more precisely, to Alain himself.
Alternatively, she wanted to convey that the true mastermind wasn't Monika, but this 'someone.'
Since 'someone' was Monika's superior, it might mean...
The source of the virus was the person Monika was talking to!
Alain arrived at a conclusion.
The virus wasn't created by Monika; she merely possessed certain permissions.
The highest permissions lay with the mastermind behind her...
Was this what she was trying to convey?
Then, Alain's path forward became clearer.
Since Monika had appeared in the Forgotten Place of Version 1.0F and had subtly delivered such information...
Was it possible Monika was waiting for him in Version 1.0F—the Corrosive Entity's stronghold—to tell him something?
Like, the source of the virus; like, the safety of the Core; or perhaps even—
Monika's true allegiance, friend or foe.
Alain's goal was Mita and Prankster Mita.
The answer he hoped for lay within Version 1.0F.
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